I am an epic failure, I know

Current Location: Brooklyn, New York

So first and foremost, I am a major failure. I haven't even updated since returning from Ghana, almost a month ago! I have been so busy since getting back that I actually haven't had an opportunity to write. Okay, maybe that's a little bit of a lie, but things just kept getting in the way, and I kept putting it off and forgetting. So sorry to everyone, how no one was conerned!

So my flight back from Ghana was actually really good. Even though it was long, I kept myself entertained watching tons of movies. I saw "Alice in Wonderland," "Date Night," and other miscellaneous movies that I am forgetting at the moment. Needless to say, they probably weren't that great if I can't remember them. The flight was very smooth, and the vegetarian meals were actually very good. The only bad part was that they barely fed us at all! It was an 11 hour flight, give or take a few minutes, and we got a normal lunch and a light dinner. Two meals in 11 hours is rather ridiculous!

Since being back, I have moved into my dorm, started school, planned one for sure trip, and have several others in the works. School is going well - my classes are going rather well so far. A lot of work, but I find them interesting. My dorm room is super adorable. It's small, but much larger than last year. I feel so spoiled - though who would have even thought I would be excited about my 125 sq ft dorm room and think it is large!

Coming up I have two trips. The first is actually on Friday! I am going home for only about 48 hours. During that time I need to make room to see my parents and grandmother, go to Caraline and Patrick's wedding, and hopefully see a few friends. It's going to be busy! Second, for my fall break, I am traveling to Chicago with my mom to see the city, visit my aunt and uncle, and make a few college visits for potential grad schools. Other trips that are either unsure or in the works are a weekend to Pennsylvania to become a certified scuba diver (I am just LOVING my scuba class), Tennessee to visit Nick in his new place, Chile for a winter break hydrology field methods program, and maybe some travel with my research. I can hardly stay still, I know! Other places I am dying to go to include Hawaii to see Amanda and scuba. Who knows what will happen in the next few weeks. When I visited Haiti I found out less than a week before I left, so perhaps something crazy will come up last minute.

I will try to keep this updated more often. Even if it is just reminiscing or talking about planning cool trips. Maybe I should change the name of the blog to "Where in the World would Jenni like to be?"

Right now I am in Brooklyn, having spent the night with Dana and Nate to celebrate Dana's birthday. It was a lot of fun! I've got to head out soon and battle the subway system from hell. Weekend construction is the bane of my existence! I will certainly update next weekend on my fun trip home with all the exciting details!

Last Week :(

Current Location: Nsawam, Ghana

So it's the last week here in Ghana, and there are only a few days left. Things have really just flown by - this month has been a whirlwind of trips, classes, and experiences I had never had before. I pride myself on being fairly well traveled, but this was truly like nothing I have ever done.

We began the week as usual. It was rough to have bucket showers and sleep on a mat on the floor after such luxury in Accra. I taught my class on Probability for Monday and Tuesday and it went over fairly well. I let the students play with coins and cards to find different probabilities and find out if something was independent or dependent, etc. It was a lot of fun, and fairly interactive. The design project continues to slowly progress. My group is definitely behind but they are getting their act together and are close to having a working model. It needs to be done by tomorrow though - fingers crossed they get it to work!

Wednesday was a really cool day, though we had SO MANY issues with the whole thing. On Wednesday we took the students on a field trip to Valley View University near Accra. Valley View is absolutely AMAZING. They are a completely sustainable campus, with compost latrines, a garden they grow all the food they eat in (they also have a completely vegetarian diet on campus), source separated latrines, greywater purifications systems, solar panels - so many great sustainable solutions and initiatives. Getting there was a nightmare. First, not all the students could fit on the bus, so we called a tro. After 30 minutes, the tro had still not showed up, and the guy called to cancel. So Chelsey goes to the local tro station and finds a tro that agrees to go. We load up, and the kids were excited so they were singing and clapping. There was some issue that occured in Twi between the students and the driver, I don't understand what happened, but he kicked us out and refused to take us. Finally we get a tro that will take the extra students. On the way, a student gets sick from taking malaria meds on an empty stomach, and the tro gets a flat tire. Whew, so many issues and problems for a school trip. The students had a great time there, as did the teachers - as someone who looks at sustainable water solutions, the greywater and rainwater harvesting systems were SO INTERESTING. They also had source separated toilets, which were really awesome.

Today was the second to last day of classes, and the last lesson that I taught to half the students. Class went well - I have been teaching the students excel and they really seem to be getting the hang of it. After class, Lucy and I went to the crafts market to get fabric. I got some beautiful prints in teal and red that I plan to make a bag and maybe a skirt or dress out of. It was so cheap too! I will have to find a good seamstress to make what I want when I get back - I want something nice to remember my time here by.

While I am ready to have some comforts back, I am actually pretty sad that the trip is over. I have enjoyed teaching a lot more than I expected, and living so basically actually is easier than I expected. I really like everyone who is on the trip as well - everyone is so chill and lots of fun, so it has really made the time here even easier. I will enjoy having high speed internet again, as well as running water, but I'll be sad to go.

Must go work with the kids some on their design projects - busy Thursday for me! Friday is the last day of classes and a soccer game for the kids, Saturday is graduation, and Sunday we are heading into Accra to finish souvenir shopping. Monday morning plane will take me away and back to the USA. I will try to update one last time before then, and I will certainly add final thoughts and pictures once I am back. Love to all!

Weekend in Accra

Current Location: Nsawam, Ghana

What an AMAZING weekend to help get through this last week here in Ghana. First of all, I can't believe that I only have 1 week left and have been here for 3 weeks. The time has really flown by for me and I am sad to go.

From my last post, we finished up with the design project at the school and headed back to Obodan to pack up and get ready for the weekend. It took us a little longer than expected to get ready to go, but at 5 PM we caught a tro tro to take us to Accra. The tro ride was a bit slow but mainly hassle free - however the problem we had came when we got in the cab to take us to the hotel. The taxi told us that he knew where it was, but he deid not - he took us at least 20 minutes in the wrong direction with us telling him it was the wrong direction before he finally listened. I had to pull up a map on my phone because he had absolutely no idea where he was going, and even then, he didn't know how to read the map. Ridiculous - these taxis want money so badly that they will pretend they know where they are going to get you in them.

After we finally got to the hotel, we checked in and went to our room. It was AMAZING! Our room had a king sized bed, two twin and a couch. There was a back porch that looked over the ocean. We had a large bathroom with a toilet that flushed and a shower. It was great. We all got ourselves showers - there was no water pressure, only a trickle of water, and it was cool (but not cold), but it was a SHOWER! Such a nice feeling. After we all showered we headed to a restaurant called Monsoon. It was a Japanese/Asian sort of restaurant, and I got sushi! It was delicious. I haven't been getting enough protein while here, so it was really nice to get fresh, safe to eat fish. YUM! It was pricy, but totally worth it. Afterwards, we went to a bar called Lizzie's and then a club called the Office to celebrate Clay's birthday. It was a lot of fun, and we were able to dance and have a great time at the club. Such a different world than Obodan and Nsawam!

The next day we woke up and all took another shower. Might as well enjoy it while we have the shower! After all the showers we checked out and headed to Labodi Beach Hotel where we had been told there was the best brunch in all of Accra. It was an all you can eat buffet! I don't even want to admit how much I ate that day. I thought I was going to pop! After eating we all laid down outside to digest and just chatted and enjoyed the weather. It was so nice to have a just chill day where there wasn't anything we had to do. We were going to go to the crafts market but we were all tired, so we just headed home.

Now we are at school on Monday morning and getting ready for our busy last week! Deisgn project, 2 classes, a field trip, and a design expo left, plus our graduation! It's going to be a hectic last week!

Week 3 - being sick, teaching, and traveling!

Current Location: Nsawam, Ghana

So first, I finally got a picture loaded! This is from several weeks ago when a large group of us went to Cape Coast. This is right next to Elmina Castle that we toured, and for those who don't know, the picture is of Lucy, myself, and Claire. I will post lots more when I get back home and have real internet!

What a week. So last time I posted on our official blog, http://pieceittogether.wordpress.com, on Sunday, I said how happy I was that I hadn’t gotten sick yet. Well, way to jinx yourself Jenni. What do you know, but on Monday, I get really sick. I made it to school and got through my first class, but I was feeling so awful my second class that Chelsey told me to just rest. It was a good move, because I started throwing up about 10 minutes into the second period. Clay went home with me, and I spent all day both Monday and Tuesday in bed. I really can’t imagine a more miserable way to be sick. At least with the stomach flu in the states, I would have air conditioning, cool water, flushing toilets, and cool showers to lower my temperature. Instead I was laying in a hot room with only a fan and a latrine. Not so fun, but I made it through. Luckily it was only a 24 hour stomach bug and not something more serious!

The rest of the week went pretty well. I was weak from not being able to eat for 2 days, but I have gained back my strength now. Classes on Wednesday and Thursday consisted of me teaching the kids how to use Microsoft Excel. It was a lot of fun, and I think the students found it useful. I was trying to teach probability on Friday with blackjack, but it was such a short class that it was hard. Also, the students had never played blackjack before, so I ended up just teaching them how to play blackjack the whole class and not able to tie it into probability. It was a fun class though, and the students really seemed to enjoy it a lot.

The design project continues to keep going. My group has decided to use a water wheel powered by a motor to circulate the water from the bottom back up to the top. It is a good idea but might be hard to implement in the last week. I have faith in them though, and I think they can do it if they really put their mind to it. It should be an exciting last week with our last 2 classes, design project, and a field trip that we are trying to organize.

Yesterday we had a fieldtrip with the kids. We took them to Obodan to read to the children in the village. Students are not always exposed to service opportunities here like we are in the states, and we wanted to encourage them to give back and help students that are not as privileged as themselves. The bus ride over was quite the experience – the bus seated about 30, and I think we had 55 on it. Kids were sitting 3 to a seat, standing in the aisles, and sitting on the steps and floor. They were all singing and clapping and having a lot of fun. They were even making up some songs about PiT which were really funny. When we got to the village to start reading, some of the students seemed skeptical at first, but they really got into it. I think when they saw about 100 little children all so excited that the older kids were coming to read to them, they got a little more excited about it. It was really cute to see – they were holding their kids in their laps and being patient and teaching them to read and write. The kids can be rowdy sometimes in our classes, and it was great to see them so quiet and helpful for the kids.

After the reading we played a soccer game for the PiT kids against the local Obodan Senior High age team. It was pouring before so the field was really muddy, and it was raining steadily throughout the entire game. The PiT team lost 3-5, but the refereeing was awful – 3 of the Obodan team’s goals were not legal – one offsides, one pentalty kick that was not a penalty, and one that went 2 feet over the goal and the ref counted it. So frustrating – I was yelling on the sidelines!

Today we are currently at school watching over and helping the kids with their design projects. The evening we are planning on heading into Accra for the night because it is Clay’s birthday! Going to get some good food, stay at a hotel with a shower, and go out to see the Ghanaian night life in Accra! I am sure we will have great stories from that. Sunday we are going to go to a crafts fair to do our souviner shopping, and then its back to Obodan and Nsawam for our last crazy week!

Week 2 in Ghana

Current Location: Obodan, Ghana

What a crazy busy week! I have been so busy that I haven’t been able to update, as well as we have had some power outages that have made it difficult for us to access internet – if the power is down, all the internet cafes close down!

Today is officially day 14 of my time here in Ghana, meaning it marks my halfway point! We fly home 2 weeks from tomorrow, which is really bizarre. It hardly seems like I have been here a week, I can’t believe it’s half over. We have been so busy with lesson planning, organization, and teaching that the time has really flown by. The usual day has us waking up at 5:45. We leave for school before 7, arriving by 7:30. We start class sometime between 8 and 8:30. After classes are over, we supervise the design project. The whole day goes until either 2 or 4, depending on whether it is a market day or not. Monday’s and Thursdays the students leave at 2 PM, and they leave at 4 PM the other three days. After classes and design project are over, we have to clean up and pack up all our materials. We sometimes have to go to the market or the internet café. I would say so far we usually get home around 7. It gets dark at 7, so when we get home it already seems late. We go haul water for cooking, cleaning, and bathing and then cook dinner. Dinner is over by 8:30 or 9 on most days, and we have to wash dishes, take showers, and finish lesson plans. Then its bed time and start all over again the next day!

The first week of teaching went really well. I last posted after I had finished my first day, and the rest of the week went very smoothly. The students are very attentive and eager to learn, and I think my lessons have all been going over very well. The students really have enjoyed the activities that we have done so far. It seems I am somewhat succeeding on my mission to try to make math fun and practical for the students. I am still figuring out everything for next week, especially considering the fun and practical part, but I’m hoping my second week of lessons is as successful as my first. I had never really considered teaching at a potential career, but after seeing how rewarding this is, I might have to reconsider that a little bit! Though it’s totally not what I need – I already have enough problems deciding what I want to do with my life without adding another potential career!

We also began the design project with the kids this week. We are having the kids design a hydroponic system to grow plants in. We are trying to lead them in the project but allowing it to be their own. The students are so imaginative – they have very creative ideas and it should be interesting to see all their finished projects. It is difficult to always know what they are doing – they often start discussing and arguing in Twi rather than English since it is more comfortable for them, but when that happens I have no idea what is going on! The group I am helping seems to have a fairly good idea about things. We have two more weeks for the project to be constructed and implemented, so hopefully by then all 3 groups will have successful projects that they can be proud of.

We went for dinner in Achimota, a town very close to Accra, on Friday night, and then on Saturday myself, Chelsey, and Lucy went into Accra to buy a router for the school so they can have internet access. Accra is a totally different world from what we are in. There is much more diversity, so our skin color does not stand out as much. I felt like I stood out more because of my dress than for my skin color. I was wearing the sort of clothing I wear in the rural area we are staying, while everyone else was dressed nicely and cleanly. It was very obvious that we were staying outside of Accra! I would love to spend more time in Accra sometime – it seems like a very interesting city. Unfortunately we have so little time here, and even less free time that we won’t be able to spend more than a day or 2 in Accra at most. I guess it’s a good excuse for me to come back! Today we had a down day. I wasn’t feeling fantastic this morning, so I stayed inside to try to cool off, while the EWB people did some work with the latrine. I was glad I didn’t have to do anything with that! In the afternoon, there was a soccer game between Obodan and a neighboring town. Chelsey, Clay, and Sammy all played on Obodan’s team, and we won! It was a lot of fun – there were lots of kids and people from the town around and all watching. It’s a big community activity to watch soccer, so it was really interesting to see.

The transportation in Ghana continues to freak me out. During this week we had a new record for number of people in a car – seven. We are taking a small car, built to fit five people max, probably about the size of a Honda Civic if not smaller. We squeezed four people in the back seat (including 2 guys that have rather long legs and broad shoulders!), two people in the front passenger seat, and the driver. Luckily it was a short ride, but it was still interesting – my foot was asleep by the time we got back to Obodan! We also have continued to have interesting tro-tro experiences. At times it can be a bit scary – people are NOT patient, and at a tro station when lots of people want to get home, there can be a bit of a mad rush and a lot of pushing and shoving to try to get in. A lot of the roads we have to drive on are also extremely bumpy – I feel sometimes like I should be on a theme park ride how much we are bouncing around in the tro. Seat belts also don’t exist here, at least not for passengers. Sometimes the driver will have one but it’s not always the case. I haven’t seen anything worse than a fender bender since being here, so at least people seem to know what they are doing on the roads. You could not pay me enough money to have my drive these roads!

Also on a happy note, I got my camera back after a pretty complicated experience. However, the camera no longer seems to work. The memory card still has all the pictures I had taken on it, so I at least did not lose that, which is nice. We are going to try to figure out what happened to the camera, and maybe we can repair it. If not, I can have best buy check it out back in the states and maybe get it repaired there. Fingers crossed, and I am at least happy that enough people were honest enough to help me get my camera back. The memory card also has a ton of pictures of the random guy and his friends, so I have those now too. Think those will be deleted VERY soon!

Well that’s it for now. I hope to be able to update more often so I don’t post these ridiculously long blogs all the time. I miss everyone in the states tons, and I promise to post the pictures that I at least have if not more once I get back.