World Cup! GO GHANA!

Another week has passed quickly in Tamale, and i can't believe that I now only have one week left in Ghana! Much excitement has been caused as the World Cup has gotten underway! Everyone here was more than excited for the first game for the Black Stars in the World Cup and seeing that the game was on a Sunday the entire congregation even prayed for a victory at church that morning! Luckily those prayers were answered as Ghana pulled off a 1-0 victory over Serbia! As the next game approached people were fully decked out in their Ghana attire and ready to once again cheer on their team to victory. Unfortunately, the Black Stars didn't pull through that day and tied 1-1 to Australia(even though Australia was playing a man down the whole game!). After a bad performance in the Australia game many are beginning to lose hope in the team. The game against Germany this evening will determine if we progress to the next round! Even with dwindling hope everyone is ready to support the Black Stars in their last game of the first round. GO GHANA!

World Cup Fever

For the most part we all try to be impartial; being politically correct is something we are acutely aware of. However, when it comes to the World Cup, the gloves come off, passions run high and loyalties are etched in stone. This past weekend Sister Cities of Louisville and Greater Louisville International Professionals, hosted a World Cup kick-off celebration at Molly Malone’s for the highly anticipated USA V. England match. I should start by saying how impressed and excited I was at the enthusiasm and intensity of the U.S supporters. It was a far cry from 4 years ago and was practically non-existent 4 years earlier. It wasn’t just the fans who took a different approach this year either, the media and networks finally seemed to wake up and get on board. When I think back to the last World Cup I really don’t remember any build up and not much coverage either, in fact two of the key games were interrupted for 45 minute infomercials! This year, we feel like a country that cares about the World Cup and its team. A place where you no longer have to go out of your way to find that one international bar that is showing the matches. Is it too much to say we have become a soccer loving nation? If you were sat in Molly Malone’s on Saturday afternoon that would be an understatement. The room we had reserved was packed, the walls lined with people and still more squeezed in at the door as everyone watched on eagerly. In the main bar area U-S-A…U-S-A chants rang out. Our room held supporters for both teams; flags, shirts and face paint told the story. As we cheered on our different teams there was still a feeling of camaraderie, maybe that comes from Louisville’s Internationalism, where you can fit right in but still remain true to your roots.

Join SCL and GLIP for some other key matches at Molly Malone's on Baxter:

Thursday, June 17, 2:30 France V. Mexico
Sunday, June 20, 10:00 Italy V. New Zealand
And 2: 30 Brazil V. Cote D’Ivoire
Tuesday, June 22, 2:30 Argentina V. Greece
Wednesday, June, 23 2:30 Ghana V. Germany
Friday, June 25, 10:00 Brazil V. Portugal

Because of the Rain

Since the last time I have written I have spent another week in Lameshegu Primary School and learned much more. The biggest learning experience thus far came last friday morning. I arrived at Lameshegu at 8:30 just like every other day, however, unlike every other day none of the three first grade teachers were there. As I was walking in a teacher in a neighboring class explained that the teachers were late because of the rain the night before. I wasn't sure what to do. I was alone in a classroom with ninety plus children who were completely out of control. Many of them at this point were running around hitting each other with sticks and tackling one another to the floor. I decided that this was an inefficient use of school time and that I would teach. Remarkably, after telling everyone to sit and that we were going to do English, they listened immaculately. Everyone calmed down and filed into their crowded desks. I passed out books and began teaching, and though I know they struggle to understand me through my unfamiliar voice, they paid attention extremely well. After twenty minutes or so the teaching assistant showed up and if it was nothing out of the ordinary simply looked at me and said, "Good morning, I'm late because of the rain" and sat down. Things had seemingly calmed down, I assigned an exercise, which they dutifully completed and then it was time for break. During break men began removing the desks in the classroom to repair them, which generally would have been appreciated, but its difficult to conduct a class with no where to sit. Adding to the chaos that I feared the lack of desks would cause the teaching assistant(the only one of the three that ever showed up that morning) informed me that he needed to go to town. At the end of break things were even more chaotic than before. There were hardly any desks, and I was the only teacher(if you can call it that). Children were beating each other to the point of tears. So after pulling several boys off of one another I sat everyone down(the best I could with less than normal desks) and once again began teaching. When the teacher returned awhile later he again just sat down as I taught, and observed the now relatively calm classroom. It was an extremely chaotic morning! But I certainly learned a lot!

Mainz in Spring

morrow is Fronleichnam (Corpus Christi), and as such, we poor stressed out students are given the day off from Uni! Giving us a nice little break during the middle of the week, and a well earned day off - or at least an opportunity to catch up on a little overdue homework or reading. Or maybe just the chance to go down to the Rhine and relax with friends, either way... the Summer Semester is full of one day holidays and random protests (preventing us from going to uni - as an example, when the public transportation strikes... very difficult to get around then). Just this weekend there was a great protest/party in the city - Night-Dance-Demo, in english - this was 500-600 people literally dancing their way through the old part of town with three large trucks carrying suspended mixing tables and a slew of dj's to entertain the crowds. Definitely one of the most interesting ways of taking an issue (literally) to the streets. It was so bizarre watching hundreds of people with live music dancing through the city - past buildings that are hundreds of years old, past statues of Johannes Gutenberg and Friedrich Schiller - juxtaposition if I have ever seen it! I have been auditing a few courses this semester (I can't enroll in them for credit as I last some serious prereqs, BUT I am here to learn, so that is what I am going to do!). One of the absolutely most interesting of them is Exchange Rates and International Capital Markets, the professor works in Swiss Finance and is just a wealth of information, especially considering Germany's role in the current Euro Zone economic troubles. The professor knows his material, and tries to represent as balanced a view of world Capital Markets as possible. Even though I am not taking the 'Klausur' (the exam), but I have definitely been trying to learn as much from this course as possible. Like last semester I have been really focusing on my German and taking a lot of courses about the language and the german literature - I have been trying to take advantage of every possible opportunity to learn the language while i am here. I do an English-German Tandem with a friend of mine, I live in a German-speaking WG (Wohngemeinschaft - apartment), and I am taking a courses about the language, that I simply can't take back in Louisville. I had signed up to take 'Business German' (Wirtsschaftswissenschaftsdeutsch), but the course was unfortunately canceled after 3 sessions due to lack of interest. I did manage to get into 'Scientific German,' which has been unbelievably helpful. I have been learning a great deal from my job in the International Office - just like last semester - but this semester I feel that my German has really gotten to the level that I can talk to the people I work with at a mature and appropriate level. Just yesterday my boss and I spoke about the events unfolding with Israel and the humanitarian aid ships, which has certainly taken a lot of people's minds and discussions off of the European financial crisis, at least for a little while. I am still translating documents and preparing an online portal for all the new exchange students, like last semester, but I would gladly do it for free just for the experience! I can not describe how great of an experience it has been working in a German office, even if it is only one or two times a week. You can read all about how an office should work, and how you are supposed to act in intercultural situations, but to actually work in one... that is something totally different, something totally unique. Definitely making my experience here worth it in my mind, without a doubt! Liebe Grüße, Justin