So, what's it like to celebrate the end of fasting with a Guinean Family? Here's a timeline:
9:00 am I wake up, much later than everyone else in the family
10:00 am Nothing's really going on, so I sneak away to the center and watch Harry Potter 6 (Alas, no 7 or 8 to be had!)
1:00 pm Lunch? I can't tell when my family's eating and I'm not that hungry, though I end up eating a bit at my friend Keila's house.
3:00 pm Everyone starts dressing up. 3, 5, and 7 year old boys in 3 piece suits are SO CUTE.
5:00 pm I start watching Blood Diamond with my family. (not a family appropriate movie, but it is reality/history in this region, so why hide it from kids? There is a scene in a Guinean school in the movie, in case you've seen it. It's accurate.
6:00 pm I eat dinner. YUM squash and beef and manioc and rice. Twas delish
7:00pm Soda time! I bought my entire family individual sodas for the feast. That means 24 sodas, which was basically my entire weekly salary, but I don't spend it all anyway, so I had enough to do that. They were gone ASAP
8:00 pm Discussion with my oldest host brother about his mechanical engineering projects and the stars here vs the stars in the US. Pretty interesting stuff.
9:00 pm time to walk around/dance/see everyone else all dressed up!
10:00pm back to the house for a photoshoot. Everyone wanted their individual full length and bust photos. It was hilarious!
12:00am Sleep after taking out my incredibly itchy braids between 1030 and 12. SO TIRED!
Tada, ramadan!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
A Good Day
Today was a good day. I'm sure there will be lots of not so great days, so I'll give you the breakdown of a good day. But first, a quick note on susu.
Tears = yaye = eye water
Boogers = noegbe = nose shit
Eggs = toxale =chicken testicles
I love this language. It's fun to learn! Alright, on to the anatomy of a Good day.
Woke up at 7 and I was cold enough that I broke out my sleeping bag to warm up. It was cozy. I studied my lesson plan before getting up, pulling water from the well, and showering. The water directly from the well is warmer than most water, so I had a nice shower and then got dressed in a fun skirt that has pockets! and then I headed to class after eating my bread and cheese for breakfast. I had language, where we learned about useful questions and answers. Finally, it was time for Microteach 2, which meant that I was teaching Kinematics to 12th graders--my second time in front of Guinean students. This time, I learned from my mistakes on Tuesday and I was much more organized and went at a slower pace in my review, so I never made it to the new material, but it was a much better lesson than the first one. We had a fun opening exercise and we made it through a solid review. Then we had more language lessons on the days of the week, and a really laid back time for asking questions and talking about the Muslim religion with our instructor, a 20-something female. Now I'm using the internet, I'll have dinner with my family, and then we're going to do a Harry Potter marathon tonight. (send the last one! hint hint!)
Tears = yaye = eye water
Boogers = noegbe = nose shit
Eggs = toxale =chicken testicles
I love this language. It's fun to learn! Alright, on to the anatomy of a Good day.
Woke up at 7 and I was cold enough that I broke out my sleeping bag to warm up. It was cozy. I studied my lesson plan before getting up, pulling water from the well, and showering. The water directly from the well is warmer than most water, so I had a nice shower and then got dressed in a fun skirt that has pockets! and then I headed to class after eating my bread and cheese for breakfast. I had language, where we learned about useful questions and answers. Finally, it was time for Microteach 2, which meant that I was teaching Kinematics to 12th graders--my second time in front of Guinean students. This time, I learned from my mistakes on Tuesday and I was much more organized and went at a slower pace in my review, so I never made it to the new material, but it was a much better lesson than the first one. We had a fun opening exercise and we made it through a solid review. Then we had more language lessons on the days of the week, and a really laid back time for asking questions and talking about the Muslim religion with our instructor, a 20-something female. Now I'm using the internet, I'll have dinner with my family, and then we're going to do a Harry Potter marathon tonight. (send the last one! hint hint!)
Monday, August 22, 2011
Some photos; not the most recent ones though
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| View upon arrival to Conakry! |
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| My bed, pre-sheets and mosquito net |
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| The view from the training center. That 2 story house belongs to my host family, but isn't lived in. |
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| Boats at the port |
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| My baller new clothes |
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| Waterfall fun the second week! |
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| The remains of hummus and spaghetti from the waterfall. Aka SO TASTY |
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| A monkey kept by a different hotel (not my pic) |
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| Some other volunteers at our unsuccessful waterfall outing |
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Back from site visit!
Well, I got to meet the principal of my high school, Mr. Keita. My site is a major intersection in Dubreka prefecture in the Basse Cote. Being a major intersection, it has a huge market, and a well-stocked gas station! There were olives! and wine! And even ice! Grocery shopping should be great, at least on Saturdays.
My living situation is....fine, but disappointing. All the Peace Corps staff told me before I left that I had a really awesome house and to not let other people see it because they'd be jealous, but when I got there, my principal seems to have made a decision to protect me as much as humanly possible instead of giving me a secure but independent situation. I'm in a courtyard, where he lives with his wife and son, and I'm inside the house of his sister in law or step-sister. I have to walk through their living room to get to my room, and when I arrived, the entire family lived in that room (there's a king size bed) and they were in the process of moving out while I sat there. Talk about uncomfortable.
Then we met a whole bunch of important people in the town and saw the well-cared-for high school and walked around the paved roads and checked out a bakery. I also took a lot of naps, read a 900 page book, and wrote 11 pages in my journal. I had a lot of highs and lows and please-God-let-the-time-pass-soon. My host family is excellent cooks, and we played some fun card games, but I was feeling some new shock, so I wasn't the best guest, most likely. I also felt pretty sick for part of my stay, so that didn't help.
Then we went to Boké, which was a bit of a let-down, but really relaxing. There's a pretty nice libary in the house there, and hopefully when we return, there will be wifi and running water. Woo!
I wrote at least 11 pages worth of things to say, but they're about to shut off the internet. Oh well. C'est la vie.
I'll try to post pics soon.
My living situation is....fine, but disappointing. All the Peace Corps staff told me before I left that I had a really awesome house and to not let other people see it because they'd be jealous, but when I got there, my principal seems to have made a decision to protect me as much as humanly possible instead of giving me a secure but independent situation. I'm in a courtyard, where he lives with his wife and son, and I'm inside the house of his sister in law or step-sister. I have to walk through their living room to get to my room, and when I arrived, the entire family lived in that room (there's a king size bed) and they were in the process of moving out while I sat there. Talk about uncomfortable.
Then we met a whole bunch of important people in the town and saw the well-cared-for high school and walked around the paved roads and checked out a bakery. I also took a lot of naps, read a 900 page book, and wrote 11 pages in my journal. I had a lot of highs and lows and please-God-let-the-time-pass-soon. My host family is excellent cooks, and we played some fun card games, but I was feeling some new shock, so I wasn't the best guest, most likely. I also felt pretty sick for part of my stay, so that didn't help.
Then we went to Boké, which was a bit of a let-down, but really relaxing. There's a pretty nice libary in the house there, and hopefully when we return, there will be wifi and running water. Woo!
I wrote at least 11 pages worth of things to say, but they're about to shut off the internet. Oh well. C'est la vie.
I'll try to post pics soon.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Making a new normal
The title of this post has been basically my mantra for the past month. We've officially been here for a month now! Yay!
Anyway, here are a couple ways that I can now tell that Guinean life is becoming my new normal:
Sorry no pics today, I got online too late.
Anyway, here are a couple ways that I can now tell that Guinean life is becoming my new normal:
- I no longer think it's strange to eat cookies wrapped in old school work touched by people's hands and flies in the open market. The cookies are good. Like sweet pie crust.
- When men hold hands, I know they're not gay.
- I can hold an entire 5 minute conversation just greeting someone. More importantly, I expect to do that with every household I walk past.
- I respond to Foté more than to Mary.
- I have a z-tan on my feet (yay chacos!)
- I have become more used to seeing topless women everywhere. It's not sexy, mostly they're saggy.
- I have a tailor. I can haggle with her. (Not very well)
- The lady who sells me bean sandwiches knows my name. Though she can never remember not to put oil on it! (then i add avocado and laughing cow cheese and buy some cookies =best lunch ever. Cost? 4500 guinean franks. i.e. a little more than 50 cents)
- I've mostly stopped calculating American money equivalencies. I get 8000 a day for lunch, which makes me pretty wealthy. Sometimes I just buy whatever I want.
- I forget what it feels like to take a hot, running shower. (but we're gonna get running water later this week when we travel!)
- Riding in a taxi with 6 other people seems normal.
- Africa smells familiar now.
Sorry no pics today, I got online too late.
Friday, August 5, 2011
A Day in the Life of Mary
5:00 am : My family wakes up and eats pre-dawn breakfast (only during ramadan)
6:00 : my first alarm goes off to make me go work out. I usually ignore it.
7:00 : my second alarm goes off. Or I wake up because I have to pee really bad. I'm just bein real here folks. Just be glad my bowels are back to normal. Anyway, I usually eat breakfast around 7:40. It's always bread. With peanut butter, cheese, egg, or salad. And super sweet hot milk tea that they call coffee. I prefer cheese and bread. Otherwise I'm too full
8:00 : Classes start. 8-10, 10:30-12:30 Usually Language training and some technical training. We're finally doing local languages since we found out our sites so I've been learning Susu. We learn by "competencies" which are like subjects of conversation, not really starting with structure. It's sorta frustrating, but it's exciting to be out of French class.
12:30-2:00pm : Lunch. Either at"kilometre cinq" (the bigger market a bit outside of the training town) and then the regular market. I am usually lazy and go to the regular market. I get a bean sandwich, then add most of a small avocado and 2 packets of laughing cow cheese. It's the shit. No fish, no oil. If I could get some tomatoes and bleach them I would have an epic sandwich. I need more veggies in my life, less carbs.
2:00-3:30, 3:45-5:00 More class. Cultural training, med stuff, safety stuff. The classes we have vary by day but the schedule is the same.
5:00-6:00 Internet time! YAY. Connectin to the woooorld. I need to start listening to the news more too, I won't have this luxury in the future.
6-9 : Family time, or cafe time, or working on homework time. For example, I might go to the cafe and get a cafe au lait, then come back and eat with my family, then hang out for a bit til I start getting bit by mosquitos or the conversation dies or I'm tired or I just need me time, and then I go back to my room, brush my teeth, and crawl under my mosquito net. For dinner my family alternates the usually rice/sauce/fish product and something else, like salad or spaghetti. My dinner is almost always cold. But it's covered, so I think it's safe. I'm eating a billion germs anyway. I just try not to think about it.
9-? Reading/writing time. I ususally write in my journal and then read until I'm sleepy enough to overcome how sweaty I am. This is the main reason I am already almost out of batteries. I gotta invest in some candles, but then I can't read in bed. Hmm.
That's training. It's exhausting, challenging, frustrating, and tiresome. I think it will pay off. I'm learning a lot, and I enjoy the trainees, the trainers, and my family, but sometimes I just want to sleep all day. I've also had a sinus infection (I think?) and I had pretty bad digestive issues the first few days here, so my body likes sleeping too. Luckily, the weather's been really nice. Aka it's been raining almost every day, which guarantees that it stays cooler. When the sun's out, it's pretty brutal, so I'm not looking forwards to the dry season, aka summer.
Today was kind of a rough day for no reason, especially since I got a package, but it IS Friday, so I'm gonna listen to some music, hang out with my PCTs, and try to cheer up.
6:00 : my first alarm goes off to make me go work out. I usually ignore it.
7:00 : my second alarm goes off. Or I wake up because I have to pee really bad. I'm just bein real here folks. Just be glad my bowels are back to normal. Anyway, I usually eat breakfast around 7:40. It's always bread. With peanut butter, cheese, egg, or salad. And super sweet hot milk tea that they call coffee. I prefer cheese and bread. Otherwise I'm too full
8:00 : Classes start. 8-10, 10:30-12:30 Usually Language training and some technical training. We're finally doing local languages since we found out our sites so I've been learning Susu. We learn by "competencies" which are like subjects of conversation, not really starting with structure. It's sorta frustrating, but it's exciting to be out of French class.
12:30-2:00pm : Lunch. Either at"kilometre cinq" (the bigger market a bit outside of the training town) and then the regular market. I am usually lazy and go to the regular market. I get a bean sandwich, then add most of a small avocado and 2 packets of laughing cow cheese. It's the shit. No fish, no oil. If I could get some tomatoes and bleach them I would have an epic sandwich. I need more veggies in my life, less carbs.
2:00-3:30, 3:45-5:00 More class. Cultural training, med stuff, safety stuff. The classes we have vary by day but the schedule is the same.
5:00-6:00 Internet time! YAY. Connectin to the woooorld. I need to start listening to the news more too, I won't have this luxury in the future.
6-9 : Family time, or cafe time, or working on homework time. For example, I might go to the cafe and get a cafe au lait, then come back and eat with my family, then hang out for a bit til I start getting bit by mosquitos or the conversation dies or I'm tired or I just need me time, and then I go back to my room, brush my teeth, and crawl under my mosquito net. For dinner my family alternates the usually rice/sauce/fish product and something else, like salad or spaghetti. My dinner is almost always cold. But it's covered, so I think it's safe. I'm eating a billion germs anyway. I just try not to think about it.
9-? Reading/writing time. I ususally write in my journal and then read until I'm sleepy enough to overcome how sweaty I am. This is the main reason I am already almost out of batteries. I gotta invest in some candles, but then I can't read in bed. Hmm.
That's training. It's exhausting, challenging, frustrating, and tiresome. I think it will pay off. I'm learning a lot, and I enjoy the trainees, the trainers, and my family, but sometimes I just want to sleep all day. I've also had a sinus infection (I think?) and I had pretty bad digestive issues the first few days here, so my body likes sleeping too. Luckily, the weather's been really nice. Aka it's been raining almost every day, which guarantees that it stays cooler. When the sun's out, it's pretty brutal, so I'm not looking forwards to the dry season, aka summer.
Today was kind of a rough day for no reason, especially since I got a package, but it IS Friday, so I'm gonna listen to some music, hang out with my PCTs, and try to cheer up.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
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