Going to Ghana!

Yes... so I am going to Ghana at the end of March! I'm really excited, especially since it took about 3 weeks to hear back. They wanted me to stay here and read reports, just because I'll be gone for 2 weeks... even if there are Anne Claire and Natalie in Kinshasa to do that. In the end though, they've approved. I can't wait to go see Ashitey and Shoko! She'll be coming too, and it's fun to think that we've visited Spain, Morocco, Japan, and Cambodia together already... and now Ghana! I have to buy my ticket first, and I have to start to do it early b/c our logistics is slow at getting things done. Just to go see the mailbox in Rwanda, it has taken them 3 weeks and they haven't even done it yet... a bit frustrating!

Besides that, I taught today. I watched Crash last night with Daniel, and we had an interesting conversation about the movie. I think it was very much in his face how I was talking about racial relations and the importance to acknowledge that it exists but to also do sthg about it. I think he saw how much of an advocate I am on these issues... well, at least, it gave him a different perspective of looking at things. We also talked about what it means to be expats in a country like the DRC where disparity is so in your face, and how we live in our own bubble here. So today, teaching. The kids were excited about the little conversation exercise we gave. I gave a kid a piece of my mind. He's been lazy for the past 3 months, and all he does is disrupt the class. So I told him that if he really didn't want to be there, that he shouldn't have to. That my goal in coming every Saturday morning is to teach and to get them excited about learning, and that if he's not happy, he should tell me, and if he doesn't want to be there, to go to another class. I think he got my point, and we'll see next week. I told them to memorize the short conversation.

We tried to play a little puzzle game, where I put words in English and French for them to match... goodness, how frustrating it was to explain the rules to the last class. I was getting a headache and losing my voice... I definitely can't do teaching for more than 3 hours, the 4th hour is always painful for me. The kids take about 10 minutes to write 2 lines, and then you explain the rules over and over, and some just make a blank face. Oh well, it tells how teaching the same thing 4 times on a Saturday morning is not healthy! But the kids are cute and excited to be there. The last class wanted to stay for an extra hour to continue teaching... I was going to die, so I stayed for an extra 15 minutes.

I am now in the office, finishing up a report on nutritional milk. We're in the process of hiring an english teacher, so I had to write the letter to potential candidates. It's all very interesting, and I do feel like I'm playing a role and getting this done.. at least today ;) We'll be organizing intl women's day, so I can't wait to get involved in organizing that.

All right, boating tomorrow with the Uruguayans.. should be fun. For now, that's all, I'm out... got to go home and eat!