akwaaba! (welcome)
The flight went really well. The take off was much more smooth than any flight i've ever been on. we got a quick meal and then i fell asleep for probably five hours. then i got to watch alice in wonderland and valentine's day. we arrived in ghana and got through customs just in time for ghana to score their winning (and only) goal against serbia. the entire airport errupted into yelling, singing, music, dancing, and blow horns. it was amazing! and really loud. we got to stay at the airport until the game was finished, which they won, and was followed by more singing, music and dancing.
on the way to the van with all of our luggage, we were hounded by men trying to earn (or bum) a few dollars or anything they could off of us. our guide (awuku...ah-woo-koo) made sure all our luggage was safe. he told us the men were trying to make enough money to go down to south africa and see some games.
the drive to the hotel was really interesting. there are some beautiful houses followed by areas of not so beautiful houses. the nice houses, we were told sell for around 600,000$, were surrounded by huge walls topped with barbed wire or broken glass. everyone waved to us as we drove by, and there were lots of kids playing soccer in the streets.
the hotel is nice; i'm in a triple room with two girls from long island. we have a tv and fridge and the bed is comfortable. i haven't figured out how to use the phone with the calling card yet, but i'll probably try to tackle that after dinner. for dinner i ordered grilled lobster with rice. we have a big menu that we can choose from and around 5pm a sheet goes to all the rooms to take our orders and we eat at 7pm.
tomorrow we are leaving the hotel at 9am to go to the US Embassy. i'm defintiely going to bed right after dinner, i'm exhausted!
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Preparing
Now that I'm home for good before I leave for Ghana, I'm starting to get nervous about packing everything I need. There's soo much I need to do. I'm getting excited because I just got my lecture syllabus for classes and some information about the school we're teaching at, Glona.
Here's a website that has some videos and pictures of the school, as well as information on the project we're joining to raise money to build the children their own school:
www.theglonaproject.com
In a nutshell, Glona is a program for children who cannot afford to go to a normal school, or who can't make it to school during normal hours because they must work for their family. The program borrows five classrooms from a private school. The program is grown rapidly, however, and is straining the resources of the private school. The Glona Project is trying to raise money so that a new school can be built specifically for the program.
During the study abroad portion of my trip (the first four weeks), I'm going to be taking classes in the morning at a university in Accra, Ghana's capital city. We have two lectures a day and I have a giant book that I have to read chapters from before each lecture. Apparently the professors expect students to be very active learners, coming to class with prepared questions on the reading. After class we return to our hotel for lunch for an hour or so before we go to Glona. At Glona, we mostly play with the children but we also have the option of teaching portions or even full lessons. We have the opportunity to teach as much as we are comfortable with, but only what we're comfortable with. This schedule will go on for the first three weeks. In the final week of the study abroad, we travel all around Ghana.
If anyone is interested in learning about Ghana, this is a good website:
www.ghanaweb.com
click on the tab 'Country' for general facts and information
Here's a website that has some videos and pictures of the school, as well as information on the project we're joining to raise money to build the children their own school:
www.theglonaproject.com
In a nutshell, Glona is a program for children who cannot afford to go to a normal school, or who can't make it to school during normal hours because they must work for their family. The program borrows five classrooms from a private school. The program is grown rapidly, however, and is straining the resources of the private school. The Glona Project is trying to raise money so that a new school can be built specifically for the program.
During the study abroad portion of my trip (the first four weeks), I'm going to be taking classes in the morning at a university in Accra, Ghana's capital city. We have two lectures a day and I have a giant book that I have to read chapters from before each lecture. Apparently the professors expect students to be very active learners, coming to class with prepared questions on the reading. After class we return to our hotel for lunch for an hour or so before we go to Glona. At Glona, we mostly play with the children but we also have the option of teaching portions or even full lessons. We have the opportunity to teach as much as we are comfortable with, but only what we're comfortable with. This schedule will go on for the first three weeks. In the final week of the study abroad, we travel all around Ghana.
If anyone is interested in learning about Ghana, this is a good website:
www.ghanaweb.com
click on the tab 'Country' for general facts and information
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