As part of training we all converged at the Dery (pronounced Dairy) Hotel each Friday. It was a treat for all us because we got to see each other and escape from home-stay for a short time. The Dery also had nicer accommodations than most of us were experiencing at home-stay. We went to the Dery for training sessions which lasted all day Friday and half the day Saturday. The sessions were different each week but they typically consisted of a Friday morning medical session and some practical sessions on language/culture or teacher training.
We were served pretty authentic Ghanaian food at home-stay which usually consisted of yams and some local stew. The food at the Dery was somehow supposed to be cooked with more of an American taste, however in reality the Ghanaian cooks had no idea how to cook American food. They ended up cooking quite a bit of Jollof rice with chicken. Every Friday we ate lunch/dinner and every Saturday we had breakfast/lunch at the Dery.
Aside from the meals and sessions we had Friday night (after 5:00 PM) free and Saturday afternoon. We used this time to drink copious amounts of beer and gin sachets and play some amazingly stupid, but surprisingly fun, games.
I think the most amazingly stupid but fun game had to be zip-bong. The object of the game is to not show your teeth to the other players. You get in a circle and someone starts the chain by saying zip or bong (while concealing their teeth). If the person says zip it move to the next person in the clockwise direction the next person can say zip or bong (while concealing their teeth) if they say zip the chain continues in the same direction if the person says bong it reverses direction. If you show your teeth or mess up the chain your out. The trick is to not laugh because if you laugh you show your teeth and then your out, this is difficult though because the absurdity of it all is funny as hell.
Another absurdly fun game that we played was called Psychiatrist. This game was kind of stupid though because in relied on the two people that were psychiatrists to not know the object of the game. The way it is played is that two people, usually a boy and girl, are picked to be the psychiatrists. They go off to the side and a rule is established such as you answer the question for the person sitting three seats to your left. Once it is decided the two psychiatrists come back and start asking people questions. The only stipulation is that the questions must be answered with a yes or no. If the person is answering for you and the answer is incorrect you say "Psychiatrist" and everyone (except the psychiatrists) shuffles seats.
We played many card games mostly Hearts though. Some people played Pinochle and there was a game of euchre. Bobby brought a Cribbage set and played a few times.
