Less
than a week left in Ghana. So much left to do!
This
past week was absolutely wonderful. I taught all by myself in the Class 2
and maintained control of the classroom even while mayhem broke loose in the
other classrooms. Exam period just ended and we spent the week preparing
a presentation for Our Day. In Ghana at the end of exams, the students
have a day to themselves that turns into one big dance party where everyone
wears their Sunday best. It's beautiful. This year they added a
little structure and each class gave a presentation. Our class did a play
based on the story of Anasi the spider. They all wore spider masks. This
week, summer school begins. Apparently most of the kids continue going to
school. So, we continue catching up the kids at our school who are behind
in academics. This week I will be teaching a poetry unit. 
This
weekend, we had Friday off from school. Laura, Marie, and I left early
Friday morning and checked out the Aburi Botanical Gardens, which had beautiful
trees and vegetation unlike any I've seen before! Then, we headed to the
first cocoa farm in Ghana and had a tour of how it is harvested. On
Saturday, we got up early and went to a glass bead-making workshop through
Global Mamas - an NGO that hires local Ghanaians to produce top-quality clothes
and other items. We went through the entire process - from smashing glass
to putting them in an oven to be fired. Then, we checked out the Akosombo
Dam in the Volta region. Lastly, we headed to Roots Yard, an incredible
hotel run by two incredibly kind Rastafarians. While there, we met two
Belgians who work for rich investors to create farms from scratch. On
Sunday we stopped by their banana plantation and got a personal tour from them.
So cool!
It's
been an incredible 8 weeks. I'm sad it is coming to a close but thoughts
of seeing my friends and family are also exciting. So bittersweet.
Sweetening the deal is the three day trip to London where I get to hang
out with one of my good friends Matt and go to the Olympics! This summer
still seems like a dream. I have learned so much about myself, changed my
perspective about life in general, and figured out how to feel comfortable
traveling. I know how to plan what I want to do and do it. It's
quite a gift to be able to be travel and to be not intimidated to explore the
world by myself in the future.
Hope
your summers are continuing to go well!
Love,
Jess
P.S.
Attached is a picture with me and Class 2, a student looking snazzy for
Our Day, me putting molds of beads into the oven, the beads we made from
scratch and me on the
banana plantation.
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