Almost time for goodbyes for our Gappers in Ghana :(

I am very sad, we only have 3 more days of teahcing left and 5 more days left with our amazing family before we ventrue onto our 2 week travel around ghana! i am absolutely hating how fast this trip is going! it feels like yesterday we were teahcing under the palm tree introudcing ourselves, and now we are in our own classroom watching every single kid improve everyday!

So two weekends ago we went back to cape coast, none of the other girls are going to admit it but i will! We went back literally for the pancakes!!! all i crave here is pancakes! it is basically what we talked about the whole trip to cape coast! It was the first time ever we arrived at our accomdation before 3, so we were a bit lost what to do! so what better to do than shopping for ourselves, friends and family......mainly ourselves though! We really enjoyed eating dinner at the resturant when there was a blackout! I love not knowing what I was eating! they could have served us those massive snails and we would have not even known!
So basically, the aim on the weekends is to eat meat, because I am so meat deprived it is ridiculous, i even have dreams about chicken some nights!

On the saturday, we went to another castle called Elima castle, it was much bigger than cape coast castle. A couple of us just viewed it from the outside but some of the other girls went in for the full tour! They said it was really interesting and the oldest castle here.
On the saturday night, we were in for a treat. we went to the oasis beach resort for a drink and there was an african music and dance show! the dancing was so amazing! they just feel the rhythm and move to it! the music was so good, drumming and singing, we were all actually like, THIS IS AFRICA! To my surprise, they were actually really good actors and so theatrical telling a story through there movements!
Of course, me with all my luck, i got pulled up on stage, i tried so hard to get away but she was not taking no for an answer! she pushed me onto the middle of the stage with about 100 people watching me and made me copy her traditional dance moves! as embarassing as it was, it was kinda fun! the other girls were laughing at me the whole time, and all the locals probably saying "obruni's can not dance", i guess they are right though, i will not move to africa to take up dancing that is for sure!

We finished off a good weekend by taking the plastic cups from the resturant and feeling them with sachets of fanice icecream and mixing it with milo! it was so delicious!!!!
Funny moment of the weekend would have to be when my leaned back on her chair and fell off and another tourist said to her "drunk before 8 in the morning, good work". I laughed so hard :)


So the weekend that just passed, we hit up the beach resort Big Millies on the famous Ghana beack, Kokrobite! We decided that instead of going straight there after school on friday, we would make a detour to the biggest western supermarket in accra for some cheese! little did we know that this added on a extra 3-4 hours! Traffic in Accra equals HORRIBLE! first of all, when you are hoping in a tro tro when it stops, everyone just runs in a pushes in to get a seat. We just stood there are were like, there is no way we are taking people out just to get in the car! but it is ghana, and us girls had to be tough, so when the tro tro stopped, we sprinted and pushed our way around everyone and got a seat! i like to think that we are getting preety tuff in ghana haha!

It was dark when we arrived and of course there was a room stuff up so we had to have three people in a double room which i seriously did not mind as it would be cheaper! we were staying in these little mud brick huts, they were so cute! it was so funny, me, iona and my open the door to the bathroom looking for the light to turn on, to find that it was an outside bathroom! that was awkward! On the saturday, we just relaxed on the beach! we took my's braid out, so much for taking 2 hours it took 5! Mine took 4 hours to get out, so basically it takes as long to get out as to put in! its is so weird to see a massive bag of fake hair at the end and to think that that was all on your head!

Saturday night was one of the best nights we have had here! Big millies is known for its beach parties so we were all preety excitied! we got ready putting on makeup that we have not worn for 2 months! it was so funny, Iona puts on her base foundation and looks at me saying "does this look all right", i was like "you look like a ghost Iona", so i had to put my rusty makeup skills to work and make her skin look normal!

Saturday night was regae night and we all enjoyed drinking our african queen cocktails and $1.90 smirnoffs! we danced the night away to 3 am! letting our hair down and just having fun! it was so good to be surrounded with white people for a change, even though we had to dodge the few locals trying to dance close with us! Me, Iona and Maja, were trying to get a song requested for them to play, it is called "I need an african man", number one on the charts here, and Iona was telling a lady to ask them, and the lady thought that she wanted an african man and bought all these guys to her, it was so funny! It was one of our faviourite nights, just relaxing and dancing!

So now onto school updates......
me and my painted our murial on our classroom, it says "donated with love from madame maja and madame shannyn, volunteers 2011" inside an australian outline (which took us seriously two hours to perfect). we also painted letters and numbers in the classroom, and we cant belive how much it looks like a classroom now :) Sir patrick cannot stop saying thankyou to us, we can tell that he really appreciate it! we also have filled the classroom with posters, and paper men the kids have decorated and animal posters they made. we also got a clock, which helped me teach them the time as well, and the clock fell and smashed, and the kids were so devasted saying "nooo madame", literally crying! I absolutely love it how they appreciate the smallest of things like when they saw they got hooks for their bags, they were so so excited, jumping up and giving us hugs!

This week we heard a new quote, princess came up to me saying "madame i need to private", and i was like "what does that me" and porctia whispers "she needs to do number two madame". It is so funny how they tell us if they need to "urinate" or "private".
It is going to be so hard to leave these beautiful kids. Each one of them has improved so much and we have established such a strong connection with them! I am very excited to say that with some recent donations, we have enough money to by the kids some decent tables and chairs as the ones that they are using now are absolutely horrible for their backs and posture!
It is going to be a surprise for them on firday as long with some other gifts we have got them! I am going to miss them so much, i can easily go for another month or so!

an update from MA and Erin.....
"so classes at the orphange are going well, still often very frustrating but all worth it when you see the slightest improvement, a couple can now write the alphabet now HOORAY! the building of the classrooms is almost complete and the showerheads and toilets have been installed which is big talk with the kids this week. Everyone is quite happy and well although there is always the occasional sick kid around. we are getting really quick at teeth time and bath time which is good. the kids love our frequent bread and candy supply as they hardly eat much at all"

an update from Iona and Eliza....
"we have been doing the learning support and it been going really good, we are finally feeling settled in and we dont want it to end. we have been getting them books, pen, pencils, balls and skipping ropes to play with :)it will be really sad to go, we have formed a really good connection with the kids and we will miss them all except for hulk ( a kid that bit Eliza really hard)"

an updat from our host family life:
- Mum you will be preety proud to here, that my family taught me and maja how to cook jollof rice! I kep asking them for the exact amounts of everything, and they just looked at me and laughed telling me i have to feel how much to put in! Linda and George are going to put me and my to the test on saturday, and me and my are both really bad at cooking so i think they are going to be really dissapointed with the result!
- ghana tv is soooo bad, the acting is so horroble, think of neighbours and make it 100 times worse, so me and my found desperate housewives in the dvd pile and enjoy some american tv once in a while! it is sooo good :)
- I also feel preety bald now after taking my hair out, it was so depressing brusshiing my hair, chucks after chunks came out! i am not suprised i am bald!
- friday night we have a big dinner with all the families which will be really nice, but also so sad as we know we are leaving them on sunday!

I am getting so sad, why cant the placement be for longer!!!
well that is the update for the past 2 weeks, i shall speak to you agin in 2 more weeks
love shan xx