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!