In Country

Hello from Guinea!

We arrived in Conakry on the 9th of July after two LONG flights. First we flew from New York (JFK) to Brussels. I thought it was pretty appropriate that Peace Corps volunteers were flying out of JFK airport, since he founded PC. Nearly everyone had a lot of baggage, and I was glad that my suitcases are so manageable and that I can carry all of them. Or at least carry 2 and roll 1. We all chowed down on American food, bought a few last minute things (I bought another camping pillow because everyone else has full sized pillows), and boarded the plane. Lots of flights got cancelled, so we were glad that we got off the ground safely, even though there was a lot of turbulence.

~8 hours later, we arrived in Brussels and trekked across to the African terminal, where our 23-person group of pretty dang white people started realizing how much we would stick out in Africa. So it goes. Then we had nearly 9 more hours on the plane, including a stop-over in Banjul, The Gambia. We finally arrived in Conakry, and to my relief as the person in charge of keeping track of us, all 23 of us were successfully in Guinea! A couple Peace Corps staff met us and directed us through customs, and then we emerged on the other side to find two current PCVs, Brian and David, waiting for us with a huge welcome sign! People clapped and everyone seemed really happy that we're here. This trend of people telling us they're happy we're here has continued, so it's nice to know we're in a country that's excited to have us! We came back to the  PC compound through some pretty interesting streets and traffic patterns, had sandwiches for dinner, and passed out after a shower. The PCV house is AWESOME. It has AC in the bedrooms, running water (though it's not potable), a library, and a movie room. Our compound is within view of the ocean, and it's seriously a block away from the beach and the Beach bar, where one can get the most expensive beer for....$1.25. Everything is really cheap. All of us bought phones, which cost 130,000 GNF. That's approximately $20, and it's free to call other people on Orange, and I bought 100 texts for 12 cents.

We've been doing lots of training prep and exercises, and we even started learning Susu yesterday! It's a very straightforward language, which I like. One funny bit is that if someone were to ask me if I'm married, which will definitely happen, the phrasing translates to "Have you been sat in a man's house?" but if it's a guy, the question is "Have you sat a woman in your house?" The word for woman is gine (ghee-nay), and I'm pretty sure it's the same word for their country, so that's kind of neat. They live in a land called woman?

In about half an hour, we leave to go to our city for training, where we'll stay with host families and learn how to be teachers, French speakers, and members of Guinean society. I'm nervous but excited! The real work starts now! In Conakry, we've been totally spoiled. Our acting Country Director had us all over to her compound (which is basically next door), and we got to swim in her pool, drink Guinean beer (It all tastes like budweiser), and listen to live music under the moon. It was pretty unreal, and I have a feeling I'll look back on that as a dream I once had once I'm taking bucket showers, getting stomach sicknesses, using latrines, and living on my own.

I can't believe how well our group has bonded, and how well we all get along. We're really starting off on a good foot. They already know I'm weird, so whew, don't have to try to be normal with them :)

Until next time!