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.

Say Bye to your Knees

Bonjour tous le monde! Greetings from Mamou!

G 15 is currently jet setting around the country... well tomorrow we will be. The past few days we have been in Mamou, the beautiful Fouta (or middle and less hot) area of Guinea. I will mention briefly that the past few days I have actually had to wear my fleece, it is freezing. While its probably 70 degrees it feels way colder. We all met our counterparts or homologues on friday and have spent the past few days with them and tomorrow we head off to our sites for a visit for a week! In the event you forgot where I will be heading... Kankan. One of the second largest cities in Guinea. I am working with and NGO, and my homologue is great and really patient while my french is ... getting there. I would also like to mention that he looks kind of like Eddie Murphy.

I'm sure some of you got wind of the looming strikes here in Guinea, if not, well now you have. We had to push back this workshop and site visit do to the threat, but for now all is ok. It put a damper in our training but we are all thrilled to finally be here and be out of Forecariah/Mafereyna for a while. Its a breath of fresh air (literally and figuratively) to see other parts of the country. I can't wait to tell you about my house, and site visit. I am a little nervous because its going to be a real test for me and french for a whole week. My homologue and I worked out an action plan for the next week and I will be busy. ALSO it will my first experience in a bush taxi... I am not sure how I feel about it but it's something I have to get used to because its the main for of transportation in Guinea. There are no railways, or buses... just bush taxis. After my voyage I will be able to tell you more, but for now... say a prayer.

Do yourself a favor and check out my friend Liz's blog ( http://www.lizzieinguinea.blogspot.com/) she's posted a bunch of pictures... hopefully I am in some of them, but If I am not you'll get to see what we are up to. FYI for all you soccer fans out there, the Africa Cup of Nations starts tomorrow... and the opening match Guinea vs. Ghana. So break out your red, yellow and green and support my country!

Now it is time for a shameless plug. Parisi, Becca, Fedaks, Allison D's Parents, Kim B.'s Mom, Aunt Karen, Grandmom and Becky (sorry if I forgot anyone!) I got your letters and Thank You so much! I love getting mail, so if you feel like writing me please do!!! I can post my address if needed or send you an email or better yet ask my mom or aunt karen. Now for the plug...
if you are thinking about sending me a package here is what I'd like...

*gummi bears
*sour patch kids
*head bands (the cloth kind)
* toothpaste
*body wash
*dental floss
*cheetos
* beef jerky (never liked it before, LOVE it now... the things Africa will do to you)
* Aunt Karen... do you think you could whip up some rice krispy treats? if not the packaged kind will do
* drink mixes (crystal light, kool aid, purple hawaiian punch)
* orbitz gum
* seeds!!! I have room for a garden so this would be great! (any kind of seeds will do)
* Calendar!
*anything else you think I might like :)

I think that's all for now, and thanks for letting me be shameless and put a mailing list out there. But mail is precious here, when it does get here it is a great thing my friends. I hope everyone is well and I will try to update soon...but as always I love reading your comments and if you haven't called or text me yet, please do! Wish me luck in Kankan and An be Kofe (see you later in Malinke).

T.I.G

Happy Holidays Everyone! It doesn't feel much like Christmas because its 9000 degrees in Guinea. A lot has happened in the past few weeks, so I'll try to recap as best as I can.... now to pick up where I left off.

My host family is great. I have a dad, mom and 6 brothers and sisters. I hang out mostly with my 17 year old sister and 11 year old brother Douda. Aissete, the 17 year old, speaks some english and she helps me out a lot my french. My host mom finally warmed up to me mostly because she thinks its hilarious that I try to speak puular - the native language that my family speaks. Now mind you I can only say like 4 things in puular, one of which is 'me hare' or I'm full. But she definitely appreciates the effort. My brother Douda or David is my biggest fan though, hes like my shadow. They are all so great and so patient while my French is improving. I've also been given an African name... Aminata. My little sisters name is also Aminata, so the usually call me Aminata 2 or just deux (2).

In some not so happy news, I thought that it I threw this in the middle you'd forget about about it later... but we've had 2 people ET or end their service already. G 15 is now 35 strong. We miss the 2 girls very much and it was really hard on all of us... I think last week was one of the toughest so far, but alas we trudge on.

In happier new we found out our permanent sites last Tuesday. I will be in Kankan, its a large city in Haute Guinea, or far far east Guinea. I'm working with an NGO, and most likely I'll be teaching people computer skills. And because I am a SED volunteer and totally spoiled in Peace Corps terms... I'll have running water and probably electricity! There are also other volunteers that are relatively close to me so theyw ill be able to visit. I'm really excited to have such cool people close to me. I suggest checking out KanKan on wikipedia or Google since my time on the computers is limited. Also come January, after site visits, I'll be able to tell you more.

Now for the title of this post. It started out as T.I.A. or This Is Africa, but has since been revamped to read T.I.G. or This is Guinea. We say it every time something happens in Guinea, that would be totally out of the ordinary in America, but such is life in Guinea. Here are a few examples...

Two young kids playing out in a thatch roof hut with a doll and knives, this is Guinea.

Your mom goes over the well to fetch you water from the well and her boobs are totally exposed (sorry for the faint of heart, but there are lots of boobs to been seen here... and not the good kind.)

the local kids play soccer in jellies (if you don't know what they are... google it).

You wake up in the morning with a cockroach on your head... TIG baby TIG.

Well we are in Conakry for about 24 hours for a Christmas celebration and are all desperate for computer time. So if this post is short and all over the place I apologize. But I am having a great time and can't wait to tell you more about life in Guinea when there is time. Hopefully I'll be getting my hands on a cell phone soon. Also I did get to talk to my mom and sister on the phone yesterday and it was great to hear their voices!

Merry Merry Christmas and Happy 2008!

Last Night in Conakry

Well had my first bout with illness today... I'll spare you the details but lets just say that toilet saw more action than I've seen in months (kidding mom). I wasn't alone though, there were about 12 of us. So I spent most of today watching movies, sleeping, trying to stay hydrated and hoped that soon I would see the outside world.

Tonight we pack up our stuff again because tomorrow we finally leave the comforts of the Peace Corps compound. Our training site is west of Conakry, I'm not sure how long it will take top get there but I'm sure it will be longer than I think. The Agroforestry people will be in a different town than the Public Health and Small Enterprise Development folks, but we will see them a few times a week for language training and field trips. Tomorrow is also a big day because we meet our host families. I'll have more to share with you after tomorrow, but I know absolutely nothing about them. Also after tomorrow no more english, only French. Only one member of our host family has to speak French, so if we don't know what to say in french we're in the dark. But it's part of the learning experience and part of immersing us in to the culture.

We've learned a lot in the past few days, and I don't want to bore you with details so I'll provide you with some interesting tidbits. One of my main concerns is with the bathroom. The Peace Corps compound has western style toilets that flush. While you can find those in other places around Conakry, they do not flush. Where we will be for training there is limited electricity and no running water... therefore pit latrines. A pit latrine is basically a hole in the ground, much like a port-a-potty but it doesn't get cleaned out. If its full they cover it up and dig another. And because its a hole, I'll be doing a lot of squatting... which we were showed how to do properly today. Now to get to what I really wanted to tell you... Guineans don't really use toilet paper, it is available but they prefer the water method. The water method involves a kettle of water next to your pit, and when you are done you fill your hand up and clean up... with your left hand. So your left hand is your 'private' hand, and your right hand is your 'public' hand. Your right hand can be used for greeting people and eating... your left hand not so much. So next time you're eating take a look down... is your 'public' hand clean? what about your 'private' hand?

Because our training site will have limited electricity so I am not sure how often I'll be able to get to the Internet, so keep checking in and hopefully I'll be able to update soon!

Greetings from Guinea!

So now that I have time for a proper post I'll update you all a bit. After a full day of travel we finally arrived in Conakry yesterday evening. It was so surreal, actually I didn't fully realize where I was until this morning when I woke up to the sound of roosters calling all over the city. I was even up in time for the sunrise today! I joined some of the boys that were suffering from jet lag were already up but for my first Guinean sunrise it was amazing.

For the last day and half we've met the Peace Corps staff in Guinea and some of the volunteers currently in the country. Everyone is great. The Guinean people are so warm and welcoming, and they are so happy to have us here. We haven't had a chance to venture outside of the compound but we have running water and eletricity here, the lap of luxury. Right now I am actually sitting in an air conditioned room... defintely can't get used to that. But soon everything will change and we will be off to training and meet our host families. I get adopted on saturday!

There is so much I want to say right now but I'm not sure how to put it words. The country is beautiful, its nothing like I've ever seen. As we were traveling to the Peace Corps compound last night in our buses the streets were crowded with people. I mean there were people everywhere selling chickens, food, cigarettes and all kinds of things. Also there was traffic like you wouldn't believe, 76 has got nothing on Guinean traffic jams. We've tried Senegalese food, and I even ate a whole fish. We sampled some of the local beer and even spent some time on the beach playing soccer with the locals and hanging out at the beach bar. I have posted some pictures (because yes I am actually here) and I wanted to share some of Guinea with you. I am about to head down the swimming pool for a quick dip before bed.. yes an in ground pool. So Enjoy and I will be in touch!



The school next to the Peace Corps compound.

My favorite picture of the students next door.

Tourists.

Africa here we come.




The Early Risers catching the sunrise.


G 15 getting ready to leave for the airport.


View of the beach from the roof deck at the Peace Corps compound.



My first Guinean sunrise.



Sunset.

G 15

Greetings from the City of Brotherly Love!

Guinea 15, the 15th Peace Corps group to volunteer in Guinea since Conakry became the capital has finished staging (orientation, in non-peace corps lingo), our bags are packed and we're ready to go... well sort of. Tomorrow morning we are off to the clinic to get our shots, we then have some free time to take care of last minute things and then we are off to New York to catch our first flight out of the states headed towards our destination. After a connecting flight in Brussels, and refuel in Dakar we'll arrive in Guinea on December 4th.

Today feels much like Friday before I left home. I'm overwhelmed, nervous, scared and excited. Over the past two days I've met 36 amazing people who I am still getting to know, but at the same time I feel like we've bonded already. Staging was filled with ice breakers, and going over logistics, but as the chatter lingered amongst tables after group discussions were long over I feel as though we are well on our way.

As for my last night in America... I'm sitting here roughing it, with my laptop plugged into the wall, watching Desperate Housewives and Grey's with a full stomach. Exciting, I know. I have some paper work to finish up before the clinic tomorrow and I could use some sleep, who knows if the nerves will allow for sleep but I'm hoping!

I'm not sure where I'm going with this post because it's all over the place. But I want you all to know that I Love You (Aunt Karen, that one is definitely for you!) and I'll miss all of you. Think of me while I'm sitting on the plane with a sore butt and sore arms. I'll try to post in country because we'll have Internet access for about 5 days, and hopefully I'll have pictures as well.

G 15 Out.

Watch out Philadelphia

In a few short hours I'll be hopping in the car, crew in tow, to meet the people I will be spending the next 2 years with....in Philadelphia. I know it doesn't seem far, but the December Guinea Team is taking the city by storm!

For the next to days we'll be reliving the early days of college doing ice breakers, orientating ourselves only to hop on a plane a 2 days later to finally meet the life that awaits us in Africa. I'd be lying if I didn't say I wasn't excited, but I'd also be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit sad and scared. Sad for all that I'm leaving behind for two years and scared because I have an idea of what is waiting for me on the other side of the globe but I'm not totally sure. But I am excited to start this new chapter of my life! As I sit here and watch some last minute television and cram more stuff into my already overweight luggage I bid you all farewell, I'll catch you on the flip side (of the world that is)!


disclaimer: I should have internet access for the next few days, but once we board the plane monday I am not certain when I'll be able to update next. But keep checking in!