october 28, 2008

Sunday, October 25, 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!!!?!” Porto is the Pular word for white person.) I’ve been told that the celebrity status never really fades.

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 East Africa (remember, I’m in West Africa!) recounts the true story of Valentino Achak Deng, one of Sudan’s Lost Boys. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry. And, if you are like me and ashamed to admit you don’t really know the history of why we’re saving Darfur, it will get you up to speed.

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 8am and I’ve already had 4 visitors and I know the day will bring more so trying to plan a lesson takes a while. There isn’t a “oh, she’s working, better not stop by” mentality or “she didn’t answer the door, maybe she’s showering,” no, there is just a lot of knocking and lots of greeting. It is the Guinean way!