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This is gonna be a long one

So I got a new number a couple months ago I am posting it now because the timing is perfect
011 224 62 87 41 00

Not that it matters since people tell me they can't get thru to me, its either the network or your all a bunch of liars.

So I'm still alive, been doing great health wise, only got sick for a day since Feb. And with everything else? It's complicated and I'm too lazy to write about it.

Last month beginning of May was my IST which lasted about 2 weeks. It was good to see everyone again. Most people complained about the food, but I was eating like a King! well at least compared to at site. The sessions were on average Shitty to OK. There were a few that I liked and found useful. Others that I didn't see myself ever finding any use with. The most interesting sessions were about VS&LS, and there were 2 others but I can't remember at the moment. I did learn how to play spades and hearts while I was there so it wasn't a total bust.

After IST I went to Conakry for my quarterly visit as my vacation. It wasn't all fun though, I did get some paperwork taken care of. But mostly I spent the time in the air conditioned video room watching classics such as Home Sweet Alabama and Transformers. I was going to check out the islands with the other volunteers that were in Conakry but changed my mind. I got 2 years so there's no rush. During our time in Conakry we had some CoSing volunteers from Mali stay at the house and that was interesting. They aren't as cool as Guinea volunteers that's for sure. No offense but we have coups and shit. They have boring sand/mud mosques.

I was suppose to leave with the PAM flight but the UNDP commandeered the plane and I got booted. Those fascists! Wait I don't even know what that means. So anyways instead I rode back in 9 hour bush taxi after waiting for it for 5 hours. At least I had my favorite Indian with me to share the misery. Where we surprised Nick in Faranah at midnight to crash at his place. So all in all I'm actually thankful that I got to ride crammed in a POS getting to Faranah instead of getting to Kissi in under 2hours.

Got back to Kissi the next day, the ride wasn't too bad only took 2 hours longer than it should of since we stopped at every village to pick up everyone. But by then I didn't really care, I was numb to it all so the ride wasn't bad. Stayed in Kissi for about a week before having to go to Kankan for Warden training. Wardens are people tasked with knowing the whereabouts of other volunteers that are their wardees and responsible for getting in contact with their wardees in times of crisis. Funny thing is for Lower Haute which is my region theres 6 people and 4 wardens. Do the math and that means there's 4 wardens for 2 non wardens. But I guess its always good to have redundancies. So if any shit goes down which may happen (this is exciting!)
we are suppose to consolidate at Jess's site, and if things get worse we are suppose to get to Kankan our regional capital. But if we can't get there for some reason, we are biking to Liberia. Sounds really fun so it probably wont go down like that. :_(

After that I got back to Kissi for a week again, I went back to Kankan for the Girls conference meeting and my monthly visit. Which was probably my best Kankan visit yet. It even rained a few times there which helped cool things down, but the 20 mosquito bites I got wasn't fun. As Sajay likes to say Malaria c'est pas bonne pour le sante.

Now since my free internet at UNICEF is gone for the foreseeable future, I'm at my city's only Internet cafe paying 5,000 FG for an hour. Outrageous! I can buy 2 bowls of rice and sauce for that. After I get settled in again, I start my projects, I have 3 in mind at the moment. There's a huge hill of rice husks outside my compound and I trying to figure out what I can do with it. Also me and my site mate are planning on getting out the the villages surrounding Kissidougou to start village savings and loans groups. Also once my NGO gets a computer (I doubt they can) I will start computer trainings for the agents there. The 3rd one which I think might be the hardest yet the funniest is coming up with a plan to see how Pride Finance can start taking deposits from people to increase their capital (like a bank) so that they can give out more micro credit. Since Pride doesn't get 100% of it's loans repayed their capital is slowly shrinking, and there isn't much incentive or methods for getting their money back. And with the current economic situation in the world, Pride will have a hard time attracting funders to increase and maintain their operations. So they have to figure out a way to do it on their own or go out of business. I have a feeling that the head guys over at Conakry don't really care and most likely run away with the money if it looks like Pride is going belly up. Pretty much the norm here in Guinea. Get what you can when you can cuz if you don't someone else will.

Paix out

So far so...

Needless to say but i'll say it anyways, its been awhile since i've written a blog. 2 months now? if my math is correct. What have I been doing and how have I been fairing you ask? Well overall not much and not bad. First few weeks in Kissi were spent getting my site in order. For example getting screens made and installed, some furniture made. Dealing with carpenters here is a pain in the face, but it must be done. Although I did get introduced to a group of carpenters who were friendly by Kim Mason another volunteer (G11). Had a few people roll thru town and got a few visits which was nice. Mostly we just got together for dinner and chatted. Bulk of my time was spent reading.

On March 8th I almost blew myself up which was pretty exicting. So I was trying to light my stove to cook my dinner, and I had noticed that my setup was a little strange, but didnt think it was dangerous. So I lit my match and was moving it toward the burner and I turned on the valve for the stove and it usually blows up with it lits. So I moved my hand back quickly so not to get burned and can you believe it? I dropped the match and it fell on top of my gas tank. The gas tank caught on fire because as I found out later it leaked near the main valve. I stood there looking at the burning tank and thought to myself, "shouldn't this blow up...soon?" it felt like forever but it probably was only 5 seconds. Time tends to slow down a lot in situations like this (Ask anyones that been in a car accident). But I stayed and decided to close the valve good move I should think, but before using my hand I used a towel so I wouldnt get burned. Another good move if I do say so myself. I had to sit down for about 5 minutes afterwards to slow my heart down but afterwards I continued to cook my meal cuz I GOTS TO EAT.

In the same week I went on a little bike ride, for those that know me well, know I'm not really a biker at all. Not that I don't know how to bike but that it's an activity that I don't usually spend time on. Anyways I didn't have much else to do so I hopped on my bike and went. It was 75km and I finished in about 5 hours. The last 2k was the hardest, but the deed was done.

Picked up my bamboo rocking chair and took the mail run back down to Kissi, I don't think i'll be doing that bike ride again anytime soon. After dropping off my rocking chair which cost a princely sum of 220,000 GNF I took the the mail run up to KanKan with a few people for my monthly regional capital visit.

KanKan was asi asi, but too damn hot. And involved alot of walking since the regional house is in the middle of nowhere. Came back a few days later to Kissi where I've been ever since.

Also on a side note:
1 shirt and 1 shorts stolen. Well played Guinea, well played.

Things coming up, IST (In Service Training) on May 4th-15th. The plan is to go to Conakry after IST hopefully in a Peace Corps car. I think I'll stay there for a bit for my 3monthly visit to the capital then try to get on the World Food Program flight to Kissi from Conakry.

Bye

And then there was 28 and etc

Well it seems its for real...we have finally lost one of our G17 members. Sorry to see ya go Dave but its your life and I can't fault you for your decision. You will be missed and Haute won't be the same without you.

Wow its been awhile since I posted...
Let's see after Swear-in we left Conakry on the 8th got to KanKan in 14 hours (not bad or so Ian says). I think its around 900kilometers? I could be wrong but 560 miles in 14hours?! In America it would take like 30 minutes!!..37 if theres traffic pfft. KanKan was fun but only got to stay for a day ;(

On the 10th we packed our choses and we were off! Sajay, Nick, Paul, Sacha, and I were the first to leave and reached Kissi fairly quickly. My installtion only took an hour or so, getting my baggage off the SUV took longer then meeting officials. You think they would put my stuff on top since I'm getting off first? Nope this is the Peace Corps we dont roll like that. They put my stuff at the very bottom of the stack, just brilliant! And I'm not complaining the Peace Corps has a system of doing things and it only makes sense if you think real long and hard.

My first week at site was interesting...not many crazy stories or funny stories or crazy funny stories. Just a tussle with some carpenters, not only they got me to pay more...they had me wait longer they our set date and they had me carry my goods to my house! They know how to run a business, they don't need me to do anything for them what am I doing here? Home Depot can learn a thing or two from these Guineans. Mostly I read books, you can read a book real fast in Africa, I think its something in the water. I burned thru 3 in my first week, I gotta slow down or I'll be out of things to do.

My second week at site...which from my counting started last tuesday and has been a lot of fun. I've been getting visitors everyday or every other day ( I lose track of time here, I'm not saying it goes by fast cuz it doesnt) It's always fun to get Americans in town to just talk to.

Had my first African rain storm a few days ago, it was really really loud. I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't worrying so much about my roof leaking. I woke up every 30 mins to check my ceiling.

So being in Asian in Africa...boy I thought it was bad in the States (I kid, but not really)
I'll write about it some other time, I'm all blogged out. Your curious aren't you tho?? Admit it you want to know haha well you have to wait!

Lazy

I lied about continuing the last entry, I'm too tired and lazy to write stuff. So I'll wait once I get to Kissi to write blogs. Hope everyone is doing well, and for those of you asking what I want sent...Nothing right now but thanks anyways. I'll be leaving for Kankan tomorrow (regional capital) and afterwards officially installed at my site. Yesterday's swear in ceremony was fun, we had a BBQ tonight we got to meet the ambassador and other important peoples. Well I'm going to get off since theres people waiting to use the computer.

Adios

PST over, Swearing in tomorrow

Tomorrow I will be swearing into service and offically becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer. I passed my language test and I don't remember what I posted before, but for my program (SED) the minium level is intermediate high to swear in. Coming into Guinea I had no french but I did manage (barely) to pass, and its pretty crazy the amount of French I have learned in about 8 weeks of class. Something to be proud of I guess, and even though training was mostly boring and sometimes fun, I at least learned some French...I will continue this blog but I'm late for dinner.

Mamou

Still alive and currently in Mamou for counterpart workshop and getting ready to visit my site which is Kissidougou.

I'll be working with PRIDE Finance

details to come perhaps in a month

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kissidougou

Pictures

Entering Forecariah the town we are living in for 9 weeks with our host families and for training.

Just a random picture of us under our usual study area, under the mango trees

Our first day learning the president died, as you can see everyone is happy nothing coup worry about.

Here is our Peace Corps Country Director Dan Evans giving us an update on the coup situation and he brought his family for a visit. Thanks Julia for bringing us brownies!

This is my host family, the little boy went to some other village for some reason and I haven't seen him in awhile.

Happy New Year

I'm in Conakry for New Years and will be leaving soon, only had 20 hours here but it was nice to have AC and internet. It's been awhile and a lot of stuff has happened.

So on the 8th we had our adoption ceremony, the ceremony itself consisted of a bunch of speeches, each PCT meeting there family, picture, then a lunch together. Afterwards I went to my new home for the next 9 weeks of training or Stage. After I dropped my bags off in my room, I had my first and only (so far) "WTF am I doing here" moment, but it passed quickly. My family name is Toure and the person I thought was my brother who I now think is my cousin (its hard to follow the family structure here) took me out to the river and the market even though I was trying to tell him I wanted to go back to my room. So my first day was spent walking a lot. My first night with my family was interesting to say the least, a bit difficult trying to interact with them. I have zero french and I think they expected to have someone who had some since their last volunteer was fluent. So my family and I were both at a lost what to do. But via hand motions and a french dictionary we made it thru the night. Going back to my host family, it is made up of one father his one wife and their 2 kids(1 boy age 10 and 1 girl age 7). This is certainly not the norm here, because in Guinea its normal for the man to have up to 4 wives and families are huge.

My days are spent in class for most of the day, I'll give a sample day:
Sessions are either language class or technical training or medical sessions or info sessions about culture and other stuff. It varies day to day.

800 session 1
1000-1030 break
1030-1230 session 2
1230-1400 Lunch
1400-1700 session 3 and 4
1700 on is free time

I usually get back around 1700 to my house and take a bucket bath right away then eat dinner alone because I think my family eats at a different time and its considered an sign of respect to eat alone. If there isn't anything planned that night by the group I usually get under my mosquito net asap and try to do homework. It's hard to concentrate because of the heat and sometimes I just end up fanning myself until I fall asleep. I should be spending time with my family so I can intergrate, but having very poor french and not wanting to get eaten alive by mosquitoes means I just hang out under my net in my bed.

Speaking of french its coming along, I came in at the lowest level and now I think I've moved up to novice high. I'm just worried about the rate at which I'm learning. For my SED program they expect to have me at advanced by the end of my 9 weeks and its the 4th week already. Hopefully I'll be at intermediate high by the end of my training so I can swear in and officially become a Peace Corps Volunteer.

The tech sessions are usually like business classes and most of the stuff is review of basic concepts. But its helpful since they try to give it a Guinean context.

I have like 1000 pictures so far, I've been busy but it takes too long to upload so I'll just post a few pics.

Oh yea the military coup, nothing dangerous other than celebratory shooting into the air that lasted for 3 days. Hasn't really affected us since it was a non-violent coup and most Guineans are if not in support of it not against the coup since the last "president" was such ass.

I probably could write a lot more about my experiences but I cant think right now and I'm being badgered by Dorian and Mary to hurry up.

I'm pretty exicted about next week since we find out our site and get to go out to visit it so stay tuned! I'll probably be able to get on the internet in another 5 weeks or so.

Also I got a cell phone, check the side for my number, since its expensive for me to call out for too long and its free for me if I get called...this means if you want to call me use Skype or buy calling cards so its not so expensive.

to call me 011 224 67 22 68 04