Blog aug 27
Back at site, I actually kinda missed it. It was so good to come home and see my cat and see my neighbors and my host family. Then after those first questions as to where have I been and what I have brought back have sufficed its back to the village life.
So the big highlight was the soccer final in my village that my host brother helped organize. This was a very good venue to do a sensibilization on HIV/AIDS. But anyway this was pretty impressive, there were many people there, there were officials and everything. It was actually pretty cool. And I was made the “godmother’ of the tournament. I’m not sure exactly still what that means however I got to have a seat at the match. There were only a handful of chairs there. And also I got to start the match by being first to kick the ball. Yay! Well the match went well except for that it was raining half the time. Our team lost, it was 0-2. Man, I was a little upset but maybe next year. Then they gave out the trophy and then people got a little too rowdy so I went home. There was a soiree at the boite but I’m such an old woman now I was too tired to go at ten oclock.
Next month is Ramadan and I’m kinda anxious and nervous at the same time. I’m actually gonna try to fast but not force myself to do a whole month. I’m pretty sure I could do it but I’ve also started working out and I’d like to keep up with that next month and in order to do that I need to eat and more importantly drink lots of water.
So I finally took out my braids the other day, and found my hair has grown a bit. I have decided against dreads and decided to braid my own hair next time and leave the weave alone for now. We’ll see how that goes.
I wish I had travel plans however I do, because I feel kinda guilty leaving the village all the time. I like being there, I enjoy it but sometimes I just get really annoyed and need Kim time. Which is pretty normal however I don’t like being away for weeks, then coming back for two or three days and being away for another couple of weeks. So I’m gonna wait till next month. I wanted to visit another volunteer in Boke which is over 8hours and I wanted to go to the beach and visit my friend’s family so I’d definitely will stay a week and no one to feed my cat.
My cat has been very crazy lately. She is not a stupid kitty. Ok so when I moved in my house, my regional coorindator helped me install my screens in the windows but they did it backwards so I was unable to open my windows the way it was so he ended up cutting a hole at the bottom of the screen so I can lock and unlock my windows to open them. My cat has now established this hole as (for lack of a better word) “kitty door” and once open she likes to climb out as well as climb in through this hole in my screen. So I’ll be home lying in bed reading and she’ll start crying about something and then I’ll open the screen and she’ll jump out and then come back later with a half dead lizard in her mouth. Oh how wonderful. She really likes to find insects outside and then bring them inside to play with. She’s done this with lizards, mice, grasshoppers, and cockroaches. Probably others but these are all I’ve seen. The other day it was a tiny tiny mouse and it was squeaking as she playing with it with her teeth. LOL. I didn’t find the dead mouse I think she might of ate it.
How’s work? Its going pretty well. Coming back from a training I feel refreshed cause I’ve been with other volunteers and they are going through the same hardships and difficulties so I feel less terrible about failed projects. The next project I am working on which is going to be absolutely amazing is a HIV/AIDS themed soiree at the night club in my village. I don’t have much worked out yet I’m still trying to figure out how to do this and what I need and such but I hope to have it after the month of Ramadan when the night club reopens in October so that’s plenty of time to plan this craziness. I’m pretty excited because I think it will go over well if there’s games and such. And who doesn’t love games???
Other than that I cant think of anymore to say except that I miss home and always wonder what everyone is up to. Its weird to think its almost been a year since I left. Ha its crazy how time flies. Anyway with September around the corner; Happy Birthday mom, time generally speeds up around the upcoming holidays as well as birthdays. Happy birthday Brian. I still don’t know what Im gonna do for the big 23. Or whether I should tell people in my village, because they don’t really celebrate birthdays here like we do. I might get looked at like Im crazy but that’s nothing new.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Mamou Trainings
Mamou, oh how I adore thee. So I think it’s safe to say that this trip to Mamou has been terrible. The girl’s conference went really well and we had a lot of fun and it was pretty good. The girls seem to really enjoy it. I did a presentation with Brienne on HIV/AIDS with a condom demonstration. It went well but the topic is just too big to try to squeeze into an hour and half long session with young girls. (Meanwhile I’m at a training for HIV/AIDS and it is 4 days long) But anyway it well, the girls enjoy it and had many questions and we did a couple activities and it was good. So about girl’s conference each volunteer brought a young girl from their village to get all this awesome information in hopes they will share it with their friends. Hopefully. But some sessions were hard like planning your futures and making action plans because a lot of the younger girls did not know what they wanted to do yet. I was trying to ask the girl from my village why she wanted to go to college and she in return she asked me why she should go to college. As if there was a wrong answer. I think I need to explore that question with her more when I go back to the village.
Right after the conference we had malaria training and it was not one of the bests. It was poorly organized and very un-engaging. And on top of that I was feeling noxious throughout the past three or four days. Yeah not fun. That and being light headed half the time. So it didn’t pass very well. And the sessions really didn’t leave much room for breaks or naps or anything like that.
Now we are having our HIV/AIDS training. It’s going a bit better, the internet finally got fixed, it wasn’t working when we first got here so that’s exciting. Funny story, I’ve been noxious for days and last night I woke up burping. My roommate was talking in her sleep, something about bushrat. She said “bushrat.” I was like bushrat? And then she said it again like agreeing with me yeah bushrat. Next thing I know I starting throwing up. Yucky feeling but kinda funny. After I got that out of my system I’ve been feeling better since. It just sucked I didn’t make it to the bathroom cause I didn’t think it’d come. Oh well. Anyway. Bushrat is the magic word to make me puke. So anyway back to the conference, I brought my host brother and he seems to be enjoying himself. It’s much better than having my official homologue here. So far, this conference is going much better than malaria, even with me puking the other night.
So things at site are going ok. Before I left my site I started working on my big completion of a health post project and silly me left my flash drive with the proposal on it at site. I’ve officially decided that going to the health center twice a week is more than enough because any and all work can be accomplished by going twice a week. I’m going to start going to Labe once a week, because every other volunteer has neighbors but me and I actually found work for me, a DECENT tutor, and a host family (actually two host families) as well in Labe. So everything is covered. But I just need to run this by the village because they aren’t really using me. Apparently it’s still a hard concept to grasp that I am not going to just give them money. Some get it, but not everyone. So the plan for the rest of August is a short vacation to Boke. Then September is Ramadan. I’m not sure exactly what I’m gonna do. I think I should stock up on more food in my house because I won’t really be able to eat with my family. I really would like to try fasting, but realistically I know I’m gonna end up cheating or not being able to hack it for a whole month. I guess I’ll try it. During the month of Ramadan Muslims do not eat during the daylight hours. Throughout the day they fast and neither eat nor drink. So I wouldn’t even be able to drink up some water. That stinks.Grrr. well I’ll try it and see what happens. I plan to plan my sensiblizations for October during that month, including preparations and scheduling and such. Nothing too big or too small. Then I’ll have more paperwork to do so I’ll be pretty busy. I think we might do a trip to see some waterfalls mid September but I’m not too sure and I’m the one planning that event so I should really know. Huh? I still don’t know what I wanna do for my birthday. Like I want to do something but it doesn’t have to be anything big or anything so I think I just might go out dancing with some friends. And of course November Thanksgiving we are gonna try to do a big dinner. I’m looking forward to stuffing. It’d be nice to have instant stuffing. Hmm. Stuffing.
So it’s really hard to believe I’ve been away from home for so long. It’s been 8 months and on December 2, will be a year since I left home and I think December 5th would be a year since I’ve been in Guinea. And that’s like right around the corner. Can you believe it? Cause I can’t, cause I was so close to not coming. Oh I look back and laugh at that.
My host family is doing well. They always always always ask about my family back in the states and whether or not I’ve talked to my mom recently. Actually every time I see them they ask me if I’ve talked to my mom and how my parents are doing. Then they tell me how they are doing and then ask me how I’m doing for the fortieth time. Its always really good to see them. Oh I don’t remember if I wrote this but my host brother Boubacar is doing better. He’s walking and driving again and feels much better, I think they’ve removed his cast already. I was so happy because it really sucks to have to limp everywhere. Everyone is doing ok the host family in Labe is doing ok too. I went to visit them right before this because I hardly find time to visit them when I go into Labe so I made a special trip for them. They were very happy I came to visit and spent an afternoon with them and then walked to Ila’s office which is a walk. But I went with his sister Sali and we talked and joked and stuff. And I hardly really got a chance to talk to her and it was good to connect. What else? My other host family, I haven’t been to see them in a while but i have called them. I find it difficult to visit my host families if I don’t have a schedule already planned out because they never want you to leave. I’ll be like, ok, I’m going go for a walk to use the internet café. And they’ll be like oh I’m going too but I’m not going for another two hours, wait here and eat this bread and we’ll go later. LOL. Uh, ok.
Um I wanted to do a project for like young girls at my site, but like one thing I realized at girl’s conference was that it takes me a while to connect with girls. Like the girls connected with me because I’m a black American so they automatically felt comfortable around me but it wasn’t the same for me. But after the second day it was a lot easier. I really would like to go over everything the girl from my village did at the conference with her and her friends and just get them interested in staying in school and not becoming “Masion Slaves” (a slave to the house) and just learning how to take advantage of opportunities or just try to figure out what they need more help with in order to become successful for themselves.
What else? Well um if anyone wants to send me a package for my birthday coming up soon, I would love that a lot. I’d like something fun, I honestly can’t think of anything right now. Or even a letter would be cool. Maybe some chocolate. Thatd be awesome cause the chocolate here sucks. Its not real chocolate. Yucky. So good chocolate would be awesome to have. And I’d also like a USB drive for backing up my very very important documents in case my computer becomes broken which is inevitable here.
Oh I’d really like guides or study aids for taking the GRE’s. Anything helpful?
OK, that’s all. I miss you all. I can’t believe federer lost, I’m a little shaken up by it and sad I missed that match, I heard it was awesome. Ok, well I miss you, um I’ll be back at site next week.
Right after the conference we had malaria training and it was not one of the bests. It was poorly organized and very un-engaging. And on top of that I was feeling noxious throughout the past three or four days. Yeah not fun. That and being light headed half the time. So it didn’t pass very well. And the sessions really didn’t leave much room for breaks or naps or anything like that.
Now we are having our HIV/AIDS training. It’s going a bit better, the internet finally got fixed, it wasn’t working when we first got here so that’s exciting. Funny story, I’ve been noxious for days and last night I woke up burping. My roommate was talking in her sleep, something about bushrat. She said “bushrat.” I was like bushrat? And then she said it again like agreeing with me yeah bushrat. Next thing I know I starting throwing up. Yucky feeling but kinda funny. After I got that out of my system I’ve been feeling better since. It just sucked I didn’t make it to the bathroom cause I didn’t think it’d come. Oh well. Anyway. Bushrat is the magic word to make me puke. So anyway back to the conference, I brought my host brother and he seems to be enjoying himself. It’s much better than having my official homologue here. So far, this conference is going much better than malaria, even with me puking the other night.
So things at site are going ok. Before I left my site I started working on my big completion of a health post project and silly me left my flash drive with the proposal on it at site. I’ve officially decided that going to the health center twice a week is more than enough because any and all work can be accomplished by going twice a week. I’m going to start going to Labe once a week, because every other volunteer has neighbors but me and I actually found work for me, a DECENT tutor, and a host family (actually two host families) as well in Labe. So everything is covered. But I just need to run this by the village because they aren’t really using me. Apparently it’s still a hard concept to grasp that I am not going to just give them money. Some get it, but not everyone. So the plan for the rest of August is a short vacation to Boke. Then September is Ramadan. I’m not sure exactly what I’m gonna do. I think I should stock up on more food in my house because I won’t really be able to eat with my family. I really would like to try fasting, but realistically I know I’m gonna end up cheating or not being able to hack it for a whole month. I guess I’ll try it. During the month of Ramadan Muslims do not eat during the daylight hours. Throughout the day they fast and neither eat nor drink. So I wouldn’t even be able to drink up some water. That stinks.Grrr. well I’ll try it and see what happens. I plan to plan my sensiblizations for October during that month, including preparations and scheduling and such. Nothing too big or too small. Then I’ll have more paperwork to do so I’ll be pretty busy. I think we might do a trip to see some waterfalls mid September but I’m not too sure and I’m the one planning that event so I should really know. Huh? I still don’t know what I wanna do for my birthday. Like I want to do something but it doesn’t have to be anything big or anything so I think I just might go out dancing with some friends. And of course November Thanksgiving we are gonna try to do a big dinner. I’m looking forward to stuffing. It’d be nice to have instant stuffing. Hmm. Stuffing.
So it’s really hard to believe I’ve been away from home for so long. It’s been 8 months and on December 2, will be a year since I left home and I think December 5th would be a year since I’ve been in Guinea. And that’s like right around the corner. Can you believe it? Cause I can’t, cause I was so close to not coming. Oh I look back and laugh at that.
My host family is doing well. They always always always ask about my family back in the states and whether or not I’ve talked to my mom recently. Actually every time I see them they ask me if I’ve talked to my mom and how my parents are doing. Then they tell me how they are doing and then ask me how I’m doing for the fortieth time. Its always really good to see them. Oh I don’t remember if I wrote this but my host brother Boubacar is doing better. He’s walking and driving again and feels much better, I think they’ve removed his cast already. I was so happy because it really sucks to have to limp everywhere. Everyone is doing ok the host family in Labe is doing ok too. I went to visit them right before this because I hardly find time to visit them when I go into Labe so I made a special trip for them. They were very happy I came to visit and spent an afternoon with them and then walked to Ila’s office which is a walk. But I went with his sister Sali and we talked and joked and stuff. And I hardly really got a chance to talk to her and it was good to connect. What else? My other host family, I haven’t been to see them in a while but i have called them. I find it difficult to visit my host families if I don’t have a schedule already planned out because they never want you to leave. I’ll be like, ok, I’m going go for a walk to use the internet café. And they’ll be like oh I’m going too but I’m not going for another two hours, wait here and eat this bread and we’ll go later. LOL. Uh, ok.
Um I wanted to do a project for like young girls at my site, but like one thing I realized at girl’s conference was that it takes me a while to connect with girls. Like the girls connected with me because I’m a black American so they automatically felt comfortable around me but it wasn’t the same for me. But after the second day it was a lot easier. I really would like to go over everything the girl from my village did at the conference with her and her friends and just get them interested in staying in school and not becoming “Masion Slaves” (a slave to the house) and just learning how to take advantage of opportunities or just try to figure out what they need more help with in order to become successful for themselves.
What else? Well um if anyone wants to send me a package for my birthday coming up soon, I would love that a lot. I’d like something fun, I honestly can’t think of anything right now. Or even a letter would be cool. Maybe some chocolate. Thatd be awesome cause the chocolate here sucks. Its not real chocolate. Yucky. So good chocolate would be awesome to have. And I’d also like a USB drive for backing up my very very important documents in case my computer becomes broken which is inevitable here.
Oh I’d really like guides or study aids for taking the GRE’s. Anything helpful?
OK, that’s all. I miss you all. I can’t believe federer lost, I’m a little shaken up by it and sad I missed that match, I heard it was awesome. Ok, well I miss you, um I’ll be back at site next week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
