Today was a good day. I sat on my porch almost all day even though it was market day, which means a lot of people come by my house. When some kids came by I busted out the drawing kit my aunt Linda sent and it was a big hit, although the kids were scared to death to use crayons. Think about that. They have never used crayons. They have barely even used regular lead pencils. I was trying to get this one girl that I know fairly well (as well as you can know someone whose language you don’t speak) and I got her to the point of squatting in front of the piece of paper with a crayon in her hand but she was too nervous to draw anything. The youngest boy, who is her brother, seemed to really want to draw something and while Nene and Mamadou were making their pictures (for some reason they had no scruples at all about drawing, Mamadou even used the markers to draw all over his leg), I tore a piece of paper from the notebook, picked up a blue crayon and held it out to him. A look of absolute horror crossed his face and he snapped his hands behind his back and shook his head back and forth as though he was trying to shake it off his shoulders but I insisted and he took the crayon, then sat down on the porch and smiled to himself as he drew a car and a hut. Ultimately couldn’t get any of the younger kids to draw anything else (we’ll try again next time they come over), but the teenagers came by later and got creative, drawing me a rainbow pigeon and some flowers they titled, “Les Fleurs de Cour” which I think means “the flowers of the heart”.
In the market today there were avocadoes! I knew they were there because a boy passed by my house with a plate of them on his head and I was like WOOHOO and went out to search for the lady selling them. I bought two and she gave me a third one as a cadeau. And then when I was buying dried fish for Yogi (at 4 for a mille! WAY cheaper than sardines!) she gave me an extra one as a cadeau too. Gotta love cadeaus at the marche.
I went and sat with Madame Bangoura for a little bit but not long because she is kinda sick (headache today) and she says that if the Sous Prefet loses his job after the election in December (SPs are appointed by the President) that they will leave my village. That makes me sad.
As the marche was wrapping up, I started to hear thunder from my porch. I looked to the south and saw dark skies rolling in and thought, “Yay my first daytime rainstorm!” Really it wasn’t daytime, the sun was going down, but it was still light out unlike the other brief rains that have happened in the middle of the night. Rainy season is starting!
So it started to rain and boy was it a downpour! The window in my bedroom was open and starting to get my bed wet so I had to run around back in the rain to shut the window (still have to change the position of my bed, first on the agenda for when I get back from IST). So since I was practically soaked anyway I decided to wash my hair in my front yard in the rain. The few people who ran by looked at me like I was absolutely crazy. I don’t know if they would ever have thought to wash their hair in the rain. Then I decided I ought to just take my whole bath out in the latrine because if it didn’t stop raining and it got all the way dark I wouldn’t have any light to bathe by. So I went out back, stripped down and commenced to take my bath using the rainwater that had collected in the buckets I left out. It was cold water but after the hot day we had it was a nice cool-down.
Yogi started barking and I got paranoid because someone told me a lot of break-ins happen during the rains because you can’t hear anything with the rain pounding on the tin roof. Turns out someone had deposed their market table on my porch and Yogi heard them. By the time I went to bed it was still out there and it had stopped raining so I hope whoever’s it is comes to get it!
While I was out back having my bath, I looked up at the sky and saw some absolutely incredible lightning. It was so incredible that after my bath I sat out on my porch with Yogi and just watched the sky. I have a great view of the western sky from my porch and just watched as bolts and spiderwebs of lightning stretched across the sky. It was awesome. Who needs fireworks when you have lightning like that!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
People Magazine = Big Hit
Guineans love People magazine. I was reading one on my porch today and my friend Lamarana came over and saw that Rihanna was on the cover and was like, “CAN I HAVE THAT?? I LOVE RIHANNA!” And I was like sure, it’s yours…but only when I am done reading. And then some kids came by and were looking through the one with Jessica Simpson on the cover and Lamarana told them that the Rihanna one was going to be his and the one kid asked me if he could have the other one and I said, “if you do something for me you can have it.” He asked if I liked mangoes and I said yes so he went and got me about 6 mangoes and I gave him the magazine.
Also Lamarana can’t find work so he doesn’t really have any money and he asked me to give him lunch, and I didn’t know quite how to respond because I’m not like Guineans in that I don’t have rice and sauce just sitting around all the time, I would have to actually prepare something, but then I remembered that Balde had bought me three hard boiled eggs in the marche the other day and I knew I wouldn’t eat them before they went bad (though I could have fed them to Yogi) so I asked if he wanted an egg and he got really excited so I brought him all three eggs. Then he said he was going to go get bread to put them on, since I didn’t have bread, so I busted out the mayonnaise too and he had a boiled egg and mayonnaise sandwich on french bread. Not a bad lunch. Unfortunately the mayonnaise was still out when the kids came by so they went and bought bread too and made mayonnaise sandwiches for themselves. So about half my jar of mayonnaise got used up. Mayo is kind of expensive at 15 mille (about $3) for a small jar, but it made them all really happy so it was worth it.
In the afternoon I went over to the Sous Prefet’s house to saluer madame and brought her a handful of the chocolate covered caramels from Dakar and a wheel of Laughing Cow cheese (Vache qui rit). She fed me rice with manioc leaf sauce (it was thick because she put peanut butter in it – also who would ever have thought I would miss rice and sauce so much??) and a giant slice of watermelon. Then I asked her if she made peanut sauce because I want to learn (really I am just searching for the lady with the best peanut sauce and once I find her I am going to make her be my mom and feed me peanut sauce 3x a week . I have memorized the phrase “I want peanut sauce!” in Pular: Mi faala mafe tiga!). She said we can make it tomorrow so I’m supposed to go over there at 9am to help. YUM PEANUT SAUCE!
That throws a kink in my plan to go to the school at ten though because my other friend Ousmane (he is in his 10th year, which is the last year you can do in my village, you have to go the bigger city to do 11th and 12th) told me there is someone who makes keke (pounded fermented manioc with an onion sauce – so good! – but almost no nutritional value) and sells it at the school every day at 10am. And if I like it, that person walks right by my house every day to go to the school and I could get them to stop and sell me keke whenever I want!! Awesome! But I can’t do it tomorrow now that I am doing the peanut sauce thing so Thursday that is in my plans.
A lot of people hung out at my house today including this new dude Abdullah who came yesterday to saluer and brought me three oranges. He lives in Conakry but is here this week for some reason (didn’t catch the reason) and is a rapper. EVERYONE who came by informed me that he is a rapper. He has dreds and sports a Bob Marley bandanna. He seems educated and pointed out some stuff that other Guineans have never questioned. Like, I only have one plastic chair and I put it on my porch during the day so I can read out there and have somewhere to sit when people come by and he was like, “if I was at your house in the States, would you have only a chair for you and none for me?” (I responded that in the States we would have couches to sit on). This is while he sat in my only chair for hours and I had to sit on the stoop and entertain him. I feel like only having the one chair has prevented people from lingering too long at my house because while they can sit on the porch “railing” (it’s more of a ledge), that ain’t as comfortable as a plastic chair. So now I have to buy more plastic chairs, and they ain’t cheap. He also questioned why I was even in Guinea, asking if I was here just to “suffer” and I was kind of offended by that because first of all, I don’t consider myself to be suffering at all here and secondly he completely diminuer-ed (minimized) all of the goals behind being here. When he said this he was still sitting in my only chair for hours. Basically his attitude was unlike any other Guinean I have encountered thus far and he reminded me of one of those uppity people you run into at parties in the States that just try to make you feel bad about everything you do. He said he is coming back tomorrow. He also made me give him my phone number.
Also this morning Hoodia came and got me 2 big bidons and 1 petite bidon of changol water and then I leant her my bike and she got me another petite bidon of pump water, which was great because I got all stocked up on water! Then this afternoon Nene came to wash my floors (earned a Kashi granola bar) and I did a bunch of dishes so I used up a petite bidon and half of a big bidon plus put all the pump water in the filter so I have empty bidons again! And my bath bucket is empty and I have to fill it in the morning.
Speaking of baths the last two nights I have taken a bath under the stars after dinner by the light of my kerosene lantern. It has been amazing. It is the hottest month of the year and outside at night it cools down considerably but the water in my bath bucket gets a little warm throughout the day so the bucket bath is really nice with the cool night air, warm water and Yogi’s shadow dancing around my palm frond-lined latrine.
The highlight of the day had to be Yogi running around the yard like a madman taunting goats (who just regarded him like he was crazy) and sheep. He would not stop taunting the sheep and the sheep finally started chasing him and headbutted him and he went flying head over heels and it was hilarious. I think Yogi is very happy to be back at our house where he can run and taunt other animals.
The ladies from the groupement are always walking by my house because they are building the building for the generator just behind my house, so there is lots of saluer-ing going on. It’s nice though because I like all the ladies and consider them some of my better friends here, other than Nene and all the boys who hang out on my porch.
Funny story: Ousmane keeps saying he wants to marry my younger sister but she is only a year old and I keep telling him he will have to wait 20 years. He says that is ok.
For dinner I decided to make french fries with onions, tomato and Laughing Cow but I didn’t have enough oil. I didn’t know if my onion lady would still be at her table, but I hadn’t seen her walk by on her way home so I ran out to the road and she was packing up with two boys one of which had JUST put the jar of oil on his head and I was like WAIT!!! And I pointed at the jar and the lady is so nice she had the boys take the jar down, opened up another jar to get the baggie AND opened up another baggie she had just finished tying up to give me change. I love my onion lady.
And the fries were delicious.
Also Lamarana can’t find work so he doesn’t really have any money and he asked me to give him lunch, and I didn’t know quite how to respond because I’m not like Guineans in that I don’t have rice and sauce just sitting around all the time, I would have to actually prepare something, but then I remembered that Balde had bought me three hard boiled eggs in the marche the other day and I knew I wouldn’t eat them before they went bad (though I could have fed them to Yogi) so I asked if he wanted an egg and he got really excited so I brought him all three eggs. Then he said he was going to go get bread to put them on, since I didn’t have bread, so I busted out the mayonnaise too and he had a boiled egg and mayonnaise sandwich on french bread. Not a bad lunch. Unfortunately the mayonnaise was still out when the kids came by so they went and bought bread too and made mayonnaise sandwiches for themselves. So about half my jar of mayonnaise got used up. Mayo is kind of expensive at 15 mille (about $3) for a small jar, but it made them all really happy so it was worth it.
In the afternoon I went over to the Sous Prefet’s house to saluer madame and brought her a handful of the chocolate covered caramels from Dakar and a wheel of Laughing Cow cheese (Vache qui rit). She fed me rice with manioc leaf sauce (it was thick because she put peanut butter in it – also who would ever have thought I would miss rice and sauce so much??) and a giant slice of watermelon. Then I asked her if she made peanut sauce because I want to learn (really I am just searching for the lady with the best peanut sauce and once I find her I am going to make her be my mom and feed me peanut sauce 3x a week . I have memorized the phrase “I want peanut sauce!” in Pular: Mi faala mafe tiga!). She said we can make it tomorrow so I’m supposed to go over there at 9am to help. YUM PEANUT SAUCE!
That throws a kink in my plan to go to the school at ten though because my other friend Ousmane (he is in his 10th year, which is the last year you can do in my village, you have to go the bigger city to do 11th and 12th) told me there is someone who makes keke (pounded fermented manioc with an onion sauce – so good! – but almost no nutritional value) and sells it at the school every day at 10am. And if I like it, that person walks right by my house every day to go to the school and I could get them to stop and sell me keke whenever I want!! Awesome! But I can’t do it tomorrow now that I am doing the peanut sauce thing so Thursday that is in my plans.
A lot of people hung out at my house today including this new dude Abdullah who came yesterday to saluer and brought me three oranges. He lives in Conakry but is here this week for some reason (didn’t catch the reason) and is a rapper. EVERYONE who came by informed me that he is a rapper. He has dreds and sports a Bob Marley bandanna. He seems educated and pointed out some stuff that other Guineans have never questioned. Like, I only have one plastic chair and I put it on my porch during the day so I can read out there and have somewhere to sit when people come by and he was like, “if I was at your house in the States, would you have only a chair for you and none for me?” (I responded that in the States we would have couches to sit on). This is while he sat in my only chair for hours and I had to sit on the stoop and entertain him. I feel like only having the one chair has prevented people from lingering too long at my house because while they can sit on the porch “railing” (it’s more of a ledge), that ain’t as comfortable as a plastic chair. So now I have to buy more plastic chairs, and they ain’t cheap. He also questioned why I was even in Guinea, asking if I was here just to “suffer” and I was kind of offended by that because first of all, I don’t consider myself to be suffering at all here and secondly he completely diminuer-ed (minimized) all of the goals behind being here. When he said this he was still sitting in my only chair for hours. Basically his attitude was unlike any other Guinean I have encountered thus far and he reminded me of one of those uppity people you run into at parties in the States that just try to make you feel bad about everything you do. He said he is coming back tomorrow. He also made me give him my phone number.
Also this morning Hoodia came and got me 2 big bidons and 1 petite bidon of changol water and then I leant her my bike and she got me another petite bidon of pump water, which was great because I got all stocked up on water! Then this afternoon Nene came to wash my floors (earned a Kashi granola bar) and I did a bunch of dishes so I used up a petite bidon and half of a big bidon plus put all the pump water in the filter so I have empty bidons again! And my bath bucket is empty and I have to fill it in the morning.
Speaking of baths the last two nights I have taken a bath under the stars after dinner by the light of my kerosene lantern. It has been amazing. It is the hottest month of the year and outside at night it cools down considerably but the water in my bath bucket gets a little warm throughout the day so the bucket bath is really nice with the cool night air, warm water and Yogi’s shadow dancing around my palm frond-lined latrine.
The highlight of the day had to be Yogi running around the yard like a madman taunting goats (who just regarded him like he was crazy) and sheep. He would not stop taunting the sheep and the sheep finally started chasing him and headbutted him and he went flying head over heels and it was hilarious. I think Yogi is very happy to be back at our house where he can run and taunt other animals.
The ladies from the groupement are always walking by my house because they are building the building for the generator just behind my house, so there is lots of saluer-ing going on. It’s nice though because I like all the ladies and consider them some of my better friends here, other than Nene and all the boys who hang out on my porch.
Funny story: Ousmane keeps saying he wants to marry my younger sister but she is only a year old and I keep telling him he will have to wait 20 years. He says that is ok.
For dinner I decided to make french fries with onions, tomato and Laughing Cow but I didn’t have enough oil. I didn’t know if my onion lady would still be at her table, but I hadn’t seen her walk by on her way home so I ran out to the road and she was packing up with two boys one of which had JUST put the jar of oil on his head and I was like WAIT!!! And I pointed at the jar and the lady is so nice she had the boys take the jar down, opened up another jar to get the baggie AND opened up another baggie she had just finished tying up to give me change. I love my onion lady.
And the fries were delicious.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Back At Site
Well, it is awesome to be back at my house. Except that I feel like my room is hotter than even Kate’s or John’s! In fact, last night at John’s I actually got COLD in the middle of the night and had to take my towel from being my pillow and try to curl up under it.
Both John and Kate apparently hated taking care of Yogi because he is super energetic and not house trained (especially in a place where he doesn’t have an open-door policy which he can’t have at John’s or Kate’s due to the size of their cities). Here, he can go in and out as he pleases and he did not go to the bathroom inside even once today. But this is partly due to the training Kate had been giving him which I am going to try to continue but feel I am already sucking at.
So there have been some changes at John’s site and the Prefet moved the gares into one gare that is freaking far. And I had a ridiculous amount of chose with me and poor John hauled not only my backpack but also a big bag stuffed with books and packages sent from the States (more on this later) all the way there (and this is after leaving a bunch of stuff at his house). And then the gare was really confusing. I told like 4 people where I was going and they kept telling me to wait, as if there weren’t a car there that were going my way yet and then one of them moved me and all my stuff down to the rice bars so I had no idea what was going on. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise because one of the dudes at the rice bar, who I thought was just going to go in the same car as me, turned out to be a fonctionnaire with his own patron-mobile (SUV with a driver) and gave me a free ride right to my doorstep!! It was awesome! He was actually driving all the way up my road to check on the progress of the road repairs (and I think the road is actually looking better!) and he had a GPS unit and two digital cameras! I was like WHOA! We stopped twice to talk to some of the workers doing the repairs but even with that it only took an hour to get here so all in all a good ride.
I felt kind of bad though because as I was sitting at the rice bar, my Sous Prefet drove up on his moto with his wife and Alpha (youngest kid) and stopped to talk to someone and I was like “Hey I know you!” and went over to talk to him and told him I was waiting for a taxi. And he went over to the gare and arranged it with the driver going my way and came back to tell me the driver would pick me up there when the car was ready to go (because apparently the four other people I told where I was going did not get through). And then I briefly thought that the car I was getting into WAS the taxi (sometimes you get super lucky and get an SUV taxi, but this one was decidedly nicer than any SUV taxi) and didn’t realize I was getting a patron ride until we already were leaving, so I didn’t get a chance to go tell the taxi that I had another ride. So I feel bad.
Anyway. Packages rock. Before I left for Dakar there was one from my mom and when I got back there was one from my grandparents and one from JAKE’s mom (moms love me – thanks Mrs. Figas!). And then when I got to John’s the mail run had dropped off one from Megan (woot first friend package, Megan has all the gold stars!!) and one from my Aunt Sue. All in all, pretty freaking awesome and what was sent all made it (even the huge chocolate bars Megan sent made it with apparently no melting, though granted I have not actually opened one yet, but the point is that they are hard. The fun size Milky Ways and 3 Musketeers got a little bit squished but are not liquid and are freaking delicious!). My American food trunk is overflowing. Which is good for Nene because it means if she does something for me (like today she washed my clothes), she gets her pick of a bunch of different things as payment (today she took a Nature Valley granola bar). Tomorrow she is going to come wash my floors.
Also Megan sent some dog toys and Yogi has actually been playing with the “Tennis Bone” she sent, so thank you!!
Also I got some mail just before I left Conakry the other day and I had a letter! No it wasn’t from one of my friends or someone in my family (f-ing slackers!!!), but from a dude named Allister who reads my blog. DO YOU HEAR THAT FRIENDS?? A dude who doesn’t even know me sent me a letter and YOU are still sitting around! He sent an awesome sticker with it, too, that says “Genius At Work” and I am totally putting it on my front door. Thanks Allister!! It was a treat to get a letter, even from someone I don’t know. Good luck in your application process, I hope they do send you to Africa and having no French seems to be no problem as long as you studied a romance language of some kind in school. To briefly answer some of your questions: If I packed again, I would bring half the clothes, toiletries and food I originally brought (you don’t want to wash that many clothes anyway, people send you toiletries and food in packages and you’d be surprised how long a tube of toothpaste and a bottle of shampoo really last you). The best things I brought were this AlphaSmart I am writing on right now (it is what allows me to post so many detailed blogs – I’m doing it at site and just downloading the text files when I get to internet), my digital camera, iPod, iPod speaker, solar charger (I have the IceTech, it charges my iPod and cell phone) and my own pillow (the pillows here suck and the ones you can buy at Leb stores are expensive). Oh and a headlamp is absolutely indispensable (I have never used my flashlight). I wish I had brought my teddy bear. And another pair of smaller jeans since I’ve lost a lot of weight and you probably will, too. I also wish I had brought a smaller laptop. I have a huge PowerBook (17”) and it is basically prohibitively large to be carting around everywhere. Wish I had sold it and brought a 12” iBook instead. When thinking of bringing a laptop, the smaller the better.
My house was a complete wreck when I got here. There were about 50 wasp maggot nests on the porch (I had been keeping on top of them and breaking them with a hammer whenever one of the HUGE wasps that like my porch would be trying to build one). There were also cigarette butts, a big rock and a broken set of prayer beads. Meaning people had been hanging out on my porch while I was gone. But luckily no break-ins! So I spent awhile cleaning. There was A LOT of mouse poop and spoiled fruit and vegetables, some of which the mouse had eaten. And some unidentifiable moldy mess in the bottom of one of my buckets. And lots of spiders had moved in, though all pretty small. I swept them all out. Oddly, none had moved into my bedroom, just the living room and hallway.
I went to the changol with Nene, Mamadou and the other Nene who stays with Nene when the Sous Prefet is away to do laundry. I was intending to do my own laundry but then Nene insisted on doing mine, which was fine with me because it meant I could get rid of a bon-bon! So I hung out down there with the women for a couple of hours and every bush taxi that went by honked at the blanc on the side of the road and every woman who came to do her washing smiled in delight when I greeted them in Pular.
There’s more to say but I’m tired. G’night!
Both John and Kate apparently hated taking care of Yogi because he is super energetic and not house trained (especially in a place where he doesn’t have an open-door policy which he can’t have at John’s or Kate’s due to the size of their cities). Here, he can go in and out as he pleases and he did not go to the bathroom inside even once today. But this is partly due to the training Kate had been giving him which I am going to try to continue but feel I am already sucking at.
So there have been some changes at John’s site and the Prefet moved the gares into one gare that is freaking far. And I had a ridiculous amount of chose with me and poor John hauled not only my backpack but also a big bag stuffed with books and packages sent from the States (more on this later) all the way there (and this is after leaving a bunch of stuff at his house). And then the gare was really confusing. I told like 4 people where I was going and they kept telling me to wait, as if there weren’t a car there that were going my way yet and then one of them moved me and all my stuff down to the rice bars so I had no idea what was going on. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise because one of the dudes at the rice bar, who I thought was just going to go in the same car as me, turned out to be a fonctionnaire with his own patron-mobile (SUV with a driver) and gave me a free ride right to my doorstep!! It was awesome! He was actually driving all the way up my road to check on the progress of the road repairs (and I think the road is actually looking better!) and he had a GPS unit and two digital cameras! I was like WHOA! We stopped twice to talk to some of the workers doing the repairs but even with that it only took an hour to get here so all in all a good ride.
I felt kind of bad though because as I was sitting at the rice bar, my Sous Prefet drove up on his moto with his wife and Alpha (youngest kid) and stopped to talk to someone and I was like “Hey I know you!” and went over to talk to him and told him I was waiting for a taxi. And he went over to the gare and arranged it with the driver going my way and came back to tell me the driver would pick me up there when the car was ready to go (because apparently the four other people I told where I was going did not get through). And then I briefly thought that the car I was getting into WAS the taxi (sometimes you get super lucky and get an SUV taxi, but this one was decidedly nicer than any SUV taxi) and didn’t realize I was getting a patron ride until we already were leaving, so I didn’t get a chance to go tell the taxi that I had another ride. So I feel bad.
Anyway. Packages rock. Before I left for Dakar there was one from my mom and when I got back there was one from my grandparents and one from JAKE’s mom (moms love me – thanks Mrs. Figas!). And then when I got to John’s the mail run had dropped off one from Megan (woot first friend package, Megan has all the gold stars!!) and one from my Aunt Sue. All in all, pretty freaking awesome and what was sent all made it (even the huge chocolate bars Megan sent made it with apparently no melting, though granted I have not actually opened one yet, but the point is that they are hard. The fun size Milky Ways and 3 Musketeers got a little bit squished but are not liquid and are freaking delicious!). My American food trunk is overflowing. Which is good for Nene because it means if she does something for me (like today she washed my clothes), she gets her pick of a bunch of different things as payment (today she took a Nature Valley granola bar). Tomorrow she is going to come wash my floors.
Also Megan sent some dog toys and Yogi has actually been playing with the “Tennis Bone” she sent, so thank you!!
Also I got some mail just before I left Conakry the other day and I had a letter! No it wasn’t from one of my friends or someone in my family (f-ing slackers!!!), but from a dude named Allister who reads my blog. DO YOU HEAR THAT FRIENDS?? A dude who doesn’t even know me sent me a letter and YOU are still sitting around! He sent an awesome sticker with it, too, that says “Genius At Work” and I am totally putting it on my front door. Thanks Allister!! It was a treat to get a letter, even from someone I don’t know. Good luck in your application process, I hope they do send you to Africa and having no French seems to be no problem as long as you studied a romance language of some kind in school. To briefly answer some of your questions: If I packed again, I would bring half the clothes, toiletries and food I originally brought (you don’t want to wash that many clothes anyway, people send you toiletries and food in packages and you’d be surprised how long a tube of toothpaste and a bottle of shampoo really last you). The best things I brought were this AlphaSmart I am writing on right now (it is what allows me to post so many detailed blogs – I’m doing it at site and just downloading the text files when I get to internet), my digital camera, iPod, iPod speaker, solar charger (I have the IceTech, it charges my iPod and cell phone) and my own pillow (the pillows here suck and the ones you can buy at Leb stores are expensive). Oh and a headlamp is absolutely indispensable (I have never used my flashlight). I wish I had brought my teddy bear. And another pair of smaller jeans since I’ve lost a lot of weight and you probably will, too. I also wish I had brought a smaller laptop. I have a huge PowerBook (17”) and it is basically prohibitively large to be carting around everywhere. Wish I had sold it and brought a 12” iBook instead. When thinking of bringing a laptop, the smaller the better.
My house was a complete wreck when I got here. There were about 50 wasp maggot nests on the porch (I had been keeping on top of them and breaking them with a hammer whenever one of the HUGE wasps that like my porch would be trying to build one). There were also cigarette butts, a big rock and a broken set of prayer beads. Meaning people had been hanging out on my porch while I was gone. But luckily no break-ins! So I spent awhile cleaning. There was A LOT of mouse poop and spoiled fruit and vegetables, some of which the mouse had eaten. And some unidentifiable moldy mess in the bottom of one of my buckets. And lots of spiders had moved in, though all pretty small. I swept them all out. Oddly, none had moved into my bedroom, just the living room and hallway.
I went to the changol with Nene, Mamadou and the other Nene who stays with Nene when the Sous Prefet is away to do laundry. I was intending to do my own laundry but then Nene insisted on doing mine, which was fine with me because it meant I could get rid of a bon-bon! So I hung out down there with the women for a couple of hours and every bush taxi that went by honked at the blanc on the side of the road and every woman who came to do her washing smiled in delight when I greeted them in Pular.
There’s more to say but I’m tired. G’night!
Friday, April 24, 2009
Pictures from Ian's Camera
Sign at the marche in Forecariah, pretty good likeness of Mr. Obama, no?:
Abandoned diamond mine we visited in training. Some independent contractors still dig there in hopes of finding the big one:
Abdoul, our AgFo trainer. He will be missed when he goes off to University!:
You make banana chips out of green bananas like these (and they are delicious):
Me giving the speech in French at our swear-in:
A typical Guinean bush taxi:
Yogi was so cute as a puppy...and that's a lot of stuff on that Land Cruiser (this is when we were being installed):
This is what my road/the area around my village looks like:
Pagaille and Yogi drive Ian crazy:
Yogi thinks Pagaille will be tasty:
Cow thinks Yogi will be tasty:
I give Pagaille a break from being attacked:
Djenaba, Ian's rice and sauce lady, who faithfully delivers my bush notes to Ian and makes the best peanut sauce I have ever had:
Craziest bush taxi driver yet. Before I got into this car, Ian said, "ummm...you might not want to ride in this car":
Then we got a flat tire. Ian is multi-purpose/Peace Corps Volunteer making a difference:
As Ian removed the tire to this bush taxi, he looked up at me and said, "You do NOT want to see how these brakes are held together":
...and I didn't. Held together by wire:
The ferry we used to cross the river. Try to find the white girl:
John taught petites the Chicken Dance when we were stuck in Mango-ville for three hours:
John's future's so bright he's gotta wear shades:
Yogi and Pagaille play for hours while bush taxis break down:
Abandoned diamond mine we visited in training. Some independent contractors still dig there in hopes of finding the big one:
Abdoul, our AgFo trainer. He will be missed when he goes off to University!:
You make banana chips out of green bananas like these (and they are delicious):
Me giving the speech in French at our swear-in:
A typical Guinean bush taxi:
Yogi was so cute as a puppy...and that's a lot of stuff on that Land Cruiser (this is when we were being installed):
This is what my road/the area around my village looks like:
Pagaille and Yogi drive Ian crazy:
Yogi thinks Pagaille will be tasty:
Cow thinks Yogi will be tasty:
I give Pagaille a break from being attacked:
Djenaba, Ian's rice and sauce lady, who faithfully delivers my bush notes to Ian and makes the best peanut sauce I have ever had:
Craziest bush taxi driver yet. Before I got into this car, Ian said, "ummm...you might not want to ride in this car":
Then we got a flat tire. Ian is multi-purpose/Peace Corps Volunteer making a difference:
As Ian removed the tire to this bush taxi, he looked up at me and said, "You do NOT want to see how these brakes are held together":
...and I didn't. Held together by wire:
The ferry we used to cross the river. Try to find the white girl:
John taught petites the Chicken Dance when we were stuck in Mango-ville for three hours:
John's future's so bright he's gotta wear shades:
Yogi and Pagaille play for hours while bush taxis break down:
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Home
I'll admit it, when I was leaving Dakar I had a little moment of panic/apprehension about going back to Guinea, worried I didn't know how to live here anymore and that it would be like starting over.
But when the plane landed, the Conakry airport seemed so familiar and the military guys standing by the entrance to customs warmly responded to my "bonsoir" with a "ca va?" and a smile. And as Le Vieux (Boke chauffer) guided the Land Cruiser out of the airport parking lot, I saw the familiar candles lighting the roadside stands of women selling fruit, gateaus and brochettes and couldn't help the smile that crossed my face when in my head I thought, "home".
And then had the familiar feeling of staring death in the face as we tried to navigate through the thoroughly insane Conakry traffic. Welcome back to Guinea. Exhale.
But when the plane landed, the Conakry airport seemed so familiar and the military guys standing by the entrance to customs warmly responded to my "bonsoir" with a "ca va?" and a smile. And as Le Vieux (Boke chauffer) guided the Land Cruiser out of the airport parking lot, I saw the familiar candles lighting the roadside stands of women selling fruit, gateaus and brochettes and couldn't help the smile that crossed my face when in my head I thought, "home".
And then had the familiar feeling of staring death in the face as we tried to navigate through the thoroughly insane Conakry traffic. Welcome back to Guinea. Exhale.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Headed Back to Guinea!
Finally!
Going back to Guinea tonight. Then will be able to spend approximately one week at my site before I will have to leave again for 2 weeks of IST (in-service training).
Le sigh.
But I get to see my dog hopefully tomorrow!!! :)
Going back to Guinea tonight. Then will be able to spend approximately one week at my site before I will have to leave again for 2 weeks of IST (in-service training).
Le sigh.
But I get to see my dog hopefully tomorrow!!! :)
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Someday I Will Get to Leave Dakar
A little update for you all...
Thought I was going to be able to go home Wednesday and scheduled a flight and everything but then there was a power outage at the crown factory (that sounds funny) and my Saturday appointment got rescheduled for Monday so now I am optimistic abut being able to go home Thursday or Friday.
Inshallah (God Willing).
In other news today I tried to make garlic naan but it turned out more like pizza dough but still tastes fantastic. Not sure if I will eat it with boil-in-bag Indian food (purchased from the Indian restaurant) or make tacos. The possibilities are endless.
Also have finally watched Star Wars: A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back and am not really seeing the cult-like appeal though Harrison Ford as a young man is freaking delicious but Luke Skywalker is kind of a douche.
Also a couple of Senegalese volunteers had some Season 5 LOST episodes on DVD and streamed the rest online so I am all caught up but it just makes me want to watch the whole series again starting with Season 1. When I get back to the States, I'm totally doing that.
That's all for now.
Thought I was going to be able to go home Wednesday and scheduled a flight and everything but then there was a power outage at the crown factory (that sounds funny) and my Saturday appointment got rescheduled for Monday so now I am optimistic abut being able to go home Thursday or Friday.
Inshallah (God Willing).
In other news today I tried to make garlic naan but it turned out more like pizza dough but still tastes fantastic. Not sure if I will eat it with boil-in-bag Indian food (purchased from the Indian restaurant) or make tacos. The possibilities are endless.
Also have finally watched Star Wars: A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back and am not really seeing the cult-like appeal though Harrison Ford as a young man is freaking delicious but Luke Skywalker is kind of a douche.
Also a couple of Senegalese volunteers had some Season 5 LOST episodes on DVD and streamed the rest online so I am all caught up but it just makes me want to watch the whole series again starting with Season 1. When I get back to the States, I'm totally doing that.
That's all for now.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Photos of Dakar
So Inshallah I should be able to go back to Guinea on Wednesday. As a tribute to my nearly month-long tryst in Dakar, some photos for you.
Julie and I made burritos:
There were no dishes so people were creative about their plates:
My face is numb:
Hookah Bar/Restaurant:
Dancing:
They serve beer to you on the beach:
And it makes us happy:
Cat in a restaurant (French Cultural Center):
Thai Restaurant (Emily and Nate). I had Phad Woon Sen with tofu, my favorite Thai dish:
Best barstool ever at the hotel bar/lounge we frequented for 2-for-1 happy hour:
Horse Crossing:
We made pizza on Easter (this is Christina from Mali):
Beautiful beaches:
Maree, a seafood restaurant situated at the westernmost point of Africa:
Lighthouse off the westernmost point of Africa:
Rocks:
Awesome strawberry milkshake enjoyed at a New York-style diner:
Roundabout statue that totally reminds me of Dumbledore's hat in Harry Potter:
Emily in her "Queen Chair" at the ethiopian restaurant:
Multicultural night aka drinks with French military officers:
One of them randomly bought Christina knockoff perfume on the street:
Angry Frenchman in a taxi:
Scenes in Dakar:
Julie and I made burritos:
There were no dishes so people were creative about their plates:
My face is numb:
Hookah Bar/Restaurant:
Dancing:
They serve beer to you on the beach:
And it makes us happy:
Cat in a restaurant (French Cultural Center):
Thai Restaurant (Emily and Nate). I had Phad Woon Sen with tofu, my favorite Thai dish:
Best barstool ever at the hotel bar/lounge we frequented for 2-for-1 happy hour:
Horse Crossing:
We made pizza on Easter (this is Christina from Mali):
Beautiful beaches:
Maree, a seafood restaurant situated at the westernmost point of Africa:
Lighthouse off the westernmost point of Africa:
Rocks:
Awesome strawberry milkshake enjoyed at a New York-style diner:
Roundabout statue that totally reminds me of Dumbledore's hat in Harry Potter:
Emily in her "Queen Chair" at the ethiopian restaurant:
Multicultural night aka drinks with French military officers:
One of them randomly bought Christina knockoff perfume on the street:
Angry Frenchman in a taxi:
Scenes in Dakar:
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