The End of PST

Well, I can hardly believe it, but PST is over!! It is a bittersweet moment for everyone – we are all really excited to get to site and get our houses set up and stop living out of suitcases, but at the same time we were all sad to leave our host families and part ways with our fellow stagiares.

So, just kidding about Dave. He changed his mind! This means that our ENTIRE stage, all 29 of us, will be swearing in together tomorrow morning. This is a pretty big deal as it is common to lose at least one person during training, especially in West African Peace Corps countries. So all you parents out there – you did good! You raised a tough bunch of nuts here in Guinea and we are all chomping at the bit to get to site and get started.

In my final language interview, I was rated at Intermediate High. This is awesome, as when I came to Guinea I knew only a few words of French, most of which I learned singing Lady Marmalade. I can now say that I speak English, Spanish, French and “seeda seeda” Pular (small small). Every day I feel I get more comfortable with French and while I still recommend learning as much as you can before you come, the language training Peace Corps provides is pretty kick-ass.

Also, I have acquired my first pet: a dog. Well, we think it’s a dog. Personally I think he is part wolverine =). The night before we were leaving Forecariah, Corinna called me and asked if I wanted a dog. She had found a tiny puppy being abused by a petite and took it away. I went over immediately and scooped him up. Within moments I had already named him: Yogi Bear. Cause he kinda looks like a bear! He can’t be more than a couple weeks old and he is a motley brownish black. He was CRAWLING in bugs when we found him but after a bath and some TLC most of the bugs have gone away though his skin has a lot of scabs and sores on it, possibly from the bugs, possibly from some sort of skin condition.

At first he was very scared, very introverted and weak. But now, he has gotten much more lively, loves to eat (especially tuna and hard boiled eggs) and looks healthier. When we were cleaning him that first night we really didn’t know if he was going to make it. Katie said, “if he makes it, he will be a great survival story”. I am going to try and take him to the vet here in Conakry before we leave on Sunday to get him checked out and get him some shots.

Today we went shopping in Conakry in some Lebanese stores and the market. The Lebanese stores are awesome because they have all kinds of stuff that you can’t find anywhere else – like canned mushrooms and black olives, bags of black beans and baby lima beans, olive oil and VRAI CHEESE!!! The cheese is really expensive though so I did not buy any. But I did buy the rest of what I listed, plus some tuna for my puppy and some other stuff.

At the market I bought ten wheels of Laughing Cow cheese (a soft, non-refrigerated cheese) which gives me 80 triangles which should last me until IST in three months. I am pretty excited about this. I also bought two kilos of dried corn kernels, though I am not sure if you can actually pop them or what. But I sure am gonna try!! What else? Oh yeah, Obama flip flops (Obama is ALL THE RAGE here in Guinea and in Africa in general). And three bottles of the piment sauce we have all grown to love, adore and rely on to spice up our food (mostly eggs!). Those were my most exciting purchases, though there were others. Having all the money for the settling in and living allowances now that we are about to be PCVs is awesome. In fact, I had mint chocolate chip ice cream today. And it was fabulous.

Also, just to tie up some loose ends – while my site visit has been the brunt of many jokes here in our G17 stage, really in retrospect it’s just a great story. My counterpart ended up being a really cool guy who spoke French and seemed genuinely interested in everything being covered during Counterpart Workshop. My village seemed full of genuinely nice people who are happy to have me there. I have confidence that my sous-prefet has found me more suitable accommodations. It is a beautiful area of the country and I am really excited to get back there and get to know people, set up my house and start working.

I have lost 20 pounds since arriving in Guinea, which doesn’t surprise me at all as when I arrived I was at the top of my weight range and had just come off of a six-month food and drink binge, stuffing every American confection I could into my body since I knew it would be a long time until I would have it again. I REALLY miss sour cream. Like, A LOT. I might try to make some using Amy’s cheese-making technique.

So I think that from here on out I should have access to the internet about once a month when I travel to my regional capital (if it’s working – inshallah). And one more time, a plead for letters. Today I received my first letter and it was from my friend Megan. And it was AWESOME! So thank you Megan, you get the gold star.

Wish me luck!!!

I now go…into the bush.