prep week

hello,

So this is my "prep" week, before the literacy workshops begin. My "to-do" list:

1. Get settled. Check. I'm getting to know my way around, getting a lot of exercise walking from the church to the guest house from the guest house to the internet cafe, from the cafe to the market ... i can feel my legs getting stronger!

2. Visit the local school. Check. I spent the day there yesterday, observing and at times participating. It was very interesting -- so many children running around in their blue uniforms! Listening to them practice singing was entertaining. One thing - watching the teachers pull out the "cane" was kind of startling to see, coming from Canada. But the teachers were very welcoming to me, and I had some nice conversation with several of them there.

3. Prep for literacy workshops. Felicia, the pastor's daughter and my "assistant", has been a very valuable resource! We've spent a lot of time brainstorming, flipping through books, browsing through teaching resources at the market, locating a blackboard, etc, etc. Although -- you can only prep so much, before knowing the number of women and their literacy levels.

4. Meet with the program leaders. This was kind of interesting. Felicia and I were there, and I was all prepared with my photocopied handouts and my colored folders, etc -- five minutes before the meeting, it became clear that while I saw the leaders as volunteers, some of them viewed themselves as employees? And then I had to go lead the meeting :) Surprisingly, it wasn't really awkward. We all kind of laughed about it, but obviously they still have some questions in their minds ... I'm excited for next week, once some of these kinks have been sorted out!

So I meet with the leaders again tomorrow, and then go to a wedding with Auntie Jo on Saturday! I'm looking forward to that, and today Felicia and I picked out material and headed to the seamstress for a dress for me to wear! Being here, I love just looking at the African outfits and I knew I wanted to purchase one as a souvenir -- why not get it at the beginning , so I can get a lot of use out of it while I'm actually in Africa?

Some anecdotes:

I did laundry for the first time on Tuesday. I got out the buckets and the detergent and prepared to do it by hand. I insisted that Felicia only sit and watch, but evidently I wasn't doing a good job because after watching me for only a few minutes, she pushed me aside and started showing me how it's done! And then I took another try at it. Kwaku and his friend Isaac (good name!) came by and decided it would be entertaining to sit back and watch. And so I was bent over the bucket scrubbing my underwear with an audience who all told me that I was doing a bad job. I'll get the hang of it...

Also -- yesterday I experienced the first "lights out" to happen at night. And when is the power most likely to go out? When you're in the shower, of course (Ange, you can attest to this)! In this case, I was having my daily "bucket bath". So I was standing in the tub completely soapy when I found myself in darkness!
Fear #1: that the lizard I had seen earlier by the toilet would take this opportunity to come out!
Fear #2: I would injure myself trying to step out of the tub with my slippery feet!
I managed to get out of the tub, and was wandering around my bedroom -- soapy, bumping into furniture, standing there like a fool waiting for a streak of lightning to illuminate the location of my flashlight!

I found it and a few minutes later the power came back. I'm sorry if this is too much information for some of you readers, but ... i'm here to relate my experiences :) Don't worry, I won't give the details on my first public washroom experience --- it began with the man at the internet cafe saying, "When you come to Africa, you must do as Africans do..."

Anyway ... I'm enjoying my stay here, but at the same time miss everybody back home! I hope you are all doing well and know that I keep you in my thoughts and prayers :)

Erica