Six Months Left in Beautiful Guinea

So I think we can all agree that I won’t be winning any awards for my blogging abilities. Every time I sat down to write the blog, I was never really able to put my experiences into words.

The happiness I feel when my students understand a math concept. The giddiness I felt when my village finally got cell phone service. The frustration I feel when I get yet another marriage proposal from a stranger. The desperation I feel when I see a child dying from a preventable disease. The anticipation I felt as I waited for the national exam results to be posted. The sadness I feel during the holidays without my family. The confusion I feel when people just ramble on in a local language that I have yet to master.

I have been serving in Peace Corps for exactly one year and six months. And somewhere along the way, I fell in love with Guinea and it people despite my mixed emotions.

My first year in country was a whirlwind of learning two new languages, figuring out how to teach in a remote village, eating constant rice and sauce and fighting off cockroaches, mice and bats!

I taught mathematics and english my first year at the school in my village. I also gave review classes to my 10^th graders who were preparing for the national exam (Brevat).  We had 3 of the 15 students pass the Brevat, which was a tremendous success for our village, as no one had passed the exam since 2008. All three of the students had the highest grades on the math section of the exam, which was a great validation for my first year.

I spent time in the states during the summer break. Unfortunately my vacation was turned into a medical evacuation due to some developing back injuries. I spent two months at home in physical therapy and eventually I was given permission to return to country to finish my service. I was terrified to go back. Being in the states had been so easy. Did my village even care if I came back? When I finally returned to my village, I was immediately tackled by my favorite little kids, my ‘nenes’ grabbed my hands and the men stood by smiling and waving. My village had missed me as much as I had missed them. I knew that returning to country after my medical struggles had been the right decision.

My second year (so far) has been even better than my first! I am still teaching math and english at our school and I have also taken on teaching physics as well. I give review sessions at the school and at my house. My 10^th graders are incredibly hard working and intelligent this year. I am confident that we will have another successful year for the national exam. I also have an unofficial ‘girl’s club’ at my school and I spend a lot of time with my older girls talking about the importance of education. It’s been a great culture exchange.

I rang in the New Year with some great food and some great volunteers. I am looking forward to seeing what 2014 has in store for me as I continue this journey.

I will be returning to the states in just over 6 months. My official close of service is September 2014, but I have been given special permission to return early for the wonderful celebration of my brother’s wedding! I am thrilled to be away to be home for such an important event, but I cringe at the idea of leaving my family here in Guinea. I always knew that Peace Corps was a temporary thing, but I never imagined the connections I could make with the locals and the other volunteers. Having to say goodbye to my people here will be terribly difficult and I cannot say that I look forward to that day.

I will do my best to update my blog a few more times before I come home.  I miss you all in the states very much and I appreciate all the support you have shown me the past year and a half!

Almost a Year in Country?!?

Hello all. Posting a quick update mostly on school and teaching adventures but of course I have to get doggie update in there! Missing everyone but keep an eye out for a visit home from me soon!

Tonka

Tonka goes out almost every day ‘en brousse’ with one of my students. She has turned into a pretty good hunter, as my student comes back with stories of the animals Tonka traps and kills with him. His family has invited me over for dinner to eat the animals that Tonka has killed, but I am still not sure my stomach can handle rat or squirrel more than once! When she isn’t with my students, she enjoys chasing sheep and goats all over my village! She is not terrible fond of cows and will bark inessentially until the cow moves. Most Guineans are unexplainably scared of dogs, but slowly people are starting to warm up to Tonka.

School

In early May, we took the ‘Brevat Blac’ or the practice test for the big national exam that my tenth graders have to pass. Unfortunately, not one of my 15 students earned enough points to pass. I was definitely discouraged but I rallied quickly and we spent the rest of the school year in review mode! No one has passed this test in my village for the past four years so I am working really hard to give these kids the best chance possible! Unfortunately, I can’t say the same thing about the other teachers at my school. Sometimes certain teachers don’t show up for 3 to 4 weeks and student encouragement is not an applied technique at the schools here. I am often a witness to teachers insulting their students. I do my best to ensure my students that they are, in fact, NOT stupid and that everyone has the possibility to finish school and do what they want with their lives. My biggest challenge is my three girls in my 10^th grade. The teachers often ask the girls why they bother coming to school or why they haven’t found their husbands yet. The French teacher consistently tells one of my girls (Lamarana) that she knows absolutely nothing. I was proud to hear that Lamarana stood up to him the other day and told him that she is intelligent and she does work hard and she does know things!

I have spent the past week in Labé while my kids took the actual national exam or the ‘Brevat Noir’. I got together with most of my kids several times for review sessions in math, physics and random chemistry information. Some of my students called me every day after each subject; some days seemed easier than others! I was proud of the work my kids had put in all year and I was confident as they went into the math portion of the exam on June 1^st. However, quickly after the test was finished I discovered that my kids had been previously given the exact exam question in the required review session the night before. My principal had required all my students to go to the school the evening before, but had not mentioned anything to me. I was only aware because my kids called me to ask why I wasn’t giving the review session. Of course, I realized the reason the next morning after the exam. Needless to say, I felt frustrated and rather betrayed by my principal who knows how hard I have been working AGAINST cheating this whole year. Unfortunately, corruption is a wildly out of control problem in this country. The teacher that gave the review session the evening before was able to pay money in order to gain access to the test questions. I plan to meet with my kids back in the village to discuss the situation and hear their thoughts and feelings on what happened.

Transportation

My transportation continues to be a frustrating adventure. When school is in session, I am confined to Noussy through Wednesday afternoon. If I need to get into the city, my choices are to wait on the side of the road for a car to pass or I take my bike the 18 kilometers to Labe. The bike trip is challenging, as the trip from Noussy to Labe is essentially straight up a mountain. I often take the waiting for the car on the side of the road option. Just the other day, I waited four hours for a taxi to pass through. I then waited another three hours for the driver to pick up about 50 large bags of charcoal. I finally made it Labe after almost 8 hours and I only live 18 kilometers away! But such is life in the middle of a village in Africa!

As always, I am doing well!  Now that school is officially out of session, I have more free time. I plan to dedicate that time to improving my Pular and continuing my integration into my community! Also, my wonderful parents have agreed to bring me home for a visit in late August, so if you are around I would some to see you!

no thanks, I don't want to marry you!

Teaching Adventures

I have 16 tenth graders who come to school fairly consistently. Some kids walk more than 10 kilometers to get to school each day. At the end of the school year, my 10^th graders have to pass a national exam in order to continue onto the high school level. About 10 of my 16 kids have shown an incredible amount of dedication. No one in my village has passed the exam for the past four years, so I would be thrilled to see even one person pass the test! I have taken on teaching physics as well as math to my 10^th graders because our physics teacher has pretty much stopped coming to school. I think I might take up teaching physics for all the grades next year! The past few weeks have been challenging for everyone at school as the heat continues to get more and more intense. But we fight through our exhaustion together and I think they finally understand vector coordinates! Some of my students have started coming over to my house after school to continue working math problems on my white board! Of course, as soon as the problems are over, we move onto playing cards or trying to solve the Rubik’s Cube! By the way, I have successfully solved the Rubik’s Cube that was sent to me! Thanks Machinskis!

The Never Ending Trainings

I just finished a weeklong training in Mamou with all the volunteers from my stage. We talked about the craziness that is our lives including the highest of the highs at our sites and the lowest of the lows. It was so good to see the volunteers that I haven’t seen since our initial training! The Fouta volunteers got lucky and we got a ride to AND from Mamou in a Peace Corps vehicle. That means we did not have to pay the price for a taxi and we got all the comforts of a government vehicle! No need to stop for the military with government plates!

General Life

Although I have adjusted to life here in Guinea, my adjustment in no way makes my days any easier. So many things that we take for granted in the states require great effort here in Guinea.

If I want to take a shower, I have to fill a bucket with water and then haul the heavy bucket across my compound to my latrine. Forget warm water! If you want a warm shower, you have to boil water beforehand. And where does your water come from? You turn a knob and you have your choice of hot and cold water. Here, I take a 10-minute walk to get to our village’s pump. It’s a hand pump that requires about 2 minutes of pumping before water even starts to flow! You fill your bidon (10 or 20 liter oil can) or your bucket and then you make that 10-minute walk back to your house. The past month or so I have been incredibly grateful to my students and other children in the village who have helped me with this rather challenging task. I bought a large trashcan type bucket and I am able to store larger amounts of water for drinking, bathing and cooking.

In the village, we only have a market once a week. In Noussy, our market day is Saturday. Market day means dressing up in your fancy clothes and walking around greeting your fellow Noussy-ians. I guess people buy stuff too. I head out to the market around 11:30 AM every Saturday with the same program. I drop my phone and my computer off with a trusted student to be charged and then I wander around the market greeting the market ladies and trying to find onions and tomatoes and as many veggies as I can get! Of course, I have to stop by my favorite nene’s stand to eat some delicious keke and practice Pular.  I have made friends with many of the market ladies despite my horrific Pular. In the states, I drove to Kroger and marched up and down the isles filling my basket with whatever I needed (or wanted) and when I was ready to check out, I almost always went to the self-check out. Because really, who wants to have human interaction anyway? In Noussy, I interact with everyone I buy things from and everyone I don’t buy things from. The whole day is hilarious and heart-warming and challenging all at once!

Transportation has been one of my greatest challenges thus far in Guinea. My village is located about 18 km away from the major city Labé. I am lucky to be living so close as sometimes I need to get into the city to use the internet for school, for taxes or just for general entertainment. However, my village has zero taxis that transport individuals to and from Labé. Why is this? Well, everyone in my village has motorcycles! A motorcycle ride from Noussy to Labé only takes about 30 minutes and is extremely cheap. Motorcycles are strictly off limits to volunteers, which leaves me with my trusty bicycle to get me to and from Labé. I am getting pretty good at hauling my heavy bags up the mountain on my bike and I know most of the people who live along the route!

Politics and Ethnic Tension

The political situation has been up and down in Guinea for the past few months. There has been some violence although most of it has been contained to Conakry (the capital). As of right now our travel throughout the country is limited but as I don’t really want to leave my village, I am fine with that. My only concern is the possibility of an evacuation, but I don’t see that happening any time soon.  Know that I am safe and happy in my village and I am truly lucky to be outside of the large cities in times like these.

My Doggie Tonka

My dog has gotten much bigger as you have probably seen on Facebook. Most Guineans are still incredibly scared of her, but I love to see the little kids that learn to love her after a few visits to my house. Every morning, I hear the “petits” walk by my house yelling “Tonka, viens!” or  “Tonka, on va manger?”. They want Tonka to come play with them outside the compound. Tonka often takes that option but she always comes back home! Sometimes she goes with one of my students

Overall, things are still going really well. I have really tough days and really great days.  Apologies for my slow updates. I have found that successful blogging is rather challenging for me. I struggle to find the balance between the good and bad parts of my life here. Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me!

Fêtes, Fêtes, and More Fêtes!

Bonjour! 

My time in Guinea has absolutely flown by! Hello 2013!

My First Fête de Tabaski

So I wasn't perfectly clear on what this specific fête (celebration/party) was for, but I never really know is happening during Guinean fêtes. The fête is for the story of Abraham and the sacrifice of his son. For the fête, sheep are sacrificed as an offering. Of course, my village went all out and sacrificed several sheep, goats AND cows. However, I was not present for the sacrifices as I rode my bike to my friends village (Kankalabé) on Friday to celebrate there! The ride to Kankalabé was approximately 30 kilometers, but it was fairly flat and even some great downhills! I was with another volunteer so we stopped and took some cool pictures! And I only fell off my bike once which is a great success for me! In Kankalabé, we went with some villagers to a soccer game which required even more bike riding. Unfortunately, I managed to crash into some rocky water, but it wasn't terribly grave! The game ended late, but we still decided to bike back! I made it almost completely back when my bike hit a large patch of mud and I fell completely over. Covered in mud, I managed to laugh and cry at the same time! One of the Guineans with us gave me his shirt to try and get the mud off my face. My clumsiness definitely followed me to Guinea! On Saturday, we got back on our bikes and rode to another friend's village about 15 kilometers away to celebrate the fête again! We had lots of rice and sauce and of course, really really tough goat meat! It absolutely poured rain that night and the next morning we rode back to Kankalabé through the huge unavoidable mud holes. Mud everywhere. We caught a taxi from Kankalabé back to my village and the taxi driver laid down cardboard because we were so dirty! So overall, my first fête de tabaski was successful with about 60 kilometers of biking, great eating and so much dancing! 

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a huge family celebration back in America for my family. For that reason, I was really nervous about how I would celebrate this American holiday without my parents, brother and all my awesome cousins! Thankfully I made the decision to go to a friend's village to celebrate with about 10 other Americans. It was a long process because I had to ride my bike 18 kilometers to Labé and then find a taxi for the 2.5 hour ride to her village. Her village is breathtaking and the people were incredible welcoming. Most people in her village tried to change my name from Mariame Diallo to Mariame Baldé which always makes me laugh! We had three volunteers in our group who are absolutely fantastic cooks and we ate incredibly well! Chicken, stuffing, pasta salad, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, quiche, bean dip, pumpkin pie and banana chocolate pie! Pictures of the delicious food are posted to Facebook!

Guinean Birthdays?

So in Guinea, birthdays aren’t really celebrated as they are in the United States. In fact, some people don’t even know the exact date of their birth! But I still wanted to celebrate my birthday in my own way! One of my Guinean friends learned how to sing Happy Birthday in English, which was both hilarious and wonderful! I went to Labé the weekend following my birthday to celebrate with some volunteers! One of my friends made some delicious mac and cheese and another made a great salad. All in all my 25^th birthday was full of love and fun!

Christmas

Unfortunately I found myself in the country’s capital with some health issues during the Christmas season. Currently, we are still searching for the solutions but I am confident that we will be successful soon! The great thing about being in the capital is being surrounded by great volunteers who are more than willing to go to the market for me or just sit next to my pathetic self on the couch and hug me! I also got to meet the new volunteers that got into country about a month ago. It feels weird that we aren’t the babies in country anymore! The newbies were a lot of fun and only in the house for 2 days so it was just a quick visit for Christmas! We all had a wonderful Christmas lunch together complete with turkey, mac and cheese and cookies! My folks sent a bag along with some people coming into Guinea with my Christmas presents so I am looking forward to my personal Christmas again in a few days! Thanks mom and dad! Love y’all! But truly I am just happy to be in this country with great friends, loving neighbors and goofy students! It’s been a spectacular Christmas!

Other Random Things

·        I got a puppy; her name is Tonka. Guineans are scared of dogs and it’s so funny to watch them around her!

·        My students are slowly learning! My classes are tiny and all my 10^th graders work really hard! They all want to pass the qualifying exam at the end of the year!

·        I have lost an incredible amount of weight. Turns out when the only way to get to Labé is to ride your bike up a mountain that the weight just falls right off! Send me some belts. Or some new pants!

·        I have a dance party in my house every night with myself. I am tired of my music on my iPod. Someone download new music (also tv shows and movies) onto a USB and send it to me!

·        I now have three Guinean husbands. One is the Biology teacher at my school. One is a taxi moto man in my village. And one is my friend Mamadou! All three are fun and of course jokes, but seriously let me tell you how tiring it gets to be proposed to every day. But such is life in Guinea!

·        I wrote letters back to those that wrote to me so as soon as I cross path with some volunteers going back to the states, I will send the mail along! Thanks so much for the time y’all take to write letters and put together care packages!

·        During the “winter” months in Fouta (my region) it gets unbelievably cold! No one ever believes me because I live in Africa, but when I wake up in the mornings, I sport a hoodie and some gloves that I purchased in Labé! Crazy huh?

I think I apologize a lot for being so behind in my updating but once again I am sorry for being gone for so long! I am doing really well here and I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season!

This Post Brought to You by an Official Peace Corps Volunteer!

Good Morning from the bustling city of Conakry! I am passing through for the weekend for some medical tests and fun things like that! Nothing to serious-some of my organs just don't know how to function properly in this country! But we are sorting it all out!

So I was officially installed at my site (the small village of Noussy) two weeks ago (Friday, September 28) and I have been happily settling in since then. The day of my installation, there were many people there to welcome me with food and many handshakes. And of course, some praying! It was fairly overwhelming, but luckily there was another PCV with me for moral support! After the welcoming party was over, the Peace Corps bought all of my buckets, suitcases and of course, my bike into my house and we said a quick goodbye! A few emotions, but I felt ready to get started at site!

School "officially" started on October 3, and my principal told me to be ready to teach 9th and 10th grade math and 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th grade english. I show up early Wednesday morning, only to discover that (of course) the first week is for cleaning the school! Duh Danielle! I hung out for about an hour and then the princial calls all the students (only about 15 of the 100 total were present) into a classroom. He then proceeds to speak to them in Pular (local language) for almost an hour while swinging a stick around. As I do not speak Pular, I can only imagine that the stick was the same stick they hit the kids with. I was then introduced to the kids and they left me to talk with the 10th graders for a while. I did a quick review with them just to gauge their level and it was definitely a challenging process. It is fairly common for students here to have a low mathematics level, so I have my work cut out for me! I was able to speak with my 9th graders the next day and they are in the same position!

My village has been incredibly welcoming for the 2 weeks that I have been struggling to figure out my life! Just last week, I was presented with 5 chickens, a bag of bananas and a sack of beans! Yes, its true, I am now the owner of five awesome chickens! Hopefully the chickens will give some eggs and then when I am truly hungry, I can have chicken for dinner!

My house is almost completely set up which includes using wooden benches as shelves and stringing my killer hammock up between two windows! My village even gave me a couch and some armchairs! Living in Guinean luxury? I think so!

I am definitely loving on my village and luckily, everyone is super patient with my poor Pular skills. Hopefully the language will come more quickly once I have the basics down!

Oh and someone asked me if I see elephants or lions when I walk around! Unfortunately, there aren't those kind of wild animals around here (at least not in my village), but I do see goats, chickens, sheep and cows every single day! Not quite as exciting as a lion, but those cow horns can be pretty scary when the cow is walking right at you!

Now that I am done with training, I have had a little more down time so I will be able to respond to the great letters you have sent! As always, thanks for dropping the letters and packages in the mail! It makes me so incredibly happy to get things from home!

That's all for now! Picture update soon on facebook! Love y'all!

Almost a PCV!

Thank you to those who have not given up on me yet! My internet situation has been extremely challenging and on top of that, my computer decided to stop working for some time. So I will do my best to give you a good update!

We are nearing the end of PST (pre-service training) and I am less than a week away from being sworn in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV). My time in Dubreka for PST has absolutely flown by and while I am excited to get to site and start my new life, I am going to miss my friends and family in Dubreka very much! My host family has truly become my family. I am so lucky to have started my experience here with such an amazing group of people.

My French has improved steadily over the past weeks and I am finally able to communicate more than just basic wants and needs. Now I move onto the greater challenge of learning the local language of Poular which is the local language in the Fouta area where I will be living.

My site visit was a few weeks ago and while the whole trip was rather overwhelming, it definitely made me excited for my work here and to get started with other projects outside of teaching. As I mentioned before, I will be living in Noussy which is about 18 km outside of Labe. My school is super small, which is great because I will be able to really focus on my kids and getting them to pass their national exams. Some volunteers have more than 100 students just in one class and I will be lucky to have at least 20. Because I am so close to a major city, there aren't students that walk from other villages to come to the school in Noussy. During my site visit, I met what seemed like the entire community. I only know a few words in Poular, so most of the women just smiled at me, but the men and the kids in school know French so that communication was easier. The market in my village is only on Saturday, so most of my neighbors fed me those few days that I was there. Lots of rice and sauce. Always rice and sauce.

When I sat down to think about what I wanted to write about, it was challenging for me to come up with interesting things in my life. And then I realized that that my daily life here has become normal for me, although I don't think I would have used the word normal 2 months ago. So I thought I would go through a typical day here in Dubreka. Enjoy!

Every morning, I wake up around 6 or 6:30 and untuck my mosquito net to climb out of bed. I grab my bucket and fill it with water from the basin outside my room. Side note: I am super lucky that my family fills this basin so regularly; some volunteers have to get water from the wells outside! I take my amazing bucket shower which just involves dumping water from a small cup onto myself. After my "shower" I wrap myself in my towel which is really just a 'pagne' or a big bolt of fabric which is what women do here after showers. I get dressed in some kind of shirt/dress outfit and then hop on my mountain bike and make the trek to the training center for my classes. Riding a bike in a skirt is definitely a fun activity, but I typically wear bike shorts underneath and I tuck the sides of the skirt in so it doesn't get caught. At the training center, we have language and culture classes, technical training and other random peace corps sessions. We train from 8 AM to 5 PM every day, but I am usually at the training center well past 5 PM. We get a lunch break and we walk to the market down the street to buy whatever food we want for a meal that day. Typically I get some bread, eggs, onions, tomatoes and some cheese and make a sandwhich. Sometimes we all go in together and make a huge salad with basically every vegetable we can find in the market. After training is over, I bike back home and I get my bucket shower on again. Think amazing cold water after being covered in sweat all day. Perfect life. After my shower and a bit of studying/resting in my room, I eat dinner with my mother/brothers/sisters/whoever happens to be there. Dinner is usually a good mix of things. Sometimes I have rice and sauce, potatoes, meatballs, pumpkin, and the list goes on. I have been pretty lucky to have such a great mom here. After dinner I goof off with my brothers or my neighbors and then I usually go to bed around 10 PM. However, if there is current, we usually have a television watching party well past 10 PM!

So that is a typical day for me. Obviously, once training is over that will change, but I will just have to see how it goes. One last bit of information regarding the film that seems to be causing some commotion around the world. I am speaking of the film that was produced that some viewed as offensive toward Islam. My thoughts and prayers go out to the friends and families of all the Americans who were killed in response to the film. A few days ago, there were rumors of anti-American protests in Guinea both in my current city Dubreka and in the capitol Conakry. When I arrived for training at the center, the American embassy had sent military protection for us in case the protests got out of control. Luckily, the protests did not happen and we were all sent home safe and happy! Hopefully things stay like that for a while.

Thanks to everyone who has sent me packages, letters and emails! Its so wonderful to hear from home and get that small piece of america when I open the letter or box. If you are able, keep sending things and speak with my mother if you want to send anything with her! She sends me packages once or twice a month and I a sure she would be happy to include sometime from you!

I guess that is all I have to update for now. I was thinking maybe if you had any burning questions you wanted to know about Africa you could post them on facebook and I will answer them in my next blog. Once again, I am so sorry for the lack of updates. I will try harder once I am finally installed at site! Love to everyone!

Hey Y’all!

I know it seems like forever since I blogged, but my time in Guinea has flown by so fast already! I’ve been living in this AMAZING country for three weeks now and it’s already like home. So here is the scoop on my adventures!

We flew into Conakry on July 3 where we had to get through the airport and customs and then attempt to grab our tons and tons of luggage. Luckily, the country director and another Peace Corps staff member were there to help us because I certainly had no idea what was going on. Once we finally got out of the airport, there were some current volunteers there to meet us outside and we were all herded onto this Peace Corps bus with our stuff in the Peace Corps cars surrounding us. It was nice to have air conditioning during the drive. We stayed in the volunteer house that evening where I had my first experience sleeping under a mosquito net. We were definitely living in luxury in Conakry with running water and electricity. We had amazing air conditioning in our room!

The next few days in Conakry were full of training sessions in culture, communication, getting ready for home stays and medical information. On Friday, July 6, we took the bus to Dubreka to meet our host families. I will be living with my host family for three months while I live in Dubreka during training. So far I’ve had a blast trying to communicate with my family. The accent in Guinea is tough to understand and my host mother speaks quickly and rather inaudibly sometimes. But luckily, my host brothers are incredible patient with my ignorance and they speak slowly and usually repeat things 3 or 4 times for me. I have two host brothers who are older, one is 27 and one is 14. Fourteen seems young, but males definitely grow up faster here. I also have younger brothers and sisters (actually my nieces and nephews) who help me learn the local language by repeating/screaming the same word for me 47 times. My family speaks Sousou, although there are many many local languages throughout Guinea. Mostly all I know how to say in Sousou is ‘hello’ and ‘how are you’ for the morning and the evening.

Training in Dubreka has been incredible challenging. I have language classes every day, along with culture sessions, medical sessions and language technical classes. It’s exhausting to constantly think in French, especially because my French doesn’t come naturally yet. We train from 8 AM to 5 or 6 PM every day and then I have to go home to a family who only speaks French and Susu. I feel so lucky that my family is fairly conscience of my privacy and my need for rest when I come home after a long day. I’ve definitely had some bad days where I haven’t been able to stop myself from crying, but those days are fewer than the good ones.

I’ve been able to call my parents and a few others in the United States, but its fairly expensive for me to make phone calls so please be patient and understanding if I am not able to call you. My parents have been extremely generous and they typically call me, which is no cost to me. However, I believe it is fairly expensive for them. If you are interested in calling me, my number is 68715875 and in order to place the call from the US, you dial 011224 and then my number. I am currently 4 hours ahead of those of you in the EST!

I’ve started becoming closer with several of the volunteers, especially the volunteers that live close to my host family. I spend a lot of time with Sara (another volunteer) and her family and she spends a lot of time with my family and me. We decided that we are lucky enough to have two families here in Dubreka. Last week, Sarah and me went to a nightclub with her sisters and brothers and one of my brothers. Guinean music is hilarious, and sometimes kind of weird to dance to but it was fun! We requested a few American songs, including Rihanna and Lady Gaga and somehow the DJ learned our names and just kept yelling them during the songs.  

The Peace Corps gave all of us brand new mountain bikes for our service here. I have never been much of a biker, but I am slowly getting better at riding. Its hilarious to ride to work every day and just yell Bonjour to all my neighbors. Mostly the really little kids yell “foté” which means white person in Sousou. The intensity with which the children yell “foté” is absolutely hilarious. I am pretty accustomed to the word now and I just laugh and wave at the kids as I pass by.

Last night I just sat outside and stared at the sky for a solid 20 minutes. In Atlanta/Washington DC/College Park, there was always too much light pollution to count the stars on more than one hand. Here, there are too many stars for me to count! It was challenging to try to explain to my host brother why I couldn’t stop staring at the sky, but I think I got my point across.

In Dubreka, the electicity turns on sometimes, but the schedule is not respected here. I am able to charge my phone, kindle and other electronics when the electricity is on, however I have discovered that I am unable to charge the battery on my computer. You would think as an engineer, I would think to bring a voltage converter but unfortunately I only brought adaptors with me. So my charger provides power to my computer when the current is on, but it does not charge the battery. If anyone is feeling nice, you should send me a voltage converter! Luckily, Sara’s converter is good and she lets me borrow it to charge my computer battery. When the power is on here, my family enjoys watching the television. Guinean television is absolutely hilarious and so much fun to watch. My little host sister just yells at me to watch every 3 minutes when her favorite commercials come on.

If anyone is feeling generous, I would LOVE to see some letters or packages come my way! Send anything you want, but keep in mind the distance the package will travel and the time it will take to get to me. Anything sent here will go to Conakry (the capital) and once a month, a Peace Corps car comes out to our site with supplies for us including packages and letters! If you choose to send a letter or a package, PLEASE keep in mind that it needs to be packaged very well! If you are sending more than one letter, number each letter appropriately in case I get them out of order which is possible. If you have questions about sending anything, contact my mother! Ask around our mutual friends; someone will have her contact information! Finally, if you are awesome and choose to send me something, please keep in mind that there is no trash system here, so it would be great if the packaging was something I could reuse! Thanks in advance! My address is listed below; make sure you write exactly what I have written!

Danielle Hansen, PCV

Corps de la Paix

BP 1927 Conakry

République de Guinée

West Africa

Overall, I am doing really well in Guinea and I am thrilled that I can call this beautiful country home for the next two years. Today, I found out my site for the next two years. For those who want to use Google to check it out, I will be living in Noussy, which is just outside the major city Labé. I am close to a few volunteers whom I have already gotten close with during training. I am extremely excited about learning more about my site and we have site visits coming up in a few weeks! I miss you all very much and I promise I will try and post pictures as soon as possible!