Happy New Year from Freetown!

We got here yesterday, after a $15 cab ride that took 13 hours. It was dusty and hot, but cheap. We didn't even have to buy a $100 visa. I'll write the story about that once I am safely back in Guinea. The fried chicken here is cheap and delicious, there are nice grocery stores, crosswalks, laws, and all kinds of things that Guinea doesn't have. I'll write more about the differences once I have more time, but it's really depressing that Sierra Leone was literally hell a few short years ago and is now doing so much better than Guinea.

Anyway, tomorrow we are headed to the beach, but coming back to Freetown to spend NYE at an Irish pub that never closes. Should be fun. Then we are headed back to the beaches for 2 or 3 days. It's great and we are having a lot of fun - plus it's not nearly as expensive as I thought it might be. And they have liter bottles of raspberry Smirnoff for about $10, so that will be my drink of choice for the next couple days. Yay!

Hope everyone has a wonderful NYE. Happy 2007!

PS - Shout out to Ana-Laura and her amazing package, I can't wait to get back to site and enjoy it. Love you!

Classy Conakry Christmas

Beef, apples filled with Gouda, dates and raisins, carrots and peas in a white sauce and mashed potatoes. With mulled wine. Yum. I will dream about this meal for months.

Not so classy Christmas

We were playing Kings. One rule was that all the guys had to take their shirts off. The night ended at 4:30.

Camilo Claus

Finding that stocking was a miracle. And isn't that the cutest frying pan you've ever seen? My eggs will be so much more delicious now...

Thanksgiving

Just take a moment to appreciate that turkey. In a bowl. Also note the wine in bottles - nothing but class for us PCVs.

I think this picture is hilarious

We took another, but this one makes me laugh. We both look ridiculous.

Cam's birthday

You might not appreciate this photo as much as me, but the cake was made from a Duncan Hines mix with powdered sugar frosting. And there's a real beer in Cam's hand and a bottle of wine on the chair. It was a good night.

House number 2

It might not look like much, but it's better than almost any other volunteer's house. To the immediate right is a hallway with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. To the right of the table is my kitchen, complete with sink. No fridge, the water doesn't usually work and the electricity will start coming on only every other night at best once the dry season starts, but it's home.

My house from the outside

My house is the one on the left. My guardian (the guy in the picture) and his wife and 5 kids live in that little house on the right. I feel guilty about this sometimes. They are so wonderful. And I can hang my hammock from the porch railings - it's lovely.

Merry Christmas!

Well, it's Christmas. We have some music playing and have already watched Love Actually twice, so that's a start. A bunch of volunteers got packages with Christmas goodies and we have the house "decorated" with a tree and everything. The tree is 3 feet tall and was sent by my friend's parents, and is much appreciated. Today a bunch of volunteers left for the islands off the coast of Conakry (where there isn't trash on the beach and no danger of getting a staph infection from swimming, which makes it very dissimilar to the rest of the coast around here). I stayed behind to make some Christmas dinner and generally be a bum.

Camilo and I exchanged presents last night. He was just in Spain and France, so his presents were slightly better than mine.

I got him (purchased from the one mediocre grocery store here unless otherwise noted):

a stocking with an angel on it
a Heinekin
a yo-yo
elephant pants (blue with black elephants, bought at a little souvenir-type place)
5 bars of white chocolate (at almost $4, this was the most expensive present)
Twix
a little book to write stuff in, cause he liked mine
a manicure set

He got me:

2 frying pans from Colombia (thanks to his mom!)
a pair of earrings and a necklace (also thanks to his mom!)
an Ipod charger
Justin Timberlake's new CD
a bag that looks like one he has from Colombia
Cheese tortellini
all season 3 Grey's Anatomy downloaded to his Ipod

Umm, who got better gifts?? I think it was me. I'll have to do better next year. At least I'll have a chance to leave Guinea to find something. He does have a book arriving from Amazon from me, but it didn't get here in time. Boo.

Anyway, things are good. Sierra Leone plans are still up in the air, but we are going, inchallah.

Merry Christmas everyone!

You can probably guess what I think about this.

Goode's office released the letter to CNN Wednesday.

In it, Goode wrote, "When I raise my hand to take the oath on Swearing In Day, I will have the Bible in my other hand. I do not subscribe to using the Quran in any way.

"The Muslim representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don't wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Quran.

"We need to stop illegal immigration totally and reduce legal immigration and end the diversity visas policy pushed hard by President Clinton and allowing many persons from the Middle East to come to this country.

"I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America and to prevent our resources from being swamped."

He added, "The Ten Commandments and 'In God We Trust' are on the wall in my office. A Muslim student came by the office and asked why I did not have anything on my wall about the Quran.

"My response was clear, 'As long as I have the honor of representing the citizens of the 5th District of Virginia in the United States House of Representatives, the Quran is not going to be on the wall of my office.' "

The Council on American-Islamic Relations asked Goode to apologize.

"Rep. Goode's Islamophobic remarks send a message of intolerance that is unworthy of anyone elected to public office," the council's Corey Saylor said in a statement. "There can be no reasonable defense for such bigotry."

Duncan told CNN that Goode stands by his comments.

On so many levels this is completely and totally offensive.

I would never tell anyone here that there are people in America who feel that way. My students think Americans are great and helpful and interesting and open-minded and love to hear about how diverse America is (I am admittedly not a good representative for that). They would be devastated to hear that someone in the US feels that way about Muslims. And comments like his breed disillusionment and extremism. I thought we were trying to fight that in our Global War on Terror: Dubya Takes 'Em On?

Okay, it's 2 a.m. This is my 3rd post. Getting a little blog happy, huh?

By the way, I don't keep a journal, so this blog is serving as one for me. That's why sometimes I write about things that you might not think are interesting . . . like all the food I consume. I've added squash soup to my repetoire, by the way.

Random musings

I'm in Conakry now and am not sure how much computer time I'm gonna have in the near future, I think a bunch of volunteers will be arriving tomorrow, so I'm just going to post all the stuff I've been meaning to write...

• In Guinea, you judge a book by it's cover. What you are wearing, who you talk to, where you live, etc. Judge away. There are different kinds of fancy Guinean clothes, going up to over $100. If you have that kind of fabric, from Bamako, people will know you have money and paid a lot. If you are a grandmother you are expected to wear a specific kind of dress. And young girls have 3 things they wear - nice Guinean outfits, a sarong (pagne) and a t-shirt for around the house, and club clothes that my mother would never let me out of the house in.
• My nipple got pinched the other day. By an old woman in the market. She grabbed my boob, told me to have babies, then moved my shirt and bra and grabbed my nipple while a bunch of old women goaded her on. It was really funny, but a little disconcerting. Amazing that now the entire market knows what my boobs look like.
• All my students want American wives/husbands and don't know why I can't find them. I gave it the Brad Pitt analogy to Camilo the other night - I would like to be friends with Brad Pitt, but he doesn't care about me cause he has other things to do and other, cooler people to meet. But I can't figure out a good way to say this without causing hurt feelings, so I just blow it off like a joke and figure I'll deal with it more seriously later. I did try to explain courtship in America to them and how we have 300 million other Americans to choose from. Plus, they don't want to actually marry an American, just to marry a green card. They all know what that is, even the ones who can't say "Teacher, I don't know the answer."
• My trash - I throw it outside in a pile and the kids all go through it. Even with the ridiculous amount of conserving I do, I still have more trash than the 3 families around me combined. But none of it goes to waste - they pick through it and the chickens eat the food scraps. There are these tomato paste cans that I use a lot and I recently discovered that you can buy a pouch for the same price that has the same amount. I was trying to figure out why more people don't buy those instead, but it's because they want the can the tomato paste comes in! People reuse everything here. I'm careful about what I throw away because I know many people will see it later and I don't want to appear too wasteful.
• The kids can't pronounce "th" - it's always "f." One of my favorite things to do is practice just that sound with them. We always end up cracking up, but they still can't get it figured out. I'm sure I'm the same way when trying to pronounce Pulaar words.
• My 5 year old sister's older brother burned her back with a cooking log. On purpose. It was awful - I saw the burn later, and it was deep. He must have held it there. It was about 4 inches by 3 inches. I cleaned it and put Bacitracin on it and a big band-aid, but it was horrible.
  
• I have this awesome student. She reminds me of Rebekah. She's cool as s%$t. She's also really smart. I found out the other day that she's actually considered a "free candidate," which means she's taken the test to pass out of Terminale twice and failed both times. No wonder her English is so good. Bummer.
  
• The other day a guy brought his 2 year old girl to my night class. That was interesting for a few reasons. 1. Umm, my kids have kids? 2. Men don't generally take an active role in child-rearing here, although this boy and my host dad seem to be exceptions. 3. When I asked him if his wife was a student at the school, he responded, "She is not my wife, she is my love." I thought that was sweet. He says he's gonna marry her soon, though.
• Polygamy - considering that it's rampant here, I haven't really come across it. My host family is one husband/one wife, in Forecariah I didn't know many polygamous families, my friends all have only one spouse. So I think polygamy must be more widespread in the villages. And today my students were doing "Future plans and predictions" and a bunch mentioned that they want only one wife. I think people here are realizing that it's just more financially viable to have a small family. Cross my fingers.
• Things are happening here. It is getting better. I have electricity. Many people do. It's just not reliable. And my cell phone works - it's the company owned by the government that has problems with their phones. Areeba is a real, free market enterprise and actually has signs and all kinds of advertising. There is construction going on all the time, it's just a matter of getting people to fill the buildings. And my kids have real dreams - to be journalists, doctors, diplomats, etc. And I think that development starts with a dream, I just hope they can realize them.

Today I left site in a blaze of glory, if I do say so myself. My kids all wanted to know how to say Merry Christmas and asked me to tell Camilo as well. Then a few of them asked me if they could give me a gift when I get back. When I got to the taxi place a couple students insisted on waiting with me and kept the sketchy men away. They shook my left hand when I left - the left hand is for wiping here, so that's a sign that you must return so you can fix the mistake. It means they want me to come back and was really sweet. Then the men in my cab helped me get another cab to the PC compound, cause it was dark and I needed to take my own taxi instead of getting one with a bunch of people and then walking. Conakry is not a good place to be young, blond, female and alone at night, so I appreciated their help. I really do think Guineans are an amazingly friendly and helpful group of people. It was like a Christmas present to have such a nice day!

I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to load photos, but I'm sure going to try. It will depend on how many people need to use the computers.

Merry Christmas!!!

So you agreed to be in G13...

Friends and family - this entry will be super-boring for you. I just wrote this to a girl leaving for Guinea in January. Hopefully it can be of some use, to someone. If you have any questions, you can find me on Facebook. My list is pretty girl-teacher specific. Sorry. Happy packing!

PS - I censored the curse words.

Recommendations:
tank tops with built-in bras
bras that you won't get sick of in 2 months
lots of underwear, I love my Pink ones from VS and they don't seem to have stretched out much
skirts to the knee and below, but nothing that will get too hot if possible, cause it's gonna be f%^king hot here when you arrive
gym equipment - if you have space. I packed an exercise ball and jump rope and resistance bands and am really happy I did.
food - tuna, shrimp, chicken pouches. sauce packets for pasta. any junk you like. spices - cajun, basil, oregano, curry, italian seasoning, cinnamon. you will use them. I packed cheese packets from mac and cheese and they are a nice treat too.
kitchen gadgets - garlic press, paring knife, peeler. the peeler and knife are key. also measuring cups.
also - assume you'll have electricity when packing. I left some stuff at home and am mad about it cause I have electricity *most* nights. like ipod charger, rechargeable batteries, etc.
i wear my 2 old navy polo shirts all the time, but I wear them to teach. Pack few things with long sleeves, you'll never wear them.
a good rain jacket and a lightweight umbrella
chacos - do you know about the PC discount?? it's on the PC yahoo group and they are 50% off. they are amazing and necessary.
running/trail shoes, but not hiking boots. too hot and heavy.

s&*t I should have left at home:
some of my long sleeve shirts and also shirts that show sweat too easily. you'll sweat your a$$ off, especially in forecariah.
a tape recorder and tapes
my fleece, although I'm glad I have a sweatshirt. I also have one pair of sweatpants and wore them a few nights in mamou - the fouta does get cold.
mesh shorts /short shorts- can't wear them during stage but you will wear them in the privacy of your own home/hut at site. I have one pair and should have brought 2.
bring multiple small toothpastes and shampoos, etc. or just plan to refill the shampoo bottles. but you'll be traveling often and will want to minimize the amount of crap you carry.

Also - for Philly/coming to Guinea, I recommend the following:

1. DO NOT CHANGE TO GET OFF THE PLANE. It is useless. You will be disgusting in 10 minutes and it will be a waste of a clean outfit.
2. Bring a lot of cash cause ATM cards are useless here. Also keep anywhere from $50-$100 with you and don't leave it in the safe in Conakry - you probably will want to get more stuff than you have money during stage. The allowance is crap. You can change money on the black market in Conakry and it's easy, but you won't have access to money in the safe until the end of stage. *Disclaimer* - changing money is illegal and against PC policy.
3. Ignore the weight allowance. I travelled with 2 55 pound bags with no problem. Pack an extra cheap duffel bag in one of your bags. I've heard rumors that people got charged but have never met anyone, I think it's a PC myth.
4. Pack for your first 4 days in Mamou in Philly. Even if you just leave it all in a certain section of a suitcase, make sure it's easily accessible. The Conakry house is gonna be insane and it will be so much easier for you to have everything together.
Slips - again, maybe cause I'm a teacher, but I wear the two I have almost every day, it's much easier to wash them than my skirts. Plus it's not good to be able to see through skirts here. Knees are like boobs to Guineans.

I'd recommend that you also tell your fellow folks about the above stuff when you are in Philly, I promise it will make the first couple days way easier!! You'll meet me right away cause I'm in Mamou, where you'll spend the first couple days.

To those of you joining us, we are really excited to meet you all! I'll be in Mamou when you get there. Assure your parents that you are in good hands. The PC really takes care of us and we all really take care of each other.

Sometimes I just don't want to leave my house

It's so stupid, but some days I just don't want to leave my house. I'm in the middle of the Hundred Secret Senses and I was really enjoying it, plus I made curried breakfast potatoes, eggs and banana bread today. I just didn't want to leave! But, like most days, I'm so glad I did. I had 2 review sessions today - one for my smart students where we just talked in English for an hour and another where the kids wrote a letter to my two cousins, which I'll reprint here for your reading pleasure... Dear Kelsey and Hannah, How are you and your family? We write this letter for you, we are very glad to write this letter. At first, have our greetings. It's the first time that we've written you, isn't it? We are Mrs. Daum's English students, we have been learning English for 4 months from her. In the beginning, we found it was difficult to understand her accent. In 6 months we will take our exam to go to university. There are 6 subjects: French, English, philosophy, history, economics and geography. Have you got the same subjects? In Guinea we like soccer more than all other sports, but there is also basketball, volleyball... tell us about the sport that you like best. In our town, there are a lot of goats, chickens, cows, sheep and others. They can walk among us without their owners in the street. In class we are tight, there are 3 per desk and over 100 per class! We have English class 2 times per week. School goes from 8 a.m. until 12 or 2 p.m. on Monday through Saturday. Because we are Muslim, we leave school at 12 p.m. on Fridays to pray at the mosque. How about you? We hope to hear from you soon. Yours truly, Mrs. Daum's English classes Isn't that a great letter? I hope Hannah and Kelsey enjoy it. I should qualify that I teach the social sciences kids, there are also math kids who have more science in their studies. These kids want to be sociologists, economists, etc. and get more English lessons than their science-minded counterparts. For those leaving for Guinea soon, I'm going to post an entry about what I should have brought, what I'm glad I have and what I should have left at home. The most important thing to know is that I'm glad I brought mostly skirts, cause I almost never wear pants and I'm also glad I brought kitchen stuff and food. I still have a bunch of American goodies that I brought with me and they keep me sane. I'll write a better list in my next entry.

Hope everyone is doing their part to keep the consumer spirit of America alive. I'm being serious. I would kill to go to a mall, even if it was impossible to find a parking space. Mmmm, and then I'd go to Panera or Chipotle and then to the Bath and Body Works, then the Gap or the Limited. And then I'd see a movie, even though it costs a fortune. I'd even buy popcorn. These are the kinds of fantasies Peace Corps volunteers have...

STRIKE!!! Strike? Umm, strike??!!

So there are rumblings of a strike. I have no real idea what that means, except that I'm not supposed to leave Mamou and will need to be prepared to be bored as hell, since if there is a strike it will mean no school and no visitors. And Camilo is headed to Paris tonight, so that means no regular phone calls either. If you feel bad for me, email me for my number or ask my parents. I do have lots to cook and many books to read, so that should keep me occupied for about a day or two. I'm going to continue with the random tidbits I started last time, I've been writing little notes to myself in my notebook so I'd remember it all. Sorry if I repeat myself, but the connection is too slow to go back and look at what I wrote last time. Street food: I didn't fully appreciate street food until recently, and now I eat street treats for lunch every day. It all started with the cute 5 year old girl who sells bissap juice. It's like a popsicle that comes in a plastic bag in various states from cold to completely frozen. This girl would give me a hug every day, so I'd buy bissap from her. The hug is worth the 1.5 cents. So that started my street food eating. Then there's the yogurt, it also comes in a bag and I buy 2 bags a day for 1,000GF. That's less than 20 cents. Recently it's been orange season and they are 100GF, so I buy a couple to "drink" and also make juice from them. The Orange Ladies that sell them carefully remove the outside part of the peel, leaving the white part. Then they cut off the top and you basically suck the juice out of the orange. Now that it's orange season they are everywhere and delicious. The complication came recently when I found a better bissap lady. So now I buy from both ladies, plus I have 2 regular orange ladies. And recently I discovered fried bananas and I now buy those every day. I'm going to have to cut myself off soon, it seems like I'm buying some kind of street food every 20 feet on my way home. It's still costing about 30 cents a day, but is definitely going to ruin my health. Hopefully I don't get amoebas again, I've been so healthy since getting to site! The Cold Season: The other night I was frozen. I woke up and put on a hooded sweatshirt and a pair of socks and long pants and bundled myself in my sleeping bag with 2 sheets. The next day I was talking to the missionaries about how cold it's been and they said "Oh, yeah, did you know it got down to 59 last night?" Ummm, 59? And I was frozen? What happened to the old Jen, the one who never got cold? Anyone who knows me knows that I'm always hot, I'm like a guy. It's totally weird, but I am enjoying the cold. I have stopped bathing every day, though, cause I just can't bring myself to pour the cold water over me! Kids pooped in my classroom: A couple weeks ago I had 2 review sessions with a 20 minute break in between. Well, I went to get some bissap and the school guardian (a student who lives at the school and faithfully attends my review sessions even though he's not my student) left the door open. When I got back there were 4 piles of crap in my room! Some of them were so big I would have thought they were cow crap, but my rooms are on the 2nd floor. It was disgusting. The little kids who play soccer outside must have snuck up there. We found a different classroom. Ewww. There is no embarrassment about handicaps here: In the US I think that people look at handicapped people with pity sometimes. And parents are taught to tell their kids not to stare at someone who is different. It's sort of an awkward thing, if you ask me. But here no one does that. People really help out those with handicaps and there isn't any sort of embarrassment in recognizing that someone is handicapped or needs help. Now that I'm trying to write about it, it's kind of hard to explain. But it's like it's much more accepted that people's bodies aren't always completely able and there's a sense that the community just helps out, not that the community is obligated to. It's more of a foregone conclusion here, where in the US I think people have the idea that they are doing someone a favor by opening the door or whatever. I had a headache and skipped Thursday's review: I sent a girl to cancel my review session on Thursday cause I had a headache. My kids sent her back with a note expressing their sympathies and wanting to make sure I was okay. In the US it's expected that you leave someone alone when they are sick, but in Guinea it's a reason for people to come visit you, which is why I avoid saying anything when I'm not feeling well. I don't know exactly why they do that - maybe it's because Guineans are much more communal, or because the risk of death is so much greater here that they don't want to leave a sick person alone, I don't know. But I thought it was sweet of my kids to write me a letter, even if all I needed was a couple hours in my hammock and some Tylenol. I have a student who looks like Taye Diggs: I told my sister that she can marry him if she wants, but if she says no he's up for grabs. He's about 20 and smart and ridiculously adorable. Let me know if you are interested in a Guinean husband. Final count of students: I just finished correcting my first round of homework and made my gradebook. I have 110, 120, and 130 students in my 3 classes. Last week my best class was my worst class and Camilo was there to witness it. I have no idea why, but they were terrible. I'm going to age about 20 years from teaching here! Women carry a lot of stuff: The other day I was walking to school and the woman in front of me had a full size cooler on her head, a baby on her back and a cooler in each hand. And she was better balanced than I am with nothing. She also was wearing a long, tight skirt and terrible plastic flip flops. It's amazing the lengths women go to to sell things here. She probably had bissap or water or something and was walking so far and would earn about $1 for the day. Babies are more careful: There is a well in my concession and the baby hasn't fallen in it. Maybe in the US babies can sense that their parents will keep them from hurting themselves, so they take more risks. I'm amazed that this little 14 month old knows to stay away from the well. I still worry sometimes that I'm gonna tip into it when I'm pulling water. My house is decorated for Christmas: The missionaries gave me some candles and garland and bows and I put it all up. Camilo drew me a tree on flip chart paper. My house is downright festive. I'll try and take some photos so you at home can appreciate the creativity! This has gotten really long, so I'm gonna sign off. Hope everyone is getting into the holiday spirit. I'm headed to Sierra Leone on the 23rd, assuming there's no strike drama, but I'm not sure that Santa Claus makes it there. And I know there won't be a Honeybaked Ham. But I'll still appreciate the beach.