dagaare, dagaare, and more dagaare

August 12, 2012

Ever since we got back from site/shadow visit, we have been doing nothing but studying our languages.  It has been intense.  Nicole and I were doing language for 8 hours each day, 6 days a week.  Holy crap.  We talked to our language teacher and asked if we could be split up and cut the number of hours in half.  And he agreed!  Whew!  So 4 hours a day, one-on-one.  Perfect.  As a nice little break from language, the Olympics were starting!  Melissa’s house has a flat screen TV (crazy, right!?) and a giant wrap around couch, so naturally her place was ideal to view the games.  Several nights we went over there with wine, beer, and/or apateshi and had grand evenings.  It was so much fun.  Most of the time, we wouldn’t even pay attention to the games.  Either way, it was awesome.  But, back to studying we went.  All of this studying was leading up to our LPI.  The Language Proficiency Interview.  Conducted by a Ghanaian who fluently speaks your target language.  Whew.  We have to pass at least 3 competencies.  The competencies were introducing ourselves/our families, directing someone to our site, our daily routine, ordering food at a chop bar, and shopping at the market.  We get 3 tries at this interview.  If we don’t pass the first time, we have to take it again after a few days.  You get those extra days to study with your language teacher.  If we don’t pass the second time, we get sent to Accra where we have to study on our own and take it there.  If we don’t pass the third time, the country director decides whether he wants to still send us to our sites or back to the states.  Oy ve.  Even though we get 3 chances at passing, it’s still nerve-racking.  So yesterday was the big day.  Each person was allotted 30 minutes for their interview.  The actual interview could take anywhere from 10 minutes to the full 30, depending on your level.  I don’t even know how long mine lasted.  I asked my interviewer and he said he wasn’t sure.  I was pretty much sweating the entire time he was asking me questions.  And when it was finally over, I had the biggest sigh of relief.  I felt so confident!  It went really well!  I was laughing during it, and so were they, so I was pumped!  We would find out our results later that afternoon.  The anticipation was killing me!  But the verdict?  I PASSED! AND we got candy!  It was awesome!  Alex and his Ghanaian brother had celebrated their birthdays earlier this week, so they were throwing a huge party that night.  And as a bonus, we got to celebrating the completion of our LPIs and passing!!  It was perfect!  When we got to the party, there were so many people there!  Everyone was dancing and laughing and drinking.  We also did backwards karaoke where we would find a song on an iPod, put headphones on, blare the music, and start singing.  No one else could hear the music.  Only you singing.  It was hilarious.  The night was so perfect.  I’m definitely going to miss nights like this when we all leave and go to site.  But that just means the nights we have when reunited will be even more amazing.