Almost Turkey Time!

Hi all!  I know it’s been a while since my last post but honestly not much has been going on in my neck of the woods.  Just been hanging around school and the computer lab.  I’ve been catching up on my movies and reading which is a welcome change.  The students have been busy training for the sports week that will start on Monday and last through Friday.  A total of 13 schools (primary and JHS) will be partaking and it will be in my community.  It will surely be a site to see.  Events like football, volleyball, net ball, and track and field events will take place.  As a result there has not been much “learning” because of training.  If they spent half as much time in the classroom as training then they’d be fluent in English by now.  Well probably not but at least they’d be in the classroom.

The students still find time to come to the ICT Center though to annoy me.  I have kept saying that I will start formal night classes but with the upcoming sports week I have been holding off.  I have decided that the classes will be English only and any student heard speaking Twi will be kicked out.  This serves three purposes: it will force them to practice their English, it will keep the side conversations to a minimum, and it will keep the primary students out which will keep my rage at bay.

Yes the younger students are very annoying because they can’t speak English and because well they’re kids.  Always staring in the windows and not listening.  However, I have been doing very well with the kids that live in my compound.  I usually find myself playing with the eight year old twins and the two year old has taken a shine to me.  This is good for me because I have never done well with little ones.  Usually it just consisted of my picking on my younger brother which I definitely haven’t lost my touch with as I mess around with my new “brothers.”  But I haven’t found the urge to beat them yet unlike the kids at the school.  I guess I need to work my way up to the larger crowds.

Still somehow I seem to scare children away just by the site of me. Most of them are smaller children but some are older and are still afraid of me even though I’ve been here 3 months!  One little girl was standing naked in my yard when I came outside to my porch.  She looked at me, peed herself, and then began to cry and run away.  That’s right I’m so scary that I make kids piss themselves in fright.

Also just this morning people found my neighbor dead (nice transition right?).  He had not been seen for a few days and there was a strange smell coming from his room.  They came to find that he had been dead for three days.  They are unsure of the cause but they suspect alcohol since he was known for constantly stumbling around town drunk.  I first thought he was one of the “crazy” people that you see in some towns but I came to find out that he was just always hammered.  So now they speakers have already been brought in and the music is bumpin and will be all this weekend and next.

While things have been quiet here that’s all about to change.  Next week I will be here for the first two days of the sports week and hopefully my two neighboring volunteers will come as well.  Then I will go to the Accra for Thanksgiving at the Ambassador’s Residence.  Every year he invites all the volunteers (150 of us) over for drinks and dinner.  We also get to swim in his pool.  Apparently this is one of the best days of the year and is not to be missed so I’m quite excited.  I’ll come back to my village for a week, and then from December 5-10 I will go to a training event with all the Natural Resource volunteers from my group.  It will be good to learn some more skills and see how everyone has been doing.  I’ll come back to my site again for another week before I go back to the Hideout for a few days.  The new group of volunteers swears in the day before so I have heard some of them will be there as well so I will get to meet them.  After that it’s back to site again.

As for Christmas and New Year’s I do not know what I will do yet.  The people in my village want me to stay but I think that’s because they believe I will be Santa Claus giving out gifts.  It does not exactly sound like the environment I want to be in for my first Christmas/birthday away from home.  I have plenty of time to figure all that out.

While on the subject of Christmas below is my list for this year.  While radically different from years past it probably means as much to me as it did when I was a child.  If you do want to send me anything do it ASAP because I am told that mail times double over the holidays because of the traffic.  I would also love to get your Christmas cards!  The addresses are to the right on the side of my main blog page.  And don’t forget my birthday (the big 2-3) is also Christmas day J  Don’t feel obligated to send anything but whatever I do get I will greatly appreciate.

One thing that I am truly thankful for is all the support I have received from my family and friends.  I could not have done this without you and I feel like you are all always here with me.  This season be thankful for your health and all the great things in your life because EVERYONE reading this is truly blessed more than you can ever imagine.

Take care and Happy Thanksgiving!

Steve

PLEASE SEND:

Parmesan cheese

Goldfish

Beef jerky

Sausage/pepperoni

Chips Ahoy

Oreos

Pringles

Spices

Sauce packets

Italian seasonings

Fig Newtons

Any powdered food (like potatoes)

Cheetos

Teddy Grahams

Trail mix

Granola bars

Any bite size snack

Any hard candy

Toothpaste

Deodorant

DO NOT SEND:

Chocolate

Pasta

Peanuts

Yams

Plantains

Cassava

Dried fish

Anything that can’t last at least a month in shipping (more like 2 during the holiday season)