September 12 - 17 NICS visitors

This week our school hosted a conference for  tne Network of International Schools (NICS) Directors in Asia, Indonesia and Africa and the home office people in Memphis, Tennessee. Lots of pressure on the Crosby's, and next week progress reports are pressure for me. I'm so glad the school isn't bigger or I'd be worn out! The Directors took the faculty out to a very fancy dinner Thursday (at least four forks per place setting). and I don't even know what all I ate. Then last night was a Korean festival/ fund raiser about an hour's ride away. There is a large part of our school that's Korean; the kids sang foreign songs (even an Elvis song) in Ghana . . .  what an international overload. The food was authentic, but expensive, so I didn't eat much. I have left over American stew I made two days ago, so I'm set.

Today I started out with good intentions. By 7 am I had a load of clothes in the washing machine (go while the power is on) and was walking in a light drizzle. About ten minutes into the walk the sky opened up and I got soaked to the bone! I went to the school to grade some papers and find a grade book I left behind, and again the rain poured down. Three hours later I was heading out wen it let up a bit and was fortunate enough to get a ride home.   Everyone had gone out somewhere and I had the solitude of the whole Palace. I got all my laundry washed and dried. and now the internet is back up so here I sit. I plan to get horizontal soon and watch a movie while all the younger teachers gather at someone else's house for dinner and dessert. I've discovered I am really an introvert, and communicate with children under ten better than all the younger teachers. One generation is really a world of experience difference, and I miss the conversations with gray haired people!

I'm attaching some photos of my neighborhood walk. Buildings like houses are built much differently here, it may take years to construct, because the land owners have only so much money.They build what they can afford over time. Some of the residences of the teachers are rented by the school giving a lot of money with the provision it will be rented to us for the first year or two (paid in advance actually). This is an upper middle class neighborhood, all houses have barbed wire around a tall wall and a guard 24 hours. About three blocks way are the street vendors, and the school is really an ongoing expansion of several large houses or hotels. It really is amazing anything here functions. Business sense is not what Americans expect, but the saying "It is Ghana"  means don't expect anything to be as planned, and you can't do anything about it. If the power isn't shut off, if the roads hold out and if there's water for even a simple shower then maybe you might have some control. It does teach me to appreciate that simple things get done, like laundry or a special trip somewhere like the Korean festival, or an e-mail gets through. God is in controll, not me!

So I hope your day is going well, and you find time to enjoy life. I'm fine, and looking forward to watching on of the CD's in the house. Oh to just watch televison for an episode of Grey's Anatomy or pick up a phone and call a friend back home.