Registration Day

Funny thing, last night I signed off saying we had done well because the power had only gone off once. Right after that, the power went off again and it was pitch dark out. Turns out, the head lamp that I brought doesn’t work. So Petra and I went to bed at 8 last night! We got a wonderful 10 hours of sleep!

This morning after breakfast, we took a walk into town. We want to get exercise, and the mornings are the coolest part of the day to do that. Actually, it was beautiful this morning! (And last night I had to use one blanket, so that was exciting!)

It is really nice to walk in the morning because everyone is opening up their shops and all the children are walking to school too. I think at one point we had about 20 children walking in front and behind us as we went down the street. I loved it.

When we got back, Auntie Jo had some work to do, and Yaa was cleaning the chairs that they rent out, so Petra and I were told to sit out in front of the store again today. Again, lots of people came by and said hello. Auntie Jo gave us something called “bowfruit” to try. Despite what its name might suggest, it is not a fruit. Bowfruit is a deep fried ball of dough; it is delicious and tastes like a yummy giant timbit. Or for the other Dutch folks out there, an oli bole. Mmm.

After we got ready for registration and were waiting out front for Kujo to come, some of the children from across the road started yelling for us. They kept yelling “Melissa! Melissa!” We went over and introduced ourselves, telling them we weren’t Melissa but we were her friends from Canada. Our names are much more difficult for them to say for some reason, so I think they will just continue to call us Melissa until they have our names memorized.

Some of the children and their birdie 

They were adorable, and invited us to play anytime we wanted; I am definitely going to do that. One of the boys, such a cutie, his name is Isaac. We had fun with my camera for a bit; he loved taking pictures and REALLY loved seeing them after they were taken. He also had a fascination with the hair elastics on my wrist; he started taking them off and put them on his arms and then flung them around. A new toy?

One of the little girls had found a baby bird and decided to take it as her pet. She had a string tied around the birds leg and was flinging it around like a leash...I am not so sure how long that bird will live since she played catch with it and said she “would not be feeding it, only playing with it.” Poor birdie. They asked me if wanted to touch it...I politely declined.

After they had left, 3 other little girls from down the road came over. We danced with them to the music in Auntie Jo’s store, and taught them the song, “head and shoulders, knees and toes.” They actually caught on really quickly and wanted to do it over and over again. They didn’t know any English, so it was cool that they were able to identify the body parts we were referring to in the song as they did the actions and sang the words!

The 3 little girls who sang and danced with us

Apparently a few men have been by Auntie Jo’s to ask her about the “European girls that have been sitting near her house” and asking if “they had opened a store in Asamankese?” haha...she told them we were student from Canada, not Europe and that we were here to teach.

Registration was at 3pm today. We were told to meet Kujo at Auntie Jo’s place, and that some of the women from Auntie Jo’s house would be meeting there as well. Uncle Ernest (one of the facilitators at the school) told us he would meet at the school.

We waited for Kujo to show up, and then he decided it would better to wait for the women there, rather than go to the school. So he drove to the school to get Uncle Ernest. When he came back to Auntie Jo’s, he did not have Uncle Ernest with him, and none of the women who said they would come, had showed up.

So Petra and I walked to the school to see Uncle Ernest. By 4pm, 3 women had showed up at the school; 2 that had been in classes with Melissa, and 1 new student. I was getting a little bit worried.

Uncle Ernest was sure that more women would come; saying that it was just the Ghanaian timing that was keeping them. By 5pm, we had one more lady.

It was a little disheartening to see such a small turn out since they had made an announcement in a lot of the churches, but we are starting classes tomorrow regardless, and have been told that more women will come then! The few women that have come are lovely! They are beautiful and friendly and are genuinely excited to learn! I am so excited to get started, and so excited to get to know them! So far I have one lady out of those 4 who is interested in the business aspect, and I will hopefully find a few more tomorrow in class.

I guess the language difference has made communication difficult between Petra and I and Auntie Jo, Ernest, and Kujo. It has been frustrating at times, but I think that we just need to have patience and realize that time moves slowly here. There is no rush. It is going to be difficult for me to get used to the fact that organization isn’t a concept that is as stressed here, and it will definitely take time to adjust. Pray that I have an open mind to the cultural differences so that this adjustment goes smoothly, and that we can work to bless these women. They will most certainly be a blessing to us as well!!

A funny thing that I noticed today: the men and boys carry and use machetes for everything!! Today, across the street, a boy who could be no more than 10 was chopping wood with a machete in bare feet. Yikes! This afternoon I saw a guy get on the back of someone’s motorcycle holding a machete and had no helmet on...I can only imagine what would happen if the bike stopped suddenly? And about 5 minutes after that, a taxi pulled up in front of the guest house and had run out of gas. He had someone bring a jug of gas to fill it up and used a machete to cut open a water bottle in order to make a funnel for the gas to pour through...interesting...