Hello everyyyone.
I'm sure you've all heard or read about the current situations in Guinea. At an opposition rally in Conakry on the 28th of September, there was violence and shootings killing at least 157 people. Naturally, the Guinean people, and everyone that cares, was upset by the shootings and worried for where this meant Guinea was headed. Supposedly the presidential guard is assumed to have played a large role in the unnecessary attacks. Naturally, the Guinean people were concerned with the fact that their President could allow, or instigate this to happen. Who knows.
Unfortuately, "eye witnesses," etc are sometimes not trustworthy with press in Africa, so no one really knows for sure how all the events ended up going the way they did. Things were calm after the "massacre," as the news was calling it. I was at site and everything was fine and normal in my town. We were all getting ready for the school year to start (in theory, it would've been starting this Thursday), and just living life as usual. The new group, G18 had just been moved into their sites, so I had a new neighbor and, like I said, there was no threat or anything to us in our towns, etc.
But, the Peace Corps has/had 94 volunteers spread out over all 4 regions of Guinea, and with so much unknown in Guinea, they chose to be safe rather than sorry and told us they'd be picking us all up and taking us across the border to Bamako, the capital of Mali.
So, naturally, we were all miserable and completely lost. Abruptly uprooted from our homes, families, friends at site with 2-5 days notice without knowing when or if we'd ever be back. I, along with probably 93 others, was pretty depressed. I remained hopeful for a while that we'd be back, but the practicality of it all, and everyone around me, have made it pretty evident that we won't be back to Guinea. At least not with Peace Corps and not within the next month or so. No matter what, I will be back to Kankalabe, but now the question will be when and how.
It's a total bummer, but as it turns out, it seems to be part of the plan for me. Since realizing we probably wouldn't be back, things seem to be falling into my lap at the right time and place, not coincidentally, I'm sure. So, I went from depressed and just really miserable, to realizing that whatever is next has been planned for me, and is becoming more and more apparent to me as I continue my Peace-Corps paid vacation here in Bamako.
Since our arrival here, we've been kind of spoiled (at least by PC standards). So we eat well and have nice places to stay, and lots to do in Bamako. We went to the National Museum and to the Sudan v. Mali soccer match on Sunday. It was really nice to be at a professional sporting event. It's been so long! Even if it was soccer, it was still nice to be at a big stadium.
My group, G16 went out for a nice dinner last night and we had drinks and went dancing. Great times. And on Saturday, we're all going to a Habib Koite and Bamada concert. They're apparently pretty good and well known, so that should be a good time. Mali has a pretty big music scene and is just, generally speaking, rich in culture, so I look forward to exploring that for however long we are here.
So I'm not sure how long we're here for. PC hasn't officially told us we aren't going back to Guinea, but they've pretty much un-officially told us we aren't going back. So whenever they officially announce it, that will determine how soon/when I'll be home in the states. I think I may have a job lined up for me in Baltimore, so the timing is right. My best estimate is that I'll be home by November. No guarantees, but that's how things are looking right now.
So, as it is, the past week has been a whirlwind of emotions, etc. I'm past the depressed stage and have moved on to the excited-for-the-next-step stage, even if it wasn't what I had in mind a week ago. So, seems I'll be seeing a lot of you sooner rather than later!
Keep in touch and I'll try to keep you updated on what's happening here in Bamako.
Love and miss you all
~ rb
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Rainy season in Conakry
This is in our quartier of Conakry. Unreal! Every football "field" was totally flooded as was all of the market.
(Pictures thanks to Mary Fredley).
(Pictures thanks to Mary Fredley).
Be aware of the edges.
So been about a month out of site. From vacation in the Gambia to training the new group of education volunteers. Training has been fun. A good time to catch up with some from my group and getting to know the newbies. There are 17 new education volunteers in G18 and they're all doing really well.
The Dream Team :) G16 girl trainers at the toga party.
Some G18ers at the toga party.
The TEFL trainees and me.
I went to visit my host family from when I was in training last year and like last year, walking in our neighborhood, once my house was in sight, my little sister, Dalanda, runs to me and jumps in my arms. A nice thing to walk home to :) So she hadn't forgotten me and neither had the rest of the neighborhood and family. It was really weird seeing how big all of my little siblings got- kind of actually made me realize that I've been gone for over a year. Very surreal. My then-baby brother now walks, talks, and dances. My mom was really excited to see me and it was a really good time because I actually had my first conversation with her. She only speaks Pular, so now I could actually understand and carry on a decent amount of conversation with her without going through my little sister as a translator. Very cool. Mind you, it's always the same conversation about where I've been, how's the family, etc. So once you know certain vocab in Pular, you can carry on about 80% of conversations.
The family was awesome, I brought them some pictures from last year which they loved. Then they invited me to dinner the next day. So I went with my friend Kim and my mom had made us fries and a meat... which was white (not chicken) and the consistency of scrambled eggs? Our best guess is that it was brains. And yes, we felt smarter after eating them. And after that we felt sick. No, not really. But pretty gross. We ate it tho, like the good Guineans we've become. We didn't discuss the possibility of what it was until after leaving, which I think was a good idea. Ha. Before I left training again, I went and had dinner again with them and my neene had made my favorite meal from training that she used to always make for me after I fasted with them on Sundays of Ramadan. Very sweet.
Other than that, it's been fun getting to know the new trainees- one will be my neighbor- another hour ish bike ride away, so looking forward to welcoming him to our neck of the woods.
Lis, me and Kevin, our new neighbor.
Went to the Catholic church in the town where we do training and it was very cool. One thing I love about Catholic masses is you can go to them anywhere in the world and pretty much know what's going on. Though, there are some local touches that just make it that much more special for the outsider. When carrying up the gifts, they not only carried up the money collected, but a group of 4 women carried up plates of local foods they've grown as the community's contribution. They danced up the aisle to the beat of the song while carrying peanuts, manioc, eggplants, etc. Very cool.
I got to go to the waterfall again with the new group. SO much more water than last year! So not as much under-the-waterfal exploring done this year, but still a good time swimming around and hanging out in the middle of the HUGE rapid flow of water.
Cascade de la Soumba.
Trainees have two more weeks or so until they swear in as official volunteers! So that's exciting. I'm heading back to site on Tuesday, si alla djaby. Excited to get back to the Fouta and my town. Hoping to finally get to working on the school's library. THEN! I'll be heading back down country to pick up STEF! Woohoo! So keeping busy and all over the place before school starts sometime in mid-October.
That's the latest from me.
Lots of birthdays coming up, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY to all of you! (Alice, Roho, Allie, Dad, Pop-pop, Stef) Sorry if I forgot anyone and love you all! Hope it's the best bday yet!
And John- BON VOYAGE! Safe travels en France and j'espère que tu es prêt pour ta grande aventure post-université!
Love and miss you all- keep in touch!
<3 rab
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Through my mother's eyes
I asked my mom to write a blog about her Guinea experiences, et voilaaaa...
Well, I leave feeling quite prepared, because, after all, I was a Girl Scout and (you know, I’m also naïve). I was right, though, I was prepared, but it was really because of Rachel and Cal and some moms who travelled before me. They gave me all the good advice I needed. Rachel charmed her way into the airport to help me with baggage claim and had commissioned a taxi to take us to the PC house. There, I was lucky to meet some of the smartest, and I’ll use the term courageous, PC volunteers. We slept there, enjoyed a real shower and left next morning for Kankalabe.
That was an exciting journey. It is rainy season and roads are not good, very congested and with potholes and on the last 3 hour stretch, unpaved with craters, big and deep. Sharif is driving again, someone Rachel knows pretty well and with a reliable car. We made it to her house about 10 p.m. Rachel’s cat, Njemma, welcomed us – he’s not your typical tabby but some cross between that and a cute wild thing. Mind you, Rachel has a nice house, a living area, kitchen with a burner, bedroom and extra room she’s converted to an indoor bucket shower and dressing room. No running water or electricity, but still, a house, with a porch, and a view. We called it a night – she knew next day would be busy with visits and a tour of the village.
Well, I leave feeling quite prepared, because, after all, I was a Girl Scout and (you know, I’m also naïve). I was right, though, I was prepared, but it was really because of Rachel and Cal and some moms who travelled before me. They gave me all the good advice I needed. Rachel charmed her way into the airport to help me with baggage claim and had commissioned a taxi to take us to the PC house. There, I was lucky to meet some of the smartest, and I’ll use the term courageous, PC volunteers. We slept there, enjoyed a real shower and left next morning for Kankalabe.
That was an exciting journey. It is rainy season and roads are not good, very congested and with potholes and on the last 3 hour stretch, unpaved with craters, big and deep. Sharif is driving again, someone Rachel knows pretty well and with a reliable car. We made it to her house about 10 p.m. Rachel’s cat, Njemma, welcomed us – he’s not your typical tabby but some cross between that and a cute wild thing. Mind you, Rachel has a nice house, a living area, kitchen with a burner, bedroom and extra room she’s converted to an indoor bucket shower and dressing room. No running water or electricity, but still, a house, with a porch, and a view. We called it a night – she knew next day would be busy with visits and a tour of the village.
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View from Rachel's house.
Friday, we awake to sunshine, a nice surprise and I prepare for the Greetings coming my way. I am the talk of the town, Neighbors stop by to greet me, then one of Rachel’s students, a couple more neighbors, and her Guinean “sister”, Diaraye, who invites us to have a salad at her restaurant that morning. She also brings gifts of a wallet with “Welcome mother” hammered in and sandals, with “I love my mother” hammered in. So sweet. We venture to her restaurant, a stall in the long string that line the “street”, enjoy fresh veggies and then walk on to the medical center where Rachel’s “mom” (Neene) works as a nurse. She’s the sweetest person in Kankalabe and we enjoy time with her and others in the center, including one of the girls who accompanied Rachel to the Girl’s Conference a couple weeks before. Everyone is so gracious. Rachel has to interpret for me but I start to learn a few key phrases I’ll use a lot for the next few days. We stopped at the home of Rachel’s principal and visited a bit. His son, also one of Rachel’s students, agrees to take us to the school tomorrow for a tour. We get a tour of Neene’s garden, full of good things, and of course leave with some sweet limes and oranges. Another lady gifts us with peanuts from her garden.
We stop at a porch next to Diaraye’s restaurant and have a lively discussion with Sadou and Ismaela and another gentleman who were making and drinking a sweet, strong, frothy tea. The older gentleman thought I’d been there before and did dental work, I had to disappoint him. Our discussion was around numbers of children and wives. Having only two children indicates we must be poor and unable to support multiple wives and children. Of course, Rachel tells him multiple wives are not allowed in America. Both Sadou and Ismaela indicated they intend to have only one wife (not sure they aren’t hoping for Rachel). Of course, the older gentleman thought they were crazy and that was one reason he would never go to America.
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Ismael, Rachel, the gentleman, and Sadou .
We stop again to visit with Diaraye as she and her daughters and extended family (all the girls) cook and clean and prepare the local dishes they serve at the restaurant. They grind manioc to mix with vegetable ceke’, and make tons of rice for rice and sauce. Some boys are in and out, but the girls seem to work non-stop into the evening. Diaraye sends us home with some rice and peanut sauce, very tasty.
Next stop is to the seamstress to check on the “complet” (outfit) Rachel is having made for me. It isn’t yet started, but they assure Rachel it will be ready for me tomorrow, in time for market on Sunday. The seamstresses are quite young, probably close to Rachel’s age. The owner has just had a baby. We sit there to visit awhile and another lively conversation begins. They tease Rachel about an older teacher they think wants to marry her and she responds with the standard reply “no way”. More on the teacher, later.
We return to Rachel’s house to pack for our sleepover with the Peppers. The Peppers are a missionary family sent by God to Rachel, (oh, and to the Guineans, too, I suppose, and to Lisa and Conor). Doctor Pepper greets us from across the street and we walk on to their house and compound where they have a great garden, a couple goats, a dog, cat and bird. They have solar panels so have electricity and a gas oven. What an easy-going family, and we “girls” gather in the kitchen where Rebekah,15, is making pumpkin bread from a giant squash they had grown. Sarah Catherine is cutting cukes, Rhonda (mom) is making the pizza. We help a little, with sauce and veggies and pepperoni slicing. The boys, Paul and Andrew, are playing quietly in their room. When the first couple pizzas are done, we assemble to watch Finding Nemo, what fun, everyone has a favorite character. We sleep over on the comfy sleep sofa, and a nice rain falls all night but stops in a.m. – weather has been really considerate of me on this visit. Breakfast is pumpkin (squash) bread, best I’ve ever tasted, yogurt and blueberries, yum.
We leave to meet Hamidou for our school tour. We walk the road to the school, greetings along the way, and as we enter the library, we hear a shout and I look out to see Conor, PCV from next village, has biked over to visit with us. He joins us, and next thing we know, there’s another white person at the gate, Lisa (PCV from different nearby village) has come with three of her village authorities, also to greet me. It’s all about me, these few days, truly. So gracious are these people. After a few pics and a look-around, we walk back to town. Lisa and her friends depart, we’ll see Lisa again Sunday, for our return to Conakry and then to the Gambia.
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Conor and some friends sitting at Diaraye's restaurant.
Conor, Rachel and I walk to have lunch at the Hoflands, another missionary family with a nice house and compound. Cheryl and Dale (another missionary couple) are also joining for lunch. The Hoflands greet us and Jamie takes us to the small school where Aaron teaches their younger children, Levi, Micah and Jeschelle. Benjamin is home now, but attends university in the US. Cal, the dad, joins us. He’s the one who gave us the really helpful travel advice. Jamie has made the best chicken pot pie I’ve ever had, and there is bread and oranges for drinking, and carrot cake to finish off. No hope of losing weight while in Guinea. We leave Conor who is going to hang out awhile with Aaron, they are close in age and have become friends, but Rachel and I need to walk up the reso hill to make some calls and back to the seamstresses to check on my complet. As we walk, a moto comes honking and it’s the older teacher (the one the girls teased wants to marry Rachel), and he’s been looking for us for two hours bringing me a gift of sandals that say “I love” and “Rachel”. So thoughtful.
On our way to the reso hill, we stop to greet others, including some of Rachel’s students, hear a party going on and learn it’s to celebrate the arrival of the wife of the new “in charge” military town leader, I don’t recall the term for him. So, Rachel feels obliged to stop there and greet the wife. It was nice to hear and see local music and dancing but we stayed only a few minutes. Made what calls we could, then back to pick up my complet.
By “pick-up”, I mean stop to visit again. Conor finds us there, he wants some pants made for a friend. The baby is there and likes Rachel for awhile, very cute and small. We walk back to Diaraye’s restaurant to sit for quite awhile before dining on rice and soup sauce. Conor is very popular with the village, he and Lisa visit pretty often as their villages don’t have as big a market. People are stopping by the entire time, to visit me and frankly, to hang out with Conor and Rachel. It’s a good time. Neene stops by to bestow another gift upon me, a calabash bowl and woven mat. She’s absolutely the sweetest. Rachel and I return to her house to sleep, but Conor is going dancing and spending the night at Sadou’s house.
On Sunday, I wake at 7 for my last day at Kankalabe. Stay was too short, and I hope to return one day. It’s market day, and mail run day and we plan to join the missionaries for worship. Another family stops by to greet me, they have come from Dougaya. After they leave, we walk to market and it’s bustling as Rachel assured me. We wander around, sampling some great dough balls, greeting more people. The mail truck is due about 10, so we return to her house, where it will deliver the mail, then go to Lisa’s village, bring Lisa back to Kankalabe, and pick up Conor to take him back to his village. It’s late, but brings Rachel lots of good stuff, then goes for Lisa; we’re very late for worship, but they wait for us and are very understanding. We’re supposed to leave about 2 p.m. for our return to Conakry. I felt really moved at Worship, grateful Rachel is surrounded by faithful people who welcome her. Rhonda invites us for a fast taco lunch, it was great and we’re late for the car, but things work out. We’re going to Dalaba, a beautiful village on the mountain where the paved roads start. We’re meeting Katy and Andrew, two PCVs nearby, for dinner. We’re spending the night there, at a hotel, where we are the only guests. Dinner is chicken and fries and COLD BEER! There is electricity here, so quite nice and really beautiful. Had a pleasant evening, and left the next morning to return to the PC house in Conakry. We stop a couple times to take pictures of the beautiful scenery that is Guinea. It’s truly a beautiful country.
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Market Day
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Rachel and some of her students.Back at the PC house, there are a few other volunteers, and we all go to the “Beach Bar” just behind. Beach is filled with young boys/men playing soccer. It’s not a beautiful place, really, but is a beach and has a bar. A couple U.S. Marines join us for a short while. It’s a pleasant evening. We sleep in the PC House bunks, and leave next morning. Lisa, Rachel and I, are flying to the Gambia, where we’ll see what a difference exists between two very close West African countries.
Plane sat 18 – we all had window seats, and landed about 1.5 hours after we departed. Small world story, again, Rachel and Lisa know two people on our plane – more missionaries they had met through Rhonda and Robert. They are stationed in Guinea but are going to the Gambia for a couple weeks for some commitment. They tell us of a dancing/music troupe they know is supposed to be performing close by one night and assure they’ll call us with details.
We had chosen our hotel via the internet, and it was a pleasant surprise, more beautiful than I had really anticipated. We have two rooms, as Jake and Rob are joining us on Thursday. Grounds are pretty, lush green with lots of floral plants, there’s a pool, a beautiful beach, a pool bar, game tables, restaurant, birds and monkeys. Interesting thing here, is VISA isn’t welcome everywhere. No credit cards are. We charge food to our rooms, hotel takes VISA, fortunately. There’s an ATM right outside the hotel where we can get cash, so things worked out.
I won’t make this a book on the Gambia, but will say we had an awesome time, sun was hot, pool was cool, Pool bar band was entertaining and excited when Rachel spoke to them in Pular. We met Marlane and Tony from Columbia and Spain, originally, but living in UK. At the pool bar, the same people assembled for happy hour so became comfortable and familiar. The band played typical Bob Marley music, there was dancing, Kemo, a server, would encourage all to join. He seemed to be assigned to us as he served us at breakfast, lunch and happy hour most days. Jake, Rachel and Lisa, joined Marlane and Tony for drum lessons on the beach Sunday morning. They had fun. We went on a tour of the local forest area which included a ride on the river in a hollowed tree boat. There were lots of birds and eventually baboons, a good diversion. Two band members met Rachel, Jake and Lisa to go dancing one night. We played tourists, enjoyed the entire visit, was lucky with weather and are really grateful to have had the opportunity for the family and Lisa vacation in Africa. Really glad Lisa joined us, what fun! Only downer, no checked bags have made it home. Afraid Rob’s refusal to slip money to the airport “official” might be the problem, but Air France is trying to locate.
On jaaraama - hello to more than one person, or to show respect to a person of higher standing in the community
Tanaa alaa gaa? - There is no evil here? Response: Jam tun (peace only)
Some pics from the Gambia
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The beach outside of our hotel..jpg)
Lisa and me on the beach..jpg)
Monkeys and their babies at our hotel..jpg)
Baboons at Makasutu Forest. .jpg)
Family out to dinner at Ngala Lodge.
Some pictures from Mom's visit to Guinea
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A beautiful day in Kankalabe. (this captures my favorite colors in Guinea).jpg)
My moms.
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Lisa, Conor, and some visitors from Mombeya :)
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My neene (Guinean mom), mom, and my sister, Diaraye at Diaraye's restaurant.
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Barron ladies lookin goood on market day in my town.
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Rainy season in Guinea is beautiful.
Lisa, Conor, and some visitors from Mombeya :) My neene (Guinean mom), mom, and my sister, Diaraye at Diaraye's restaurant. Barron ladies lookin goood on market day in my town..jpg)
Rainy season in Guinea is beautiful.Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Friday, July 31, 2009
"She didn't invite me to her peanuts, so..."
So in Guinea, we end up saying a lot of things in English that one would NEVER understand or say in any other place. For example, whenever anyone eats anything here, if there are other people around, you always say "invitation" to offer your food to whoever is around. Generally, expecting a decline, but still politely offering as a nice gesture. It becomes like a mandatory thing and people tease you about being rude if you forget or don't offer.
So two days ago, Conor was talking about one of the girls at our girls conference and said, "She didn't invite me to her peanuts, soooo I don't know about her." But the sentence just made us all crack up, because honestly, who would ever say that?? Another good one was "Oh maybe we can get her something nice, like from the gas station." In all seriousness, gas stations are where you get better (american like) snacks and stuff, so we consider it "nice." Pretty amusing. Some things just don't translate.
Anyway- so the last month... We welcomed the new group of education trainees!! Yay!! So G18 is in country now and our education volunteer family has grown! I got to go to the airport with some others to welcome them off the plane, so that was awesome. One of them will be another new "neighbor" about 15 k from my site, so that's exciting too!
I haven't had much to do at my town since school ended, but I've been in and out with conferences and travelling, etc. I hoed my whole front "yard" and got blisters ALL over my hands. My right hand was essentially one big blister. My yard looks much classier now and less jungle-like.
We had a "ceremony" to announce the results of the school year. And because of numbers and lack of space to keep having ginormous classes, the admin went down to 7 out of 20 for passing for some of the grades. THIRTY FIVE PERCENT. If you got 35 percent, you passed onto the next grade. Mind you, 50 percent is actually passing, so it's a little different from our standards, but still. Unfortunately I know they need the space, but at the same time it will just perpetuate a sub-par level for that large amount of students.
I went to my first wedding last week. It was a traditional wedding and it was a good time. I hung out with all the ladies for a while, waiting for the bride to arrive from her house (everyone waits at the house of the groom's family). Then she arrived and was getting prepared by being covered in a white sheet over her head, so you can't see her. I was invited into the room where she's getting ready and went from hanging out and having a good time with all the ladies, to being totally heartbroken, finding her crouched down, sobbing. It was so heartbreaking. Young girl, probably totally scared and probably doesn't even know her husband. Apparently after the fact, some American friends explained that the bride has to be miserable out of respect for her family. Sad she's leaving the family kind of thing, and also to show that she's still "pure." But still. You can imagine some of it is the "Oh I have to cry" sentiment, and then there's so much reality to it that she's young and willl probably no longer get to play a role in decisions about how her life goes. Maybe her husband will be supportive, but more often than not here, the wife is seen as personal property- possession. So it was pretty heartbreaking to see.
After that, she leaves and gets dressed in red and comes back on the shoulders of a griot to enter the huge dancing/singing circle of all the ladies. The ladies obviously have the most fun at weddings. Men are all just sitting around, girls get to sing and dance in a big circle. That was pretty awesome and lightened my mood a bit. Very cool. I took some videos that I'll try to load when I'm on faster internet to show you all.
I have a new Sous- Prefet (local authority) in my town and he's kind of intimidating. He had a town meeting talking about the things he wanted to change, including making a 12th grade in my town. Which would be great news for me, but I worry they won't have the other necessary teachers to prepare the students in all the other necessary subjects, outside of English. We'll see. But everyone in the town seems hopeful with all the things he's talking about changing, so we'll see how it goes.
My PCV group, G16, unfortunately is down three more. They went back to the states and we're all pretty bummed. Boys- miss you already and keep in touch. Guinea, and G16, won't be the same without you <3
Just finished the week of Girls Conference where we had 38 Pullo girls here to have sessions on HIV/AIDS, excision, public speaking, health and nutrition, how to succeed at school, and the importance of girls getting educations. (THANK YOU MONICA, PARENTALS, JOHN H, HONEYGRAM AND POP POP FOR YOUR DONATIONS!!) We had a great time and all the girls did a wonderful job and hopefully learned a lot. It's really good info for them and hopefully made an impact on them so they can aid Guinea and the future of the country. Can't develop a country with half the population uneducated, so the week was really productive and very gratifying. The girls were awesome. Last night, we had an end kind of talent show. But then after everyone kind of broke away for the night, we found all the girls in one of the session areas in a huge circle all just singing and dancing. So we all joined and I have to say, that's probably one of my highlights from my entire peace corps experience so far. It was so awesome and everyone was having such a great time. Very very cool.
That about sums it up. Heading back to my town today to clean my house becaaause my mom gets here next Wednesday!! Very very exciting!! After her jaunt to Guinea, we'll be heading to the Gambia for a week vacation with dad and Jake too, so I'm very very excited!!
Comme d'habitude, love and miss you all. Keep in touch!!
And of course, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN AND BETH! Hope it's wonderful and buy a beer for yourselves and I'll pay you back around Christmas! LOVE YOU BOTH
<3 rb
So two days ago, Conor was talking about one of the girls at our girls conference and said, "She didn't invite me to her peanuts, soooo I don't know about her." But the sentence just made us all crack up, because honestly, who would ever say that?? Another good one was "Oh maybe we can get her something nice, like from the gas station." In all seriousness, gas stations are where you get better (american like) snacks and stuff, so we consider it "nice." Pretty amusing. Some things just don't translate.
Anyway- so the last month... We welcomed the new group of education trainees!! Yay!! So G18 is in country now and our education volunteer family has grown! I got to go to the airport with some others to welcome them off the plane, so that was awesome. One of them will be another new "neighbor" about 15 k from my site, so that's exciting too!
I haven't had much to do at my town since school ended, but I've been in and out with conferences and travelling, etc. I hoed my whole front "yard" and got blisters ALL over my hands. My right hand was essentially one big blister. My yard looks much classier now and less jungle-like.
We had a "ceremony" to announce the results of the school year. And because of numbers and lack of space to keep having ginormous classes, the admin went down to 7 out of 20 for passing for some of the grades. THIRTY FIVE PERCENT. If you got 35 percent, you passed onto the next grade. Mind you, 50 percent is actually passing, so it's a little different from our standards, but still. Unfortunately I know they need the space, but at the same time it will just perpetuate a sub-par level for that large amount of students.
I went to my first wedding last week. It was a traditional wedding and it was a good time. I hung out with all the ladies for a while, waiting for the bride to arrive from her house (everyone waits at the house of the groom's family). Then she arrived and was getting prepared by being covered in a white sheet over her head, so you can't see her. I was invited into the room where she's getting ready and went from hanging out and having a good time with all the ladies, to being totally heartbroken, finding her crouched down, sobbing. It was so heartbreaking. Young girl, probably totally scared and probably doesn't even know her husband. Apparently after the fact, some American friends explained that the bride has to be miserable out of respect for her family. Sad she's leaving the family kind of thing, and also to show that she's still "pure." But still. You can imagine some of it is the "Oh I have to cry" sentiment, and then there's so much reality to it that she's young and willl probably no longer get to play a role in decisions about how her life goes. Maybe her husband will be supportive, but more often than not here, the wife is seen as personal property- possession. So it was pretty heartbreaking to see.
After that, she leaves and gets dressed in red and comes back on the shoulders of a griot to enter the huge dancing/singing circle of all the ladies. The ladies obviously have the most fun at weddings. Men are all just sitting around, girls get to sing and dance in a big circle. That was pretty awesome and lightened my mood a bit. Very cool. I took some videos that I'll try to load when I'm on faster internet to show you all.
I have a new Sous- Prefet (local authority) in my town and he's kind of intimidating. He had a town meeting talking about the things he wanted to change, including making a 12th grade in my town. Which would be great news for me, but I worry they won't have the other necessary teachers to prepare the students in all the other necessary subjects, outside of English. We'll see. But everyone in the town seems hopeful with all the things he's talking about changing, so we'll see how it goes.
My PCV group, G16, unfortunately is down three more. They went back to the states and we're all pretty bummed. Boys- miss you already and keep in touch. Guinea, and G16, won't be the same without you <3
Just finished the week of Girls Conference where we had 38 Pullo girls here to have sessions on HIV/AIDS, excision, public speaking, health and nutrition, how to succeed at school, and the importance of girls getting educations. (THANK YOU MONICA, PARENTALS, JOHN H, HONEYGRAM AND POP POP FOR YOUR DONATIONS!!) We had a great time and all the girls did a wonderful job and hopefully learned a lot. It's really good info for them and hopefully made an impact on them so they can aid Guinea and the future of the country. Can't develop a country with half the population uneducated, so the week was really productive and very gratifying. The girls were awesome. Last night, we had an end kind of talent show. But then after everyone kind of broke away for the night, we found all the girls in one of the session areas in a huge circle all just singing and dancing. So we all joined and I have to say, that's probably one of my highlights from my entire peace corps experience so far. It was so awesome and everyone was having such a great time. Very very cool.
That about sums it up. Heading back to my town today to clean my house becaaause my mom gets here next Wednesday!! Very very exciting!! After her jaunt to Guinea, we'll be heading to the Gambia for a week vacation with dad and Jake too, so I'm very very excited!!
Comme d'habitude, love and miss you all. Keep in touch!!
And of course, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN AND BETH! Hope it's wonderful and buy a beer for yourselves and I'll pay you back around Christmas! LOVE YOU BOTH
<3 rb
Monday, July 6, 2009
12 out of 12 ladies after 12 months
The G16 girls had a delightful ladies night yesterday to celebrate our year. As hard as it is to be a woman in this country, we're 12 for 12 after a year. Wonderful group of people :)
Team Ambiance setting the table on the roof.
The 12 lovely ladies
Team Ambiance setting the table on the roof.
The 12 lovely ladiesSunday, July 5, 2009
My first anniversary in Guinea
Well a few days short of. But still. One whole year living in Guinea! Wild.
So with the end of ths school year, there's always the frustrations of wanting to smack some sense into Guinean students whose default learning style is relying on someone sitting nearby to tell them the answer. Very frustrating with the compositions and exams. If only they would realize they're just perpetuating the status of Guinea as poor and underdeveloped by not working to their full potential. There are some good students, but the overwhelming majority falls into this category, unfortunately. A bunch of my fellow G16ers met up for a couple workshops the past couple weeks and swapped stories which is always hilarious and fun. And we all make each other feel better about our passing statistics, because we have VERY low standards. Ha. Anyway, we've had a good time catching up and hanging out almost all together.
Lots of people at site getting sick with "malaria" since the rains started. It's awesome how fast things here turn green with a single rainfall, but coupled with that, the mosquitoes are out and hungry. A lot of Guineans do indeed have malaria, but it's also an easy diagnosis for doctors for anyone with fevers and such. Lots of my good friends were out of commission for a couple days, lying in bed with fevers. But I guess it passes with treatment before it comes back again and they feel tired and feverish.
My cat ate a bat. I ate termites and a large cricket (grilled and salted... not too bad once you get past the fact that you're eating bugs). My favorite seamstress in my town had her baby! A cute and tiny baby boy, whose name I don't know yet because I left town before the baby naming ceremony (a week after birth). Very exciting tho! On a much sadder note, one of my 10th grade girls is married and was pregnant. But two days before my other friend had her baby, my student also gave birth, but the baby didn't make it. Can't imagine a girl that young having to know that kind of sadness. I visited my friend Kim's site and we took a walk through her town with one of the teachers at her school. As we passed the large forested cemetary, he also told us that almost all families have a small lot in their yard for the very small children that don't make it. Also, there was a sign next to the cemetary that said, "Nous étions comme vous. Vous serez comme nous." (We were like you. You will be like us.) The mortality of people is very visible here. I guess much more than it is in my American life, Dieu merci.
So, like I said, had a couple workshops. One on HIV/AIDS where we went over all the facts basically and how to get those facts out to Guineans that we have contact with. Went to visit Kim's village for a couple days after that. Really beautiful place and they live on top of a mountain basically, so the view is wonderful. She also has a goat who had just had a baby, so he is adorable! (I don't know if I've mentioned this, but goats are adorable. Sheep, not so much. But I really love goats.) She has a nice garden too which turned to a jungle almost overnight. The land here is so fertile, and it's certainly getting all the water it needs right now, so it's pretty awesome how fast stuff grows here.
Had another workshop planning for the new education group's training. Helped out there for a few days. Weird to be back in Forecariah (where we were for training for 3 months) without having all those anxieties or stresses of being in training and living with a host family and learning how to be a teacher in Guinea, etc. Kind of cool being back there under different circumstances and working with our trainers as colleagues and not as our trainers.
Now in the capital. Had my mid-service medical exam (aka the works) to see if I have any sort of hiding amoebas or parasites or other things in my body. I'll keep you posted on that one. Celebrated the fourth with almost all of my group (minus 2), and now just working on some things before the new education group gets in! We're all pretty excited for the new group and we're hoping to make their welcoming to Guinea as nice as we remember ours being.
I guess that's about it for now. Heading back to my town in a few days to hopefully start being productive on other projects since I'll be in and out of my town a lot this summer. Mama's coming in a month! Then Stef's coming now too in October! Very excited!
Hope you're all doing well. I spent a lot of yesterday reminiscing about last year's 4th of July with all of you and how wonderful that was. Really love you all and miss you terribly (hope you're not tired of hearing that yet).
Anyway, keep in touch. Love you all.
~rab
So with the end of ths school year, there's always the frustrations of wanting to smack some sense into Guinean students whose default learning style is relying on someone sitting nearby to tell them the answer. Very frustrating with the compositions and exams. If only they would realize they're just perpetuating the status of Guinea as poor and underdeveloped by not working to their full potential. There are some good students, but the overwhelming majority falls into this category, unfortunately. A bunch of my fellow G16ers met up for a couple workshops the past couple weeks and swapped stories which is always hilarious and fun. And we all make each other feel better about our passing statistics, because we have VERY low standards. Ha. Anyway, we've had a good time catching up and hanging out almost all together.
Lots of people at site getting sick with "malaria" since the rains started. It's awesome how fast things here turn green with a single rainfall, but coupled with that, the mosquitoes are out and hungry. A lot of Guineans do indeed have malaria, but it's also an easy diagnosis for doctors for anyone with fevers and such. Lots of my good friends were out of commission for a couple days, lying in bed with fevers. But I guess it passes with treatment before it comes back again and they feel tired and feverish.
My cat ate a bat. I ate termites and a large cricket (grilled and salted... not too bad once you get past the fact that you're eating bugs). My favorite seamstress in my town had her baby! A cute and tiny baby boy, whose name I don't know yet because I left town before the baby naming ceremony (a week after birth). Very exciting tho! On a much sadder note, one of my 10th grade girls is married and was pregnant. But two days before my other friend had her baby, my student also gave birth, but the baby didn't make it. Can't imagine a girl that young having to know that kind of sadness. I visited my friend Kim's site and we took a walk through her town with one of the teachers at her school. As we passed the large forested cemetary, he also told us that almost all families have a small lot in their yard for the very small children that don't make it. Also, there was a sign next to the cemetary that said, "Nous étions comme vous. Vous serez comme nous." (We were like you. You will be like us.) The mortality of people is very visible here. I guess much more than it is in my American life, Dieu merci.
So, like I said, had a couple workshops. One on HIV/AIDS where we went over all the facts basically and how to get those facts out to Guineans that we have contact with. Went to visit Kim's village for a couple days after that. Really beautiful place and they live on top of a mountain basically, so the view is wonderful. She also has a goat who had just had a baby, so he is adorable! (I don't know if I've mentioned this, but goats are adorable. Sheep, not so much. But I really love goats.) She has a nice garden too which turned to a jungle almost overnight. The land here is so fertile, and it's certainly getting all the water it needs right now, so it's pretty awesome how fast stuff grows here.
Had another workshop planning for the new education group's training. Helped out there for a few days. Weird to be back in Forecariah (where we were for training for 3 months) without having all those anxieties or stresses of being in training and living with a host family and learning how to be a teacher in Guinea, etc. Kind of cool being back there under different circumstances and working with our trainers as colleagues and not as our trainers.
Now in the capital. Had my mid-service medical exam (aka the works) to see if I have any sort of hiding amoebas or parasites or other things in my body. I'll keep you posted on that one. Celebrated the fourth with almost all of my group (minus 2), and now just working on some things before the new education group gets in! We're all pretty excited for the new group and we're hoping to make their welcoming to Guinea as nice as we remember ours being.
I guess that's about it for now. Heading back to my town in a few days to hopefully start being productive on other projects since I'll be in and out of my town a lot this summer. Mama's coming in a month! Then Stef's coming now too in October! Very excited!
Hope you're all doing well. I spent a lot of yesterday reminiscing about last year's 4th of July with all of you and how wonderful that was. Really love you all and miss you terribly (hope you're not tired of hearing that yet).
Anyway, keep in touch. Love you all.
~rab
Fourth of July
Some of the G16 girls, loving freedom like all Americans. Me, Al, Caro, Tiff, and Isy.
A bunch of PCVs on the beach.
Fourth of July sunset.Sunday, June 21, 2009
Second Semester School Results and Highlights
So I'm officially done my first school year- weird. But thought I'd write up some highlights from final exams.
The fill in the blank question which always started with "How _____ ..."
-- How banana mangoes are you buying? (looking for "many")
-- How hospital corn are you preparing? (looking for "much")
-- How garden is the orange tree? (looking for "tall")
-- How fat is it from Labe to Dalaba? (looking for "far")
The dictation in my most advanced class:
-- She tock are l'eto sister wife thing. (I read "She took her little sister with her.")
-- Pippo boite old hawe her food. ("People bought all of her food.")
My favorite section, the "about me" section...
-- My preference don't dead, to have a long life. (brilliance)
-- My preference are foods and beaucoup. (me too)
-- I like you the bananas and oranges.
-- I like shweet potatoes.
The following are all from 9th grade.... they speak for themselves.
-- May age is big.
-- My favorite singer is Jennifer Lopez. (no mistakes, just ridiculous)
-- My favorite teacher is Rachel (Miss). ( this kid obviously has a good head on his shoulders)
-- My favoreth a Engleth.
-- My favorite age is 16 ans.
-- My age is tinty six.
-- My preference house is mangoes.
andddd the winner:
-- My house is 4 chambs, 1 salon in have or is your 1 magasin is ind a l'interieur 1 orange in avocado.
no words for that one. sheer brilliance!
Anywho, hope you all got as good a laugh from those as I did. I'll write more later, but thought I'd share those for now.
11th grade SM: 12 pass, 0 fail
11th grade SE: 13 pass, 6 fail
11th grade SS (most advanced in English): 27 pass, 6 fail
10th grade: 10 pass, 34 fail (don't care about English or their finals because it's the national exam they take in July that determines whether or not they pass into high school)
9th grade: 19 pass, 55 fail (no excuse. just not motivated and miserable. some very good students, mostly not though)
Anywho, more another day. I'm in bigger towns with cell phone reception thru July 6th so call me if you want!
love and miss you
rab
The fill in the blank question which always started with "How _____ ..."
-- How banana mangoes are you buying? (looking for "many")
-- How hospital corn are you preparing? (looking for "much")
-- How garden is the orange tree? (looking for "tall")
-- How fat is it from Labe to Dalaba? (looking for "far")
The dictation in my most advanced class:
-- She tock are l'eto sister wife thing. (I read "She took her little sister with her.")
-- Pippo boite old hawe her food. ("People bought all of her food.")
My favorite section, the "about me" section...
-- My preference don't dead, to have a long life. (brilliance)
-- My preference are foods and beaucoup. (me too)
-- I like you the bananas and oranges.
-- I like shweet potatoes.
The following are all from 9th grade.... they speak for themselves.
-- May age is big.
-- My favorite singer is Jennifer Lopez. (no mistakes, just ridiculous)
-- My favorite teacher is Rachel (Miss). ( this kid obviously has a good head on his shoulders)
-- My favoreth a Engleth.
-- My favorite age is 16 ans.
-- My age is tinty six.
-- My preference house is mangoes.
andddd the winner:
-- My house is 4 chambs, 1 salon in have or is your 1 magasin is ind a l'interieur 1 orange in avocado.
no words for that one. sheer brilliance!
Anywho, hope you all got as good a laugh from those as I did. I'll write more later, but thought I'd share those for now.
11th grade SM: 12 pass, 0 fail
11th grade SE: 13 pass, 6 fail
11th grade SS (most advanced in English): 27 pass, 6 fail
10th grade: 10 pass, 34 fail (don't care about English or their finals because it's the national exam they take in July that determines whether or not they pass into high school)
9th grade: 19 pass, 55 fail (no excuse. just not motivated and miserable. some very good students, mostly not though)
Anywho, more another day. I'm in bigger towns with cell phone reception thru July 6th so call me if you want!
love and miss you
rab
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Nearing the end of the school year
A lot of other volunteers are already done, or at least working on their "finals," but unfortunately not me. I'm just antsy for the end of the school year, as are all the students and other teachers. But soon enough. Also we had a temporary math teacher that just up and left, leaving our 10th graders on their own for their big national exam to enter into high school. Classy. Some other teachers are going to pick up the slack and help them review, but kind of sad that the other guy apparently felt no need to stick it out and help the students through the end of the school year.
When I got back to site after Labe a couple weeks ago, there was a bird in my house. Scared the daylights out of me when I walked in and it flew at my head. It was a "cow bird." I don't think that's the technical term, but they hang out around cows most of the time. Except when they're inside people's living rooms pooping everywhere. So that was a nice welcoming. Njemma did not do a good job as cat of the house while I was gone because he was apparently, quite peacefully, cohabiting with a bird. My Guinean sister told me I should've caught the bird and we should've eaten it to teach it a lesson. Ha.
Girls sports group is going well. Once a week we play basketball, frisbee, or we just taught them dodgeball. And then two days of the week we play soccer. Which, I am still miserable at. But it's fun with the girls.
Had a lot of Guineans tell me they were sick with malaria. I don't know if they really all have malaria or if it's just a normal diagnosis. But rainy season is starting, so the mosquitoes are definitely out in full force.
Went to another dance/concert in the middle of some random tiny village in the bush. Fun, but a little odd. The DJ kept yelling "CORPS DE LA PAIX" for me and Lisa and he dedicated a song to us. How sweet. Haha. Also had one of my students get in a fight with a man that night. So that was pretty disappointing with his actions.
Visited Conor and hung out at his site for a day or so. Went to a baptism, which is totally normal. People don't think twice if you go to a family ceremony and have never met a single member of the family before. Hysterical if you try to translate that to an American setting. Anyone in your town or in a 10 mile radius hears you're having a baptism or wedding or something and everyone shows up. Funny.
Visited one of the other professor's village which was nice. He's a very cool guy and Conor and I got to have some good chats with him and with people in Conor's village.
Memorial day was also a holiday here. 25 May is the anniversary of the African Union forming? Or some similar entity. So, no school last Monday.
Some interesting things you may not have known:
--when a family has only girls and they want a son, they generally give the girl a boy's name, in hopes of the next one being a boy.
--dry season is basically the school year, because if you had school during the rains, you wouldn't be able to hear anything anyone said because the rain is so loud on the metal roofs (rooves?)
--heard some drumming one morning, which was apparently the call for people to come work on repairing the roads. way cooler than an alarm clock.
--guineans find nothing personal about their BMs and will not hesitate to tell you if they are constipated or have diarhhea, etc.
On that note, I'll close this blog with another quote I liked. I recently re-read a childhood fave- The Phantom Tollbooth, so here's a good quote from it.
"but, as you know, the most important reason for going from one place to another is to see what's in between..." ~Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth
CONGRATS JOHN AND CARLY on graduating!! Welcome to the real world :)
When I got back to site after Labe a couple weeks ago, there was a bird in my house. Scared the daylights out of me when I walked in and it flew at my head. It was a "cow bird." I don't think that's the technical term, but they hang out around cows most of the time. Except when they're inside people's living rooms pooping everywhere. So that was a nice welcoming. Njemma did not do a good job as cat of the house while I was gone because he was apparently, quite peacefully, cohabiting with a bird. My Guinean sister told me I should've caught the bird and we should've eaten it to teach it a lesson. Ha.
Girls sports group is going well. Once a week we play basketball, frisbee, or we just taught them dodgeball. And then two days of the week we play soccer. Which, I am still miserable at. But it's fun with the girls.
Had a lot of Guineans tell me they were sick with malaria. I don't know if they really all have malaria or if it's just a normal diagnosis. But rainy season is starting, so the mosquitoes are definitely out in full force.
Went to another dance/concert in the middle of some random tiny village in the bush. Fun, but a little odd. The DJ kept yelling "CORPS DE LA PAIX" for me and Lisa and he dedicated a song to us. How sweet. Haha. Also had one of my students get in a fight with a man that night. So that was pretty disappointing with his actions.
Visited Conor and hung out at his site for a day or so. Went to a baptism, which is totally normal. People don't think twice if you go to a family ceremony and have never met a single member of the family before. Hysterical if you try to translate that to an American setting. Anyone in your town or in a 10 mile radius hears you're having a baptism or wedding or something and everyone shows up. Funny.
Visited one of the other professor's village which was nice. He's a very cool guy and Conor and I got to have some good chats with him and with people in Conor's village.
Memorial day was also a holiday here. 25 May is the anniversary of the African Union forming? Or some similar entity. So, no school last Monday.
Some interesting things you may not have known:
--when a family has only girls and they want a son, they generally give the girl a boy's name, in hopes of the next one being a boy.
--dry season is basically the school year, because if you had school during the rains, you wouldn't be able to hear anything anyone said because the rain is so loud on the metal roofs (rooves?)
--heard some drumming one morning, which was apparently the call for people to come work on repairing the roads. way cooler than an alarm clock.
--guineans find nothing personal about their BMs and will not hesitate to tell you if they are constipated or have diarhhea, etc.
On that note, I'll close this blog with another quote I liked. I recently re-read a childhood fave- The Phantom Tollbooth, so here's a good quote from it.
"but, as you know, the most important reason for going from one place to another is to see what's in between..." ~Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth
CONGRATS JOHN AND CARLY on graduating!! Welcome to the real world :)
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Mango season has arrived
First of all- mangoes are delicious. Secondly, I have recently discovered, that I am ALLERGIC to mangoes. Of all things! It's pretty rough since mangoes now run like water runs in America. So that's been a little rough. Coping though, and just enjoying the scent of mangoes when everyone around is CONSTANTLY eating them! Ha
Anywho- getting back to site after coming home was a pretty easy readjustment for the first few days. Warm welcomings from the missionaries and my good friends at site. After a few days it was a bit harder, thinking to myself, "why can't I see or talk to my family anytime I want to?" I guess I had gotten re-used to that, for the two weeks I could see and talk to you all whenever I wanted. But, getting used to the limited access again I guess.
Back at site, some of my students were in the "finals" of a soccer tournament and I was invited as the "queen" or female guest of honor. So that was pretty fun. Some other good news- Erich got invited to a Food Security conference in Togo, so that's pretty exciting! Two PCVs from Guinea and their counterparts get to go in June, so that's some exciting stuff.
Had some frustrating experiences in the last few weeks with Guineans. Men continue to introduce themselves to me then immediately express that they want to go to America and marry an American. I think they must think it's a land of desperate women just waiting for them to come and make them their 2nd or 3rd wives. Anyway- that's sadly normal happenings, but it continues even now.
Also, the awesomely generous family in the village we like to visit has kind of let me down. After questioning their motives and deciding that we think they genuinely are just nice and want to be so generous to us, the last time Lisa and I visited, they asked, very bluntly, "ok, so how are you going to get our son to America with your mom when she comes to visit?" TOTAL let down. It just gets a little tiring second guessing peoples' motives for being nice to you. You have to take it all in context, that they live in poverty and take any opportunity possible to escape from this lifestyle. But, it can get kind of draining and can definitely let you down. I still think there's some authenticity in their generosity, it just now kind of stinks that we have to second guess ourselves when they make a nice gesture.
Another kind of frustration is with the LETTERS! (Madame, I sent you the letters with a more detailed letter, for you to flesh out what you think we should do). I felt like Santa bringing in those letters with how ecstatic my students were. They were SO excited. It was awesome to see. So I told them they could write letters back to the students in America in French, as this is their first year of English. So I read the ones I could and unfortunately, most students see this as a way out too. Most asked for books, or money, or help to get to America. Most said "I love you"... One boy even wrote "If I get to America, I will love you like a fish loves water." But, in French. And then! One of my favorite students wrote a really lovely letter. But towards the end he wrote, " I ask myself why my grandfather's grandfather wasn't enslaved. Because, then I'd be an American." That was pretty heartbreaking to read. Wishing slavery upon your ancestors just so that you would have a different life now. Yea. So that was pretty hard to see too.
I don't want this to be such a Debbie Downer blog, but just wanted to voice some frustrations.
In other news, I've been in Guinea for over 10 months now. WILD! Allie and Jake got married the 1st of May. CONGRATULATIONS and best of luck and I love you both! Happy 27 years of marriage Mom and Dad! (may 8) and Happy Mother's Day to all mothers reading but especially my mama, Honey Gram, and Grandma.
Lisa, Conor, and I went to a concert in Lisa's town. More hilarity and lots of fun dancing. And yes, my town is still talking about it.
End of the school year- students have mango fever so just want to be out of class eating mangoes all the time. Frustrating for the teachers, but we're getting by.
Started a girls sports group- really fun. We play basketball and mainly soccer- which I am TERRIBLE at, but that's the easiest sport to play here with limited supplies and no real "courts" for things like basketball, etc. Been really fun so far tho.
Funny note on my Pular- people think I understand WAY more than I do because I pick the two or three words I did understand and out of context guess what I think people said. But, sometimes I guess wrong. For example, while visiting the family in the village, the mom there asked if I had fed my cat before I left. The two words I understood were "food" and "cat" and she was preparing a meal at the time, so I responded with an emphatic "A- oiiii" (NO!) You see, I thought, she asked if we were going to eat her cat (who was meowing and being a bit of a pest at the time). I assumed she asked as a joke, yes, but either way. I was WAY off. Oops. We cleared it up though, but Lisa had a good laugh at me.
Anywho, I think that's about it for now. Awaiting the rains because it's stinking hot, but until next time.
Here's a quote I recently read and liked:
"Most people don't know there are angels whose only job is to make sure you don't get too comfortable and fall asleep and miss your life." ~Brian Andreas
Love and miss you all (as always). Keep in touch
<3 rach
Anywho- getting back to site after coming home was a pretty easy readjustment for the first few days. Warm welcomings from the missionaries and my good friends at site. After a few days it was a bit harder, thinking to myself, "why can't I see or talk to my family anytime I want to?" I guess I had gotten re-used to that, for the two weeks I could see and talk to you all whenever I wanted. But, getting used to the limited access again I guess.
Back at site, some of my students were in the "finals" of a soccer tournament and I was invited as the "queen" or female guest of honor. So that was pretty fun. Some other good news- Erich got invited to a Food Security conference in Togo, so that's pretty exciting! Two PCVs from Guinea and their counterparts get to go in June, so that's some exciting stuff.
Had some frustrating experiences in the last few weeks with Guineans. Men continue to introduce themselves to me then immediately express that they want to go to America and marry an American. I think they must think it's a land of desperate women just waiting for them to come and make them their 2nd or 3rd wives. Anyway- that's sadly normal happenings, but it continues even now.
Also, the awesomely generous family in the village we like to visit has kind of let me down. After questioning their motives and deciding that we think they genuinely are just nice and want to be so generous to us, the last time Lisa and I visited, they asked, very bluntly, "ok, so how are you going to get our son to America with your mom when she comes to visit?" TOTAL let down. It just gets a little tiring second guessing peoples' motives for being nice to you. You have to take it all in context, that they live in poverty and take any opportunity possible to escape from this lifestyle. But, it can get kind of draining and can definitely let you down. I still think there's some authenticity in their generosity, it just now kind of stinks that we have to second guess ourselves when they make a nice gesture.
Another kind of frustration is with the LETTERS! (Madame, I sent you the letters with a more detailed letter, for you to flesh out what you think we should do). I felt like Santa bringing in those letters with how ecstatic my students were. They were SO excited. It was awesome to see. So I told them they could write letters back to the students in America in French, as this is their first year of English. So I read the ones I could and unfortunately, most students see this as a way out too. Most asked for books, or money, or help to get to America. Most said "I love you"... One boy even wrote "If I get to America, I will love you like a fish loves water." But, in French. And then! One of my favorite students wrote a really lovely letter. But towards the end he wrote, " I ask myself why my grandfather's grandfather wasn't enslaved. Because, then I'd be an American." That was pretty heartbreaking to read. Wishing slavery upon your ancestors just so that you would have a different life now. Yea. So that was pretty hard to see too.
I don't want this to be such a Debbie Downer blog, but just wanted to voice some frustrations.
In other news, I've been in Guinea for over 10 months now. WILD! Allie and Jake got married the 1st of May. CONGRATULATIONS and best of luck and I love you both! Happy 27 years of marriage Mom and Dad! (may 8) and Happy Mother's Day to all mothers reading but especially my mama, Honey Gram, and Grandma.
Lisa, Conor, and I went to a concert in Lisa's town. More hilarity and lots of fun dancing. And yes, my town is still talking about it.
End of the school year- students have mango fever so just want to be out of class eating mangoes all the time. Frustrating for the teachers, but we're getting by.
Started a girls sports group- really fun. We play basketball and mainly soccer- which I am TERRIBLE at, but that's the easiest sport to play here with limited supplies and no real "courts" for things like basketball, etc. Been really fun so far tho.
Funny note on my Pular- people think I understand WAY more than I do because I pick the two or three words I did understand and out of context guess what I think people said. But, sometimes I guess wrong. For example, while visiting the family in the village, the mom there asked if I had fed my cat before I left. The two words I understood were "food" and "cat" and she was preparing a meal at the time, so I responded with an emphatic "A- oiiii" (NO!) You see, I thought, she asked if we were going to eat her cat (who was meowing and being a bit of a pest at the time). I assumed she asked as a joke, yes, but either way. I was WAY off. Oops. We cleared it up though, but Lisa had a good laugh at me.
Anywho, I think that's about it for now. Awaiting the rains because it's stinking hot, but until next time.
Here's a quote I recently read and liked:
"Most people don't know there are angels whose only job is to make sure you don't get too comfortable and fall asleep and miss your life." ~Brian Andreas
Love and miss you all (as always). Keep in touch
<3 rach
Monday, April 20, 2009
Fat Binta came back Fatter Binta
Ahh back in Guinea after a wonderful two week stint in the land of milk and honey. Spent the two weeks with family and friends and ate and drank unbelievable amounts. Also enjoyed some wonderful hot, water-pressured showers, flushing toilets, air conditioning, and being cold. Wonderful.
Flights back went smoothly- heading back to site tomorrow finally. A little nervous since this is the longest I've been away from site. I've already been asked many times what I've brought back for people, so I'm sure I'll have a good 2 weeks or so at site full of the same question. I got to see a lot of other PCVs when I got in before they went back to sites. Excited to see the missionaries in my town and Lisa! She's coming to visit Wednesday, if all goes as planned.
Home was wonderful- I think it's probably harder for you guys as I left, because at least I know I have my other Peace Corps family and friends welcoming me back into Guinea. The volunteers that went to Sierra Leone said they had a wonderful time, and despite awful civil war in the past- SL is surprisingly way more developed than Guinea. I wonder what Guinea has missed out on that leaves it in its current state?
Conor had a friend visiting from the states (nudge nudge wink wink you all should be planning your next trip), so we went to the islands off the coast of Conakry yesterday- paradise. Very beautiful, pretty big waves (in which I already lost my sunglasses... oh well), and hot sun. A little overwhelming when you get to the port to get your dinky wooden little boat- two workers on each boat: one to "steer" and one to bail out water periodically through the trip across to the island. We arrived and returned without big problems tho, so no worries! And a little overwhelming once arriving on the island as everyone there wants to show you where to sit or eat and sell you all sorts of things. But, once we were left alone, it was a wonderful relaxing day.
Welp, I guess that's about it. So great to see and/or talk to all of you stateside- plan again either for your trip here, or to see me come Christmas time stateside again.
Love you all! Keep in touch <3
Flights back went smoothly- heading back to site tomorrow finally. A little nervous since this is the longest I've been away from site. I've already been asked many times what I've brought back for people, so I'm sure I'll have a good 2 weeks or so at site full of the same question. I got to see a lot of other PCVs when I got in before they went back to sites. Excited to see the missionaries in my town and Lisa! She's coming to visit Wednesday, if all goes as planned.
Home was wonderful- I think it's probably harder for you guys as I left, because at least I know I have my other Peace Corps family and friends welcoming me back into Guinea. The volunteers that went to Sierra Leone said they had a wonderful time, and despite awful civil war in the past- SL is surprisingly way more developed than Guinea. I wonder what Guinea has missed out on that leaves it in its current state?
Conor had a friend visiting from the states (nudge nudge wink wink you all should be planning your next trip), so we went to the islands off the coast of Conakry yesterday- paradise. Very beautiful, pretty big waves (in which I already lost my sunglasses... oh well), and hot sun. A little overwhelming when you get to the port to get your dinky wooden little boat- two workers on each boat: one to "steer" and one to bail out water periodically through the trip across to the island. We arrived and returned without big problems tho, so no worries! And a little overwhelming once arriving on the island as everyone there wants to show you where to sit or eat and sell you all sorts of things. But, once we were left alone, it was a wonderful relaxing day.
Welp, I guess that's about it. So great to see and/or talk to all of you stateside- plan again either for your trip here, or to see me come Christmas time stateside again.
Love you all! Keep in touch <3
Thursday, April 2, 2009
March in the life of Fat Binta
So my good friend recently showed me how he stored my number in his phone. And in order to save space (or so I'd like to think) he put me under "Fat Binta" anddd I about lost it laughing. Anyway, without a doubt, that is my new nickname. Embrace it, if you'd like.
So it's been a while so I wrote out a bunch of things I wanted to let you all know about. I have now seen scorpions and monkeys! So that's scary and neat, respectively. I've had some ups and downs. Some frustrations with Guinean men- either with the non-stop marriage proposals or for the first time, a guy refused to shake my hand because I'm a woman. So, that was kind of a slap in the face, but take it as you will. It's not everyone.
A highlight from teaching: I sketched a map of Guinea on the board. And before labelling it, one of my favorite girl students yells out "it's PO-TA-TO!" And that was absolutely hysterical- as you could imagine. I also had a week where I kicked out more than half of my 9th graders because they don't know anything. Inevitably, that was probably my smoothest 9th grade class because I was left with about 35 students who actually like English or at least have learned a little something.
It has been REALLY hot. But, the rains are coming. Supposedly March and April are the hottest. So we're half way there- andddd I'm missing half of the April heat because I'm going to the far distant land of America. Have you guys heard of it? It's supposed to be awesome!! :)
My school had a ceremony for the class rankings of all the students. And the cool news on that is the top student of the entire school was a girl! hooray!!
Went to Dougaya again with Conor and Lisa this time and had another amazing time. Also got braided for the first time at site- good times. Lisa and I also went to a concert in the middle of nowhere. We saw Mic Paraya, who's a Pul singer. He came to a little village in between my town and Conor's town to their "night club," also known as a plain empty building with a generator to plug in lights and sound equipment in the middle of the bush. It was hysterical and soo much fun. Lots of my students were there so that was interesting. They loved it. And Lisa and I had a great time. So yea- concerts in the bush of Guinea- gotta love it.
Erich came to visit my site for a week or so. We built a solar dryer with Conor in his town. Made a mud stove for my Guinean best friend/sister. So those were both fun muddy projects where you get to work with cow poop! hooray! Really fun though.
Met a bunch of the new volunteers for St. Patty's Day. Good times.
Got to see the beginnings of a goat giving birth before going to school one day last week- that was exciting! I didn't get to see the whole thing because the mom had liad back down to take a break by the time I had to head to school. Still pretty nice way to start the day though.
Another school highlight: teaching "always/never/sometimes/etc" (frequency adverbs), I had one student write a sentence that said "I am always praying for my goodness." All together now... "awww!" Really cute.
News from fellow PCVs- two friends have been chased out of their classes while teaching due to swarms of bees. Yea. Also, another friend had a "demonic possession" outbreak amongst female students for a solid 12 days. Just leave that one alone. Interesting, but all is well now.
I've recently made good friends with some seamstresses in my town- they're awesome and it's nice to hang out with girls my age. Though it's alittle hard to communicate since my Pular is minimal, as is their French, but good times nonetheless.
Anywho- I'm leaving on a jetplane TOMORROW NIGHT so that's darn exciting. In preparation for that, lots of my friends at site have been so excited telling me, "oh your family is going to be so excited to see you! they're going to know that africa is good for you because you've gotten bigger!" Love it. Mom, Dad- at least they want you to be able to tell that I'm eating well! haha
Everyone's been really cute the last couple days before I left- everyone wants to make sure they greet my whole family and that they wish all good things to you all. I've gotten many presents from friends here to give to my family at home- just really cool the hospitality and generosity of people here.
I'm reading one of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books and this quote really stood out in that respect:
"Ties of kinship, no matter how attenuated by distance or time, linked one person to another, weaving across the country a human blanket of love and community. And in the fibres of that blanket there were threads of obligation that meant that one could not ignore the claims of others. Nobody should starve; nobody should feel that they were outsiders; nobody should be alone in their sadness."
Just really liked that. Things I know we can learn in America that sometimes we may overlook.
Anyway- fourlast minute hilarious things that I experienced today:
1. a baby got something in his eye, so we saw the mother pull our her breast and start to squirt her breast milk into her baby's eye.... totally serious.
2. in a bush taxi, the guy on our left pulled the window-roller-downer handle off the door to hand to the guy on our right so he could also roll down the window. yes, this is where cars come to die.
3. bush taxi driver- takes off his hat, and puts on his sunglasses. without any glass in them. so he was just wearing nasty gold metal frames- to block...? we still haven't figured it out.
4. and lastly- a friend of mine who is studying chemistry at university here was talking about how in lab they mastered the "dosage" of how to make the best juice. I mean really, what else do you expect Chem University students to learn in the lab, other than the perfect balance of tea leaves, sugar, and water?
brilliant.
can't wait to see you all THIS WEEK!! ahh! love you!
So it's been a while so I wrote out a bunch of things I wanted to let you all know about. I have now seen scorpions and monkeys! So that's scary and neat, respectively. I've had some ups and downs. Some frustrations with Guinean men- either with the non-stop marriage proposals or for the first time, a guy refused to shake my hand because I'm a woman. So, that was kind of a slap in the face, but take it as you will. It's not everyone.
A highlight from teaching: I sketched a map of Guinea on the board. And before labelling it, one of my favorite girl students yells out "it's PO-TA-TO!" And that was absolutely hysterical- as you could imagine. I also had a week where I kicked out more than half of my 9th graders because they don't know anything. Inevitably, that was probably my smoothest 9th grade class because I was left with about 35 students who actually like English or at least have learned a little something.
It has been REALLY hot. But, the rains are coming. Supposedly March and April are the hottest. So we're half way there- andddd I'm missing half of the April heat because I'm going to the far distant land of America. Have you guys heard of it? It's supposed to be awesome!! :)
My school had a ceremony for the class rankings of all the students. And the cool news on that is the top student of the entire school was a girl! hooray!!
Went to Dougaya again with Conor and Lisa this time and had another amazing time. Also got braided for the first time at site- good times. Lisa and I also went to a concert in the middle of nowhere. We saw Mic Paraya, who's a Pul singer. He came to a little village in between my town and Conor's town to their "night club," also known as a plain empty building with a generator to plug in lights and sound equipment in the middle of the bush. It was hysterical and soo much fun. Lots of my students were there so that was interesting. They loved it. And Lisa and I had a great time. So yea- concerts in the bush of Guinea- gotta love it.
Erich came to visit my site for a week or so. We built a solar dryer with Conor in his town. Made a mud stove for my Guinean best friend/sister. So those were both fun muddy projects where you get to work with cow poop! hooray! Really fun though.
Met a bunch of the new volunteers for St. Patty's Day. Good times.
Got to see the beginnings of a goat giving birth before going to school one day last week- that was exciting! I didn't get to see the whole thing because the mom had liad back down to take a break by the time I had to head to school. Still pretty nice way to start the day though.
Another school highlight: teaching "always/never/sometimes/etc" (frequency adverbs), I had one student write a sentence that said "I am always praying for my goodness." All together now... "awww!" Really cute.
News from fellow PCVs- two friends have been chased out of their classes while teaching due to swarms of bees. Yea. Also, another friend had a "demonic possession" outbreak amongst female students for a solid 12 days. Just leave that one alone. Interesting, but all is well now.
I've recently made good friends with some seamstresses in my town- they're awesome and it's nice to hang out with girls my age. Though it's alittle hard to communicate since my Pular is minimal, as is their French, but good times nonetheless.
Anywho- I'm leaving on a jetplane TOMORROW NIGHT so that's darn exciting. In preparation for that, lots of my friends at site have been so excited telling me, "oh your family is going to be so excited to see you! they're going to know that africa is good for you because you've gotten bigger!" Love it. Mom, Dad- at least they want you to be able to tell that I'm eating well! haha
Everyone's been really cute the last couple days before I left- everyone wants to make sure they greet my whole family and that they wish all good things to you all. I've gotten many presents from friends here to give to my family at home- just really cool the hospitality and generosity of people here.
I'm reading one of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books and this quote really stood out in that respect:
"Ties of kinship, no matter how attenuated by distance or time, linked one person to another, weaving across the country a human blanket of love and community. And in the fibres of that blanket there were threads of obligation that meant that one could not ignore the claims of others. Nobody should starve; nobody should feel that they were outsiders; nobody should be alone in their sadness."
Just really liked that. Things I know we can learn in America that sometimes we may overlook.
Anyway- fourlast minute hilarious things that I experienced today:
1. a baby got something in his eye, so we saw the mother pull our her breast and start to squirt her breast milk into her baby's eye.... totally serious.
2. in a bush taxi, the guy on our left pulled the window-roller-downer handle off the door to hand to the guy on our right so he could also roll down the window. yes, this is where cars come to die.
3. bush taxi driver- takes off his hat, and puts on his sunglasses. without any glass in them. so he was just wearing nasty gold metal frames- to block...? we still haven't figured it out.
4. and lastly- a friend of mine who is studying chemistry at university here was talking about how in lab they mastered the "dosage" of how to make the best juice. I mean really, what else do you expect Chem University students to learn in the lab, other than the perfect balance of tea leaves, sugar, and water?
brilliant.
can't wait to see you all THIS WEEK!! ahh! love you!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Things Not Uncommon to my Guinean life... that may be thought of as weird in the U.S.
1. bucket bathing
2. using a hole in the ground rather than a toilet
3. greetings that last for approx 5-10 minutes
4. putting on a sweatshirt when it's 65 degrees
5. class scheduled for 8 and students starting to trickle in around 8:20
6. grown, educated men debating about foreign conflicts by drawing maps in the dirt with sticks
7. drinking (as opposed to eating) oranges
8. having students drop out of 9th grade (or lower) to get married (maybe as wife number 3)
9. biking in a skirt
10. the majority of my diet consisting of things that come directly from nature
11. biking 45 k because it's more convenient than taxis
12. nosepicking
13. finishing "grocery" shopping with the cost totalling up to $1.50
2. using a hole in the ground rather than a toilet
3. greetings that last for approx 5-10 minutes
4. putting on a sweatshirt when it's 65 degrees
5. class scheduled for 8 and students starting to trickle in around 8:20
6. grown, educated men debating about foreign conflicts by drawing maps in the dirt with sticks
7. drinking (as opposed to eating) oranges
8. having students drop out of 9th grade (or lower) to get married (maybe as wife number 3)
9. biking in a skirt
10. the majority of my diet consisting of things that come directly from nature
11. biking 45 k because it's more convenient than taxis
12. nosepicking
13. finishing "grocery" shopping with the cost totalling up to $1.50
So it rained?
Dry season- sort of. We've had two pretty big rains- which I don't think is normal this time of year, but I wouldn't know.
Teaching has been going really well and I've been feeling really good about my friends at site and living in my town. I am starting to kind of feel like I don't do anything, so I'm definitely going to try to start a bunch of new things soon. Hopefully I'll feel alittle more productive then.
I went to visit Lisa the other weekend (she greets you all)... and we ended up hanging out at her health center because her Principal's wife had her baby. So we went to meet the approximately 6 hour old baby girl. Awesome. So we were hanging out with the doctor and he was like, oh wait! I want you guys to attend this. I'm going to cut off the newborn's sixth finger. ... So we were liike- well yes! Then as we sat in the "lobby" while he prepared, we started thinking- wait, do we really want to see this? we're in the bush of Africa and this baby isn't even a day old. But then it was time. ANd it wasn't actually like a full-fledged 6th finger. It was like a string of skin with a bulb of finger? on the end of it. So he tied a string and killed it before he snipped it . So Lisa held down the baby's arm and I let the baby grip my finger. It was pretty awesome and we were a little refreshed with how well the doc handled it. Pretty neat!
I baked lemon squares with my Guinean mom at site, Neene Kadiatou (previously I called her Tanty, now she's my mom). But it was probably one of the most fun times. Not to mention delicious? We did the dutch oven thing and used lemons from her garden and it was a big success.
I've also been hanging out at this cafe with my other Guinean family members and they just opened a video club too. SO they've been watching all the football (soccer) games and it's kind of hilarious to see how similar people can be when it comes to watching sports. Most of my older male students were there and they just get so into it. Not to mention it's one of 4 tvs in my entire area- so it's a rarer passtime which automatically makes it more fun. But they yell at the screen and cheer as if they were there. Pretty entertaining stuff.
I think that about wraps up what I've been doing. At least the things of note. I'm coming home for Easter! So I'm pretty unbelievably excited for that and to see all of your beautiful faces!
love and miss you all (comme d'habitude)
~rb
Teaching has been going really well and I've been feeling really good about my friends at site and living in my town. I am starting to kind of feel like I don't do anything, so I'm definitely going to try to start a bunch of new things soon. Hopefully I'll feel alittle more productive then.
I went to visit Lisa the other weekend (she greets you all)... and we ended up hanging out at her health center because her Principal's wife had her baby. So we went to meet the approximately 6 hour old baby girl. Awesome. So we were hanging out with the doctor and he was like, oh wait! I want you guys to attend this. I'm going to cut off the newborn's sixth finger. ... So we were liike- well yes! Then as we sat in the "lobby" while he prepared, we started thinking- wait, do we really want to see this? we're in the bush of Africa and this baby isn't even a day old. But then it was time. ANd it wasn't actually like a full-fledged 6th finger. It was like a string of skin with a bulb of finger? on the end of it. So he tied a string and killed it before he snipped it . So Lisa held down the baby's arm and I let the baby grip my finger. It was pretty awesome and we were a little refreshed with how well the doc handled it. Pretty neat!
I baked lemon squares with my Guinean mom at site, Neene Kadiatou (previously I called her Tanty, now she's my mom). But it was probably one of the most fun times. Not to mention delicious? We did the dutch oven thing and used lemons from her garden and it was a big success.
I've also been hanging out at this cafe with my other Guinean family members and they just opened a video club too. SO they've been watching all the football (soccer) games and it's kind of hilarious to see how similar people can be when it comes to watching sports. Most of my older male students were there and they just get so into it. Not to mention it's one of 4 tvs in my entire area- so it's a rarer passtime which automatically makes it more fun. But they yell at the screen and cheer as if they were there. Pretty entertaining stuff.
I think that about wraps up what I've been doing. At least the things of note. I'm coming home for Easter! So I'm pretty unbelievably excited for that and to see all of your beautiful faces!
love and miss you all (comme d'habitude)
~rb
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Naange no wuli
That is to say, the sun is hot. Damn hot. The cold did not last... at all.
So finished the first semester of school, gave compositions, and tallied grades.
9th grade: 58% fail, 40% pass. nice..
10th grade: 40% fail, 59% pass. a little better.
11th SE: 42% fail, 58% pass
11th SS: 27% fail, 73% pass- my best class.
11th SM: 17% fail, 83% pass.
Some highlights from the tests:
--when asked to translate "comment vas-tu?" searching for the response "how are you?", some students chose to answer the question. One 9th grader wrote, "Ayame fay ind you." (I'm fine, and you)
--When asked "what time is it?" for 14:15, one 10th grader wrote "it is tentyfour tenty-five."
Some real stars in those classes! Haha good times nonetheless.
Got a new cat, his or her meows sound like Donald duck...so that's been fun haha.
Went to Dougaya again, this time with Lisa- same unending hospitality and a lovely time.
And sadly on 8 Feb, I found out one of my best girl students- who's completely motivated and smart- which is a hard combination to find in the girls here, just got married. She'll be moving out of Guinea with her new husband, and more likely than not- not finishing school. Completely heartbreaking for me. Total bummer. Some things in this culture I love, and then there's things like that that totally bum me out.
Anywho- that's about it for now. Love and miss you all- as per usual. Keep me posted on your lives
<3
So finished the first semester of school, gave compositions, and tallied grades.
9th grade: 58% fail, 40% pass. nice..
10th grade: 40% fail, 59% pass. a little better.
11th SE: 42% fail, 58% pass
11th SS: 27% fail, 73% pass- my best class.
11th SM: 17% fail, 83% pass.
Some highlights from the tests:
--when asked to translate "comment vas-tu?" searching for the response "how are you?", some students chose to answer the question. One 9th grader wrote, "Ayame fay ind you." (I'm fine, and you)
--When asked "what time is it?" for 14:15, one 10th grader wrote "it is tentyfour tenty-five."
Some real stars in those classes! Haha good times nonetheless.
Got a new cat, his or her meows sound like Donald duck...so that's been fun haha.
Went to Dougaya again, this time with Lisa- same unending hospitality and a lovely time.
And sadly on 8 Feb, I found out one of my best girl students- who's completely motivated and smart- which is a hard combination to find in the girls here, just got married. She'll be moving out of Guinea with her new husband, and more likely than not- not finishing school. Completely heartbreaking for me. Total bummer. Some things in this culture I love, and then there's things like that that totally bum me out.
Anywho- that's about it for now. Love and miss you all- as per usual. Keep me posted on your lives
<3
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Highlights from January 2009
Well, like last time, I've been writing down random things I do that might be interesting to hear about since last time I had internet, so here's some updates on what I've been doing for my first month of 2009.
Welp, unfortunately got back to site and found out that Leppi, my adorable kitten, had died on Christmas morning. They don't know what happened to her, but she passed quickly. The Peppers made a nice grave for her, and so it goes, I've lost my first pet ever. But, luckily, a friend of mine's cat just had kittens, so we're going to try again. This one, whose gender I still don't know, will be named Njemma (pronounced "jemma") which is Pular for "night."
I was pretty sick for New Years, but New Years day, Conor and I got to spend amongst the missionary families in my town, so it was very warm and familial, which was lovely and refreshing since I can't as easily spend it amongst my vrai famille. So 2009 started well.
Since the New Year, there have been a lot of parties for people who have recently returned from the Hadj in Mecca. So I went to one party for that where I got to try a Baobab fruit- exciting! It was tasty and made me feel that much more closer to the book, Le Petit Prince. Also, baobabs are awesome. I went to another village for another party for a Guinean who actually lives in the U.S. now who also just got back from Mecca. Mainly, you greet a lot of people and eat a lot of food and do a lot of sitting. They also did a reading of the Koran. Which, as my friend explained to me, was all the men (about 40-50) separate parts of the Koran and everyone reads a different section in Arabic all at the same time so after about an hour or so, the entire Koran is read. Seems a little odd to me, and I don't really understand whether or not anyone gets any fulfillment from that process. But, again, perhaps I just don't understand.
It's been cold at site. Yes. I wear my sweatshirt every morning and night, and after biking to school, I haven't been able to feel my toes. Maybe that means I'm a wuss and it's probably still 50 degrees- but let me tell you- it feels stinkin cold! And I like it! Also it's been super dusty and windy- the harmattan- they call it. which is dust being brought by the winds, carrying sand from the Sahara. So that's kind of neat to think about.
My neighbor's sister passed away. Which I found out about because of the intense wailing coming from their house. Guinean mourning is probably the worst, most heart-wrenching sound I've ever heard. Sometimes people hire wailers, to mourn the dead. But either way, it's rough to listen to.
Another thing I find interesting is how if something does not exist in their lives here, they don't have a word for it in local language or don't know the French word. For example, some students had never heard of a bear before. Never. Not the word, couldn't picture it, and it doesn't exist in Pular. It's interesting because even if something doesn't exist directly in our lives in America, we have internet and access to information in so many different aspects. In villages here, if they don't see it, they don't know it exists. Kind of weird to think about.
A highlight for me, since I've been in Guinea, let alone since I've been at site, I went to visit a family in a village about 7 k away. They met me in the market and invited me to visit, which would never happen in America. Or if someone invited you, you would definitely not go. But, I went. And it was one of my best days in country. Or ever. I biked there with the dad of the family and the town is beautiful. On a mountain, beautiful trails, and a peak you can stand on and see for miles. Really beautiful. But, not even that, the family was extravagantly generous. It still blows my mind to think about it. They instantly peeled 5 oranges, cracked tons of peanuts, , chicken to cook for me, only for me, and before I left gifted me with tons more oranges, sweet potatoes and peanuts. Invited me back anytime and I think really just want to be like a host family for me. It was truly awesome and this isn't really doing it justice, but maybe I'll eventually type up my journal entry about it another day. Over the past weeks when I visited them in the market, they've offered to do my laundry, and have also gifted me with a new Guinean outfit. Guinean generosity and hospitality has never ceased to amaze me.
As a final image for you guys to picture in your minds and laugh about, imagine Lisa getting into a SUV taxi, jam packed with Guineans, with the roof piled high with all of their bags, and then Lisa's bike and new cat in a cage strapped to the top of the pile. Hilarious moment, wish I took a picture, but oh well- it was pretty hilarious.
Anywho, I love and miss you all! I'm currently at our In-Service Training, so I have reception till Friday morning. It's been the first time all of G16 has been reunited since we've been at site, so it's been great so far and we're all having a great time swapping stories and just enjoying each other's company!
love and miss you all terribly and keep me posted on your lives!
p.s. I can't help but feel proud to be an American in Africa as our first African-American President has been elected and inaugurated. :) Cool stuff.
<3
rach
Welp, unfortunately got back to site and found out that Leppi, my adorable kitten, had died on Christmas morning. They don't know what happened to her, but she passed quickly. The Peppers made a nice grave for her, and so it goes, I've lost my first pet ever. But, luckily, a friend of mine's cat just had kittens, so we're going to try again. This one, whose gender I still don't know, will be named Njemma (pronounced "jemma") which is Pular for "night."
I was pretty sick for New Years, but New Years day, Conor and I got to spend amongst the missionary families in my town, so it was very warm and familial, which was lovely and refreshing since I can't as easily spend it amongst my vrai famille. So 2009 started well.
Since the New Year, there have been a lot of parties for people who have recently returned from the Hadj in Mecca. So I went to one party for that where I got to try a Baobab fruit- exciting! It was tasty and made me feel that much more closer to the book, Le Petit Prince. Also, baobabs are awesome. I went to another village for another party for a Guinean who actually lives in the U.S. now who also just got back from Mecca. Mainly, you greet a lot of people and eat a lot of food and do a lot of sitting. They also did a reading of the Koran. Which, as my friend explained to me, was all the men (about 40-50) separate parts of the Koran and everyone reads a different section in Arabic all at the same time so after about an hour or so, the entire Koran is read. Seems a little odd to me, and I don't really understand whether or not anyone gets any fulfillment from that process. But, again, perhaps I just don't understand.
It's been cold at site. Yes. I wear my sweatshirt every morning and night, and after biking to school, I haven't been able to feel my toes. Maybe that means I'm a wuss and it's probably still 50 degrees- but let me tell you- it feels stinkin cold! And I like it! Also it's been super dusty and windy- the harmattan- they call it. which is dust being brought by the winds, carrying sand from the Sahara. So that's kind of neat to think about.
My neighbor's sister passed away. Which I found out about because of the intense wailing coming from their house. Guinean mourning is probably the worst, most heart-wrenching sound I've ever heard. Sometimes people hire wailers, to mourn the dead. But either way, it's rough to listen to.
Another thing I find interesting is how if something does not exist in their lives here, they don't have a word for it in local language or don't know the French word. For example, some students had never heard of a bear before. Never. Not the word, couldn't picture it, and it doesn't exist in Pular. It's interesting because even if something doesn't exist directly in our lives in America, we have internet and access to information in so many different aspects. In villages here, if they don't see it, they don't know it exists. Kind of weird to think about.
A highlight for me, since I've been in Guinea, let alone since I've been at site, I went to visit a family in a village about 7 k away. They met me in the market and invited me to visit, which would never happen in America. Or if someone invited you, you would definitely not go. But, I went. And it was one of my best days in country. Or ever. I biked there with the dad of the family and the town is beautiful. On a mountain, beautiful trails, and a peak you can stand on and see for miles. Really beautiful. But, not even that, the family was extravagantly generous. It still blows my mind to think about it. They instantly peeled 5 oranges, cracked tons of peanuts, , chicken to cook for me, only for me, and before I left gifted me with tons more oranges, sweet potatoes and peanuts. Invited me back anytime and I think really just want to be like a host family for me. It was truly awesome and this isn't really doing it justice, but maybe I'll eventually type up my journal entry about it another day. Over the past weeks when I visited them in the market, they've offered to do my laundry, and have also gifted me with a new Guinean outfit. Guinean generosity and hospitality has never ceased to amaze me.
As a final image for you guys to picture in your minds and laugh about, imagine Lisa getting into a SUV taxi, jam packed with Guineans, with the roof piled high with all of their bags, and then Lisa's bike and new cat in a cage strapped to the top of the pile. Hilarious moment, wish I took a picture, but oh well- it was pretty hilarious.
Anywho, I love and miss you all! I'm currently at our In-Service Training, so I have reception till Friday morning. It's been the first time all of G16 has been reunited since we've been at site, so it's been great so far and we're all having a great time swapping stories and just enjoying each other's company!
love and miss you all terribly and keep me posted on your lives!
p.s. I can't help but feel proud to be an American in Africa as our first African-American President has been elected and inaugurated. :) Cool stuff.
<3
rach
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