Okay, I think I figured out how to reorder pictures on Flickr. I’m going to try to do that as soon as I’m done writing this post. I made this marvelous realization while I was putting up more pictures on the school’s Flickr account. Remember how I was doing stuff with MS Paint in my Primary ICT classes? Well, I copied some of their finest products and put them up for you to enjoy. Considering that these kids had never touched a computer before and took weeks to figure out how to work the mouse, their Paint masterpieces are really impressive. They learned how to change between the different colours and tools and how to save and open their documents. Pride through the roof. I love my kids. Anyway, you can see their work here.
So I’m in Tamale again, working on various PC forms that need to be emailed to people. Despite there having been two full weeks of ‘official school’ already finished, we haven’t started teaching or even had our staff meeting. When I found out that the rest of last week (Wed – Fri) was going to be devoted to sports (“Beatrice, could we still maybe have the staff meeting this week even though we’re doing sports?” “Oh no, it is impossible.”), I got somehow frustrated and decided to travel. On Wednesday I went to Shauna’s house with Jake and we had a good time watching movies, sleeping on Shauna’s bed (it has springs! and a down pillow she brought from America! best bed in Ghana.), cooking yum food and going to SWOPA. SWOPA was only about twenty minutes away on bike, but we only had two bikes, so on the way back, I rode on the back of Shauna’s, on the rack. I felt bad for her, but what can you do! On the way there we got lucky, and Shauna was able to hitch a ride and I rode her bike. Sidenote on begging rides: We do it all the time. You just stand on the side of the road making the “begging” gesture, which, incidentally, is the same as the ASL sign for “good.” People usually pull over for us, probz because we’re right, and we hop into their car/cab/truckbed/whatever and off you go. Just last night, a group of us were walking to the main road to get a taxi into town and some guy stopped for us without us even begging a ride, and gave us a free ride into town. In America, you never would get into a stranger’s car. Here it’s totally safe. And free. And faster than waiting for taxis or tros. Glorious. Anyway, staying at Shauna’s house was really fun. I always like to travel to different villages and see other PCV’s sites. Plus, we played Settlers of Catan, aka biggest nerd game ever/the Upper East’s new obsession/best game ever. Jake and I left on Friday morning and had a semieventful taxi ride back to Bolga. There were four people in the back and Jake and I smashed in the front. This is nothing special, but it had rained the day before and when the taxi driver decided that it would be a good idea to try to cross a mud-filled ravine, it wasn’t the best idea. We got stuck and everyone got out while people helped push the car. It eventually worked and then we had to sit there for ten minutes while the driver washed his car. The thing is, we got off the nice paved road and onto this dirt road for no reason that was apparent at the time. We didn’t pick up anybody else or anything. Later, Shauna told us that they like to take the bush paths so they don’t have to go through the police barricades on the main road because they overload the car. Oh Ghana. So now I’m here in Tamale, being productive. Also, it’s my friend’s birthday and there is going to be something for that. Yesterday we were in an obruni store and found a big thing of sprinkles. It’s an outrageous ten cedis but I think we’re going to get it and make doughnuts. Mmtastic! Oh, I also wanted to tell you about last Sunday. Earlier in the week two weeks ago, I was walking past this seamstress school that I pass a lot and the girls sitting outside and sewing called me over more enthusiastically than usual. They wanted to invite me to the “passing out” ceremony for one of them. I was really suprised and pleased that they wanted to invite me because, although I greet them whenever I pass and we chat, I really don’t know them that well. So I told them I would go, and on Sunday Fataiya and I went in to go. The invite (INVITATION! INVETATION!! INVITATION!!!) said that it started at one pm sharp, so I figured I would get there around three and we fine. This meant that Fataiya and I had lots of time to kill. First we went to hang out with her boyfriend, who is also deaf and lives behind the station. I’ve met him several times before, and I always enjoy him. He’s studying at a college in Navrongo and we talk a lot about the differences between schooling in America and Ghana. I really like him. So we were sitting outside his house talking when one of the old men who was around started nonsense signing to me. Well, he was trying to to tell me that this other man thought I was pretty or something, and I was signing back to him silly things and then I finally said something. He was totally suprised because he thought I was deaf. Oh man, it was funny. He was so startled! After we left Jamilu, we went and ate food and then waited for a while for the internet cafe to open. Because it was Sunday, the place we usually go to was closed and we had to look for one that was run by Muslims. We found one and while we were waiting for it to open, I took those really pretty pictures of Fataiya. We got tired of waiting and found another one. By the time we were done, it was almost three so we walked to the seamstress school and then walked to the venue with some of the girls, including the one who was “passing out,” Modesta Bawa. As predicted, nothing had started by three and, unfortunately, nothing had started at four, the time that Fataiya and I agreed that we should leave to make sure we got a trotro back to Tongo. But we did get to greet everyone and give Modesta a congradulatory 2 cedis. I was glad I at least got to see the place and all the women in their beautiful dresses. Overall it was a really great day. I really love Fataiya. Spending time with her is such a pleasure. Oh, then later that night she taught me how to make my favourite soup – bitor soup. It’s like groundnut soup with leaves in it. Delicious. So we played cards (rummy, her new fav, she is just as good as I am after playing for a couple weeks), made soup, ate it with TZ and had a generall good time. Yeah! Okay, I’m going to go eat some oatmeal.
