It's been forever since I last wrote and I'm terribly sorry. It's a combo of internet prices got funny here for a while, nothing seemed exciting in my life, and my habitual lack of communicating with people. So I'm going to give it another go of trying to keep people posted. I just read "Dear Exile" about some Peace Corps correspondence and it made me realize that I don't have to have epic things to write about, but just my daily life here is so different (and sometimes incredibly similar) to life back in the States. So it's re-energized me to write again. And I've had a few "are you guys dead?" emails, so I'm trying again.
As a fast re-cap, we've now been in Ghana for over one year and have about a year left. For our vacation JB and I went to Spain to visit with Pepe and Emilio who were so amazingly welcoming, warm, and fun. It was great to visit with them and I will always cherish our memories there! A huge Thank You to everyone in Spain! Unfortunately JB was allergic to spain and I got really sick (but no Ghana sick) while there, so there were some days just spent relaxing.
After Spain, Dad came to visit us which was very fun and stressful at the same time. It was a Murphy's Law type of visit. I am so proud and happy that Dad came to visit though. He took all the challenges like a Champ, yet still knew his limits which is a good thing. We had a great visit and it's always wonderful to see family! JB had STARS during Dad's visit, which is a week long camp for Secondary School students. JB took two of his brightest students down for the camp and had a great time. There's photos of some of the fun times they had!
I've been teaching Chemistry to the 2nd year students here. It's been both rewarding and stressful for me. I've inherited the classes mid way through the term, so it's difficult to know what material the students have covered and to have them get use to my teaching style. During our final exams I learned just how much they either don't understand me, chemistry, or just plain don't care. So far my pass rate is incredibly low (we're talking 3 out of 70 students getting above a 40%...YIKES) Hopefully next year will show better results! I'm not sure my soul can take more failing tests....sigh.
We're both doing really well here now though. We hardly get sick anymore, which I think is a combo of know what is safe to eat and just having a much better immune system to handle all diseases. We have our routine down pretty well. Life is going well. I can't believe that we're already half way through. I'll keep you all posted (hopefully).
