Free day

Well, it is my 6th day in Ghana. For once, I don’t feel like I have a huge story to tell. It was a pretty average day. We woke up and went to teach at the school. The kids are so sweet. They love to look at us, touch our arms and our hair, and then giggle. They are fascinated with the way we look. They love to impress us. Today I thought it would be fun to show them vinegar and baking soda volcanoes. So, I got some play dough, vinegar, baking soda, and some pill bottles to put the stuff in. We taught the kids about the scientific method. They didn’t really get it.
The kids here are so afraid of disappointing you that if you ask them a question, such as, “Do you know what a volcano is?” They say, “Yes” even if they have never heard of it before. When they said yes, we were asking them what it looks like and why, you know, just going through the process of the scientific method. Why does a volcano erupt? It erupts because the rocks in the earth get so hot…yada, yada, yada. And so on through the rest of the scientific method. We conducted the experiment thinking that the kids would LOVE it. We did it, and it erupted and was fizzling down the side of the play dough volcano, and they were just staring at it. They could not get the concept of why it was bubbling out like that.
It was very frustrating. I think they really liked it, but I think that they were just so perplexed by the idea, never having heard of anything like that before that they didn’t know what on earth to think. I felt sad. So we tried to lighten the mood by playing button, button, who’s got the button? It was a hit. We made a little song and clapped a rhythm, and the kids LOVED it. So, no to the volcanoes, and a huge YES to button, button, who’s got the button? It was very cute. It was hard to try to teach them something that we thought they would love, and just have them looking at us with those big brown eyes, having completely blank, confused looks on their faces.

As we were leaving the school, this little boy was sleeping outside one of the classrooms. So cute.

The rest of the day was our free day. A group of us went to the temple. Me and 2 other girls did a session, and the rest of the girls did baptisms. It was so amazing to go to the temple. The city is so loud with the constant lull of honking horns, people yelling, and bartering on the streets that the quiet of the temple almost seemed like a miracle. It was instant. As soon as we walked in the doors, it was silent and the spirit overtook us. The session was good. Very quiet and small. Only 4 other women, and also 4 men. They only do sessions here every 2 hours, and only 1 session is going on at a time. Not a lot of people go to the temple, but I am so glad they have one here so that I was able to go. It was wonderful.

It seems inappropriate to post these pictures underneath the temple, but it's life.

Normal things we see on the way home or to school, or anywhere really. It is a sad life they live.

This weekend we are going to the slave castles in Cape Cost. Apparently President Obama is going to be there too. We think he is staying in the same hotel as we are, because after we booked our rooms, they called back and had to have the exact number of people staying, and all of our full names. Hopefully we will see him. It would be really awesome, seeing our president in Africa…who woulda thunk? (hehe) Anyway, sorry this post is so boring. We didn’t do too much today. I miss you all. I would love to hear from you guys! Hope all is going well with all of you.