We need good friends to do good things:)

As I write this, the sky behind my back is almost completely black. The soundtrack of this blog is a combination of Regina Spektor & the pounding of the rain on the roof. This friends, is my first rainstorm in Ghana & I am currently tempted to run outside and play in the rain. Unfortunately, I must get to work on my Odyssey proposal & try to be somewhat productive. However, as soon as this school stuff is over, I will be outside jumping in puddles and playing with all of my fellow ISEP students in the rain. One of my favorite smells in the entire world is the smell of rain. As the scent of rain wafts in through the open window, I feel that something is right with the world again. Rain or any precipitation for that matter is one of the few things in the world that makes me feel completely at home. I am not a sunny weather kind of girl. My ideal day would most certainly be nestled inside my house, curled up with a cup of tea & a good book, watching the snow (or rain) fall outside. I certainly appreciate the sun- after all it is much more delightful to hike & camp in the sunshiny weather, but nothing will every make me feel at home as much as snow (or rain) does. I only wish I had my rain boots.

My first day at Kissemahn was absolutely amazing. Casey and I took a tro tro going the wrong way so it took us an extra 10 peswas and 10 minutes to get there. Fortunately, we did not make the same mistake on the way back. As soon as I stepped off the tro tro a little girl in a colorful sweater walked up to me, whispered obruni (the twi word for foreigner), and grabbed my legs in a giant bear hug. It was hard not to burst into tears on spot. Unfortunately she was not of the students we would be teaching. She was on her way to school with her mom and sisters. Casey got a big hug too, and then Eric met us to walk us to school. When we arrived at the school the kids were brushing their teeth, but as soon as they were finished they ran up and grabbed our arms to lead us to the schoolroom. We began the day by introducing ourselves to the kids and attempting to learn each of their names. They sang us a welcome song and then we got to working on our counting. Casey and I worked with the youngest group of children. Since we were thrown in to the class, we had to make up everything on the spot, which was fun, yet challenging. We are thinking of making some sort of lesson plan for next time. Thank goodness we came up with lots of different ways to practice our counting and writing our numbers. The kids were all SOO cute and fun, however, it was probably the most exhausting two hours of my life. It was difficult trying to keep all of the kids in their seats and paying attention. I don’t know how many times Casey and I said, “ Hey guys let’s not hit each other!” or “ Let’s all pay attention to Auntie Kate (or Auntie Casey).” My new motto for class is hugs not hitting!

At noon we had an hour and half break and Casey and I walked into the office and sat down on the couch and dozed off for a couple of minutes. We had lunch from a stand across the street, but since we vegetarians we ate just rice. I couldn’t eat all of mine so I let the kids finish it. One of the boys literally took the whole section of spicy chili sauce and put the entire thing in his mouth. This sauce is so spicy that if I did that I would most certainly throw up.

The afternoon was devoted to working on our ABCS. This section of the day was a lot better than the morning. I knew most of the kid’s names so I could call on them individually. Casey and I both took turns coming up with ways to work on our ABCS with the kids. Towards the end of the day I read the kids The Cat in the Hat. Casey followed up with Peter Pan & a book about space. For the last thirty minutes of the day all of the kids came together and a guy named Fire led all of the kids in music. It was so wonderful to hear all of the kids singing!! One of the songs that said “we need good friends to do good things" was absolutely incredible. Another song, talked about their love of Africa and used the phrase “Africa is a peaceful place.” I pray that by the time these kids are grown up it will be.

Our day at Kissemahn was absolutely fantastic and I can’t wait to go back next week!