1/2 through Training

Training is half over and the next half should go by quicker due to some more exciting topics. This morning, after getting text messages from my friends in the states at 4 am (made me laugh), I finally got to do some laundry, I hadn't done any in over a week. Laundry starts by my fetching 5 buckets of water from the well. I put them in big sink dealies, throw in some detergent that's like powerful as heck, and start scrubbing. After about 2 hours of this my hands get torn up worse than from rowing. What idiot brings white socks to Ghana?...that would be me.
I thought there were a few extra kids around the house this morning but did some pushups and bucket bathed it up like a regular day. When I got out there were like 25 girls running around waving clothes and screaming/singing. Turns out my host Aunt was getting married and was using the room next to me to get ready. All of my host relatives were in from all over. That meant my 1 year old niece and 4 year old nephew that had never seen a white person before. The time I spent with them today was really something else. I hope everyone gets the chance to have that much fun with kids.
Traditions coincide with ours and clash with ours at the same time. Some things I really have to train myself not to do. First off, you really can't use your left hand for anything. The left is for cleaning your body. If you shake someone's hand with your left then it's like saying you're poopy roughly. The same goes for waving, which can be hard when someone is on your left. When paying for anything always give and take with your right, which can be uber awkward doing a one handed switch. Also never touch food with your left hand. If you touch it with your left no one else will eat it and they'll think you're crazy for doing so. It sucks for the left handed volunteers.
Another thing with food is whatever you do, don't smell it. That means you think they poisoned it. It's so natural to sniff your food, try to not do it. Whatever I don't eat, my little siblings get to eat. Food here is not very varied. My diet consists of:
breakfast (amazing)
2 fresh eggs with tomato on sweet bread
oatmeal
orange
or rice pourage sometimes.

The rest (usually pretty rough)
Red Red is my favorite, it's beans and plantain.
fried yam or plantain and cabbage
rice
fufu-think raw bread dough dipped in peanut sauce that you shouldn't chew
banku-sour fufu
pasta once in a great while

Meat:
fish is available but so disgusting I won't even touch it
goat, ginnie hen, chicken, "beef", grass cutter, lamb, snail (it was gross)

Saving Graces:
Fan Ice
plantain chips, I can make them!

Today is the first big staff vs trainees soccer match then hopefully bball again tonight or tomorrow. I just love it here sometimes. Tripp used Skype to call me for like 15 cents a minute, might want to look into that, and we talked just like we would back in the states. Nice to see some stuff stays the same no matter where you are.

Cody sent me some pictures and people thought the picture of all the srs in their varsity jackets was from space camp.