One month here and my internship!

I arrived in Ghana exactly four weeks ago! I can’t believe how fast this has been going. When I think back to how unsure and new this all felt in the beginning, I feel like I’ve grown so much! And I’m still looking forward to learning so so much more about Africa in the next three months.

I woke up at 5:50am this morning from a very strange Mefloquine dream. I almost forgot to take it last night, which would put me at risk for Malaria! But don’t worry, no signs of the sickness yet. For those of you who don’t know, Mefloquine is the generic form of Larium, an anti-malaria prophylaxis that has mostly psychological side effects. I take it once a week. I haven’t had any trouble with it at all except for very vivid and weird dreams. They are just extra intense, usually relating to something that was on my mind already. The majority of my dreams from it have been about food, and the people in the dreams usually people close to me in my life. So that’s nice. None of them have really been scary, and when they are- I am usually aware in the dream and think “oh this is just a cool dream, go with it”. They are the most intense the first night that I take the pill, then slowly decrease in vividness as the days go on. I’ll try to write about one or two really interesting ones sometime.

It worked out well that I was woken up by that dream, because I had to leave at 6:30 today to get to the first day of my internship by 7:30am. I’m working at Tot-to-Teen, a private pre-school through junior high in Adenta. Between walking from my dorm to the tro-tro, and then the actual ride it takes me about 45 minutes to get there, and costs me $0.65 round trip. Yesterday I went there by tro-tro with another girl in my group to find the place. When we got there they told us that they only wanted to take one more intern/volunteer, and that it would have to be in math. Since I am doing a for-credit internship, I got priority. The headmaster of the school gave me a curriculum syllabus to take home for the night and told me to come back at 7:30 this morning before school starts at 8. Since math isn’t my favorite or strongest subject, I wanted to make sure I was teaching it to primary school students.

Today I was placed with third graders. There are two third grade classes and both teachers handle half of the subjects so they both teach both classes. I am working under Pascal, who teaches creative art, math, and writing. When I walked into the classroom 32 students right away stood up and said in unison, “Good morning, Madame you are welcome!” It was very sweet. They couldn’t keep their eyes off me and I couldn’t stop smiling. Pascal introduced me as “Auntie” or “Madame Katherine//Kate” and said that I would be the assistant teacher on Wednesdays and Thursdays for Math. He also reminded them that I should be treated with the same respect that they give him and that we would be teaching together. Today I just wanted to observe to better understand how the class is taught. They are learning measurement of time and weight. I remembered back to third grade when my math teacher, Mrs. Willis, told me that I was a time-telling wizard. The kids were pretty attentive but very very energetic and excitable. They raise their hands to answer, but all yell out “Sir! Sir!” to be called on. They are also expected to stand up any time they speak individually. I am going to need to work on using my biggest voice possible because even the headmaster asked how the students were going to be able to hear me over their chattering. I have a feeling respect is something I will need to learn early on by being stern with them. Right now it looks like I’ll be there in the mornings on Wednesday and Thursdays. Today I was only there for three hours, so I hope to get more hours as time goes on. Even though this is a private school where I don’t feel like they really even need my help, I’m thankful for the opportunity and I think that working with kids is going to make my days so joyful.

Anyways, now I’m just sitting on my porch listening to the Beatles (good for the soul) and munching on ground nuts (the same as regular peanuts). I don’t have dance class until 6. So I’m going to get an iced coffee with some friends. Tomorrow my only class is Psychology of Religion. I was kind of put off by my professor in that class last week by his sexist undertones and distracted lecture, so I hope tomorrow is better.

This weekend I’m off to Cape Coast on a CIEE trip. We’ll be touring the castles and staying in a hotel. On Sunday we’re going to the Kakum National Park to do the canopy walk through the rain forest! Can’t wait to update on that.

 "I've got to admit, it's getting better; a little better all the time."