Adventures in the BIG CITY

While we were at the Village of Hope for mid-term break, our new university student friends, Enoch, Caleb, Derrick, Ato, and Philip invited Jordan and I to a Jazz festival the following weekend. My first thought was heck yes, that would be so much fun....a jazz festival in Africa! Then my second thought was it's the week right after mid-term break and I can almost count on it that I will have so much to do. My third thought was...screw it! Let's go to the Jazz Festival! And Jordan's thought the whole time was WE ARE GOING!

So, I asked Head of Primary if I could miss school on Friday and she said that wouldn't be a problem, just give my lesson plans to my assistant. So, Thursday, I was getting everything ready and telling my assistant everything she could possibly need to know about what class would be like that Friday when a nice little beeep beeep beeep came fro my phone. It was a text message from Enoch saying that Jazz Festival had been postponed until further notice, but that he hoped Jordan and I would still come to Accra. Well shucks...I was excited about this Jazz Festival and Jordan....well he was at least 20 times more excited than I was. So now I was in a pickle...how am I going to break the news to Jordan? Well, easy, just call him and tell him. So, I did, and we both decided that we still wanted to go to Accra and hang out with our new friends.

We left early Friday morning and Enoch came and picked us up at the bus station in Accra and took us to the University where we met the other guys. We then went to a really nice hotel. I felt like I should be somebody special being in that hotel..but truth is I wasn't. There was a concert going on outside by the pool area which we enjoyed for a little bit and then we went inside to the Jazz bar. I seriously felt like I was back in my old New Orleans stomping grounds. The ambiance was cool and dark. Dimmed lighting, red leather couches everywhere, a few tables and the bar was in the back, and a small stage in the front. It was simple, but nice. We sat down right next to the stage and waited for the musicians to arrive. We ordered and ate some food while we waited...and for those of you wondering, I ordered fufu.....JUST KIDDING, I got pizza!

Now, I really don't know anything about Jazz music....but these Jazz musicians were good! I enjoyed sitting there and listening and watching them play literally 5 feet in front of me. It was awesome and well worth the trip to Accra and a nice Plan B due to the fact that Jazz Festival had been postponed.

After the jazz bar, and after discussing, and more discussing about what we would do next, we all decided that we would go to the beach. (It was reassuring to see that people in other countries have a hard time making simple decisions too haha!) It was a clear night at the beach, a chilly breeze and half moon which lit up the sky. We sat and watched the waves come and had good conversation...one of which was did the Americans REALLY go to the moon!?!? We left the beach around 2 in the morning and went back to Enoch's house to sleep.

The next day Enoch took us around Accra, we got to eat at a LEGIT gelato shop and we went to the mall of Accra. Sunday we went to church with our friends Paul and Ernest and then Ernest took us to the bus station so we could head back to Kumasi. But it wasn't soooooo easy. We got to the station and saw long lines of people, no buses, no trotros no nothing! Well, it turned out that there was a football (soccer) match in Kumasi that same day and so there were not buses or trotros in Accra...they were all in Kumasi. So we waited for about an hour and a half and finally this small bus came. Long story short...we literally had to fight our way on that bus. We got on and got to Kumasi safely! Thank you, God!

It was such a nice weekend. I am so thankful to Enoch for letting us stay with him, and for him taking his weekend to spend with us. We had such a wonderful time and it was nice to get out of Kumasi and go the "BIG city".  It was a little bit of an escape, and I would even say it was much needed which of course I am thankful for. But, like I have said before, I can't forget why I am here. I was greeted Monday morning with hugs and welcomes from my students. That is why I am here.

I hope you are all fine and enjoying yourself as the weather gets cooler....as for me...the weather is only getting hotter!

Blessings and LOVE <3

Conferences = SUCCESS = Trip to the Village of Hope

Well my friends and family, let me first apologize for the delay in my blog writing. I have been so busy! But don't worry, everything is chill over here in Ghana and Jordan and I are doing very well.

A few posts back I wrote about the Student Led Conferences that were quickly approaching and how I was feeling a bit anxious about it. I'm here to tell you that SLC was a HUGE success!! Thank God!

The weekend before SLC, I was really busy, not only trying to get everything prepared for Monday's conferences but Jordan and I also had our friend Chris here in Kumasi visiting. (More about his visit will come.) Thankfully, Sunday evening, my wonderful parents called me to wish me the best of luck on Monday and I took their words of encouragement to heart and felt at peace about everything!

Out of 31 students, all students and parents showed up except for 1, so I would say that was a good turn out. I loved getting to meet all of the parents and spend time talking with them about their child and the classroom. It was a joy to see each student take their parent around the classroom and show them everything that we are working on! I was so proud of my students...they did such a fantastic job! After a long but successful day of conferences, Jordan, another American teacher and myself treated ourselves to a nice dinner at Sir Max! It was the perfect way to end Ms. Johnson's very first experience with SLC at ICS!

With the successful SLC behind me, it was now time to look toward mid-term break!!!!!!!!!! SLC was Monday and the rest of that week we had off! So, Jordan and I got to take another trip to the Village of Hope! This has become our home away from home. We got there about 5 in the evening and Jordan and I walked into the guest house just expecting to find a quiet place but I was quickly taken by surprise. We opened the door, heard loud music and much to my surprise saw about 5 Ghanaian men, one of which was dancing around in his boxers. I quickly closed my eyes and thought to myself...wait, maybe this house turned into a BOYS house and I need to run back for the door and leave!! I was having about a million thoughts when one of the guys welcomed us and introduced himself and the others. I realized that it was ok for me to be there. Anyways, they were a group of 10, guys and girls who attend a university in Accra. They were also on their mid-term break, but spent their mid-term break doing community service at the VOH. It was awesome to have them around and I got to make new friends. Anyways, the VOH kiddos were not on break so they were having school every day. Jordan, the university students and I spent the week helping some of the teachers and hanging out with the kids. I also was able to touch up on my rustic game of Knock Out which I played almost every day with a group of kids. I beat Shaibu a few times....now if Ernest was there, that would be a different story. 

 My favorite part about being at the VOH is the simplicity of life. I love getting to play with the children, talking to the children and just enjoy the company and fellowship of children of all ages. There, they don't have so many distractions like TV, computers, electronics, and lives aren't so busy running from one thing to the next...it's just pure and simple and it's their lives and I have been so blessed by it. The moments I treasure the most, are moments spent with the children singing songs, or playing games, talking, or helping them with chores or other tasks.

Another bonus about the Village of Hope is that it is so close to the ocean. It's just about a 30 minute walk from the guest house to the sand on the beach. I was talking to Katie (a volunteer from the US) and some of the university students about how breath taking the sunrise at the beach is. So much talk of glorifying the sunrise, we all decided that we would wake up early and walk to the beach to see God's artwork. It was a good thing we did, because, it was nothing short of beautiful.

 

Thank you God for the beauty that you have created around me, not only in your landscape but in your people. 

Blessings and LOVE <3