Sunday FUN-day!!! With a side of shirtless service...

So, I had a really great day today, for seemingly simple reasons, but all adding up to just a happy Sarah!  I am down in the Eastern region for a month to be a trainer for the next group of education volunteers that arrived in Ghana a week and a half ago.  So this past week we spent in different sessions learning about how to be a teacher in Ghana, all the hurdles they'll be up against (because there are a lot of them!) and getting a chance to observe teaching in some schools.  The next two weeks they'll be in the classroom teaching and we trainers will be hustling around to all the different participating schools to observe them. 

Lucky for us, Sunday is the free day for the trainees, which means WE get a free day too!  And my Sunday was just one big ball of happiness :)  Started the day off early with a run with my friend Bob, then ate my oats and drank coffee while reading the news online - how nice!  Got some small laundry done and hung, then walked to the nearby town to get 'groceries' for the week with Bob.  The temp was not too hot, so walking felt really nice.  I was in such a good mood that when people and kids called me 'Obroni' (the word for white stranger in the south), it didn't even bug me today, it was actually fun today to call back 'Obibini' (roughly translated as black person, which isn't offensive, in fact they find it hilarious that you know how to say that back to them :).  We found great deals on all the different foodstuffs we needed, then Bob says, I think we need to have a small adventure today, what should we do?  I said I didn't know, and he said okay, we'll find one.  So we are wandering around the town searching for a good price on noodles, and Bob says, You know what?  Let's find some palm wine.  Okie doke! 

Palm wine is made by cutting down a palm tree and tapping the liquid on the inside of the tree, which the longer it sits after coming out of the tree, the more fermenting occurs and the higher the alcohol content. (for more information, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_wine).  This isn't usually something you find at a spot (a place where you can go sit and drink a beer) but out in the bush where someone has a small palm wine producing place.  So we start asking around, and people are pointing us in the same general direction.  When we get to the spot pointed out, and a girl around the age of 19 says to follow her, she knows where it is.  We follow her to her house, where she drops off a bag and picks up a cute chubby baby, another woman, and a string of kids (that want to follow the white people :)  We all start winding back through the palm trees and people's compounds in search of this palm wine - Bob turns around and says, I think we found our adventure!  On the way, the girl with the baby turns around, hands me her baby (which I've been singing to the whole time) and takes the bags out of my hands.  I told Bob it looked like she was trading me one mango and one bunch of bananas for one beautiful baby :)  We continue walking - only to get back into the bush and find out the man wasn't there.  Go figure :)  By the time we got back to town (I had traded the baby back for my fruit) it had started to rain, and two minutes later, we were thankful to make it under a small store's roof before the heavens opened up!  After the 20 minute downpour, we treated ourselves to meat-on-a-stick and a beer (served to us by a younger man without a shirt - so here apparantly the motto is before heading back to the office where we are staying.  Then got to nap, make delicious spaghetti for dinner, and call home to wish my brother a happy birthday and my dad a happy father's day! 

Today, I just embraced the feeling of being content because I got to feel refreshed after a rain, make a baby smile, make people laugh by the small amount of Twi I can speak, cook good food, and talk with good people.  If I were to have a theme song for the day, it would be this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnr1saD8hBQ - go on, listen and feel happy too!  Feeling blessed for all the wonderful things that bring me happiness in this life, and blessed for all the family and friends here and back home that love and support me.  Thanks, and may this day and everyday bring you happiness big and small!!