International Day

What is International Day at AIS? It's a day for students to take pride in their countries! I love seeing the kids come to school on International Day because instead of seeing all the yellow, red, and green polo shirts, I see tons of colors and beautifully designed outfits from around the world. All the students dress up in traditional costume from their home countries. Kids are dressed in brightly colored fabrics of Ghana, beautiful dresses from Korea, and jeans and t-shirts from America. :) Being from America is not nearly as much fun as being from somewhere else!

When faced with different cultures from around the world everyday, I am reminded of how God is God of all cultures. He is the same and He connects with people who come from completely different backgrounds. Our God is amazing! Here are some pictures from the day!

One of the teachers led some of the students in a traditional Ghanaian dance.

Our students from Korea make up one of the largest country groups at AIS.

Jessica (South Africa) and Fanny (Togo) learn about Iraq.

Tony (Scotland), Mr. V., and Ian (Kenya). Mr. V. shared information on Scotland with the students so of course dressed the part after watching Braveheart!

Sakura (Japan) and Mirela (South Africa) playing German word Bingo in my class.
Everyone was so upset when I said I would tell them the English word and they would have to find the German word until they realized that it wasn't as hard as they thought!

First Week Back...

I'm back in Ghana and work has begun again. It has been fun seeing the kids again, but I'm a little saddened about the kids that aren't returning to AIS this semester. We are adding new students as the international community is always moving and changing so that has been interesting. There's always something new (or someone new)!

Now that I'm back, I have made my decision about next year. I've decided that I will be returning for at least another year. I love working with the kids here. I love that I can have relationships with the students outside the classroom where we have opportunities to talk about more than just classwork. I keep praying that God would give me wisdom and discernment as I help shepherd these young people. It was kind of funny because before I signed my letter of intent to return the other day a teacher asked if I was coming back to Ghana next year and I replied "Yes, I'm coming back...probably." She looked at me curiously and I had to confess that I was second guessing myself because I had no power in my room the night before! No fan = No fun!

The power has been out several times since I got here Tuesday evening. I am just thankful we have a generator at the school so we can actually get some work done instead of all of us simply putting out heads on our desks and complaining! I keep asking God to help me stay focused on the positives instead of dwell on the inconveniences. No matter if you are in America or Ghana, you can find either one if you are looking for them!

Today my friend Christy and I went to the market to pick up some snacks for the senior class Snack Shack (to raise money for the senior class mission trip). It's always a fun time for the two of us. We always wonder and joke about what crazy thing will happen this week! Each time we go, we walk through the crowds of people and selling stands to find "our vendor." They greet us warmly and I proceed to try to remember what items the kids at school actually like! Then they box everything up and we find a girl who will carry all our goodies on her head to the "tro-tro station" a few minutes walk down the road. It's always hard to see the girls carrying our heavy boxes. It's their way to make a living, but I somehow feel like I am taking advantage of them. Almost like they are servants. Christy and I know we can't carry the boxes far ourselves so we try to be friendly with the girls and we like to give them a little extra money or food.

Each time we go to the market (after we have collected all our snacks) we stop at our favorite pineapple stand. We each get a whole cut pineapple and we eat it on the way home. This is often our favorite part of the morning! The people we meet at the stand are fabulous! Each person has a unique way of cutting pineapple and it is always entertaining. One time a woman who wasn't really the stand owner was trying to cut pineapples for us and we could see that she didn't really know how to go about doing it. A man who was trying to sell us maps decided to help her out. So then the two of them struggled for quite some time before we got our pineapples. Christy and I just stood there and laughed at the whole situation. Each day I am reminded of how generous and caring the people are here. They are always willing and wanting to help.
Our Favorite Pineapple Lady

Today we left the market in a tro-tro (old 15 passenger vans reorganized to seat about 20) with our snack shack items ready to eat our pineapple. We have a 2 minute walk from the tro-tro stop to my house and it's always another adventure trying to get the snack shack items to the house. I do not know how the girls at the market carry all of our stuff! It's so heavy! Today we were smart and asked the vendor to put our goods in two boxes so we could each carry one. The mate (the one who collects the money on the tro-tro) helped us get the boxes out of the back of the van and he actually put the boxes on our heads! It was so funny. Everyone knows it's the best way of carrying something here, but us white people NEVER do it! Christy was laughing so hard we only made it a meters before we had to adjust! So now I can say I have actually carried something on my head. Maybe one of these days I will be able to do it without holding on to whatever is on my head with my hands! (Probably not.) Tro-Tro Station

Well, that's the first week. More random stories from Ghana to come!