you have the same hair as jesus.

i know its been awhile since i last wrote... the internet actually isn't too bad here, i just never seem to feel like sitting down in the room for an hour or two (especially when its so hot in here). anyway, i'm here now!

last week was almost a full week of teaching. i got to school on monday morning though to be told that it was actually African Union day and that there was no school. It doesnt seem like its a very big holiday, because the teachers said they had no idea. funny start to the week at least - it was one of those 'yep, im definitely in africa' moments. i didnt end up doing a lot on monday... played with some kids and what not. pretty typical day

the rest of the school week was a lot better than the week before. i'm really starting to get along with the kids and know them personally, which makes teaching a lot easier. ive started to be able figure out what kids struggle where, and how to (sort of - this bracket is dedicated to eric by the way, he seems to really like my bracket-based style of writing). bobby (the teacher i'm working with) and i have started coming up with lesson plans that go a bit further than what they normally do. math continues to be pretty straight forward to teach, but figuring out how to teach reading without books is a bit of an issue. writing has also been kind of funny, because it seems that the kids have all memorized roughly the same 5 sentances that they all put down when i ask them to write something of their own (normally goes along the lines of 'i have a good family' or 'my mother like to cook'). its kind of a tough habit to break, but i'm hoping that eventually they'll run out of memorized stuff and will start to actually write. it would be cool to read on my part too... i have trouble believing that each kid has a 'good family' with a 'mother who like to cook' etc.

after school one day i also went into a refugee house for the first time. a teacher i work with who has been living here for 8 years was all over me to come see his house, and i finally got around to doing it. he lives just behind 'the mansion' - the house where the ghanian government representative to camp lives, which really is a mansion. his house, by contrast, was 2 rooms in a big block of similar rooms. everybody in this 'complex' i guess yo ucould call it had a door that led from the outside to a small front room (maybe 5 by 3 feet) where they had a kitchen and bathroom. behind that room was a door that led to the bedroom (maybe 10 by 6 feet). modest for sure, and it really puts even the house that i live in on camp (which feels cramped sometimes) into perspective.

on wednesday of this week i went into accra in hopes of finding a post office, because there are none on camp. a couple of us went to the mall (figured i couldnt go wrong there, especially beacuse its airconditioned). turns out, no luck there but the mall was an experience in and of itself. i hadn't seen that many white heads in awhile... even if i've only been here for just over 2 weeks now, you get used to no whites really quickly and we almost start to look kind of funny. the mall also had this place called 'chicken inn' and 'creamy inn' - this restaurant chain was the first place i ever ate in uganda so itwas kind of hilarious to stumble upon it here to. better yet, it was terrific tuesday (2 for 1)! my stomach is really confused with the constant changes from liberian to western food every few days. we did a quick spin around the mall on our way to the western grocery store (the only place that sells peanut butter - a staple for me). in it there was a huge nike store, a puma store and a really huge restaurant that actually looked really nice.

on thursday and friday night, we had the official and unofficial goodbye ceremonies for two of the volunteers (colin and stu) who left this weekend. CBW played a football (soccer) game for them (i cant stress how important soccer is here - the man who ran against thecurrent liberian president is a huge international football star (george weah?)). we also had a little ceremony to say nice things about the both of them on another night. our unofficial ceremonies consisted of going into accra to this very western bar called champs where they do 'quiz night' on thursdays and kareoke on friday. just outside champs there is a woman (the egg lady) who sells possibly the best drunk food ever. she sells egg sandwhiches that are made up of an egg cooked with peppers, tomatoes, onions and spicy stuff (everything here is soo spicy) and then is put in fresh bread. half of the reason we go to champs so much is to see this lady at the end of the night.

finally, on saturday a couple of us went back up too kakum national park to do one of the coolest trips ever. this trip takes you on a hike through the rainforest to this natural 3-story high rock shrine (domoa or gomoa.. not sure). anyway, its just these massive boulders in the middle of nowhere, covered in all kinds of vines and stuff. after hearing about the significance of the shrine to the local people (its since been turned into an ecotourism project by USAID so it isnt worshipped as much) we got to climb it. the first story involved climbing up a vertical rock face with one vine. my upper body strength wasnt near ready for this so the guide had to help me up with a very... interesting... technique. he scampered (literally scampered all over the rock) down below me, stuck his head up my butt, then told me to walk. i nearly died laughing i think. he was completely serious though, and that is how i got up. the next two climbs were easier for me, because there were more vines to use with your legs. once you got up to the top there was a sweet view of the rainforest, and then we turned around and came down. the first one we climbed downbut then the second one we swung by a vine from! it was so cool, and very tarzan/george of the jungle like (although i wasn't nearly as graceful and got tangled in vines on the other side).

alright. to wrap things up i thought i'd post some of the best comments i've gotten so far since i've been here...
1. you have the same hair as jesus(got that at school this morning)
2. your short are kind of short (this was coming from the local prostitute... ouch. i had just woken up from a nap in my defense and wasnt planning on going outside in the)
3. you talk to you much and have annoying voices (old man on the tro tro - public transport system here)

thats it for now!