Feb. 5th-- Fatigue, Children's Names and A Bird

February 5, 2010

I am so stinkin’ tired! But I guess that is why I am here. To give of my time and energy and love. It was a successful day. I work up only a few times last night and then a few minutes to my alarm I woke up and laid in bed until 6:20 and left at 6:30. I waited for Annika to walk up to the House about 20 minutes and then guessed she had already left. Theresa and Austin stayed at the House last night. Now, I don’t know how the sleeping arangements turned out, but I think it worked out fine. Austin said it was an okay night and Theresea didn’t really sleep. Austin said it helped him realize all that we do. He said he brought out his belt last night with no intent to use but only to show it. He said the kids only resound to actions and threats like that. I was a little sad by that. But he is a very good guy doing a lot of good here.
They then left early, like 7 a.m., and Annika and I stayed a little after 8 waiting for Ester to come back after randomly leaving. So we stayed and cleaned and watched after Cho-joe because of course he couldn’t be left alone. We then came home, and I did laundry, had some powdered milk and warmed up leftovers and had something else for breakfast that I forgot about.
I then took a shared taxi to Abacrampa and a tro-tro to a town near Asaunsi, where the school is. Since the tro-tro didn’t want to drop me off at the, school I decided to just head down the road and join the next taxi or tro-tro that passed by instead of walking the whole mile distance. So a nice tro-tro- slash bus pulled over, and he offered a ride for free. He was very nice. I then arrived at the school and met Fred. I then went to the older kids, and we reviewed the songs we last learned. London Bridge, Twinkle Twinkle, Ring around the Rosie, and Hokie Pokie. They also taught me some of their songs. I then did a little music lesson teaching them doe-ray-me-fa-so-la-tea-doe. And after that, the beginning of Amazing Grace. Again, if you could send me children song lyrics that would be great because I am running out of ideas. I also taught them Mary Had a Little Lamb first verse and the Hand Slap game called “down by the banks of the hankie pankie” They liked it but I am running out of ideas, and they learn quick!! So help!! Any suggestions of lyrics would be great!!! After that, I was so tired!!! Fred recorded almost the whole thing too so I will be excited to show you videos!! I then went to the little kids and reviewed the same songs and taught them Mary Had a Little Lamb and also Head Shoulders Knees and Toes.
By then, I was just so out of energy but thankfully, around 12:30 school gets out. So we got a tro-tro, Fred, teacher, and about 5 other kids to head to Abacrampa and then Asebu. Fred bought my bananas and also paid for the trip. It was really nice of him to do that. Once home, I ate toasted bread and egg. And picked up my dress and skirt. They look pretty good. Sicilla did a great job, but I think I could have picked better fabric to fit the design. I think I will get to see fabric better and chose it better. But I really think that once you see it, you might want one too. Because they are so beautiful and depending on the fabric, you can chose something not too crazy and very nice.
After that I rested for about an hour and headed up to the house. The kids welcomed me, and I tried to hug everyone I could and then help them clean and wash. I helped Christy with homework. I felt good knowing that I had made such a good connection with Christy. I think she has come to know me as a loyal friend. Even though I want to be a friend with the kids, I also don’t want to at the same time. Because once you have a friendship I would have to leave and not see them for the rest of their young childhood or longer, that is just too much pain for a little child. So I will have a lot to think about. I then helped peel the oranges. The oranges here are green. But they still taste orange!! Anything orange is good with me!!!!! ^_^ Then fetched water and headed home around 5:30. I washed off all the sweat from the day and eat dinner.
Dinner was boiled plantain and red beans with powdered milk. Two minutes into the meal, I went and threw up so I think maybe my stomach just didn’t like the combo. But I will continue to be wise about what I eat. After dinner, we sat down, we as in Mrs. Incoom and Fred and I, to watch the videos that were taken at the school. I had interviewed Fred, who is a teacher/ principle at the school. We watched that and I am getting so excited to start this new video project. I will interview Mrs. Incoom and Pastor next week or so then I will get a rough draft to show everyone before I leave.
Other random things I forgot to write about is yesterday, John found a bird that had it’s wing broken and of course as kids do, pick it up and play/torment it. I just wanted the bird out of its misery. So we were chillin’ outside when a falcon came down in front of us, like 6 feet away, and grabbed that beautiful green bird with the broken and flew off with it. All the kids were like “WHOA!!!!” It took awhile to register what happened, and then we started to marvel and laugh at the same time. I was just glad that maybe the bird could be taken out of it’s misery sooner than later… or at least I hope. And then as for all of the kid’s names, you have Elvis Junior (Junior), Emanuel who is new and knows very little English, Pricilla, Samuel, Joshua, Joseph, Clement, Christy, Paul, Ruth, Margret, Grace, Angelina, and Cho-joe. I will write later to tell you more about them specifically. I love them so much and thank you for keeping everything in order over there for me.
So now I will be instructing Fred and Mrs. Incoom on how Mac computers work and also Facebook. So even though I am very tired and tomorrow I will be playing piano at the funeral from 8-4, at least tomorrow is Saturday and I can rest. Oh and the pastor and Fred are so so so appreciative of everything I am doing. Like they are so wonderful it almost makes me blush. Pastor said some parents called him after school to say how wonderful it was that I was there. So I feel so welcomed and blown away by how amazing the people are. And I actually haven’t received any email on Facebook from you. So I don’t know when you sent it, but I haven’t gotten any since your last one with Ghana Volunteers email. Thanks love you!!!