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

Leaving Conakry

Today is our adoptation cermony, where each of us will meet our host family. It is the start of the next step towards service. No longer will we be living at the compound, with access to sometimes running water and slow internet. Our training will take place in Forcariah which is about 100km from Conakry. We will be living and training there for about 9 weeks. So this will probably be my last post for awhile and I expect to have access to internet 1-2 times a month so the posts will be slowing down from now on.

Heres are some more pics

Pics

The Peace Corps building.

On the road from the airport to the Peace Corps compound.

This is the view flying out of Dakar enroute to Guinea.

Holiday

Today is Eid al-Adha and we are going to the market this morning to buy supplies to make food since the holiday means the staff won't provide it. I might get a shirt from the market just because it gets so hot sometimes and the fabrics they use here are much more cooler. Last night we played Mafia and everyone sucked including myself, but it was really fun. Yesterday we have the 2nd session of cross cultural stuff, and then a nice "how to" by current volunteers on how to do laundry with a washboard, how to use the water method, techniques to squatting for eating and shiting, and etc.

I have a bunch of pictures but I upload them later.

Downtown in Conakry

Yesterday after breakfast we had the medical orientation with Dr. Tryon(sp) he told us all the things we needed to know when it comes to being healthy and what to do when sick, and where to find information. We got our med kits and malaria nets, he also showed us how to assemble and break down the water filtration system (2 plastic buckets with a filter). Afterwards we had the RSO for Guinea come and he gave us a talk about security and tips to keep in mind. Usual common sense stuff like dont walk around with stacks of cash cause you'll get jacked. Then Cliff from USAID came by to tell us what projects and groups were happening in Guinea. Lunch was then eaten and it was good. The remainder of our training day consisted of language level placement and some cross cultural material. I was placed in Novice Low for French, no surprise there. We closed traning for the day and went into downtown Conakry for dinner at a resturant there. The drive was awesome, almost as good as the first one from the airport to the compound. The city is was alive, people playing futbal in the streets and life happening everywhere. The food at the resturant was the best we had so far, probably the best we will have for a really long time. In terms of food, living conditions, indoor plumbing, electricity, and access internet (although those last 3 have been going on and off regulary). The way we have been living these past few days is not the norm and it will most certainty be the easist we will have it.

Today the plan is survival language traning in french after breakfast, with sector meetings afterwards, then preperation for home stay (living with host family during PST), and maybe if I'm lucky, a bunch of needles in my arm.

In 2 days if all goes according to plan, I will be living with a host family and will have to say goodbye to the luxury of the Peace Corps compound. That being said, luxury is a little misleading because by American standards it is indeed poor living, but its not that bad. Well I'm late for lunch. Peace.