Live from Labe Part 2

Is there anything more attractive than a group of 30 Americans in Guinean clothing? Nope. Enjoy.

Okay, so I left off with the Embassy Angel of Beer. After passing out upstairs around 1, a guy from the Embassy showed up and dropped off 2 cases of beer, Jif peanut butter, jelly, microwave popcorn and Stove Top stuffing. Incredible - I woke up to this wonderful treat. We went to the Country Director's house and popped some of the popcorn as a before dinner snack. And last night I made the stuffing and went around feeding everyone during our 80s party!

Anyway, since everyone was pretty much passed out when the beer arrived there was plenty for the next night. It was a really fun time. Sunday we said our goodbye's and all headed to our regional capitals. I'm in kind of a funny position because my regional capital is going to be Conakry instead of Labe, but I'm in Labe now anyway. So we loaded up all our stuff - the car was packed full with about 5 feet of stuff packed on top as well. Guineans are resourceful - you wouldn't even believe how much stuff they put on the roofs of cars. Then we headed out - we stopped in Mamou for lunch and also dropped my things off at my house. Sadly, it was still empty - the Proviseur was supposed to make sure I had a bed, table and 4 chairs. Luckily, the PC called him and I think it's fixed now. It was kind of funny, cause my house was completely empty except for chicken feathers on the floor. No idea where those came from - I'm going to bleach my floor the first day I'm living there!

We got to Labe, drank cheap wine, had some pizza and I passed out at 10pm. I also realized that having a cell phone brings back a classic drinking activity - the drunk dial. Now I can call friends in country and also home - I called Abby and Rebekah from Conakry and sent Abby a text last night. This could get expensive and dangerous, but also funny. Yesterday I went to the big market in Labe with some friends and we bought a lot of stuff - cups, bowls, knives, spoons, buckets for water and washing clothes, etc. Luckily I was with a volunteer friend who likes to bargain, so he did a lot of it for us. He's also really close to my site, so I'm going to send him vegetables by bush taxi and he's going to help me bargain for big stuff when he comes to visit. Small price to pay, if you ask me.

Last night was our affectation party - the theme was 80s and I found a silver prom dress with a giant bow on the front to wear. It was spectacular. We drank and danced until after 2am. We also ate chwarmas - I'm going to eat another one in a minute, which will take my chwarma intake to 5 in the last 24 hours. Gross. But they are so good! And Ramadan started so it's hard to find food. For the next month I need to be careful not to eat in front of people. Plus, people get really grumpy since they aren't eating or drinking for the whole day - lots of people don't even swallow their spit!

Today I have nothing to do and it's really nice - hopefully I can go watch a movie at the volunteer house and take a nap. It's really fun and relaxing to be here, but I'll be ready to go by Saturday - I'm the last person to get dropped off and will be spending lots of time in Labe! The first person left today, another one leaves tomorrow, and then we have 3 days of groups of 3-4. It's sort of sad to say good-bye to all the friends I've made over the last 3 months, but I came here to be a teacher and PC Volunteer, not to hang out with Americans. Plus I'm probably the least isolated volunteer in country, so I'll be seeing plenty of people.

School is supposed to start on the 3rd of October, but I'm told the earliest it will start will be a week after that. That's good with me, since I don't even know what grades I'll be teaching - hopefully 12th and Terminale. My school has 3 English teachers, but I don't think they are native speakers, so the admin wants me to teach Terminale and get them prepared for the Bacc (the exam to get into university). That should be great, I loved my Terminale class in Forecariah and it's nice to be able to teach more sophisticated English. Plus I'm terrible at drawing and a lot of 11th grade English involves drawing people and things on the board!

The Fouta is a nice place - it's really lush and cool and rocky. I think I'll like hiking and biking around the area and Devon, the neighbor I mentioned earlier, promises to show me around and introduce me to people. He's a really interesting story - his girlfriend was in last year's training group and he ended up moving here to be with her. Then he was invited to join PC - that's the first time someone's gotten into PC from in-country since the 80s! So now he's a business volunteer and is actually working on a project in Mamou, so I'll see him and his girlfriend a lot. She was ridiculously helpful and nice during training - hopefully I can be that way with the group next year.

Friends - don't be surprised if you get texts from me, cause it's really cheap. I don't know how much it would cost you to send me texts, but I'll try and find out.

I'll write again soon - let me know if you want to know anything about what I'm up to. It's getting to a point where some stuff is really routine and I no longer think it's funny/interesting. Wouldn't want to bore you all with the blog...

Traded my T for a V

I'm now an offical Peace Corps Volunteer. A simple oath agreeing to defend the US from enemies (both foreign and domestic) and I got the official "V."

Before I write about the last couple days, I'm going to plagairize Cam and copy a blog entry he wrote about our river trip a few weeks ago...

So in Forecariah there is this great river we like to go swimming in. The other day, we went walking for about an hour and a half, crossing a tiny bridge made of tree branches (I nearly killed myself on it) and wading through waist high rice fields (where I nearly lost my sandals as I began to sink into the mud before being rescued by Patrick). By the time we got to the river, we were filthy and tired and ready for what we though would be a relaxing 20-30 minute float down the river. The first 30 minutes definitely were enjoyable, as the fast moving current pretty much just propelled us downstream without too much effort. But then, te river decided that it would just never end, and we could not find the beach where we were planning on jumping out of the river, the beach were we normally jumped in to swim in the river. So, our 20 minute river swim turned into an hour and a half struggle to stay afloat. Every bend in the river we hoped we would find the beach, but at every bend we were disappointed. As the swim dragged on, we began to drift further apart, hearing only our own shouts of “One more bend!” and the occasional bird that cried out in seeming mockery of our desperation. My sandals, which had already sunk in knee deep mud, had already fallen off long before in the river, as I kicked my legs in increasingly futile attempts to keep my head above water that was certain to contain at least 10 dangerous parasites. (Up to this point, I have yet to experience any symptoms of parasites burrowing in my intestinal walls, which is a good sign. Then again, there’s still two years for them to manifest themselves.) Anyways, at the end of the hour and a half, someone finally shouted, “There it is! The beach!” I grabbed my sandals in one hand, and paddled furiously with the other until i finally reached the shallow waters of the muddy strip of land we called the “beach”. Patrick threw himself downonto the sandy mounds as I attempted to regain my breath and my strength. But, at least we had made it out of the water, rather than ending my Peace Corps adventure in the muddy bottom of a Guinean river.”

That sums it up pretty well. Anyway, the last couple days in Forecariah were interesting. First my family through a party for my sister's birthday and my depart. It was a big deal. There was a lot of food and dancing and speeches and a cake. I'm still trying to get pictures loaded so I will let you know when that happens. You'll be able to see me looking hot in a Guinean complet that was a gift from my family.

We then had our official good-bye ceremony at the same place we had the adoption. Sadly, my sister's friend's dad died that morning, so she wasn't there. But my mom, other sister and some other family members were all able to come. There was a lot of crying by the Guineans and it was pretty touching. There were speeches in all 3 local languages by brave trainees (not me!) and another one in French. Then we ate some rice and sauce with our families, drank some Fanta, and got on the bus. We tried to get out of there fast cause it's horrible to say good-bye and then, 10 minutes later, still be hanging around. So we got to Conakry and had some time to shop and hang out.

The affectation ceremony was pretty exciting - it was at the new American embassy. It's gorgeous - cost something like 60 million to build and is insane. It would be a really nice compound of buildings in the US, so it's easily the nicest building in Guinea. Actually, I was surprised that the US would spend so much, since most people can't even find Guinea on a map. I'm wondering if it's because it's a moderate Muslim country...

Anyway, I'm glad, because Guinea is a great country and could use some international support. But I digress. Back to the ceremony. First of all, we had to go through mad security to even be let in. Secondly, we look like dirty little hippies compared to the Embassy staff. I think they get a kick out of us. Third, you could drink from water fountains and the toilets flushed automatically! It was pretty insane. Normally I have to get water, pour it into a filter, wait 3 hours, add bleach and then drink. To be able to drink from a fountain was a real treat. :)

The ceremony itself was nice - speeches by other trainees in local languages again, speeches from government officials and then a nice speech from the US ambassador to Guinea. He seems like a really nice man and people in PC admin think really highly of him. I actually talked to someone afterwards about going back to the embassy to find out more about a career with the Foreign Service, so hopefully I can do that sooner rather than later. I'd like to attempt to figure out if that's a viable option for me. After the ceremony came the snacks. There were little pain au chocolats and cheesy puff things and all kinds of goodies. We gobbled them all up and all felt disgusting later, but it was so good! Sadly, I have no pictures of any of this because we weren't allowed to bring cameras in. Just imagine a bunch of 20somethings making almost no money with no access to yummy food, all wearing Guinean clothes. It was a riot.

After that came the buying spree. My house is empty, so I have to get a lot of stuff. Most things I can get in Mamou, so I didn't have to worry too much. I spent a third of my move in allowance on food and another third on a stove/gas tank, so I don't have much money left. But that's okay - we will make sure to complain so the next group gets more. Inflation is so rampant here that it's hard for the PC to keep up with it. I also bought a cell phone! It's so exciting - you can email me if you want my number, it would be great to talk to you! Or you can send texts - and it's really expensive for me to call out but texts are cheap, so that will be a good way to stay in touch.

Oh, man. I only have 4 minutes left. I'll come back tomorrow or later today and post about the last couple days in Conakry (including a visit from an angel from the US embassy who brought us goodies) and about the trip to Labe and what I'm doing here.

Miss you all!

August 25, 2006

This is some of a letter Jen wrote to me several weeks ago but just arrived in WI.

Right now I am in practice school- today I give my first test on the near future, simple future, comparatives and superlative to 13th graders. They have been great and I had a really nice time teaching them. There were quite a few girls in the class adn they did a good job of participating. It was bothersome when the girls would come to the board and then the boys would start telling them the answers...but I gave the boys the patented Jen Daum death stare and they would keep quiet. I was so nervous the first day, but as soon as I started teaching the nerves calmed down. Next week I'll have a new class of 11 and 12th graders that will include all of my sisters. It has been fun helping them with their homework. These are all smart kids who hope to go to university and they have so many questions about university and my work experience after. I have been leaving late at the end of each class to allow time for them to ask questions about the PC, the US, etc. They asked about the objectives of the PC. The objectives are 1. To have Americans learn about other cultures. 2. Teach other cultures about Americans and 3. Provide trained Americans to interested host countries. I explained that the PC is not charity and that I was there by choice.
I hope to see my house in Mamou soon. Hopefully it will be partially furnished and the air conditioning will work. Within the next two weeks we head to Conakry to get ready for the move to our permanent locations. We will have time to buy things to set up housekeeping and spend some time together outside of class.
A funny thing happened last night while we were eating dinner. We were sitting and chatting when I looked to my left and see a baby chick weaving around, unable to keep his balance. Acting drunk really. I say to Fatim "is that chick dying?" She looks perplexed and responded "I guess so". So I ask if the chick is going to die in the hallway and she responded "I guess so".
"AVIAN FLU, is anyone concerned?" Luckily the PC has given us Tamiflu. We did continue eating our dinner but the dying chick did suppress my appetite. Not so funny, now that I think about it.

The Home Stretch

I'm in Mamou for a counterpart workshop and will have email the next couple days, so feel free to get in touch!

Things have been pretty busy - practice school ended and we had a big ceremony. My sister actually was the 1st in her class, which is pretty unusual in Guinea, where girls' education isn't very highly valued. It was really touching to watch her get her award and gifts. My other sister was 4th in her class, so the whole family was really happy about the ceremony!

On Monday night we had a talent show. I sang a song in Pulaar with 4 other people - yes, my voice is as bad as ever. Trey did a dramatic reading about our time in Guinea while Jeanne and I did an interpretive dance - it was pretty funny and we had a good time. Cam and some guys sang a song about Guinea, I'll get a copy of it and will update the blog next time, it was hilarious.

Yesterday I went to the tailor's with my sister to get a complet made - a Guinean outfit that consists of a skirt and shirt in matching fabric. Fatim and I are getting matching outfits for our party on Sunday, it's gonna be so much fun! I'm out of internet time and dinner is ready, but I'll write more soon!

Jen

Is there evil? There is no evil here.

Oh, greetings in Pulaar. What a riot. Have you slept well? How are the babies? On and on and on. So far Pulaar is practically impossible - I just have too much going on to remember the structure and words for a new language. Oh, well. I have 2 years to figure it out. One thing pisses me off about Pulaar, though. There are 2 numbers for everything - one for people and the other for counting anything else. But when you are talking about wives you use the number for objects, not the number for people. How eff'ed up is that? I'm so glad I'm an American woman - it's not always easy but at least we aren't actually treated/referred to as objects!

So I'm 2 weeks done with practice school and it's been pretty good. Yesterday my 11th graders had a test and it was a bit dramatic. Guineans are cheaters. It's part of the culture. Trying to keep the kids from cheating is like trying to get Britney to leave Kevin and get back in shape. Pretty much impossible. So I have them put everything at the front of the classroom except pens and 1 piece of paper each. I give them my test rules in English and French. Then the test starts. One girl keeps complaining that she can't see the test on the board, so I tell her to move up a few desks. She's walking funny and I realize she has papers hidden in her pagne (W. African sarong). I kick her out. She seems mad. She's an idiot. Then I notice that another girl has written some words in chalk on the floor at her desk. She got minus 5 cause she hadn't even spelled them all properly. It was all very annoying and I'm not looking forward to giving tests at site, even though I really like teaching.

I made a little list of things to mention on the blog. They are in no particular order...

• Boobs are knees and knees are boobs. I see boobs all the time. I am not allowed to walk around my house in shorts. Knees are highly sexual here. And white boobs. But black boobs are not. Considering how fricking hot it is here, this is a source of annoyance for me, since my sisters can wander around topless and I'm stuck in long skirts and t-shirts.
• Everything we've been told Guineans don't do happens in the dance clubs. I saw dancing that made me blush. We have been told that we can't even touch members of the opposite sex here. By the time I left the dance club last Saturday I swear it was about to become an orgy. How these crazy teenagers turn into African Mamas with boobs down to their ankles and giant boubous on their bodies is beyond me.
• We haven't had much electricity lately. We've been joking that it's been sick. Last Saturday it came on for less than 10 seconds - we hadn't even finished cheering that it had come on when it left again! It's so dark without the electricity that I truly can't see anything - especially since it's the rainy season and it's cloudy or raining most nights. But on clear nights the stars are incredible.
• Last Saturday Camilo and I made faux-fettuccine alfredo for Cam's family and my 2 sisters. It was delicious and they are still talking about it. I think we are going to try and recreate it for my family tomorrow - we also made garlic bread and it was a huge hit. I love the French for leaving baguettes behind. Who knew that butter, flour, garlic, Laughing Cow cheese, pepper and milk could be so incredible? Not me.
• There is a river where we can swim and it has one of the prettiest views you can imagine - I'm going to try and take a picture before I leave. It's so quiet there and the water is so refreshing. You can see the mountains and palm trees and it's just gorgeous.
• All the baby chickens at my house died. We must have had 20 of them. At first I thought, Oh, sh*t. Avian Flu!! But no. It rained for over 24 hours straight and my sisters promise that that's what made them sick. But I know where my Tamiflu is. :) At least my house is quieter now, the squawking was getting on my nerves. The sheep is still living with us, though. And the 5 or so adult chickens.
• I've made peace with the following in my room: crickets and spiders. I still kill the cockroaches. So far I have not come in contact with rats, mice or bats, but they occasionally have Mouse Olympics in my ceiling and wake me up in the middle of the night. But if I can't see them it doesn't make me cry.
• Kids here have a lot of questions about sex. We have Cafe Lang a few times, where students come and talk to us - it's good for our French practice and they like to ask questions about America. But, Lord, they like to ask about sex. AWKWARD. Sometimes I just pretend like my French isn't good enough to understand - like when I was told that I just needed to move to the floor if I wanted to have sex at my house and was worried that people would hear...
• Practice school is going well, except for the cheating/test thing. I still like teaching. We only have one week left and then it's the home stretch to swearing in and moving to site. I'll miss Forecariah and my family but am excited to finally meet my real students and get settled into my house. I'm also looking forward to cooking for myself - not having any control over any aspect of my life is starting to get annoying!
• I've been teaching the kids on the street my African name - Fatou Soumah. Otherwise they yell "Fote! Fote! Fote!" in a higher and higher pitch. It leaves me wanting to smack them, but I love it when they yell my name. Makes me feel like a Guinean celebrity.
• I don't miss: electricity 24/7, flushing toilets (I actually like latrines...they are surprisingly clean), cell phones (but I'm still gonna buy one), looking in a mirror, driving, summer heat and smell of NYC, working 50+ hour weeks, Enron, television (but that's only until Grey's is back. Then I'll be sad.)
• I do miss: family, friends, any and all food, comfy couches and Stoli Razz and Sprites.

I'll be back to post again in a week or two. Keep sending me emails! And a special shout-out to Rachel for being the first non-family member to send me a package. I'm glad to know that Nick Lachey is still in the news. And that Tom and Katie's baby still doesn't exist.