Catherine awoke in the middle of the night complaining of a stomach ache. This morning, she had a slight fever of 100.0 °F, so I kept her home from school.
Of course, I called the school to report her absence. Soon thereafter, Catherine’s teacher (Miss Sarhene) called with much concern, inquiring about her health. I said, somewhat flippantly, “Well, she doesn’t need to go to the hospital!” to which Miss Sarhene responded “Why not?” I, surprisingly, needed to explain that Catherine was, indeed, sick and that I didn’t think it would be right to expose her classmates. Perhaps the Ghanian assumption is that students stay home from school only if they need hospitalization?
Let’s file this next item under “parents are always the last to know.” Apparently, Mark has been arm wrestling his classmates at school. For money! He has won 55 cedis from this activity, nearly enough to buy something for which he has been saving.
To celebrate the end of the first full week of school and because Catherine was feeling better by the end of the day, we went to East Legon for dinner at Pinnochio, a small pizza and ice cream shop recommended by Mark’s school friends. The food was OK, not great. But the quality of the food wasn’t the point, I guess.
At dinner, I posed a question inspired by my friend Kevin: “what single word would you use to describe your experience in Ghana thus far?”
Mark, breaking the rules, said “cultural experience.” He finds it interesting to see how people live and act in another country. Mark also mentioned his history class in which the Cold War and the Star Wars program have been critiqued from a non-American point of view. He’s also amazed that next week will mark the end of our first month in Ghana.
Catherine, also breaking the rules, said “pretty cool.” Specific “pretty cool” things include her school, Ghanian friends, being in a country where we are unique, and the morning (but not afternoon) weather.
I couldn’t ask for better answers!
—Matt
