Well we made it to Conakry for New Year’s Eve. Tonight there is a reggae fest at the Beach Bar and I am considering dropping 30 mil for a vrai pizza. Or maybe I’ll try to split one with someone so it’s only 15 mil each. In American money, 30 mil is only 6 bucks but here that is a lot. That is 6 egg sandwiches or 12 bean bowls or 30 good tomatoes or 60 oranges or 7 beers or 3 bottles of gin, to put things in perspective. But…it will have real cheese on it!!! OMG!!!
So…please send cheese. A mozarella variety would be awesome if such a confection can be found. Then I could make my own pizza.
Everything is going well. My mom has discovered that Americans like spaghetti so she has been making that for dinner A LOT even though I told her like a week ago that the frite is my favorite meal (and she hasn’t made it since, go fig!). I would have to say the spaghetti is probably my least favorite meal out of what she makes so I am a bit baffled that she seems so enamored with it! Maybe it’s because it is easy to make. I dunno. I hope to have a frite when I get back, it's my fave. French fries are awesome.
We are going back to Forecariah tomorrow afternoon after less than 24 hours in Conakry. I don’t think we are going to be able to go shopping or change money tomorrow, either, because it will be New Year’s Day and a lot of places will be closed. That means no shopping or money-changing until swear-in. Which means no vrai cheese from Super Bobo (the supermarket in Conakry). I guess life could be worse :).
I have not received any letters from anyone!! SEND ME LETTERS PEOPLE!! I will not be back to internet until February so letters would be great. In training they should only take about 2 weeks to get to me so GET WRITING!!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Cross-Cultural Adaptation
Cross-Culture story: So on my way back from Chey Vicky, Jake wanted to stop for cigarettes so I went with him and bought two of my favorite bon-bons. It is like a strawberries and cream Chupa pop. I got one for me and one for Mamadaba. I had given Mohammed a bon-bon yesterday. So I give the one to Mamadaba and had been enjoying mine all the way home. Then I tried to explain to Fatim that it was my faaaaaaaavorite bon-bon. And I held it out like, “see, the pink and white one? It’s my favorite!” And she promptly took it from my hand and stuck it in her mouth, only to hand it back to me after she’d had a sufficient taste. I thought about how in the States that would seem like Fatim was doing that because she knew I wouldn’t eat the rest of it if she did. But here, they share the same everything. They use my spoon to finish my plate when I am done just after I’ve popped it out of my mouth. It ain’t no thing.
Friday, December 26, 2008
G17 Presents: Christmas Coup 2008
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Well, in case you didn’t notice, we did not go to Conakry for Christmas. There was a coup d’etat, but no shots were fired save the ones fired into the air all night Christmas Eve in celebration. At first in the back of my head I thought it was fireworks (duh, there are no fireworks in Guinea), but then Ousmane suggested everyone get under the patio ceiling, as what goes up must come down. Almost all of us were at the Bureau when it happened and had planned to spend the night anyway, which we did in 13-year-old style glory in the air-conditioned sick rooms.
So the military is now in charge of the country, Camara is now the de facto President, though some old government officials are still claiming to be in charge and asking for international assistance, but Camara’s convoy rolled through Conakry Christmas Eve with no resistance and people in the street applauding and took over the Presidential Palace.
They are still saying elections will be in December 2010, when Conte’s term would have ended (although if he were still alive in 2010 there is little doubt he would have remained in power). The international community is calling for free, fair elections in 6 months so Camara is meeting with all international embassies and organizations (including our Peace Corps Country Director, Dan) tomorrow to discuss the future of Guinea. EDIT: Dan did not end up attending this meeting, but came to Forecariah instead to attend the cross-cultural fair, show his daughters the training site and tour a few PCT accommodations. He also spoke with us for a little while about the situation, what it was like in Conakry and that he is hopeful we will be able to go to Conakry for the New Year’s Eve celebration.
As I type this, the military is firing (hopefully into the air). Today was Conte’s funeral. They just started firing a couple minutes ago. Camara issued an 8pm curfew country-wide for all civilians. Ousmane says it is because everything in Guinea happens under cover of night and Camara is afraid of a counter-coup/mercenaries from neighboring countries. He also said he is strict about PCTs adhering to the curfew because the military tends to get drunk and fire indiscriminately/be scary.
We have been kind of afraid of the military, I think because as Americans we have been conditioned to think of Africans in uniform as dangerous. However, they have all been very friendly and in good spirits when we have seen them out. Christmas Day I was walking to the marche with Jessica and Dave and there was a big group of military outside the Prefet’s office (now the Commondante’s office – they kicked the Prefet out of her house and office the same night they took over the Presidential Palace). They were in good spirits, firing into the air, a big group of people watching them from the road. We jumped as a female soldier let out a burst of shots into the air not 20 yards from us. I also collected a few shell casings, which could be found by the side of the road, though not as many as you would think, considering all the firing. We think petites have also been gathering them up, as well.
Serima (language instructor) said they were firing blanks but Ousmane said he didn’t believe that was true so to watch out. Some shots come very close by my house as our neighbor to the left is military.
Peace Corps isn’t even close to sending us out-of-country. There would have to be violence or a gasoline shortage in order for that to happen and that has not been the case as of yet.
Priscilla (PC Admin) was able to get us cell phones on Christmas Day and had them sent to Forecariah, so we are all now with phone! Incoming calls are free for us and it costs .18 cents a minute to call using Skype from the US. To get the number, email me or contact my mom or dad, who have the number. If you have my old US cell # that is one way you can contact my mom as that # is now being used by my stepdad for his cell phone. Call as often as is practical! We are not supposed to answer during sessions (weekdays 8-12:30pm, 2-5pm Guinea time – 5 hrs ahead of East Coast, 8 hours ahead of Cali), so try to call before or after sessions, at lunch or on weekends. This is in effect until after we swear-in February 4, then call anytime!
A big thank you to PC Conkary for getting those phones for us since we were not able to go to Conakry for Christmas. An even bigger thanks for arranging for the cost of the phones to just be deducted from our settling-in allowance!
Ousmane said that if everything is normal in Conakry next week that we can go to Conakry for New Year’s Eve (leave Forecariah after sessions) and New Year’s Day (return to Forecariah New Year’s night) rather then take the day trip to the swimming hole that was previously planned for New Year’s Day.
Anyway, Christmas was still fun even though we weren’t in Conakry and a huge feast was made, consisting of pasta w/sauce (Danielle), indian food (Sajay), Ian’s special ginger-onion-potato soup, an attempt at mashed potatoes (actually it was Tenise because at the marche they said there were no potatoes, though later in the day Ian found some WTF – me), chicken (3, killed by Nick, Joseph and Jessica – I have video), dessert doughnuts (Jessica and Dave), garlic bread (Caitlin and Corinna), and ginger snap cookies (Julie). I think that was it. We all had to share plates and the few utensils we had. I shared a plate with Juliann, Ashley and Sacha. It was Christmas Guinean-style.
7 of us spent the night at the Bureau Christmas night as well in the freezing Public Health office (it was glorious except for the fact that I got sick for some reason and projectile vomited half the night, but I was the only one to get sick so I think it was that I ate a couple of bites of chicken and my body didn’t like it).
We opened Secret Snowflake gifts which was fun and everyone got some fun stuff. Dan and Julia sent a box of goodies for us from Conakry, too, including news items which was nice.
All-in-all, a good Christmas (Coup-style).
SOME INFO ON PRESIDENT CAMARA: I have heard conflicting reports on his age ranging from 35 – 44, but all told he is relatively young. He was pretty much unknown until he proclaimed himself to be the new President. He is from the Forest Region, which is really good because the other three regions (Haute, Fouta and Basse Cote) are largely dominated by specific ethnic groups and if someone from one of those groups had become the interim President, there could have been ethnic tensions. Camara grew up poor in a hut with no running water or electricity, is university educated, calls himself a patriot and (here’s the kicker) is Christian! Weird, right? This is a dominantly Muslim country so to have a Christian as the new President is very weird. Here in Guinea most people are happy (or at least not devastated) by the turn of events. Pretty much everyone hated the dude that the Constitution stated would take power in the event of the President’s death (Speaker of the Parliament). They like what Camara says and if he delivers on what he is promising the future is bright for Guinea. My hope is that he will replicate what recently happened in Mali, where there was a military coup d’etat and the dude in power organized free, fair elections in two years and then did not even run, giving confidence that the election was truly free and fair. Camara is saying that he will execute anyone found to be embezzling money from the government, he has suspended and renegotiated the mining contracts (which is where Guinea’s wealth really lies), demoted Conte’s fat cats in the military and committed to making Guinea a better place. I hope he comes through.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
RIP Conte
This morning at 1am it was announced that the President of Guinea (who in practice has been more of a dictator than anything else), Lansana Conte, has died. Word spread throughout Guinea like wildfire. Apparently someone knocked on my family’s door at 2am with the news, but I did not hear it.
This morning Ousmane (training manager and acting safety and security officer) called everyone to the Bureau to discuss the situation. As of then, everything was still normal, save some roadblocks in and out of Conakry, the capitol, which Peace Corps personnel were able to get through eventually, but not without trouble.
This means our Christmas trip back to Conakry is in all likelihood canceled, though we will know for sure in the morning.
It was a tense day among the PCTs as we gathered around radios and continually asked Ousmane for updates. At some point in the morning, some military people got on the radio and said that they had taken over the government and that the Constitution was now suspended. A couple of hours later, the Prime Minister got on the radio and said that wasn’t true and that elections will take place in 2 months, which no one believes will happen (at least not a free, fair election), as Guinea does not have accurate voter registration or the infrastructure to actually carry out a free, fair election.
Most of the day went on as planned, but the Incident Reporting session ended up being taken over by questions about the future of the country, our trip to Conakry, and phone calls to all of our parents to let them know the situation, as the news in the US is apparently saying there has been a coup d’etat, which as of now, 9:30pm, is not the case. However, tonight will really tell the tale. If the military storms the government buildings in Conakry, which are located on a peninsula, they could take over and no one knows what will happen. According to the Constitution, the Speaker of the Assembly is now in power, so if the military actually does take over, THEN it will be a coup.
Most of the PCT families have been extra cautious today. Even my family told me I could only go to the Bureau this evening and made sure I was walking with friends, which they have never done before. However, I did end up going to Chey Vicky, as that is where Julie was going and I was waiting for a call from my mom on her phone (which never came).
A little before 9, Ousmane called Julie’s phone and I answered since I was holding the phone waiting for the call. Ousmane said to tell everyone at Chey Vicky to go home immediately and finish their beer in their rooms because “it isn’t safe.” Everyone immediately got up and we made sure everyone had someone to accompany them home and we took off.
Some of us went to the Bureau to ask Ousmane what had happened and he said that 32 names had been read out over the radio as people who want to overthrow the government, many of them military. He did not know how the military in Forecariah would react so he wanted everyone home by 9 so he knew where we were and were not out on the streets.
It is kind of frightening that this is happening, but I think eventually it will be good for Guinea to have the opportunity for new leadership (Conte had been in power for, like, over 20 years – 24 to be exact). The question is will it happen peacefully or not. Considering the volatile nature of the country as of late (Peace Corps was evacuated in 2007 due to rioting and the unavailability of gasoline), it is a real possibility there could be violence.
Here in Forecariah, we are only 50k from Sierra Leone and Ousmane had requested all of our passports in case we need to make a run for the border. Many of us have made “go bags” to prepare for this. Mine has some clothes, soap, toothpaste, moleskin, a sleeping bag, baby wipes, duct tape, batteries, my shortwave radio, all of my money and my medical kit in it. If I do have to use it, I will also grab my Leatherman, which is currently in my day bag, and my headlamp.
Anyway, the morning will bring more news, unless there is a pounding on the door in the middle of the night telling me to get my stuff and run (which is highly unlikely).
This morning Ousmane (training manager and acting safety and security officer) called everyone to the Bureau to discuss the situation. As of then, everything was still normal, save some roadblocks in and out of Conakry, the capitol, which Peace Corps personnel were able to get through eventually, but not without trouble.
This means our Christmas trip back to Conakry is in all likelihood canceled, though we will know for sure in the morning.
It was a tense day among the PCTs as we gathered around radios and continually asked Ousmane for updates. At some point in the morning, some military people got on the radio and said that they had taken over the government and that the Constitution was now suspended. A couple of hours later, the Prime Minister got on the radio and said that wasn’t true and that elections will take place in 2 months, which no one believes will happen (at least not a free, fair election), as Guinea does not have accurate voter registration or the infrastructure to actually carry out a free, fair election.
Most of the day went on as planned, but the Incident Reporting session ended up being taken over by questions about the future of the country, our trip to Conakry, and phone calls to all of our parents to let them know the situation, as the news in the US is apparently saying there has been a coup d’etat, which as of now, 9:30pm, is not the case. However, tonight will really tell the tale. If the military storms the government buildings in Conakry, which are located on a peninsula, they could take over and no one knows what will happen. According to the Constitution, the Speaker of the Assembly is now in power, so if the military actually does take over, THEN it will be a coup.
Most of the PCT families have been extra cautious today. Even my family told me I could only go to the Bureau this evening and made sure I was walking with friends, which they have never done before. However, I did end up going to Chey Vicky, as that is where Julie was going and I was waiting for a call from my mom on her phone (which never came).
A little before 9, Ousmane called Julie’s phone and I answered since I was holding the phone waiting for the call. Ousmane said to tell everyone at Chey Vicky to go home immediately and finish their beer in their rooms because “it isn’t safe.” Everyone immediately got up and we made sure everyone had someone to accompany them home and we took off.
Some of us went to the Bureau to ask Ousmane what had happened and he said that 32 names had been read out over the radio as people who want to overthrow the government, many of them military. He did not know how the military in Forecariah would react so he wanted everyone home by 9 so he knew where we were and were not out on the streets.
It is kind of frightening that this is happening, but I think eventually it will be good for Guinea to have the opportunity for new leadership (Conte had been in power for, like, over 20 years – 24 to be exact). The question is will it happen peacefully or not. Considering the volatile nature of the country as of late (Peace Corps was evacuated in 2007 due to rioting and the unavailability of gasoline), it is a real possibility there could be violence.
Here in Forecariah, we are only 50k from Sierra Leone and Ousmane had requested all of our passports in case we need to make a run for the border. Many of us have made “go bags” to prepare for this. Mine has some clothes, soap, toothpaste, moleskin, a sleeping bag, baby wipes, duct tape, batteries, my shortwave radio, all of my money and my medical kit in it. If I do have to use it, I will also grab my Leatherman, which is currently in my day bag, and my headlamp.
Anyway, the morning will bring more news, unless there is a pounding on the door in the middle of the night telling me to get my stuff and run (which is highly unlikely).
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Frustrations
Today has been a tough day. I have started to experience some of the “downs” of the “ups and downs” one refers to when talking about Peace Corps. I do not want to spend time with my family today, nor do I want to study French.
AgFo works every single day. We have NO days off. Saturday we have community meeting (a time when we all get together to air grievances, make announcements, set up study groups, etc…), usually followed by a short AgFo meeting regarding the Sunday activity. Then on Sunday we have an Environmental Ed project, so far with the kids at the school where we have our pepiniere. I had a small breakdown at the beginning and a few tears were shed. I was just frustrated because Abdoul, our tech trainer, wanted us to tell the kids about what we had been doing since we saw them last and my brain just would NOT work to put together the French. Our new PCV trainer, Julie, sat with me and said it was ok, French is a hard language and I shouldn’t sweat it. I am grateful that the PCVs are so understanding and will take the time out to sit with you and help you feel better. I guess it’s because they have all been there. She said some days she cries, some days she screams, other days she punches pillows. It’s all part of life in the PC.
In the end I put together a pretty good paragraph about the mudstoves and some of the girls seemed to really understand what I said and explained it back.
In other news, I did not end up switching language trainers for next week, though my class is completely different. I am now in a class with all AgFo: Chris-Heijn, Jessica, Danyelle, and Ian. Jason ended up in another class with Mary and Sajay. The other day Danielle asked if I had had any French before coming here and then said, “You’re doing really well for only 2 weeks of class!”
Those things make me feel better about my progress but I am still worried it is not coming fast enough as we are entering Week 3 of a 9-week training period. And two weeks of it are eaten up by holidays off (Christmas Day and New Year’s Day), counterpart workshop and site visit. So really there are only 7 more weeks of instruction.
I guess I shouldn’t worry that much because in all likelihood I will never speak French at site.
Speaking of sites, the rumor is that AgFo has only 1 site in Basse Cote, 1 site in Haute and 4 in Fouta. Each region has its pluses and minuses and I’m not going to play the game about which region is “better”.
On Christmas Day we will be getting cell phones and there is good service here in Forecariah so I will be available by phone for the rest of PST. While I have enjoyed being “unplugged” for the last few weeks, it will be nice to hear voices from home once in awhile. Some of the others have had family call some of the PCVs cell phones for chats but I haven’t.
Six of us (one married couple) still do not have water filters. Traian had forgotten about it because when he was here last week and I asked him about them, he needed us to make a list of the names missing them. So hopefully that will be taken care of soon, though I don’t really mind having to go to the Bureau for water. Really I just want it in my hands so I am sure I will have it when we go to site.
Yesterday before community meeting, several of us met to do Yoga and 9-minute abs. Some of my muscles actually hurt! That’s what I get for not exercising for so long!
Today we bought some tomatoes in the market with the kids to show them how to get seeds from fruit (we also bought some starfruit and aubergines for the same purpose). We bought three small, but good tomatoes and they were 1 mil each! In American money that’s only .20 cents but here that is expensive! You can get a whole bean sandwich for 1 mil! However, tomatoes are out of season so that is part of it, too.
Also I noticed that I have spent all of my PC stipend on consumables, save for one 17 mil pagne (a rip-off, by the way, it should have been no more than 15 mil). Beer, food, soap, ketchup, water, oranges…that’s where all my money goes. When we get our next stipend this week I am vowing to spend more on non-consumables, like getting clothes made (which many others have already done) and less on food like egg sandwiches. If I am going to get an egg sandwich I need to cut it to a petite sandwich with only 1 egg and 1 cheese (should be 3 mil) as opposed to 2 eggs and 2 cheese (5 mil). Also I have stopped buying beer. Partly because Traian said it has formaldehyde in it and partly because we go to Chey Vicky’s a LOT and dropping 4 mil per beer (sometimes 5 mil when he doesn’t have change) was eating through my cash FAST. I have also stopped buying fries at Chey Vicky’s (granted, I only bought them once) because it is 5 mil for a plate of like 20 fries and no ketchup. Eff that.
It is funny how valuable a dollar has become (5 mil). Some people keep trying to convert it back to what they paid in American money so “it isn’t so bad”, but you really can’t do that here. You have to guard those francs with your life!! Well, not with your life, but with your discute (bargaining) skills.
At site, the stipend is 1 million francs/month or about $200. In training we are getting about 400,000 francs/month, or less than $100. To put that in perspective, the Guinean per-capita income is something like $500 a year. So comparatively, PCVs have a lot of money.
For Christmas, I have signed up to make mashed potatoes and Sam said she would take me to get vrai butter at a Leb Store (Lebanese store…for some reason there is a big Lebanese population in Conakry and they sell Western stuff in their stores). She also said we could get some boxed milk…so we’ll see how well the potatoes turn out!
Anyway, I’m on garden watering duty today so I am going to try and find a way to bike there without breaking my neck. A tout l’heure!
AND A COUPLE HOURS LATER: My bike’s front tire was flat when I tried to take it out to the garden. So I walked instead. No big deal, I thought, I’ll just repair the tire when I get back. So I get back and take the tire to the Bureau so Ian can help me repair it. We find the hole, patch it, stick it back in and pump it up. I ride it around the Bureau a little bit and it seems good. Mission accomplished? Not quite. As I’m getting ready to leave the Bureau about an hour later, the tire is flat again. C'est la vie in Guinea.
AgFo works every single day. We have NO days off. Saturday we have community meeting (a time when we all get together to air grievances, make announcements, set up study groups, etc…), usually followed by a short AgFo meeting regarding the Sunday activity. Then on Sunday we have an Environmental Ed project, so far with the kids at the school where we have our pepiniere. I had a small breakdown at the beginning and a few tears were shed. I was just frustrated because Abdoul, our tech trainer, wanted us to tell the kids about what we had been doing since we saw them last and my brain just would NOT work to put together the French. Our new PCV trainer, Julie, sat with me and said it was ok, French is a hard language and I shouldn’t sweat it. I am grateful that the PCVs are so understanding and will take the time out to sit with you and help you feel better. I guess it’s because they have all been there. She said some days she cries, some days she screams, other days she punches pillows. It’s all part of life in the PC.
In the end I put together a pretty good paragraph about the mudstoves and some of the girls seemed to really understand what I said and explained it back.
In other news, I did not end up switching language trainers for next week, though my class is completely different. I am now in a class with all AgFo: Chris-Heijn, Jessica, Danyelle, and Ian. Jason ended up in another class with Mary and Sajay. The other day Danielle asked if I had had any French before coming here and then said, “You’re doing really well for only 2 weeks of class!”
Those things make me feel better about my progress but I am still worried it is not coming fast enough as we are entering Week 3 of a 9-week training period. And two weeks of it are eaten up by holidays off (Christmas Day and New Year’s Day), counterpart workshop and site visit. So really there are only 7 more weeks of instruction.
I guess I shouldn’t worry that much because in all likelihood I will never speak French at site.
Speaking of sites, the rumor is that AgFo has only 1 site in Basse Cote, 1 site in Haute and 4 in Fouta. Each region has its pluses and minuses and I’m not going to play the game about which region is “better”.
On Christmas Day we will be getting cell phones and there is good service here in Forecariah so I will be available by phone for the rest of PST. While I have enjoyed being “unplugged” for the last few weeks, it will be nice to hear voices from home once in awhile. Some of the others have had family call some of the PCVs cell phones for chats but I haven’t.
Six of us (one married couple) still do not have water filters. Traian had forgotten about it because when he was here last week and I asked him about them, he needed us to make a list of the names missing them. So hopefully that will be taken care of soon, though I don’t really mind having to go to the Bureau for water. Really I just want it in my hands so I am sure I will have it when we go to site.
Yesterday before community meeting, several of us met to do Yoga and 9-minute abs. Some of my muscles actually hurt! That’s what I get for not exercising for so long!
Today we bought some tomatoes in the market with the kids to show them how to get seeds from fruit (we also bought some starfruit and aubergines for the same purpose). We bought three small, but good tomatoes and they were 1 mil each! In American money that’s only .20 cents but here that is expensive! You can get a whole bean sandwich for 1 mil! However, tomatoes are out of season so that is part of it, too.
Also I noticed that I have spent all of my PC stipend on consumables, save for one 17 mil pagne (a rip-off, by the way, it should have been no more than 15 mil). Beer, food, soap, ketchup, water, oranges…that’s where all my money goes. When we get our next stipend this week I am vowing to spend more on non-consumables, like getting clothes made (which many others have already done) and less on food like egg sandwiches. If I am going to get an egg sandwich I need to cut it to a petite sandwich with only 1 egg and 1 cheese (should be 3 mil) as opposed to 2 eggs and 2 cheese (5 mil). Also I have stopped buying beer. Partly because Traian said it has formaldehyde in it and partly because we go to Chey Vicky’s a LOT and dropping 4 mil per beer (sometimes 5 mil when he doesn’t have change) was eating through my cash FAST. I have also stopped buying fries at Chey Vicky’s (granted, I only bought them once) because it is 5 mil for a plate of like 20 fries and no ketchup. Eff that.
It is funny how valuable a dollar has become (5 mil). Some people keep trying to convert it back to what they paid in American money so “it isn’t so bad”, but you really can’t do that here. You have to guard those francs with your life!! Well, not with your life, but with your discute (bargaining) skills.
At site, the stipend is 1 million francs/month or about $200. In training we are getting about 400,000 francs/month, or less than $100. To put that in perspective, the Guinean per-capita income is something like $500 a year. So comparatively, PCVs have a lot of money.
For Christmas, I have signed up to make mashed potatoes and Sam said she would take me to get vrai butter at a Leb Store (Lebanese store…for some reason there is a big Lebanese population in Conakry and they sell Western stuff in their stores). She also said we could get some boxed milk…so we’ll see how well the potatoes turn out!
Anyway, I’m on garden watering duty today so I am going to try and find a way to bike there without breaking my neck. A tout l’heure!
AND A COUPLE HOURS LATER: My bike’s front tire was flat when I tried to take it out to the garden. So I walked instead. No big deal, I thought, I’ll just repair the tire when I get back. So I get back and take the tire to the Bureau so Ian can help me repair it. We find the hole, patch it, stick it back in and pump it up. I ride it around the Bureau a little bit and it seems good. Mission accomplished? Not quite. As I’m getting ready to leave the Bureau about an hour later, the tire is flat again. C'est la vie in Guinea.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Life in Forecariah
I can’t believe next week is Christmas.
Ok, much to say. Tonight we had the “going-away” party for Teale an Alex, our AgFo trainers. Teale made her infamous “princess punch” which was awesome. You can get Coke and Fanta pretty much anywhere here.
Things you can find pretty much anywhere: spaghetti, tomato paste, laughing cow cheese, mayonnaise, French bread, onions.
As of late I have been frustrated about language learning. I do not feel I am progressing at the rate I need to progress and today Kona (language head) told us that due to budget cuts there will not be private at-site tutoring available as in the past, so if we are not up to speed by swear-in (early February), we will not be sworn in. We don’t know if that means we will be sent home or what. He said in the last stage there were 3 that required private tutoring, which they received, but we shall not be so lucky.
I still like my family and occasionally kidnapping a chick from its mommy. Little chicks are fun to hold. They complain, but they won’t jump off your hand, even when you are trying to put them back on the floor.
Oh, my family thinks Jake is my boyfriend and Scott is my second boyfriend. Hilarious!
The other day I was outside Jake’s house and we saw a big bird swoop down and steal a chick (sort of a bigger chick, but not full-size) and take it away to go eat it. The little chick was screaming in the claws of the big bird and all the other chickens were screaming. It was kind of horrifying. But, c’est la vie!
I have embraced the “water method” when using the toilet for one reason: it takes way too much water to flush toilet paper. Seriously. I am just not willing to waste all that water trying to flush the (pink!) toilet paper when I could just as easily use water to clean myself and not even flush at all! Well, half the time :).
Christmas Eve (Wednesday), we go back to Conakry in the afternoon and spend all of Christmas Day there. We plan to get cell phones and do some shopping and have a Christmas party. There has also been talk of renting a boat and going out to one of the islands to swim. We come back Friday morning. On New Year’s Day we have an outing to a nearby waterfall, which should be fun because we can swim there.
Site announcements are week 5, which seemed far away in the beginning, but now that we are ending week 2 of training, we are halfway to site announcements and it doesn’t seem far off at all.
Tomorrow we learn to build mud stoves and have half a day of language. I want to get in as many language hours as possible because as I said before, I am not doing well on the language front. We are going to start a study group a few nights a week and both Danielle and Scott have agreed to some private tutoring for me.
Also, my toothbrush has not been a subject of discussion past the first couple of days. I have had nothing stolen. Last night, though, someone stole Danielle’s purse, which she had over her shoulder walking to Chey Vicky (a bar popular amongst PCVs/PCTs). She didn’t have much in it, but it brought the whole thing home. Also, someone stole a pair of pants and a shirt from Sajay by “fishing” through his window. Oh and at the beach bar in Conakry, someone jacked Jason’s digital SLR camera, which is the most valuable thing to have been stolen and Sajay’s football.
Last night I had a Mefloquine dream (the malaria meds give me very long, varied, vivid dreams and is my only side effect and I don’t mind it at all!) that I was working on the new Batman movie and Christian Bale was my boyfriend. NICE. But then Ben and I were driving around in the Batmobile and pushing all the buttons. He is the first stagiare to end up in one of my dreams, which I guess isn’t that shocking since I see him a lot as he is one of the three in my language class. I guess Jason is the only one I see more, as he is in my language class and also in my tech sessions (he is AgFo).
AgFo does all the cool stuff. We are the only ones actually doing the things we will do at site: creating a pepiniere with school kids, making a compost pit, growing gardens (we each have our own individual 7x3 foot plot – piment and aubergines), going on field trips (to a defunct diamond mine where people still dig for diamonds by hand and occasionally find some!), building mud stoves, making jam, making solar dryers…AgFo rules!
The Forecariah marche does not have the same stuff as the one in Conakry. Basically, the vegetables you can find are piment (peppers), potatoes, cucumber, onion and garlic (and apparently tomato but I have only seen it served, not sold). So basically my diet revolves around those items. My typical meals: a fresh potato salad (potato, onion, egg, cucumber in mayo), a frite (French fries, onion, egg), black eyed peas and rice (cooked with onion, garlic, piment and spices), potato stew (not sure what all was in this but it was mainly potato and tasty!), and egg sandwiches from the café (French bread, frommage – laughing cow -, onion and egg and sometimes ketchup). For breakfast it is always French bread and one of the following: tasteless, nonrefrigerated margarine, frommage, or peanut butter and honey. I would say my fave of those would have to be peanut butter and honey. Also, I have yet to be served spaghetti, which kind of shocks me because it is so easy to make with a tomato paste and garlic sauce. Who knows.
On Thursdays we have a catered lunch from a restaurant 100k away and it is always good and varied: cucumber and tomato slices, veggies, rice and sauce, beans, bread, etc… I load up on the sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, etc… that come with that meal to get myself some variety and nutrients.
But I would have to say my favorite meal at home is the frite (I should invest in some ketchup to have with it) and favorite meal out (depending on the day) is either the egg sandwich or bean sandwich (when it doesn’t have mashed up fish in it). Both of which can be found at the intersection (Carrefour) close to the Bureau. Although we have to ask the bean lady to be out for lunch the day before, but she has obliged!
I am not a fan of rice and sauce for the most part, mostly because the sauce always has mashed up fish in it which I can taste and do not like. The leaf sauce would be good if they would just leave it at that: leaf sauce sans mashed up fish. I can’t wait to try some Moringa leaf sauce (super healthy!).
Anyway I’m beat and have a long day ahead of me in the morning so, a tout l’heure!
Ok, much to say. Tonight we had the “going-away” party for Teale an Alex, our AgFo trainers. Teale made her infamous “princess punch” which was awesome. You can get Coke and Fanta pretty much anywhere here.
Things you can find pretty much anywhere: spaghetti, tomato paste, laughing cow cheese, mayonnaise, French bread, onions.
As of late I have been frustrated about language learning. I do not feel I am progressing at the rate I need to progress and today Kona (language head) told us that due to budget cuts there will not be private at-site tutoring available as in the past, so if we are not up to speed by swear-in (early February), we will not be sworn in. We don’t know if that means we will be sent home or what. He said in the last stage there were 3 that required private tutoring, which they received, but we shall not be so lucky.
I still like my family and occasionally kidnapping a chick from its mommy. Little chicks are fun to hold. They complain, but they won’t jump off your hand, even when you are trying to put them back on the floor.
Oh, my family thinks Jake is my boyfriend and Scott is my second boyfriend. Hilarious!
The other day I was outside Jake’s house and we saw a big bird swoop down and steal a chick (sort of a bigger chick, but not full-size) and take it away to go eat it. The little chick was screaming in the claws of the big bird and all the other chickens were screaming. It was kind of horrifying. But, c’est la vie!
I have embraced the “water method” when using the toilet for one reason: it takes way too much water to flush toilet paper. Seriously. I am just not willing to waste all that water trying to flush the (pink!) toilet paper when I could just as easily use water to clean myself and not even flush at all! Well, half the time :).
Christmas Eve (Wednesday), we go back to Conakry in the afternoon and spend all of Christmas Day there. We plan to get cell phones and do some shopping and have a Christmas party. There has also been talk of renting a boat and going out to one of the islands to swim. We come back Friday morning. On New Year’s Day we have an outing to a nearby waterfall, which should be fun because we can swim there.
Site announcements are week 5, which seemed far away in the beginning, but now that we are ending week 2 of training, we are halfway to site announcements and it doesn’t seem far off at all.
Tomorrow we learn to build mud stoves and have half a day of language. I want to get in as many language hours as possible because as I said before, I am not doing well on the language front. We are going to start a study group a few nights a week and both Danielle and Scott have agreed to some private tutoring for me.
Also, my toothbrush has not been a subject of discussion past the first couple of days. I have had nothing stolen. Last night, though, someone stole Danielle’s purse, which she had over her shoulder walking to Chey Vicky (a bar popular amongst PCVs/PCTs). She didn’t have much in it, but it brought the whole thing home. Also, someone stole a pair of pants and a shirt from Sajay by “fishing” through his window. Oh and at the beach bar in Conakry, someone jacked Jason’s digital SLR camera, which is the most valuable thing to have been stolen and Sajay’s football.
Last night I had a Mefloquine dream (the malaria meds give me very long, varied, vivid dreams and is my only side effect and I don’t mind it at all!) that I was working on the new Batman movie and Christian Bale was my boyfriend. NICE. But then Ben and I were driving around in the Batmobile and pushing all the buttons. He is the first stagiare to end up in one of my dreams, which I guess isn’t that shocking since I see him a lot as he is one of the three in my language class. I guess Jason is the only one I see more, as he is in my language class and also in my tech sessions (he is AgFo).
AgFo does all the cool stuff. We are the only ones actually doing the things we will do at site: creating a pepiniere with school kids, making a compost pit, growing gardens (we each have our own individual 7x3 foot plot – piment and aubergines), going on field trips (to a defunct diamond mine where people still dig for diamonds by hand and occasionally find some!), building mud stoves, making jam, making solar dryers…AgFo rules!
The Forecariah marche does not have the same stuff as the one in Conakry. Basically, the vegetables you can find are piment (peppers), potatoes, cucumber, onion and garlic (and apparently tomato but I have only seen it served, not sold). So basically my diet revolves around those items. My typical meals: a fresh potato salad (potato, onion, egg, cucumber in mayo), a frite (French fries, onion, egg), black eyed peas and rice (cooked with onion, garlic, piment and spices), potato stew (not sure what all was in this but it was mainly potato and tasty!), and egg sandwiches from the café (French bread, frommage – laughing cow -, onion and egg and sometimes ketchup). For breakfast it is always French bread and one of the following: tasteless, nonrefrigerated margarine, frommage, or peanut butter and honey. I would say my fave of those would have to be peanut butter and honey. Also, I have yet to be served spaghetti, which kind of shocks me because it is so easy to make with a tomato paste and garlic sauce. Who knows.
On Thursdays we have a catered lunch from a restaurant 100k away and it is always good and varied: cucumber and tomato slices, veggies, rice and sauce, beans, bread, etc… I load up on the sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, etc… that come with that meal to get myself some variety and nutrients.
But I would have to say my favorite meal at home is the frite (I should invest in some ketchup to have with it) and favorite meal out (depending on the day) is either the egg sandwich or bean sandwich (when it doesn’t have mashed up fish in it). Both of which can be found at the intersection (Carrefour) close to the Bureau. Although we have to ask the bean lady to be out for lunch the day before, but she has obliged!
I am not a fan of rice and sauce for the most part, mostly because the sauce always has mashed up fish in it which I can taste and do not like. The leaf sauce would be good if they would just leave it at that: leaf sauce sans mashed up fish. I can’t wait to try some Moringa leaf sauce (super healthy!).
Anyway I’m beat and have a long day ahead of me in the morning so, a tout l’heure!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Made it to Forecariah
It is hot as balls in Forecariah. Outside it wasn’t so bad, but in my room I am just dripping sweat not even moving. It is way hotter than Conakry and not just because we had air conditioning some places there. Guess I will have to take a second bucket bath in the morning before heading to training at 8.
My host family is really awesome. There is mama, grandma, aunt Oumou and my sisters Fatim, Yari and Mamadaba (I think). Fatim also has a 1 year and 5 month old son, Mohammed. Fatim is 19, Yari is 16 and Mamadaba can’t be more than 10. EDIT: As it turns out, Mamadaba is mama (Fatou’s) cousin.
Both Fatim and Yari are educated and speak English, in addition to French and Susu. I think mama and Oumou also speak French, but I am not sure. For dinner, mama made me French fries with a fried egg and onions. It was tasty but greasy.
I had my first experience with the pit latrine and can I just say that it splashes everywhere. Also, the whole family got a kick out of my electric toothbrush. I’m not sure if it was a bad idea or not to use it during homestay, as they do say not to let people know what you have, but I mean, it’s a toothbrush. Even if it got jacked, I wouldn’t be heartbroken, I’d have my mom send another. I have an analog backup just in case.
Fatim and Yari were the ones who came to the adoption ceremony. I guess because they speak English. Also, I live like practically next to the Bureau, which is our base of operations for training.
Today Yari took me around and we visited some of her friends and walked to the market. We also played cards: Huit Americain and Monnie. Oumou played a few rounds of Huit Americain with us.
I am so tired, but so hot and I don’t know if I’ll get a good night’s sleep tonight or not. There is a lot more to say but I am beat.
My host family is really awesome. There is mama, grandma, aunt Oumou and my sisters Fatim, Yari and Mamadaba (I think). Fatim also has a 1 year and 5 month old son, Mohammed. Fatim is 19, Yari is 16 and Mamadaba can’t be more than 10. EDIT: As it turns out, Mamadaba is mama (Fatou’s) cousin.
Both Fatim and Yari are educated and speak English, in addition to French and Susu. I think mama and Oumou also speak French, but I am not sure. For dinner, mama made me French fries with a fried egg and onions. It was tasty but greasy.
I had my first experience with the pit latrine and can I just say that it splashes everywhere. Also, the whole family got a kick out of my electric toothbrush. I’m not sure if it was a bad idea or not to use it during homestay, as they do say not to let people know what you have, but I mean, it’s a toothbrush. Even if it got jacked, I wouldn’t be heartbroken, I’d have my mom send another. I have an analog backup just in case.
Fatim and Yari were the ones who came to the adoption ceremony. I guess because they speak English. Also, I live like practically next to the Bureau, which is our base of operations for training.
Today Yari took me around and we visited some of her friends and walked to the market. We also played cards: Huit Americain and Monnie. Oumou played a few rounds of Huit Americain with us.
I am so tired, but so hot and I don’t know if I’ll get a good night’s sleep tonight or not. There is a lot more to say but I am beat.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Homestay Tomorrow
Well, this will probably be my last post until Christmas. Tomorrow we head to Forecariah to be adopted by our host families and move into the homes that we will stay in for the next 2 months during training. I am looking forward to having my own room, as living in this "Peace Corps frat house" (as one of us put it) is starting to be a bit draining! We will come back to Conakry for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so I will have internet then. That is also when I will get my cell phone and email out the number. Incoming calls are free so call as much as you want as long as I have service! The volunteers said about 85% of them have rezzo (service) at their site.
Today our CD Dan opened up his pool to all of us and we went swimming. We kept spinning around in the water saying, "Peace Corps is so hard!" When everyone at home sees pics they will think all we do here is party. But just know that is not the case! The next two months we will train from 8am to 5pm, Monday through Friday, with additional assignments and activities after 5 and on Saturday mornings.
AgFo is a small group, just six of us: me, Jessica, Danyelle, Jason, Chris-Heijn and Ian. You can find blogs for Jessica, Ian and Chris-Heijn on the right sidebar (as of right now). Some of our training activities include planting and maintaining a 30 meter x 30 meter garden, tree and leaf identification, Moringa tree education and working with high school kids in a local school in Forecariah (among many other things!). Engaging the youth in the environmental future of this country is going to be very important. According to two of our volunteer trainers (Ciara and Teale), the older generation in Guinea sees the problems but are just too old to do anything about it. It will be up to us to help get the youth to see it, too.
This morning we went to the marche (market, pronounced mar-chay). I was in Sidiki's group (each volunteer only took 4-5 trainees as it would be WAY too hard for us all to go there together) and Paul, Ben and Ian all bought some traditional African clothes to wear to the adoption tomorrow. Clothes for women are a bit trickier. You really need to go to a tailor to have something made. I really wanted to wear something Guinean to the ceremony but the girls told me women do NOT wear bubus (like a mumu, kinda) unless they are very old and that was really the only thing I felt comfortable buying without trying on or being tailored.
The market was crazy and it was a slow day!! Since today is Tabaski, not many were at the marche, but it is like this crowded "indoor" area with these tiny little walkways that you just have to push your way through. There are all kinds of weird sights and smells and if I ate meat I probably would have been horrified by the meat section. The others were. It was what I was expecting: cuts of meat just sitting out, flies all over them. Stinky!
However it was nice to see that there were plenty of things for me to buy...pasta in packages, tomato paste, peanuts, rice, peppers, carrots, tomatoes, lemons, avocado (YUM AVOCADO!), mustard, ketchup, french bread, eggs, oranges, pineapples, bananas, melons, potatoes, cabbage, lettuce, onions, garlic, peanut butter (fresh, not jarred), spices in little bags (have to ask what they are), flour, peanut oil and lots of stuff we could not identify! However, I did not see beans though Jess told me there are beans there and I must have missed them. She also said my local market will not have as much stuff. I figure I will grow a lot of things in my garden and keep rice, beans, pasta and tomato paste around as a staple food. I hope my local market is also a little more spread out! It was a little bit overwhelming to be in that crush of people in those tiny walkways, dodging unidentifiable puddles on the ground. Sidiki stepped in a puddle and had to wash his feet when we got back. And again, it was a slow day since it is Tabaski!!
Apparently there are also mango and corn seasons. But the mangoes will be free as long as you can shake one off a tree! Oh and the other night at the restaurant I tried some baobob fruit which is chalky but tasty!
Jess taught me how to eat an orange the way a Guinean does, which entails using a paring knife to cut off the outer layer of skin (which took us like 5 min per orange and would take a Guinean woman 10 seconds), then biting off one end, spitting it out and sucking the juice out as you squeeze the orange. Make sure you spit out the seeds! Very fresh.
Oh AND there is popcorn here!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!! Julia (CD Dan's wife who he met when they were serving in Peace Corps) made us some at the pool and the few precious fluffy white crunchies I had were amazing. Oh, popcorn, how I love you.
Well, tonight we are making pizza, pasta salad, upside down pineapple cake and whatever else for dinner. The pizza will be made of bread, homemade sauce and vache (Laughing Cow cheese). I'm excited.
Paul is sitting next to me working on his speech for the adoption ceremony tomorrow with the help of Katya (our retired volunteer from Russia originally). I think he will be really good. All of us are really excited to move into homestay.
SEND ME LETTERS AND PICTURES!! I have none to show my host family and they will think I am an orphan. :)
Well, au revoir! Talk to you again at Christmas!
Today our CD Dan opened up his pool to all of us and we went swimming. We kept spinning around in the water saying, "Peace Corps is so hard!" When everyone at home sees pics they will think all we do here is party. But just know that is not the case! The next two months we will train from 8am to 5pm, Monday through Friday, with additional assignments and activities after 5 and on Saturday mornings.
AgFo is a small group, just six of us: me, Jessica, Danyelle, Jason, Chris-Heijn and Ian. You can find blogs for Jessica, Ian and Chris-Heijn on the right sidebar (as of right now). Some of our training activities include planting and maintaining a 30 meter x 30 meter garden, tree and leaf identification, Moringa tree education and working with high school kids in a local school in Forecariah (among many other things!). Engaging the youth in the environmental future of this country is going to be very important. According to two of our volunteer trainers (Ciara and Teale), the older generation in Guinea sees the problems but are just too old to do anything about it. It will be up to us to help get the youth to see it, too.
This morning we went to the marche (market, pronounced mar-chay). I was in Sidiki's group (each volunteer only took 4-5 trainees as it would be WAY too hard for us all to go there together) and Paul, Ben and Ian all bought some traditional African clothes to wear to the adoption tomorrow. Clothes for women are a bit trickier. You really need to go to a tailor to have something made. I really wanted to wear something Guinean to the ceremony but the girls told me women do NOT wear bubus (like a mumu, kinda) unless they are very old and that was really the only thing I felt comfortable buying without trying on or being tailored.
The market was crazy and it was a slow day!! Since today is Tabaski, not many were at the marche, but it is like this crowded "indoor" area with these tiny little walkways that you just have to push your way through. There are all kinds of weird sights and smells and if I ate meat I probably would have been horrified by the meat section. The others were. It was what I was expecting: cuts of meat just sitting out, flies all over them. Stinky!
However it was nice to see that there were plenty of things for me to buy...pasta in packages, tomato paste, peanuts, rice, peppers, carrots, tomatoes, lemons, avocado (YUM AVOCADO!), mustard, ketchup, french bread, eggs, oranges, pineapples, bananas, melons, potatoes, cabbage, lettuce, onions, garlic, peanut butter (fresh, not jarred), spices in little bags (have to ask what they are), flour, peanut oil and lots of stuff we could not identify! However, I did not see beans though Jess told me there are beans there and I must have missed them. She also said my local market will not have as much stuff. I figure I will grow a lot of things in my garden and keep rice, beans, pasta and tomato paste around as a staple food. I hope my local market is also a little more spread out! It was a little bit overwhelming to be in that crush of people in those tiny walkways, dodging unidentifiable puddles on the ground. Sidiki stepped in a puddle and had to wash his feet when we got back. And again, it was a slow day since it is Tabaski!!
Apparently there are also mango and corn seasons. But the mangoes will be free as long as you can shake one off a tree! Oh and the other night at the restaurant I tried some baobob fruit which is chalky but tasty!
Jess taught me how to eat an orange the way a Guinean does, which entails using a paring knife to cut off the outer layer of skin (which took us like 5 min per orange and would take a Guinean woman 10 seconds), then biting off one end, spitting it out and sucking the juice out as you squeeze the orange. Make sure you spit out the seeds! Very fresh.
Oh AND there is popcorn here!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!! Julia (CD Dan's wife who he met when they were serving in Peace Corps) made us some at the pool and the few precious fluffy white crunchies I had were amazing. Oh, popcorn, how I love you.
Well, tonight we are making pizza, pasta salad, upside down pineapple cake and whatever else for dinner. The pizza will be made of bread, homemade sauce and vache (Laughing Cow cheese). I'm excited.
Paul is sitting next to me working on his speech for the adoption ceremony tomorrow with the help of Katya (our retired volunteer from Russia originally). I think he will be really good. All of us are really excited to move into homestay.
SEND ME LETTERS AND PICTURES!! I have none to show my host family and they will think I am an orphan. :)
Well, au revoir! Talk to you again at Christmas!
Sunday, December 7, 2008
End of Orientation
Today was our last day of orientation. Tomorrow the staff will be off because it is Tabaski, so we have a free day to spend with the volunteers. We are on our own tomorrow and Sadiki (Adam) said we were going to make pizza with Laughing Cow cheese, which is the only affordable cheese you can readily find here. Also the country director (Dan) invited us all to go swimming in his pool tomorrow, which will be great fun!! We are also going to dip all our mosquito nets in bug poison.
Every day we have had hard boiled eggs and fresh french bread for breakfast which has been nice. We have also had a lot of spaghetti and french fries! Last night we went out to a restaurant called Africana in downtown Conakry. The food was similar to what we have been eating - meats, spaghetti, french fries, salad, bread, etc... We had baobob juice which reminded me and Sadiki of Jamba Juice because it kind of had that chalky taste and is thick. Ciara (AgFo Hoe!) said there must have been condensed milk in it.
The ride there and back was CRAZY! There are NO traffic rules here at all. No stop signs or traffic lights (well, a couple). People play soccer in the middle of the street in traffic. There are people EVERYWHERE and a lot of them want to wave and smile at the fotes (white people). People hang out outside in the streets. Everyone honks to try and get their way. Fender benders are a regular occurrence. There's traffic jams on all the major roads. The drive made it clear that Guinea is a very poor country. No one keeps up buildings and some neighborhoods look like war zones. I think I will be happy to be living in a small village in the bush where it is nice and green, calm and clean.
Today I had my first experience washing my clothes. You basically just do it in this big bucket with a wash board (or without) and this chunky soap you can buy everywhere. Dude, it's hard work. Respect your washing machine. I don't even know if I really even got it clean, but we'll see once it's dry. The nice thing is that we have a dryer here at the house so when it is working (Inshallah) you don't have to hang your clothes out to dry. Today it was working so hopefully my clothes will be dry soon. They are practically soaking wet when you put them in, though, so it takes awhile.
The water goes on and off here, as does the electricity. When the electricity goes off, it comes back on a few minutes later, but the water can be out all day. It has made some of us wish we just had pit latrines here because the toilets get WAY more foul than a pit latrine when there is no water. Although yesterday they put out big water buckets so when there isn't water you pour some into the back of the toilet and flush normally.
I have had a shower every day. A COLD shower. We have hot water, but at the end of a hot, long day a cold shower is very welcome.
Last night we had a dance party. Everyone got out their iPods and played all the new dance songs for the volunteers and put a headlamp on "flash" so it was like a strobe light. Too funny.
Tonight I ate a few small pieces of fish at dinner. It was pretty good (L'pouisson est bonne), but weird to eat meat. I know that I have to start building up my resistance for homestay though because my family will probably make me meat, though Ousmane and Cice (in charge of training and homestay) said they would tell my family that I don't eat meat. I think I might be able to eat fish regularly but goat, pork and beef are not going to work out. Maybe some chicken.
I am so excited to go to homestay on Tuesday because it will be an authentic Guinean experience. We are insulated here at the compound, even though Dan (country director) said that they were sorry that due to budget cuts this stage did not get to have orientation at a more "comfortable" location. Pretty much the whole group said we would rather be here. The only really foul thing has been the toilets when there wasn't water.
I still feel bad/ill sometimes but I have found that when I start to feel that way I just need to have some rehydration salt in my water and I feel much better. I have actually started to like the taste of it, which is bizarre because the first time I tasted it, it was really bad. I actually think putting flavoring in it makes it worse!
All our stage does is laugh. We are a group of people with great humor, though Katie (fellow trainee) said, "Well if we didn't laugh, we'd cry!!"
And my final thought: as we were driving back through Conakry on the way back from the restaurant, I remarked, "Ï'm still not having that 'holy shit I'm in Africa' moment." And Sadiki said, "Just wait until you're taking a shit next to a rhino."
P.S. there are no rhinos in Guinea, but we do have hippos :).
Every day we have had hard boiled eggs and fresh french bread for breakfast which has been nice. We have also had a lot of spaghetti and french fries! Last night we went out to a restaurant called Africana in downtown Conakry. The food was similar to what we have been eating - meats, spaghetti, french fries, salad, bread, etc... We had baobob juice which reminded me and Sadiki of Jamba Juice because it kind of had that chalky taste and is thick. Ciara (AgFo Hoe!) said there must have been condensed milk in it.
The ride there and back was CRAZY! There are NO traffic rules here at all. No stop signs or traffic lights (well, a couple). People play soccer in the middle of the street in traffic. There are people EVERYWHERE and a lot of them want to wave and smile at the fotes (white people). People hang out outside in the streets. Everyone honks to try and get their way. Fender benders are a regular occurrence. There's traffic jams on all the major roads. The drive made it clear that Guinea is a very poor country. No one keeps up buildings and some neighborhoods look like war zones. I think I will be happy to be living in a small village in the bush where it is nice and green, calm and clean.
Today I had my first experience washing my clothes. You basically just do it in this big bucket with a wash board (or without) and this chunky soap you can buy everywhere. Dude, it's hard work. Respect your washing machine. I don't even know if I really even got it clean, but we'll see once it's dry. The nice thing is that we have a dryer here at the house so when it is working (Inshallah) you don't have to hang your clothes out to dry. Today it was working so hopefully my clothes will be dry soon. They are practically soaking wet when you put them in, though, so it takes awhile.
The water goes on and off here, as does the electricity. When the electricity goes off, it comes back on a few minutes later, but the water can be out all day. It has made some of us wish we just had pit latrines here because the toilets get WAY more foul than a pit latrine when there is no water. Although yesterday they put out big water buckets so when there isn't water you pour some into the back of the toilet and flush normally.
I have had a shower every day. A COLD shower. We have hot water, but at the end of a hot, long day a cold shower is very welcome.
Last night we had a dance party. Everyone got out their iPods and played all the new dance songs for the volunteers and put a headlamp on "flash" so it was like a strobe light. Too funny.
Tonight I ate a few small pieces of fish at dinner. It was pretty good (L'pouisson est bonne), but weird to eat meat. I know that I have to start building up my resistance for homestay though because my family will probably make me meat, though Ousmane and Cice (in charge of training and homestay) said they would tell my family that I don't eat meat. I think I might be able to eat fish regularly but goat, pork and beef are not going to work out. Maybe some chicken.
I am so excited to go to homestay on Tuesday because it will be an authentic Guinean experience. We are insulated here at the compound, even though Dan (country director) said that they were sorry that due to budget cuts this stage did not get to have orientation at a more "comfortable" location. Pretty much the whole group said we would rather be here. The only really foul thing has been the toilets when there wasn't water.
I still feel bad/ill sometimes but I have found that when I start to feel that way I just need to have some rehydration salt in my water and I feel much better. I have actually started to like the taste of it, which is bizarre because the first time I tasted it, it was really bad. I actually think putting flavoring in it makes it worse!
All our stage does is laugh. We are a group of people with great humor, though Katie (fellow trainee) said, "Well if we didn't laugh, we'd cry!!"
And my final thought: as we were driving back through Conakry on the way back from the restaurant, I remarked, "Ï'm still not having that 'holy shit I'm in Africa' moment." And Sadiki said, "Just wait until you're taking a shit next to a rhino."
P.S. there are no rhinos in Guinea, but we do have hippos :).
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Moonlight
This evening we ventured to the beach bar, which is located right behind our compound. It was fun and loud (we were making all the noise). Toward the end, a few of us ran out toward the water (but were sure not to touch it as sewage in Guinea dumps directly into the ocean completely untreated). We yelled into the wind and looked at the stars. I stood for awhile, just gazing out on the moonlit water and felt a real sense of peace.
I think I will like it here.
I think I will like it here.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Day Two in Guinea
This is a photograph of my "stage" (the group of trainees I arrived with). Everyone is really awesome and we all have so much in common and the same goals and aspirations and I couldn't have hoped to be placed with a better group of people.
Today was our second full day (it's 7:30 here). As I said before, yesterday I was ill and vomited several times. The only vaccination we have had so far was Yellow Fever. Today we had our medical interviews and the doctor looked at it and said he thought I might have had an allergic reaction to the vaccination, so I have an ice pack and ibuprofen and am to see him in the morning. But today I felt fine, so that's good.
Guinea is beautiful, green and surreal! Our transit house compound is right near the beach and when you go to the roof there is a beautiful view of the ocean and some islands.
Monday is an Islamic holiday called Tabaski (sheep holiday), so our "adoption" ceremony has been moved to Tuesday (when we meet our host families and move into their house). Until then I will be here at the transit house with access to internet so feel free to send emails!
They feed us a combination of Guinean food and American food. Last night we had spaghetti and salad and tonight we had french fries and salad (well, the others had some goat, too, but I abstained). Lunch is the Guinean meal and consists of rice, vegetables, sauce and some meat. I just eat around the meat. I am the only vegetarian in my stage. Today for breakfast we had hard boiled eggs, plantains and
fresh baked french bread. Breakfast is my favorite. I could definitely eat that every day!!
Tonight I am going to go to the beach bar with a bunch of the other PCTs and PCVs to have a beer and be on the beach.
Anyway, there are others waiting to use the computer so I am going to sign off, but just know I am safe and feeling good and excited to start PST (pre-service training) on Tuesday.
I love you all!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
We Made It!
Well, I am sitting in the transit house in Conakry and I can hardly believe it! We made it all in one piece and with everyone's luggage! Unbelievable!
I was worried because when we changed planes in Dakar it was INSANE. I ended up taking control of getting everyone checked in and all their bags loaded even though I felt like I was going to pass out. I am the one with the loudest voice, so...that worked out :).
Jessica, Scott and I were the only ones who had to rearrange our stuff at JFK in order to conform to the airline rules, which I thought was kind of shocking. I was the first one to be told to step aside and figure it out - so I win! But we all got all of our stuff here, even though Jessica's brewer's yeast exploded in poor Scott's bag and got ALL OVER all of his stuff. We tried to clean his bag in the bathroom and did an ok job but it needs a true wash before we go to homestay. He had to wash all of his clothes today to get the yeast out. I felt sooooooo bad. I was going to help him but I was sick all day. In fact, I was the first one to puke in Africa (in the Dakar airport, no less)! I win again!
Actually it was awful. It wasn't until we got off the plane in Dakar that I started to feel ill and then it just progressed and progressed and all told I puked probably 5x today and was told to put the rehydration salt in my water and it is FOUL! So I was also the first one to have to drink the rehydration drink in Guinea! I win AGAIN!
I wasn't able to eat lunch at all today, which was a traditional rice and sauce type meal (I managed to get down a plantain but that was it). However, I did eat dinner, which for me was plain pasta (the others had a meat sauce they said was really good) and salad. I asked Liz, one of the PCVs currently serving, if it was ok for us to eat lettuce because I heard it wasn't. She said as long as you wash it in bleach it's fine. YUM...
Everyone is really awesome and we are all becoming great friends. The drive from the airport to the transit house was surreal (and HOT! - it is really humid here) and we had our first little kid yell "Fote, fote, fote, bye bye!" We all laughed but I know being called fote (white person or foreigner) will get old fast.
The transit house pretty much insulates us from the real Guinea. It's like being at a hostel and it's a compound with guards and tall walls and barbed wire to keep us safe. I don't know how I ended up being the only girl in a room with 7 dudes. But it's cool. We did venture off the compound with a couple of the PCVs to go to a store right across the street to buy laundry detergent. It cost 600 Guinean francs which is like 5 cents. But you use the whole packet for one "load". The store had cold sodas, laughing cow cheese and candy among other things.
We had an orientation today but for the most part we had time to ourselves to rest, deal with our bags and talk to the PCVs here to train us for the first couple of weeks. Tomorrow breakfast is at 8 (in the future it will be 7) and then we have a full day of sessions with plans for an early dinner (5ish) so we can go to the beach bar to watch the sunset over the ocean.
So, aside from being really ill, dizzy and exhausted all day, things went just fine! I am confident that when I wake up in the morning I will feel fine, as I am already feeling pretty good. As far as I know, we stay at the transit house until Monday morning, when we go to Forecariah to be adopted by our host families for homestay.
Right now I think my biggest apprehensions are language and figuring out my way around. All in due time.
I love you all and want to once again say thanks for all the support. Send me letters!!
I was worried because when we changed planes in Dakar it was INSANE. I ended up taking control of getting everyone checked in and all their bags loaded even though I felt like I was going to pass out. I am the one with the loudest voice, so...that worked out :).
Jessica, Scott and I were the only ones who had to rearrange our stuff at JFK in order to conform to the airline rules, which I thought was kind of shocking. I was the first one to be told to step aside and figure it out - so I win! But we all got all of our stuff here, even though Jessica's brewer's yeast exploded in poor Scott's bag and got ALL OVER all of his stuff. We tried to clean his bag in the bathroom and did an ok job but it needs a true wash before we go to homestay. He had to wash all of his clothes today to get the yeast out. I felt sooooooo bad. I was going to help him but I was sick all day. In fact, I was the first one to puke in Africa (in the Dakar airport, no less)! I win again!
Actually it was awful. It wasn't until we got off the plane in Dakar that I started to feel ill and then it just progressed and progressed and all told I puked probably 5x today and was told to put the rehydration salt in my water and it is FOUL! So I was also the first one to have to drink the rehydration drink in Guinea! I win AGAIN!
I wasn't able to eat lunch at all today, which was a traditional rice and sauce type meal (I managed to get down a plantain but that was it). However, I did eat dinner, which for me was plain pasta (the others had a meat sauce they said was really good) and salad. I asked Liz, one of the PCVs currently serving, if it was ok for us to eat lettuce because I heard it wasn't. She said as long as you wash it in bleach it's fine. YUM...
Everyone is really awesome and we are all becoming great friends. The drive from the airport to the transit house was surreal (and HOT! - it is really humid here) and we had our first little kid yell "Fote, fote, fote, bye bye!" We all laughed but I know being called fote (white person or foreigner) will get old fast.
The transit house pretty much insulates us from the real Guinea. It's like being at a hostel and it's a compound with guards and tall walls and barbed wire to keep us safe. I don't know how I ended up being the only girl in a room with 7 dudes. But it's cool. We did venture off the compound with a couple of the PCVs to go to a store right across the street to buy laundry detergent. It cost 600 Guinean francs which is like 5 cents. But you use the whole packet for one "load". The store had cold sodas, laughing cow cheese and candy among other things.
We had an orientation today but for the most part we had time to ourselves to rest, deal with our bags and talk to the PCVs here to train us for the first couple of weeks. Tomorrow breakfast is at 8 (in the future it will be 7) and then we have a full day of sessions with plans for an early dinner (5ish) so we can go to the beach bar to watch the sunset over the ocean.
So, aside from being really ill, dizzy and exhausted all day, things went just fine! I am confident that when I wake up in the morning I will feel fine, as I am already feeling pretty good. As far as I know, we stay at the transit house until Monday morning, when we go to Forecariah to be adopted by our host families for homestay.
Right now I think my biggest apprehensions are language and figuring out my way around. All in due time.
I love you all and want to once again say thanks for all the support. Send me letters!!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Off to Stage in the Morning...
Well, it still doesn't seem quite real. I remarked today that I am at the point I should have been at a week ago. Yeah.
I am definitely going to be the one hauling around the most junk. I mean, it's pretty epic. I ended up with a large internal frame camping pack and a large rolling duffel bag (both just slightly under 50 lbs. each), and then my pilot-case type carry-on and backpack. I guess the only thing "extra" is the pilot case, but yeah.
Too much stuff. If I had another week I probably could have pared it down a lot but...let's just hope the Universe is on my side and gets all my stuff to Guinea safely. I definitely stressed too much about packing.
Anyway, I have to be up in about 4 hours to catch my flight to Philly, but wanted to have one last post from CA before I left. It doesn't seem real to be saying goodbye to my friends and family. I have been under such stress the last few weeks, so much so that I haven't really been able to feel apprehension, excitement, sadness, etc... Really all I have felt is stress and a sense of urgency. And am leaving my mom with more stress (as I did not do a very good job of getting rid of all my junk). I definitely think I needed another week.
But, c'est la vie!
See you in Guinea!
I am definitely going to be the one hauling around the most junk. I mean, it's pretty epic. I ended up with a large internal frame camping pack and a large rolling duffel bag (both just slightly under 50 lbs. each), and then my pilot-case type carry-on and backpack. I guess the only thing "extra" is the pilot case, but yeah.
Too much stuff. If I had another week I probably could have pared it down a lot but...let's just hope the Universe is on my side and gets all my stuff to Guinea safely. I definitely stressed too much about packing.
Anyway, I have to be up in about 4 hours to catch my flight to Philly, but wanted to have one last post from CA before I left. It doesn't seem real to be saying goodbye to my friends and family. I have been under such stress the last few weeks, so much so that I haven't really been able to feel apprehension, excitement, sadness, etc... Really all I have felt is stress and a sense of urgency. And am leaving my mom with more stress (as I did not do a very good job of getting rid of all my junk). I definitely think I needed another week.
But, c'est la vie!
See you in Guinea!
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