A view of Ghana-part 2-Thanksgiving

This is a continuation of Peter's post on Ghana.  I hope you enjoy this view of Thanksgiving abroad.

After hearing about everyone's stories from site at our three month Reconnect-IST (In-Service Training), I decided that I have no reason to complain. I'm in a gorgeous area, I have internet access, and my classes are not too big (largest class is about 25). I struggled with classroom management early on, but for the last month, things have been going pretty well.

The week before Thanksgiving (Nov 12 - 16), I wanted to have a class test in my math and science classes, but unfortunately the Ghana bug got me and I had to stay home from school on Thursday (when I was planning on giving the science test and grading the math review homework) so that pushed my test back until Monday or Tuesday. On Monday I don't have any classes scheduled and enough teachers came that I couldn't sneak into a class and give my test, so I just planned on giving the test on Tuesday. But just before we closed on Monday, the headmaster of the primary school came up to tell us that our schools (EP Primary and JHS) got the honor of weeding (cutting the grass) the clinic which is about as far away from our schools as you can get in Bodada. Also he told us that we would go over there at 8:00am and that the students were supposed to get the day off of school after that. This honor was bestowed upon us by Chief Nana Abo IV, who is also the Ministry of Education supervisor for the circuit of Bodada, so there was no getting out of this work. My headmaster said that I could give the tests to Godwin (my counterpart and fellow math and science teacher) to administer on Wednesday, Godwin wasn't so keen on grading those tests for me. I wanted to leave for Thanksgiving dinner with the Ambassador in Accra on Wednesday, so something had to give. We agreed not to tell the students that they were supposed to get the day off of school after the weeding, and we would give the tests when the work was finished. This ended up working out fine, but it's just an example of the planning and emphasis on time and scheduling in Ghana. The results were encouraging, one student got 97% on the math test, and I think 80% was the best grade on the science test.

Thanksgiving in Accra was awesome. I stayed with a State Department employee who works at the Embassy, and it was so great to stay in his American style house with TV (I got to watch some NFL games!), air conditioning, running water, hot water, 2 fridges, a freezer, Doritos, cereal with milk, and hamburgers. I couldn't have asked for a better homestay in Accra.

Thanksgiving dinner itself was fun because I got to see almost everybody from training and I met over 50 other PCVs. And the food...two buffets full of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green beans (unfortunately it wasn’t green bean casserole with those "fried onions" on top), cheesy cauliflower bake, and salad (which I didn't have room for on my first trip because it was at the end). I had two full plates of food, and a little more turkey. It was great although I don't know if it was quite up to par with Ma’s cooking (mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and green beans especially). Then they brought out the desserts: pecan, pumpkin, and apple pie. (Sadly there wasn’t any of Ma's apple crisp with ice cream). It was great and I nearly ate myself into a coma. But everyone else wanted to go out to a bar and party, so I tagged along. We went to an Irish pub in Osu, and I posted up at the bar and watched the Lions' game and didn't drink a drop (even if I had wanted to, there was no room in my stomach for anything).

Before I left Accra, I went to the main Peace Corps Office to pick up packages from my new favorite aunt and uncle (Cathy and Dave) and my always favorite mom (Ma). After a little searching in the mail room, I found both packages and did my best to downplay the contents to the horde of once-again-ravenous PCVs who call themselves my friends. "Oh just some food and stuff, probably nothing too good," I said, knowing full well that the boxes were full of goodies like candy, beef jerky, and processed cheese. Everyone seemed to understand and backed off once I said I was going to wait to open them until I was alone. Processed American food is worth its weight in gold among volunteers, so yeah, I wasn't about to open that up to the masses. While at the office we were told to get our flu shots (mandatory) and any immunizations we still needed (final Hep-A for me).

That's all for now; I’m back in Bodada. I hope you can tell that I'm doing pretty well here and that I'm settling in at site. After leaving the Buem area for the first time in ten weeks, I'm hooked on seeing more of Ghana, but while I’m here I know that I can always find peace in the mountains. Thanks for reading.