Today, our group went to Ga West, a sister city to Grand Rapids. We looked specifically at their school system and visited a number of different primary schools and junior high schools.
This is a typical (less crowded) classroom in the public Primary Schools in Southern Ghana.We had a great time mingling with kids, asking them about their favorite subjects, answering questions about America, and being interested in their lives. In each classroom the man who was leading our group from school to school would yell "TIME TO GO!" after five minutes of interaction. It really started to bother me that we waltzed into these classrooms, spent five minutes with children and teenagers who we were genuinely interested in getting to know, and then got up and left them mid-conversation. I sort of felt ripped out of the room every time. Not a good feeling.
Immanuel, the boy crossing his arms in the front was incredibly smart and outspoken. I loved talking to him!This evening, my friends and I went to see a movie at the mall. (It is a brand new mall...the only one in Ghana and is just like Woodland. Smaller, but similar. The movie theater upstairs is just like Celebration. It even has the psychodelic carpet.)
Seeing a movie here is like a vacation from Ghana--a two hour break. And, it is sometimes much needed for my sanity. I'm not sure if that is good or bad, but it is true.
We saw Julie and Julia--a wonderful movie all about the joy of food and the importance of loving relationships. It not only made me want to get married and live with my husband in an adorable loft apartment with a cute kitchen, but it made we want to eat food from home. Mom, Dad, and friends, go see this movie. You will love it.
I'm tired and am going to bed. While I'm on this subject, I suppose I'll inform you that I am exhausted most of the time here in Ghana. I don't really ever sleep straight through the night, which is very abnormal for me. There are two main reasons.
Reason One: ISH 2, where I live, for some reason has rooms that resound noise like no room I've been in before. And I don't sleep well with noise. If my roommate wakes up, does anything, or leaves, I wake up. Dear Genevieve is often up very early on the phone or people knock on our door pre-7am. There's not a whole lot I can do about it unfortunately, but I do get tired a lot. I'm trying not to let it inhibit my ability to enjoy every moment...every last day. P.S. Sleeping in doesn't exist in this country. So, there are days when Genevieve isn't around that I go to bed at 8pm...oops!
Reason Two: I am incredibly uncomfortable in my bed. I sleep on a foam "mattress" with a pillow that I call "the rock" based on it's hard, lumpy, painful characteristics. Because I sleep on fluffy cloud heaven at home and here I sleep on hard rocky ground, I have developed quite severe knots in my neck. I toss and turn a lot trying to get comfortable, which wakes me up at night. However, I refuse to buy a new pillow at this point. I can suck it up.
Sorry this post was a bit complainy, I'm sure I'll feel more positive tomorrow. Thanks for reading!
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