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
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Ringing in the New Year
So we rang in the new year last night because we are all getting the boot back to sites tomorrow. So- instead of missing out on celebrating together, we just pushed New Years up a few days. No big deal!
Things are seemingly back to normal around Conakry, the curfew has been lifted and all things seem to be going smoothly. Perhaps the smoothest coup d'etat in history? I don't really have the background for making that kind of statement, nor do I want to jinx us, so we'll just say things have gone smoothly.
There have been rumors of something like 40 days of mourning after the President's death... which would mean 40 days sans school... which would mean utter boredom. So, we're hoping that's pas vrai and that when we get back to site, we'll get to work as usual. But, we'll see I guess. I wouldn't be surprised if they took 40 days off school, but I'm just hoping it was a multiple person rumor. We'll see.
Bummer we didn't get to see all of the people from G16 due to the coup. But at least we have our IST (in-service training) coming up which will be the first time all of G16 is reunited since moving to sites. So everyone's really excited for that.
I guess that's about all the news for now. Don't know if I'll get to post again any time in the next month or so, but still send me updates and try calling!
Love and miss you all
Happy New Year!
love
rach
Things are seemingly back to normal around Conakry, the curfew has been lifted and all things seem to be going smoothly. Perhaps the smoothest coup d'etat in history? I don't really have the background for making that kind of statement, nor do I want to jinx us, so we'll just say things have gone smoothly.
There have been rumors of something like 40 days of mourning after the President's death... which would mean 40 days sans school... which would mean utter boredom. So, we're hoping that's pas vrai and that when we get back to site, we'll get to work as usual. But, we'll see I guess. I wouldn't be surprised if they took 40 days off school, but I'm just hoping it was a multiple person rumor. We'll see.
Bummer we didn't get to see all of the people from G16 due to the coup. But at least we have our IST (in-service training) coming up which will be the first time all of G16 is reunited since moving to sites. So everyone's really excited for that.
I guess that's about all the news for now. Don't know if I'll get to post again any time in the next month or so, but still send me updates and try calling!
Love and miss you all
Happy New Year!
love
rach
Friday, December 26, 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Merry Christmas!
Merry Merry Merrrry Christmas everyone!
Having a pretty good Christmas here, can't really complain, though I truly wish I could tell you all Merry Christmas in person. Hope it's the merriest and that you all eat tons of cookies and play in snow and eat till you can't move.
Things are pretty calm here- politically speaking. They named a new President and so far the reactions from people seem optimistic andhappy. So that's good news for everyone.
A couple other PCVs and I got up to make breakfast for everyone today. We started at 6:30 and we all ate around 11:00. Ha! We made a lot and things take more time here- you know- with one small stove and approximately 20 people. But we made enough to feed the army, so everyone was well stuffed- as it should be. We're heading to our Country Director's house tonight for a potluck so it should be good times.
Wish you all the verry verry best Christmas and holidays. Wish I was there.
Love and miss you all terribly.
"I'll be hoooome for Christmas, if only in my dreams"
also applicable (hopefully): "in a year we all will be together, if the fates allow"
love love love you all. Merry Christmas!
Having a pretty good Christmas here, can't really complain, though I truly wish I could tell you all Merry Christmas in person. Hope it's the merriest and that you all eat tons of cookies and play in snow and eat till you can't move.
Things are pretty calm here- politically speaking. They named a new President and so far the reactions from people seem optimistic andhappy. So that's good news for everyone.
A couple other PCVs and I got up to make breakfast for everyone today. We started at 6:30 and we all ate around 11:00. Ha! We made a lot and things take more time here- you know- with one small stove and approximately 20 people. But we made enough to feed the army, so everyone was well stuffed- as it should be. We're heading to our Country Director's house tonight for a potluck so it should be good times.
Wish you all the verry verry best Christmas and holidays. Wish I was there.
Love and miss you all terribly.
"I'll be hoooome for Christmas, if only in my dreams"
also applicable (hopefully): "in a year we all will be together, if the fates allow"
love love love you all. Merry Christmas!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Thierno, Thierno Oumar, and El-Hadj Abdoul. Three of my favorites that always come hang out with me on the porch. Probably one of the cutest pictures ever.
Erich and I and the Dame de Mali (a lady figure in the side of the mountain behind us... very cool).
Dedicated to Stephanie Anderson: view from the top of the Dame de Mali (where I finally got to talk to you on the phone and the day where I thought about nothing except that "mann Stef would love this")
Erich and the group and the solar dryer we built.
Back in September or October or something? Teaching a group in my town how to build a solar dryer.
Leppi as a kitten. She's a bit bigger now, but still totally cute with her awesome tiger-striped legs! haha. P.S. Alice- she eats all the time because I think she's trying to bulk up to be on par with the size of her future husband, Pearl. <3It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
...wellp not really. It doesn't quite LOOK like Christmas. Except for in the room of the PC house that we stayed up till 3am last night decorating with ribbons, snowmen, and snowflakes. It looks like Christmas in there!
So a bunch of us are together for the holidays- originally planning on going to Sierra Leone for the week after Christmas and for New Years, but alas- the president, Lansana Conte, died. And they announced that this morning, so we're all confined to the PC compound until further notice. It's all pretty calm apparently right now, but the military has taken over and the consitution has been suspended(so says the BBC), so we're all just kind of sitting around waiting to see what will happen next. Kind of stinks because some people hadn't left their sites yet, so might not get to make it here for Christmas. Bummer. And the new group of trainees aren't allowed to come in either, so we had a bunch of things planned for them, that now we can't really do. Bummer, and probably going to be a much harder Christmas for them since they just got to country at the beginning of this month and now they're spending Christmas at the training site with their host families and I guess the other PC workers that are there. Kinda stinks for them.
Anywho- Since the last couple times I blogged, I decided I'd start writing things down to remember to blog them when I get internet. As to not let you avid readers down. Ha. So here are some things I've been up to since Thanksgiving!
I'm still working on learning Pular- I have a couple students that come over once a week and we do a little English-Pular exchange, but then there's moments like the one when I found out there are 19 different words for "cow" in Pular. So... I guess it'll take some time before I feel a little mor confident in the language. ha!
I saw my first snake in country- very little. But it was pretty hilarious. My boss for PC came to visit and we were chatting on my porch when we saw the little guy out in front of my house. He was in the middle of trying to eat a frog when the PC driver chucked a large rock at it and killed it. Great moment haha
A typical day in the life of Fatoumata Binta Diallo at site:
-school day: wake up around 6/6:30, eat oatmeal and bananas, bike to school (always the first to arrive... Guinea time is NOT like America time, once people show up, they raise the flag and sing the anthem ("sing" is more like it, because I've actually never heard a line of it. There are about 500 students at school, but they prefer whispering the anthem so I don't really know what it sounds like), teach 8 (8:30 is more like it)-10, then a little break to shmooz with the other teachers before teaching 10:15 (10:30 is more like it)- 12:15. then bike home.
-for lunch I sometimes cook, or eat at a rice bar, at a friend or neighbor's house, or at the missionaries house.
-generally spend a large part of the afternoon sitting around- reading, grading, coloring with crayons, or sitting and listening to tapes with my petit, El-Hadj Abdoul.
- my free time includes a lot of sitting (I'm a professional now), listening to tapes with the little kids that like to hang out around my house, going up the hill to make phone calls, pumping water, visiting missionaries, visiting friends, and watching Leppi, etc.
Just thought I'd try to paint a picture of a day in the life.
Learned how to make attaya one day with my friend Ismael. Attaya is a chinese tea thing that they make that's really tasty and verrry caffeinated.
Two weeks ago was the Fete of Tabaski (Muslim holiday where they celebrated Abraham sacrificing the ram instead of his son). Dates in this country are never really official. So the whole week before, people said the holiday was Tuesday, then Sunday night, someone made some announcement saying that it was Monday. So on Monday, I went to the prayer with everyone (dressed in my new African outfit), neat to observe...though it was kind of odd because there were photographers walking around? and2 of the 3 randomly came up and wanted to take my picture with the older ladies I was sitting with. Kind of awkward? But apparently, not so abnormal? Anywys, then we ate a lot, then zig-zagged through town greeting everyone and their mom with my friend Diaraye (she's a teacher at the primary school and she's awesome. Helps me out a lot). So ate, greeted everyone in town, then ate more, then went home. Tuesday- was also the holiday. Obviously. But, I went to school for funsies to see if anyone would show up- not a soul in sight. My proviseur showed up and we chatted for a bit and he rang the bell as if that would make the students come to school. Then we left. His son came with him on the moto, and his son wasn't even dressed in uniform. So I guess he just came to go through the motions as a little joke. Oh well.
Anyways, day 2 of the holiday, went with Diaraye again and greeted everyone and their mom in the next town over that was about a 1k walk away. Ate about 78 times, greeted about 600 people, and took a nap in some random person's house? Also, apparently not weird... for them at least. Haha.
So the holiday = a week of nothing for me. Went to school on Wednesday- but they also take the "day after the holiday" off... which was Tuesday, Wednesday, maybe Thursday... who knows? So showed up Wednesday, 4 other teachers and approximately 25 students (out of 475 ish) showed up between 8 and 10:30. Sat around and hung out with the teachers for a while before we all went home again. Oh, and because they had a week of kind-of-school, the next Monday, they scheduled their PTA meeting at 10, so the kids would get out early then too. Good thing they don't need to be in class or anything. Anywhooo C'est la Guinee.
Went to a cookout out the missionaries house- had hot dogs, shmores, and planned on watching the meteor shower in the wee hours of the morning, but the moon was full and super bright all night. So, no meteor shower, but good times nonetheless. Conor and Lisa came in for it too, so we had a great time and played Holiday charades and ate well. Also, got to watch It's a Wonderful Life the next morning. Which was heart warming and also kind of sad? Miss you guys.
Recently, found out about some weddings in my town. Asked my friends about it and if they were students that got married. Answer was yes. A girl in my 9th grade class is now the 3rd wife of someone and no longer going to be in school. Another girl in SIXTH grade got married, but it's ok, she failed twice, so she SHOULD be in 8th grade... that's totally old enough. Ugh. Sad state for these young girls. Wish they'd stay in school.
Anywho. That's about all I have for now. We decorated the crap out of our PC house here for Christmas, but as much as I'm glad I have my PC family here to celebrate with, still wish I could be with you all. Also wish I didn't have to wear flip flops and no sleeves, but oh well. We made fake snow and sit in the air conditioning while were here to try to feel like winter :)
Love you and miss you all- even more during the holiday season. Really grateful that I have all of you in my life though and know that I'm thinking of you constantly! Call me anytime, because I, in theory, have cell phone reception for the next 2 weeks ish.
Again, love and miss you. Holidays just aren't the same without you, but hope they're the merriest for you all over there!
love
rach
So a bunch of us are together for the holidays- originally planning on going to Sierra Leone for the week after Christmas and for New Years, but alas- the president, Lansana Conte, died. And they announced that this morning, so we're all confined to the PC compound until further notice. It's all pretty calm apparently right now, but the military has taken over and the consitution has been suspended(so says the BBC), so we're all just kind of sitting around waiting to see what will happen next. Kind of stinks because some people hadn't left their sites yet, so might not get to make it here for Christmas. Bummer. And the new group of trainees aren't allowed to come in either, so we had a bunch of things planned for them, that now we can't really do. Bummer, and probably going to be a much harder Christmas for them since they just got to country at the beginning of this month and now they're spending Christmas at the training site with their host families and I guess the other PC workers that are there. Kinda stinks for them.
Anywho- Since the last couple times I blogged, I decided I'd start writing things down to remember to blog them when I get internet. As to not let you avid readers down. Ha. So here are some things I've been up to since Thanksgiving!
I'm still working on learning Pular- I have a couple students that come over once a week and we do a little English-Pular exchange, but then there's moments like the one when I found out there are 19 different words for "cow" in Pular. So... I guess it'll take some time before I feel a little mor confident in the language. ha!
I saw my first snake in country- very little. But it was pretty hilarious. My boss for PC came to visit and we were chatting on my porch when we saw the little guy out in front of my house. He was in the middle of trying to eat a frog when the PC driver chucked a large rock at it and killed it. Great moment haha
A typical day in the life of Fatoumata Binta Diallo at site:
-school day: wake up around 6/6:30, eat oatmeal and bananas, bike to school (always the first to arrive... Guinea time is NOT like America time, once people show up, they raise the flag and sing the anthem ("sing" is more like it, because I've actually never heard a line of it. There are about 500 students at school, but they prefer whispering the anthem so I don't really know what it sounds like), teach 8 (8:30 is more like it)-10, then a little break to shmooz with the other teachers before teaching 10:15 (10:30 is more like it)- 12:15. then bike home.
-for lunch I sometimes cook, or eat at a rice bar, at a friend or neighbor's house, or at the missionaries house.
-generally spend a large part of the afternoon sitting around- reading, grading, coloring with crayons, or sitting and listening to tapes with my petit, El-Hadj Abdoul.
- my free time includes a lot of sitting (I'm a professional now), listening to tapes with the little kids that like to hang out around my house, going up the hill to make phone calls, pumping water, visiting missionaries, visiting friends, and watching Leppi, etc.
Just thought I'd try to paint a picture of a day in the life.
Learned how to make attaya one day with my friend Ismael. Attaya is a chinese tea thing that they make that's really tasty and verrry caffeinated.
Two weeks ago was the Fete of Tabaski (Muslim holiday where they celebrated Abraham sacrificing the ram instead of his son). Dates in this country are never really official. So the whole week before, people said the holiday was Tuesday, then Sunday night, someone made some announcement saying that it was Monday. So on Monday, I went to the prayer with everyone (dressed in my new African outfit), neat to observe...though it was kind of odd because there were photographers walking around? and2 of the 3 randomly came up and wanted to take my picture with the older ladies I was sitting with. Kind of awkward? But apparently, not so abnormal? Anywys, then we ate a lot, then zig-zagged through town greeting everyone and their mom with my friend Diaraye (she's a teacher at the primary school and she's awesome. Helps me out a lot). So ate, greeted everyone in town, then ate more, then went home. Tuesday- was also the holiday. Obviously. But, I went to school for funsies to see if anyone would show up- not a soul in sight. My proviseur showed up and we chatted for a bit and he rang the bell as if that would make the students come to school. Then we left. His son came with him on the moto, and his son wasn't even dressed in uniform. So I guess he just came to go through the motions as a little joke. Oh well.
Anyways, day 2 of the holiday, went with Diaraye again and greeted everyone and their mom in the next town over that was about a 1k walk away. Ate about 78 times, greeted about 600 people, and took a nap in some random person's house? Also, apparently not weird... for them at least. Haha.
So the holiday = a week of nothing for me. Went to school on Wednesday- but they also take the "day after the holiday" off... which was Tuesday, Wednesday, maybe Thursday... who knows? So showed up Wednesday, 4 other teachers and approximately 25 students (out of 475 ish) showed up between 8 and 10:30. Sat around and hung out with the teachers for a while before we all went home again. Oh, and because they had a week of kind-of-school, the next Monday, they scheduled their PTA meeting at 10, so the kids would get out early then too. Good thing they don't need to be in class or anything. Anywhooo C'est la Guinee.
Went to a cookout out the missionaries house- had hot dogs, shmores, and planned on watching the meteor shower in the wee hours of the morning, but the moon was full and super bright all night. So, no meteor shower, but good times nonetheless. Conor and Lisa came in for it too, so we had a great time and played Holiday charades and ate well. Also, got to watch It's a Wonderful Life the next morning. Which was heart warming and also kind of sad? Miss you guys.
Recently, found out about some weddings in my town. Asked my friends about it and if they were students that got married. Answer was yes. A girl in my 9th grade class is now the 3rd wife of someone and no longer going to be in school. Another girl in SIXTH grade got married, but it's ok, she failed twice, so she SHOULD be in 8th grade... that's totally old enough. Ugh. Sad state for these young girls. Wish they'd stay in school.
Anywho. That's about all I have for now. We decorated the crap out of our PC house here for Christmas, but as much as I'm glad I have my PC family here to celebrate with, still wish I could be with you all. Also wish I didn't have to wear flip flops and no sleeves, but oh well. We made fake snow and sit in the air conditioning while were here to try to feel like winter :)
Love you and miss you all- even more during the holiday season. Really grateful that I have all of you in my life though and know that I'm thinking of you constantly! Call me anytime, because I, in theory, have cell phone reception for the next 2 weeks ish.
Again, love and miss you. Holidays just aren't the same without you, but hope they're the merriest for you all over there!
love
rach
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Happy Turkey day!
Hey ohhh
I'm trying to think of exciting things to tell you, but life has been pretty normal for my life in Africa. So site is good. Schools going well. This week more than half of the teachers were out of town, leaving the students with a, shall we say, relaxed schedule. I got a ride into Labe with our Doc who came to make some site visits. We're going to try to recreate an american holiday in africa. I'll let you know how it goes.
For now, I'm trying to load pics, but the internet, and computer, are kind of frustrating and terribly slow. Hopefully I'll get to load at least a couple. A Guinean fete, Tabaski, is coming up. So I'm getting a new outfit made- should be sweet. Guineans get new outfits for every holiday, so it's only natural that I do the same.
A random fact: Guineans turn off their cars/motos when they're going down hill. Random. But, true.
Welp, don't have much exciting news, so keep me posted on your lives and have a happy turkey day! eat some baconf or me!
loove you
I'm trying to think of exciting things to tell you, but life has been pretty normal for my life in Africa. So site is good. Schools going well. This week more than half of the teachers were out of town, leaving the students with a, shall we say, relaxed schedule. I got a ride into Labe with our Doc who came to make some site visits. We're going to try to recreate an american holiday in africa. I'll let you know how it goes.
For now, I'm trying to load pics, but the internet, and computer, are kind of frustrating and terribly slow. Hopefully I'll get to load at least a couple. A Guinean fete, Tabaski, is coming up. So I'm getting a new outfit made- should be sweet. Guineans get new outfits for every holiday, so it's only natural that I do the same.
A random fact: Guineans turn off their cars/motos when they're going down hill. Random. But, true.
Welp, don't have much exciting news, so keep me posted on your lives and have a happy turkey day! eat some baconf or me!
loove you
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