2 days and counting....

So long Forecariah. The last few days have been a whirlwind of packing, good byes, and of course a send off only Guinea could give us. But in a few short days… I will officially be a volunteer. Today was kind of like a déjà vu, because we had a farewell ceremony with all of our host families present but the mood was far less tense. As I sat there with my host family I thought back to the adoption ceremony, remembering that I was almost on the verge of tears because I was so scared of what was to come. Now the weeks have passed and I’m apparently ready to be released into the wild.

I guess I should catch you up on what has happened up until my final days in Forecariah. When I last wrote I was heading off to site visit. The bush taxi ride from Mamou to Kankan was about 9 hours, we had one snafu… minor detail, a flat tire. The chauffer quickly fixed it and we were back on the road. After arriving in Kankan I spent the next few days visiting anyone and everyone… and ended up with the worst blisters ever. Needless to say I suffered through and am still paying for all the walking. But as my host family would say to me all the time… du courage. The other volunteers came back into town and we ate some American food, and celebrated the way only Peace Corps folks know how. There is one other thing I should mention about Kankan, they have the biggest gateaux I have ever seen in my life. Gateaux in French translates to cake, but this more like fried dough balls, and sometimes it’s not even sweet. There can be onions and hot peppers in it. But the gateaux is HUGE, like the size of a softball, and tasty. I ate a lot of it while I was there, and will attribute it to my future weight gain. The ride home was a little bit longer, about 14 hours. Now it wouldn’t have been so bad had we not been sitting on each other. We did stop every once in a while to grab some grub (yes some of the gas stations actually sell Pringles, chocolate, soda, and yogurt!) which was nice, but it was a very long and exhausting day seeing as we left at 6 am.

Back in the homestay we resumed our normal schedule of language class and group sessions and the ever popular ‘bureau lunch’. Now let me just tell you about bureau lunch, it is by far the best meal or two of the week. Food selection in Forecariah is very limited. Between the rice bar with soup sauce and peanut sauce and the egg sandwich guy… bureau lunch is like a gift from the heavens. We line up like vultures and scarf this food faster than we’ve ever eaten in our lives. Its especially good if the lady that cooks the bureau lunch prepares a leafy green salad or spaghetti. I must say I am going to miss those bureau lunches, here’s to hoping I work a future stage so that I can eat bureau lunch (hint hint).

After swearing in and shopping I’ll update more but for now I’ll post some photos since I’ve been particularly terrible about it.


The norm, a cow in the middle of the road.

Typical bush taxi... though this one happened to be racing ours and won. Props to the guy on top for hanging on.



Adam and Neil riding shotgun in the bush taxi. The car couldve comfortably sat 7 we cramed in 9.


My house in Forecariah... thats my window on the far right.

A typical sunday in Forecariah. Thats my host Mom, or Nene and my sisters Mariam and Aissatou.

The washing machine, the rinse cycle is seperate.

They have really cool toys in Guinea... thats a petite playing with an old bike tire and a stick.

A petit up in a tree...


A raging fire, Guineans like to burn stuff...


Caleb channeling his inner fear before his first bush taxi ride.




My first bush taxi ride.


Found this t-shirt in the market!

The gare, or taxi station in 36 (yes thats the actual name of the town)...

the waters fall, thats most of the agfo peeps.

just a normal day with the moutons and the well...

Katalina, Dan, Erich, Me and Candy after our presentation to our NGO in Forecariah. And yes I am wearing african clothes.

My dog friend, he would come and visit us during SED Class and fart. A lot.