Sister Cities of Louisville

"The Revolutionary Optimists" Film Screening and Panel

2013-06-04T11:41:00.000-04:00

I recently represented Sister Cities of Louisville in a student panel discussion on a film shown as part of the Metamorphosis Film Series at the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville. The Center describes this event as part of “a variety of inspiring and transformative films focused on gender equity, global citizenship, or topics related to Muhammad Ali and his core values. Each film is followed by a panel discussion where audience participation is encouraged.”

The film screened was The Revolutionary Optimists, a documentary from filmmakers Maren Grainger-Monsen and Nicole Newnham. It focuses on one of many slums in Calcutta, India, lacking potable water and facing other hardships such as disease, child labor, and domestic violence. But the people driving change in this neighborhood are not whom you might expect: the titular revolutionaries are children growing up in the slum, and their optimism forms the heart of this moving story. Under the guidance of Amlan Ganguly, a former attorney who now works with slum children through his nonprofit organization Prayasam, the young advocates inspire both their community and the film’s audience.

In the movie, we meet four children involved with Prayasam, each with different personal struggles. Sikha and Salim, 12-year-olds whose families must walk for two hours every day to fetch water from the nearest tap, are campaigning for a new water tap nearby. Kajal, a young girl who dreams of becoming a tailor and lifting her family out of poverty, works in a brick field to support her ailing mother and studies at night by candlelight. And 15-year-old Priyanka, a graceful and fluid dancer, suffers in an abusive family even as she tries to escape the threat of child marriage. Through it all, we see Ganguly interacting with the children, encouraging their efforts to break cycles of poverty and disempowerment while teaching them independence and the resilience of hope. While progress is slow and setbacks inevitable, the small triumphs of these kids shine, tiny flames of optimism that persist in an environment of often literal darkness.

Roughly 30 people attended the screening, including local high school students chaperoned by community church leaders and teachers. After the film, Hussanatu Kamar (Americana Community Center), Tori Shover (WaterStep), and I participated on a panel moderated by Gilman Bagga, a student at St. Francis High School and a member of the Muhammad Ali Center Council of Students program. Gilman encouraged us to discuss meaningful moments in the film and how they related to our own community. We collectively identified three key values of the children in the slum—compassion, commitment, and communication—that helped them maintain optimism and work for change. It is especially important, we concluded, that Louisvillians remember those values in their day-to-day interactions with others. Grassroots change starts with a friendly smile and a kind word; only communities that are connected and compassionate can work together to successfully tackle problems.

The mission of Sister Cities also reflects the importance of these values. We strive to “promote peace through the respect we show, understanding we foster, and cooperation we seek with our Sister Cities around the world”—goals that require strong partnerships rooted in mutual compassion, commitment, and communication. As we create and strengthen people-to-people connections with our Sister Cities around the world, we need to keep in mind the role of optimism and kindness in our daily lives. The children of The Revolutionary Optimists are role models for the power of young people to bring about change, even in small ways—and how we can apply the lessons of those changes to our own lives.

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The Muhammad Ali Center Metamorphosis Film Series, in partnership with ITVS Community Cinema, will hold another film screening and panel discussion on Thursday, June 27, from 5:30 P.M. to 8 P.M. at the Muhammad Ali Center (144 N. Sixth Street). The film presented will be Love Free or Die, on the life and struggle of the first openly gay Episcopal Bishop in the United States, Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. For more information, please visit alicenter.org.

Entry 3: Louisville's Guest by Wang Runze

2013-03-05T13:51:00.001-05:00

The first glimpse from the air

The first glimpse of Louisville came when I was still in air. The street lights which was becoming brighter and brighter against the dark woods unfolded in the night curtain , magic and graceful. What I saw was but a corner, What did she look like in a whole? I wondered.

The plane landed smoothly on the runway where only a twinkled light blinked in the deep dark. How tranquil and tender! “Louisville, I am coming”, I whistled. There were few people around and no store in service. We were the only intruders of the quiet night. Out of the hall we were greeted by the host teachers and students, they said “Welcome to Louisville” to us and we joined to leave the airport happily, no unpractical yet annoying welcome ceremony. That’s OK!

Seth , a student in grade 10, was responsible for taking care of me. He was blond and spoke Chinese a sentence or two. I also met Miss Wang Xiaoxuan once an elite student in my school and now a student here.

The idle life in Louisville
Then I was with Seth and his family together. We bit farewell to other newcomers and find a restaurant. On the way,I stammered out words by words with Seth and cheerfully to learn that he had been to my hometown Jiujiang.

The restaurant we entered was as noisy as in china. Its decoration reminded me of old films, like a bar with a bit of western style. I liked it very much. In the slow, sad, lasting forever melody, time tickled away and people relaxed into meditation. We are served with American hamburger, bread, tomatoes, onions, beef pies and cheese. We enjoyed our dinner idly, don’t minding that it was late at night. Perhaps this was so called ease life.

I met and talked with a compatriot from Shandong Province. He spoke English fluently and appeared lonely ,perhaps because of homesick ,I guessed. Seth’s Dad and his grandpa had been to china too. Oh! What a predestinated relation his family had with china. It begun to snow when we went back. It occurred to me that it was snowing heavily when I was born. Mum told me this many times.” Mum and Dad , I miss you!” a voice rose swiftly from my heart.

It is still snowing when we arrived at Seth home. It was a big house with 3 floors. the dining room and drawing room are in the first floor. Three living rooms in the second floor, a tiny library and a hall (big enough to hold a party) in the basement . Seth bred 3 lovely dogs! Another Chinese student Jason lived in Seth home too, and we played for long that night.

Collegiate school

Collegiate is composed by 4 sections: the primary school and refectory, the junior high school and kindergarten, the senior high school , and the art pavilion .its classroom looks small but spacious for more than ten students , moreover, every classroom is unique. For example , Chinese calligraphy and dragon ,panda adorn the classroom, Lizards, pythons may climb in biology classroom . everything is clear, everywhere is cleaned.

Collegiate emphasizes its fame. every honor will be placed in the bulletin board by the entrance door. As to teachers I could hardly judge their capacity for my poor English , but I could feel their enthusiastic , they are all good and the physics teacher is my favorite.

In the school I made a lot of friends：Jason、Rose、Kevin、Elizabeth…, Jason is from Hangzhou and Anna from Nanchang. Besides , I took part in many parties which were held frequently. More than often I couldn’t hear what they talked about, but I enjoyed myself in the atmosphere.

My second residence

Before long, I moved to Kyle home. “Kyle is a math genius”, Miss Wang Xiaoxuan told me. I was good at math too, and eager to exchange ideas about math, but the language barrier stood between us. Kyle home is relatively small and not that bright. The house had 3 floors too. Living room, kitchen and dining room is in the first floor, 3 living rooms and a bathroom in the 2_rd floor , Kyle studio and a garden occupy the 3_rd floor. Kyle’s father petted a dog and several chicken, I wanted to pet something in fact.

Kyle Study room is very big with plenty of books, sometimes I desired to stand there for a whole afternoon, but I retreated for I could not read these English books. I found many compact disks when seeing his bookcase, that made me feel easy because we shared a lot : Kyle was introvert, me too; he was a COD fanatic, me too; he had a insight in math, so did I; he loved playing games, so did I!

My first Chinese lunar new year Eve spent abroad

The Chinese lunar new year ,a special day, arrived on a Saturday. I got up at 9, took a brief breakfast, then played violin. In a matter of fact, I knew the CCTV spring festival Gala had begun that moment, but I had no time to watch it more. I dropped my violin at 11 and sat in front of TV to witness the new year countdown on the gala. 10, 9, 8……2, 1. Ah, comes a new year! I held back my emotion in the Eve without family aside. Kyle family are considerate, and invited me to paste paper_cut for windows decoration, and held a party to celebrate. I forgot my longing for parents and sang and danced gaily.

The next evening, we went to KCD to take part in a farewell party. I saw Seth there, the last meeting with her in America . everyone seemed rejoiced, enjoyed the revelry before separation. Talent and skill performance begun after the party. I played violin, with several flaws for my nervousness ,followed by a solo 《Superstar》， I exposed myself and were conscious that I was but a bystander. Tomorrow I would leave America .

She is Louisville , I am a passerby.

The other side of gathering is separation. How time flies! 15 days past in a snap. Originally, I thought I had been involved in Louisville in these 15 days, but it was not true. I was still her guest. The spectacle of the city viewed from plane remained graceful. We hurried in, hurried out. We brought in nothing, left down nothing. She is still Louisville, I am still a guest

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Entry 6: My Time in Louisville by Wang Zhiyu

2013-03-05T13:51:00.000-05:00

Louisville is a small city.The first impression give me is the very good environment, green area,the fresh air ,the great quality water. I spent an unforgettable vacation here.First of all,I start from my host family.My host family is a single parent family.Family mother take care of four children,two boys and two girls. The largest kid is studying in the University,and the other three children are study in KCD. Two family young brother, Declan , Padraic. and I have a good relationship.There is a student named Nigel from Dalian in China in my host family. Maybe,The biggest difference I am impressed with is that United States’s crude public traffic. The traffic here is mainly rely on private cars. Even, there is no sidewalk from school to home on the road.In Louisville, I haven't seen a bus station.If someone have no car ,the only way to go out is by taxi.But the price to take a taxi is too high. During the exchange in KCD,I found the Chinese School’steaching is very different from the American school’s teaching. Their course is optional, of course, some subjects must be learn.And you can choice of different difficulty throughthe personal ability

So,the student in the same class the persomal ability is similar the same.It conducive to student learing. Their dining room is a most interesting place. When I saw the cafeteria at the first time. I knew that school could not let 12 different grade students are sitting down to dinner at the same time.So school will be separated from each grade meal time. So that the students can have lunch efficiently, it made me surorised.

The deepest impression that the America school gave me is the teacher’s oatience.I can remember a maths lesson.A student wrong a simple questions many times before doing it ,the teacher also encouraged him. I think, If a Chinese teachers in this case, would be angry.

The United States students after-school life is very rich.Most student will attend the school sports team after class. I found a very interesting phenomenon. Almost all the teacher can do some movement. An English teacher which I know is a baseball coach,too.For example, a student good at sport will be more easy to find a good job than a student who is good at study in future. Therefore, American’s overall health quality American is high.Even my host family young brother Declan in addition toplay computer games,he can play pingpong and basketball ,too.

The students here is not like us need to have classes and do more and more homework,they will go out do exercise with friends.Sometimes take aparty at home.Maybe,my favoritetime is in school and joined party.

I will work hard. In the near future, I hope I can finish go to American University to study

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Entry 5: My Time in Louisville by Shao Lu (Elle)

2013-03-05T13:50:00.003-05:00

This trip to Louisville is a great opportunity for me to open up my mind. I got the chance to stay with local families for two weeks so that I got to know American lifestyle and how students study in America.
After a few hours’ flight, we finally arrived in Louisville. The host families are very nice, they got to the airport very early in order to pick us up. Anna and her father and her sister all came. Anna said her mother prepared chicken soup at home. That’s so sweet, because I hadn’t ate anything during the flight. Maybe because the essay I wrote about myself, they played Taylor Swift’s songs all the way home. “Trouble, trouble, trouble”. Yes, I like Carrie Underwood as well by the way. I heard Mr. Rogers asked Anna to ask me if I like Carrie Underwood. When we got home, there was already a bowl of chicken soup on the table waiting for me. That was me drank American chicken soup for the first time. Indeed, it’s really different from China. But it’s very delicious anyway. Then I gave them the gifts I brought from Jiujiang. It seems that they really like them. Mrs. Rogers even gave me a “American hug”. Because it’s not very late, Anna asked me if I want to play Wii. Actually, I had no idea what Wii is. It turns out to be something like a video game. We danced “call me maybe” at first, but I looked stupid, so we started to play “band hero” I guess. We had so much fun!

The next day, Anna took me to her school, Louisville Collegiate School. Then we met Mrs. Wade. She was going to give some classes to her students, and we also took part in them. For the first Chinese class, we were supposed to be asked question by the students. One of them asked me if I had a blog, then I said yes. After the class, I showed them my blog, it’s pretty awkward because I haven’t written anything for years. Then we took 4 more Chinese classes that day. Their Chinese is great, though Chinese is very difficult to learn. After school, Anna drove Morgan and me to buy some hot chocolate. It’s sweet but it tasted good. Anna said one of her friends will come and paint nails with us. And she asked if I had painted my nails before. Of course not. Because of the school rules, we are not allowed to paint our nails or use any make-up. But it might be fun, I thought. At night, Natalie came. She is a very nice person. They asked me to pick a color, the blue one looked pretty, so I picked the blue one. I have never painted my nails, so Morgan offer to help.

She is patient and careful. While we were waiting for the nails to dry, we had some girl’s talk. It turned out that painting nails was really fun!

On the weekend, we slide on the hill. In Jiujiang, I have never slide. So I looked forward to sliding a lot. We took out a thing made of plastic used for sliding from the garage. Then we set off.

On the way, we talked about lots of things. Such as accents in China, her sister and her trip to China. On the hill, there were some people sliding. Anna slide with me at first, but it feels still scary. Got home , we made a huge snowball together. We intended to make a snowman at first, but for some reason, it didn’t work. But the snowball is really big, Morgan and me roll it to the stairs, so that everyone who drives by could see it. Just after a few hours, Mr. Rogers drove back home, he asked: “Did you guys make that snowball? I saw it on my way home.” “Haha…Yes, it is!” This special Sunday night happened to be the super bowl night. Lots of people came that night, we had a great time together. It’s funny that the most exciting part is Beyonce rather than the game. Beyonce is awesome, I totally agree.

It was school day again. YES! We have Spanish class! I always think Spanish is a fascinating language. We were sent to four different groups, there are only two people in each group actually.

They will teach us Spanish and we will teach them Chinese. My partners are two girls who are patient and nice. They taught me how to write and speak “ruler” “pen” “pencil” “paper” “horse” in Spanish once and once again. But I’m not good at memorizing so it still took me some time to remember these words. Then I taught them how to speak these words in Chinese. They are very clever, and they spoke just like local people. Because it’s my last day stay with the Rogers, they took me to ride horse. At the airport I said I have never rode a horse and I want to ride horse. I didn’t think they think highly of it. Morgan showed me around the stable and introduce the horses belonged to them to me. It seems everyone in Louisville are good at riding horses. Wearing the helmet, I started riding. Riding is so cool, it makes me feel like the knight in the past.
After 5 days I was sent to another host family. It was sad to say goodbye to the Rogers. They were really good to me. They all gave me a warm “American hug”.

The other day, Diana asked me to go to a chemistry class. So did I. I guess this class is mainly talk about the change of state related to the temperature and the pressure. I didn’t memorize any word about chemistry before I came to Louisville, so most of the time, I was guessing. Their class is greatly different from China. Every student can ask or answer question at any time during the class, which is not allowed in China. So American class is more free and it’s more about students.

Instead, in China, teacher is the spotlight.

After school, Colleen picked me up. We went to the kinder garden where Mrs. Orr works together. Then we went to Colleen’s house together. Through staying with them did I know that dinner is very important to Americans. Mrs. Orr said no matter how busy they are, they would always make some time to have a good dinner with families. We did pray before dinner. Mr. Orr said some prayers. I couldn’t understand what exactly he said. But I think it’s something good, something they wish for, something they believed in.

The next night we went to play bowling. Because Colleen was busy with her homework, so her brother Kevin took me there. It’s also a new thing for me. Kevin is really nice, he not only taught me how to bowl but also said I was good even though I knew I was bad. The most important thing is that all my friends came. We finally got a chance to talk about our experience. Principal Wang from the No.1 high school is good. He could really play it well for the first time.

Mrs. Wade organized a parade for the Chinese New Year. Everyone dressed up in Chinese style.

Also, the Dragon dance was performed by all the students who took Chinese class. We went around the school, from kinder garden to high school. Then some middle school students joined us, which made our group bigger. At night, we went to KCD for a dinner. It was a big meal. For the first time I felt at home. Get together with my friends in Jiujiang ,my teachers in Jiujiang and my new friends I made in the U.S.A., it’s just like getting together with my families at home. After the meal, there was a show for us, Chinese students’ talent show. It was great. At the end of the show, all the students from Jiujiang, including me, sang “:superstar” with Liz, Carly and Colleen. It was perfect. It showed the friendship between American and Chinese.

One night Mrs. Orr told me some Kentucky stars. I have never thought that Jennifer Lawrence was brought up in Louisville. What is more exciting is that Mrs. Orr promised me to take me to her old house to have a look. One day, when I was walking the dog with Colleen, suddenly, she said: “That’s Jennifer Lawrence’s old house.” I was surprised. I can’t see Jennifer Lawrence though, seeing her old house is awesome as well.

All good things must come to an end. I have to say goodbye to the Colleens. It’s a pity that I can only stay for a few days. But our friendship will last much longer than that.

Thanks to both my host families, I did lots of American things. I got my nails painted for the first time. I play bowling for the first time. I ate raw vegetables for the first time.

American lifestyle is different from Chinese. For example, they take showers in the morning, we take showers in the evening. They eat with fork and knife, we eat with chopsticks. But as for food, I have to be honest, I like Chinese food better. Maybe because people from different areas have different taste. I just can’t get used to the American food very well.

The two weeks I spent in Louisville let me know that there is a place called America, and people there are very friendly and nice. They also yearn for other cultures. They advocate freedom and equality.

I really miss the two weeks that I spent in Louisville!

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Entry 4: My Time in Louisville by He Xinwei

2013-03-05T13:50:00.000-05:00

I woke up in the morning,and looked outside the window.To my surprise,it was snowing.The snow fell on the grass,the trees, the road,and the roofs.Everything was covered in white.It was so quiet,and I can almost hear the sound when a snowflake fell on the window in front of me.What a beautiful morning!Just like in a fairy tale,I thought.

Because of the snow,that day was not only beautiful,but also full of excitement.In the afternoon,we went to a park.Although the weather was freezing,there were still a lot of people jogging along the road,and many people were walking their dogs.So interesting!When we arrived,Jewelz took out two sliding boards from her car.Let’s start sliding,she said.I was excited but also a little nervous,because it was my first time,and I had never seen it before.I watched my friends and other people slide down the hill,they laughed and screamed.It seemed like a great fun.

Soon,it was my turn.I sat on the sliding board carefully,then firmly grasped the edge of it.Someone pushed my back,and I started to slide down.My speed was growing,but I felt no more nervous.I could feel the cold wind blowing beside me,and the board chafed on the snow on the ground.I became so fast and I found it was really amazing.When I stopped at the bottom of the hill,I wished my next turn would come soon.

One after another,we all enjoyed sliding.Although I knocked into a tree at one time,but I will still say that I love sliding.Everybody played and laughed together,there’s nothing more meaningful than our friendship.
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Entry 10: The Blue Sky by Huang Hao

2013-03-05T13:49:00.000-05:00

The sky is not blue here.Only can I see some deadwood right their hands to the sky.Sometimes it’s white,but that kind of white is not clear.It is just a gloss beneath the smog.There are some gray buildings standing there and don’t move.Maybe they are affected by the sad world.It seems like that there is just some cold winter here.

What I miss is the transoceanic pure sky.Sometimes it is also white,but that kind of white is really clear and there definitely no impurity in it.

For America,the impressive thing is the blue sky.I believe that everyone can feel it because everyone has some photos about this beautiful sky.Everyone wants to keep beautiful things in there minds.

The first day in Los Angeles was a sunny day.Seems like we were really lucky that day because it rained yesterday.When we were sit in the car,we sill can see the blue sky through the window.We tried hard to let our cameras get closer to the windows so that we can get more beautiful scenary.Alough we were on freeway,diffrents kinds of cars still grabbed our attention.You could see some funny bubble cars passing by but they were used fot feighting.Some fashion cars also passed by.Maybe you could see a little peppy was looking outside by the window of the car.That’s fun!Different cars,different lifestyles.

There is a flourishing city under the endless blue sky,just like it is surrounded by a blue crystal ball.And peole live there very happy.

We would get to Louisville soon.I was really nervous and hopeful.Nervous for meeting my host family,hopeful for living there for 10 days.I just set aside these problems and open window of the aircraft.What I saw shocked myself.The sky was almost transparent blue,and this blue extended to the end of the warld..At the botton,continuous snow covered the ground.Both blue and white are my favorite colors.So when they got together and showed such a beautiful picture,I couldn’t look away.I think I ‘ll keep it in my mind forever.

Waking up naturally,I open the curtain.Surprisingly,I found it was snowing.I rushed out with Helen and Jackson excitedly.Then we had a snowfight and skiing.These small sleds were just like some small little boats.Though my first skiing was failed because we hit the tree,I was still happy.Staying with your family is such a satisfying thing.Their happy faces in my mind can always reminds me of that time.

Parting is better to meet.Though I really didn’t want to leave this school,my family and this city,I had to say goodbye.

I would remember everything they did for me,every words they said to me.Thank you is not enough,but I sill want to say thank you!

College is a beautiful dream and a bright future to people.So I could see blue sky in the colleges.

University of Louisville just like a town.Many main buildings were town hall,church and bank and so on.Students dormitories were the houses of people.Uner the blue sky’s watching,people lived peaceful and energetic.I noticed a glass-enclosed building.The blue sky was in the glass,so the people just like walking in the sky.They were birds,flying in the sky freely.

On the way back home,I saw some clouds in the sky.They liked wools because they were curly.Incidentally,some sheep were eating grass under their wools.Peaceful life here was really good.Mayve I want to choose to live here one day.

Do sill remember the Tear Square in the Stanford?That was a amazing place.When I saw it,my first touch was to rush to the grass and lie there forever.Of course,we did that.Though it was afternoon when we got Stanford,there was some water drops in the grass.Suddenly I felt my tears drop into the grass,togethered with these nature water.No one couldn’t be moved by this green grass.The blue sky was right over us.This sky whitnessed this school’s history.Without it,Stanford could not be so beautiful and successful.

Finally we should go home.I missed my family,my house and my bed,but I sill miss the blue sky of America.So I made a decision,I will come back to that place to achieve my dream.I miss the people that I care about there.And I believe that my dream will come true!

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Entry 9: My Time in Louisville by Zhong Weiyu (Jessica)

2013-03-05T13:48:00.001-05:00

I just can’t describe my feeling right now.I missed Louisville all the time since I left this city.

I stayed in Louisville for one week.This week was just like the happiest dream that I do wanted to remember forever.

I knew the weather in Louisville is very cold,so I expected this city is always snowy so that I can make snowmen,have a snowball fight,hide behind a snowdrift,even lie on the snow.It must be very cool!

To my surprise,there was little snow that I couldn’t do the things I expected to do,and Louisville did not even snow while I visited,but there was blue sky,the colour was pretty pure ,so the sky was just like transparent crystal.It was too fantastic and amazing that made me feel that everything is not true,and there was also fresh air which made me feel really comfortable. You just need to look far into the distance from a high place and take a deep breathe,every problem will go away and you don’t feel unhappy at all,so you completely relax yourself!

I spent two days studying in the schools.One was called Noe Middle school,and my hostsister Mekenna was studying in this school.The other one called Assumption High School.I made a friend there who always smiles,her name was Katly.She was kind,friendly,elegant and polite,and I found that it’s interesting to talk to her about entertainment and knowledge.Everyone in the schools were very nice,I love them very much.

My favorite memory was to spend time with my hostfamily.My hostfather’s name was James,he was a very strong man, he was funny and affable,and he works in the government.What a pity I’m not good at politic.My hostmother Debbie was a teacher whose job is to teach little kids,she was smart,and she always takes part in some parties.My hostsister Cailin was 11,and she was really mischievous and cherubic,so I wished she can become my sister.The other hostsister,Mekenna,was a beauty,and she was cool,like a popular star.I thought there must be many boys who love her.

The day before we were gone,my hostfamily took me to a park,and we spent a half day playing in the park.I enjoyed playing on a swing.Rock climbing was my favorite sport.It was so excited!I never do this before,because in China,the majority of parents don’t want their children to do such dangerous sports. While we were playing,my hostmother and my hostfather were sitting in the woods ,hugging each other and whispering.These sights made me feel warm and made me have a feeling of home.Such feelings I’ll never forget.

The experience and the time in Louisville is the most precious thing in my childhood.I’ll keep it in my memory,my mind,and my heart,forever.
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Entry 11: The Trip to Louisville by Gao Shenghan (Rena)

2013-03-05T13:48:00.000-05:00

This journey to Louisville was extremely wonderful and colorful . I lived in the local family , and went to the American school , joined their classes and so on . Now , I'd like to say something about this trip.

The thing I like best in Louisville is the American class . It is much easier, happier, and more relaxed than the Chinese class . Students can even sit on the floor during the class, you know , this is forbidden in a Chinese class . The relationship between the teachers and students is also extremely nice . They are just like friends all the time (not only after class) .

The students have plenty of questions in the class , much more than the Chinese students' . This is good for keeping children's creative abilities . Of course , I also made friends with the American students . They were all very kind to me when I was in their class. That was them who made feel like I was at home and show me the American warmth to the exchange students. I learnt a lot from them and we got along very well.

Before I went to the America , I thought that all the Americans like eating hamburgers , French fries, ....just like the food in McDonald's. But when I was with my homestay family , I saw that they always eat healthy food like spaghetti. This is very different from what the America was like in my mind before. But all the others are quite the same, like the big houses, the great classes, the nice place...

I told my Chinese friends that this trip was really wonderful , especially in Louisville. This little city is much smaller than Chengdu , but it is more beautiful and pleasant. There is even no traffic jam in Louisville. How nice it is! This city is a good place for study, too. Students here are more free, relaxes, creative and happier. I love this kind of study style so much !

This trip for me is just like a dream, but it is real. I will never forget this wonderful time in the America. And I will study much harder , for one day I can come to the America, the dreadful land!

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Entry 12: Wonderful Time in Louisville by Huang Feifei

2013-03-05T13:47:00.001-05:00

This winter vocation is so special to me, which is unforgettable --- I went to Louisville. I have to say Louisville is really a good place. The sky is bright and blue, the people are hospitably and the food is so delicious.

I have two host families in Louisville and I have made a lot of friends in Collegiate. Andrea is my first host. I like her very much. She is nice, funny and outgoing. Then Carly, she is friendly and easy going. We do a lot of things together. also I have many other friends in Louisville, like Anna, Senth, Colleen, Austin, and so on.

February 4th is my birthday, I have my most beautiful memory there . My host and friends held a birthday party for me. I was so surprised and moved. They gave me lots of gifts. We had French fries, a big chocolate cake and ice cream. Carly was a little bit late because she herself made a brownie for me .There was "Happy Birthday" on it. The biggest surprise was that the words were in Chinese. We were happy that night.

The study is different from what I thought about. Before I went Louisville, I thought it must be very relaxing for them to study, no homework no exams, having fun in class and play after that, but it is not so. In Collegiate, they can sit causally and ask questions freely in class, which is different from what we do in China, but still they have to finish the assignment on time, and some of them are about social practice, which you have to spend a lot of time on. I remember one time I was having a literary lesson in Collegiate, we were talking about a novel we read , first we were divided into two groups, students in group one say what the novel is about and how they thought about it, group two took notes and spoke up their opinions then, we did these in turns and discussed warmly. Their after-class activities are rich and colorful , maybe what they are doing now is what they want to do in the future and they are very into the activities.

America is not as serious as some European countries, it is even a bit causal in my eyes, but I admire some principles of theirs and the friendship and respect between people is what we should learn from, I hope my dream will come true in America.

It is not easy for me to write about all my feelings about this wonderful experience, it has been part of my life and will make a big difference to me , America is an attractive and amazing country as China, I’d like to visit it once again.

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Entry 2: My Dreamlike Journey by Tina Lin

2013-03-05T13:46:00.001-05:00

My dreamlike journey
-Tina lin
This journey is more like a dream than a trip for me. The blue sky, the shinning sun, children’s smile, people’s help all give me a great memory. This journey make me love this place successfully, I want to be back again when I grow up to study abroad at the university.

After I entered the airport in Louisville, my hosts: MRs Ghali Iman Georges came ande carried me home. They gave me some balloons to celebrate my arrival and provided me a brilliance bedroom. Then I give them back something in China as the gifts. That night was peace and quiet, and my hosts’ enthusiasm and sanguine give me a really good impression.

Then the second day I went to the school with Iman. That is really different from Chinese school and it’s also the most important things that I’d like to share with my friend in China. I think maybe American education da more care about children’s interest than Chinese’s. They have lots of interesting classes, and all the teachers are very nice. I think that’s not only a class but a family. They say hallo to everyone and talk with others play with others, not like the relationship between children and teacher in China.

Then I became friends with Iman lilian Gracie and so on. Such as the American girl in my memory, they are very cute and always smiling at me. We study together, eat behind a same table ande go shopping together, just had a wonderful time. And we still keep contact on Instagram now.

I have to say that I love the sun set in America so much, and certainly I took so many picture there. I think that’s my favorite memory.

I love this dreamlike journey so much. Wish I can back to America again in the future.

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Entry 1: My Time in Louisville by Wei Yinna (Joyce)

2013-03-05T13:45:00.001-05:00

This winter holiday,I went to Louisville,America to be an exchange student for two weeks.It was a really memorable experience for me.

I lived with Rachel Rawlings, a teacher in KCD.She's a really kind person.I usually can't speak very well,and make some mistakes,but she didn't mind and was never impatient of that. She told me lots of things about America,like cultures,rules,habits and so on.She was always very careful to take care of me,just like my mother.I love her very much!

In Louisville,we studied with American students in KCD.Teachers and students there are friendly to us.The first day in KCD,Mr. Mahaffey took us on a walk around the school.They held a celebration for us. Students sang,played the piano and danced to the music.It was really exciting!After that,we went to a world history class,it was my first class there.Teacher arranged some classwork for American students,and gave us some students' homework about religions to read. Students found some introduce and pictures about five or six religions to make into the shape of the book.They are very beautiful.Actually,that's the first time I really felt the Americans creativity.

The second day,we went to Rachel's class. After we told students that our class begins at seven thirty,and ends at 10pm,they said"How can you survive?"with surprised.We heard that twice there.Actually,we also complain like that sometimes, because it's really tiring.
In KCD,I like ceramic class best. It was the first time that I saw the process of making ceramics, and it's really interesting to make a ceramic by myself!
The thing about America that surprised me most is we never heard a whistle.Maybe it's normal for American,but it's amazing for Chinese.The other thing that is amazing for Chinese is that high school students can bring their computers to classes,and they can use them. They can even leave their seat in classes.You know,in our classes,the only thing that we can do is look at teachers and listen to them .It's really boring,isn't it?
At the end,I want to say,I love America,I love Louisville,I love KCD,I'll be back!

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Entry 7: My story with the Nelsons by Wang Tianhe

2013-03-05T13:44:00.002-05:00

My Story With The Nelsons
——Wang tianhe

In this winter holiday, as a member of Jiujiang teacher and student delegation, I attended a U.S.A. exchange program organized by the City Board of Education. This was also my first time to America. I feel lucky and grateful. The city for exchange is Louisville, Kentucky. We arrived the airport in Louisville in the evening of January 31stafter a long flight. Host families had already been waiting there. In the distance, noticing a lady and a handsome little boy holding a board with my name on it, I walked toward them excitedly. That’s how I met The Nelsons. It’s also the beginning of my story.
Mom, from my host family, drove us home. Hardly to see night view of the city in the car because of the snow, Mom caringly stopped the car and walked with me for a while. She pointed to the nearby Ohio River and introduced it is the only river in the city. Dense woods lay around it. Separated apartments are orderly arranged on each side of the road. My first impression of the town is...what a tranquil, natural and clean place!

Car finally stopped in front of a red apartment. That’s my host family, the Nelsons’ home. Although it was snowing outside, I felt very warm inside, especially with a fireplace burning. I only saw this kind of house design, maybe a European style in general, on TV. Mom guided me to my room, a large place with a big bed in it. The decoration warmed my heart. I felt home.

The Nelsons has four people. Mom is Tricia, Father is Jim, the bigger brother is Jamie, the younger one named Connor. The brothers are very adorable, especially Connor, lovely as a doll. They also raise a dog, Rocko and a cat, Dusty. Now, I am accepted as another member of the family. They are my American parents and brothers.

Because this was my first time ever being abroad and I was new to this family. At first, I was a little bit reserved, not knowing how to react or communicate. But all the family members were very enthusiastic; the two brothers always invited me to play with them. Gradually, I was influenced by their hospitality, involved in my new family and started to experience a new life whole-heartedly.

I’ll start with the food. Different from what we eat for breakfast in China, like crullers (“you tiao” in Chinese) and steamed buns (“baozi” in Chinese), every morning, Mom would make each of us a dessert, along with tomato sauce and a glass of milk. Jamie and I would have lunch in school cafeteria, normally it’s a buffet. At first I couldn’t get used to it, because vegetables there are eaten raw, not like everything in China are thoroughly cooked. However, I adapted myself to it. On weekends, we normally go outside to play and ate fast-food, like KFC. Compared with KFC chain stores in China, local KFC tasted better, but poor on products’ variety. KFC’s hometown is Kentucky; its headquarter locates in Louisville. At evenings, we usually ate at home. The family sit together. Dishes were served in order by Mom. Then we’d pass the course around, each spooned out the amount needed. We often talked while eating; I would tell them what had happened during the day. Communication brought us closer and added more and more intimacy among us. In three meals, dinner was always the most fancy one. My American parents would cook by themselves, serving soup, fried dishes and fruit salad.

Attending American classes was an important part of our exchange program. I was allocated to study in an independent school, KCD, equivalent to a domestic key school. Mom drove Jamie and I to school everyday. Father would take Connor to another school. On campus, while Jamie went to his own class, I would sit in on different classes of each grade with other Jiujiang students. Classroom arrangements are casual. Almost each subject has its own classroom, decorated in different styles. We had classes from history, art, music, physics to P.E. The room for art and craft lesson displays vivid clay sculptures. We made potteries with local students. There are various instruments in music room. Students sit together in a circle to learn. The platform in physical schoolroom is a standardized lab table, very convenient for teachers’ demonstration. I showed them the power-point I made and introduced Jiujiang’s scenery and history. There are only 19 students in each class, so they have lots of space to move around. Kids are divided into different groups. Same group members sit together around a desk. We as visitors can join whichever group we’d like and communicate with them. Each classroom has bookshelves. Students can leave seats to fetch whatever books they need in class without informing teachers. During P.E. Class and lunch breaks, they have various physical activities, some I had never seen in China. For ball games only, they play basketball, football, ping-pong and Cross. Besides, they play frisbees. In KCD, foreign language study has three main kinds, including French, Spanish and Latin. Children can choose one or two to learn. Classes start at 8:05 a.m. everyday and close at 15:05 p.m.. After school, while Jamie was finishing his homework on library’s computer, I would go online and waited Mom to pick us home. The library is large. Librarians here carefully fulfilled their duties, wrapping each book, sweeping the floor. Outside the library, there is a small fountain. The whole place looked clean and neat, showing a unity of standstill and movement.

Everyday, after school is our entertainment time. The Nelsons’ basement is specially designed for this purpose. Jamie, Connor and I would play ping-pong down there. The ping-pong table was put up with boards and battens, temporarily found by father. We would watch TV or practice basketball shots with a small ball. My two brothers really like slamming dunks. They usually became sweaty after practices. Speaking of basketball, I have a LOT to say. 11-year-old Jamie joined two basketball teams; 9-year-old Connor joined three. From these, you can see their passion about playing basketball. Sometimes, after school, we played in the open area just in front of the house. Occasionally, father would join us and gave instructions from time to time. We were devoted but also with great ease. Sometimes we lowered the basket and dunked, it felt so great! Jamie and Connor had trainings twice or three times a week. I often went to watch them. Players in training classes were small, including both boys and girls. Their bodies were only about twice as large as the ball. All the players were very devoted during the training, competing against each other. I once asked Connor, is attending three basketball teams tiring? His answer was NO, because he loved it. Through them, I can tell why America’s basketball leads the world. Besides regular training classes, on weekends, they had competitions to play now and then. I watched some of the matches. Despite players’ young age, they fought for scores aggressively. Audiences also played a vital role, full of passion. I remembered at the end of one competition, when a small player hit an amazing 3-point buzzer and sent the match into overtime, he won a standing ovation. What a wonderful shoot! Jamie and Connor had great performances too. They were the main players on the court. Jamie scored 6 points once. Connor gained 8 points in another game. However, they never cared much about the results. They thought it was even more important to eat good food after games. How lovely!

Compared to NBA, a name more familiar to us Chinese; Nelsons prefer NCAA, namely National Collegiate Athletic Association. They knew how I loved watching basketball games; so on a weekend, they drove me to KFC center for a female basketball game. It’s my first live game in a large stadium and it felt really different! All the cheering squad dancing, passionate young fans yelling were infectious and awesome! Sometimes the big screen flashed “MAKE SOME NOISE!” and waves of shouts and whistles erupted like crazy. We watched another male basketball game on TV at home, with guest team University of Louisville against home team University of Notre Dame. Just when we thought the game would end with University of Louisville’s sweeping victory, University of Notre Dame miraculously scored 12 points within the last 42 seconds, throwing the whole game into overtime. At both the second and fourth overtime, University of Notre Dame worked wonders and equaled the score at the last moment. Jamie, Connor and I applauded for the fifth overtime on our couch. Finally by the end of the fifth overtime, University of Louisville missed a three-point shot and lost the game. Fans for University of Notre Dame flooded into the filed, celebrating with players as if they’d won the National Champion. We watched the whole game till dawn. I’m so lucky to watch such a wonderful game with five overtimes during my short visit in Louisville. I’m going to share my excitement with my classmates in China.

I had a great time with the Nelsons. They took me shopping, watching horse racing, bowling and playing Ping-Pong. We even visited a Swiss man in his eighties and invited other children for party at home. Sometimes I taught Jamie and Connor simple Chinese characters and dialogues. All in all, every day is full of joy.

On the Eve of Chinese New year, Mom and I pasted spring festival couplets and paper-cuts to the door and windows, a perfect harmony between Chinese and western culture. I sent them some gifts with Chinese features, such as pens, chopsticks, cups and pencil vases made of porcelain, Peking opera facial masks and Chinese knots. The school held a delightful spring festival party for us and there I even had a long-lost taste of Chinese food.

How time flies! The exchange soon came to an end and I had to leave Louisville and the Nelsons. The evening before my departure, I lied in bed, replaying in my mind every moment with the Nelsons during those days. Sleep escaped me, so I went to my litter brothers’ room. Sensing my sadness, they didn’t say a word, just hugged me tightly.

In the morning of Feb. 11th, 2013 local time, we got up very early. Mom cooked my favorite food. This was the last time I had breakfast at the Nelsons, who knows when I can have another opportunity?

After breakfast, mom gave me a notebook with photos and letters from each member of the Nelsons. I clutched the notebook and hugged them again. All I could say was I love you! I also gave mom a notebook with my wishes for them in Chinese. My English wasn’t enough for my feeling, if only they could understand Chinese! I hope my small gifts from China can be a reminder of our time together.

Finally it’s time to say goodbye. After Mom led me and Jamie in the bus I waved goodbye to dad and Connor through the window glass. I was so sad that I just couldn’t spare them more glances. After the bus pulled up at school, I hugged mom and Jamie again. Mom was smiling, but there were tears in her eyes. I’m afraid I’m going to cry too, so I said “Mom I love you” and didn’t dare to look them in the eyes again.

I’m very grateful to Nelsons for their care and hospitality. The different culture and life style I experienced there have become one of my sweetest memories. I will always love my American mom, dad and little brothers as I love my own family.

Adieu, Louisville! Adieu, my dear Nelsons!

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Entry 8: My Time in Louisville by Xu Shengwei

2013-03-05T13:19:00.003-05:00

It’s was snowing when I walked out of the Louisville Airport. The white snow in the wind fell on my cheek, but it felt sift and I didn’t feel cold. At that moment, I began my life and study exchange with American students.

As initial visiting the Collegiate School, we found it is not a big one but is fully equipped. Here, there are all kinds of classrooms such as Chinese, physics and even biology with boa constrictor etc. However, in China, our school is very different. It’s amazing! Surprisedly, I found three exchange students from China. They introduced us the Collegiate School in Chinese and communicated with their classmates in fluent English. Sometimes there are some local students talking with us and asking us some questions in Chinese, they can not speak Chinese very well so that we had to answer their questions about China in English, but I thought it was a wonder chance to me. In that case, I forgot to express myself in Chinese. I got used to the life here.

The weather in Louisville varies with days. It was on a rainy day that I took a photography lesson whit a Chinese student, the teacher of which is a kind middle-aged woman. She was surprised and pleased when I took her lesson. During our lesson we stayed in a darkroom which is equipped with advanced facilities for developing films. Of course, all films should be developed by students themselves. We really felt happy when one film after another was developed by us.

Besides photography lessons, I also took three periods of art classes about mask. In class we created a strange and exaggerated mask with a kind of paper board and waste newspaper and then carved it with a kind of mud. Finally we colored it with bright colors. When we did it attentively, the teacher also helped us with it patiently. But in China, we choose to devote our attention to science classes instead of art classes. It is a different way to access to education, so the school lives are different between China and America. I love Chinese school but then I was really moved by the diversified environment, the open attitude and the close relationship between students and teachers. The students here, no matter what race, no matter where they come from, sat together in the same classroom studying actively and enjoyed their favorite lunch together. Here anybody would like to open the door of the teaching building for you no matter what the weather is like.

Ten days’ trip to Louisville was over soon. We said goodbye to them. It was a sad time because I thought it was too hard to say goodbye to Louisville, to the Collegiate School, to my host families, to the teachers and students here. It was not sunny day like California here, sometimes it rained and sometimes it was sunny, sometimes the wind runs behind your eyes and sometimes the snowflakes are sleeping in your hair. There are four seasons obviously here and the weather is changing anytime, what is unbreakable is that the people here are passionate and warmly.

With the time passing by, wish the trip gave us lasting impression forever! I will never forget the short history about my time in Louisville.

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Hays Hopkins: Closing out my stay in Mainz

2013-02-08T09:27:00.000-05:00

Today is the day that I receive my certificate and I am already aware that I have received excellent results. This is despite all of my worries to the contrary. It was truly a difficult course, but, for that reason, extraordinarily helpful. After taking the A2 certificate test in May, I arrive in Mainz and actually skipped ahead to B1.5 instead of just B1. That slight bump up immensely increased what I have been able to take from this experience. The benefit of an experience like this cannot be replicated in one's private studies and I will greatly miss it.

Beyond the academics, the lifestyle is one to which I know I could grow accustomed. I've used public transportation only a handful of times and have, instead, gotten around town on a bike that the Freundschaftkreis was generous enough to lend me--not to mention the amazing barbecue they invited me too. There has been more than one day where I have found myself in some new area just through a spirit of adventure afforded by having a bicycle at my disposal. I have found more places and experienced more sights. I will remember my time here without even the slightest tinge of negativity.

I would like to end on a note about my German teacher here. It is probably true that us Americans can be a little behind Europeans on politeness. However, that does not serve as any indication of my level of respect for Stephan Stachorski. His humor and liveliness can serve as a complete rebuttal of the stereotype of German severity. These qualities also made five hours of German course a pleasure. It is hard to imagine feeling more engaged in the material and being more excited by German grammar! For all of these reasons, my time here has been invaluable and I would highly recommend a visit to our sister city, Mainz.

Hays Hopkins: My Arrival in Mainz, Germany

2013-02-01T12:49:00.000-05:00

My first week and a half in Mainz has been both fantastic and fast. It started with getting a lift from Frankfurt airport by Frau Karst of the Mainz Freundschaftkreis; after being in Heathrow for 8 hours overnight the appreciation of this gesture cannot be overstated. After arriving at my place and taking a short nap, my first night ended with me being treated to dinner by Frau Karst and, another Sister Cities member, Frau Bell Koehler. These gestures on my first day are entirely indicative of my stay thus far.

Classes started, and continue, in a flurry. My teacher is so patient and conscious of the students that I feel that I’ve had no trouble integrating into an all German-language classroom. I wish I could say the same for the times that I have hung out with German students! It is difficult to keep up to the normal pace, but I have been hanging in there. The students in my dormitory have asked me out to play soccer and just walk along the Rhine. Along with the leisure program of the summer course, my schedule is rather full.

As to the theme of what I have learned so far, I do have an interesting story. Another member of the Mainz Freundschaftkreis invited me to his house for a BBQ. Herr Licht graciously invited me into his home and we entered into a discussion on cultural differences. He reminded me that, although Americans can often find Germans too rude or direct, that I must not interpret actions from my own cultural vantage point. Having to keep this in mind on a daily basis brings my academic learning to reality; however, I have, admittedly, had little chance to exercise such understanding, as everyone has been so welcoming.
Bis bald!

My Final Days in Tamale

2012-07-13T08:49:00.002-04:00

I must apologize for the length of time it has been since I’ve last blogged. I’ve been writing so much in my personal journal that I have forgotten to update my blog! There has been a lot going on since I last wrote, so I will try to touch on as many things as possible!

Health: Last week Saturday I fell very ill with a terrible cough, chest congestion, and a pretty high fever. The fever lasted well into Monday, but by Monday evening it began to break. For all of Saturday and Sunday, I remained in bed dozing in and out. I did manage to read four books in between Saturday and Monday though J On Tuesday morning, Chief and Prof’s friend, Doctor Turner, came by to examine Chief and me (since Chief had been sick since two day before I fell ill). Dr. Turner said Chief’s illness was doing better and gave her some exercises to help get rid of the cough. He said that since I still had a fever, he believe I had acute bronchitis on top of a common cold and prescribed me an antibiotic. That seemed to help, and by the end of the week I was doing much better. However, that weekend when we took a road trip, Chief’s health took a turn for the worse. On the drive home, she started experiencing extreme vertigo that led to her getting sick very often. Unfortunately, we had a bumpy 4 hour drive home that didn’t help her sickness. After a while, she was able to nap for short periods of time which seemed to help, and eventually we made it home. Dr. Turner came over that night and got her some medicine which seemed to help. Now she is doing much better.

Travel: While we are somewhat on the topic. Last weekend, I accompanied Chief and Prof on a road trip to Binaba, which is a town about 160 Km away I believe. We left very early Saturday morning (7:30) and—due to the quality of the road—arrived at their friend’s house in Binaba at about 11:30. The scenery was very pretty on the way there. We caught a glimpse of the Tong hills and the White Volta and witnessed a slight change in scenery as things grew a bit grassier and hillier. We chatted and had lunch at their friend’s house. I cannot remember his name, but I know is a retired bishop from the area. For lunch, his daughter made Red Red (fried plantains and beans) along with rice and ground nut soup (ground nuts are another name for peanuts). I would give it a definite 5 stars (that kind of falls under the food category). Then, the bishop showed Prof and me around town. Chief wasn’t feeling well so she stayed back and rested. At about 2 o’clock, we decided to head home since we had a bit of trip ahead of us. On the way out to the car, Chief got sick in the yard L. However, I believe she really wanted to get home if possible so that she could be in her own bed and seek medical attention, so we started the journey. We stopped at the market in Bolgatanga so that Prof and I could do a little shopping and so that Chief could rest peacefully without the bumps from the potholes and speedbumps in the road. They make very neat baskets in Bolgatanga, and I had a hard time not buying every single one in sight. It took a great deal of self-control, but since I only had a certain amount of cash, I was forced to control my spendings J Eventually, we started back on the road and unfortunately, Chief wasn’t feeling any better. We arrived back at the palace a little after 7:30 (a mighty long ride in what is not a very comfortable truck!) and Prof and Razak ushered her inside and called Dr. Turner. Since there wasn’t much I could do (besides make Prof and I dinner), I made dinner and went to bed. If you factor out the cramped travel arrangements and Chief’s awful sickness, the trip was nice!

Health Work: I spent the last week observing the activities of the nurses at Kalpohin Health Clinic. All of the nurses there are SUPER nice and helpful and I had a great time working with them. Each day they placed me at a different station so that I could get a glimpse of all the different aspects of the clinic. I have found that child and maternal health is of the utmost importance in Ghana, and so, while it is not my number one interest personally, I have definitely been introduced to the importance of it in the health field in Ghana.

The first day, I sat in the family planning room which is where ladies can come for birth control. They offer two different sets of pills and two different shots. The pills are taken daily for three weeks. One of the shots is administered monthly and the other is administered every 3 months. The nurse explains the options to the women, and they are able to decide which type of birth control they want. However, before they are given any of the drugs, they must take a pregnancy test, because, I found out, many of them that come in for the pills are already pregnant and are under the impression that the pills will take care of that.

The next day, I observed the immunizations table which was basically the exact same as the one at Tamale Central. 12 immunizations are offered and each one ends the same way…with a screaming baby L Although I LOVE children, this is my absolute least favorite section of the clinic, because not only am I not able to play with any of the kids, but I have to sit there and watch them scream and cry L

On Friday, I went out with two of the nurses to do house visits. They said usually they carry some vaccines and such with them in case a child is in need of one, but that day they didn’t have enough, so we just did some routine check-ups. This consisted of going to random houses and asking if there were any children in the house. If there were, then we collected their health record book (which is given to them by the clinic for free when they have a child). We checked to make sure all of the immunizations were up to date, and then asked the mom some questions about her health and the child’s health. The nurses explained to me that sometimes the mothers won’t come to the clinic if they have problems because there are so many people around, so the nurses make house visits so that the mothers have more privacy and so that the nurses can impress upon them how important it is to keep their children up to date on vaccinations! I enjoyed the visits because it provided a change of scenery and it felt a bit more personal than the clinic. The thing I dislike the most about the clinics is how impersonal and mechanical it feels. While the nurses are very chatty and friendly amongst each other, they aren’t so much so towards the mothers and children. Not that they are mean or rude by any means, but they just don’t smile and show a real concern towards the patients. I know by now that is just a part of the culture because service is like that everywhere in Ghana, but it is something that I have a hard time getting used to since I’m so acquainted with the high customer service expectations of America.

Monday I went with some nurses to one of the schools to give a presentation on the importance of hand washing. We gave one presentation to the P1 and P2 classes combined, and then we gave another to the P3 students. (P stands for primary). The nurses really stressed using CLEAN water AND soap and ALWAYS washing hands AFTER going to the bathroom and BEFORE eating!! They explained to the kids that they can get diseases such as Cholera and rotavirus if they fail to wash their hands properly.

They also touched on the proper places to go to the bathroom. Since many of the schools (the one near Kalpohin health clinic being one of them) and most houses do not have private bathroom facilities, people will go to the bathroom wherever suits them. This is oftentimes in a grassy patch of a yard. Obviously, this can lead to MANY problems, a major one being the spread of disease. Apparently this is something that has to be stressed upon the children very often. It’s amazing to me how limited bathroom facilities are in the area. Most families do not have a bathroom in their house. Instead, there are “public” bathrooms located somewhere in town or villages where people can go to the bathroom in pits or holes that have been dug inside a building. However, considering those facilities are not right next to every person’s house or a school, many people resort to going in a bushy area or something of the sort! That was very eye-opening for me.

My favorite part of the presentation came when the nurse was reviewing her talk with the kids and asked “So what will happen if you don’t properly wash your hands before eating or after going to the bathroom?” One of the P1 students raised his hand in answered, in earnest, “You’ll get AIDS!” All of the adults got a bit of a laugh from that, but it was then explained to the kids that that was not the way one could get AIDS, however, one could acquire many other diseases from improper hand washing.

My last day at the clinic, I observed the antenatal room where the midwife explained their process for examining the pregnant ladies. Since they don’t have any high-tech machines or anything, they can only do very basic examinations. However, they refer the women to the Teaching Hospital to get an ultrasound and they also give referrals to a nearby lab to get blood, urine, and stool tests. I was able to feel the fetuses of a few of the women and I also heard a few heartbeats through this little cone type thing they used. That part was pretty neat J

My time at the health clinic served as a very eye-opening experience for me. Although I’m aware that I would have to spend years here to encounter and understand even a portion of the problems that some people face here, I believe I have a much better understanding of the difficulties that arise in the area of sanitation and health in under-developed countries. I often find myself wishing I had they money or means to build proper bathrooms for each family and school I visit or wishing I could help all the beggars on the side of the road that are missing limbs or clearly suffering from some sort of disease. Although it is discouraging that, at the moment, I don’t really have the ability to do any such thing, it is slightly encouraging that I have chosen a profession that will someday, hopefully, allow me to do such a thing. If nothing else, this trip has helped me to validate my choice of a future career in the Health Field J

Food: My favorite topic J Yesterday, I ate at Mariama’s restaurant and she made me fufu and light soup. Fufu is basically a huge dumpling made of yam (my favorite!!) and I’m not sure what is in light soup exactly, but I do know that it has quite a kick! Overall, I would give it four out of five stars! I ate the whole huge bowl of it and enjoyed every bit, however I would have to say that I actually like banku better than fufu. Not that I wouldn’t eat fufu a thousand more time before I left, but I would probably eat banku a thousand and one more times ;)

As I mentioned earlier, when we were at the bishop’s house, his daughter made red-red and rice with groundnut soup and I can say that, without a doubt, it was my favorite meal I’ve had since I’ve been in Ghana. Probably because I LOVE groundnut soup (since it is essentially warm, soupy peanut butter) and fried plantains are to die for!! Yuuuuummmyy!!

Gifts: This week, Fatimata finished making the two dresses that I gave her cloth to make for me. They are both very, very cute! Although I might look a little goofy wearing one around in the United States, I fit in wonderfully wearing one here. Now, I have had three dresses made for me (I bought the cloth and then paid someone to sew the dress for me). Plus, two days ago, Madame Fati and Mariama had me pick out a third dress (which is a different style than the other three I have…which are all different styles themselves) that they gave to me as a gift from SCT. And yesterday, two of the teachers and one of the students from the JSS I taught at brought me a dress as a gift from the school (it was yet a different style than the other four!!). So, I now have more dresses than I think I’ve owned at one time in my life. Haha!! They are all very cute and I believe that my sister will probably want to be borrowing them when I get back ;) I also gave all of the gifts I brought from home to the people here that have helped me during my trip! That included Bro Zee and Fatimata and their children, Jehanfo, Madame Fati, Mariama, Razak, Kintampo, and Jon. And I’m pretty sure they all absolutely loved them J Madame Fati actually screeched and did a little dance, haha!! It made my day to see how happy they all were to get their gifts J I love giving people gifts, especially when they have helped me as much as everyone here has!!

I know my mom is probably wondering, so I will let her know that, yes, I have gotten gifts for almost everyone back home now ;) Madame Fati and Mariama took me to the Cultural center yesterday and a neat little shop called Colwood that sells a bunch of gifts that are made of tie-dyed fabric! It’s a very neat store J So, as long as I can fit everything in my suitcase, I will have lots of nice gifts for my family upon my return. I made sure to save a bit of room in case I find some things in Accra that strike my fancy ;)

That leads me to my last topic: Final Plans: Tomorrow is my last full day in Tamale! And it will end with a potluck dinner for the SCT members (which I will allow to double as a small going away party!). Sunday I leave bright and early (boarding time 6-7:30 a.m) for Accra!!! I’ve already talked with Solomon who said he will be waiting for me at the airport (this time I vow not to panic if he is not there immediately when I land, and since I now know what he looks like that will make things much easier too). Between Sunday morning and Wednesday evening, I will get in as much touristy activities as possible (I’m leaving the scheduling up to Solomon) and Wednesday evening I will depart for home!!!

While I am going to be very sad to leave all the wonderful people I have met here in Ghana, I cannot say that I am not also extremely excited to see my family again and sleep in my nice, comfy bed (without tucking in a mosquito net ;) )!! I look forward to all these last few days hold and plan to make the most of every moment J!

Day 36

2012-06-28T11:26:00.002-04:00

Today it started pouring rain around 9 o'clock this morning and now, at 1:45 in the afternoon, it is still at it. So, now that the power has reestablished itself, I will commence with my update of the weekend and my week so far.
Turns out, I ended up not going for a tour of Tamale or going shopping on Saturday afternoon, because much more exciting plans developed. While at her event, Chief ran into a lady from Louisville who teaches at Bellarmine who was headed to Mole National Game Reserve for the weekend with a group of friends!! After a bit of plan making, and some very hurried packing (which was more just throwing random articles of clothing into my bag), I was on my way to meet Angela, the Louisvillian, and her group of friends from Accra for a trip to Mole. The group consisted of Angela and five of her American friends from Dagara Music Centre in Accra. We all piled into an SUV they had rented, along with the driver they had hired to take us there, and started on our way. About 15 minutes into our drive, we turned off the paved road and onto a very rough and bumpy dirt road that lasted for the next two or three hours. The driver was somewhat....reckless, I guess you could say. Although the bumps, and cattle, and sheep, and people on bikes don't seem to slow many of the drivers down here, so I guess you could just say he drove like a typical Ghanaian. We, on the other hand, tried to make the most of our 4 hour roller coaster ride :) Angela and I sat in the very back while three of her friends, Alex, Sarah, and Tad, sat in the middle, and Griffin (the mastermind behind all the planning and such) sat in the front with the driver. The rest of the group didn't talk a whole lot, but Angela and I really hit it off and managed to find things to talk about or laugh at for the majority of the trip.
The scenery was absolutely beautiful because we were pretty far out from any urban area, so there were a ton of green fields and trees and small villages with people going about their daily routines (all outside). As we were getting close, Angela informed me that one little detail she forgot to mention on the phone was that we would be staying in a tree house out in the wilderness of the national forest for at least the first night, but not to worry, we would have an armed guard to look out below while we (tried) to sleep :) This was a little bit of a different set up from the hotel room that I had been expected, but there wasn't a whole lot I could do about it at that point, and, plus, it sounded pretty neat!
Fortunately, before we headed to the tree house, we stopped at the lodge area where they had a pool, restaurant, bar, bathrooms (with toilet paper), and a place to sit and lookout over one of the watering holes. We ordered dinner and enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL sunset while we waited for our meals to be prepared. While we were waiting, a baboon came running up towards the eating area, which was a tad frightening, but someone shooed it away; so it went and joined another baboon and a baby baboon in a nearby tree and contented itself on just watching us go about our business (which was mostly just watching them all sitting in a tree!). After dinner--and a huge plate of fresh pineapple for dessert--we hopped in the car and headed to the information desk where we picked up our tour guide/armed guard and some sleeping mats and mosquito nets. Fortunately, the driver took us to the tree house (since it was pitch black and I would have had an anxiety attack if we had to walk) before he left.
The tree house was basically just and elevated wooden porch with wooden walls...and no roof...that wrapped around a tree. There were holes cut into the walls as windows and, luckily, a set of stairs to climb up to the house (trying to lug my bag up a ladder would have been near impossible). There are few things I would have packed (and not have packed) if I would have known that our area of residence here was going to be in the middle of nowhere and up in a tree---such as, a headlight, a blanket, less clothes, and possibly the pocket knife---but, I made do just fine without them :). We all stayed for quite a while just taking in the sounds (which there were a TON of) and the stars (which there were even more of!!). It is amazing how many stars you can see when you're that far out :) Tad even spotted what we believed to be the Milky Way!!! The sleeping situation was not as impressive as the sights and sounds, but I managed to get a few hours of shut eye on the thin little yoga mat, and passed the night without a single bug bite :)!! In the morning, the birds had replaced the frogs and insects as our little symphony, which sounded just as fantastic as the night sounds :)
I have no idea what time we were all up, but it was well before the sun! That is when I found out that we were taking a walking safari back to the lodge area so that we could try to see the animals before they made their way too far into the park (apparently we were only about 2 miles or so in). This was exciting and all, but the bag I had brought with me (while not huge) was definitely not the most fit for a trek in the forest. Everyone else had packed accordingly in hiking backpacks. Then again, they knew the plans ahead of time!!! However, I quickly found a comfortable way to carry my stuff and we were off on our morning adventure.
We walked for a little ways before we sighted any wildlife. Our first sighting was just a glimpse of an antelope before it took off into the cover of some trees, but not long after we saw a much larger group of antelope that stayed still long enough for us to snap a few pictures before they darted off. A short while later, we came across a huge group of wart hogs, which are probably one of my least favorite animals, but even they look pretty neat and impressive in the wild!! There were quite a few babies, and unlike the antelope, these suckers stood their ground and offered us a pretty substantial staring match :) Christopher, our tour guide, next took us to the other large watering hole (there are two large watering holes in the park) and let us rest up in a lookout things with some of the guards. They told us that they have around the clock guards on duty due to poachers :/ Apparently it is such a prevalent problem that there is a school nearby for the children of men killed poaching. That made me sad. While we were resting and looking at the watering hole, we were all pretty sure we saw a crocodile just barely surface on the water, but it never came up enough for us to be totally sure. We did some really pretty birds and some more antelope though! Christopher had thought we would see some elephants there, but he said they must not have made it that far today yet and we would try to meet them on our way back to camp.
On our trek back to the camp, Christopher took us past a pile of bones that were from an elephant that had dies a few years earlier. It had wandered into a nearby village and been shot by the people there and had then managed to make it back to the watering hole to die. Apparently elephants prefer to die by water. The bones were gigantic!!!
As we approached the lodge area, we found three elephants on the other side of a little river munching on some tree branches. It seemed that they were used to human presence, and so we were able to sit down next to the river to snap pictures and take in the magnificent scene!!! As we were sitting there enjoying the activities of the three elephants, more started emerging from a forested area off to our right. You would think it would have been a noisy procession, but they were literally almost silent!!!!! That sort of creeped me out. haha. But it was a really neat thing to see. We sat there for quite a while just watching them all hanging out, eating leaves, and covering themselves in mud and water :) :) :) Eventually, they started heading towards the forest, and we started to get extremely hungry (it was about 11 and we'd been up since about 6 or so with no breakfast!!), so we headed up the lodge.
As we were finishing breakfast and trying to decide what activities we wanted to do for the day, it began to rain. Pretty soon, it was pouring so hard we could barely see out past the pool, so that limited our activities. We passed a good deal of the afternoon hanging out at a table (that was outside but under ample cover ) just chatting, drinking coffee, playing music (that was mostly Angela) and relaxing. Unfortunately, there were no rooms for us to move our stuff into, but then again, it was pretty refreshing to just sit outside and relax with the rain. Around 4 or so, it cleared up enough to walk around and not long after we got a room to put our stuff in. We decided to just stay in one of the "dorm" rooms, which was a room with three bunk beds and a bathroom with a toilet and a shower. After cleaning up a bit, Angela went a walk along a little path and saw some monkeys, antelope, and warthogs!!
At dinner, the group decided that they would join me on the 4 o'clock A.M. bus back to Tamale (mostly bc I think they could sense that I was a little apprehensive about taking it back by myself, but also because it was the cheapest method) and so we headed off to bed. Once again, I had a rough time sleeping, and before long, it was time to rise and shine (although I'm not sure I was doing much shining at that hour of the morning). It was still really dark on our walk to the bus stop, and it took us a while to wake up the driver who we realized was sleeping inside. Finally, around 4:30 or so, we were ready to roll. At first, the only people on the bus were our group plus two others, but that soon changed and before long, I was squeezed between Angela and a man with very large, very strong, very heavy shoulders that leaned on my and squished me the second he fell asleep, which was approximately 10 minutes after he sat down ;) However, his weight kept me from bouncing around too much :) Luckily, the bus driver was much more cautious than our driver on the way there, and I managed to stay in my seat with more ease (seat belts are rarely used and sometimes even non-existent in most cars here). Around 7 or so, Angela and I had breakfast in the form of Cliff bars that I had actually thought to bring along in my hurried packing. I managed to doze a few times, but my neck got pretty stiff pretty quickly so I gave that up. Around 9, we arrived in Tamale, and remembering that 9 was usually the time that Jon goes to pick up Madame Fati from her house and take her to the palace, I called Madame Fati. Sure enough, Jon had just picked her, and they came to the bus stop to get me. We gave the group a ride to the bus station on the other side of town that they needed to go to (there are no rules against packing 5 people into the bed of a truck in Ghana!) so that they wouldn't have to pay a taxi. I have Angela my bag of snacks and unopened bottle of water to hold her over on their long journey back to Accra. (I later found out that they didn't get back until 2 A.M--that's almost 24 hours of traveling on very uncomfortable buses..yuck!!).
The second I arrived back at the palace, I had to change into better clothes (my sleep/travel shorts and t-shirt weren't proper attire) to accompany Chief and her elders to call on another local Chief. This time, there were a TON of elders and spectators packed into the greeting room and there was even dancing and a lot more drumming than usual! Prof told me that this is the more traditional way of greeting. By the time we got back from the event, I was exhausted, but I managed to make it through lunch before I came back to my room to shower and nap. The "nap" lasted about 4 hours, but it was a much needed four hours!! And that concluded my adventurous weekend (which actually ran over into Monday morning!).
Now for the usual categorized updates:

Food: Monday night we had yam balls with some kind of steak and cheese sauce. Way beyond five stars i my book!!!! They are by far my new-found favorite :) So good, in fact, that Chief and I reheated the leftovers for breakfast and ate them with butter, honey, and bananas! We decided that we should talk Mariama into making breakfast yam balls since the ones she made that night were savory yam balls and intended for dinner consumption ;))

Health Work: Yesterday and today I visited Tamale Central Health clinic to observe their "disease control" center. Since the clinic is for Maternal and Child Health, their disease control center consists of a nurse giving a bunch of babies a bunch of immunization shots, and therefore, ultimately, a bunch of crying, screaming babies....NOT my favorite scene by any means. However, the experience is still teaching me a lot. The immunizations and services that the clinic offers are free to the public and privately funded. The nurses are paid by the govt. The clinic is just one decently sized room. In the back right corner is the registration table where mothers can pick up a book with information on child health and a sheet for immunization records if they don't already have one. In the back left corner is the counseling center where the mothers get vitamins for their babies and information on child health. In the front left corner is the weighing station where Auntie Margaret works...I like her! And in the front right corner, right next to the door is the immunization station where a nurse sits in a chair and the mother's hold the babies while she gives them their shots or drops or whatever they need. There are no partitions or sinks for hand washing or Germ-X bottles, or anything of the sort that I have grown used to seeing at such places in the U.S. This was very surprising. The mother's just sit on a little bench and hold their child and their child's leg or arm or wherever he/she is getting the shot while the nurse just goes about her business. I've gotten to the point where I don't feel tempted to look away, but even so, I can confidently say that this is not the particular area of public health that I would want to work in!!

School: A brighter topic!!! This is my last week of teaching, sadly, because I have to make my visits to the health clinics in the mornings which would be the times that I would also be teaching :(( Tuesday I had my regular lesson which got cut a little short bc of a meeting I had to go to with Chief. However, I managed to finish my genetics section and get a good deal into Infectious Diseases :)) I enjoyed teaching that. Yesterday, i went over to teach, but the girls were having an all day rehearsal for the talent show they were supposed to have today. I decided to stay and watch the rehearsals anyway. As usual, there were always more than a few girls at my side and more than a few of them asked me if I would dance during the dancing part of the rehearsal. After seeing their form of dancing, I politely declined!! It was really fun to watch and spend more time with the girls. I told them I would bring my camera over today and take lots of pictures, but the rain ruined the whole program so I didn't get a chance :( I will find time next week to go over and take pictures and stuff with them, though, because I will not leave without heaps of pictures with all of them. Every time I go over to the school, I fall more in love with all the girls. I'm so, so, so, soooooo sad to have to stop teaching :( I enjoyed it SO much!!! Now at least I know it is something I MUST do in my future. Although I don't think teaching American students this age would have quite the same feeling, I know that I will definitely end up teaching some level of students, somewhere, someday :)) I'm definitely going to miss these girls more than words can say when I leave :(!

Miscellaneous: The other evening, I mustered up my courage and walked around to some nearby shops before dinner. I went into one shop that had some really pretty paintings hung outside. A young guy was working and I started talking to him about the paintings. Turns out, he painted all of them!! His name was Hussein and he went to art school at Polytechnic, a college up the road. As he was showing some of the paintings and giving me some prices, the guy that owned a little convenience store next door came over with his four month old daughter, Esther (I asked her name). Without me even asking, he let me old her! :) She was tiny and absolutely adorable!!! I got a picture with Hussein, Esther and the dad before I left. It was really nice to go out by myself and meet some nice people :) I'm glad I went. I told Hussein that I would come back so that he can paint my portrait (which he also does) and I look forward to doing so!!

Each One Reach One

2012-06-25T07:33:00.003-04:00

Each one reach one. That is a recruiting phrase we used in my company prior to my retirement. It was a very effective marketing & recruiting strategy. Very simply, we wanted our agents and managers (more than 2,000 people) to recruit just one person who could and would contribute to our company’s bottom line growth and expansion plans.

Well, I thought to myself the other day, SOME of the Sister Cities of Louisville members have been doing that for years. Wouldn’t it be great if we could get ALL of our membership to tell the great stories about Sister Cities and why our grassroots organization is the key to building understanding and mutual cooperation worldwide.

Now, before you go, “sure, sure, yeah, yeah”. I am living proof of each one reach one. Terry Stacy has been involved with Sister Cities AND a gazillion student exchanges for — well— a gazillion years. She is a former president of our organization, was a Montpellier co-chair for many years, AND…she happens to be my mother-in-law. I no sooner “joined” her family, that I was being “encouraged” to join another family — Sister Cities of Louisville.

Roberta Hershberg and Sharon Receveur are two more vivid examples of the people who sing the praises of the Sister Cities mission. The individuals they reach, soon become supporters of Sister Cities. I can’t begin to name all the people who have been reaching out over the years encouraging membership. However, I urge ALL members of Sister Cities to begin recruiting to help our organization grow and achieve even greater accomplishments.

Sister Cities of Louisville may be one of the best kept secrets in town, but if all of our members begin to reach out and recruit, we’ll no longer be that best kept secret.

I've Somewhat Lost Track of the Days, but Here's and Update!

2012-06-23T06:02:00.001-04:00

I am taking advantage of the fact that I have electricity and internet access (and running water, but that is not pertinent here) at the same time, to give a little update of the many activities taking place in Ghana at the moment. It is a bit hard to keep track of what has happened when, so, once again, I'll split events into categories!

First up, school: I think I love it more with every class I have :) The girls are still super attentive and interested in my lessons (which may have a small bit to do with the color of the skin and my age, but I will take what I can get). I have finished food and nutrition with one of my classes and moved on to heredity. Due to the cancelling of Friday classes on the past 3 Fridays--every Friday I've been teaching--I'm a bit further behind in my other class, something that my obsessive organizational character is having a bit of a hard time managing ;) This Friday, the teachers of the ZSN Jr. HS played the teachers of the primary school in a football (soccer) match. I joined the girls in cheering on the teachers, after turning down many an offer to join in the (all male) soccer match! I thoroughly enjoyed watching the match with the girls, though, and I was never at a loss for company or entertainment during the 45 minutes I spent there ;) They are all very fond of my hair....and skin, and clothes, and way of pronouncing things, and all else. One of the other science teachers told me this week that when he was teaching the girls during extra classes one day he asked me what they thought of my lessons and they all said they REALLY enjoyed my lessons and liked me as a teacher. After verifying that he was not just telling me what I wanted to hear :), I felt really good about myself! He said they all said they really, reallly don't want me to leave!

This week I also finalized my plans to start some public health work (after a little pushing and prodding..the necessary protocol for getting things rolling in Ghana). Starting Monday, I will be visiting three different health facilities to observe their disease control centers and hopefully learn a thing or two about what I plan to do in my future!!! I'm really excited about this. I may also get some time to observe some classes or activities at the medical school with the help of some of Wyatt's friends :) I'm anxious to get these things started because my busy-bodied self is having a hard time adjusting to the slow-paced movement of Ghanaian Days :)

Food: I tried Banku the other night at a restaurant in town. It is a sort of dumpling made from fermented maize that is eaten with a sort of soup. My choice was banku with ground nut sauce and chicken. Technically, this is supposed to be eaten with your hands (even more technically, your right hand), however, to avoid causing a scene and a huge mess, I requested a fork and knife :) Adnan, Chief's secretary who took me to dinner, proved very efficient at consuming the meal with only his right hand however, and I was very impressed. I would give the banku three and half to four stars out of five. Honestly, anything with that much starch would have to be pretty terrible to rank below a three in my book, but I actually really enjoyed the taste too :))

Visits to Chiefs: This week, I went with Chief and her entourage to visit the Choggu Naa at his palace. The Choggu Naa is actually the co-chair of SCT from what I gather, so it was nice to meet him. This reception was a bit more fun than the previous two because I believe Chief and the Choggu Naa are a bit closer and he also seemed a bit more laid back or something. Also, one of his elders was quite the jokster and he had the whole group rolling quite a few times (I didn't really follow, but I did enjoy his dancing at one point). The most interesting part was when the Choggu Naa offered Chief a welcoming gift of about 10 yams and 2 guinea fowl. The guinea fowl were handed to Bro Zee who handed them to Adnan who was right next to me. I could have sworn that one of them blinked when Bro Zee handed them off, but I figured I was just imagining things. Then, as Adnan was standing there holding them both upside down by their feet, I saw (much to my horror) one of them strut their neck just a bit and realized (much to my horror, again) that they were both still alive and most likely just in extreme shock...same as me, only I was right side up!!!! I'm not sure exactly what they all went through when we returned to the palace, but I do know that one of them ended up on the table (in a much altered state) last night at dinner. I can now tell you what my least favorite meal has been during my trip ;) Though as was raised in what could be termed a farm town, I am most definitely NOT a farm girl as you can see!

Electricity and Appliances: Now here's a funny story. A few nights back (the night Adnan took me into town for dinner) I returned to the Palace and decided to take a shower before going to bed. During my shower, all of the power went out in this entire part of Tamale. Fortunately, I know my way around my room well enough and I am always certain to know where my headlamp is that no injuries were suffered while I was left in complete darkness for a few minutes. Then, the power stayed off for another two days or so!! After two nights in a stifling a hot room with no A/C or fan and two days of not being able to charge any electronics, Chief decided it best that we move to a hotel across town (in a part with power) until the power was fixed here. We left around 6 and ate dinner at the restaurant. Just as we were finishing, we got a call from someone at the palace informing us that the power had been turned back on! How convenient! We decided we would rather just stay at the hotel and return to a nice cool, lighted palace in the morning :) At the moment, I am sitting in my room, with electricity (although no A/C bc my unit seems to be malfunctioning, but at least I have a fan) and internet access (still with the help of Chief's modem, but internet nonetheless) and a supply of water!!! This is a very rare occurrence!!

One other thing that falls into a category of its own, which may be named "My Crazier Moments": I woke up at 5:30 to go for a run this morning, because according to the people here, that is when locals work out, especially on Saturdays. I believe I saw approximately four other people doing any sort of physical activity, but it was nice to get some exercise, and it was still a bearable temperature to do so in! I imagine that I will be needing a nap this afternoon at some point, though.

Today Chief's schedule is pretty open, which means I may have access to a vehicle or a tour guide, and so hopefully I will be able to get a little tour of Tamale and possibly even do a bit of shopping. I know there are more than a few people who will be expecting gifts when I arrive back home...as if I'm not a gift enough myself ;)!!

Day 22

2012-06-15T11:16:00.001-04:00

So, I know it has been forever since I have posted last and it is not because I haven’t wanted to! Unfortunately, we have had major problems with the internet provider, Vodaphone, that we use for our wifi connection and we have been completely without it for over a week now. Luckily, Dr. Herlin (Chief) has purchased a portable modem that we can use! Unfortunately, it charges by minute or data used or something, so my time is limited. In any case, I will summarize everything that has been going on with as much pertinent details as possible!

We will start with school. I began teaching last week and I absolutely love it! I only taught on Tuesday and Wednesday because Thursday and Friday were the annual “Sports days.” Which is somewhat like a “field day” in the states. I went to sports on Thursday and had a great time. It was quite a sight to see! The event took place in a large arena type area that was basically a huge dirt field surrounded by a chain-link fence with barbed wire on top. Inside the fence, there was a “track” of sorts. Basically, it was a large circular indented path that had just been created by so many people running it. This is where all the races took place. There were students from many of the schools in the region; some were competitors and some were just spectators. I would say there were at least 200 kids there. There were all kinds of events that took place and a student from each school would participate in each race. First were short sprints, like a 100 meter dash. Eventually, there was the longer race which would compare to our mile race I believe. None of the races had a defined starting or finish line, they were both just kind of outlined by the teachers who helped organize it all. I saw a great deal of racers passing out at the finish line!!! In fact, it actually seemed like a somewhat common thing to do. I got to see a lot of the girls I teach while I was there and they were SUPER excited to get pictures with me, so I have quite a few pictures with some of my students now J

As far as actually teaching, I LOVE it!! Despite being totally terrified every time I walk into the room (due to the 50 plus faces staring back at me each time), I have a wonderful time. So many of the girls are so excited to participate and answer any and all of the questions, and they also seem to understand what I’m saying and teaching! I do hear a great deal of giggling as I’m writing on the board which always makes me self-conscious, but it usually ends up being directed at my pronunciation of some word. Especially “water.” I’ve found that they emphasize different syllables in their words and sentences as well which I’m sure makes many of my statements and questions sounds a bit odd to them. At any rate, I’m really enjoying teaching!!

In the Public Health setting: I met with the director of Administration again last week and he gave me a rundown on the health care system in Ghana (which I will have to review a few times, but is fairly straight forward)! He also offered to set up some meetings with other doctors as well, but that has yet to pan out. This Monday, however, I am supposed to be working with Mubareck, the SCT secretary on setting up some work in that area. One of Chief and Prof’s friends from England, Patricia, is actually a professor of Occupational Health at the medical school here and offered to set up some meetings with people there to get me introduced and hopefully start with some work! Apparently, it is the only public health school here that sends students out into the field to do the health work while still in their beginning levels (from what I understand). Another contact that I have acquired is Nash, who is an alum of the Zo-Simli-Naa scholarship and aid fund and who now works in the Health Department of Tamale! I think with the help of Mubareck (and a great deal of determination and pushing on my part) I will be able to set up a pretty good program for the public health part of my internship!

So far, I have interviewed 33 scholars!!! And I have yet to hear a story that isn’t truly inspiring J I have also visited a few of the alums at their jobs now! My favorite visit was to the Shekinah Clinic where Mariam, one of the first batch of scholars, works. This is a health clinic that offers its services free of charge to the severely needy . Mariam’s husband is the head doctor and Mariam is one of the nurses that volunteers at the clinic. It was a truly amazing place!

Probably the most important announcement I have to make is that Dr. Herlin, aka Chief, and Wyatt, aka, Prof, arrived in Tamale on Sunday, June 10^th. I was fortunate enough to join the welcoming posse at the airport to greet them! The group consisted of at least 10-15 people (3 of which were drummers). It was quite the little ceremony I must say and I was happy to be part of it. Back at the palace, there was another welcoming ceremony in the greeting room (where Chief sits two days a week to welcome people who come to visit her) and I was formally introduced to everyone. This week Chief has been very busy with greeting people and scheduling events and all, but we are all able to eat lunch and dinner together and sometimes meet for mid-morning or afternoon tea, too J Today, I joined Chief on her first visits to some other local chiefs, and that was very, very interesting! I borrowed one of Chief’s traditional outfits to wear for the occasion (the print on the dress is actually Sister Cities 25^th anniversary print!) complete with the head garment and all (someone helped me tie it on my head!). We visited two nearby chiefs, Lamegushu and Dakpena (the spelling is just an educated guess). The chiefs sat in their welcoming hall in a big chair with the crew of their elders sitting around their feet, and Chief and Prof sat in chairs to their right. I sat with Chief’s crew of elders in chairs to the welcoming chief’s right. The whole ritual was really interesting and intriguing and fortunately I was not expected to do or say anything because taking it all in was almost too much for me!

The food here continues to be amazing! My favorites remain the same, but so far I haven’t tried anything that I haven’t liked (and I’ve tried quite a bit!)

There was a bad storm last week that blew down a mango tree and the electrical wires and Bro Zee had quite a time trying to get it all back in order before Chief arrived!! For a while, we were without electricity and wifi. Then the electricity was restored, but there was a water shortage in town that left us without running water for about a day. Soon after the electricity was restored, there was a power surge that ruined a great deal of our appliances, including the refrigerator, microwave, toaster, and my A/C unit. They fixed most of it, but still haven’t been able to fix the A/C unit, so I have been relocated in the other guest room that does have a working A/C unit J Now, the only thing we still lack in a reliable internet connection! But, that is not a huge worry to me!

I’m getting to know more and more people that frequent the palace and Razak is working on teaching me Dagboni phrases so that I can greet them in their local language! I have also formed quite a strong bond with Magi and Ediya, the two littlest kids that live here. We play for an hour or two every evening in the courtyard around the palace. We have played hopscotch, had wheelbarrow races, and practiced writing numbers and letters in the dirt. I absolutely adore them both! And I believe that they have taken a strong liking to me as well!

So, in all, I have started adjusting pretty well to the new culture and environment that I have been living in for a little over three weeks now! There is still a lot that I have to learn and understand about how things works around here, but I’m slowly catching on, and everyone here is more than happy to help me along ;) Hopefully, I will be able to keep you up to date a little more frequently soon!

The Economic Benefits of Sister Cities of Louisville

2012-06-14T15:45:00.001-04:00

Did you know that Sister Cities of Louisville brings a wealth of benefits to our city and surrounding areas — not only from a people-to-people exchange, but also an economic benefit. For those folks who want to know how it impacts Louisville’s bottom line, here is Sister Cities’ most recent economic impact on Louisville in 2011:

$129,500 generated in tuition for local Universities

$171,600 in educational scholarship to both students and teachers

$100,000 in sales revenue

$12,975 in hotel stays

That’s more than a half million dollars contributed to Louisville’s bottom line. But those hotel stays and sales revenues are misleading. Why?

Because there are many more dollars that are spent by our residents since many of Sister Cities of Louisville’s foreign visitors stay with tax-paying citizens in their own homes. They feed our international visitors, as well as transporting them, paying for their visits to our local museums and restaurants, and the list goes on — and of course, those numbers aren’t booked by our membership. So MANY more thousands of dollars are contributed to Louisville’s bottom line.

велосипед!

2012-06-13T13:34:00.001-04:00

By: Mary Beth Brown
The original post can be found on: bicyclingforlouisville.org

What a beautiful ride we had yesterday with our new friends from Russia!

We started with Wheel Fun Rentals at the corner of Brook and Witherspoon (Waterfront Park) and from there, checked out the Extreme Park.

Did you know Perm modeled their extreme park on ours? Click here to learn more.

Next we went to the Big Four, and proceeded to follow the new path along the waterfront past the marina...

...and all the way to Eva Bandman Park, where we got to explain CycloCross to our group! No one opted to do the Green Monster this time. ;)

We went back along the Waterfront and all the way to the locks.

We wove our way through Portland back downtown, where our new friends negotiated traffic on Market Street quite well.

Thanks to everyone who made it out. You were so welcoming and friendly to our visitors. Special thanks to Tom Dumstorf, Joanne Lloyd Triplett and Wheel Fun Rentals for helping make all this possible! We hope to partner with Sister Cities Louisville again soon.

To see all the pictures (and more video!) from this event, please click here.

I've arrived!!

2012-05-31T12:01:00.001-04:00

Hi! I am Brittany Hubert, and for anyone who does not know, I am the Sister Cities of Louisville/Sister Cities of Tamale Intern for the summer of 2012. My task this summer is to interview scholars from the Zo-Simli-Naa Scholarship and aid fund in order to document their stories and their feeling of how the fund has impacted their lives and the lives of others. While in Ghana, I also plan to meet with doctors and health professionals in the area. Since I plan to pursue a career in international public health after earning a degree in biology from the University of Louisville, meeting with these professionals will help me gain better insight into what my future may hold :)

So, I arrived in Ghana one week ago today. I flew into Accra, Ghana where I was met by Dr. Herlin's "son", Solomon. I stayed at a hotel in Accra on Thursday and Friday night. Solomon and his friend, Bismark, showed me a bit of Accra which is a very busy, bustling city with a lot of people and a ton of stuff going on! I experienced the true Accra rush hour traffic while leaving the airport with Solomon. Solomon took me to KFC for dinner. It was three stories!! I had a chicken leg and fries. It tasted quite different than KFC here. On Saturday, I met my first two scholars at the Accra Shopping Centre, Saaji and Kiram. Both have graduated from University. Kiram is doing his national service and I just found out a few days ago that Saaji was accepted to a Master's program where she will continue her education!!!

Saturday, I woke extremely early and went to the airport to Solomon to buy a ticket to Tamale. Fortunately I was able to get one for that day (you have to buy tickets from Accra to Tamale at the airport). It was a short and pleasant flight and I was met at the airport by Jehanfo, Madame Fati, and Mariama! They took me to Mariama's restaurant, the Crest Restaurant, for lunch since I had forgotten to eat breakfast and it was going on noon. I randomly picked something off the menu: Boiled Yams with egg. Apparently they were all pretty hesitant to give this to me because they asked me multiple times if I had tried Yam before. I replied no but I would like to try it so they agreed that I should try it. They gave me boiled yam with a plate of boiled vegetables in a red sauce for me to put on the yams. I'm no sure what they were so hesitant about, I LOVED it :)

Since then, a whole lot of stuff has happened. The rest of Saturday and Sunday they gave me to rest and get acquainted with the place and I started up with my internship on Monday. It hasn't even been a full week, but I've gotten so much accomplished. I made a visit to Tamale Teaching Hospital with Jehanfo where there was a very small opening ceremony for the building that Sister Cities helped fund. This building is a resting place/wash room for mothers who have sick children at the hospital. Before the place was built, the mothers would sleep and pass time under a big tree in the parking lot. This new building will prove to be such a great addition to the hospital. I also met with the Director of Administration at the hospital who was kind enough to set aside some time to speak with me about the hospital. I found out they have only about 50 beds in both the Maternity ward and Children's ward, but upwards of 100 patients in each at one time. They also only have one functioning Ambulance. Some of the stuff is just so hard to fathom. I also got a tour of the lab section of the hospital where they do all of the blood/urine/skin testing and all. I was able to see the bacteriology room and the parasitology room ;) For me, it was SUPER interesting. I am supposed to visit again tomorrow and hopefully more before I leave :)

In addition to the interviews and hospital visits, I have also agreed to teach general science for three hours each week!!! I am teaching Form 2 which is the second year of junior high school students. There are two classes of Form 2, so I will teach one of the classes for an hour on Tuesday and 35 minutes on Wednesday and I will teach the other class for 35 minutes on Wednesday and an hour on Friday. The topics I chose from the syllabus to teach are 1. Heredity 2. Food and Nutrition 3. Physical and Chemical Change and 4. Infections and Diseases!!! I observed my first class today and I must say that I will have my work cut out for me :) There were about 50 girls in the classroom I am in today and while they all pay very good attention, the number of students in one room is quite intimidating! Since it will be my first time teaching a real class, I'm extremely nervous, but I'm also very, very excited!

Besides that, I keep myself busy by editing interview videos (which I've grown quite fond of doing since all of the scholars have such interesting stories), reading, playing with the little kids that live at the palace (yesterday I gave them bubbles...they LOVED it!), and eating some delicious food. At the moment my favorite dish is a toss up between boiled yams served with just about any sauce and fried plantains. Although, I had fresh mango slices with my lunch today and I must admit that it was absolutely delicious as well.

The people at the palace are all wonderful. I have so many different people looking after me that it is hard to keep them straight at times. I'll give a brief overview now because I'm sure I'll be mentioning all of them very often. Jehanfo is the past president of SCT and he is helping to arrange my meetings with the scholars as well as transporting me to meetings at the hospital and other places. Madame Fati is the treasurer of SCT and quite possibly the cutest and sweetest little elderly lady I have ever met (and when I say litte, I mean little!). Mariama own a restaurant in town where I eat quite often. The food is delicious and one of the waiters there is helping me to learn Dagboni (the local language that is spoken along with English.) Dagboni is not a written language, it is strictly verbal from what I gather and they use English as their written language. Razak is my "caretaker"; he is a younger boy..around my age I would say and he helps me with just about anything and everything I could possibly need. We have become really great friends already and he is trying really hard to teach me Dagboni...thank goodness he is a very patient guy. Brother Zee also helps with organizing my meeting and showing me around the place. He lives at the palace with his wife and kids. Gomda is the handyman at the palace and he sometimes takes me into town for lunch. Today he gave me some tips for when I start teaching next week. (I think he kind of looks like Ghandi..haha.) For the life of me, I cannot remember the cook's name at the moment, but I'm sure it will come to me eventually. He is a very sweet elderly man that makes me all the meals I eat here, which is always breakfast, sometimes lunch, and usually dinner. He already has my habits all figured out, too, Coffee and juice at breakfast, water at lunch, and a Fanta and bottle of water at dinner :)! There are even more people than that, but at the moment, I think that is quite a bit of information.

So, hopefully I will be able to access the internet a little more often so that I can keep an updated record of all the wonderful, exciting, new things that I am experiencing every hour :)

Another Belief Statement from a Board Member

2012-03-15T09:58:00.003-04:00

Tom Dumstorf is Sister Cities of Louisville's Perm co-chair. Here's his "Belief Statement" that is short, sweet, and very direct:

I believe Sister Cities is an extremely important vehicle for making the world a safer, closer and more understanding place. Were we able to make people-to-people relationships the primary means of diplomacy with world leaders relying on this as the best means of communication, we would surely be collectively less violent, less hungry and less self-interested.

As soon as a face is put on a country in the form of an individual relationship, we no longer think of that country as just a pink or orange or blue shape on a map. I believe the sooner we take larger steps towards making this real, the better off we will all be.

This I Believe

2012-03-13T21:13:00.000-04:00

As I work with nonprofits, I have always believed that a person who sits on the board of directors should create a Belief Statement. Why? Well, why ARE you on the Board? WHY do you believe in this organization? What is the passion you have for the organization and wish to share with others to become a part of this great organization.

So, when I "re-joined" Sister Cities, I immediately developed my Belief Statement which I would like to share with you:

This I Believe

Why do I believe in Sister Cities and have been a member and board member for years?

I can begin with our mission statement —

Sister Cities is a non-profit diplomacy network that promotes

peace through

mutual respect,

understanding, and

cooperation

ONE individual,

ONE community at a time.

But there’s more…

I believe that in its simplest form, Sister Cities creates partnerships and relationships and because of individual relationships. Our citizens exchange people, ideas, and culture in a variety of educational institutional, municipal, professional, technical and youth projects.

Global Community, Global Communication by people like you and me — that’s Sister Cities. We’re able to get into homes and organizations faster and more efficiently because SCL is an organization that is not dealing with hierarchy, bureaucracy, and red tape.

We ARE the grassroots of international diplomacy, and all of the perks that come as a result of being a one individual, one community at a time organization.

That’s why I believe in Sister Cities.