living on Ghanaian time...
"i want to make you fat" says the host mother... haha. in ghana, it is considered a compliment to tell someone they are fat, as it is a sign of wealth and status. As well, host families feel that if you gain weight during your stay with them... they have taken very good care of you. its interesting adjusting to this cultural norm when in canada/us/westernized countries... its skinny skinny skinny.
the foods here are okay... some of the traditional dishes are a little harder to swallow. the textures and flavours are quite different... but the fruit and freshly prepared food every day is fantastic! The rice dishes tend to be my favorite... they make fantastic sauces, and thankfully my host family goes easy on the spice!
my days teaching at the vulnerable childrens school: "Fiasi" are going better and better. Its amazing how much you can communicate without a mutual language... even with 4 year olds. The older girls are great... and most show so much interest in learning how to type, computers, and other important vocational skills.
This past weekend I went to Lake Botsumchi... which is the largest natural lake in West Africa. It was created my a meteorite (spl?), and is worshiped by the local communities. Of course I was dying to get in the water and swim... and as soon as I did i had a swarm of eager ghanaians asking me to teach them how to swim. It was so much fun; definitly used my previous teaching methods from good old CBSC to teach the children and adults how to float... glide, and some of them were actually swimming fairly well by the end of the day. I had a great time and hopefully will go back once more before the end of my trip.
till next week!
the foods here are okay... some of the traditional dishes are a little harder to swallow. the textures and flavours are quite different... but the fruit and freshly prepared food every day is fantastic! The rice dishes tend to be my favorite... they make fantastic sauces, and thankfully my host family goes easy on the spice!
my days teaching at the vulnerable childrens school: "Fiasi" are going better and better. Its amazing how much you can communicate without a mutual language... even with 4 year olds. The older girls are great... and most show so much interest in learning how to type, computers, and other important vocational skills.
This past weekend I went to Lake Botsumchi... which is the largest natural lake in West Africa. It was created my a meteorite (spl?), and is worshiped by the local communities. Of course I was dying to get in the water and swim... and as soon as I did i had a swarm of eager ghanaians asking me to teach them how to swim. It was so much fun; definitly used my previous teaching methods from good old CBSC to teach the children and adults how to float... glide, and some of them were actually swimming fairly well by the end of the day. I had a great time and hopefully will go back once more before the end of my trip.
till next week!
posted by gillian at
5:18 AM
2 Comments:
Good to hear your skills are being put to good use, and that you are enjoying the food. One time a lady said to me, "Dallas, you look so big today. Did you buy new pants?"
and it was supposed to be a compliment...
Ha ha enjoy those comments when they are meant to be nice.
Keep having fun, and keeping in touch
By
Unknown, at 1:27 PM
hey Gill!! good to hear things are going well!! Kids here call me fat too - but that's because Koreans are so thin! I don't really think they know that it's such a negative word in our society. Ah well, they are still cute kids! The lake and swimming/teaching sounds like a blast!! Ahhh, good times! so good to hear how things are going! I'll definitely talk to you soon!
By
anne and colin, at 6:53 PM
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