Vision Quest (6/10)

This morning I took my first bucket bath which consists of scooping cups of water and pouring it on yourself. Every pour made me jump at how cold it was. I feel like I cant get used to cold water poured on me, we’ll see.

Matt lives a 90 second walk from school. We left his house and entered the chanting of a crowd of students in unison. The sounds came from up the trail, out the doors and windows of a class room. He told us they were all in a class for the worship portion of the morning. They stomped their feet and sang traditional African songs. As we got closer we passed 2 goats and a chicken shuffling her chicks along. Their cheeps chimed along with the singing. Ladies at a small market in front of the school called matt to greet him and very small children shyly smiled and squeaked "obruneeee".

Matt walking to school

Matt's School

We walked to the teacher’s lounge (a bamboo bench beside the school) and spoke with his fellow teachers. We were taught several Twi phrases which I’ll practice today.

"Teacher's Lounge"

Sitting in class now, trying to observe. The students all wear very proper clothes and show a high level of respect for matt. "Yes Sah" "Thank you sah" Twi has no hard Rs and so neither does their English. Mistah. Brodah. Sistah.

We just sat through matt’s math class. It got me thinking a lot about teaching and what I might do. Sitting outside in the teacher’s area and a radio is playing Carrie Underwood. In Africa. That’s funny to say the least.

Matt Teaching

The tro on the way here yesterday was playing Akon. When we went to the market yesterday a tro stopped and a boy I’m assuming was the mate jumped out to help someone get their bag from the back. I pulled a double-take but sure enough he was wearing a blue UF shirt. Although I’m pretty sure he has no idea what his shirt means, I’ll just take it as the gator nation being everywhere
(Since this entry my count is up to 3. 2 shirts 1 cap. Go Gators.)

Tried Fufu for the first time tonight at dinner. It’s a dough type material made from ground plantains and cassava (or yam depending on the region). It’s served in a bowl, and it looks like a ball of pizza dough. Poured on top, and then making a pool around it is a soup. There are different kinds, light (tomato) , ground nut, or palm oil. We had light/nut mix. It was very good. The food here is very different but I could get used to it.

Ghanaians Making Fufu

Bootleg DVDs are easily purchased here. Matt has a DVD with 100+ cartoon movies. Toy Story; it’s been years. Gonna watch that.
-g

Matt and his class

A student outside Matt's school. Behind him is the new school they hope to move into soon, as well as an amazing african view