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
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Friday, October 31, 2008
Oh!
And now I have a kitten!!
She's adorable and has biked more in this country than I have. Erich brought her down from his site as a gift for my bday. She's cute but meows sooooo much but hopefully with age that'll settle down. Her name's Leppi (which is atype of fabric they sell mainly up near Erich's site). She's cute and eats bugs and gives me someone to talk to in my house instead of just me! haha
love you all
She's adorable and has biked more in this country than I have. Erich brought her down from his site as a gift for my bday. She's cute but meows sooooo much but hopefully with age that'll settle down. Her name's Leppi (which is atype of fabric they sell mainly up near Erich's site). She's cute and eats bugs and gives me someone to talk to in my house instead of just me! haha
love you all
First month at site...Success!
And by success, I mean filled with highs and lows. Obviously.
Been at my site for a month now and approaching my 4 monthiversary of being in Guinea. Site is good. I like my town a lot and have made a few crucial friends. There are a couple of missionary families in my town, so they have been INFINITELY helpful and just reassuring to have around. One is a Doctor (Dr. Pepper- no joke) and both families have just been so great and they definitely spoil me when I stop by.
Some of my friends came to visit for my birthday weekend, so that was really good. We killed a chicken and fried it in old bay and made old bay fries (is there any other way?) the chicken was, well, lots of skin and little meat. But that's because chickens in Guinea walk around and eat whatever they find. We should've bought it a couple weeks earlier and had it sit and eat fattening things so we could've gotten a little more meat off it. But at least it was fried with old bay, right??
Thank you so much to all the birthday letters and packages that also made my birthday lovely! I can't say I didn't have a minor meltdown the day before my birthday reading about all of your shenanigans in America, but this life comes with the highs and lows, am I right? But, yes. Thank you all sooo much.
So school started. It isn't the anomaly we all thought. Though, I still wake up every morning finding it hard to motivate myself to be on time when I know no matter what time I get there, I'll still beat most students and most teachers there. But, nevertheless, classes have started and are going pretty well. The biggest frustrations I think come from the education system (lack thereof?) because there are still teachers that don't show up- so where is the motivation for students? Anyways. I show up and I teach and that's the most I can do on that front. Classes are ogood tho and people are motivated to learn English so I've already started a couple informal review sessions with some girls in my classes (and some that just want to learn).
When school didn't start the day they said it would, I was obviously frustrated. But, Erich was in town and we set up to teach a group of women and a couple men how to build a solar dryer and how to make jam so they can conserve products for when the season passes. And that was probably one of the most rewarding experiences so far. The group was so motivated to learn about it and their minds were totally blown with the fact that once you put the jam in a jar and seal it, it can last up to 3 months. Really cool to see Guineans motivated to better their own standings. Really really cool.
So, site is good. I'm in Labe now for Halloween (party tonight) and then a meeting Saturday. Hopefully I can find a ride back to site Sunday... transportation and communication in this country leave a little to be desired, to say the least.
But, I'm doing well. I of course miss you all terribly and can't wait to get some updates! I've been starting to bike more (to neighboring towns) so thats been cool too. Keep me posted on your lives and sorry I couldn't load pictures this time, I forgot to bring my camera cord when I left the house this morning!!
LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU
HAPPY HALLOWEEEEEN!!!!! And keep being the amazing people that you are!! <3
Been at my site for a month now and approaching my 4 monthiversary of being in Guinea. Site is good. I like my town a lot and have made a few crucial friends. There are a couple of missionary families in my town, so they have been INFINITELY helpful and just reassuring to have around. One is a Doctor (Dr. Pepper- no joke) and both families have just been so great and they definitely spoil me when I stop by.
Some of my friends came to visit for my birthday weekend, so that was really good. We killed a chicken and fried it in old bay and made old bay fries (is there any other way?) the chicken was, well, lots of skin and little meat. But that's because chickens in Guinea walk around and eat whatever they find. We should've bought it a couple weeks earlier and had it sit and eat fattening things so we could've gotten a little more meat off it. But at least it was fried with old bay, right??
Thank you so much to all the birthday letters and packages that also made my birthday lovely! I can't say I didn't have a minor meltdown the day before my birthday reading about all of your shenanigans in America, but this life comes with the highs and lows, am I right? But, yes. Thank you all sooo much.
So school started. It isn't the anomaly we all thought. Though, I still wake up every morning finding it hard to motivate myself to be on time when I know no matter what time I get there, I'll still beat most students and most teachers there. But, nevertheless, classes have started and are going pretty well. The biggest frustrations I think come from the education system (lack thereof?) because there are still teachers that don't show up- so where is the motivation for students? Anyways. I show up and I teach and that's the most I can do on that front. Classes are ogood tho and people are motivated to learn English so I've already started a couple informal review sessions with some girls in my classes (and some that just want to learn).
When school didn't start the day they said it would, I was obviously frustrated. But, Erich was in town and we set up to teach a group of women and a couple men how to build a solar dryer and how to make jam so they can conserve products for when the season passes. And that was probably one of the most rewarding experiences so far. The group was so motivated to learn about it and their minds were totally blown with the fact that once you put the jam in a jar and seal it, it can last up to 3 months. Really cool to see Guineans motivated to better their own standings. Really really cool.
So, site is good. I'm in Labe now for Halloween (party tonight) and then a meeting Saturday. Hopefully I can find a ride back to site Sunday... transportation and communication in this country leave a little to be desired, to say the least.
But, I'm doing well. I of course miss you all terribly and can't wait to get some updates! I've been starting to bike more (to neighboring towns) so thats been cool too. Keep me posted on your lives and sorry I couldn't load pictures this time, I forgot to bring my camera cord when I left the house this morning!!
LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU
HAPPY HALLOWEEEEEN!!!!! And keep being the amazing people that you are!! <3
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Me, Carolina, Tiffany and some students from the 12eme class of Practice School. This was the End-of-Practice-School Awards Ceremony.
Turn your head to the right, and you'll see Fatoumata Binta Diallo 1 and 2 in matching complets. This was taken this morning at the Goodbye Ceremony in Forecariah before we left our families.
The Diallo Family, minus the dad. Binta holding Ibrahim, me holding Dalanda, my mom, and bro Saidou. This morning at the Goodbye Ceremony.
My home for the next two years! My Proviseur is on the far right, the Directeur de la Sous-prefecture de l'education is on my other side, and on the far left is Ousmane Sow, the Peace Corps drive for the Fouta region, and also, the man.
Two days away from Swearing in!!
Helllooo long lost blog-readers!! Hope you're all doing well!!
This is the first time I've had internet access in, well, you can tell, a while.
But, I'm done training! In Conakry now, getting ready to set up for our lives as real PC Volunteers! We swear-in as Volunteers on Friday, so until then, we're living the life, opening bank accounts, and shopping for necessities to live at site!
G-16: started training with 25, swearing in with 25! I'm so proud of us all! Everyone made it through and we're just an awesome group! So many cool people and all really motivated!
Training is done, had to say goodbye to our host families this morning, which was kind of sad. I think we were all ready to move on, but still sad to say goodbye to the people. Definitely ready to have more control over our schedules and our daily lives tho. My family was awesome so hopefully I'll get to go back and visit sometime! My homonym (Binta) and I wore matching complets for the ceremony, so that was clearly adorable. I gave the thank you/goodbye speech in Pular so that was fun. I didn't really write it. But I read it! and apparently people understood it! So hooray!!
Tomorrow we do banking stuff, Friday we swear in and [arty, Saturday shopping and party and then Sunday we head out to our various locations around the country. I'm hopefully going to be able to post a few pics on here so you all can get a glimpse into my African life.
It's been so long since I've posted, so I don't really know what all to tell you guys! Met one of the professors from the high school I'll be teaching at. He seems pretty cool. My high school is apparently approx 400 students, out of which 100 ish are girls. No other female teachers, and no other English teachers. We move into site in a week or so, and then school starts Oct 15 (supposedly, but we'll see). So that gives us a few weeks to work on making our house a home- our little mini American/oasis to escape from Guinea if need be. I can always bike an hour or so tho to see another volunteer if I get too lonely, so I'm lucky for that!
Love you all and miss you soo much! It's a bummer to be missing the birthdays, holidays, and just regular days, but I know I'm living those over here with a new group of people too. It's weird that it's already late September, since seasons here aren't really changing, so I still feel like it's summer! Weird. I think I'll really miss the fall and winter- especially come holiday time! But oh well, c'est la vie en Guinee!
Doing really well over here! Everyday makes me glad I chose to do the Peace Corps- even if I miss some things at home and DEFINITELY the people (not to mention the BACON NIGHT AT A BAR IN PITTSBURGH THAT KAREEM JUST TOLD ME ABOUT!!). But! Guinea is great and I'm doing well and staying healthy! (knock on wood!)
LOVE YOU GUYS! KEEP IN TOUCH!
This is the first time I've had internet access in, well, you can tell, a while.
But, I'm done training! In Conakry now, getting ready to set up for our lives as real PC Volunteers! We swear-in as Volunteers on Friday, so until then, we're living the life, opening bank accounts, and shopping for necessities to live at site!
G-16: started training with 25, swearing in with 25! I'm so proud of us all! Everyone made it through and we're just an awesome group! So many cool people and all really motivated!
Training is done, had to say goodbye to our host families this morning, which was kind of sad. I think we were all ready to move on, but still sad to say goodbye to the people. Definitely ready to have more control over our schedules and our daily lives tho. My family was awesome so hopefully I'll get to go back and visit sometime! My homonym (Binta) and I wore matching complets for the ceremony, so that was clearly adorable. I gave the thank you/goodbye speech in Pular so that was fun. I didn't really write it. But I read it! and apparently people understood it! So hooray!!
Tomorrow we do banking stuff, Friday we swear in and [arty, Saturday shopping and party and then Sunday we head out to our various locations around the country. I'm hopefully going to be able to post a few pics on here so you all can get a glimpse into my African life.
It's been so long since I've posted, so I don't really know what all to tell you guys! Met one of the professors from the high school I'll be teaching at. He seems pretty cool. My high school is apparently approx 400 students, out of which 100 ish are girls. No other female teachers, and no other English teachers. We move into site in a week or so, and then school starts Oct 15 (supposedly, but we'll see). So that gives us a few weeks to work on making our house a home- our little mini American/oasis to escape from Guinea if need be. I can always bike an hour or so tho to see another volunteer if I get too lonely, so I'm lucky for that!
Love you all and miss you soo much! It's a bummer to be missing the birthdays, holidays, and just regular days, but I know I'm living those over here with a new group of people too. It's weird that it's already late September, since seasons here aren't really changing, so I still feel like it's summer! Weird. I think I'll really miss the fall and winter- especially come holiday time! But oh well, c'est la vie en Guinee!
Doing really well over here! Everyday makes me glad I chose to do the Peace Corps- even if I miss some things at home and DEFINITELY the people (not to mention the BACON NIGHT AT A BAR IN PITTSBURGH THAT KAREEM JUST TOLD ME ABOUT!!). But! Guinea is great and I'm doing well and staying healthy! (knock on wood!)
LOVE YOU GUYS! KEEP IN TOUCH!
Monday, August 18, 2008
Back in Labe after site visit
sooo ignore the lack of punctuation and capital letters im using the french keyboard
so we did a whirlwind tour of 8 sites in a day and a half. my site name is kankalabe and its a pretty bumpin town. my house is big and my principal and other official that i met are both really nice. the fouta is full of beautiful rides, but terrible roads. luckily no one got too sick and we got to see a lot of towns. now we get to take a breather and relax and hang out with americans.
sorry these posts are brief, but ill do better at answering speciic questions.
my site is kind of a hub for a good cluster of volunteers. lisa conor and joe are all really close on guinea terms so thats awesome.
site was great. gets me really excited for it, but also makes the whole being a peace corps volunteer very real.
love you all and keep in touch
so we did a whirlwind tour of 8 sites in a day and a half. my site name is kankalabe and its a pretty bumpin town. my house is big and my principal and other official that i met are both really nice. the fouta is full of beautiful rides, but terrible roads. luckily no one got too sick and we got to see a lot of towns. now we get to take a breather and relax and hang out with americans.
sorry these posts are brief, but ill do better at answering speciic questions.
my site is kind of a hub for a good cluster of volunteers. lisa conor and joe are all really close on guinea terms so thats awesome.
site was great. gets me really excited for it, but also makes the whole being a peace corps volunteer very real.
love you all and keep in touch
Friday, August 15, 2008
Helloooo! from Labe!
It's been awhile, since there's no internet or anything in the town where we're training, but we're in labe now visiting our regional capital! so allt he Fouta volunteers are here and we're getting to know our big city. tomorrow we head out to our respective sites and get to do a tour of a bunch of people's sites that our near our own. we spend three nights at conor's (formerly beth's) site and then come back to labe for a night before heading back to our stage families.
life is going well. we're all thinking that we're really glad we chose to do this with our lives. so that's a good sign. i think everyone was ready for a change of scenery, so site visit is a welcome difference.
life during training is pretty routine. bucket baths, breakfast, sessions from 8-5, dinnner, hang out with the fam or hang out with the other pcts or pcvs. good times had by all. today was the first day we didnt have to be somewhere at 8. so that was nice.
site visit is a welcome change and everyones excited to see the house they'll be calling home for the next two years. it's also the first time we've been separated from people we've seen everyday since july 7th, so that's kinda weird. tho, unfortunately, we'll be needing to get used to that!
all the PCVs are reallly great and helpful and welcoming, so everytime we do something new for us, they're there welcoming us with happy new year signs and noise makers. great times.
miss you all terribly. sorry this is a brief post, but keep in touch! send letters or packages if you feel so incline :D got letters from mom, john, and emily so far!! thank you allll!!
keep in touch and give me updates on your lives stateside!!
MUCH LOVE FROM GUINEA
~rab
life is going well. we're all thinking that we're really glad we chose to do this with our lives. so that's a good sign. i think everyone was ready for a change of scenery, so site visit is a welcome difference.
life during training is pretty routine. bucket baths, breakfast, sessions from 8-5, dinnner, hang out with the fam or hang out with the other pcts or pcvs. good times had by all. today was the first day we didnt have to be somewhere at 8. so that was nice.
site visit is a welcome change and everyones excited to see the house they'll be calling home for the next two years. it's also the first time we've been separated from people we've seen everyday since july 7th, so that's kinda weird. tho, unfortunately, we'll be needing to get used to that!
all the PCVs are reallly great and helpful and welcoming, so everytime we do something new for us, they're there welcoming us with happy new year signs and noise makers. great times.
miss you all terribly. sorry this is a brief post, but keep in touch! send letters or packages if you feel so incline :D got letters from mom, john, and emily so far!! thank you allll!!
keep in touch and give me updates on your lives stateside!!
MUCH LOVE FROM GUINEA
~rab
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