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.