Our weekend in Ghana was so nice. A mental break from Togo, and a physical one too. Ask Ian and he'll tell you that while driving in Togo is an exercise is life preservation, in Ghana driving was almost a pleasure.
More on our weekend trip later.
We're back in Togo now. And while I'd hoped the sense of calm would continue a little beyond Tuesday (the last day of spring break), it was not to be.
Back at work, Ian is frustrated more than usual, and he'll be busier than normal the next 3 weeks. For the next couple days he's escorting some visitors around Togo. Next week he'll be in Benin filling in for a consul there. A week home will be followed by a week in Ethiopia for a Consular conference. The change in scenery will be good for him. And he'll get to meet up with some old friends in Addis.
I spent Wednesday at home, but today being Nicholas's birthday I was at the school. It was there I learned that the British School is having financial problems. Ian confirmed it after speaking with the director of BSL. And from the same person I learned that eight people applied for the director position for next year, the list was whittled to four, and those four are being voted on by the faculty. It seems the primary focus of many is to choose the person that will cost the least to transport and house here in Lome'.
We sat in the library and chatted about these things, along with the apparent inability of a school of 50 students to teach to each child's ability, whether lagging or excelling, and we sweltered. See, at about 8 a.m. the power went off. Twenty minutes later the generator kicked in, but, get this, it only powers the upper floor. The lower floor with the preschoolers, K/1/2, 3/4/5, art, music and office gets no power at all. The upper floor houses the French room, the computer room, the libarary, and the middle and high schoolers. We had power in the library, but were asked only to use the floor fans, not the a/c. Cool air was reserved for the computer room (understandable, they currenlty have 5 working computers in there!!) and highschoolers (??). I guess I should be happy that we had water today though. It seems the water goes out more regularly than the power does.
I'm searching real hard right now to find a silver lining.
Oh wait, I've got one. The school was painted over the holiday. It rips right off if you tape anything up, but for now it does look pretty.
OK OK, here's a real silver lining. I have a great family. I'm so thankful we're all in this together. We try real hard to pick up each other's spirits and see the good stuff. Even if there isn't much right now, there's always something good to look forward to.
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