So this post commemorates some pretty
notable moments. The biggest, I've now been a volunteer for one
month! In addition, I've passed the three month mark here in Africa,
I've been at site for a month, and I finally started teaching. So
what happened my first month at site you ask? Awkwardness beyond
belief, a lot of laughter that was mostly at my expense, and anywhere
from three to eight hours a day of sitting in a hut. Despite all of
this doing nothing, quite a number of notable things have happened
and will be divided into the following subtitles; food, language,
fashion, bugs and pests, school, villagers, illness, travel, politics
and finally, my cozy little house here in the savannah.
FOOD ADVENTURES
So this one isn't as crazy
as one might seem because I do most of my own cooking now. In fact, I
haven't had pumon (hot peppers) in about three weeks! However, I have
a very shady propane powered stove that works so efficiently it can
burn anything almost instantly. For that reason, I've gone without
many meals simply because I don't feel like cooking. When I do eat,
I eat a lot of spaghetti because it's simple, and a lot of cucumbers
because it's one of the few vegetables easy to find, and it doesn't
require the stove. I know I mentioned this before, but the people
here really abuse sugar. Everything is drowned in it. Obviously this
is a rough estimation, but I wouldn't be surprised if I've had a
pound in the past month and my body is freaking out. Unfortunately,
it's rude not to take what is offered to you, and so that means lots
of tea, and the daily crock pot full of ye frais (balls
of flour in sugar water) that I am given. I hate to waste it because
it's good, but I just can't take it anymore. They even like to eat
cucumbers with sugar! Before the crock pots of ye frais, my go-to
breakfast was freshly baked bread with jelly...until my jelly
completely molded. I guess jelly really does need to be refrigerated.
While
sitting in a hut for those 3-8 hours, some form of food is usually
involved. Normally, it's just raw peanuts, and I've probably eaten my
weight's worth of those, but there have been some gems like fruit
resembling circus peanuts, and other fruits resembling captain
crunch. Another volunteer provided the comment that they are probably
what we call circus peanuts and captain crunch...a year before we eat
it. It's not entirely impossible.
Finally,
I will end with the shocker that I have eaten meat. When I visited my
regional capital to go to the bank, I went with another volunteer to
a cute little restaurant overlooking the river. The only thing they
had was chicken and fries, so I went ahead and ate it. The chicken
wasn't great, but it wasn't bad, and the fries were great! I guess
I'm starting to learn that malnutrition does crazy things to you.
LANGUAGE
So
for those of you who kind of speak another language, do you ever get
frustrated because you are losing an argument you'd win in your
native language? Well, in my village at least, I've learned how to
solve that. I'll just go off on a rant in English stunning them into
silence. This also works when you know people are talking about you
in a tribal language that you can't speak. Speaking of, I guess my
Susu has gotten a little bit better. We will occasionally have
Susu-English conversations where they tell me words in Susu and I
teach them the word in English. This always leads to those who have
studied a little english coming up with ridiculous phrases like “give
me my peanut.” Technically it's correct so how can I correct them?
Most of my Susu conversations with people are pretty one-sided and
they talk as if I could completely comprehend them. More than once, a
student has been walking by when this happens and will often
translate it into French for me. My most useful phrase so far is
Addé, kobiri mu na.
No, I don't have money. The word addé is
a much sassier way to say no then the French word for no and has
therefore started to replace it from time to time. Basically, my
Susu, French, and English are all suffering, but I'm told that will
change eventually.
FASHION
Wearing
floor-length skirts can occasionally be a struggle. Especially when
it comes to riding a bicycle and playing soccer. Just yesterday, I
was biking to school wearing a pretty flow-y floor-length skirt. This
was a feat in and of itself, but I was then given a lid-less crock
pot full of, what do you know, peanuts. I was able to get to school
only having lost one and without my skirt catching in the chain! The
most common “skirt” here is really a piece of fabric that is
pretty insecurely wrapped around you. One day, I ending up playing,
successfully I might add, soccer wearing the skirt-fabric
contraption. That's pretty much all for MY fashion, but I can't end
this section without mentioning santa hats. I have yet to figure out
why people are always walking around wearing santa hats, or any type
of winter hat, but it's definitely a thing here.
BUGS
AND PESTS
This
needs introduction because I know you, the reader, are already
imagining crazy things. Let's start with ants which range from
miniscule to an inch long. Then, there are the ants that bite, or
more accurately, pinch you. They are NOT fun and unfortunately, they
decided to invade my house one day. I woke up to hundreds swarming my
house (think 4th
Indiana Jones movies) and a neighbor came over to help me sweep them
out. The mosquitos here aren't too bad because I'm far from water,
but they can still be annoying. During my first week here, I found a
toad in my house every morning that I would kick out, but would
somehow get back in later. Now, I find mouse poop every morning even
though I have yet to see one here. The cockroaches are Atlanta size,
so that wasn't surprising. Spiders are another story. I've found not
one, not two, but three spiders the size of my hand in the past
month. I don't think they are dangerous but they certainly scare me.
Let no one say that I'm not facing my fears! Now I'm not sure if I
mentioned I had received a rabies shot (or rather, three) but those
don't actually keep you from getting rabies. Supposedly, they just
keep you alive long enough to get to a hospital for treatment. Due to
this fact, I basically avoid all animals. They however, don't always
avoid me. I was on a walk the other day and had just rounded a corner
when I met a dog. It growled and started to lunge towards me when a
rock whistles through the air and hits the dog. I'm not sure how this
guy was able to react so fast, but I sure am thankful because rabies
just doesn't seem like fun.
I
should mention that bug diversity can be pretty cool. The same day, I
had been walking through the bush and had seen at least 15 different
species of butterflies. You just have to take the bad with the good I
guess.
I
know for a fact that the bug and pest situation will continue for the
next two years, so stay tuned!
SCHOOL
In
Guinea this year, school opened the 3rd
of October which fell on a Thursday. I had heard that no one usually
comes, but decided to be professional and show up. Sure enough, my
principal was there, but that was it. No teachers, no students. Since
I don't teach Fridays, I went home and got ready for Monday. Well
Monday rolls around and if memory serves, seven kids (out of about
300) showed up. The principal put all the kids to work weeding the
overgrown schoolyard. Wednesday, the same story, but with maybe 30
students. Thursday, I didn't even get to school until 9 instead of 8
because I had some issues to work out with the Peace Corps that
involved me leaving site for the weekend. That brings us to Monday,
the 14th
of October when I actually taught. I had 15 out of 55 kids in my
ninth grade class, and 20 out of 75 in my tenth grade class. I was
introduced to the students by the Director of Studies who explained
that I was American, and that I am a volunteer who is not paid by the
Guinean Government. He went on and on about my sacrifice for the kids
and how I had volunteered to teach English in addition to Math.
Finally, he added that anyone misbehaving in my class would be kicked
out for the whole year (but I doubt that will happen). Everyone here
has been putting on a show for me. The rest of the week went pretty
well, although my kids are just not at the level they need to be and
I don't always do the greatest job explaining things. Because I'm
teaching 9th
and 10th
grade, the pressure is really on. At the end of 10th,
the kids have to pass an exam in order to continue on to high school.
It's good to know my principal has faith in my teaching, but of
course I'm nervous with all of this responsibility. It's also
slightly intimidating to be teaching people, who for the most part
are between 18 and 20. I'm not much older than they are, and some are
already married and have kids. My very first day, a girl had to leave
in the middle of class to breastfeed her kid! Because kids go to
Quaranic schol before elementary school, and because failing is
common, kids finish school at an older age.
My
math classes are pretty dry, but until English classes start, I give
them 5-10 minutes of English which they absolutely love. They perk
up, start participating and because they don't need English for the
exam, I can do what I want and can have laid back classes. It should
be a lot of fun.
VILLAGERS...
or Stuff Guineans Say
“Are
you a person or a devil?” It was twilight, and I was sitting on a
bridge just taking in the scenery, when an older man on a moto pulled
up and asked me this question. I laughed until I realized he was
serious and so I explained I was a person. He seemed relieved, but
still asked me what I was doing in his village. When I mentioned this
encounter to my neighbor, he told me devils walk around at twilight
and can change their appearance including the color of their skin. I
guess it was a perfectly valid question. What was I thinking? That
however, doesn't sum up most of my interactions. Most involve people
pointing and shouting white person at me. Anytime I leave my house,
EVERONE asks me where I'm going, why, and when I'll be back, etc.
They are worse than my mother ever was. For some reason, everyone
things I'm European. A fellow teacher asked me where I was from.
Assuming he knew I was American, I said Pennsylvania and he asked
where in Europe that was. This is also probably the only place in the
word where people assume I'm French because while my accent is good,
my actual French leaves much to be desired.
Much
like any other human, I've always craved attention. Boy did I get it.
Not only do the creepers hit on me, the best looking and most ripped
guys do too! I would say almost everyone between 18 and 81 here has
flirted with me, or asked me to marry them. So, need a confidence
boost? Come here! Possible consequences include malaria, skin cancer,
worms, frustration and more! While the adults and kids here love me,
the babies are completely terrified. They either just stare at me, or
bust into tears and run away.
I've
made so many friends here with a concentration of old women, soccer
players, and the kids who aren't scared of me. Unfortunately being
friends with soccer players led to one of the most humiliating
experiences of my life...
My
neighbor invited me to a soccer game. I first noticed something was
weird when the coach of one of teams came to my house to pick me up.
He introduced me to his team and informed them that I had prepared a
few words. I had NOT prepared anything and could only come up with
good luck. While sitting there waiting for the game to start, I kept
overhearing the term “grand delegate” being used around me and
knew it wasn't over! When the game started, they brought me to center
field where I met both teams, was introduced, and was given the
microphone and had to give an impromptu speech to the better part of
my village. Then, all of the players kneeled around me so I could
“give them advice”. I would have been uncomfortable doing that in
English, much less French. After kicking the opening ball, I was
allowed to sit down. They tried to sit me under an umbrella, but I
was able to convince them otherwise.
Turns
out that this happened to several other unsuspecting volunteers who
went to soccer games. Leave it to Guineans to make such a show of a
soccer game between teams from the village.
When
it comes to the villagers I could easily write a book on the things
they say to me, but you get the idea. They are all nuts.
ILLNESS
This
also needs no introduction, and will thankfully be shorter than I
expected. Unfortunately, I've been stuffed up on and off the entire
time. Allergies maybe?
One
morning I woke up vomiting because I had eaten cold leftovers. Always
reheat them! Anyway, I was tired, sick, frustrated, and emotionally
compromised so I attempted to ask a neighbor to go to the market and
get me something to eat. Well my Susu stinks, so they didn't
understand and I broke down crying. I guess it's good to get that out
of the way early?
I've
only had diarrhea once since arriving here which is pretty
impressive! Finally, I switched malaria meds again to the daily and
most expensive, $1USD/day pill which is supposed to have the least
amount of side effects. I sure hope this one works. Well, that about
wraps it up for sickness. I'm hoping the good luck streak continues.
TERRIFYING
TRAVEL
I've
been looking forward to writing this part since I started. Maybe
you've heard of the legendary bush taxis, maybe you haven't, so I'll
fill you in. To get anywhere in this country, you have 2 choices;
taxi or moto. As a PCV, I am forbidden to get on a motorcycle, so
that leaves Taxis. What you do is head to the “station” and wait
for the taxi to fill up. If this happens in less than an hour or two,
it's a miracle. In a normal 4-5 passenger car, this means 4
passengers in the back seat, two in the passenger seat, and if you
are really unlucky, they sit someone in the front row between the
driver and passenger seats even though the cars are all manual. Did
you know you can fit four people in the front row of a four person
car? They will then strap stuff (and oftentimes people) onto the top
of the car until the stack is at least as tall as the car is. Then,
if they can get the car to start, you are on the way. Next, due to
the condition of the roads, it can take anywhere from 1-2 hours to
travel the 20 miles between my village and the paved road. There the
process of finding a taxi and waiting for it to fill begins again.
Last weekend it took me almost 10 hours to travel 90 miles, and I
spent four of those hours sleeping in a shack waiting for a taxi to
fill. Sound safe yet? The cars, trucks, buses, whatever, are in
appalling condition. I've only seen one car which actually started by
a key instead of touching wires together. They've got plastic
containers under the hood where they pour the gas, windshields are
often cracked, side mirrors non-existent...and the list continues.
Yet, these, and in fact the whole process, are deemed safer than
traveling by motorcycle.
In
my village, I've done a decent amount of walking and exploring
pathways. Normally by myself, but sometimes with my neighbor who,
being born and raised here knows all the tricks. The countryside is
beautiful and I always make lots of new friends along the way. In
fact, because of this, I never explore as much as I would like
because people stop me to talk or have me sit with them and eat
peanuts.
POLITICS
Politics!
The one thing I'm not supposed to talk about. That's not entirely
true, I just can't really voice my opinion. The elections were a big
part of my first month, and it was really cool to be here for them,
but nothing has come out of it. They were the 28th
and results haven't been announced. The opposition was planning to
make a big stink about it, but that was several weeks ago and I
haven't heard anything lately. The main reason for this section was
to share statements made by my neighbors that I found amusing
- “Americans love Cellou Diallo” - I had to try not to scoff as I explained that most Americans don't know that Guinea is a countryside
- “Guinea is doux. No coup d'états, no wars, there are no problems here. Is America like that?”
And
with that we move to the final section
LITTLE
HOUSE IN THE SAVANNAH
And
now down to business. I think I'm slowly adjusting to life here and
having the house I do brings a lot of comfort. I mean, it's not every
day you can go to the bathroom sitting down (oh wait! It is!). I have
to joke because integration has been really tough. You are stripped
of your name, your family, your friends, everything you know, and you
are given new clothes, new food, a new language, and your neighbors
expect you to immediately adapt to your new life. In addition, you
have responsibility for 100+ students and your every action is
watched and judged. My short time here has already changed my life
and I hope that by reading this, it has in some small way affected
yours. All of your comments, letters, and just the fact that you are
reading this is a huge comfort. If you have any questions about Peace
Corps, life or culture here, I'd be more than happy to discuss is
with you!
