This week our group has been trying to figure out the logistics of our placement visits. We're so excited to get involved in the classroom. 

Right now I'm just feeling excited to actually get involved. I think our group has a solid framework set up for how we want to navigate our placement, so we're now just waiting for input from the teacher. I can't wait to get started.

what:

One of our group's goals for this week was to learn how and where our pen pals were accessing technologies in order to have our conversations each week. My partner said that he currently borrows his friend's computer to talk, but his friend will be going to Denmark soon and Adam will have to then pay to use internet at an internet cafe in nearby Tamale. Our group also was hoping for each of us to set personal goals with our pen pals as well as expectations. Adam and I established that we would both like to learn more about each other's cultures and education systems. I told him that in America, we usually graduate high school around 17 or 18 years old. He informed me that there in Ghana, due to lack of funds, one can push back their high school graduation until their mid to late 20s. In fact, he graduated a few months ago at the age of 27, took his examinations to get into college, and says he will get the results by December or January. He has been working as an administrator for a local youth association for the past few years and wants to study government.

so what:

Now that we have started our back and forth, I feel that the ice is broken more than before and I have a clearer idea of his day to day life and the timeline of his education so far. 

now what:

            Last week my group had a Skype meeting with the co-director of Arise, to try to get a basic understanding of what our goals are for working with Arise.  It is a relatively new program and their website did not provide us with a significant amount of information about the formal structure or clear programs, goals, plans, and objectives of the company. So, we were hoping that talking with Mr. B. would provide us with that clarity that we were seeking. Some members of our group seemed to feel as though not much progress was made during the Skype call since he did not really provide us with any specific tasks or actions he wanted us to perform for him. However, I felt like this was an indicator in its own form; we are going to have to put just as much thought into generating projects and collaboration activities as Mr. B and his partner are. One of the things that we were able to get out of the Skype call was the importance of story telling in Ghanaian culture. So, we took this and ran with it when looking forwards and attempting to create a plan for our engagement in this exchange. We began brainstorming ways that we could use technology as a form of story telling and we played with the idea of that being the theme for one of Arise’s workshops. An idea that arose in Alice’s facebook conversation with Mr. B was the creation of introductory videos that could be shared between the participants in the workshops and us.

I know a lot of people chose to truly put themselves out there with their anti-self portraits today. And I admire their choice. I would like to speak a few words on why I chose to address myself from a more general view. Because I did not put my name next my anti-self portrait, I shall tell y'all which one was mine. Mine was the one of a faceless person split into four parts surrounded by eyes and hands. My anti-self portrait addresses parts of who I am and parts of my life that I am still trying to figure out myself and reassociate myself with. I was not be as in depth as I wanted to be because I do not even understand who I am, so how can I attempt to portray it to others. But this experience of seeing many others' raw emotions and life experiences has inspired me to do this exercise again in the future, perhaps 6 months or a year from now, to see how I have or have not changed in how I chose to let others see me.

I wanted to share these thoughts with y'all via Serendip because I will admit I felt uneasy in the class with Haverford students because they had not shared in this jounrey we have been taking as a class this semester. I have a level of comfort with y'all as we support each other's explorations in sex, gender, feminism, and beyond.

Here it is:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18UIdjgcUgQW-oylao7pYb3FrkwtVW6wu25gbZ9VlWAY/edit

1. In the newspaper the "marketplace" ads attracted me

2. I google "market philadelphia" and found this

http://www.farmtocity.org/FarmersMarkets.asp

3. In the list I found Bryn Mawr Farmer's Market, and remembered that I've actually wandered there.

http://brynmawrfarmersmarket.blogspot.com/

4. Good Spoon Seasonal Foods    http://www.goodspoonfoods.com/

5. In the side list I found Sunday atHeadhouse Farmers’ Market   

http://thefoodtrust.org/farmers-markets/market/headhouse

6. And there's this volunteer activity

http://thefoodtrust.org/contact/volunteer

The Food Trust

One Penn Center, Suite 900

1617 John F. Kennedy Blvd.