Cheers

So guess who's been living in Ghana for over 9 months now?!
ME! Ha, it doesn't feel like that long at all, I'm over 1/3 completed with my time in the Peace Corps, only 18 months to go. Life is still chugging along just fine. Besides getting sick again (nothing to worry about, just the normal stuff when living in a third world country, diarrhea, fever, etc.) school has been going alright. The beginning of this term was amazing with only a few classes were canceled. But in the last month, over two-thirds of my classes have been canceled for a number of reasons. Lately, the students have been working really hard and clearing land to make a school farm and gathering bamboo to make a fence for the farm. That's just one of the many projects the students are involved with. The students here don't try very hard in the classroom but my goodness, they are extremely good at using a cutlass (machete) to clear land. Where American students would beat them in the classroom the students in my school would stomp them when it comes to manual labor and farming!
Another reason my classes were canceled lately is that there was a big marching competition for all of the schools in my district held on Ghana's Independence Day, March 6th. So they had to practice for a few hours every day for the 2 weeks before the event. But I must say that all of their hard work paid off. My school won the competition for the JHS and Primary (elementary school) and even the children in Kindergarten and Nursery marched and got 2nd place! It was a blast. The students really enjoyed the event and the celebrations!

So the first picture is of the students all lined up for inspection before marching. The girls in the front and the boys in the back. After this they march all the way around a football field and then salute to the chief and officials of the town.

And a picture of the JHS boys led by Ishmael, a friend and fellow teacher, and Desmond, one of the final year students. Here they are saluting to the officials. As you can see my students dressed up for the occasion, they're wearing some pretty amazing ties!

And this picture of some of the teachers at my school and myself. The man dressed in all white to my left is my headmaster. Enjoy!