Kankan-ese

Since my last entry theres been quite a bit of goings on. I'll try to recap the best that I can. First, I'd like to thank everyone who was thinking of me on my first birthday in africa. It was unlike any other, mostly because I am in Guinea, but more so because I had some incredible adventures. I was lucky enough to go with a few of my fellow volunteers to site, for their installations. Though I felt like I was encroaching on their turf, I experienced some truly memorable moments. We took David to site a few days ago, he lives in a village not far from me and we were welcomed by I think every child in the village. They swarmed around us and greeted us in malinke and fought each other to shake our hands. We then were taken to a small hut where I was lucky enough to sit in with the counsel of elders. It was a huge honor because I was the only woman present and it was great to see them welcome david into their village and let him know that he'll always have a home there.

Yesterday I was able to go to site with Alex. He is one of my closets volunteers and has a wildlife preserve at his site! Word around town is that the french people who run the preserve have a pet chimpanze. I wasn't able to see it yesterday but for sure will be returning to his village to stalk it. Just a side note, chimpanzes in Guinea are mostly non-existent. They are supposed to live in the forest region but can be found in other parts of the country. However most people think that they are dangerous and kill them. So there are posters all over telling people that its illegal to kill them, but it still happens. Also in the forest region the rumor is that the animist eat the chimpanzes! I was mortified by this, people like to re-assure me that it is illegal and doesn't happen... but we'll leave that at that. Anyway, back to dropping off Alex. The sous-prefet who is an appointed official, and a representative of the state, rode with us from Kankan to the village. We happen to have the same last name, which by the way my new Guinean name is Aminata Kaba, and all day long I was introduced as his fille (daughter). Having a last name in common with someone is really a funny thing. You automatically become a member of their family, sometimes their wife if the mood strikes them, and then depending on your last name you could be someone elses slave. Yeah, thats right slave. Its a joke of course, but its a huge thing here and a good way to break the ice...but you have to know which last name is the slave and which is not, something I have yet to master so I leave that joke to the Guineans. Well back to site, yet again, after we got to town friday happens to be prayer day. At around noon everything, and I mean everything comes to a screeching halt. So we waited for a while at the preserve and then went to set up Alex's house. After that they called for us and we were brought to the mosque... where we found just about everyone in town waiting for us. We greeted everyone and then Alex was presented to the town and I was welcomed as well. It was something I don't think I'll ever forget and that my explanations will never be able to do justice. But it was truly amazing to see how welcoming and happy these people are to have us here. As I said goodbye to Alex the villagers made me promise to come back and visit, and I even joked that I would be back today... of course I can't but I can't wait to go back and visit.

Finally, yesterday night I was dropped off by Daffe and Conde two of the most amazing Peace Corps employees ever, at my house. They officially installed me, and left me with my baggage. It was actually kind of weird and scary to finally be on my own. But rest assured I had a nice coming home present.... I opened my bathroom door only to find 2 brand new baby mice thrashing around on the floor. I did everything I could to fight back a scream, and hopped on the phone to my homologue. He came over with our guard and they got rid of the mice. It was so gross and I did not use the bathroom until today... only because I really had to go. Today we did some minor repair on my house and tried to get set up. I know its only my second day here but its kind of nice to feel settled. But, I didn't realize how heavily I'd come to rely on the other volunteers. It is a really weird feeling to be away from all of them now, and I can only hope that I am able to see most of them often and I am counting down the days to our IST in May. I probably shouldn't be wishing my time away, but for now ca marche (it/that works).

I had a nice surprise today when I came into the internet cafe a whole lot of americans! There are a bunch of them here to teach english at the University and they all happened to be in the internet cafe. I of course automatically assumed that they didn't speak english and was shocked when someone was like 'where are you from?' They are all really nice and its refreshing to hear english and know that while my fellow volunteers are out in the bush serving like troopers, they can come visit me any time they want in the big city, and until I get my monthly does of volunteers hopefully I can hang out with other Americans...here's to hoping... I just passed off my cell phone number.