Marching, sports, Easter and Morocco!



The 6th of March is Ghana's Independence Day. As a tradition, students from around the country march in a competition. They prepare a little routine and they compete against several other schools to see who is the best at marching. Teachers also join their students in this event, which means I also got to march. Unfortunately this process took up a lot of class time. Training the students on the proper form and technique took up the morning time and then classes in the afternoon seemed to be pretty unsuccessful because we were training for sports week. Our school participated at Dzolokpuita, about a 5-10 minute ride from my village. Many other schools also participated and it was a lot of fun. I was very nervous when going out because I'm not used to this style of marching. Well, I guess I'm not used to marching at all. Everyone seemed to be very impressed and they were happy the white lady was supporting her school.

Then sports week started. The girls played netball (similar to basketball except when you catch the ball you can't move so it's more about passing), and soccer. The primary boys also played soccer. My girls did very well, especially in netball. The day before we prepared kenkay (which was a first for me) for all of the players. It was a lot of fun to hang out with all of the other teachers and support our kids.

For Easter this year I went to Peki, the hometown of a fellow teacher. It was a nice get away from town and we had a lot of fun hanging out. I also got my hair did.

I was medically evacuated to Morocco. In the Peace Corps, many countries don't have the capabilities to provide medical services that are up to par with the US standards. So a lot of people in Africa get sent to South Africa, Senegal or Morocco for medical treatment. I wasn't sick at all I just had to go for a biopsy (don't worry, turns out I'm just fine). Morocco is an amazing country though, not to mention it was cold when I went which was heavenly.

Although we aren't allowed to leave the capital city, there's still plenty to do. The food was amazing. I had cheese three times a day (cheese in Ghana is rare and crazy expensive) and so much fruit (kiwi, plums, peaches, etc.). Two of their most common dishes are cous-cous and tajine, and both are very delicious. I also ate McDonalds. It was ah-maze-ing. They had different types of "street food" in Morocco than in Ghana. One thing they had that was really good was escargot. It is prepared in a broth type substance with a lot of spices.

They serve it to you in a small bowl and you pull the snail out with a tooth pick. Once you've finished they give you a bowl of the broth to drink. Delicious. They also serve chick beans in little rolled up paper "cups". They sprinkle some sort of spice on them which tastes like paprika.







  

Volubilis

We went to Volubilis. This is an ancient Roman city in Morocco that was then taken over by Muslims. Here you can find many beautiful ancient beautiful buildings with Roman architecture. The floors are all tiled with colorful mosaic designs. Unfortunately an earthquake destroyed many of the buildings, so now it is a tourist attraction.

Mausoleum







We also went to the Mausoleum of Mohammed V. This is a historical building containing the tombs of Moroccan king and his two sons, late King Hassan II and Prince Abdallah. It was beautiful. In front of the Mausoleum is the incomplete Hassan Tower. It was meant to be the tallest minaret in the world with the largest mosque but in 1199, Sultan Yacoub al-Mansour died and construction on the mosque stopped.



Snails



Morocco is famous for their leather production so although I wasn't able to go to Fes/Fez (the main production site) I did get to see/buy a lot of it. Of course, I had to get some henna done too.

Henna

Overall I would recommend any Peace Corps Volunteer to get hurt in some way that isn't too serious but they also get to be sent to Morocco!