After a little less than a week, it seems as though Guinea now has an established president, Moussa Dadis Camara, a military captain. In talking with Guineans that work for Peace Corps, they are very disappointed that this is the result. When the late president Lansana Conte became president 24 years ago, it was in the same manner; the old president died, he was a military captain, military coup d'etat leads to his presidency. Now, many Guineans see this coup leading to more of the same. The headlines of one of the BBC articles is "Guineans mark 50 years of poverty," and Guineans seem very pessimistic about Camara and doubtful that things will change. If you are interested, www.bbc.com has a lot of coverage and articles surrounding the coup; this event is a sad way to put Guinea on the map.
I traveled to Conakry on the 26th after spending Christmas with three other volunteers up-country. Even though we were all a little disappointed about not being in Conakry with the others, we enjoyed each others company around an Italian Christmas dinner. The travel on the 26th was long with several military checkpoints; this was not unusual pre-coup. I was a little nervous at the first one; when the man was looking at my ID, he saw the Peace Corps logo and exclaimed, "Corps de la Paix!" and with excitement asked my what village I was in, what I was teaching, etc. A very unexpected reaction from the military. I was relieved. We also had many reroutes due to the president's funeral procession; thousands came out for the procession that was more like a parade. I have yet to meet one person who thought Conte was a good president, yet everyone seemed to come out to pay their respects.
And now I'm in Paris with my family, after a few delays, including one while in the air; the pilot came on before we landed for a stopover in Dakar telling us we needed to circle in the air because the president of Senegal was landing. When we landed we could see a whole procession of military and finely dressed women waiting for his arrival (he was coming from the president of Guinea's funeral the day before.) I'm ready for all of the art and food Paris has to offer. I'll be watching the news of Guinea; hopefully all stays as calm as it was when I left.
12.28.2008
12.24.2008
The Death of a President
On Monday night, the President of Guinea died after 24 years of being president. He has been sick for a long time and it wasn't a surprise. The question is "what will happen now?" No one knows.
For now, I wanted to let you know that Peace Corps has all of us together, safe, and under their supervision. Things are calm; I know images on TV are military tanks in the streets. This may be true in parts of Conakry, but where I am it is almost life as ususal. Lots of places are closed. As far as my New Year's trip to Paris, I'm not sure if I'll get to take it. Everything is on a day-to-day basis. There is a lot of uncertainity about government, but no violence.
My hope for Guinea is a new leader will come to power that will help advance this struggling country. We will see in the days to come.
I have some other blogs for you - fun, Guinean-life blogs; if I get a chance to be online again soon, they'll be here for you!
Until then, Merry Christmas!
For now, I wanted to let you know that Peace Corps has all of us together, safe, and under their supervision. Things are calm; I know images on TV are military tanks in the streets. This may be true in parts of Conakry, but where I am it is almost life as ususal. Lots of places are closed. As far as my New Year's trip to Paris, I'm not sure if I'll get to take it. Everything is on a day-to-day basis. There is a lot of uncertainity about government, but no violence.
My hope for Guinea is a new leader will come to power that will help advance this struggling country. We will see in the days to come.
I have some other blogs for you - fun, Guinean-life blogs; if I get a chance to be online again soon, they'll be here for you!
Until then, Merry Christmas!
12.11.2008
La Fete et Le Fello (The Party and The Mountain)
During the second week of December is the Fete de Tabaski here in Guinea and in other Muslim countries. This is a celebration in honor of Abraham’s sacrifice of his first son. As the story goes, when Abraham thought he had sacrificed his son, he removed his blindfold and God had saved his son and instead, Abraham has sacrificed a ram. Today, Muslims celebrate this miracle by sacrificing a goat and sharing it with their family and friends. The weekend before the celebration was a busy one; people were cleaning their homes, sending kids to the markets, washing their finest clothes, and getting their hair done. The fete was typical of a December holiday celebration; it was all about family and food. Family members came in from all corners of the world for the fete. The man who built my house was there; he is a finance banker in Conakry. I met him Sunday morning; he was wearing his typical African garb with a pair of Chuck Taylors – when I saw those I knew we would get along just fine. He has traveled all over the world and was such a fun man to talk with. He was in the first class of students in my village back in 1960. There were 125 students that year in his class. Seven of them ended up going to University, and most of the seven were back in the village for the fete. They joked and laughed like old friends do.
I met all sorts of other interesting people. The first President of the Assembly of Guinea, Mr. Boubacar Biro Diallo, has a home in my village and he, along with his children, were there for the fete. His son is a surgeon in Paris. Mr. Diallo warmly welcomed me into the celebration. The village’s “patron,” or wealthy man who takes care of the village, was also in town. All of the professors of the school took a photo with him; he told me about a man who teaches Pular in Boston. My favorite person I met was the patron’s grandma. She was a weathered old woman who was so kind and spunky. When I responded to her questions in a way that she liked, she’d do a fun celebratory dance.
All of this started Monday morning with a prayer. Everyone, dressed up for the party, left their homes around 11am for prayer. There isn’t enough room at the Mosque for everyone so the prayer was outside in a field. After a half hour or so, the party began. Certain homes were the hosts and everyone wanders around the courtyards of the homes, eating, saying hello, catching up. This experience was much more enjoyable than the end of Ramadan fete that was the second day I was in the village; now I have the ladies to chat with, the old men who continue their running joke of taking me as their third or fourth wife, my students who say hello, and little kids who know me by name rather than staring like I am from another planet.
After the day of the partying, I wondered were the goats were. I didn’t see any sacrificing but did eat a lot of meat, so thought perhaps the sacrifices were done at the Mosque or somewhere else then men go but the ladies do not. I was wrong. The fete did not end Monday as was explained to me. After I arrived to an empty school Tuesday morning, I went home to find two goats tied to trees in my compound and the men giving them a bath to prepare them for the sacrifice. A large group of the old men of the village wandered from compound to compound sacrificing goats. I sat on my front porch all morning watching all of the “fete, day 2” activities go on. The women cooked all day while taking breaks to go and visit other women here and there. The men either worked on the goats or stood around giving orders to the young men learning how to properly skin the goats and divide the meat. Everyone drank tea, ate lots of Guinean treats, and enjoyed each other’s company. I liked fete day 2 just as much as the real fete. My village does not have a “night club” that consists of loud music and dancing until all hours but for the fete there were dances at the school from 10pm to 4am on Monday and Tuesday nights; I showed up to school Wednesday to five seventh graders. We did the homework they didn’t do over the fete and called it a day. When I would see my other students, later in the day after they had woken up, I’d ask them were they were. The reply, “Madame, the fete,” in a tone that was “come on, this is the most exciting three days of the year here. Really?”
A tradition for the teachers and students is to climb our mountain at the end of the day on the second day of the fete. I had been wanting to climb it and was excited about the tradition. From the top we could see all of the villages tucked into the mountains (and we had really good phone service!) The view was gorgeous. The kids packed picnics and hung out all day. It was a nice way to end the celebrating. The only regret I have was that I had left my camera in the city at Thanksgiving.
I met all sorts of other interesting people. The first President of the Assembly of Guinea, Mr. Boubacar Biro Diallo, has a home in my village and he, along with his children, were there for the fete. His son is a surgeon in Paris. Mr. Diallo warmly welcomed me into the celebration. The village’s “patron,” or wealthy man who takes care of the village, was also in town. All of the professors of the school took a photo with him; he told me about a man who teaches Pular in Boston. My favorite person I met was the patron’s grandma. She was a weathered old woman who was so kind and spunky. When I responded to her questions in a way that she liked, she’d do a fun celebratory dance.
All of this started Monday morning with a prayer. Everyone, dressed up for the party, left their homes around 11am for prayer. There isn’t enough room at the Mosque for everyone so the prayer was outside in a field. After a half hour or so, the party began. Certain homes were the hosts and everyone wanders around the courtyards of the homes, eating, saying hello, catching up. This experience was much more enjoyable than the end of Ramadan fete that was the second day I was in the village; now I have the ladies to chat with, the old men who continue their running joke of taking me as their third or fourth wife, my students who say hello, and little kids who know me by name rather than staring like I am from another planet.
After the day of the partying, I wondered were the goats were. I didn’t see any sacrificing but did eat a lot of meat, so thought perhaps the sacrifices were done at the Mosque or somewhere else then men go but the ladies do not. I was wrong. The fete did not end Monday as was explained to me. After I arrived to an empty school Tuesday morning, I went home to find two goats tied to trees in my compound and the men giving them a bath to prepare them for the sacrifice. A large group of the old men of the village wandered from compound to compound sacrificing goats. I sat on my front porch all morning watching all of the “fete, day 2” activities go on. The women cooked all day while taking breaks to go and visit other women here and there. The men either worked on the goats or stood around giving orders to the young men learning how to properly skin the goats and divide the meat. Everyone drank tea, ate lots of Guinean treats, and enjoyed each other’s company. I liked fete day 2 just as much as the real fete. My village does not have a “night club” that consists of loud music and dancing until all hours but for the fete there were dances at the school from 10pm to 4am on Monday and Tuesday nights; I showed up to school Wednesday to five seventh graders. We did the homework they didn’t do over the fete and called it a day. When I would see my other students, later in the day after they had woken up, I’d ask them were they were. The reply, “Madame, the fete,” in a tone that was “come on, this is the most exciting three days of the year here. Really?”
A tradition for the teachers and students is to climb our mountain at the end of the day on the second day of the fete. I had been wanting to climb it and was excited about the tradition. From the top we could see all of the villages tucked into the mountains (and we had really good phone service!) The view was gorgeous. The kids packed picnics and hung out all day. It was a nice way to end the celebrating. The only regret I have was that I had left my camera in the city at Thanksgiving.
11.28.2008
All I Want for Christmas...
Many people have emailed with the questions "What can I do?", "What can I send?" or "How can I help?" I greatly appreciate the generous offers and excitement about making a difference locally and globally. I am still in the middle of determining my goals for my two years here; they are forming and changing as I get to know my village and understand Guinea. One fact I know for sure: education is the key for change. Educating Guinean students is my primary objective but I hope you too are learning a little more about life in a developing nation by reading this blog.
Some possible answers to the questions are these: give you time somewhere in your community, especially this holiday season or, if it is your style, I have a place you can send a check. If you read some of the comments (actually, most of the comments) on this blog, they are from former students of mine. I was lucky enough to take them abroad on a service immersion trip to the Dominican Republic while I was a teacher for five years at Trinity Catholic High School in Boston, MA. By engaging in this learning experience, we were all forever changed. While there they do a variety of projects including construction of homes and distribution of food to villages of Haitian immigrants who receive no support otherwise. This educational experience is priceless. The students that go are making decisions of how to lead their lives beyond high school. It is such an incredible opportunity to educate and serve. A trip like this has the purpose of serving, of learning more about our fellow brothers and sisters in the world, and about what social justice really means. Trinity is a special place that promotes "faith, hope, and love" in all they do.
So this Christmas, save your postage to Guinea for someone else, for something else. I am all set (honestly!) and packages are expensive to send. Right now, at this point in my service, I don't know what I would do with money in terms of projects; I'm still trying to figure that out and after I do figure it out I'll be following Peace Corps procedure for attaining it. If you are looking for a good cause to give your charitable donation this Christmas, consider giving to the fundraising efforts for this year's Dominican Republic service learning trip at Trinity Catholic High School. This trip is one that is making a difference in the lives of the kids that go and the teachers that lead it; their energy and enthusiasm for service and love then get passed on to their communities. There is no donation too small. Send a check made out to "Trinity Catholic HS" and in the memo: DR Trip. Send to: "Trinity Catholic HS Attn: Dominican Republic Trip 575 Washington St. Newton MA 02458"
Send them your prayers and warm wishes. They need those too! If you want to read more, check it out at: http://www.trinitycatholic.com/html/studentlife.html. There is a slideshow of photos from my three trips on this blog under the photos of Guinea.
And you can continue to send me your prayers too :)
Enjoy the holiday season; the lights, the decor, the smell of trees, the music, the holiday cheer. And spread joy and love. We can all do that, and that always makes a difference.
Some possible answers to the questions are these: give you time somewhere in your community, especially this holiday season or, if it is your style, I have a place you can send a check. If you read some of the comments (actually, most of the comments) on this blog, they are from former students of mine. I was lucky enough to take them abroad on a service immersion trip to the Dominican Republic while I was a teacher for five years at Trinity Catholic High School in Boston, MA. By engaging in this learning experience, we were all forever changed. While there they do a variety of projects including construction of homes and distribution of food to villages of Haitian immigrants who receive no support otherwise. This educational experience is priceless. The students that go are making decisions of how to lead their lives beyond high school. It is such an incredible opportunity to educate and serve. A trip like this has the purpose of serving, of learning more about our fellow brothers and sisters in the world, and about what social justice really means. Trinity is a special place that promotes "faith, hope, and love" in all they do.
So this Christmas, save your postage to Guinea for someone else, for something else. I am all set (honestly!) and packages are expensive to send. Right now, at this point in my service, I don't know what I would do with money in terms of projects; I'm still trying to figure that out and after I do figure it out I'll be following Peace Corps procedure for attaining it. If you are looking for a good cause to give your charitable donation this Christmas, consider giving to the fundraising efforts for this year's Dominican Republic service learning trip at Trinity Catholic High School. This trip is one that is making a difference in the lives of the kids that go and the teachers that lead it; their energy and enthusiasm for service and love then get passed on to their communities. There is no donation too small. Send a check made out to "Trinity Catholic HS" and in the memo: DR Trip. Send to: "Trinity Catholic HS Attn: Dominican Republic Trip 575 Washington St. Newton MA 02458"
Send them your prayers and warm wishes. They need those too! If you want to read more, check it out at: http://www.trinitycatholic.com/html/studentlife.html. There is a slideshow of photos from my three trips on this blog under the photos of Guinea.
And you can continue to send me your prayers too :)
Enjoy the holiday season; the lights, the decor, the smell of trees, the music, the holiday cheer. And spread joy and love. We can all do that, and that always makes a difference.
11.27.2008
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hello from Guinea! Happy Thanksgiving! Today 20 other volunteers and I will be cooking a turkey dinner and enjoying each other's company here in the city. I have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving and feel very blessed.
For Thanksgiving, I have a short lesson for you. It is posted on YouTube and I believe it is now here as well - look to the left under "Thanksgiving Wish." We had enough battery for one take (sometimes you only get one opportunity to capture the moment...) and afterwords I realized I didn't even say "Happy Thanksgiving" in the video! So Happy Thanksgiving!
(PS - If the video on the left isn't working, go to www.YouTube.com and search "emilysamek" and it should come up!)
For Thanksgiving, I have a short lesson for you. It is posted on YouTube and I believe it is now here as well - look to the left under "Thanksgiving Wish." We had enough battery for one take (sometimes you only get one opportunity to capture the moment...) and afterwords I realized I didn't even say "Happy Thanksgiving" in the video! So Happy Thanksgiving!
(PS - If the video on the left isn't working, go to www.YouTube.com and search "emilysamek" and it should come up!)
November 25, 2008
November 25, 2008 – The First Report on School
School has now been in session for well over a month. I am really enjoying it so far. I am teaching seventh and ninth grade math and it looks like I’m going to be teaching English after Christmas. The school schedule is such that the students are in school from 8 until noon each day; one class is from 8 to 10 and the second is from 10 to noon. I teach Monday through Wednesday from 8 to noon. I have 30 ninth graders and most are between the ages of 15 and 18; my seventh graders are anywhere between 12 and 18 and right now I have 75 of them! 75 students in one room. We’re currently studying similar things as we do in the States – my ninth graders are solving equations after some revision of positive and negative numbers (“Keep Change Change” is now an international phenomenon – although I call it “Same Change Change” in French.) My seventh graders just finished comparing decimal numbers. I like how I get to do similar lessons and activities as I do at home, although I’m finding that it takes a long time to get them going in an activity since it is unheard of in other classes. They seem to really get a lot out of it and are having a good time…because after all, math is fun, right?
I spend the other days in classes of other teachers to understand Guinean school system and to help my French. Disciplining in French is tough so I’m trying to learn some new vocabulary for such occasions. The other teachers work hard and I look forward to exchanging ideas about teaching. The students take French, History, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, and Civics. All courses are during 1, two-hour period each week, except French and Math are for 3, two-hour periods each week. I sat in on a Physics class where the teacher spent 20 minutes drawing a diagram which took the kids then another 20 minutes to copy. That’s almost half of their Physics time for the week for one diagram. I see a lot of this.
What is really encouraging to me is that the students are eager to learn. Many of them come by my house for tutoring or stay after class for help. I gave them a bonus problem on their last exam and they wouldn’t leave school until they got it. (Draw a three-by-three grid, place the numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 such that each row, column, and diagonal adds up to 18. I know at least one of you were wondering.) That is the sort of stuff that makes my day and what I love about teaching. I am constantly reassessing my goals here since the more I learn, the more I realize what I can and cannot do. I have to have faith in the “make a difference to one student” because some of the other changes needed here are two big for two years. Small changes; get students thinking creatively and thinking deeply about math. Getting them to learn, really learn, not just memorize. This is what I’m working on now. I have a couple of projects for the summer that are starting to get in the works – mostly working with teachers – and I am excited about their prospects.
I will continue to share more about school in the days to come!
School has now been in session for well over a month. I am really enjoying it so far. I am teaching seventh and ninth grade math and it looks like I’m going to be teaching English after Christmas. The school schedule is such that the students are in school from 8 until noon each day; one class is from 8 to 10 and the second is from 10 to noon. I teach Monday through Wednesday from 8 to noon. I have 30 ninth graders and most are between the ages of 15 and 18; my seventh graders are anywhere between 12 and 18 and right now I have 75 of them! 75 students in one room. We’re currently studying similar things as we do in the States – my ninth graders are solving equations after some revision of positive and negative numbers (“Keep Change Change” is now an international phenomenon – although I call it “Same Change Change” in French.) My seventh graders just finished comparing decimal numbers. I like how I get to do similar lessons and activities as I do at home, although I’m finding that it takes a long time to get them going in an activity since it is unheard of in other classes. They seem to really get a lot out of it and are having a good time…because after all, math is fun, right?
I spend the other days in classes of other teachers to understand Guinean school system and to help my French. Disciplining in French is tough so I’m trying to learn some new vocabulary for such occasions. The other teachers work hard and I look forward to exchanging ideas about teaching. The students take French, History, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, and Civics. All courses are during 1, two-hour period each week, except French and Math are for 3, two-hour periods each week. I sat in on a Physics class where the teacher spent 20 minutes drawing a diagram which took the kids then another 20 minutes to copy. That’s almost half of their Physics time for the week for one diagram. I see a lot of this.
What is really encouraging to me is that the students are eager to learn. Many of them come by my house for tutoring or stay after class for help. I gave them a bonus problem on their last exam and they wouldn’t leave school until they got it. (Draw a three-by-three grid, place the numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 such that each row, column, and diagonal adds up to 18. I know at least one of you were wondering.) That is the sort of stuff that makes my day and what I love about teaching. I am constantly reassessing my goals here since the more I learn, the more I realize what I can and cannot do. I have to have faith in the “make a difference to one student” because some of the other changes needed here are two big for two years. Small changes; get students thinking creatively and thinking deeply about math. Getting them to learn, really learn, not just memorize. This is what I’m working on now. I have a couple of projects for the summer that are starting to get in the works – mostly working with teachers – and I am excited about their prospects.
I will continue to share more about school in the days to come!
November 5, 2008 - Post-Election Day in West Africa
November 5, 2008 – Post-Election Day in West Africa
My election coverage has been from the BBC, and they had painted a story that the world was watching – people from around the world were calling in with their opinions on the election, and why it mattered to them. With the media’s tendency to blow many things out of perspective, you may be wondering if the world was really watching. I believe they were.
Yesterday, Election Day, I biked to the market and had tea in the tea house with many Guinean men. All they talked about was McCain and Obama. If this small village in a country most people can place on a map were talking about this election, I’m confident the whole world was too. On Sunday, I was stuck in a city for the day trying to get home from Halloween and men a man from Sierra Leone who was anxious to talk politics with me as many have been with our presidential election approaching. The problem I have is that I can’t carry on a proper conversation with the language issue. I always ask “why” when they tell me they support Obama but I get lost in the response. English is the language in Sierra Leone so it was nice to be able to really hear what he was saying. He told me he supports the American election in general because it is proof that a democracy is working. The fact that Obama is running for president shows progress that Guinea can learn from. (In 50 years of independence, Guinea has had only 2 presidents. Some might call them dictators. The next election keeps getting pushed back – the date currently is unknown.)
Hearing the world news each night makes me hope that this is true; we have set an example of a true democratic election where the winner was chosen by the people, and just as important, the loser conceded gracefully. The election happened as it always does, on the first Tuesday of November, no civil wars broke out, and I thought McCain’s speech was excellent. All of this I take for granted and today I realize even more so what freedom really is.
After listening for the past 24 hours (okay – I might have dozed off here and there) and walking into my ninth grade class this morning and being greeted with excited cheers of “Obama!” I am proud to be an American. Listening to Obama’s speech talking of HOPE and CHANGE as the elements that weave his ideas together, I’m willing to believe in what the future of America and the world will hold. I just listened to a really beautiful interview with Maya Angelou. She talked about that somewhere in all of us is a desire to belong to a great country and today I really feel I do.
My election coverage has been from the BBC, and they had painted a story that the world was watching – people from around the world were calling in with their opinions on the election, and why it mattered to them. With the media’s tendency to blow many things out of perspective, you may be wondering if the world was really watching. I believe they were.
Yesterday, Election Day, I biked to the market and had tea in the tea house with many Guinean men. All they talked about was McCain and Obama. If this small village in a country most people can place on a map were talking about this election, I’m confident the whole world was too. On Sunday, I was stuck in a city for the day trying to get home from Halloween and men a man from Sierra Leone who was anxious to talk politics with me as many have been with our presidential election approaching. The problem I have is that I can’t carry on a proper conversation with the language issue. I always ask “why” when they tell me they support Obama but I get lost in the response. English is the language in Sierra Leone so it was nice to be able to really hear what he was saying. He told me he supports the American election in general because it is proof that a democracy is working. The fact that Obama is running for president shows progress that Guinea can learn from. (In 50 years of independence, Guinea has had only 2 presidents. Some might call them dictators. The next election keeps getting pushed back – the date currently is unknown.)
Hearing the world news each night makes me hope that this is true; we have set an example of a true democratic election where the winner was chosen by the people, and just as important, the loser conceded gracefully. The election happened as it always does, on the first Tuesday of November, no civil wars broke out, and I thought McCain’s speech was excellent. All of this I take for granted and today I realize even more so what freedom really is.
After listening for the past 24 hours (okay – I might have dozed off here and there) and walking into my ninth grade class this morning and being greeted with excited cheers of “Obama!” I am proud to be an American. Listening to Obama’s speech talking of HOPE and CHANGE as the elements that weave his ideas together, I’m willing to believe in what the future of America and the world will hold. I just listened to a really beautiful interview with Maya Angelou. She talked about that somewhere in all of us is a desire to belong to a great country and today I really feel I do.
11.01.2008
sorry...
it looks like the video is going to have to wait :(
we just got cut off for a while and it has taken well over an hour to download just a small part. next time i'm online i'll get it on here!
we just got cut off for a while and it has taken well over an hour to download just a small part. next time i'm online i'll get it on here!
Back in the City!
Hello from
So FRIDAY morning, I again work up early with high hopes to get to
Cleveland/Boston was the first thing I checked when I got online; obviously I was disappointed but I am still hopeful for a good season! I have a new blog entry in mind for the future called “Why Being a Cleveland Sports Fan Makes Me a Perfect Fit for Peace Corps Guinea.” It will be combined with “Why Being a Rower (especially from John Carroll) Helps Me Survive Peace Corps
For today, I have a short video tour of my house. I don’t know if the sound is working because I don’t have my headphones here at the café…so hopefully it is working! Excuse the French/Pular/English combo.
Next time I’ll be online will be Thanksgiving – maybe one time before that. We'll have a new president next time I'm online! The election is a very hot topic here. Everyone knows about both candidates and are excited for results! Keep me posted on what’s happening in your world!
october 28, 2008
Today marks the last day of my first month at site. Since school just started this week, I’ve had lots of time to study, clean, bike, and ponder all of life’s big questions, like “what does nutella always taste better in a foreign country?” Since school has only been in session for a few days, I’ll share more about village life. (By Thanksgiving, I should have lots of school stories!)
Village life is comparable to USWeekly’s section of photos of celebrities doing ordinary day-to-day things called “Just Like Us!” Everything I do, everywhere I go, I’m being watched by everyone around me: “She buys tomatoes at the market, just like us!” “She gets water from the well, just like us!” “She chases the cow that stole her pants from the laundry line, just like us!” “She speaks pular, just like us!” (Okay, that is a huge stretch. Pular is the local language that I’m trying to learn. I can greet people and say a few other essential phrases. When I greet people for the first time, it often results in an uproar of shock and laughter – “The porto speaks Pular!!!?!”
For the first 2.5 weeks, I paid Halimatou for a dish of whatever she was cooking because there was a gas crisis in the capital and we couldn’t purchase propane tanks for our camping stoves. With limited resources, the rice and sauce dishes leave much to be desired here in my village. And I’m not in a village with a rice bar (that’s Guinea’s version of a restaurant) or gateau ladies (the ladies on the side of the road with friend treats – most of the time it is fried dough/cake, but sometimes they have my favorite – fried sweet potatoes) so I learned to embrace village rice and sauce. When Peace Corps brought the gas tank on the monthly mail run, it was warmly welcomed. I didn’t see a gas tank in his hands, to me it was a giant coffee pot. Each day has an “Iron Chef” twist to it when I cook lunch and dinner. “Today I have 2 eggplants, 2 potatoes, and a pimant. With lentils? With pasta? Which spices?” I have come up with a few good dishes so far. My favorite dish was one I made this weekend – I was feeling a little homesick for Boston in the fall (it is Head of the Charles weekend – at least I think it is) and I had a nice piece of squash from a neighbor, so I did a curry squash soup that was just lovely. I’m also grateful to my mom for bringing us up to a appreciate a simple pasta dish with tomatoes, garlic, and olive oil. I feel as long as I have there three ingredients, I’ll never go hungry, and it always tastes like home.
Village life is all about the bike. My first adventure a couple of weeks ago redefined “mountain biking” for me. To my friends back home that enjoy this as a hobby, you are way more badass than I ever knew. The bike ride to Andrew’s, another PCV, site that I thought was going to take 4 hours ended up taking 7 hours. Yes, that is one way. The purpose was to go hiking; I was so sore the next day that the hike was redeemed by the amazing waterfall and the company of 5 other volunteers. Other bike trips I’ve taken include trips to other villages for their market days – not nearly as long as the bike to Buliwell (Andrew’s site.) I hope there aren’t any trips that long anytime soon.
One of my favorite later-afternoon activities here is putting up my hammock on my front porch and reading until the sun goes down. Sounds more peaceful that it really is some days – all the neighbor kids seem to stop by at least three times although they are beginning to get the hint that when the porto is in the hammock, she doesn’t want to color. My recommendation from the mountain is “What is the What” by David Eggers. This story from
It is Sunday morning and it looks like it is going to be another beautiful day. The rainy season is over and the days are hot but not humid, the evenings are cool enough to want a blanket to sleep. My house is breezy and comfortable. I’m eating a fresh guava with breakfast. Being a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Fouta definitely has its perks. Today I’m working on lesson plans before I climb my phone-service hill to make Sunday calls to the States. Right now it is
October 10, 2008
It’s Friday night here in the Fouta – my second Friday in my new home. Village life is quite different from my first 3 months here – for instance, I’m handwriting this entry by headlamp light because there isn’t electricity in the village. To make a phone call, I walk 20 minutes up a hill to (fingers crossed) get reception. The first day I had my new phone number that matches the available service on the hill, I was so anxious to get up there and dial a number. I marched up that hill, got to the spot where others had service, waited – and nothing. No service that day. I was so frustrated and annoyed that at no point did I look out at the view of my village from the top of the hill – it is really quite gorgeous. My compound is tucked away in a hill, I can pick out the school because of the big Peace Corps map, there are green pastured with cows grazing, all sorts of trees, conical roofs of the cooking huts, corn fields, and ladies in brightly colored fabrics working the peanut fields (it is the end of peanut season – I have more peanuts than I know what to do with!) In the distance, I can see other villages. All of this tucked into the mountains of the Fouta. Gorgeous.
The villages here are very very small. For me, I feel like I see more animals that people when I walk to the water pump or phone hill. It has to do with how remote it is here – I’m really out there! I’ve been here 2 weeks and I’ve seen one car. One. And I only saw it because my neighbor, Halimatou, woke me up at
My house is an amazing space. I had no idea what I was going to walk into – but it is open, bright, and a blank canvas for my market searches. It is a very comfortable place, so comfortable that the front room is a favorite with the neighborhood kids. For a couple of hours each day they stop by and draw or practice writing their letters while I study or clean (no one has lived here in two years – lots of cleaning needed to be done!)
School starts Wednesday, “si Allah jabi.” (Si Allah jabi is “God willing” – when you say “see you tomorrow” or “talk to you later,” it is always followed by “si Allah jabi” – if Allah wills it, it will happen!) I’m very very ready for it to start. The two weeks here have been very productive in terms of settling in. My “kitchen” is clean and organized, boxes are unpacked, and I spent a whole day scrubbing the “bathroom” down – but I am ready for students and mathematics. There is a rumor that it might not start until the 20th. I am hoping it is just a rumor; however the fact that not a single other teacher is here in the village and the school looks abandoned makes me thing it might not be a rumor.
Other happenings of the two weeks of living in the village – Ramadan ended and my host family took me along to the end of Ramadan fete. There was lots of food and everyone was dressed in their finest things. I’ve learned where to fetch drinking water and where the well for other water is. My neighbor led me to a nearby village that bakes bread; it is a magical little house you can find with your nose – a man bakes the bread in a wood burning oven. The bread is still warm even after a 20 minute walk home. This week I had a neighbor kid help me draw a family tree of the family in the compound. That day I had sat most of the day with Halimatou and Hadiatou, two of the women of my compound. I thought Hadiatou was Halimatou’s mother-in-law, but as we sat there that day making the Kaba (a corn dish) it was revealed that there are 18 children in the family. The women tried explaining but I nodded politely not really knowing what was being explained. Turns out, my landlord has three wives. Hadiatou is the first wife, Halimatou is the second (she has taken me under her wing) and Ejiatou is the third. One of the wives passed a way. Among the four wives, there are 18 children. All three wives work very hard in the peanut fields and in their homes. The first wife is older and none of her six children live in the compound. There are 9 kids from the wives and then a handful of other kids that are in another house.
Without cars or trains, sirens or people out and about on a Friday night, Friday night here is quite, very quiet. For me, still too quite, so I’ve turned into a BBC addict. The past two weeks have been focused on the financial crisis of the world, and I wonder how will it will affect a place like
october 2, 2008
9.27.2008
Swearing In and Photos
Tonight I'm writing from the capital; we've been here for three days now. We said farewell to our families (sad!) and have spent a couple of days trying to purchase things for our homes. I move in on MONDAY! I officially passed my French exam (wahoo!) and have been sworn in as an offical Peace Corps Volunteer. We had the ceremony on Friday at the US Embassy. It was a lovely ceremony of speeches and oaths. Dan, our country director, and his wife Julia had a bbq for us at their home. It was a great day to celebrate and kick back before the moving begins.
Since I haven't written much, I'll leave you with another new slideshow - under the "Making Rice and Sauce" is the "First Photos of Guinea" slideshow. Most of my host family, some of practice school (and you don't have to tilt your head this time.)
Enjoy! The next time I'll be online will be in October. I'll have lots of stories of village life and the first days of school.
Since I haven't written much, I'll leave you with another new slideshow - under the "Making Rice and Sauce" is the "First Photos of Guinea" slideshow. Most of my host family, some of practice school (and you don't have to tilt your head this time.)
Enjoy! The next time I'll be online will be in October. I'll have lots of stories of village life and the first days of school.
september 20th, 2008
September 20th, 2008
From the Market to the Table
(For a visual tour of this blog entry, check out the "Making Rice and Sauce" slideshow on the side panel of the blog - somewhere under my photo)
As a "thank you" gesture to our families, tonight Jesse (my fellow trainee who lives next door, a Amherst MA native) and I made a Guinean meal. I wanted to learn to make the soup sauce since it is my favorite of the sauces; Jesse went for the peanut sauce. We agreed on buying chickens since chickens are a treat. (Note: buying chickens means buying a live chicken, not a neat package in the back of the store!) We also wanted to have an American flavor as part of the meal; since it is Ramadan, it needed to be something easy on the system. We decided on garlic mashed potatoes. Guineans love potatoes, but I have yet to see them mashed.
It began yesterday when we got back from our conference; we went to the market after carefully constructing lists with our respective families. My list consisted of:
3 tomatoes
2 small eggplants
1 bulb of garlic
4 pimant (small peppers with a real big kick)
4 small onions
black peppercorns
2 potatoes
2 mantioch
squash pieces (if available - it was)
cabbage (if available - it wasn't)
1 small can tomato paste
2 maggi cubes (seasoning cube....probabably a lot of MSG - I've eaten so much of this - it can't be good at all!)
1 large sache of vegetable oil
3 kilo of rice
4 bags of charbon for cooking
The market trip was very fun - our first stop was just outside the big market at a stand with several items from the list. The two working were mother and son although she looked young enough to be his sister. They were sweet and even posed for a photo. We went on to find the other vegetables - everytime I asked if I could take a photo, everyone happily agreed. Then kids wanted in on the action. It was fun to have a true market experience and understand prices and the women of the market enjoyed when we could greet them in the local language. We even made it to the peanut butter gridning man - Jesse bought shelled peanuts and took them to him to have the peanut butter made.
The first step in the cooking process was the chicken. Jesse and our two 12 year-old host brothers, Dauda and Yaya, went to buy them while I went to church. As soon as I got back, Dauda and Yaya lit up like two twelve year-olds would who were about to be allowed to kill something. I didn't want to extinguish their excitement by telling them I wanted to kill the chicken, so I let them do the killing. (Yeah right. I was not looking forward to that part at all. I'm fine with the rest...but have no desire kill the chicken.) Dauda and Yaya proudly presented us with the three chickens. Jesse's host mom assisted us with lighting the charbon to boil a large pot of water to help with defeathering the chicken. Once the pot was boiling, we took it off of the fire and then put the chickens in, let them sit for a while, and then plucked all of the feathers off, Dauda's looked perfect and he did it in half the time as I did, but I did it all. The water helps make defeathering easier.
The next step was to help with all of the fine hairs or missed small feathers. We took the chickens, wrapped them in paper, and then put them on the charbon. The paper burned off as well as the leftover plumage. At this point the outside of the chicken was slightly brown. Aisitou helped us with cutting up the chickens properly. All of the parts we would typically use (wings, legs, breasts) were used along with heart, liver, neck, and stomach. I learned how to peel out the stomach lining; the lining had all of whatever the chicken at that day inside.
We cleaned up all the pieces with soap and water and then Jesse and I parted to our families' cooking areas. Time to prepare the sauce.
First, I put the black pepper in the pile, followed by the garlic until it was completely mashed. I coated the chicken with this and then placed in the pot which had hot oil at the bottom to brown the chicken. Once the chicken was browned, I removed the chicken and threw in the eggplant (dpeeled and diced), tomatoes (chopped) and onions. once these were going, i added the tomato paste with water, pimant (piled), maggi cubes, and a little more oil. Then i added the chicken back in and let it simmer for about two hours before adding in the peeled potatoes, mantioch, and squash. this then simmered for another hour or so - sometimes adding water. The passing of time is a funny thing here. There is no setting of timers, just observation of the sun.
While the delicious pot was simmering, I cleaned and prepared the rice and then made the mashed potatoes. At the end of the night was the Ramadan prayers and then the families dove into the meal (you'll notice in the photo the men sitting on one side, the women are on another.) They really enjoyed all parts. I tried Jesse's sauce and it was delicious!
I appreciate the time and energy that goes into cooking here in Guinea. The process of preparing the chicken, cooking, and then doing all the dishes went from noon until 7:00. I was exhausted by the end! And felt disgusting after sitting by that fire under the hot African blaze, handling chickens, chopping veggies in my lap (no cutting boards.) Any kitchen (by kitchen I mean outdoor cooking area) you walk by has all of the ladies sitting, working hard by the fires - and the men are always sitting around. No wonder the women look so weathered and the men look so young.
I hope to post some of the other delicious treats I've had as I try to prepare them at site!
From the Market to the Table
(For a visual tour of this blog entry, check out the "Making Rice and Sauce" slideshow on the side panel of the blog - somewhere under my photo)
As a "thank you" gesture to our families, tonight Jesse (my fellow trainee who lives next door, a Amherst MA native) and I made a Guinean meal. I wanted to learn to make the soup sauce since it is my favorite of the sauces; Jesse went for the peanut sauce. We agreed on buying chickens since chickens are a treat. (Note: buying chickens means buying a live chicken, not a neat package in the back of the store!) We also wanted to have an American flavor as part of the meal; since it is Ramadan, it needed to be something easy on the system. We decided on garlic mashed potatoes. Guineans love potatoes, but I have yet to see them mashed.
It began yesterday when we got back from our conference; we went to the market after carefully constructing lists with our respective families. My list consisted of:
3 tomatoes
2 small eggplants
1 bulb of garlic
4 pimant (small peppers with a real big kick)
4 small onions
black peppercorns
2 potatoes
2 mantioch
squash pieces (if available - it was)
cabbage (if available - it wasn't)
1 small can tomato paste
2 maggi cubes (seasoning cube....probabably a lot of MSG - I've eaten so much of this - it can't be good at all!)
1 large sache of vegetable oil
3 kilo of rice
4 bags of charbon for cooking
The market trip was very fun - our first stop was just outside the big market at a stand with several items from the list. The two working were mother and son although she looked young enough to be his sister. They were sweet and even posed for a photo. We went on to find the other vegetables - everytime I asked if I could take a photo, everyone happily agreed. Then kids wanted in on the action. It was fun to have a true market experience and understand prices and the women of the market enjoyed when we could greet them in the local language. We even made it to the peanut butter gridning man - Jesse bought shelled peanuts and took them to him to have the peanut butter made.
The first step in the cooking process was the chicken. Jesse and our two 12 year-old host brothers, Dauda and Yaya, went to buy them while I went to church. As soon as I got back, Dauda and Yaya lit up like two twelve year-olds would who were about to be allowed to kill something. I didn't want to extinguish their excitement by telling them I wanted to kill the chicken, so I let them do the killing. (Yeah right. I was not looking forward to that part at all. I'm fine with the rest...but have no desire kill the chicken.) Dauda and Yaya proudly presented us with the three chickens. Jesse's host mom assisted us with lighting the charbon to boil a large pot of water to help with defeathering the chicken. Once the pot was boiling, we took it off of the fire and then put the chickens in, let them sit for a while, and then plucked all of the feathers off, Dauda's looked perfect and he did it in half the time as I did, but I did it all. The water helps make defeathering easier.
The next step was to help with all of the fine hairs or missed small feathers. We took the chickens, wrapped them in paper, and then put them on the charbon. The paper burned off as well as the leftover plumage. At this point the outside of the chicken was slightly brown. Aisitou helped us with cutting up the chickens properly. All of the parts we would typically use (wings, legs, breasts) were used along with heart, liver, neck, and stomach. I learned how to peel out the stomach lining; the lining had all of whatever the chicken at that day inside.
We cleaned up all the pieces with soap and water and then Jesse and I parted to our families' cooking areas. Time to prepare the sauce.
First, I put the black pepper in the pile, followed by the garlic until it was completely mashed. I coated the chicken with this and then placed in the pot which had hot oil at the bottom to brown the chicken. Once the chicken was browned, I removed the chicken and threw in the eggplant (dpeeled and diced), tomatoes (chopped) and onions. once these were going, i added the tomato paste with water, pimant (piled), maggi cubes, and a little more oil. Then i added the chicken back in and let it simmer for about two hours before adding in the peeled potatoes, mantioch, and squash. this then simmered for another hour or so - sometimes adding water. The passing of time is a funny thing here. There is no setting of timers, just observation of the sun.
While the delicious pot was simmering, I cleaned and prepared the rice and then made the mashed potatoes. At the end of the night was the Ramadan prayers and then the families dove into the meal (you'll notice in the photo the men sitting on one side, the women are on another.) They really enjoyed all parts. I tried Jesse's sauce and it was delicious!
I appreciate the time and energy that goes into cooking here in Guinea. The process of preparing the chicken, cooking, and then doing all the dishes went from noon until 7:00. I was exhausted by the end! And felt disgusting after sitting by that fire under the hot African blaze, handling chickens, chopping veggies in my lap (no cutting boards.) Any kitchen (by kitchen I mean outdoor cooking area) you walk by has all of the ladies sitting, working hard by the fires - and the men are always sitting around. No wonder the women look so weathered and the men look so young.
I hope to post some of the other delicious treats I've had as I try to prepare them at site!
9.18.2008
last week of training!
I'm currently at the training site for my last week of training! I met my principal today and learned more about my school - 136 students in the school - 28 are girls. For now, I have one post for you about the past three weeks. Next week is our swearing in at the captial so I'll have lots of access to post photos. Until then - congrats to the TC Volleyball team on the great beginning to the season!
Monday, September 15, 2008
It has been an eventful three weeks here in Forecariah. For Muslims, the month of Ramadan began. For the Peace Corps trainees, "Practice School" has come and gone. Both helped me to better understand life in Guinea. I feel like I'm finally moving past the inital shocks of food and climate; the fact that I haven't taken a hot shower in over a month hasn't been a thought until now as I'm reading old entries. Now, after two months of life here, some of the realities of Guinean culture and situations are starting to reveal themselves.
RAMADAN
Ramadan is a one-month fast for Muslims that began on Tuesday, September 2nd. Everyone of age (around 14 or older) wakes up before the sun to start their prayers and eat a meal, and then they do not eat again until around 7:15 when the sun goes down. With Ramadan, I've gotten to try some new foods that Guineans cook especially for the Ramadan nightly meal. The first thing they eat when breaking their fast is "buie" - a rice or corn based soup that has lemon and sugar. It is a very mild soup to start things off after a day of not eating. There is also "toah" - a mantioch ball of dough that is accompanied by a very spicy sauce. The meal began the first few nights with dates, which I understand is very typical of Ramadan tradition, however I haven't seen the dates around lately.
During a typical, non-Ramadan evening, my father and mother do the evening prayers together in the living room, however during Ramadan, all of the members of my family of age as well as our family next door pray together outside. Then as a big group they eat dinner together outside. The men sit in one circle, the women in the other. Some families are visting family in Forecariah right now just for Ramadan - they say that fasting in a big group is easier than fasting as a small family in their homes. During the fast, life shuts down in terms of business. Familes are together preparing the meal that they will eat all night long and doing their prayers 5 times a day. One Saturday night when we were without electricity, several of us trainees were at the Peace Corps house and in the through our conversation we could hear the chanting of a group gathered near the house. We sat and listened for a while at the song-like prayers being repeated; it had such a calming meditative effect.
The reason for Ramadan is a that it is a time for Muslims to pray for and consider those who have less then they do. It is a time of piety, altruism, moderation, and sharing. I wonder where in the world are the Muslims with less than the Muslims here; who are the Guineans that I am with praying for? How are they to share when they have so little themselves? How are they to be more modest when they never are excessive?
PRACTICE SCHOOL
For the past three weeks, our training moved to the high school of Forecariah. Students on vacation came everyday from 8 to noon for two two-hour sessions in math, physics, chemistry, or English. Peace Corps tried to simulate the school situation as best they could; from taking attendence the Guinean way to making us discipline kids (the number one issue: cell phones!) Over the three weeks I taught 20 lessons (all in French!) and had over 30 observations done in my room. 30 different pieces of feedback on my French or my teaching! Most days, I had two Guineans - on making a list of everything I said wrong and the proper way of saying it, and the other checking in on my teaching. We would also observe each other's classes to help each other out.
For me, Practice School was really enjoyable and necessary for me to see the light at the end of the tunnel of training. Training had difficult because it is has all been centered on learning a new language for me - and over a month of being in a new environment trying to learn was tough at times. But practice school was something I knew. There was something strangely comforting about waking up extra early, getting to school before everyone else, opening up my classroom, and waiting outside my door for students to arrive. Granted, as they entered, the conversations I could carry on with them were limited, but a warm tone and good intentions got me far enough. Once I started teaching, I had every word I was going to say scripted out, including possible questions students might have and how to respond. Needless to say, preparing for a two-hour session took a long time every night! My classroom French is coming along nicely; the conversational French has much to be desired.
I'll have two years to share thoughts on Guinean educational system; my head is spinning with thoughts on how to make the most of these two years. I should clarify that the goal of Peace Corps (and a good one in my opinion) is not to just fill a job for two years - the goal is to promote sustainability in some way. In other words, I'm not here just to teach math for two years - I need to be working towards how to leave something behind that will live on after I leave. Ultimately, Peace Corps would like to put itself out of business because they've worked with people to help people help themselves (teach a man to fish...) After three weeks of Practice School, I have several ideas of how I can contribute to Guinean education. There is a lot to work with. I feel like education is an afterthought to several other priorities of this country. I'm saying this because of where the students were in terms of what they knew in terms of mathematics. The level is very very low. I've only been there for a short time, so I can't possibly understand all of the reasons behind the lacking education systme here. So I'll being with:
There are no books. Just for a minute, imagine going to school for 13 years without books. As a teacher, I write every definition, etc. on the board and students feverishly write everything down. There is no "note taking" process of delievering a lesson and students deciding what is important to write - as a teaher I'm supposed to put the textbook on the board as students write. The students take SO much pride in their notebooks. Their handwriting is incredibly neat - they underline the word "RULE," "DEFINITION," "PROPERTY," etc. with their red pen and ALWAYS with a ruler. The whole only-underline-with-a-ruler deal slows up the process - because there only seems to be two or three rulers among the class, so they keep passing the ruler back and forth. The same for the compasses and protractors. I taught a lesson on circles and constructions with a compass - but only three or 4 kids had them. My usual "if you don't have a ruler, use your buspass/driver's license/library card" line doesn't quite work here. No books. (And by the way - that defintely means no Wikipedia.) Imagine trying to learn biology without all of the pictures and diagrams in the book. Or physics and chemistry without all of the examples to refer to when you are confused. History with no maps at your disposal. A language without all of the readings and excercises.
I had to administer my tests by one of two methods: write the test on flipchart paper the night before and then tape it up to the board or the Guinean method of having all of the students leave the room, write the test on the board, and then have them come in and take the test. They write the test on a piece of paper. There are no handouts, no colored paper, definitely no powerpoints or graphing calculators. At the end of a class, when I want to give homework problems, it is done the same way - I write the problems on the board and students copy them into their notebooks. It is just so incredibly different. I don't thing all of the bells and whistles of technology are what Guinea needs - those are incredible tools for learning and teaching. But they do need books. I am sure of that.
Is it baffling to anyone out there that it is possible that there are education systms like this in the year 2008? Schools without books?
Today, one of our sessions was broken into men's and women's sessions; the women had two local women (one was 62, the other was in her 30s or early 40s) come to discuss what it is like being a woman in Guinea. No matter what topic we were discussing (from birth control and AIDS to Ramadan or politics) everything came back to education. "What's the biggest problem in Guinea" leads back to education. "What do you hope for your daughters" is answered with "university." If the education sytem here in Guinea is struggling, the sytem for girls here is really staggering. This was very apparent even in Practice School - where were all of the girls? For every 6 boys there was a girl. They were at home cooking and helping with the house and siblings. They are on vacation, so three weeks of free education by the Americans in town wasn't a consideration when there were chores to do and meals to prepare. One point of hope for the girls is that more of their mothers went to school now than ever before, so the mothers are starting to consider that math is important. Math may get them to university. So after the chores, girls should do their math. It is a step in the right direction.
For anyone to go to university here, they must pass a test at the end of "terminal" - or "13th" grade. Middle school, or college, is 7th - 10th grade (that's the level I'm teaching.) To go to high school, or lycee (11th, 12th, and terminal grades), they must pass a test at the end of 10th grade called the BREVE. Then to go to university, they must pass a test called the BACH at the end of terminal. The word on the street is that this year 13% of students passed the BACH and are eligable to go to university. Even then, the universities here are not nearly the caliber of university in the states or even the caliber of those in other parts of West Africa. I know it is a big generalization to make, but I'm starting to see a correlation between the education system and the general state of the country. It also makes me think of our own contry and the state of education in many of the big cities. How can Guinea turn their head from education, the world turn its eyes from Guinea, America turn its priorites from urban education?
I'm digressing from where I started.
Two years - I'm obseessed with what my goals should be and how I should run my classroom. What values do I want to leave behind with the students I teach? what do I think I can contribute from my Elyria Catholic/John Carroll/Boston College/Harvard education to teachers here, looking to me as the American for answers on how to improve their schools and classrooms? How can I get more girls to come to school when we're no longer in practice school? How do I begin to convince parents that education is important to their children? I am anxious and excited to get started.
Monday, September 15, 2008
It has been an eventful three weeks here in Forecariah. For Muslims, the month of Ramadan began. For the Peace Corps trainees, "Practice School" has come and gone. Both helped me to better understand life in Guinea. I feel like I'm finally moving past the inital shocks of food and climate; the fact that I haven't taken a hot shower in over a month hasn't been a thought until now as I'm reading old entries. Now, after two months of life here, some of the realities of Guinean culture and situations are starting to reveal themselves.
RAMADAN
Ramadan is a one-month fast for Muslims that began on Tuesday, September 2nd. Everyone of age (around 14 or older) wakes up before the sun to start their prayers and eat a meal, and then they do not eat again until around 7:15 when the sun goes down. With Ramadan, I've gotten to try some new foods that Guineans cook especially for the Ramadan nightly meal. The first thing they eat when breaking their fast is "buie" - a rice or corn based soup that has lemon and sugar. It is a very mild soup to start things off after a day of not eating. There is also "toah" - a mantioch ball of dough that is accompanied by a very spicy sauce. The meal began the first few nights with dates, which I understand is very typical of Ramadan tradition, however I haven't seen the dates around lately.
During a typical, non-Ramadan evening, my father and mother do the evening prayers together in the living room, however during Ramadan, all of the members of my family of age as well as our family next door pray together outside. Then as a big group they eat dinner together outside. The men sit in one circle, the women in the other. Some families are visting family in Forecariah right now just for Ramadan - they say that fasting in a big group is easier than fasting as a small family in their homes. During the fast, life shuts down in terms of business. Familes are together preparing the meal that they will eat all night long and doing their prayers 5 times a day. One Saturday night when we were without electricity, several of us trainees were at the Peace Corps house and in the through our conversation we could hear the chanting of a group gathered near the house. We sat and listened for a while at the song-like prayers being repeated; it had such a calming meditative effect.
The reason for Ramadan is a that it is a time for Muslims to pray for and consider those who have less then they do. It is a time of piety, altruism, moderation, and sharing. I wonder where in the world are the Muslims with less than the Muslims here; who are the Guineans that I am with praying for? How are they to share when they have so little themselves? How are they to be more modest when they never are excessive?
PRACTICE SCHOOL
For the past three weeks, our training moved to the high school of Forecariah. Students on vacation came everyday from 8 to noon for two two-hour sessions in math, physics, chemistry, or English. Peace Corps tried to simulate the school situation as best they could; from taking attendence the Guinean way to making us discipline kids (the number one issue: cell phones!) Over the three weeks I taught 20 lessons (all in French!) and had over 30 observations done in my room. 30 different pieces of feedback on my French or my teaching! Most days, I had two Guineans - on making a list of everything I said wrong and the proper way of saying it, and the other checking in on my teaching. We would also observe each other's classes to help each other out.
For me, Practice School was really enjoyable and necessary for me to see the light at the end of the tunnel of training. Training had difficult because it is has all been centered on learning a new language for me - and over a month of being in a new environment trying to learn was tough at times. But practice school was something I knew. There was something strangely comforting about waking up extra early, getting to school before everyone else, opening up my classroom, and waiting outside my door for students to arrive. Granted, as they entered, the conversations I could carry on with them were limited, but a warm tone and good intentions got me far enough. Once I started teaching, I had every word I was going to say scripted out, including possible questions students might have and how to respond. Needless to say, preparing for a two-hour session took a long time every night! My classroom French is coming along nicely; the conversational French has much to be desired.
I'll have two years to share thoughts on Guinean educational system; my head is spinning with thoughts on how to make the most of these two years. I should clarify that the goal of Peace Corps (and a good one in my opinion) is not to just fill a job for two years - the goal is to promote sustainability in some way. In other words, I'm not here just to teach math for two years - I need to be working towards how to leave something behind that will live on after I leave. Ultimately, Peace Corps would like to put itself out of business because they've worked with people to help people help themselves (teach a man to fish...) After three weeks of Practice School, I have several ideas of how I can contribute to Guinean education. There is a lot to work with. I feel like education is an afterthought to several other priorities of this country. I'm saying this because of where the students were in terms of what they knew in terms of mathematics. The level is very very low. I've only been there for a short time, so I can't possibly understand all of the reasons behind the lacking education systme here. So I'll being with:
There are no books. Just for a minute, imagine going to school for 13 years without books. As a teacher, I write every definition, etc. on the board and students feverishly write everything down. There is no "note taking" process of delievering a lesson and students deciding what is important to write - as a teaher I'm supposed to put the textbook on the board as students write. The students take SO much pride in their notebooks. Their handwriting is incredibly neat - they underline the word "RULE," "DEFINITION," "PROPERTY," etc. with their red pen and ALWAYS with a ruler. The whole only-underline-with-a-ruler deal slows up the process - because there only seems to be two or three rulers among the class, so they keep passing the ruler back and forth. The same for the compasses and protractors. I taught a lesson on circles and constructions with a compass - but only three or 4 kids had them. My usual "if you don't have a ruler, use your buspass/driver's license/library card" line doesn't quite work here. No books. (And by the way - that defintely means no Wikipedia.) Imagine trying to learn biology without all of the pictures and diagrams in the book. Or physics and chemistry without all of the examples to refer to when you are confused. History with no maps at your disposal. A language without all of the readings and excercises.
I had to administer my tests by one of two methods: write the test on flipchart paper the night before and then tape it up to the board or the Guinean method of having all of the students leave the room, write the test on the board, and then have them come in and take the test. They write the test on a piece of paper. There are no handouts, no colored paper, definitely no powerpoints or graphing calculators. At the end of a class, when I want to give homework problems, it is done the same way - I write the problems on the board and students copy them into their notebooks. It is just so incredibly different. I don't thing all of the bells and whistles of technology are what Guinea needs - those are incredible tools for learning and teaching. But they do need books. I am sure of that.
Is it baffling to anyone out there that it is possible that there are education systms like this in the year 2008? Schools without books?
Today, one of our sessions was broken into men's and women's sessions; the women had two local women (one was 62, the other was in her 30s or early 40s) come to discuss what it is like being a woman in Guinea. No matter what topic we were discussing (from birth control and AIDS to Ramadan or politics) everything came back to education. "What's the biggest problem in Guinea" leads back to education. "What do you hope for your daughters" is answered with "university." If the education sytem here in Guinea is struggling, the sytem for girls here is really staggering. This was very apparent even in Practice School - where were all of the girls? For every 6 boys there was a girl. They were at home cooking and helping with the house and siblings. They are on vacation, so three weeks of free education by the Americans in town wasn't a consideration when there were chores to do and meals to prepare. One point of hope for the girls is that more of their mothers went to school now than ever before, so the mothers are starting to consider that math is important. Math may get them to university. So after the chores, girls should do their math. It is a step in the right direction.
For anyone to go to university here, they must pass a test at the end of "terminal" - or "13th" grade. Middle school, or college, is 7th - 10th grade (that's the level I'm teaching.) To go to high school, or lycee (11th, 12th, and terminal grades), they must pass a test at the end of 10th grade called the BREVE. Then to go to university, they must pass a test called the BACH at the end of terminal. The word on the street is that this year 13% of students passed the BACH and are eligable to go to university. Even then, the universities here are not nearly the caliber of university in the states or even the caliber of those in other parts of West Africa. I know it is a big generalization to make, but I'm starting to see a correlation between the education system and the general state of the country. It also makes me think of our own contry and the state of education in many of the big cities. How can Guinea turn their head from education, the world turn its eyes from Guinea, America turn its priorites from urban education?
I'm digressing from where I started.
Two years - I'm obseessed with what my goals should be and how I should run my classroom. What values do I want to leave behind with the students I teach? what do I think I can contribute from my Elyria Catholic/John Carroll/Boston College/Harvard education to teachers here, looking to me as the American for answers on how to improve their schools and classrooms? How can I get more girls to come to school when we're no longer in practice school? How do I begin to convince parents that education is important to their children? I am anxious and excited to get started.
8.23.2008
some photos...i hope...
hello from conakary! we're on a field trip of sorts...a day to find the bank and other essentials.
so i can't figure out how to rotate these...and i only have 5 minutes of time left. so tilt your head :)
1) my host family
2) my african comple
3) my house!!!! how amazing is it! i have the apt on the left. didn't get inside, but i'm imagining good things.
4) my compound from a distance. middle of nowhere, quiet, beautiful...it is going to be like a 2 year retreat. can someone send me some candles?
5) my school from a distance
next time, i'll work on the rotation!
august 20th, 2008
Wednesday, August 20th, 2008
Before we left for our site visit, Mr. Diaby, the coordinator of our training, told us that this visit was a good time to "reevaluate our committment" after seeing our sites. And after seeing my site, I know that I'm definitely in the right place!
The site visit day was quite an adventure. We departed at 8am and arrived at Bryan's site around 11:30 or so. Bryan is a fellow trainee and will be my cloeset neighbor. When we were 5 minutes away from his site, we saw a couple of white people on the side of the road walking - we stopped to ask them if we were close to his site, and it turns out one of them was the first volunteer to work in his site. She was there in 1999. Amazing luck! She gave us a grand tour of his site and introduced him to all the right people.
We asked how to get to my village and got many different answers and pieces of advice. "The good road is not good for a car because of the rain, so you have to go the other way" was the concensus among most of the men in Bryan's village. "The other way" took about two hours of climbing up the mountain in the Peace Corps car. Every 7km or so, there would be a fork in the road. We'd try to find someone to ask which way to my village. The responses were either: "oh, take the road to the right/left - you're almost there," "you need to turn around and go back the other way for a while, then take the road to the right/left," or "never heard of it." The "never heard of it" responses made me a little nervous. When we got to a point where our driver asked "ou le pont?" or "where's the bridge" when the river was debatable for crossing, I began to wonder if I should laugh or cry. Laugh. Just keep laughing. Somewhere inside I knew we'd get there...eventually! Luckily, everyone in the car, including our driver, had a good sense of humor about the bumpy, long adventure.
When we finally arrived up the mountain to my village, I was completely blown away by what I found. A tiny village tucked away on the side of the mountain - this is going to be my home for the next two years. It was so beautiful. The view of the tropical mountains, the cool, crisp air - I just knew it was right. Although I'll be in the middle of nowhere, it is seriene and calm and so incredibly gorgeous. All I saw on Saturday were a collection of homes and a school. My school. Apparently it is the school for my village and several neighboring villages. No one with a key was around, so I could only look from the outside - but it seems clean and well-kept. Once I get in there, I'll give a real description. Oh - and there is the only full-court basketball court I've seen in Guinea so far in the courtyard of the school. What are the chances!?! I couldn't believe it.
One of the men of the village knew where I would be living and took me to the house. The man with the key was out of town, so I didn't get to go inside. But for now, I'll tell you that the outside was far beyond anything I imagined I'd be living in. I don't want to say more until I figure out why the heck this house was built there, who built it, who lives around me, etc. I am in a compound with two other families, but my house is my own. I have a front porch. I'll tell you that much. And a grapefruit tree in front of the house. At least that's what the best French speaker translated it to be. I'll keep you posted on that one.
The way back down to Bryan's village: half hour. 15km. It wasn't too bad of a road. The tricky part of getting anywhere in the future without the Peace Corps car will be getting from Bryan's village to the main roads. I can bike to Bryan's town, but from his village to the main roads is a little unclear.
I then spent four days at other volunteers' sites. First was Katy's site - she is in a city and has a cute tiny apartment. It was fun to go to the market and eat a dinner that wasn't rice and sauce. She is working on tourism here in Guinea and really knows her way around since she's been here since December. Then I spent two days at a health volunteer's house. He's a Clevelander as well and my other closest neighbor. He has an army of kids that are willing to help with anything - we did a lot of weeding. While we pulled weeds the kids taught me Pular and French, although I don't feel like I'm any better with either language. Tomorrow is my language interview so I tried to write my whole site visit adventure in French to practice. The sentence structure is similar to a third grader's...but better than a first grader's!
We traveled via bush taxi back to training town today - my first Guinean taxi experience. It wasn't even a real experience since the whole taxi was Peace Corps people. My host family seemed genuinely excited to see me and has been feeding me all night, as if I didn't eat while away. It is always nice to go back to a welcoming home!
As of tonight, I have 37 more days of training. After my visit to site, they are going to be a long 37 days! I didn't want to leave. It was so nice to have independence again. But with practice school right around the corner (starts Monday!), I know the days will go by quickly. Practice school is 3 weeks of school with Guinean students - only it doesn't count. It is a free extra 3 weeks of school for students in this town. It is a chance for us to really feel what teaching in Guinea will be like - from the 2 hour classes to teaching in French. My nights will now be spent lesson planning...something I can do!
Before we left for our site visit, Mr. Diaby, the coordinator of our training, told us that this visit was a good time to "reevaluate our committment" after seeing our sites. And after seeing my site, I know that I'm definitely in the right place!
The site visit day was quite an adventure. We departed at 8am and arrived at Bryan's site around 11:30 or so. Bryan is a fellow trainee and will be my cloeset neighbor. When we were 5 minutes away from his site, we saw a couple of white people on the side of the road walking - we stopped to ask them if we were close to his site, and it turns out one of them was the first volunteer to work in his site. She was there in 1999. Amazing luck! She gave us a grand tour of his site and introduced him to all the right people.
We asked how to get to my village and got many different answers and pieces of advice. "The good road is not good for a car because of the rain, so you have to go the other way" was the concensus among most of the men in Bryan's village. "The other way" took about two hours of climbing up the mountain in the Peace Corps car. Every 7km or so, there would be a fork in the road. We'd try to find someone to ask which way to my village. The responses were either: "oh, take the road to the right/left - you're almost there," "you need to turn around and go back the other way for a while, then take the road to the right/left," or "never heard of it." The "never heard of it" responses made me a little nervous. When we got to a point where our driver asked "ou le pont?" or "where's the bridge" when the river was debatable for crossing, I began to wonder if I should laugh or cry. Laugh. Just keep laughing. Somewhere inside I knew we'd get there...eventually! Luckily, everyone in the car, including our driver, had a good sense of humor about the bumpy, long adventure.
When we finally arrived up the mountain to my village, I was completely blown away by what I found. A tiny village tucked away on the side of the mountain - this is going to be my home for the next two years. It was so beautiful. The view of the tropical mountains, the cool, crisp air - I just knew it was right. Although I'll be in the middle of nowhere, it is seriene and calm and so incredibly gorgeous. All I saw on Saturday were a collection of homes and a school. My school. Apparently it is the school for my village and several neighboring villages. No one with a key was around, so I could only look from the outside - but it seems clean and well-kept. Once I get in there, I'll give a real description. Oh - and there is the only full-court basketball court I've seen in Guinea so far in the courtyard of the school. What are the chances!?! I couldn't believe it.
One of the men of the village knew where I would be living and took me to the house. The man with the key was out of town, so I didn't get to go inside. But for now, I'll tell you that the outside was far beyond anything I imagined I'd be living in. I don't want to say more until I figure out why the heck this house was built there, who built it, who lives around me, etc. I am in a compound with two other families, but my house is my own. I have a front porch. I'll tell you that much. And a grapefruit tree in front of the house. At least that's what the best French speaker translated it to be. I'll keep you posted on that one.
The way back down to Bryan's village: half hour. 15km. It wasn't too bad of a road. The tricky part of getting anywhere in the future without the Peace Corps car will be getting from Bryan's village to the main roads. I can bike to Bryan's town, but from his village to the main roads is a little unclear.
I then spent four days at other volunteers' sites. First was Katy's site - she is in a city and has a cute tiny apartment. It was fun to go to the market and eat a dinner that wasn't rice and sauce. She is working on tourism here in Guinea and really knows her way around since she's been here since December. Then I spent two days at a health volunteer's house. He's a Clevelander as well and my other closest neighbor. He has an army of kids that are willing to help with anything - we did a lot of weeding. While we pulled weeds the kids taught me Pular and French, although I don't feel like I'm any better with either language. Tomorrow is my language interview so I tried to write my whole site visit adventure in French to practice. The sentence structure is similar to a third grader's...but better than a first grader's!
We traveled via bush taxi back to training town today - my first Guinean taxi experience. It wasn't even a real experience since the whole taxi was Peace Corps people. My host family seemed genuinely excited to see me and has been feeding me all night, as if I didn't eat while away. It is always nice to go back to a welcoming home!
As of tonight, I have 37 more days of training. After my visit to site, they are going to be a long 37 days! I didn't want to leave. It was so nice to have independence again. But with practice school right around the corner (starts Monday!), I know the days will go by quickly. Practice school is 3 weeks of school with Guinean students - only it doesn't count. It is a free extra 3 weeks of school for students in this town. It is a chance for us to really feel what teaching in Guinea will be like - from the 2 hour classes to teaching in French. My nights will now be spent lesson planning...something I can do!
8.14.2008
online again!
Today I'm writing from Labe, a big city in the Fouta Region of Guinea, and my future regional capital. We left this morning at 830 to begin our drive to Labe and after about 8 hours, we arrived to the current Fouta volunteers warm greetings. I'll be here tomorrow and then off to my village. The drive today was beautiful...the Fouta is lush and cool. I'm anxious to see more! It is also a nice break from training. Our "rest stop" was around noon for....rice and sauce! I'm beginning to really like it! My new favorite treat is the corn they grill on the coals. It reminds me of the corn we feed pigs and cows in the states, but it is delicious.
I hope this will be the longest noninternet stretch. I'll keep writing entries at home and then posting them when I get to the internet...that's why the dates are the way they are. THANK YOU for all of the emails and texts! The texts kept me sane! And I love hearing about what's happening back home. Keep 'em coming.
I hope this will be the longest noninternet stretch. I'll keep writing entries at home and then posting them when I get to the internet...that's why the dates are the way they are. THANK YOU for all of the emails and texts! The texts kept me sane! And I love hearing about what's happening back home. Keep 'em coming.
august 12th
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Tonight in Guinea, I've put finishing touches on a lesson on Sine and Cosine for tomorrow. For dinner, I ate rice and leaf sauce. This past weekend, I spent some time learning the ways of cooking the sauce. There are a wide variety of sauces - I like the ones that are tomato based (called "soup sauce") with stewed meat (goat I think for the most part) - I learned how to make "meatballs" of fish and the sauce that goes with them. Lots of onions, green onion, chilli peppers, tomatoes, peanut butter, eggplant, and stewed with some potatoes.
Yesterday I picked up my first "comple" - or African shirt with skirt. My host mother gave me the fabric as a gift and Aisitou and I went to the tailor to have it made. This is to wear to events such as weddings or baptisims. I hear it is best to teach in them as well in order to be respected - or at least the skirts with a button down shirt. I have fully embraced the "mouchoir" - the headwrap with the fabrics from the skirts. With the inability to fully rinse out my hair with the bucket bath, it is really nice to just wrap up my hair each day it in! It is encourage to wear them teaching. It is like a fancy bandana that is considered formal wear. Love it. Hopefully my photos attach and you can see my new African wear.
Tomorrow I begin learning Pular - the language of the Fouta. Just survival language for now since on Thursday, we leave to visit our sites. I'll be in Labe, the biggest city in the Fouta for a few days and in my village for the other days. I am really looking forward to getting out of here for a few days. Rumor has it there is pizza in Labe and I can't wait for the internet! I don't like feeling so disconnected. It is definitely the hardest part.
The part of the trip I'm really looking forward to is getting to see my school and my house. I can start dreaming up how to decorate and envision myself at school. I look forward to the routine of school although it will be another 2 months before school even begins. School begins after Ramadan is over, and it is late this year. So it will be the end of October when school begins. I'm programmed to feel the "school's coming soon" mid-August anxiety, but no August start this year for me! That part is still bizarre for me and hard at times. I just finished The Alchemist for the first time, and the boy and his sheep reminded me of myself and my little sheep in Boston. I really enjoyed the book and recommend it if you haven't read it!
As I type this, I can hear that my mouse has returned. I thought he was gone for good but sounds like he's back. He moved in a week ago. When the sun goes down and I try to sleep, he likes to knock over my math books and do laps around my room. He uses the waterbottles, my bike, and the buckets on the floor as obstacles but he's clumsy and runs into them all the time. Then he tries eating his way through my door and it sounds like someone is trying to break in. I started to leave the door unlocked so he can push his way through. One night when the corant was on, I watched the door open and he left. Tonight at dinner, I looked up from my plate and he was approaching my rice and sauce on the table. I asked him what the hell the thought he was doing, and before I could get my door closed, he must of snuck back in. Damn him.
Tonight in Guinea, I've put finishing touches on a lesson on Sine and Cosine for tomorrow. For dinner, I ate rice and leaf sauce. This past weekend, I spent some time learning the ways of cooking the sauce. There are a wide variety of sauces - I like the ones that are tomato based (called "soup sauce") with stewed meat (goat I think for the most part) - I learned how to make "meatballs" of fish and the sauce that goes with them. Lots of onions, green onion, chilli peppers, tomatoes, peanut butter, eggplant, and stewed with some potatoes.
Yesterday I picked up my first "comple" - or African shirt with skirt. My host mother gave me the fabric as a gift and Aisitou and I went to the tailor to have it made. This is to wear to events such as weddings or baptisims. I hear it is best to teach in them as well in order to be respected - or at least the skirts with a button down shirt. I have fully embraced the "mouchoir" - the headwrap with the fabrics from the skirts. With the inability to fully rinse out my hair with the bucket bath, it is really nice to just wrap up my hair each day it in! It is encourage to wear them teaching. It is like a fancy bandana that is considered formal wear. Love it. Hopefully my photos attach and you can see my new African wear.
Tomorrow I begin learning Pular - the language of the Fouta. Just survival language for now since on Thursday, we leave to visit our sites. I'll be in Labe, the biggest city in the Fouta for a few days and in my village for the other days. I am really looking forward to getting out of here for a few days. Rumor has it there is pizza in Labe and I can't wait for the internet! I don't like feeling so disconnected. It is definitely the hardest part.
The part of the trip I'm really looking forward to is getting to see my school and my house. I can start dreaming up how to decorate and envision myself at school. I look forward to the routine of school although it will be another 2 months before school even begins. School begins after Ramadan is over, and it is late this year. So it will be the end of October when school begins. I'm programmed to feel the "school's coming soon" mid-August anxiety, but no August start this year for me! That part is still bizarre for me and hard at times. I just finished The Alchemist for the first time, and the boy and his sheep reminded me of myself and my little sheep in Boston. I really enjoyed the book and recommend it if you haven't read it!
As I type this, I can hear that my mouse has returned. I thought he was gone for good but sounds like he's back. He moved in a week ago. When the sun goes down and I try to sleep, he likes to knock over my math books and do laps around my room. He uses the waterbottles, my bike, and the buckets on the floor as obstacles but he's clumsy and runs into them all the time. Then he tries eating his way through my door and it sounds like someone is trying to break in. I started to leave the door unlocked so he can push his way through. One night when the corant was on, I watched the door open and he left. Tonight at dinner, I looked up from my plate and he was approaching my rice and sauce on the table. I asked him what the hell the thought he was doing, and before I could get my door closed, he must of snuck back in. Damn him.
august 6th
Wednesday, August 6th
Tonight the "courant," or electritcity, is on, so I had a chance to recharge my computer. It has to be plugged into a voltage regulator that my family has their freezer plugged into, and after a month of living with them, I finally felt ready to inconvience them for a couple of hours and ask them to use the regulator. My host sisters and I watched Amalie while it charged...it was my way of practicing French for the night. I didn't put the subtitles on :) It was a nice way to relax and my host siblings loved it. Little Aminata fell asleep; she falls asleep everynight on the couch or on her dad's prayer mat and no one can wake her up - she's a girl after my own heart.
The courant comes on every few nights. The way you I know it is has been turned on is all of the "petits," or little kids, start cheering and dancing in the streets - they all then proceed to pile into the nearest house that has a television and watch one of the two channels - one is usually Guinean programming (news, other random shows) and the other is a DVD being played - Ttianic in French, some random Jennifer Love Hewitt movie I've never seen, or random Indian films. One night, after nights of bucket baths by flashlight, I was in the bathroom and heard the kids cheering - I flicked on the lights and started cheering with them.
My days are spent in school from 8 to 5 everyday. We have 4 different types of classes - language, technical language (math language), peace corps information (medical sessions on topics such as malaria, dental health, safety sessions, etc.), and cultural sessions. Everyday is a little different, some days seem longer than others. Today, I had 3 French classes and 1 math language class. Then, at 5pm, we novice French speakers have an extra French tutoring session that is one-on-one. I then come home and work on French homework orlesson plans. We are just practicing now; my lessons have to be scripted word for word, which drives me insane. Phrases like "take out your notebooks and try this example" or "what is a 3 digit number divisible by 2" take forever to figure out. We also learn the methods Guineans do math - long division is the one I still need to practice. Subtraction of 2 or three digit numbers is also unique. Guinean education all comes from the French system. I'm learning more about the Guinean education system is and have a better idea of goals to set for myself in teaching in the schools.
On Friday, we received our site assignments. We officially become Peace Corps Voluteers on September 26th, and a couple of days after that we all move to different villages in Guinea. We are all together until then in this village that we are training in. There are four regions of Guinea - each with its own unique characteristics, and each with its own local language. The French is for the classroom only. A couple of weeks ago, we were able to request which region we wanted. I requested the Fouta - the region of Guinea in the mountains. I hear about how beautiful this region is - very tropical and has rivers and waterfalls and many paths to explore. AND is becomes quite cool in the winter. Cool enough to see your breath in the mornings. My host family is from the Fouta origianlly so they have been talking it up big time. There were only 3 of the 9 math placements in the Fouta and I got one of them! My village is near Mamoa, a pretty major town with a bustling market and internet! So this is definitely the longest internet-free stretch of time I'll go through.
We took a field trip this weekend to the Cascades. We could swim in the falls and we did so for hours. It was so beautiful and a much needed get-away. For some, training isn't so bad - they're fluent in French and then teaching English. For many of us math and science people, we're nowhere near fluent and then have a whole set of technical terms and verbs to learn - we feel like we're always studying. I think the falls were extra special for us!
Everday is a new adventure and some days I can't believe I'm really here. The hardest part is being so disconnected from the rest of Guinea and the rest of the world. There is no post office to send letters, definitely no internet, and making calls is expensive. The news I hear is in French...sometimes I hear "Obama" in the midst of lots of words I don't understand and wonder what the latest news is. There isn't a newspaper or any sort of publications. The days are marked by whether or not the courant is on, and time is marked by the 5 prayers of the Muslims. Other than that, there is no difference between a Wednesday and a Sunday.
Another speical "treat" has been the Catholic Church here. There are about 100 people that attend the mass each week. It is in French of course, but my friend Jo once said something to the effect that no matter where you go, Catholic Mass is the same, so the language doesn't matter. It still feels like home. The music at Mass was really great - drums and a tamborine and a choir. The priest is French and travels to a few churches here in Guinea. It sounds like the chances of there being a church near my village are slim so I'll enjoy this while it lasts!
Tonight the "courant," or electritcity, is on, so I had a chance to recharge my computer. It has to be plugged into a voltage regulator that my family has their freezer plugged into, and after a month of living with them, I finally felt ready to inconvience them for a couple of hours and ask them to use the regulator. My host sisters and I watched Amalie while it charged...it was my way of practicing French for the night. I didn't put the subtitles on :) It was a nice way to relax and my host siblings loved it. Little Aminata fell asleep; she falls asleep everynight on the couch or on her dad's prayer mat and no one can wake her up - she's a girl after my own heart.
The courant comes on every few nights. The way you I know it is has been turned on is all of the "petits," or little kids, start cheering and dancing in the streets - they all then proceed to pile into the nearest house that has a television and watch one of the two channels - one is usually Guinean programming (news, other random shows) and the other is a DVD being played - Ttianic in French, some random Jennifer Love Hewitt movie I've never seen, or random Indian films. One night, after nights of bucket baths by flashlight, I was in the bathroom and heard the kids cheering - I flicked on the lights and started cheering with them.
My days are spent in school from 8 to 5 everyday. We have 4 different types of classes - language, technical language (math language), peace corps information (medical sessions on topics such as malaria, dental health, safety sessions, etc.), and cultural sessions. Everyday is a little different, some days seem longer than others. Today, I had 3 French classes and 1 math language class. Then, at 5pm, we novice French speakers have an extra French tutoring session that is one-on-one. I then come home and work on French homework orlesson plans. We are just practicing now; my lessons have to be scripted word for word, which drives me insane. Phrases like "take out your notebooks and try this example" or "what is a 3 digit number divisible by 2" take forever to figure out. We also learn the methods Guineans do math - long division is the one I still need to practice. Subtraction of 2 or three digit numbers is also unique. Guinean education all comes from the French system. I'm learning more about the Guinean education system is and have a better idea of goals to set for myself in teaching in the schools.
On Friday, we received our site assignments. We officially become Peace Corps Voluteers on September 26th, and a couple of days after that we all move to different villages in Guinea. We are all together until then in this village that we are training in. There are four regions of Guinea - each with its own unique characteristics, and each with its own local language. The French is for the classroom only. A couple of weeks ago, we were able to request which region we wanted. I requested the Fouta - the region of Guinea in the mountains. I hear about how beautiful this region is - very tropical and has rivers and waterfalls and many paths to explore. AND is becomes quite cool in the winter. Cool enough to see your breath in the mornings. My host family is from the Fouta origianlly so they have been talking it up big time. There were only 3 of the 9 math placements in the Fouta and I got one of them! My village is near Mamoa, a pretty major town with a bustling market and internet! So this is definitely the longest internet-free stretch of time I'll go through.
We took a field trip this weekend to the Cascades. We could swim in the falls and we did so for hours. It was so beautiful and a much needed get-away. For some, training isn't so bad - they're fluent in French and then teaching English. For many of us math and science people, we're nowhere near fluent and then have a whole set of technical terms and verbs to learn - we feel like we're always studying. I think the falls were extra special for us!
Everday is a new adventure and some days I can't believe I'm really here. The hardest part is being so disconnected from the rest of Guinea and the rest of the world. There is no post office to send letters, definitely no internet, and making calls is expensive. The news I hear is in French...sometimes I hear "Obama" in the midst of lots of words I don't understand and wonder what the latest news is. There isn't a newspaper or any sort of publications. The days are marked by whether or not the courant is on, and time is marked by the 5 prayers of the Muslims. Other than that, there is no difference between a Wednesday and a Sunday.
Another speical "treat" has been the Catholic Church here. There are about 100 people that attend the mass each week. It is in French of course, but my friend Jo once said something to the effect that no matter where you go, Catholic Mass is the same, so the language doesn't matter. It still feels like home. The music at Mass was really great - drums and a tamborine and a choir. The priest is French and travels to a few churches here in Guinea. It sounds like the chances of there being a church near my village are slim so I'll enjoy this while it lasts!
july 20th
Sunday, July 20th 2008
Tonight I'm writing after an excellent weekend at the Barry's. I spent the majority of the time studying and trying to extend conversations beyond "hello, how was your day" - and I'm starting to understand the responses the the "how was your day" rather than just smiliing and nodding politely. One week of language class and living without speaking English at home will is do that. Each weekday, we have 4 sessions of class; Friday, three of the four were language. And while I though the last thing I wanted to do Friday night was speak more French, two of the other volunteers invted me to join them at a cafe where they were going to practice French. I did and I think the espresso the man served was actually espresso, not the instant Nescafe I've been trying to fool myself into believing is coffee. With all of the African coffee I see in the states, I'm baffled at the fact there is no coffee to be found. Someone suggested maybe this was a good time to cut coffee out...I'll work with the Nescafe before that day comes.
Yesterday Aisitu (my 17 year old host sister) gave me a lesson on doing laundry. It involves three buckets, a washboard, and the electric lines hanging in the yard. I hadn't done laundry since leaving Cleveland, so I had quite a few things. The process of soaking, really letting loose on the washboard, rinse, wring, and hang convinced me that all shirts will be worn until they stink or I spill a lot on them, and skirts need to last at least a week. Aisitu did not approve of this idea. It was a beautiful, clear day when we hung the last sock...promising for drying. The rain came about 5 hours later, clothes were still damp. We rehung them this morning, rain came, clothes came down. I don't know if they'll ever be dry again.
I also learned how to fetch the water from the well. I'm spoiled because they get the water to bathe and cook, and the well is in our backyard for when I need to do the fetching. I just need to get my drinking water. That's a process too...Peace Corps gives us these great filters that you first filter the water then bleach it. I have a "water wand" that was a gift that seems too good to be true - with it I wouldn't have to bleach the water. I'm going to wait until I have my own bathroom before beginning that experiment. The bleached water is working quite nicely for now.
One week in and I've been only shown hospitality here. When we walk the streets, people are friendly and when we enter cafes, people greet us as they do each other. Economically speaking, most of the people of this village seem to be doing alright; everyone is dressed nice and have shoes. People find a way to make a living - selling their produce at the market, teaching, sewing, etc. We are seen as rich Americans however the difference I've found so far between being here and one of the few white faces and other places where being white is being on parade is that no one ever asks for anything. There is no need to ever turn people away that are looking for a handout. My justification for this so far is that the only Westerners that ever come to Guinea are NGOs like Peace Corps. No tourism that lead to the idea that western face means possible donation. To them, we're just the "fotes" that are always at school and don't bargin when they charge us too much money at the market. People are always curious about what we're doing, why we're here, etc. And the some kids just can't stop staring. But beyond that, we just go on our way.
While my family has been incredible, it is hard to think about living in this room (that is becoming smaller and smaller as PC gives us more and more supplies - I now have a bike in here with me) for another 10 weeks. We have to let our families know what time we'll be back at night so they can let us in. It is a strange loss of independence and regression to the days of curfews and being on womeone else's watch. One "cross-cultural" lesson was about how in Guinea, no individual is more important than the family, and now we're a part of that. It is fine, just sometimes a little too much.
Tonight I'm writing after an excellent weekend at the Barry's. I spent the majority of the time studying and trying to extend conversations beyond "hello, how was your day" - and I'm starting to understand the responses the the "how was your day" rather than just smiliing and nodding politely. One week of language class and living without speaking English at home will is do that. Each weekday, we have 4 sessions of class; Friday, three of the four were language. And while I though the last thing I wanted to do Friday night was speak more French, two of the other volunteers invted me to join them at a cafe where they were going to practice French. I did and I think the espresso the man served was actually espresso, not the instant Nescafe I've been trying to fool myself into believing is coffee. With all of the African coffee I see in the states, I'm baffled at the fact there is no coffee to be found. Someone suggested maybe this was a good time to cut coffee out...I'll work with the Nescafe before that day comes.
Yesterday Aisitu (my 17 year old host sister) gave me a lesson on doing laundry. It involves three buckets, a washboard, and the electric lines hanging in the yard. I hadn't done laundry since leaving Cleveland, so I had quite a few things. The process of soaking, really letting loose on the washboard, rinse, wring, and hang convinced me that all shirts will be worn until they stink or I spill a lot on them, and skirts need to last at least a week. Aisitu did not approve of this idea. It was a beautiful, clear day when we hung the last sock...promising for drying. The rain came about 5 hours later, clothes were still damp. We rehung them this morning, rain came, clothes came down. I don't know if they'll ever be dry again.
I also learned how to fetch the water from the well. I'm spoiled because they get the water to bathe and cook, and the well is in our backyard for when I need to do the fetching. I just need to get my drinking water. That's a process too...Peace Corps gives us these great filters that you first filter the water then bleach it. I have a "water wand" that was a gift that seems too good to be true - with it I wouldn't have to bleach the water. I'm going to wait until I have my own bathroom before beginning that experiment. The bleached water is working quite nicely for now.
One week in and I've been only shown hospitality here. When we walk the streets, people are friendly and when we enter cafes, people greet us as they do each other. Economically speaking, most of the people of this village seem to be doing alright; everyone is dressed nice and have shoes. People find a way to make a living - selling their produce at the market, teaching, sewing, etc. We are seen as rich Americans however the difference I've found so far between being here and one of the few white faces and other places where being white is being on parade is that no one ever asks for anything. There is no need to ever turn people away that are looking for a handout. My justification for this so far is that the only Westerners that ever come to Guinea are NGOs like Peace Corps. No tourism that lead to the idea that western face means possible donation. To them, we're just the "fotes" that are always at school and don't bargin when they charge us too much money at the market. People are always curious about what we're doing, why we're here, etc. And the some kids just can't stop staring. But beyond that, we just go on our way.
While my family has been incredible, it is hard to think about living in this room (that is becoming smaller and smaller as PC gives us more and more supplies - I now have a bike in here with me) for another 10 weeks. We have to let our families know what time we'll be back at night so they can let us in. It is a strange loss of independence and regression to the days of curfews and being on womeone else's watch. One "cross-cultural" lesson was about how in Guinea, no individual is more important than the family, and now we're a part of that. It is fine, just sometimes a little too much.
july 16th
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Today is my third day in the village where we are training; it is a smaller town about two hours from the capital. I'm writing from my bedroom of my homestay. To give you an idea of the size of the room, it is about the size of a convent room, minus the entry part with the closet. Enough for a twin bed with a giant mosquito net, a table, two giant water buckets, and my luggage stacked neatly against the wall.
The first activity when we arrived in Forecariah was the adoption ceremony. Before the formalities began, there was...awkward dancing. Guineans love to dance with the Americans. Then, both the mayor and the prefect of Forecariah (both women - rare for Guinean society) gave speeches, followed by the director of Peace Corps Guinea and one of our "trainees." We are then matched with a family for the next three months. I hit the jackpot of families of Forecariah - The Barry Family. (By the way - there are lots of Barrys here. It is like Jones or Smith) It is because my French is so poor that I was matched with them; their seventeen-year-old daughter speaks French and a little English. I call her the mayor of Forecariah because everywhere we go, she knows everyone and is always shaking hands with someone. She and I played basketball with some of the boys; we held our own, She was pretty decent. So she, along with the fifteen-year-old nephew (who lives with them as well) have been helping me out big time. And the rest of the family is fantastic to live with - a sister that is 5 years old and a brother that is 8. They gave me my African name: Aminata. This is the 5 year old's name. AND they have a 3 month old baby that I have the pleasure of helping out with while their mom needs free hands. They also have a 21 year old niece that lives with them. Both the niece and nephew are children of Mr. Barry's deceased siblings.
Their home is very nice and they treat me like a queen. I'm gone most of the day at class but when I'm home, I'm eating some of the best Guinean food - Aisitou, the 17 year old, cooks most of my meals. The typical Guinean dish is rice and sauce. The sauce usually is a fish sauce. When the families are trained to take us PCVs into their homes, they are told we like peanut butter, bread, eggs, and pasta. So breakfast is tea, bread, peanut butter that is so tasty - is very similar to the natural peanut butters in the states, and an omlette of eggs and onion. Some of the other PCVs get pasta for breakfast. Dinner tonight was pasta with onions and garlic and as always, a bowl rice and sauce. All so good! I went for a run today and really felt the past week and a half of pasta and rice all bouncing around.
About the run...I'll begin with telling you that the Guinean soccer players are in amazing shape. They play for hours and hours. When we were in the capital, we saw them doing circuts together after playing. What you don't see is anyone running for exercise. So the sight of two "fotes," or white people, running in the rain today caused MANY stares and lots of comments. The most important part of Guinean culture and trying to integrate into the community is the "salue," or the greeting. The salue goes like this: "Bon soir," "Bon soir," "Ce va," "Ce va bien" - hello, hello, how's it going?, going good. It is never just "hello." So on this run, everyone in the streets was staring and then would yell "FOTE" or salue us - so we had to salue back or it would be rude! The last thing I want to be is a rude American! So we ran along greeting along the way...or being laughed at. We get a lot of stares and giggles in general, so the run was nothing new.
One of many elements of African life that is an adjustment is the time the sun is out. It rises around 6:30 and sets around 7:30. It is always dark in my room. I need a flashlight to take my bucket bath (by bucket bath, I mean that I have a bucket of water, and I stragetically pour it on myself - washing my hair is a skill I have yet to come close to mastering), a flashlight to use the latrine, a flashlight to try to dig out something from my bag, a lantern to study at night. It is dark. Everywhere. People hang out on their porches and chat. Tonight I played a version of "Go Fish" with my host siblings. Pretty chill. It is something I like now but think I'll have to adjust to. Now, I'm so busy all day with classes that by the time I get home, I just want to crash. My head is spinning from language class. But I can't imagine always just wanting to "chill" at night. It is a luxury to be busy, or at least that's how I've lived in Boston!
Today is my third day in the village where we are training; it is a smaller town about two hours from the capital. I'm writing from my bedroom of my homestay. To give you an idea of the size of the room, it is about the size of a convent room, minus the entry part with the closet. Enough for a twin bed with a giant mosquito net, a table, two giant water buckets, and my luggage stacked neatly against the wall.
The first activity when we arrived in Forecariah was the adoption ceremony. Before the formalities began, there was...awkward dancing. Guineans love to dance with the Americans. Then, both the mayor and the prefect of Forecariah (both women - rare for Guinean society) gave speeches, followed by the director of Peace Corps Guinea and one of our "trainees." We are then matched with a family for the next three months. I hit the jackpot of families of Forecariah - The Barry Family. (By the way - there are lots of Barrys here. It is like Jones or Smith) It is because my French is so poor that I was matched with them; their seventeen-year-old daughter speaks French and a little English. I call her the mayor of Forecariah because everywhere we go, she knows everyone and is always shaking hands with someone. She and I played basketball with some of the boys; we held our own, She was pretty decent. So she, along with the fifteen-year-old nephew (who lives with them as well) have been helping me out big time. And the rest of the family is fantastic to live with - a sister that is 5 years old and a brother that is 8. They gave me my African name: Aminata. This is the 5 year old's name. AND they have a 3 month old baby that I have the pleasure of helping out with while their mom needs free hands. They also have a 21 year old niece that lives with them. Both the niece and nephew are children of Mr. Barry's deceased siblings.
Their home is very nice and they treat me like a queen. I'm gone most of the day at class but when I'm home, I'm eating some of the best Guinean food - Aisitou, the 17 year old, cooks most of my meals. The typical Guinean dish is rice and sauce. The sauce usually is a fish sauce. When the families are trained to take us PCVs into their homes, they are told we like peanut butter, bread, eggs, and pasta. So breakfast is tea, bread, peanut butter that is so tasty - is very similar to the natural peanut butters in the states, and an omlette of eggs and onion. Some of the other PCVs get pasta for breakfast. Dinner tonight was pasta with onions and garlic and as always, a bowl rice and sauce. All so good! I went for a run today and really felt the past week and a half of pasta and rice all bouncing around.
About the run...I'll begin with telling you that the Guinean soccer players are in amazing shape. They play for hours and hours. When we were in the capital, we saw them doing circuts together after playing. What you don't see is anyone running for exercise. So the sight of two "fotes," or white people, running in the rain today caused MANY stares and lots of comments. The most important part of Guinean culture and trying to integrate into the community is the "salue," or the greeting. The salue goes like this: "Bon soir," "Bon soir," "Ce va," "Ce va bien" - hello, hello, how's it going?, going good. It is never just "hello." So on this run, everyone in the streets was staring and then would yell "FOTE" or salue us - so we had to salue back or it would be rude! The last thing I want to be is a rude American! So we ran along greeting along the way...or being laughed at. We get a lot of stares and giggles in general, so the run was nothing new.
One of many elements of African life that is an adjustment is the time the sun is out. It rises around 6:30 and sets around 7:30. It is always dark in my room. I need a flashlight to take my bucket bath (by bucket bath, I mean that I have a bucket of water, and I stragetically pour it on myself - washing my hair is a skill I have yet to come close to mastering), a flashlight to use the latrine, a flashlight to try to dig out something from my bag, a lantern to study at night. It is dark. Everywhere. People hang out on their porches and chat. Tonight I played a version of "Go Fish" with my host siblings. Pretty chill. It is something I like now but think I'll have to adjust to. Now, I'm so busy all day with classes that by the time I get home, I just want to crash. My head is spinning from language class. But I can't imagine always just wanting to "chill" at night. It is a luxury to be busy, or at least that's how I've lived in Boston!
7.11.2008
bonjour from guinea!
after long travels on wednesday and thursday, we're here and preparing for life in guinea! our four-day stay is at the peace corps headquarters of guinea - a very nice compound where they take good care of us. we were warmly greeted by current volunteers at the conakry airport on thursday morning and spent the day learning about what life in guinea would be like. hearing all the details makes me even more excited about what's to come.first of all, i am happy to report that all of the PCVs (peace corps volunteers) have told us, without the authorities around which makes it more believable, that they feel really safe in guinea. and they all love it. our director says that peace corps guinea is the quintessential peace corps placement, as we are all headed to huts and villages with no electricity or running water. i guess that's what everyone envisions in their minds when they think peace corps. right now, only 17% of guineans are high school educated. the literacy rate 30%. 51% of people in guinea have access to safe water. that's not running water - just safe water. but overall, the country is very peaceful and friendly according to those we've spoken with so far.
most of our trainers are guineans. i had my language test to day with an elderly guinean man who kept asking me question in french and i kept responding "i don't speak french." he just didn't believe me! finally, he got really serious and told me i was going to have to work really hard if i was going to make it. luckily, there are a few others in the same boat as me. one of the other trainers lived in brighton for a while he did his master's at BU. we joked about the B line. from what i understand, in guinea, time has new meaning - many things are slow, late, delayed - but even he thought the B line was outrageous.
today we got a lot of medical info - learned about how to prepare our water, received a big case of "stuff" to take with us to site. we also had a guinean band come to the rooftop of our house and perform during lunch. lots of awkward american dancing. real awkward. but the band was great - they sang in french and a local language. lots of drums.
this evening i played volleyball on the beach with some locals. did i mention the peace corps house is on the beach? the photo up top is tonight's sunset. amazing, huh? okay, i'll be honest here. the beach here reminds me a lot of revere beach. it is the ocean, it is a beach, i like it - yet you can't swim in it, and it is filled with garbage. they've cleaned up revere a bit - but this beach is trashed. from what i understand, you really can't swim anywhere off the coast of guinea except for some islands off of the coast. oh well...it is still the beach!
on monday we will have our adoption ceremony where we meet our host families and move out of the peace corps house and into their homes for 11 weeks. no internet there, but we'll be in the capital now and then - and hopefully i can give you an update on things. i hope i'll say things like "i leaned how to wash my clothes" and "i learned how to say circle, square, and count to 100." who am i kidding - 100 - i need to know a lot more numbers than that. also, by the next time i write, i'll know what region i'll be in for my placement. each of the current volunteers loves their region, so i guess all are fine. there is a region along the coast. that would be nice.
i'll leave you with a photo of a couple of new friends, larc and ashley, and i - just to prove i'm here :) we really don't get out much to meet people from guinea (lots of meetings all day) - so i hope i have stories of some new guinean friends by my next entry.
7.08.2008
one more from the good ol' USA
over the past two days, i've learned a lot about what the heck i got myself into. i thought i'd share a few details.
1) the flight from JFK to Dakar, Senegal is 8 hours and 15 minutes. from Senegal to Guinea is 1 hour and 15 minutes.
2) there are 25 of us total in the education program. we're either math, physics, chem, or TEFL (teaching english as a foreign language.) and......i'm the oldest one in our group. the median age of a PCV (peace corps volunteer) is 27 ; our group is pretty much fresh out of college. not quite sure where all these late 20-somethings are. but i love the enthusiasm. no one has been in a classroom (with the exception of a couple that have done student teaching.) there are a few that have worked a couple of years. i've negotiated a couple of deals - i'll teach you how to teach, you teach me french. and there is one fellow clevelander (solon.)
3) we'll learn french and a local language. we're in school M - F but have saturdays and sundays to....study french. that's what i'll be doing with my free time!
4) we also have a couple of classes on how to take care of a bike. how to fix a flat, etc.
5) although guinea looks so small on the map of africa, it is just a little smaller than oregon. (FYI - oregon is the 9th biggest state in the US. yeah miss hainley.)
everything else we've been hearing seems like common sense. things like - don't walk home alone late at night or be sure to take your malaria medicine. my dominican republic students will appreciate this...the trainers made a big deal about the yarn we tied on all of our bags so when we are in baggage claim in guinea, it will be easy to identify our bags; they both still have their yarn and say some of the PCVs from the 60's and 70's say they still have their yarn on their luggage. (although luggage from the 60's has to be pretty worn out...but i'll believe them for the sake of the story.) i tied my yarn (which is the same blue color as my cross i wear) on with my hot pink ribbon from our most recent dominican trip. i wish i would have left the ones from the other years!
next post will be from AFRICA.
7.07.2008
86 pounds...
after making some cuts (including my large aveda bottles, contact solution, and all the food - i couldn't sacrifice the graph paper and graphing calculators!), i'm holding steady at 86 pounds of "stuff." what kind of stuff does one pack when moving to africa for two years? some clothes of course, a couple of toothbrushes and tubes of paste, camping hammock and sleeping bag, mosquito net, headlamp, a deflated volleyball, crank flashlight and lantern, a few journals (to double as notebooks), can opener and garlic press, lots of school supplies, and an old-fashioned grade book. the kind where you write the kids names in and record all of their grades. then calculate the grades by hand. i didn't even use one when student teaching. 6 pounds over. not sure what's going to go if they really make me get rid of 6 pounds.
tomorrow (i should say 8 hours from now) i'll be off to philly from cleveland for 2 days of training, and then we'll all be off to guinea via senegal from NYC. i'll be living with a host family for 11 weeks about 70 miles outside of the capital. i'll be immersed in french and left with no choice but to learn to survive! i've had a really wonderful two weeks in cleveland. old friends, boston friends, family friends...everyday was something fun. the last installment of the family and friend fun marathon was tonight - family dinner at mom's - mom's homecooking, uncle danny telling the fountain story, and aunt patty's pies. it was a perfect summer night - sunny, breezy. a nice night to end on.
hopefully i'll have exciting news for you soon from the other side of the atlantic.
6.24.2008
last night in boston!
this is it! the last night in my home for the last five years. the past few weeks have been so bittersweet. they have been joyous yet there is some sadness is saying goodbye.
during the last week of school, we celebrated the math extravaganza...which turned into a celebration of all sorts. my darling advisees and i (along with a few other advisories...) had a last day of school pizza dance party. berdine really did it right. i've been lucky to have visits from friends in the last weeks of boston life. seattle, maine, burlington....lots of good meals and fun days out on the town.
this weekend friends and i went to the vineyard (my first visit) - a day of relaxation that i feel will be few and far between in these next few months. the sun was hot and the water was swimmable (rare in new england.) and last night the convent ladies and stacie threw a farewell soiree that had the rowers, the teachers, the convent, jcu gang, and family. it was fabulous. we even played bags.
tonight i'm now sitting down after a day of packing the truck and sharing imperial pizza (the best!) with the ladies. i just read through many of the cards and letters that friends have given, and, well, i'm overwhelmed with emotion. i'm just so blessed. having some friends help me move today - i would have never been able to do it without them. i never really stop and think about the love i have in my life - i feel like i just float along, doing my thing - but i've been doing it among some pretty kick-ass people. and soaking it all up over the past couple of weeks has just been a blast. so thank you. thank you! THANK YOU!! leaving TC today wasn't easy, saying goodbyes tonight was even harder...but it isn't goodbye really. just "see you later!"
kristin gave me a birthday card this year & included a quote - i tore it out of the card and hung it in my room. it was right in the beginning phases of my peace corps process...and in her card she included the same one...so i'll share with you:
be brave enough to live life creatively. the creative place is where no one else has been. you have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. you can't get there by bus, only by hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you're doing. what you'll discover will be wonderful. what you'll discover will be yourself. -alan alda
i really like this idea of self discovery through hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you're doing. its what brought me to boston, and that worked out pretty damn great.
goodnight boston! i hope to see you again soon.
6.08.2008
tomorrow the news is broken....
the one thing i have yet to do in this crazy process is tell some of the most important people in my life the news that i am not going to be at trinity next year. those people: my students. here's what i'd like to get out tomorrow when i tell them, but might not be able to say it all without getting choked up...so they can read some of it here.
the past 5 years have been such a blessing for me; i have been so lucky to have been able to be a part of such wonderful community of students, parents, and teachers. from the classroom to the court, all of the experiences have made me the teacher i am today. i may have taught you math and how to shoot a basketball or serve a volleyball, but you have also taught me so many things along the way. we pray everyday about being illumined with faith, hope, and love, and you have demonstrated all of these in so many ways. without being witness to these, i don't know that i'd ever be ready to move my life to africa and teach there. undoubtedly, it makes me sad to think about next year - my advisees and how you have come so far this year and how much joy you bring to my days, my students and how much we have done this year and your excitement for math and learning, my players and our 2 -a- days before school starts, van rides, state tournament games, and beach outings, the math wing and no more math extravaganza for me, the dominican trip and how special it is for me to lead you there - this list can go on and on; yet i am so excited about this new adventure that is in front of me.
everyday, we try to instill in you the values in loving one another - it is what we are called to do as catholics, as christians, as members of the human family. we can do this everyday in our schools, in our jobs, within our families and among our friends. you don't need to travel far to do this and i know i am extremely privileged and lucky to be able to pick up my life and move to africa to do my part in serving to make this world a little better (and i get to do it by teaching math!) i hope, at the very least, even if you are angry (which i know a few of you are), you realize that this my way of serving our global community. we all have to do what we can in this world; i can do this (and want to do this) so i have to answer that call to go.
i never imagined i would be in boston for 5 years but am so grateful for these years and for all of you. you are all amazing young men and women and i pray that you are not afraid to do the things you dream of doing in your life, and always remember the lessons of faith, hope, and love you have learned along the way. your heart will guide you in finding the way you can serve - and whether it is in boston, waltham, cleveland, the dominican, or across oceans, i know each of you has the courage to answer that call.
faith, hope, and love. they got you this far. don't stop believing in them and living them out...and living them out LOUD.
6.04.2008
peace corps timeline
many blogs have helped me understand exactly how long this whole process takes; i'd like to return the favor to all of you peace corps applicants out there.
november 7th, 2007 - started my application online
november 28th, 2007 - submitted my application (including all recommendations)
december 21st, 2007 - went to boston office for interview. being a teacher made the interview a breeze.
december 27th, 2007 - was nominated for secondary math -western africa. my four years of high school spanish qualified me for a french speaking country. once upon a time i thought four years of a language would look good for college. never thought it would matter now!
early january - march 2008 - worked hard to get through all of the medical and dental paperwork. it took many visits to the dentist (3) and doctor (4.) and i'm a healthy person! but finally on march 17th, i was medically cleared. dental clearance came much earlier. now i could be officially invited. i thought it would be right after that the invite would come. not so much! it took well over a month before that happened, but the more i hear, that is normal.
april 23rd, 2008 - while i was in the dominican republic with students, peace corps called to ask a few final questions. one was about how i would feel about living in a muslim country (because they said my application seemed very catholic. ha!) i told them i'd be fine. it was then that they let me know the invite would be following soon.
april 29th, 2008 - the invitation packet arrived! the invite was for guinea....guinea?? i had to get out the map. and i had 5 days to accept.
may 5th, 2008 - i call and say YES. i leave july 7th. even today, june 4th, that reality has not quite sunk in, although as we prepare for next year at school, it makes me sad to know i'm not a part of it - especially with my advisory, volleyball, the dominican trip, and next year's pre-calc kids.
overall application process:
a lot of waiting. a lot of paperwork. good luck if this is the route you choose!
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