So first let me recap my last post: food and medical condition. Peace Corps reads all of our blogs (rightly so), so when our CD (country director) was here at training to give a talk Saturday, he reminded us all that we choose what to put online and once it is there it will be there forever. He also mentioned that he read a "certain person's" blog that described a medical condition (it must be me because when he brought it up everyone in our group not-unobviously looked at me), which will be online forever. I'm okay with that because I plan on simply describing my experiences, observations, and thoughts while here in Ghana.

The past week has flown by. Basically just learned Ewe and finished our teaching sessions at local JHS schools. This upcoming week is language intensive (around 5 hours a day devoted to Ewe) with some other random sessions. Actually training seems very well organized and everything is done for a purpose. I am extremely glad that it is well organized because that way I can focus on integrating with Ghana and not worry/complain about training.

Yesterday we went on a sweet hike to visit a waterfall and a super-cool rock. A rock is not an accurate description, maybe more like a 40 foot giant boulder perched atop a skinny neck with an 8 foot diameter. You can climb up a ladder to get to the top and we (trainees, and there were about 60 of us that went) had a photoshoot of sorts with some really great scenery in the background.

Saturday - this was our day of training at hub site. One of our discussions involved Ghanaian beliefs in ancestors, witches, and herbal remedies. I personally believe in only some herbal remedies (mainly due to the placebo effect) and not witches or ancestors. We were asked if Americans believe in witches. I do not believe I have even ever met anyone in the US that believe that witches are real, legitimate people that can transform and cast evil spells on people. However, I am in Ghana: everyone (let me stress, EVERYONE even if he or she is educated) believes that witches are real and can perform sorcery and herbalists can cure any known ailment. You may have heard about Salem witch trials (there is no punishment for being a witch, just to be shunned), but Ghana as a whole and as individuals believe that witches and sorcery are real issues. And with all due respect to Ghana and its people, I just do not believe in witches and I find it fascinating that Ghanaians do.

Miscellany:
I now take everything out of my pockets watching pass the primary school across from my house because they try and reach into my pockets for money.
GOAL is a sugar cane liquor that comes in plastic shot-sized bags for only 20 pesewas (about 15 cents). Smells good, tastes bad, hangover ugly.
The town I will be in for site (my two years) is Saviefe Gbogame; check it out on Google Maps.
I thought doing laundry in the US with a machine was bad, but here every stain you accumulate on your clothes you spend hours (2-3 hours average for all my stuff) scrubbing it out by hand.

The Game

So Saturday was a joyous occasion for all of Ghana - Ghana beat the United States in World Cup play to advance to the next round. Unfortunately I was cheering for USA to win. Myself and about 20 other trainees and trainers (PC trainers are simply current PCVs in the country) descended upon a place in New Tafo called ... the Point? I don't really remember what it was called but after we showed up around 5 pm, and before the game started we hung out and had a few beers. Then about 50 or so Ghanaians came and a television was set up outside for all to watch.Watching Ghana score their first goal was like watching people on Bourbon street watching the Saints win the Superbowl - this was the biggest event EVER. The rest of the night was uneventful except for the US equalizing, but cheering about a goal in a sea of people just glaring at you does have its downsides. Overall, it was an experience to watch people to enthralled by a game.

More exciting goings on in Kukurantumi

*Ed Note: Please read all the previous days before this one if you have not already!!*
I got my site placement!!! I will be in the Volta region near the regional capital, Ho. I will be learning Ewe; unfortunately, no one here in Kukurantumi can speak Ewe so I will rely exclusively on my language trainers. There are about 30 of us heading to the Volta region, most to the central area between Jasikan and Ho. I think it would be fun to organize some monthly get-togethers once we get to site to keep in touch and express our collective Americanism with others. I SHOULD have electricity, but who knows. Also, I have to get my water from a borehole (lever thing). I will update my site opinions once I visit there in July.I have started 'Practicum', or teaching for local JHS (Junior High School) kids. Lesson planning is actually the worst part because the kids are quite attentive and respectful in class, probably because 'caning' is a legitimate form of punishment here. Also, schools here are essentially a three-room house with no electricity or water. The bathroom is beside a bush. In fact, the bush is always an option anywhere a bush is found in Ghana. I looked out of my back window once and found someone peeing on a bush not 10 feet from my window.Okay, finally I will talk about the food. Fufu is really fun to watch people make, and actually consuming it is climactic as well - because it tastes like slimy mashed potatoes with some soup. My host mother, Major (pronounced May-Jo), makes an excellent fried egg with palm oil. Let me stop here and talk about palm oil. It is used in everything. I have not eaten a meal except for breakfast that did not contain palm oil. Its a red cooking oil with a spicy taste and transcends all food boundaries you might have had. Tomato sauce palm oil. Soup palm oil. Garden salad palm oil. Fried chicken palm oil. Fried cat meat palm oil. (I did eat cat meat and was quite tasty). In brief, palm oil is to my adventure here in Ghana as shrimp is to Forrest Gump. Anything + palm oil = food.A bit more about my host family - Nana, my host brother, is a university student on break for the summer and is really a cool guy - speaks perfect English, is smart, and likes to talk. Stephen, another host brother, is going to a local SHS (senior high school) and I interact with him occasionally. Kevin is the 4 year-old kid and only says my name when he is around me. Linda and Rose are two of my host sister (I dont know everyone's name yet) and seem to do whatever it is that they do. Major is my host mother (but really a great-grandmother) and doesn't speak English except important phrases such as "You. Food." and "Hospital. You." Oh I should share why I was sick.Brief warning - I am just describing my symptoms and everything, but it is in some detail. So either scroll down or get ready to be mortified if you are a male or laugh if you are a female and not my mother. So Tuesday I noticed that walking hurt. Hmmm. So when I got home I was curious. Turns out my left testicle was twice the size of my right one. No, that is not normal. So I called the PC Medical Officer and explained my 'situation' (the answer was not 'walk it off'). Apperntly I had a bacteria infection from somehow, but he prescribed me antibiotics and asked for me to go to our hub site. Well when I got there, there were about 45 other PC trainees there that I hadn't seen in a about a week, and everyone wanted to chat. Unfortunately I was in no mood to talk so I went and watched World Cup. But people came up one by one and were insistent upon why I was there.Them: "So Karate Mike (my identifying factor as there are three Mikes here), why are you so blue?"Me: "Oh I'm not feeling well and had to get some medication"THem "I'm sorry, is it malaria or something else?"Me: "Something else"Them still not getting a hint: "Well what exactly?"As which point I proceeded to tell everyone who asked exactly what my condition was. We have about 70 total trainees, and now I think I personally told about 68 what my 'situation' was. Update: Swelling has reduced testicle to normal size, but still hurts a little to walk and is still tender. Continuing to take antibiotics and ibuprofen liberally.That's really about it, I didn't mean for this to be such a long post, but there was a story to tell. If you feel like talking to me call me on my cell phone. +233 277364492
EXTRANEOUS FACTS:Blackboards here are cleaned in a heavy alkaline solution, and my hands were BLACK after the first time I taught
They have an open-sewer system here for everyone to partake in smelling waste all the time.
Loudspeakers come on from 4:30-6 in the morning to announce things. Never fails to wake me up.Actually there is always noise coming from somewhere - it is never quiet.
We also have a herd of goats at my house.

Moving into Homestay with a family

I just moved into my homestay house! My family is pretty large: we have about 15 people living in our compound and even more coming and going all the time. Ghana played their first match yesterday and won 1-0! So, of course, there was a huge celebration in our house. Spontaneous dance parties were had too; one of my host brothers (or a kid that lives here) is about 4, doesn't realize I do not speak Twi, had the funniest dance I've ever seen. I went to a Presbyterian church yesterday just to see how it was - I had heard a bit about how different church here was... and wow! To start off with, they dance for 20 minutes before even starting ceremonies. Then they spoke in a language I didn't understand (even though I found out later it was English!), and my host mother gave me money to put in the collection bins, but she told me I had to dance and walk up there at the same time. On the flip side, I went to a fairly short mass of only two hours (again, I heard rumors of church stretching to four hours long!).My room that I will stay at is essentially a concrete cube with two windows and a door. Forget about carpet, its too expensive and hot. Running water? Negative, though we do have a toilet that you must pour water into the back before you can flush it. Electricity is nice, and while I do have an outlet in my room it does not work.Just a few more things I've noticed being here in Ghana - obroni means 'stranger', but collectively means any non-Ghanaian person, so when I walk by a primary school I hear choral chants of "Obroni! Obroni!" and my very own posse escorts me as far as they can go during their recess. Changing topics, when I got here I thought that people carrying stuff on their heads was weird, but I have become accustomed to it by now - my host sister carries a cooler on her head every morning to work. I've seen someone balancing chairs, boxes with bags of water, bowls of corn ears, and any tuber-like vegetable you can think of. All the head carrying gives locals excellent posture, so I'm going to sketch what people here look like:
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Male Female
BONUS TIDBITS: My mosquito net isn't large enough so I have to cover my feet with a sheet and stick them out of the bottom.
Average guess on my age here - 35
My filtered water comes from a well and tastes like a fish swam around in it for a couple days.
I have never seen a Ghanaian drink water.

A first look at Ghana

Yes! I am alive and in Ghana right this second! Its not quite as hot as I thought, but it sure is humid. Right off the plane you can smell that the air is different, whether from the tropical climate or the sanitary conditions of Accra is up for debate. Accra is a large city, but unique from others I've been to because although it has somewhere over 3 million people, a vast majority live in small one story houses. Additionally, they have an 'open' sewer system which means just that - the sewers are above ground and smell terrible. The people, however, are extremely friendly and outgoing to everyone they talk to. They will smile and wave to you as you drive by in a tro-tro.What is a tro-tro? Imagine a 15 passenger van but with an extra row squeezed in and the aisle down the side has fold out seats to accomodate more people. At one point today, a tro I was in had 22 people! The tro-tros are pretty much like a bus system - there are semi-designated stops and meeting points, but each is simply owned by the driver and conductor. Some are of questionable quality at best while others are full vans, minus the seatbelts. Finally, in order to conserve power, tro's generally do not turn on their headlights at night to save on gas money. This leads to several obvious problems, so Peace Corps reccommends we do not travel after dusk.

Training

So I'm at staging in Philadelphia right now. Its a weird feeling getting to know all these people are in the same boat as I am. Theres no explaining exactly how we all feel about leaving for Ghana in two days, yet somehow we are all connected and realize our lives will change immensely. On a side note, I really was not (and am still not) nervous about leaving mentally or emotionally, but physically I have a huge knot in my stomach - eating, my favorite pastime, has become a challenge the past 48 hours. Eh, the feeling will pass.

Stagin so far has been pretty mild - they looked over all our forms and I am now an official Peace Corps Trainee! Score! Then a group of about 12 went out to eat and hang out... and I came to the realization that although I probably won't be seeing them every week after our training ends, I have something in common with every single person I've met besides being a future PC Volunteer - everyone has a demeanor that can only be described as outgoing, composed, and determined. Its pretty much a 180 degree shift from a lot of the people that I met in Vail (sure I met some good friends, but the overall impression out there was one of douchebagginess.

*if you don't know what that word means, look up douchebag on urban dictionary http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=douchebag*

In summary, it seems like it will be easy to get to know my fellow trainees, but the real challenge still awaits us.... GHANA. I'm sure it will be epic.