Wednesday. Day 5.

Busy Busy!
So My partner Desiree and I were signed up to teach the 6th graders on Tuesday morning. There had to be some changes made and we got bumped to 3rd graders! My instructor Lynley decided to stay with us and help that day. They sang for us when we walked in the classroom and waited to sit down until we told them to. And when we told them to, they said "thank you." We taught for 2 hours because they teacher wanted us to fill the entire time. We can either teach for 2 hours or help the teacher with their lesson. Our teacher is just a sub so he was probably grateful for us to take 2 hours. haha. We tried a few games but they were a little messy with 3rd graders. Then we taught the 6 dimentions of health. Emotional, physical, social... Those. We took turns talking about each. The school building is surrounded by a cement wall and there are many buildings inside. There are actually 3 different schools inside the wall and ours is only 2 buildings. They look like mess halls. One story cement builings with small square holes on each side for windows. The doors are big and wooden and there are 2 per classroom, one on each side. The school grounds are.. well.. awful. It is all redish mud and rocks. There are ditches all over and uneven cement steps. They all run around and climb and it scares me that they will get hurt! They sweep the grounds every morning (with what looks like a bunch of fine sticks wrapped together) and pick up all the trash. The kids actually do a lot of the work around the place. They bring teachers their chalk and get things ready for the day around the school yard.
Towards the end of our class we went outside and got in a circle to play Simon Says. But none of them would get out. If they did what Simon didnt say, they would change it quickly and say they didnt. haha So we just kept playing without anybody getting out. Finally they taught us one of their games that was easy and so fun. We got in a circle and they chanted and clapped while someone would either dance in the middle or pick someone from the outer circle to come in. My favorite was where someone would run around the circle and pick someone, then they would both shake their hips until the song was done and the picked person would go around and pick someone else. I hope that makes sense! It was so cute. We also played something like duck duck goose. It was called fire on the mountain. They crouched in a circle and someone ran on the outside and put an eraser under someones butt and that one had to get up and chase the one that put it there before he made it around to his spot. It was really fun! They all sang and danced to all their games!
So our lesson yesterday went really well, I was happy with it and it was fun. After school we had lunch at our hostel since we had missed breakfast that morning because we left so early. They made us scrambled egg sandwiches :) and french fries. It was good and we all were hungry.
A big air conditioned bus came to pick us up a little while later to take us to where we would be teaching our AIDS lessons. The bus was nice and we were all fighting sleep. It look us almost 2 hours to get there because of traffic. But we got to see (those of us who were awake) things that I expected to see. The little villages where they have nothing and the market filled with tons of people. If our driver hadnt been going 90 the whole way there I could have taken some really cool pictures. haha
We made a stop to pick up the instructor for the mens group that we were teaching and some of us had to go to the bathroom. We were in a town kind of but there were no bathrooms where we were. We had to go find a tree. I got my tissues and we went out back. It was NOT like camping! I would pee in the woods so many times before I would pee "outback" in Ghana again. I might have to though. There were bugs and lizards and trash and green water and mud and it looked like someone had already used our area as a bathroom!
We taught outside in front of a building that was too small for all of us. They had plastic hairs set up for us and they were facing the men who were already sitting down. I was really indimidated to talk about condoms and sex to a group of men who were anywhere from 13 years old to 40 years old. We did one on one interviews first and I interviewed 2 men. That part was really cool. We asked personal questions and none of them were afraid to answer. It took us so long to get there that we could only get through about 3 lessons. Our bus driver had to have to bus back at 6 so we had to go. We all felt better after the interviews to teach and I was ready. The two men that I interviewed had no idea about a lot of important things and I wanted to tell them. I was just thinking about how little they know and no wonder AIDS is spreading. The group was excited for us to come back on thursday. I will be teaching 2 lessons on Thursday since I didnt get to teach mine yesterday.
I took some pictures on the way home but again, out driver was HAULING to get home. haha So I got the best ones I could. Dinner last night was pasta noodles with white sauce and salad. The pasta was really good. The salad was mostly cabbage and carrots and green peppers with no dressing. It was alright, I ate it.
We were so tired and it didnt take us long to fall asleep. They came to fix our air conditioning for our room yesterday but its still muggy in there so I dont know if they did. It has rained a couple of times since we have been here and it really hurts the city. People cant drive or walk in some places so they cant get to work or school. The roads in some areas are so bad that it is almost impossible to get through. Traffic doubles when it rains, it is a disaster for the people. Some of our kids at school will be late because of the rain.
This morning we taught again in our classrooms. It was all me and Desiree today! We made name tags and had them write in notebook that Desiree brought for them about what they want to do in the future. And then we had them write about their family and what they like to do. Our teacher was almost never in the classroom with us. It was a little more crazy today and it was raining outside so we could play a game. We have to yell when we teach because they dont close the doors so they can get air. And with the rain, I felt like I was screaming at them. There are a couple of boys in the class who cant read and can only write their name. The teacher sits them at the back and writes for them. I felt bad.
Ive only got a few minutes left on this computer. Im sorry for any grammer mistakes or anything thats spelled weird! Im always in a hurry :)