Entry 8: My Time in Louisville by Xu Shengwei

It’s was snowing when I walked out of the Louisville Airport. The white snow in the wind fell on my cheek, but it felt sift and I didn’t feel cold. At that moment, I began my life and study exchange with American students.

As initial visiting the Collegiate School, we found it is not a big one but is fully equipped. Here, there are all kinds of classrooms such as Chinese, physics and even biology with boa constrictor etc. However, in China, our school is very different. It’s amazing! Surprisedly, I found three exchange students from China. They introduced us the Collegiate School in Chinese and communicated with their classmates in fluent English. Sometimes there are some local students talking with us and asking us some questions in Chinese, they can not speak Chinese very well so that we had to answer their questions about China in English, but I thought it was a wonder chance to me. In that case, I forgot to express myself in Chinese. I got used to the life here.

The weather in Louisville varies with days. It was on a rainy day that I took a photography lesson whit a Chinese student, the teacher of which is a kind middle-aged woman. She was surprised and pleased when I took her lesson. During our lesson we stayed in a darkroom which is equipped with advanced facilities for developing films. Of course, all films should be developed by students themselves. We really felt happy when one film after another was developed by us.

Besides photography lessons, I also took three periods of art classes about mask. In class we created a strange and exaggerated mask with a kind of paper board and waste newspaper and then carved it with a kind of mud. Finally we colored it with bright colors. When we did it attentively, the teacher also helped us with it patiently. But in China, we choose to devote our attention to science classes instead of art classes. It is a different way to access to education, so the school lives are different between China and America. I love Chinese school but then I was really moved by the diversified environment, the open attitude and the close relationship between students and teachers. The students here, no matter what race, no matter where they come from, sat together in the same classroom studying actively and enjoyed their favorite lunch together. Here anybody would like to open the door of the teaching building for you no matter what the weather is like.

Ten days’ trip to Louisville was over soon. We said goodbye to them. It was a sad time because I thought it was too hard to say goodbye to Louisville, to the Collegiate School, to my host families, to the teachers and students here. It was not sunny day like California here, sometimes it rained and sometimes it was sunny, sometimes the wind runs behind your eyes and sometimes the snowflakes are sleeping in your hair. There are four seasons obviously here and the weather is changing anytime, what is unbreakable is that the people here are passionate and warmly.

With the time passing by, wish the trip gave us lasting impression forever! I will never forget the short history about my time in Louisville.

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Hays Hopkins: Closing out my stay in Mainz

Today is the day that I receive my certificate and I am already aware that I have received excellent results.  This is despite all of my worries to the contrary.  It was truly a difficult course, but, for that reason, extraordinarily helpful.  After taking the A2 certificate test in May, I arrive in Mainz and actually skipped ahead to B1.5 instead of just B1.  That slight bump up immensely increased what I have been able to take from this experience.  The benefit of an experience like this cannot be replicated in one's private studies and I will greatly miss it.

Beyond the academics, the lifestyle is one to which I know I could grow accustomed.  I've used public transportation only a handful of times and have, instead, gotten around town on a bike that the Freundschaftkreis was generous enough to lend me--not to mention the amazing barbecue they invited me too.  There has been more than one day where I have found myself in some new area just through a spirit of adventure afforded by having a bicycle at my disposal.  I have found more places and experienced more sights.  I will remember my time here without even the slightest tinge of negativity.

I would like to end on a note about my German teacher here.  It is probably true that us Americans can be a little behind Europeans on politeness.  However, that does not serve as any indication of my level of respect for Stephan Stachorski.  His humor and liveliness can serve as a complete rebuttal of the stereotype of German severity.  These qualities also made five hours of German course a pleasure.  It is hard to imagine feeling more engaged in the material and being more excited by German grammar!  For all of these reasons, my time here has been invaluable and I would highly recommend a visit to our sister city, Mainz.

 

Hays Hopkins: My Arrival in Mainz, Germany

My first week and a half in Mainz has been both fantastic and fast.  It started with getting a lift from Frankfurt airport by Frau Karst of the Mainz Freundschaftkreis; after being in Heathrow for 8 hours overnight the appreciation of this gesture cannot be overstated.  After arriving at my place and taking a short nap, my first night ended with me being treated to dinner by Frau Karst and, another Sister Cities member, Frau Bell Koehler.  These gestures on my first day are entirely indicative of my stay thus far.

Classes started, and continue, in a flurry.  My teacher is so patient and conscious of the students that I feel that I’ve had no trouble integrating into an all German-language classroom.  I wish I could say the same for the times that I have hung out with German students!  It is difficult to keep up to the normal pace, but I have been hanging in there.  The students in my dormitory have asked me out to play soccer and just walk along the Rhine.  Along with the leisure program of the summer course, my schedule is rather full.

As to the theme of what I have learned so far, I do have an interesting story.  Another member of the Mainz Freundschaftkreis invited me to his house for a BBQ.  Herr Licht graciously invited me into his home and we entered into a discussion on cultural differences.  He reminded me that, although Americans can often find Germans too rude or direct, that I must not interpret actions from my own cultural vantage point.  Having to keep this in mind on a daily basis brings my academic learning to reality; however, I have, admittedly, had  little chance to exercise such understanding, as everyone has been so welcoming.
Bis bald!

My Final Days in Tamale

I must apologize for the length of time it has been since I’ve last blogged. I’ve been writing so much in my personal journal that I have forgotten to update my blog! There has been a lot going on since I last wrote, so I will try to touch on as many things as possible!

Health: Last week Saturday I fell very ill with a terrible cough, chest congestion, and a pretty high fever. The fever lasted well into Monday, but by Monday evening it began to break. For all of Saturday and Sunday, I remained in bed dozing in and out. I did manage to read four books in between Saturday and Monday though J On Tuesday morning, Chief and Prof’s friend, Doctor Turner, came by to examine Chief and me (since Chief had been sick since two day before I fell ill). Dr. Turner said Chief’s illness was doing better and gave her some exercises to help get rid of the cough. He said that since I still had a fever, he believe I had acute bronchitis on top of a common cold and prescribed me an antibiotic. That seemed to help, and by the end of the week I was doing much better. However, that weekend when we took a road trip, Chief’s health took a turn for the worse. On the drive home, she started experiencing extreme vertigo that led to her getting sick very often. Unfortunately, we had a bumpy 4 hour drive home that didn’t help her sickness. After a while, she was able to nap for short periods of time which seemed to help, and eventually we made it home. Dr. Turner came over that night and got her some medicine which seemed to help. Now she is doing much better.

Travel: While we are somewhat on the topic. Last weekend, I accompanied Chief and Prof on a road trip to Binaba, which is a town about 160 Km away I believe. We left very early Saturday morning (7:30) and—due to the quality of the road—arrived at their friend’s house in Binaba at about 11:30. The scenery was very pretty on the way there. We caught a glimpse of the Tong hills and the White Volta and witnessed a slight change in scenery as things grew a bit grassier and hillier. We chatted and had lunch at their friend’s house. I cannot remember his name, but I know is a retired bishop from the area. For lunch, his daughter made Red Red (fried plantains and beans) along with rice and ground nut soup (ground nuts are another name for peanuts). I would give it a definite 5 stars (that kind of falls under the food category). Then, the bishop showed Prof and me around town. Chief wasn’t feeling well so she stayed back and rested. At about 2 o’clock, we decided to head home since we had a bit of trip ahead of us. On the way out to the car, Chief got sick in the yard L. However, I believe she really wanted to get home if possible so that she could be in her own bed and seek medical attention, so we started the journey. We stopped at the market in Bolgatanga so that Prof and I could do a little shopping and so that Chief could rest peacefully without the bumps from the potholes and speedbumps in the road. They make very neat baskets in Bolgatanga, and I had a hard time not buying every single one in sight. It took a great deal of self-control, but since I only had a certain amount of cash, I was forced to control my spendings J Eventually, we started back on the road and unfortunately, Chief wasn’t feeling any better. We arrived back at the palace a little after 7:30 (a mighty long ride in what is not a very comfortable truck!) and Prof and Razak ushered her inside and called Dr. Turner. Since there wasn’t much I could do (besides make Prof and I dinner), I made dinner and went to bed.  If you factor out the cramped travel arrangements and Chief’s awful sickness, the trip was nice!

Health Work: I spent the last week observing the activities of the nurses at Kalpohin Health Clinic. All of the nurses there are SUPER nice and helpful and I had a great time working with them. Each day they placed me at a different station so that I could get a glimpse of all the different aspects of the clinic. I have found that child and maternal health is of the utmost importance in Ghana, and so, while it is not my number one interest personally, I have definitely been introduced to the importance of it in the health field in Ghana.

The first day, I sat in the family planning room which is where ladies can come for birth control. They offer two different sets of pills and two different shots. The pills are taken daily for three weeks. One of the shots is administered monthly and the other is administered every 3 months. The nurse explains the options to the women, and they are able to decide which type of birth control they want. However, before they are given any of the drugs, they must take a pregnancy test, because, I found out, many of them that come in for the pills are already pregnant and are under the impression that the pills will take care of that.

The next day, I observed the immunizations table which was basically the exact same as the one at Tamale Central. 12 immunizations are offered and each one ends the same way…with a screaming baby L Although I LOVE children, this is my absolute least favorite section of the clinic, because not only am I not able to play with any of the kids, but I have to sit there and watch them scream and cry L

On Friday, I went out with two of the nurses to do house visits. They said usually they carry some vaccines and such with them in case a child is in need of one, but that day they didn’t have enough, so we just did some routine check-ups. This consisted of going to random houses and asking if there were any children in the house. If there were, then we collected their health record book (which is given to them by the clinic for free when they have a child). We checked to make sure all of the immunizations were up to date, and then asked the mom some questions about her health and the child’s health. The nurses explained to me that sometimes the mothers won’t come to the clinic if they have problems because there are so many people around, so the nurses make house visits so that the mothers have more privacy and so that the nurses can impress upon them how important it is to keep their children up to date on vaccinations! I enjoyed the visits because it provided a change of scenery and it felt a bit more personal than the clinic. The thing I dislike the most about the clinics is how impersonal and mechanical it feels. While the nurses are very chatty and friendly amongst each other, they aren’t so much so towards the mothers and children. Not that they are mean or rude by any means, but they just don’t smile and show a real concern towards the patients. I know by now that is just a part of the culture because service is like that everywhere in Ghana, but it is something that I have a hard time getting used to since I’m so acquainted with the high customer service expectations of America.

Monday I went with some nurses to one of the schools to give a presentation on the importance of hand washing. We gave one presentation to the P1 and P2 classes combined, and then we gave another to the P3 students. (P stands for primary). The nurses really stressed using CLEAN water AND soap and ALWAYS washing hands AFTER going to the bathroom and BEFORE eating!! They explained to the kids that they can get diseases such as Cholera and rotavirus if they fail to wash their hands properly.

  They also touched on the proper places to go to the bathroom. Since many of the schools (the one near Kalpohin health clinic being one of them) and most houses do not have private bathroom facilities, people will go to the bathroom wherever suits them. This is oftentimes in a grassy patch of a yard. Obviously, this can lead to MANY problems, a major one being the spread of disease. Apparently this is something that has to be stressed upon the children very often. It’s amazing to me how limited bathroom facilities are in the area. Most families do not have a bathroom in their house. Instead, there are “public” bathrooms located somewhere in town or villages where people can go to the bathroom in pits or holes that have been dug inside a building. However, considering those facilities are not right next to every person’s house or a school, many people resort to going in a bushy area or something of the sort! That was very eye-opening for me.

 My favorite part of the presentation came when the nurse was reviewing her talk with the kids and asked “So what will happen if you don’t properly wash your hands before eating or after going to the bathroom?” One of the P1 students raised his hand in answered, in earnest, “You’ll get AIDS!” All of the adults got a bit of a laugh from that, but it was then explained to the kids that that was not the way one could get AIDS, however, one could acquire many other diseases from improper hand washing.

My last day at the clinic, I observed the antenatal room where the midwife explained their process for examining the pregnant ladies. Since they don’t have any high-tech machines or anything, they can only do very basic examinations. However, they refer the women to the Teaching Hospital to get an ultrasound and they also give referrals to a nearby lab to get blood, urine, and stool tests. I was able to feel the fetuses of a few of the women and I also heard a few heartbeats through this little cone type thing they used. That part was pretty neat J

My time at the health clinic served as a very eye-opening experience for me. Although I’m aware that I would have to spend years here to encounter and understand even a portion of the problems that some people face here, I believe I have a much better understanding of the difficulties that arise in the area of sanitation and health in under-developed countries. I often find myself wishing I had they money or means to build proper bathrooms for each family and school I visit or wishing I could help all the beggars on the side of the road that are missing limbs or clearly suffering from some sort of disease. Although it is discouraging that, at the moment, I don’t really have the ability to do any such thing, it is slightly encouraging that I have chosen a profession that will someday, hopefully, allow me to do such a thing. If nothing else, this trip has helped me to validate my choice of a future career in the Health Field J

Food: My favorite topic J Yesterday, I ate at Mariama’s restaurant and she made me fufu and light soup. Fufu is basically a huge dumpling made of yam (my favorite!!) and I’m not sure what is in light soup exactly, but I do know that it has quite a kick! Overall, I would give it four out of five stars! I ate the whole huge bowl of it and enjoyed every bit, however I would have to say that I actually like banku better than fufu. Not that I wouldn’t eat fufu a thousand more time before I left, but I would probably eat banku a thousand and one more times ;)

As I mentioned earlier, when we were at the bishop’s house, his daughter made red-red and rice with groundnut soup and I can say that, without a doubt, it was my favorite meal I’ve had since I’ve been in Ghana. Probably because I LOVE groundnut soup (since it is essentially warm, soupy peanut butter) and fried plantains are to die for!! Yuuuuummmyy!!

Gifts: This week, Fatimata finished making the two dresses that I gave her cloth to make for me. They are both very, very cute! Although I might look a little goofy wearing one around in the United States, I fit in wonderfully wearing one here. Now, I have had three dresses made for me (I bought the cloth and then paid someone to sew the dress for me). Plus, two days ago, Madame Fati and Mariama had me pick out a third dress (which is a different style than the other three I have…which are all different styles themselves) that they gave to me as a gift from SCT. And yesterday, two of the teachers and one of the students from the JSS I taught at brought me a dress as a gift from the school (it was yet a different style than the other four!!). So, I now have more dresses than I think I’ve owned at one time in my life. Haha!! They are all very cute and I believe that my sister will probably want to be borrowing them when I get back ;) I also gave all of the gifts I brought from home to the people here that have helped me during my trip! That included Bro Zee and Fatimata and their children, Jehanfo, Madame Fati, Mariama, Razak, Kintampo, and Jon. And I’m pretty sure they all absolutely loved them J Madame Fati actually screeched and did a little dance, haha!! It made my day to see how happy they all were to get their gifts J I love giving people gifts, especially when they have helped me as much as everyone here has!!

I know my mom is probably wondering, so I will let her know that, yes, I have gotten gifts for almost everyone back home now ;) Madame Fati and Mariama took me to the Cultural center yesterday and a neat little shop called Colwood that sells a bunch of gifts that are made of tie-dyed fabric! It’s a very neat store J So, as long as I can fit everything in my suitcase, I will have lots of nice gifts for  my family upon my return. I made sure to save a bit of room in case I find some things in Accra that strike my fancy ;)

That leads me to my last topic: Final Plans: Tomorrow is my last full day in Tamale! And it will end with a potluck dinner for the SCT members (which I will allow to double as a small going away party!). Sunday I leave bright and early (boarding time 6-7:30 a.m) for Accra!!! I’ve already talked with Solomon who said he will be waiting for me at the airport (this time I vow not to panic if he is not there immediately when I land, and since I now know what he looks like that will make things much easier too). Between Sunday morning and Wednesday evening, I will get in as much touristy activities as possible (I’m leaving the scheduling up to Solomon) and Wednesday evening I will depart for home!!!

While I am going to be very sad to leave all the wonderful people I have met here in Ghana, I cannot say that I am not also extremely excited to see my family again and sleep in my nice, comfy bed (without tucking in a mosquito net ;) )!! I look forward to all these last few days hold and plan to make the most of every moment J!

Day 36

Today it started pouring rain around 9 o'clock this morning and now, at 1:45 in the afternoon, it is still at it. So, now that the power has reestablished itself, I will commence with my update of the weekend and my week so far.
Turns out, I ended up not going for a tour of Tamale or going shopping on Saturday afternoon, because much more exciting plans developed. While at her event, Chief ran into a lady from Louisville who teaches at Bellarmine who was headed to Mole National Game Reserve for the weekend with a group of friends!! After a bit of plan making, and some very hurried packing (which was more just throwing random articles of clothing into my bag), I was on my way to meet Angela, the Louisvillian, and her group of friends from Accra for a trip to Mole. The group consisted of Angela and five of her American friends from Dagara Music Centre in Accra. We all piled into an SUV they had rented, along with the driver they had hired to take us there, and started on our way. About 15 minutes into our drive, we turned off the paved road and onto a very rough and bumpy dirt road that lasted for the next two or three hours. The driver was somewhat....reckless, I guess you could say. Although the bumps, and cattle, and sheep, and people on bikes don't seem to slow many of the drivers down here, so I guess you could just say he drove like a typical Ghanaian. We, on the other hand, tried to make the most of our 4 hour roller coaster ride :) Angela and I sat in the very back while three of her friends, Alex, Sarah, and Tad, sat in the middle, and Griffin (the mastermind behind all the planning and such) sat in the front with the driver. The rest of the group didn't talk a whole lot, but Angela and I really hit it off and managed to find things to talk about or laugh at for the majority of the trip.
The scenery was absolutely beautiful because we were pretty far out from any urban area, so there were a ton of green fields and trees and small villages with people going about their daily routines (all outside). As we were getting close, Angela informed me that one little detail she forgot to mention on the phone was that we would be staying in a tree house out in the wilderness of the national forest for at least the first night, but not to worry, we would have an armed guard to look out below while we (tried) to sleep :) This was a little bit of a different set up from the hotel room that I had been expected, but there wasn't a whole lot I could do about it at that point, and, plus, it sounded pretty neat!
 Fortunately, before we headed to the tree house, we stopped at the lodge area where they had a pool, restaurant, bar, bathrooms (with toilet paper), and a place to sit and lookout over one of the watering holes. We ordered dinner and enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL sunset while we waited for our meals to be prepared. While we were waiting, a baboon came running up towards the eating area, which was a tad frightening, but someone shooed it away; so it went and joined another baboon and a baby baboon in a nearby tree and contented itself on just watching us go about our business (which was mostly just watching them all sitting in a tree!). After dinner--and a huge plate of fresh pineapple for dessert--we hopped in the car and headed to the information desk where we picked up our tour guide/armed guard and some sleeping mats and mosquito nets. Fortunately, the driver took us to the tree house (since it was pitch black and I would have had an anxiety attack if we had to walk) before he left.
The tree house was basically just and elevated wooden porch with wooden walls...and no roof...that wrapped around a tree. There were holes cut into the walls as windows and, luckily, a set of stairs to climb up to the house (trying to lug my bag up a ladder would have been near impossible). There are few things I would have packed (and not have packed) if I would have known that our area of residence here was going to be in the middle of nowhere and up in a tree---such as, a headlight, a blanket, less clothes, and possibly the pocket knife---but, I made do just fine without them :). We all stayed for quite a while just taking in the sounds (which there were a TON of) and the stars (which there were even more of!!). It is amazing how many stars you can see when you're that far out :) Tad even spotted what we believed to be the Milky Way!!! The sleeping situation was not as impressive as the sights and sounds, but I managed to get a few hours of shut eye on the thin little yoga mat, and passed the night without a single bug bite :)!! In the morning, the birds had replaced the frogs and insects as our little symphony, which sounded just as fantastic as the night sounds :)
I have no idea what time we were all up, but it was well before the sun! That is when I found out that we were taking a walking safari back to the lodge area so that we could try to see the animals before they made their way too far into the park (apparently we were only about 2 miles or so in). This was exciting and all, but the bag I had brought with me (while not huge) was definitely not the most fit for a trek in the forest. Everyone else had packed accordingly in hiking backpacks. Then again, they knew the plans ahead of time!!! However, I quickly found a comfortable way to carry my stuff and we were off on our morning adventure.
We walked for a little ways before we sighted any wildlife. Our first sighting was just a glimpse of an antelope before it took off into the cover of some trees, but not long after we saw a much larger group of antelope that stayed still long enough for us to snap a few pictures before they darted off. A short while later, we came across a huge group of wart hogs, which are probably one of my least favorite animals, but even they look pretty neat and impressive in the wild!! There were quite a few babies, and unlike the antelope, these suckers stood their ground and offered us a pretty substantial staring match :) Christopher, our tour guide, next took us to the other large watering hole (there are two large watering holes in the park) and let us rest up in a lookout things with some of the guards. They told us that they have around the clock guards on duty due to poachers :/ Apparently it is such a prevalent problem that there is a school nearby for the children of men killed poaching. That made me sad. While we were resting and looking at the watering hole, we were all pretty sure we saw a crocodile just barely surface on the water, but it never came up enough for us to be totally sure. We did some really pretty birds and some more antelope though! Christopher had thought we would see some elephants there, but he said they must not have made it that far today yet and we would try to meet them on our way back to camp.
On our trek back to the camp, Christopher took us past a pile of bones that were from an elephant that had dies a few years earlier. It had wandered into a nearby village and been shot by the people there and had then managed to make it back to the watering hole to die. Apparently elephants prefer to die by water. The bones were gigantic!!!
As we approached the lodge area, we found three elephants on the other side of a little river munching on some tree branches. It seemed that they were used to human presence, and so we were able to sit down next to the river to snap pictures and take in the magnificent scene!!! As we were sitting there enjoying the activities of the three elephants, more started emerging from a forested area off to our right. You would think it would have been a noisy procession, but they were literally almost silent!!!!! That sort of creeped me out. haha. But it was a really neat thing to see. We sat there for quite a while just watching them all hanging out, eating leaves, and covering themselves in mud and water :) :) :) Eventually, they started heading towards the forest, and we started to get extremely hungry (it was about 11 and we'd been up since about 6 or so with no breakfast!!), so we headed up the lodge.
As we were finishing breakfast and trying to decide what activities we wanted to do for the day, it began to rain. Pretty soon, it was pouring so hard we could barely see out past the pool, so that limited our activities. We passed a good deal of the afternoon hanging out at a table (that was outside but under ample cover ) just chatting, drinking coffee, playing music (that was mostly Angela) and relaxing. Unfortunately, there were no rooms for us to move our stuff into, but then again, it was pretty refreshing to just sit outside and relax with the rain. Around 4 or so, it cleared up enough to walk around and not long after we got a room to put our stuff in. We decided to just stay in one of the "dorm" rooms, which was a room with three bunk beds and a bathroom with a toilet and a shower. After cleaning up a bit, Angela went a walk along a little path and saw some monkeys, antelope, and warthogs!!
At dinner, the group decided that they would join me on the 4 o'clock A.M. bus back to Tamale (mostly bc I think they could sense that I was a little apprehensive about taking it back by myself, but also because it was the cheapest method) and so we headed off to bed. Once again, I had a rough time sleeping, and before long, it was time to rise and shine (although I'm not sure I was doing much shining at that hour of the morning). It was still really dark on our walk to the bus stop, and it took us a while to wake up the driver who we realized was sleeping inside. Finally, around 4:30 or so, we were ready to roll. At first, the only people on the bus were our group plus two others, but that soon changed and before long, I was squeezed between Angela and a man with very large, very strong, very heavy shoulders that leaned on my and squished me the second he fell asleep, which was approximately 10 minutes after he sat down ;) However, his weight kept me from bouncing around too much :) Luckily, the bus driver was much more cautious than our driver on the way there, and I managed to stay in my seat with more ease (seat belts are rarely used and sometimes even non-existent in most cars here). Around 7 or so, Angela and I had breakfast in the form of Cliff bars that I had actually thought to bring along in my hurried packing. I managed to doze a few times, but my neck got pretty stiff pretty quickly so I gave that up. Around 9, we arrived in Tamale, and remembering that 9 was usually the time that Jon goes to pick up Madame Fati from her house and take her to the palace, I called Madame Fati. Sure enough, Jon had just picked her, and they came to the bus stop to get me. We gave the group a ride to the bus station on the other side of town that they needed to go to (there are no rules against packing  5 people into the bed of a truck in Ghana!) so that they wouldn't have to pay a taxi. I have Angela my bag of snacks and unopened bottle of water to hold her over on their long journey back to Accra. (I later found out that they didn't get back until 2 A.M--that's almost 24 hours of traveling on very uncomfortable buses..yuck!!).
The second I arrived back at the palace, I had to change into better clothes (my sleep/travel shorts and t-shirt weren't proper attire) to accompany Chief and her elders to call on another local Chief. This time, there were a TON of elders and spectators packed into the greeting room and there was even dancing and a lot more drumming than usual! Prof told me that this is the more traditional way of greeting. By the time we got back from the event, I was exhausted, but I managed to make it through lunch before I came back to my room to shower and nap. The "nap" lasted about 4 hours, but it was a much needed four hours!! And that concluded my adventurous weekend (which actually ran over into Monday morning!).
Now for the usual categorized updates:

Food: Monday night we had yam balls with some kind of steak and cheese sauce. Way beyond five stars i  my book!!!! They are by far my new-found favorite :) So good, in fact, that Chief and I reheated the leftovers for breakfast and ate them with butter, honey, and bananas! We decided that we should talk Mariama into making breakfast yam balls since the ones she made that night were savory yam balls and intended for dinner consumption ;))

Health Work: Yesterday and today I visited Tamale Central Health clinic to observe their "disease control" center. Since the clinic is for Maternal and Child Health, their disease control center consists of a nurse giving a bunch of babies a bunch of immunization shots, and therefore, ultimately, a bunch of crying, screaming babies....NOT my favorite scene by any means. However, the experience is still teaching me a lot. The immunizations and services that the clinic offers are free to the public and privately funded. The nurses are paid by the govt. The clinic is just one decently sized room. In the back right corner is the registration table where mothers can pick up a book with information on child health and a sheet for immunization records if they don't already have one. In the back left corner is the counseling center where the mothers get vitamins for their babies and information on child health. In the front left corner is the weighing station where Auntie Margaret works...I like her! And in the front  right corner, right next to the door is the immunization station where a nurse sits in a chair and the mother's hold the babies while she gives them their shots or drops or whatever they need. There are no partitions or sinks for hand washing or Germ-X bottles, or anything of the sort that I have grown used to seeing at such places in the U.S. This was very surprising. The mother's just sit on a little bench and hold their child and their child's leg or arm or wherever he/she is getting the shot while the nurse just goes about her business. I've gotten to the point where I don't feel tempted to look away, but even so, I can confidently say that this is not the particular area of public health that I would want to work in!!

School: A brighter topic!!! This is my last week of teaching, sadly, because I have to make my visits to the health clinics in the mornings which would be the times that I would also be teaching :(( Tuesday I had my regular lesson which got cut a little short bc of a meeting I had to go to with Chief. However, I managed to finish my genetics section and get a good deal into Infectious Diseases :)) I enjoyed teaching that. Yesterday, i went over to teach, but the girls were having an all day rehearsal for the talent show they were supposed to have today. I decided to stay and watch the rehearsals anyway. As usual, there were always more than a few girls at my side and more than a few of them asked me if I would dance during the dancing part of the rehearsal. After seeing their form of dancing, I politely declined!! It was really fun to watch and spend more time with the girls. I told them I would bring my camera over today and take lots of pictures, but the rain ruined  the whole program so I didn't get a chance :( I will find time next week to go over and take pictures and stuff with them, though, because I will not leave without heaps of pictures with all of them. Every time I go over to the school, I fall more in love with all the girls. I'm so, so, so, soooooo sad to have to stop teaching :( I enjoyed it SO much!!! Now at least I know it is something I MUST do in my future. Although I don't think teaching American students this age would have quite the same feeling, I know that I will definitely end up teaching some level of students, somewhere, someday :)) I'm definitely going to miss these girls more than words can say when I leave :(!

Miscellaneous: The other evening, I mustered up my courage and walked around to some nearby shops before dinner. I went into one shop that had some really pretty paintings hung outside. A young guy was working and I started talking to him about the paintings. Turns out, he painted all of them!! His name was Hussein and he went to art school at Polytechnic, a college up the road. As he was showing some of the paintings and giving me some prices, the guy that owned a little convenience store next door came over with his four month old daughter, Esther (I asked her name). Without me even asking, he let me old her! :) She was tiny and absolutely adorable!!! I got a picture with Hussein, Esther and the dad before I left. It was really nice to go out by myself and meet some nice people :) I'm glad I went. I told Hussein that I would come back so that he can paint my portrait (which he also does) and I look forward to doing so!!

Each One Reach One

Each one reach one. That is a recruiting phrase we used in my company prior to my retirement.  It was a very effective marketing & recruiting strategy. Very simply, we wanted our agents and managers (more than 2,000 people) to recruit just one  person who could and would contribute to our company’s bottom line growth and expansion plans.

Well, I thought to myself the other day, SOME of the Sister Cities of Louisville members have been doing that for years. Wouldn’t it be great if we could get ALL of our membership to tell the great stories about Sister Cities and why our grassroots organization is the key to building understanding and mutual cooperation worldwide.

Now, before you go, “sure, sure, yeah, yeah”. I am living proof of each one reach one. Terry Stacy has been involved with Sister Cities AND a  gazillion student exchanges for — well—  a gazillion years.  She is a former president of our organization, was a Montpellier co-chair for many years, AND…she happens to be my mother-in-law. I no sooner “joined” her family, that I was being “encouraged” to join another family — Sister Cities of Louisville.

Roberta Hershberg and Sharon Receveur are two more vivid examples of the people who sing the praises of the Sister Cities mission. The individuals they reach, soon become supporters of Sister Cities. I can’t begin to name all the people who have been reaching out over the years encouraging membership. However, I urge ALL members of Sister Cities to begin recruiting to help our organization grow and achieve even greater accomplishments.

Sister Cities of Louisville may be one of the best kept secrets in town, but if all of our members begin to reach out and recruit, we’ll no longer be that best kept secret.

I've Somewhat Lost Track of the Days, but Here's and Update!

I am taking advantage of the fact that I have electricity and internet access (and running water, but that is not pertinent here) at the same time, to give a little update of the many activities taking place in Ghana at the moment. It is a bit hard to keep track of what has happened when, so, once again, I'll split events into categories!

First up, school: I think I love it more with every class I have :) The girls are still super attentive and interested in my lessons (which may have a small bit to do with the color of the skin and my age, but I will take what I can get). I have finished food and nutrition with one of my classes and moved on to heredity. Due to the cancelling of Friday classes on the past 3 Fridays--every Friday I've been teaching--I'm a bit further behind in my other class, something that my obsessive organizational character is having a bit of a hard time managing ;) This Friday, the teachers of the ZSN Jr. HS played the teachers of the primary school in a football (soccer) match. I joined the girls in cheering on the teachers, after turning down many an offer to join in the (all male) soccer match! I thoroughly enjoyed watching the match with the girls, though, and I was never at a loss for company or entertainment during the 45 minutes I spent there ;) They are all very fond of my hair....and skin, and clothes, and way of pronouncing things, and all else. One of the other science teachers told me this week that when he was teaching the girls during extra classes one day he asked me what they thought of my lessons and they all said they REALLY enjoyed my lessons and liked me as a teacher. After verifying that he was not just telling me what I wanted to hear :), I felt really good about myself! He said they all said they really, reallly don't want me to leave!

This week I also finalized my plans to start some public health work (after a little pushing and prodding..the necessary protocol for getting things rolling in Ghana). Starting Monday, I will be visiting three different health facilities to observe their disease control centers and hopefully learn a thing or two about what I plan to do in my future!!! I'm really excited about this. I may also get some time to observe some classes or activities at the medical school with the help of some of Wyatt's friends :) I'm anxious to get these things started because my busy-bodied self is having a hard time adjusting to the slow-paced movement of Ghanaian Days :)

Food: I tried Banku the other night at a restaurant in town. It is a sort of dumpling made from fermented maize that is eaten with a sort of soup. My choice was banku with ground nut sauce and chicken. Technically, this is supposed to be eaten with your hands (even more technically, your right hand), however, to avoid causing a scene and a huge mess, I requested a fork and knife :) Adnan, Chief's secretary who took me to dinner, proved very efficient at consuming the meal with only his right hand however, and I was very impressed. I would give the banku three and half to four stars out of five. Honestly, anything with that much starch would have to be pretty terrible to rank below a three in my book, but I actually really enjoyed the taste too :))

Visits to Chiefs: This week, I went with Chief and her entourage to visit the Choggu Naa at his palace. The Choggu Naa is actually the co-chair of SCT from what I gather, so it was nice to meet him. This reception was a bit more fun than the previous two because I believe Chief and the Choggu Naa are a bit closer and he also seemed a bit more laid back or something. Also, one of his elders was quite the jokster and he had the whole group rolling quite a few times (I didn't really follow, but I did enjoy his dancing at one point). The most interesting part was when the Choggu Naa offered Chief a welcoming gift of about 10 yams and 2 guinea fowl. The guinea fowl were handed to Bro Zee who handed them to Adnan who was right next to me. I could have sworn that one of them blinked when Bro Zee handed them off, but I figured I was just imagining things. Then, as Adnan was standing there holding them both upside down by their feet, I saw (much to my horror) one of them strut their neck just a bit and realized (much to my horror, again) that they were both still alive and most likely just in extreme shock...same as me, only I was right side up!!!! I'm not sure exactly what they all went through when we returned to the palace, but I do know that one of them ended up on the table (in a much altered state) last night at dinner. I can now tell you what my least favorite meal has been during my trip ;) Though as was raised in what could be termed a farm town, I am most definitely NOT a farm girl as you can see!

Electricity and Appliances: Now here's a funny story. A few nights back (the night Adnan took me into town for dinner) I returned to the Palace and decided to take a shower before going to bed. During my shower, all of the power went out in this entire part of Tamale. Fortunately, I know my way around my room well enough and I am always certain to know where my headlamp is that no injuries were suffered while I was left in complete darkness for a few minutes. Then, the power stayed off for another two days or so!! After two nights in a stifling a hot room with no A/C or fan and two days of not being able to charge any electronics, Chief decided it best that we move to a hotel across town (in a part with power) until the power was fixed here. We left around 6 and ate dinner at the restaurant. Just as we were finishing, we got a call from someone at the palace informing us that the power had been turned back on! How convenient! We decided we would rather just stay at the hotel and return to a nice cool, lighted palace in the morning :) At the moment, I am sitting in my room, with electricity (although no A/C bc my unit seems to be malfunctioning, but at least I have a fan) and internet access (still with the help of Chief's modem, but internet nonetheless) and a supply of water!!! This is a very rare occurrence!!

One other thing that falls into a category of its own, which may be named "My Crazier Moments": I woke up at 5:30 to go for a run this morning, because according to the people here, that is when locals work out, especially on Saturdays. I believe I saw approximately four other people doing any sort of physical activity, but it was nice to get some exercise, and it was still a bearable temperature to do so in! I imagine that I will be needing a nap this afternoon at some point, though.

Today Chief's schedule is pretty open, which means I may have access to a vehicle or a tour guide, and so hopefully I will be able to get a little tour of Tamale and possibly even do a bit of shopping. I know there are more than a few people who will be expecting gifts when I arrive back home...as if I'm not a gift enough myself ;)!!