PST First Two Weeks!!

I have random internet access after ending early today, but not a lot of time so this will be quick.  Sorry  don't have any pictures yet!

So I spent the first week at a university near the capitol, Accra and never really felt like I was in a foreign country as we didn't get much exposure to anything but other PCVs and and a lot of lectures.  On Monday we traveled to small village called Anyinasin where I moved in with my homestay family.  I will be here for the next eight weeks and then will move to my permanent location.  Homestay is about what I expected.  I have had little language training and my family speaks no English so there is a lot of awkward staring and smiling and body language.  My room is disconnected from the rest of the house and at normal meal times I'll find a little tray of food outside my door.  :)  It's kinda' weird. But I'm sure it will become more comfortable as the days pass.  I found out from the homestay coordinator that the volunteer that stayed with the family before my arrival terminated her service during homestay, so the family thinks they did something offensive to make her leave.  That is unfortunate for me because that's why my family is so stand-offish to me.  But this is the hardest part and it takes a lot to make me uncomfortable so things are looking good so far!  The only downside is it's incredibly loud at night with sounds that would take this a whole page to list.  There are also chickens and goats running around everywhere, and it's not uncommon for a small herd to go running through the training facility (which is really a cement slab with a tin roof open to the outdoors) in the middle of session.  The young girls in my family love me, and they speak some English so that's an uplifting part of my homestay so far.  And I live right behind the school, which is right behind my training facility, so I get this little fan club of Ghanaian children running after me and climbing on me as I walk to training.   It's pretty adorable.  They call me 'Abena' which means 'Tuesday Born'.

The next two weeks I will be 'practice teaching' at a boarding school near my village.  I got to do a small lecture to a class today and I could not believe how smart the students were.  But I am training at an A-level school, which is where the most advanced students go.  I will be teaching at a much lower level school so I am prepared that my students will be far from the level of students I am currently working with.  But that makes sense because, obviously, teachers aren't needed in places where the students are doing great, we are needed where they are doing not so great.  So it sounds like I will be teaching at a senior high boarding school and probably living on campus when I get my assignment.

I love the food, and the people are extremely friendly.  Nothing but good things to say so far.  There are some current PCVs helping with out teacher training and I have gained some great insight from them in the short time I have spent with them.  They were even nice enough to take us to their favorite 'chop bar' (restaurant/street food) in our training area.  Very cool people.  My fellow volunteers kick a lot of ass as well!  :)

Next time I get online I will hopefully have my camera to put up some pics.  I'll also hopefully have more time to give a more descriptive update.  Untill next time!!

Apes