Ok, i know it's a little corny but i wrote a poem about my daily activities. It's supposed to be like a day in the life of, it was supposed to rhyme but i gave that up in the second line.
My days begin at seven in the morning.
If it’s not my cat purring in my face, I wake up to the sounds of my neighbors hard at work in the fields.
I rise, wash my face, brush my teeth and seize the day
As I head out on the path toward my centre de sante.
People come, people go.
On jaaraama, Tana alaa, Jam tun.
Nene comes expecting another child and vaccinating her enfants.
I see how far along they are with their pregnancy and weigh their enfants as well.
There’s much to be done at the health center each day;
Murals to be painted, shots to be given, medicine to be received.
At noon, less people come and tea is served.
Tea is served with more sugar than I can stand.
I return home to prepare my lunch and feed my cat.
I continue to do household chores and return to the health center at 15.
Sometimes I eat dinner there or sometimes it’s to get updates.
At 17 it’s about time to study and visit my host family.
I walk a short route to greet my host family.
A jaaraama, Tana Alaa, No marsedee seeda.
The evening continues in Pular, French and sometime English.
I help prepare the sauce to mix with the pot full of rice and of course eat as many mangoes as possible.
I’m tired by 21 or at least ready to call it a night and return home.
From my host family sometimes I like to go to the boutique to charge my phone.
But the majority of the time I’m too tired and I need to get my rest.
I return to my dark masion and the company of my cat.
I light a small kerosene lantern to read my book as I nod off to sleep.
This is a typical day in my village but every day is not the same.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Pictures
Hey whats up. I had some spare time so I thought I'd post up some old photos from training. It wasn't too long ago but it feels like forever ago. But it's just a short stroll through memory lane.
So here we are I think this was New Year's Day in front of the bureau getting ready to play some soccer and eat some sheep. lol.
Here's a monkey. Isn't he cute?
The women tend to carry large starngely shaped objects solely on their heads. Check this one out. I've tried I can do it but I use an arm to hold it in place. i think it takes a lot of practice.
aww this is so cute. This was at the airport in JFk before we left. It's me, Astrid, Adam and Ciara. Peace!
Here we are at the end of Staging. We had no idea what we were in for.
Here's a good view of a "bush taxi" I hope you can see how much is piled up on top of this tiny little wagon. Surprisingly it gets more ridiculous than that.
Here's another bush taxi not only is this one loaded with stuff, you've also got some people on top as well as people inside the car.
Not the best market photo but here's a few small fish vendors. The fish just sits there.
This isn't from training. Me Ila and Alpha at the computer center where I've started teaching English to their students.
I love this pic, this is me with my host family. From left to right it's Ila, Wodey, oumou, moi, and Boubacar.
awww this is g15 when we first arrived to Conakry. We look so young and clean. lol.
Me and Astrid. That girl is awesome she needs to move her site closer to mine.
Signs
So here we are I think this was New Year's Day in front of the bureau getting ready to play some soccer and eat some sheep. lol.
Here's a monkey. Isn't he cute?
The women tend to carry large starngely shaped objects solely on their heads. Check this one out. I've tried I can do it but I use an arm to hold it in place. i think it takes a lot of practice.
aww this is so cute. This was at the airport in JFk before we left. It's me, Astrid, Adam and Ciara. Peace!
Here we are at the end of Staging. We had no idea what we were in for.
Here's a good view of a "bush taxi" I hope you can see how much is piled up on top of this tiny little wagon. Surprisingly it gets more ridiculous than that.
Here's another bush taxi not only is this one loaded with stuff, you've also got some people on top as well as people inside the car.
Not the best market photo but here's a few small fish vendors. The fish just sits there.
This isn't from training. Me Ila and Alpha at the computer center where I've started teaching English to their students.
I love this pic, this is me with my host family. From left to right it's Ila, Wodey, oumou, moi, and Boubacar.
awww this is g15 when we first arrived to Conakry. We look so young and clean. lol.
Me and Astrid. That girl is awesome she needs to move her site closer to mine.
SignsWell i really hope you enjoyed these photos. I really enjoyed taking them. hehe.
I miss Guinea
Blog June 19, 2008
It’s officially six months into service, that’s ¼ completed. Can you believe it? I sure can’t, time is going by so fast. So currently I’m spending some time in Senegal and all I can say is that I miss my home and I miss Guinea. Um so it looks like June is almost over and a lot of things I was looking forward to have been put on hold till I get back to my site. Thankfully a training has been rescheduled so many things won’t be such a complete mess it just stinks to leave for long periods of time.
Forth of July I hope to spend at the capital with a bunch of other Americans. I really would like to go to either or both Morocco and Egypt. (if anyone is interested in accompanying me, let me know)
So how’s Senegal? Well it’s different, but I honestly really can’t say because I haven’t done much exploring. So I don’t have much of an opinion. One of the languages is close to language they speak in the region I am located in guinea. It’s not exactly the same but has a lot of similarities. I really like the music, I’m finding it hard to dance to though because the beat is so fast but it’s good. I really enjoy it. I’m enjoying more music from surrounding countries than the one I live in. Cote D’Ivorian music is excellent as well. With all this time on my hands I’m trying to think about what I want to do after this adventure is over, I’ve narrowed it down to three choices, graduate school, work maybe foreign services, and/ or a three year of Peace Corps. I know I’m getting ahead of myself but I think I want all of those and wouldn’t be that upset if I didn’t do a third year. But we’ll see. Any ideas? Write me!
So I’ve been going back and forth with the idea whether or not to go home, this would give me an opportunity to bring back more gifts for people but I think it might be easier to send them with people who come to visit me. That and it’s gonna be another adjustment and like it’s expensive and such. As much as I want to go home, it doesn’t seem necessary. And I bet when I go back to my village everyone is gonna ask me for gifts until I’m blue in the face. LOL. That’s a guarantee!
I wish I had more to say but really nothing is new, nothing’s going on. I’d love to get letters. That’d be nice or even a package. That’d be even sweeter or maybe even an email. I didn’t die or anything, I only joined Peace Corps so like why haven’t you wrote?
It’s officially six months into service, that’s ¼ completed. Can you believe it? I sure can’t, time is going by so fast. So currently I’m spending some time in Senegal and all I can say is that I miss my home and I miss Guinea. Um so it looks like June is almost over and a lot of things I was looking forward to have been put on hold till I get back to my site. Thankfully a training has been rescheduled so many things won’t be such a complete mess it just stinks to leave for long periods of time.
Forth of July I hope to spend at the capital with a bunch of other Americans. I really would like to go to either or both Morocco and Egypt. (if anyone is interested in accompanying me, let me know)
So how’s Senegal? Well it’s different, but I honestly really can’t say because I haven’t done much exploring. So I don’t have much of an opinion. One of the languages is close to language they speak in the region I am located in guinea. It’s not exactly the same but has a lot of similarities. I really like the music, I’m finding it hard to dance to though because the beat is so fast but it’s good. I really enjoy it. I’m enjoying more music from surrounding countries than the one I live in. Cote D’Ivorian music is excellent as well. With all this time on my hands I’m trying to think about what I want to do after this adventure is over, I’ve narrowed it down to three choices, graduate school, work maybe foreign services, and/ or a three year of Peace Corps. I know I’m getting ahead of myself but I think I want all of those and wouldn’t be that upset if I didn’t do a third year. But we’ll see. Any ideas? Write me!
So I’ve been going back and forth with the idea whether or not to go home, this would give me an opportunity to bring back more gifts for people but I think it might be easier to send them with people who come to visit me. That and it’s gonna be another adjustment and like it’s expensive and such. As much as I want to go home, it doesn’t seem necessary. And I bet when I go back to my village everyone is gonna ask me for gifts until I’m blue in the face. LOL. That’s a guarantee!
I wish I had more to say but really nothing is new, nothing’s going on. I’d love to get letters. That’d be nice or even a package. That’d be even sweeter or maybe even an email. I didn’t die or anything, I only joined Peace Corps so like why haven’t you wrote?
Sunday, June 15, 2008
The Six Months Point
June 13, 2008
Oh how amazing. The other day someone sent me a note saying Happy Six Months!!! Has it really been that long since we swore-in as Volunteers. This time next year I’m going to be applying for graduate school or looking for a job or maybe both. Perhaps both. But who knows right now. So whats been up man? So I’m taking another trip to Conakry for a week and then after headed to Mamou for a few days for the Girl’s Conference which I am really looking forward to. I hope things work out as planned. I know they won’t but as close as possible. The other day I baked some oh so yummy oatmeal cookies. Yes this is a highlight because I have no stove, so the fact that I prepared something baked is an accomplishment all in itself. (and yes I am patting myself on the back.) Something fun, so it’s rainy season and yes there’s lots of rain and lots of things growing and forming and things are blooming and blossoming and such and it’s oh so pretty. And also the mangoes with their AMAZING VITAMIN A. Rainy days are nice and I’m starting to make them a little more productive. Many people, or well most people that I have seen in my village spend the time sleeping when it’s rainy. One rainy afternoon I spent at my host family’s house practicing Pular with my brother. I then tried to explain to him about how difficult it is to find work and that no I’m not rich like 50 cent. Surprisingly enough he knew who 50 cent is. These are my favorite past about being here cultural interactions. I learned how to tell someone they are ugly and stupid, which aren’t really necessary but fun words to know and of course I learned their opposites if I’m feeling really nice. But its really slow coming and I don’t have structured learning so it’s kinda just all over the place as far as what I know how to say and what I understand. So yesterday I got a package from my mom which was very sweet and she had sent me my Nintendo DS, which I wish I had brought with me in the first place its been a lot of fun playing Brain Age and Pokemon. Pokemon, I asked someone about this amazing creation while I was in the middle of doing a battle. (ok, no need to make fun of the fact I was playing pokemon.) but anyway as I was saying I was trying to explain the concept to one of my friends but I really don’t even know if I can explain to myself. I remember when my brother tried to explain it years ago, I had no freaking clue what the hell he was talking about and from what he told me about it, I was way off from what I thought it was. The only thing I could say was that it was Japanese. But really what on earth is a Pokemon? Can someone answer this question for me? Another funny comment I get which I get often is being a Black American. Every once in a while I meet someone in my village and they insist that I’m white. Funny thing. Last time I looked in the mirror I was more brownish than anything close to white. So normally I laugh, get a little upset and then give them a short lesson on colors and try to help them. My neighbor, Abdoulaye thinks he’s so smart and he thought he was even smarter when he noted that I was white because I’m not African. Yeah, I took out a piece of paper and showed him the color white and held it up to my skin. I took out something black and held it up myself and him as well. I said nope not black but neither are you. We’re both more of a brownish color. And then he laughed and said no he’s neither he’s chocolate. LMAO. Ok ok whatever you wanna call it nowadays. Bur I just thought this was really cute. Well my village family has been so helpful at making me feel at home in Tountouroun and I do when I’m at their home and usually when I’m at my place I feel comfortable definitely more so than when I first moved in. Oh man was I terrified. I spend more time with them then other families because they never ask me for anything, I do give them gifts when I leave but since I first met them they have been very welcoming and very sweet especially the mom. The other day she told me she loved me and it was kinda weird at first cause I had no idea what to say to it. And she was kinda yelling it at me and asked me if I understood what that meant. It’s funny I don’t think I really do quite yet. But that’s another topic another day.
So I have some pictures I finally got a chance to take some pictures. most of these right now are with me and the family i stay with in my village. i have more photos but of course not with me. But Im sure your aware of how slow computers are here. If you aren't already now you know. K.
This is one of my neighbors. she sells gateau. Sometimes she can be a nuisance but sometimes she is also very helpful.
One of my many friends, he's pretty cool, i know its a bad pic but this is Fred and he helps me a lot with the lanuage when i have a zillion and one questions.
These are two of my favorite people. My "host brothers" Ila and Boubacar. They are really awesome and help me alot with the language and are probably my best friends in my village.
Thats me and Ila. i was making faces cause he didn't want to take pictures.
This is another picture of my favorite people, my host mother on the right Oumou and my namesake Kadiatou. They are both really awesome and very sweet women. Thankfully they speak french pretty well so it's easy to talk to them.
This girl is so cute, this is my one of my host sisters, the youngest and she is a riot. Wodey is very smart and I think I've learned most of my Pular by talking with her.
Here's one of the pics at the health center. He is really nice and gives vaccinations.
Thats me and my host brother Boubacar. I really like his booboo here.
This is everyone, well not everyone. Everyone from that day. There's more people they just weren't there this day. But here is my host family, minus the older sister.
Awww, that's me and my host mom. She's so cute, i really love her complet, i should of wore one too right?
Oh how amazing. The other day someone sent me a note saying Happy Six Months!!! Has it really been that long since we swore-in as Volunteers. This time next year I’m going to be applying for graduate school or looking for a job or maybe both. Perhaps both. But who knows right now. So whats been up man? So I’m taking another trip to Conakry for a week and then after headed to Mamou for a few days for the Girl’s Conference which I am really looking forward to. I hope things work out as planned. I know they won’t but as close as possible. The other day I baked some oh so yummy oatmeal cookies. Yes this is a highlight because I have no stove, so the fact that I prepared something baked is an accomplishment all in itself. (and yes I am patting myself on the back.) Something fun, so it’s rainy season and yes there’s lots of rain and lots of things growing and forming and things are blooming and blossoming and such and it’s oh so pretty. And also the mangoes with their AMAZING VITAMIN A. Rainy days are nice and I’m starting to make them a little more productive. Many people, or well most people that I have seen in my village spend the time sleeping when it’s rainy. One rainy afternoon I spent at my host family’s house practicing Pular with my brother. I then tried to explain to him about how difficult it is to find work and that no I’m not rich like 50 cent. Surprisingly enough he knew who 50 cent is. These are my favorite past about being here cultural interactions. I learned how to tell someone they are ugly and stupid, which aren’t really necessary but fun words to know and of course I learned their opposites if I’m feeling really nice. But its really slow coming and I don’t have structured learning so it’s kinda just all over the place as far as what I know how to say and what I understand. So yesterday I got a package from my mom which was very sweet and she had sent me my Nintendo DS, which I wish I had brought with me in the first place its been a lot of fun playing Brain Age and Pokemon. Pokemon, I asked someone about this amazing creation while I was in the middle of doing a battle. (ok, no need to make fun of the fact I was playing pokemon.) but anyway as I was saying I was trying to explain the concept to one of my friends but I really don’t even know if I can explain to myself. I remember when my brother tried to explain it years ago, I had no freaking clue what the hell he was talking about and from what he told me about it, I was way off from what I thought it was. The only thing I could say was that it was Japanese. But really what on earth is a Pokemon? Can someone answer this question for me? Another funny comment I get which I get often is being a Black American. Every once in a while I meet someone in my village and they insist that I’m white. Funny thing. Last time I looked in the mirror I was more brownish than anything close to white. So normally I laugh, get a little upset and then give them a short lesson on colors and try to help them. My neighbor, Abdoulaye thinks he’s so smart and he thought he was even smarter when he noted that I was white because I’m not African. Yeah, I took out a piece of paper and showed him the color white and held it up to my skin. I took out something black and held it up myself and him as well. I said nope not black but neither are you. We’re both more of a brownish color. And then he laughed and said no he’s neither he’s chocolate. LMAO. Ok ok whatever you wanna call it nowadays. Bur I just thought this was really cute. Well my village family has been so helpful at making me feel at home in Tountouroun and I do when I’m at their home and usually when I’m at my place I feel comfortable definitely more so than when I first moved in. Oh man was I terrified. I spend more time with them then other families because they never ask me for anything, I do give them gifts when I leave but since I first met them they have been very welcoming and very sweet especially the mom. The other day she told me she loved me and it was kinda weird at first cause I had no idea what to say to it. And she was kinda yelling it at me and asked me if I understood what that meant. It’s funny I don’t think I really do quite yet. But that’s another topic another day.
So I have some pictures I finally got a chance to take some pictures. most of these right now are with me and the family i stay with in my village. i have more photos but of course not with me. But Im sure your aware of how slow computers are here. If you aren't already now you know. K.
This is one of my neighbors. she sells gateau. Sometimes she can be a nuisance but sometimes she is also very helpful.
One of my many friends, he's pretty cool, i know its a bad pic but this is Fred and he helps me a lot with the lanuage when i have a zillion and one questions.
These are two of my favorite people. My "host brothers" Ila and Boubacar. They are really awesome and help me alot with the language and are probably my best friends in my village.
Thats me and Ila. i was making faces cause he didn't want to take pictures.
This is another picture of my favorite people, my host mother on the right Oumou and my namesake Kadiatou. They are both really awesome and very sweet women. Thankfully they speak french pretty well so it's easy to talk to them.
This girl is so cute, this is my one of my host sisters, the youngest and she is a riot. Wodey is very smart and I think I've learned most of my Pular by talking with her.
Here's one of the pics at the health center. He is really nice and gives vaccinations.
Thats me and my host brother Boubacar. I really like his booboo here.
This is everyone, well not everyone. Everyone from that day. There's more people they just weren't there this day. But here is my host family, minus the older sister.
Awww, that's me and my host mom. She's so cute, i really love her complet, i should of wore one too right?
Ok so I'm not such a horrible person I'm showing some pictures right. Sorry thats all i have now but I'll have more later. Things are going well here and I'm going to senegal for a couple days so I'm looking forward to that. Im making plans to visit Mali in september for vacation. Let's see how that goes. And as for work well school's out so I'm trying to do several small projects. Plant some trees and enjoy the rainy season by pigging out on some mangoes. LOL. Take care.
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