A Week of Changes

I haven’t been here for very long, but already there are changes happening. I am a little sad now because Partey, who has been the one helping me and showing me around my first week and a half, is now gone. He had to go back to school, and I will not see him again before I leave. However, Auntie Agnes is sill making sure that I always have someone to travel around with me. A college student, Doreen, from her church has offered to go places with me. On Tuesday we went to the Accra Mall. She is also taking me to the beach on Saturday. I am very grateful that Doreen is willing to take me to places around the area as well as show me how to navigate through the buses which they call trotros. 

While at the mall we went into a fabric shop. When I was at the Arts Center I kinda glanced at everything, but didn’t look very closely. This time I tried to look at the fabrics individually and was overwhelmed. The fabric looks at lot different on the self than it does made into a dress. I had a hard time looking at the fabric and picturing how it would be once made into a dress. The patterns on the fabrics looked too crazy, but I have seen many dresses that I like so I know that when made into clothing it looks well. 

Another change was the classroom set up. The first week I had gotten pretty good at knowing students by where they sat. Over the weekend our chalkboard was covered with whiteboard material, so the teacher rearranged the classroom to now face that board. There are two boards in the classroom, and they were facing a different direction. While I think the set up now is better for the students to learn it is harder for me because now I am sitting behind the children instead of on their side. This means that I can’t see their faces, and their seats have changed so it is a lot harder for me to recognize students right away. When I check their work I will say their name to them, so that I remember, and if I don’t remember I ask them to tell me their names. I am getting better at names, but there are a few kids that I think look too much a like so I forget their names or mix them up.

For the first time since leaving the airport, I saw other white people. I saw a few at the Art Center and a few at the mall. They looked so out of place, which makes me realize that is probably what the Ghanians think of me. It also made me stop and think that I really am in the minority here and I do get treated differently because of it. 

Also, even though they are teaching the same material, I have learned that teachers here have a very different teaching style. I try to take as many notes as I can about the differences, so that I can learn how to incorporate some of their style into how I teach.