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!
