This last week, we all started teaching, and i want to start by apologising to all my previous teachers; especially Mrs. Wilkes and Mrs. Crallovich, for everything i put them through.

I have been given class 2, 3 and 5 for English Composition and Grammar, and not Maths because it would have meant that i would have been teaching all day. On Monday, my first lesson was at 9:30, but at around 9:10 the bell went and it was time to change lessons. At this point i was in my room, looking over my notes and preparing for my first lesson. I gathered my stuff together and went down to the classroom where the teacher stood up, passed me and said simply.. "good luck". I walked into the class and realised that i had only planned for a 45minute lesson, with 1 hour and 5 minutes left to go. This was class 2, and luckily for me, they are highly disorganised and asking them to get out their exercise books takes around 15 minutes.

I got through the lesson alright, but there was one girl at the back of the class that wasn't interested in what i was teaching at all. She would get out of her chair and wander round the back of the room and talk to other students. I finally had enough and walked up to her at the back of the class and said to her
"What would Mr. Acquah Heyford say if he saw what you were doing?"
she said nothing
"Would he use the cane?"
she said nothing
Now i could have left it here, but she had annoyed me to the point where i was even considering using the cane myself. So i continued.
"Do you want me to take you to Mr. Acquah Heyfords office? no? well do your work then"

So class 2 was over, and i had class 3 after a 15 minute break, and they were miles better. They all listened well and the majority of them understood the work. I enjoy teaching class 5 aswell, there are a few students that are pretty funny. There is one kid called Atigah, who did a dance in front of the whole class on his way back to his chair after he answered something correct on the board. Again, i have plenty of pictures of all the students and my school but i havn't been able to upload them yet.

Yesterday, Jake, Kirby and I all decided to come down to Takoradi for the weekend to see the other volunteers. We asked Mr. Acquah Heyford how long it should take, and he thought it was about 3 hours. Now, the rule of thumb in Ghana, (like mom's cooking times) is to double what they say. Sure enough, 6 hours later we arrived in Takoradi, and after searching the whole city to find the girls, we ended up in a small cafe owned by a british woman. They sold milkshakes there for a reasonable 3 cedi, and they taste soooo good. For the past 2 weeks, Kirby and I have both been drinking warm water out of a bag, so to finally have something cold and packed with sugar was like a gift from God.

We went out for dinner at a restaurant owned by a German man, who came and welcomed us in and offered us a 10% discount from our meal because we were volunteers. At this point, i should also mention the food that we get in Achiase. Me and Kirby have both been getting rice with fish sauce every lunch and dinner for 2 weeks now, with a handful of exceptions where we had spaghetti and banku. Although they remove the fish from my meal, and replace it with an egg, i just can't stand this meal. As a result, we both fantasise about what toppings we would have on our first pizza when we get home. This place sold pizza and i really cant put into words how good it was... i even took a picture of it.

After dinner, the girls took us to a salsa dancing class. Normally I hate dancing, but this was really good fun. We were the only ones there, with exception of one overweight ghanaian man (who was absolutely hilarious because he would always say "oooh, its getting abit exotic" everytime we learnt a new step.) It was great fun, and we have all really enjoyed it in Takoradi.