An Aboom Update

I picked up my new skirt at the seamstress' shop today. I attached my best attempt at a self portrait. The blue mosquito net is Erin's, and the white one is mine, and the door on the right is my part of the closet. The door on the left leads to the hallway with two bathrooms, three other bedrooms, and a door to the balcony. Maybe I'll do a video tour of our house sometime. It's really big, and kind of cozy despite the cement floors and cracked paint on the walls.

I realized that it's been a while since I really talked about my work at the school (other than, "Today I went to school and then lunch," type stuff). I figured today would be a good day to fill you in a bit.

This week was a great one at the school. Today, the teachers led their first music activity during our lesson. I wasn't really sure how it would go considering some of the teacher trainings have been rescheduled recently due to Mary's travels to Accra and Winneba. But, not surprisingly, the teachers all had a natural presence when singing and dancing with the students. They brought in some more traditional songs and even did some improvising, which was very encouraging. I am starting to see all the pieces fall into place for the music program, and I have a good feeling about it. Things have definitely changed from the plan I had coming in, but that is to be expected. I can already see how the music is benefitting the students and bringing life to the school. As one of the teachers said yesterday during our meeting, "Music is good for the soul." It is so nice to be working with teachers who realize the importance of music in the classroom, even if it did take a few weeks for us to get used to working together.

I have started to put together the handbook that I will leave with the teachers when I leave. In the next few weeks, that will be my main focus outside of the school. We still haven't heard if vacation will start on time (July 29) or a week early. But they do vacate a week early, that leaves only two more weeks in the school! We have a lot left to do, but we're on a roll now. I hope to take some video of the teachers and students during the music lessons next week, that I will hopefully be able to post on the blog. Fingers crossed.

Did anyone try to watch the video from my last post? If so, did you have any problems watching it? Please email me or leave a comment if you did have a hard time, and I'll try to fix it.

Tomorrow is my halfway point. I'm already planning a special post for it.