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 25th 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 10th 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!
