Tuesday, December 22, 2009

We're Dreaming of a White Christmas


Hello bloggers!!!

Megan and Katie here (we’re going to tag team this blog, it’s been a while since we’ve written a blog together).

We’re just sitting here enjoying a nice Ghanaian biscuit on Tuesday afternoon, 3 days before Christmas… precious babe Jesus is on his way, but don’t forget, Katie’s Bday is first (December 24th)…. She paves the way for little JC. Just in case you were wondering, there’s no snow in Ghana so we tried building a snowman with the dirt but it failed miserably. Then, we tried cutting down a palm tree, but the ornaments wouldn’t stay on the branches. Failure #2… So instead we are singing “White Christmas” and truly dreaming that there’s snow. Then we go to church where they sing the opening hymn to the tune of “Jingle Bells” (But it’s not the words to jingle bells, it’s the words to a church song, ironic) so naturally, Katie and I find ourselves singing “Jingle Bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh, hey!” and no one notices because they’re singing their own words. It really is a nice set-up… we get our Christmas song fix while at church.

And just in case you’re all wondering, because we know you are, Katie and I spent yesterday decorating the dinging room for Christmas. We must say, we outdid ourselves. If you closed the blinds and ignored the heat you would think you were in Rockafeller Center on Christmas morning.

So school ended last Thursday and Katie and I took off on Friday morning for an adventure in the village of Hohoe. 1. We had no idea what we were doing. 2. We didn’t arrive until midnight, 4 hours late (thanks to the marvelous public transportation). 3. We met our guardian angel, George who took us in for the night. 4. We saw the most breathtaking waterfalls (largest in West Africa). 5. We fed Mona monkeys bananas from our hands in the jungle.

We discovered the joys of hopping from one tro-tro to another as our means of transportation the whole 4 hours back to Accra. We decided to try this method out after the “organized” STC Bus from Accra made us 4 hours late on the way to Hohoe.

So, back to George… naturally, arriving in a tiny village at midnight means no taxis running, so no way to get to our hotel… now what? Well that’s when George comes in. He recognized the look of desperation on our lost faces and offered to let us stay with his family for the night. It took us about .3 seconds to agree. We were exhausted. George literally gave us his bed to sleep in, fed us eggs in the morning for breakfast, fetched us water to bath with, and personally walked us to the taxi station in the morning so we could get to our hotel.

Once checked in, we headed off for the Agumatsa Wildlife Sanctuary where we met a guide named Samuel who hiked the 45 minutes with us into the jungle to the Wli Waterfalls. We paid Samuel 5 cedis to leave us at the waterfalls to explore on our own. For two hours Katie and I swam, and just took in the beauty of the falls. They were amazing. Such power and awesomeness. It literally took our breath away when we got close enough to the falls. Of course I thought it would wise to just swim in my underwear so that I didn’t have to hike with wet clothes on the way back. It was all fine and dandy for the first 2 hours until a group of picnickers came all of the sudden… oh well. They didn’t seemed phased by the crazy American in her underwear. There were hundreds of butterflies in every color imaginable and fruit bats by the thousands.

After our hike back to the hotel, we ordered our first real meal since Thursday night. We were famished. Other than the eggs at George’s house, we had been running on granola bars and Finding Nemo fruit snacks. Our meal was followed by a 4.5 hour nap and then a quick snack of French fries, ice cream, and pineapple. And back to sleep we went.

Waking up at 5:30am, we departed our hotel for Logba where we jumped on motor bikes that took us to the Tafi-Atome Monkey Sanctuary. Here, our guide Daniel took us to the jungle where we fed Mona monkeys. Yes, Katie, miss I hate animals, even fed a monkey and enjoyed it. I was pretty much in a state of ecstasy.

From here, we began our long journey back to Accra. Once back to our familiar stomping ground we found some pizza, and met a family from America who was in Ghana on vacation from Nigeria. They live on a compound in Nigeria because of the husband’s job with Shevron Oil. It was so nice to talk some other Americans.

Anyways, we are safely back in Kasoa and definitely got a true taste of Ghana this weekend.

Only 2 more days until Katie’s Birthday and Adam, Michael, and Jess arrive!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And Happy New Year!

Much Love,

Katie and Meg

We're Dreaming of a White Christmas

Hello bloggers!!!

Megan and Katie here (we’re going to tag team this blog, it’s been a while we’ve done that).

We’re just sitting here enjoying a nice Ghanaian biscuit on Tuesday afternoon, 3 days before Christmas… precious babe Jesus is on his way, but don’t forget, Katie’s Bday is first (December 24th)…. She paves the way for little JC. Just in case you were wondering, there’s no snow in Ghana so we tried building a snowman with the dirt but it failed miserably. Then, we tried cutting down a palm tree, but the ornaments wouldn’t stay on the branches. Failure #2… So instead we are singing “White Christmas” and truly dreaming that there’s snow. Then we go to church where they sing the opening hymn to the tune of “Jingle Bells” (But it’s not the words to jingle bells, it’s the words to a church song, ironic) so naturally, Katie and I find ourselves singing “Jingle Bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh, hey!” and no one notices because they’re singing their own words. It really is a nice set-up… we get our Christmas song fix while at church.

And just in case you’re all wondering, because we know you are, Katie and I spent yesterday decorating the dinging room for Christmas. We must say, we outdid ourselves. If you closed the blinds and ignored the heat you would think you were in Rockafeller Center on Christmas morning.

So school ended last Thursday and Katie and I took off on Friday morning for an adventure in the village of Hohoe. 1. We had no idea what we were doing. 2. We didn’t arrive until midnight, 4 hours late (thanks to the marvelous public transportation). 3. We met our guardian angel, George who took us in for the night. 4. We saw the most breathtaking waterfalls (largest in West Africa). 5. We fed Mona monkeys bananas from our hands in the jungle.

We discovered the joys of hopping from one tro-tro to another as our means of transportation the whole 4 hours back to Accra. We decided to try this method out after the “organized” STC Bus from Accra made us 4 hours late on the way to Hohoe.

So, back to George… naturally, arriving in a tiny village at midnight means no taxis running, so no way to get to our hotel… now what? Well that’s when George comes in. He recognized the look of desperation on our lost faces and offered to let us stay with his family for the night. It took us about .3 seconds to agree. We were exhausted. George literally gave us his bed to sleep in, fed us eggs in the morning for breakfast, fetched us water to bath with, and personally walked us to the taxi station in the morning so we could get to our hotel.

Once checked in, we headed off for the Agumatsa Wildlife Sanctuary where we met a guide named Samuel who hiked the 45 minutes with us into the jungle to the Wli Waterfalls. We paid Samuel 5 cedis to leave us at the waterfalls to explore on our own. For two hours Katie and I swam, and just took in the beauty of the falls. They were amazing. Such power and awesomeness. It literally took our breath away when we got close enough to the falls. Of course I thought it would wise to just swim in my underwear so that I didn’t have to hike with wet clothes on the way back. It was all fine and dandy for the first 2 hours until a group of picnickers came all of the sudden… oh well. They didn’t seemed phased by the crazy American in her underwear. There were hundreds of butterflies in every color imaginable and fruit bats by the thousands.

After our hike back to the hotel, we ordered our first real meal since Thursday night. We were famished. Other than the eggs at George’s house, we had been running on granola bars and Finding Nemo fruit snacks. Our meal was followed by a 4.5 hour nap and then a quick snack of French fries, ice cream, and pineapple. And back to sleep we went.

Waking up at 5:30am, we departed our hotel for Logba where we jumped on motor bikes that took us to the Tafi-Atome Monkey Sanctuary. Here, our guide Daniel took us to the jungle where we fed Mona monkeys. Yes, Katie, miss I hate animals, even fed a monkey and enjoyed it. I was pretty much in a state of ecstasy.

From here, we began our long journey back to Accra. Once back to our familiar stomping ground we found some pizza, and met a family from America who was in Ghana on vacation from Nigeria. They live on a compound in Nigeria because of the husband’s job with Shevron Oil. It was so nice to talk some other Americans.

Anyways, we are safely back in Kasoa and definitely got a true taste of Ghana this weekend.

Only 2 more days until Katie’s Birthday and Adam, Michael, and Jess arrive!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And Happy New Year!

Much Love,

Katie and Meg

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

"Waiting"


Hello All,
Katie here. It has definitely been a long time. I hope this blog post finds everyone doing well. Things have been pretty busy here in Ghana and I am going to try my hardest to keep you up on everything. As for us saying we were going to do this weekly... haha whoops! But as we are in the 3rd week of Advent, and temperatures averaging in the high 90's... I am still not believing that Christmas is 9 days away.
Life in the classroom is going great. Since I got back from the States, Meg and I have been doing lots of fun things with the kids. We made caterpillars after reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar, started animals in science and the kids are loving it, keeping up with addition facts in math, and teaching the students about Advent in Religious and Moral Education. Meg has been giving them a new prayer each week, and we light candles in the room. The kids are OBSESSED with the candles and had a slight heart attack when they saw a green candle... (we are using green because we couldn't find pink). It is the little things that crack me up with these kids.
Today in school we had our Christmas Play that Meg busted her butt working on. It was AMAZING. The kids did an awesome job and it was adorable. I am sure she wants to talk about it, but I just had to mention it because it was not only hilarious but so good for only 6-10 year olds. I posted a pic of the wisemen from the play... Samuel I., Nana, and Isaac N.
The title of this blog post is WAITING, coming from the meaning of Advent, and describing the feeling Meg and I share right now. We are both not only WAITING for Christmas, but waiting for the end of this first term in the classroom, and waiting for our visitors to arrive in Ghana.
Tomorrow is our last day before break and the kids call it "Our Day". Basically, they come to school from 10-2 to eat, play games, and receive gifts. I am pretty excited to see them each get their own bag of little presents. You have to remember there is no Santa Clause here, so this is most likely all they will receive this holiday season.

Meg and I have big travel plans coming up so I am going to wait to blog about that when we get back. We are going to Wli Falls in the eastern region of Ghana. It will just be us two so wish us luck, and stay tuned for an update.

Other than that, life is good. I am still thrilled to be here. Even though it is disappointing being in 90 degree weather when it should be snowing... to have Christmas here is going to be something to remember forever.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

10 More Hours


Ahhhh Hello everyone! We’re back in action. Sorry it’s been so long since the last blog update. There are new pictures posted on the Picasa page so check those out.

Since you last heard from us we’ve had celebration after celebration. Including a genuine Thanksgiving dinner thanks to the sisters’ hard work in gather and preparing all that they could to make Katie, myself, and Sister Veronica feel like we were at home in the States. We have turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, pumpkin and apple pie, and even pilgrim and Indian decorations, compliments of Katie and Comfort’s artistic abilities. From the bottom of our hearts, Katie and I want you all to know how thankful we are for each and every one of you who supports us!

We’ve had the past two Fridays off of school due to national holidays. December 4th is national Farmer’s Day. It is a day honoring the farmers who saved the people of Ghana during a drought and famine in the 80’s. Without their hard work the country would not have survived.

Katie made it back safely to Ghana after returning home to be with her family as they buried her grandfather. She was so happy to see everyone and had a fabulous time in Florida (she’s got the battle wounds to prove it: during an intense game of kickball on the beach she wiped out when rounding third base). Plus, she got to drive, eat a big Mac, and spend time with the girls from Saint Mary’s who surprised her at the airport (Ash, Jen, Bender, Lindsay). The kids were so cute when I told them why Katie wasn’t going to be at school for the week. We said a little prayer together and a few of them even cried. They are such little “Love Bugs.”

Needless to say, I simply “survived” 10 days alone in Ghana. Definitely missed Katie a lot and was worn out by the time she returned. Handling the classroom alone was a big task. It’s not like handling a classroom at home in the US alone. At home, when it’s time to take the kids to art, music, gym, computers, library, there’s a teacher waiting there to take them off the classroom teachers’ hands for a short time. This gives the teachers time to plan and get ready for the next lesson. NOT the case here. We have them from 7am-4pm straight with a 30 minutes break for lunch. We teach art, music, computers, library, PE… EVERYTHING. So it’s go, go, go all the time without any prep. breaks.

We’ve recently been having a lot of electricity shortages. We’ve been whole days without power and then there’s some days when the power goes on and off continually throughout the day. So this has made communication tough the past few weeks. I’ve ben talking to my mom, dad, Michael, Adam, and Jess quite a bit though to get them ready to come to Ghana. Only 19 more days!!! Woo hoo! I CANNOT WAIT for them to be here.

Oh, just a side note, I did contract ringworm, but it’s pretty much cleared up now. So that’s good. I’ve still been running a few days a week and actually starting to enjoy it (for those of you who know me, you know that I hate running, and I only ever did it b/c I felt guilty if I didn’t exercise, amazing!)

Sister Theresa returned from the rehabilitation hospital last week with her new prosthetic leg. She is doing well and making good progress every day as she learns to walk again.

Some funny things that have happened in the classroom recently:
1. Well, one of our little dears, Samuel A., came to school with new sandels. He’s so proud of them. They are actually girls sandals but who cares. They are little red rubber sandals with a blue buckle. Adorable.
2. This past week, while the kids were working in groups on animals, we were telling them, “okay, 10 more minutes. Okay, 5 more minutes.” Etc. Then Nathaniel comes up to us and, very seriously, asks… “Please Madame, can we have 10 more hours? Just 10? (he meant 10 minutes but it made Katie and I laugh pretty much for about 5 minutes)
3. Nicolina shouted “shit” in the middle of class this week. It’s a pretty loosely used word around here and it doesn’t mean the same thing as it does at home. I don’t even think the kids really know what it means other than they hear it from other people. So we had a good laugh over that too.
4. The kids also decided (very logically) that since I am approximately 1.5 months older than Madame Katie, I will be dying first. I tried to get them to explain their reasoning and they said it’s b/c I’m older. So lucky you, Katie! Anyways, one little girl, Elizabeth O. got really worked up about the whole thing while we were discussing it and stood up and shouted, “NO ONE IS DYING!” That put an end to that. I found it pretty amusing.
5. I was reading a chapter of “Charlotte’s Web” to the kids and all of the sudden I feel this little hand rubbing my calf. It’s Samuel A. I don’t really shave my legs in Ghana. So Samuel finds it really amazing that I have blonde hair on my legs. I don’t even know if he noticed he was doing it, but I just kept reading as if nothing was wrong and in the back on my mind I’m thinking, “oh, my God! This kids is fascinated with my leg hair” I almost lost it!

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for us here in Ghana. We need it!

Love, Katie and Meg