second day of classes and glona

ughhh class was hard today. our first professor didn't show up until 45 minutes after he was supposed to and even though we were supposed to have another lecture on time after the first, he taught for the full amount of time (an hour and fifteen min) about the culture of ghana. he mostly talked about how everyone is very communal and usually the most successful member of the family takes care of everyone else. then he spoke about female genitalia mutilation and how it occurs in some parts of northern ghana, but not as severe as eastern africa. the second professor spoke clearly, but SLOWly. he spoke for 45 minutes longer than he was supposed to. unfortunately, i've already learned about the akan speaking states of the pre-colonial ghana region from my african history classes at jmu and that is excatly what that professor talked about for over two hours. it was cool seeing how the information i learned directly related to my trip, but it was pretty boring, seeing as how i knew it already.

we went to local place for lunch because their sign advertized pizza AND their menu said they had many different kinds, but when we went to order the man said there was no pizza. ha. so we had sandwiches. last night i had a local dish that is really popular, called fu-fu, which is dough that you use to scoop up soup and meat. it was reallllllllyyy spicy. i struggled through most of it, but the meat (goat) was great. i think i'll try banku (bawn-koo) tonight which is fermented corn in a dough instead of just regular dough.

WE FINALLY WENT TO GLONA! its about fifteen minutes further from our hotel than new horizons, but totally worth the drive. we only toured the classrooms today (all five of them) so that we will be able to make a decision about where we want to volunteer; half the class is going to new horizons and the other half to glona. the kids were so sweet. they all seemed very excited to see us. all of the classes are taught by team teachers, usually a local ghanaian and then a foreign volunteer. three of the classes were taught by german volunteers who stay a year in ghana teaching. i'm going to start volunteering for real on monday and i can't wait!


alsoooo, last but definitely not least, HAPPYYYY BIRTHDAY SHEA SHEA!!!!! i'm so excited that youre ten! i hoped you like the coloring book! don't color it in too fast. i miss you and love you very very much! (and of course got you great presents from ghana that i'm bringing back) i love you!