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!!!