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!
