Thursday
began with a breakfast consisting of French toast, omelets, oatmeal, and fruit.
We had to pack in the protein this morning because we knew we were going to
have a late, late lunch.
After stuffing all of the snacks we could fit into our book bags (along with our daily school supplies), we ventured off to St. Cyprian’s for another wonderful morning of teaching. The students were waiting outside their classrooms as we pulled up the hill in the tro tro.
After stuffing all of the snacks we could fit into our book bags (along with our daily school supplies), we ventured off to St. Cyprian’s for another wonderful morning of teaching. The students were waiting outside their classrooms as we pulled up the hill in the tro tro.
Two
hours of teaching later, the o’brunyis loaded the tro tro again and this time headed on to
the world famous Kakum National Park, where we would venture deep into the rainforest. All fourteen of us (including Dominic our tro tro driver and now good friend) took
the risk of walking across the seven suspended canopy bridges that led us from Kapok tree to Kapok tree 100+ feet above the forest floor!
Even those of us afraid of heights crossed “the great divide” (words
courtesy of Caroline B., one of the scaredy-cats). 
We all survived without a
scratch and made it out of the rainforest safe and sound with feelings of great confidence in our newly found courage.
We then went to the Hans Cottage
Botel (not Hotel or Motel) Restaurant and Crocodile Pond, where they have forty (yes, forty) live, semi-trained,
crocodiles swimming in and sunning themselves around the pond. The more adventurous of the group got to
actually pet a 12-year-old crocodile before lunch!
After
we finished eating, we headed back to Cape Coast Castle for some more shopping for gifts for family and friends. Then, with baskets, knives, and woodcarvings galore, we made our way back to
Fair Hill crammed into a seemingly much smaller tro tro.
After an hour of relaxing, we enjoyed a light supper of homemade vegetable soup and fresh cracked wheat rolls
finished with a surprise dessert from Pastor Koomson of the Assemblies of God Church where
we worshipped on our first Sunday in Ghana. He had invited Prof to join him on Wednesday afternoon for his weekly radio program to discuss
living in a world of uncertainties.
After their half-hour broadcast ended, he insisted on buying something
for us and so they stopped at a convenience store/gas station and bought
Chocolate Fan Ice (essentially frozen chocolate milk in individual plastic
packages). Prof kept in the Fair Hill freezer waiting for tonight.
In the middle of trying to figure out the best way to eat this icy treat, we
experienced the longest rolling blackout of the trip thus far! After about
fifteen minutes of darkness, Emmanuel, our Fair Hill concierge, was nice enough to turn on the Fair Hill generator so that we could enjoy minimal light and fan. We are still currently
running on generated electricity. Hopefully the blackout ends soon!
Our teaching teams are busy planning their final lessons of the trip so there are many
bittersweet feelings in the house tonight. We’ve enjoyed our week at St. Cyprian's Basic School. It has been quite different from our week at Tuwohofo-Holly School. We have learned to modify and adjust, as all good teachers must. We have learned to teach with and without the presence of the regular classroom teacher. And, most important, we have learned that we really are teachers!
Tomorrow, loaded with two boxes of children’s books and three CSU-donated laptops for the students and teachers at St. Cyprian’s, we will conclude our second and final week teaching here in Ghana. We will
present these gifts to the school's students and teachers as we bid them farewell. We are sure they will be very
excited for these new additions to their school.
And we will be sad to know that our two weeks of teaching have come to an end.
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