Hot hot hot, primary school, Ho and Kpetoe

It's been awhile since my last post but the past few days I've been rushing to the loo, seems to be like all the time.  The nurse in the village has given me two lots of antibiotics and a de-wormer (just in case).  They laughed and couldn't believe the last time I took de-wormer was on my last visit.  As well as my anti-malarials I currently feel like a walking pharmacy.  

Last week I met a few more of Stephen's friends.  Really nice people and Daniel is probably one of the friendliest, laid back people I've met.  Although what he smokes may have something to do with this.  Him and Nancy are brother and sister, living in their uncle's house.  I think their dad died and mum lives elsewhere.  Seems to be a happy house even if Nancy complains that she's cooking all the time and the lads should find themselves girlfriends/wives to do that for them and one of Daniel's friends continually tries to convince Nancy he's the one for her, but she's having none of it and neither is Daniel, being the protective brother. lol.

It's been bloody hot the past week.  I've been constantly sweating and hoping that it'll rain.  To my relief this has happened a few times so there has been some coolness for about an hour now and then. It's just started to rain again while I'm typing this up. Yay! 

Some of the kids came round the other night and while dinner was being prepared there was a lot of dancing and singing.  More by the fact that I was videoing them, so much 'playing up to the camera' was taking place.  I would try and upload it to this blog but there is a short clip of me trying to dance bobobo.  Definitely not for public viewing and may even scar people for life.

Old Soldier showed me some land that I can have if the other plot isn't suitable.  It's very generous of him, however, it is right next to a cassava mill, so prob not as it's very noisey.  The other plot just outside the village will be fine, although there is a small church right next to the land which could become annoying.  I can see me turning my music up at times to drown out their shouting but I'm sure everything will be ok.

After showing me the land we had a few drinks in a local drinking spot and chatted about Ghana's oil production, slow development in the country, Accra's congestion and the time in Ghana when Rawlings took power and Old Soldier (being a soldier) was working 24/7 to keep the peace.  Seems like there was a lot of smoking and drinking going on in the evenings.

Friday morning I took a maths class at the Primary School.  I was shattered after.  I've discovered that trying to teach six year olds maths when they have attention spans of fish is extremely difficult.  Especially when the other classes were playing, watching me through the windows and running away when I went toward them - the teachers were having what seemed to be a very long meeting.  However, it was fun and looking forward to the next round.

Stayed in Ho and Kpetoe last weekend.  Nice to have a bit of a change of scenery and meet different people.  Stephen's mum (Stella) and step-dad live in Kpetoe, where Stella runs a salon and he works at the District Assembly.  Stephen's cousin Richmond also lives there and works for the District Assembly in the PR department.  All very nice people who gave me a warm welcome and some rather delicious food.

There was a Miss Ghana Extra Plus on the tv which was quite amusing.  Similar to the X-Factor style but for a beauty pageant.  Large women auditioning by dancing, singing etc. some were even crying but not sure what that was all about and as usual the judges laughed a lot.  I'm not watching much tv over here as the one in the room is still not working properly, so it's only when I'm visiting people who have them that I get a chance to watch the news or, as above, some reality tv show of all things.  I don't really miss it as there didn't seem to be much on before I left.  However, I'm sure I'll be catching up on a few of my fav programmes when I get back. 

The past few days there have been a few shotgun blasts.  The first time I heard it I did have a bit of a panic attack...'What the hell is that?', 'What's was going on?',  'Surely Ghana is still a safe country?'...  However, no one else seemed phased and carried on with whatever they were doing.  It seems to have something to do with the Yam Festival celebrations, along with loads of drumming which goes on all night as far as I can tell.  So long as the gunfire is nowhere near me, I'm fine.

What sounded like the entire sheep population camped outside my window last night and decided to have a party and the more I look at chickens the wierder they seem to get, especially when they're running.  Bizzare, they just don't look right. lol

Mr Spider seems to have heeded my nervous prodding and left my room or at least keeping out of sight and reach.  The one with a leg missing is now in the bathroom breeding like nobody's business.

I'm having probs uploading photos so will add them soon.

Until the next time,

Sam x