Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginnings End

A yearly wrap up of 2011

2011-12-15T03:04:00.009-05:00

I’ve never really written my own Christmas card, I’ve always been signed on to my parents card, but this year, with all of my travels and adventures I had I thought I could use my blog as a way to write my own Christmas update card.

So first and foremost Merry Christmas to all of my friends and family and random people who read my blog, and thank you for doing so. So here is a re-cap of 2011.

I rang in the New Year in Ghana with my boyfriend Mark and three other close friends. Accra, the capital of Ghana was extremely more developed than the capital of Guinea or Mali so we were all excited to have chines food and ice cream as our New Year’s Eve feast. Midnight was celebrated on a roof top bar, ducking and dodging ill exploding fireworks. New Year’s Day we went to the beach and enjoyed the warm Gulf of Guinea. Our two week vacation was over and a 48 hour bus ride back to Mali with a quick 16 hour stop in Burkina Faso to see some friends was our next adventure. Surprisingly after about the first 10 hours of the bus trip your mind shuts off and you just fall into a daze and block out everything bad about West African public transport and you get through it. We were welcomed back to Mali by some very friendly boarder customs agents around 6 in the morning on January 4th, 2011.

In February the town I was living in, Segou had its annual music festival which is internationally famous (if you are into West African music). The quant city I love changes over night into a huge party filled with Ex-patriots and West Africans alike. The quite streets are alive with beer sellers and avocado sandwich ladies. I hosted six people at my house where they slept on my roof because of lack of space inside. We experienced an out of the ordinary cold front that week and experienced temperatures as cold as 60 degrees at night. Brr! I got some great souvenirs and listened to some great African music.

In April a good friend of mine from college came and visited me for a week. Molly in Mali was the tag line of the week. She enjoyed seeing my life, meeting my friends, my Malian family and experiencing a normal day in village. She spent several days in my town and a few nights at Marks village. It was a real pleasure of mine to be able to show someone a bit of my life here.

May brought in the hot season where temperatures rise as high as 125+ for two solid months. It’s a bear! There is nothing you can do to avoid heat that high, especially when you don’t have air conditioning. The only good thing about this year’s hot season was it wasn’t as bad as 2010’s hot season here temperatures were over 130 for three months.

One of Marks good friends from his American days came and visited us in July. It was nice to finally meet someone from Marks past. Since we started dating in Mali we hadn’t had a chance to meet anyone from the others past. AJ was a great sport, his luggage was lost on arrival, it was over 110 degrees and the city of Bamako was as dusty as always. Luckily luggage was found and our trip to Dogan country was able to continue. Mark, AJ, one other friend Kendra and I all did a one night hike through Dogan again. We chose a different route this time (Mark and I hiked Dogan in 2010) and got to see different villages and different cliff faces. Dogan, as always is a scary thing for me. I’m not much of a hiker and those deadly latters and bridges don’t agree with me. But somehow I suck it up and get through it. And in the end it is all worth it. AJ, Mark and I also went to Djenne, a historical village near Marks village what houses the world’s largest structure (a mosque) made out of mud.

I closed my service (COS) as a Peace Corps volunteer on July 27, 2011. It was a moment of pure happiness and extreme sadness. It is always hard to leave some place you love and leave the people who became your family. As crappy as the situation was that I ended up in Mali I will always look back fondly of the places I went and the people I knew. And thankfully with the internet I am able to keep in contact with my work colleagues and host family.

After a clean bill of health I was off to Spain with Mark for a two week adventure there. I had never been to Spain and really didn’t know what to expect. We landed in Madrid and after finding our way to our first hotel we walked the streets of Madrid in Aww of the architecture, the people, the smells, and the sounds. We sat down at this little restaurant in the middle of a square (with a fountain!) and indulged on pork and sangria. I literally ate so much pork sausage I thought I was going to be sick, but it was so worth it! After we re-awoke from our food coma we went to a grocery store for the first time in three years! Imagine you haven’t had options in three years and then you see aisles and aisles of choices. You would freak out too. It took Mark and I almost two full hours to pick out one type of cheese, one sausage and a loaf of bread (you really can’t make this up, it is sadly true). We took a day trip to Segovia to see the aqueducts and the castle there and tried suckling pig. It sounds gross but let me tell you what, it was delicious, so tender and flavorful. The city was great too, but that pig was to die for. Back in Madrid we stayed with a friend of a friend who was amazing. He gave us free tickets into all of the national art museums and a behind the scenes tour of a Picasso painting being restored. The Spanish art museums were incredible. I never had an appreciation for Spanish art but I loved walking around the never ending halls of old and new art not to mention the galleries were air conditioned. All over Spain they have these great things called daily lunch specials where you get a starter, a main and a desert plus a glass of wine for around 8-10 Euros. It is entirely designed for tourist to try different local meals year round but boy of boy did I love that deal. So we tried all types of local traditional dishes all around Spain this way.

Madrid was amazing but sadly we had to keep moving, next we went to Granada in the south east of Spain. This place was fantastic. It was settled by the Moore’s (the same people who reside now in Morocco) so it is very Arab and different than northern Spain. The Moore’s have always been dessert people so imagine someone from the dessert having access to unlimited water supply, they went crazy! There were fountains every 5 feet, lush gardens covering every square inch of “old town”, reflecting pools in every house and did I mention the gardens? Also Granada is one of the last places in Spain to still give free tapas (appetizers) with each drink. Mark and I discovered this fantastic bar where you order a drink and a plate of food shows up… FOR FREE! We ordered a beer, a sandwich showed with a salad. We ordered another beer and a plate of pork and fries shows. We order another beer and another plate of something fantastic magically appears FOR FREE!!! I could have stayed there all night but sadly a long day of travel was in store for the next day so we had to call it an early night. We hopped around for a bit and then went to Santiago.

Santiago is famous in the catholic world for being a pilgrimage place where in olden days Catholics from all over Europe would pilgrim to kiss the neck of St James. We also stayed with someone just outside of Santiago. He was great and showed us all around western Spain. He took us to one of his local bars and had us enjoy octopus legs which were chewy but good. He also introduced us to these little green hot peppers that were lightly fried in olive oil and covered in coarse salt which was a favorite of mine while in Spain. We also got to meet some of his life long friends which was a real pleasure to meet a group of Spaniards who all spoke good English and we were able to chat for hours.

Sadly I fell terribly sick in Spain. I had a major reaction to an anti-malaria medication I had to take after leaving a malaria zone. I had a terrible fever, cold chills, total body aches and nausea I thought would kill me. I wanted to die but I pushed through and continued to France. Once mark and I got to France I was near death and had to go to the hospital to get blood work done. Doctors were afraid I had malaria so I got tested and it came back negative so I stopped taking that medication and eventually got better.

In France Mark and I were WWOOFing, that is the worldwide organization of organic farmers. We volunteer our time to work on someone’s farm and they give us free food and housing while we are there. I really wanted to find a farm that produced wine and cheese but apparently so did everyone else because all I could find was gardening work and apple picking, which was fine. Mark and I did two stents of two weeks each so our first two weeks were spent in Auteze, an extremely small village in the mountains near Carcassonne. Coming from West Africa I had spoken good west African French however that is very different from France French so that was the plan while volunteering, improve my French! I would say I was able to do this but maybe not to the extent that I wanted. The work in Auteze, like I said was gardening so we picked veggies, dug potatoes and onions and de-clovered a field. Mark surprised me for my 25th birthday early and bought cheese, wine and olives and took me to this great spot near a babbling mountain brook. We spent my real birthday in Carcassonne and walked the old walled city, ate more cheese and tried duck wings (which were tasty). It was a great birthday!

Our second farm was with a French family (speaking no English) on an apple orchard. I sorted apples by size and quality for two weeks while Mark picked apples off the trees. It was hard work but the family made up for that by preparing great traditional dishes like ratatouille, French onion soup and French toast. There, we worked hard and played hard. They had a pool and transport into the big city was easy so we had the entire afternoon to relax and goof off with the other volunteers and family.

After two weeks there I never wanted to see an apple and I will forever look at apples differently, always gauging them by size and quality. That was our last stop in France, so we had to go back to Spain and catch our cruise ship in Barcelona Spain. We took three days in Barcelona and enjoyed the Mediterranean beach, the Barcelona museums and La Ramble (the main shopping street with a huge daily market) and the Spanish wine and pork.

We left Spain on the Disney Magic 2 week trans-Atlantic cruise ship. Mark had never been on a cruise and was delighted with the amenities and attractions on board. There were five ports of call and 8 glorious days of ocean sailing. The food, the shows, the gym, the pool, the sun, and the nice people we met on board made those sailing days fly by too quickly. You really can’t beat a two week cruise, across the Atlantic to travel back to America, not to mention it was cheaper than a flight! We docked in America on September 25 and I flew home for the first time in a year and two months.

To be home was amazing. I was greeted at the airport by mom, dad, Nick and his girlfriend Misty. They took me out to dinner where I enjoyed my first American meal of spicy chicken sandwich warp with fries and ranch dressing. Can’t get more American than that. I was able to see a lot of friends and family while home, but certainly not everyone. Most of my days were spent relaxing and starting a job hunt. Surprisingly I found a job less than two week after the day I started applying for jobs. I was hired on to a non-governmental organization called H.E.L.P. (Hope, Educate, Love & Protect) Malawi where Mark and I were both hired as International Program Managers. I left America exactly one month after arriving, back to Africa.

As of late October I have been in Malawi, and it is great to have my best friend here with me. Mark and I have been able to travel around a little bit and are starting to enjoy life in Malawi. We have gone to the lake twice and enjoyed the crystal clear warm lake water.

Well, this was my 2011. Not too bad. I was in 13 countries this year, shared a beer with people from all over the world, spoke 4 languages to varying fluencies and had the time of my life. So here is to an amazing 2012!!

The holiday season away from home, again

2011-11-25T09:44:00.001-05:00

This is my third consecutive thanksgiving away from home, and going on my fourth Christmas away from home. There are many things that I enjoy about living abroad, however the holidays are not one of them.

You have to learn how to make traditional traditions and different family traditions into a special day. Holidays need to be celebrated. They are major mile stone in the year. It would be easy while away to not celebrate the Fourth of July or Thanksgiving, but I need to celebrate those to bring more stability and familiarity to my life away from home.

This year for thanksgiving I will be spending Saturday with several other Americans, trying to make a traditional thanksgiving feast. Instead of turkey however we are doing chickens, there will be mashed potatoes, green beans, cooked carrots and hopefully if we are lucky pumpkin pie. It wont be the same as sitting around Aunt Betty’s table but I will still be with good people, sharing good food and giving thanks for the things I have.

Lake Malawi

2011-11-18T02:00:00.004-05:00

Malawi is known as the “Warm heart of Africa.” It seems as though everyone you meet is excited about life and willing to open their heart and home to you. There are many things to do and see in Malawi, I however have only been here a short while and have seen very little but something I am glad I did early in my stay here was go to Lake Malawi.

Lake Malawi is one of the largest fresh water lakes in Africa. It provides fresh fish for thousands of people who are fighting protein deficiencies; it is also a major tourist destination. I went to a lake side sleepy village called Cape Mclear which is on the cusp of the national forest and the lake.

Inside the national forest there is an amazing place called otters point which is a secluded section of the lake that has a rocky/boulder shore line. Mark and I met with some of our friends and colleagues there and spent the afternoon in the water, swimming among the fish and jumping off the rocks. It was a grand time. We also taught Able, the head teacher of Nanthomba primary school (the school I work with) how to swim.

All in all it was a fantastic day and a good get a way.

First day of work

2011-11-16T12:14:00.002-05:00

It has been about three weeks here in Malawi now. As in all jobs the first few weeks are difficult, learning the ropes, finding your way around, and memorizing everyone’s names can all prove to be very overwhelming; but I’m starting to settle in, find a routine and make new friends.

My first day on the job in country I got a tour of the school I will be working at, met all of the teachers and played around with some of the students, or as they say here, learners. Next I got a tour of a fantastic health center with maternity ward 4 Km up the road the HELP has helped to build. I met Frank and Impatso, the local nurse and midwife. They showed me the vegetable garden they want to use as a nutritional showcase for malnourished children and mothers, and I even saw a first time mother, hours after delivery holding her first born baby son.

As the day was wrapping down I got to take a real “out of the Lion King” style safari. A group of us jumped into a safari vehicle and our amazing guide, Henry showed us several groups of elephants, including baby elephants, warthogs (little known fact, baby warthogs are the cutest thing in the world), bushback, impala, monkeys, baboons, and tons of other animals. Just as the sun was setting we parked our car, jumped down and shared an ice cold beer and popcorn watching the sun set over the mountains down river.

When we got back to camp we had a delicious dinner while overlooking the Shire River listening to the hippos in the distance. I must say, that was the best first day of work I have ever had!

An update of my life

2011-10-25T14:46:00.001-04:00

As you all know I left Mali back in July, spent two amazing months traveling around Spain and France, took a transatlantic cruise back to America and then spent some time with my family.

To start things off, I had never been to Spain before and found it incredible. The people were amazing, the food was delicious and the sangria was to die for. Not to mention the Spanish culture, the flamenco dances and the public gardens. Mark and I spent two weeks bouncing around with visiting friends in Madrid, Granada, Santiago, and Barcelona. In Madrid we got a private behind the scene tour of the restoration room in the La Rein Sofia Museum where we got to see people restoring a Picasso, we toured the royal gardens and walked the city. In Granada we went to a walled royal city where there were lush gardens and fish ponds everywhere. It was such a contrast after living 2 years in the desert to see all the colorful flowers and fountains everywhere. In Santiago we did the last mile of a 1000 year old pilgrimage (El Camino) to the Saint James Cathedral in Santiago.

After Santiago Spain we went to France to start our World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farm (WWOOF-ing) projects. First we went to a small farm in Auteze where we were working with an older woman helping her with her garden. I pulled a ton of weeds, picked tomato’s, picked potatoes right out of the ground with my hands and also prepared for market day. It wasn’t the best two weeks of my life, but the work wasn’t that hard and the mountains were pretty. Then we went to Thuir and worked on an apple orchard. I would sort apples while Mark picked them. This was hard work and I would be content never seeing another apple again in my life. That being said, the people who ran the farm were so nice and it was a great opportunity to brush up on my France French as opposed to my West African French.

After our month if France Mark and I headed down to Barcelona and spent two days touring and hanging out on the Mediterranean beaches before we jumped on our Disney Transatlantic cruise. I must admit that I was a little nervous to spend 14 days on a boat with crazy Disney fanatics but it wasn’t that bad. There were plenty of Disney crazy’s but the majority of people were normal I’d say. We spent in total 8 days at sea and then stopped in Gibraltar, Madera, St Marten, Tortola, and Disney’s private island Castaway Cay. My favorite stop had to be Gibraltar because we rode a cable car up the rock and walked down stopping at ape caves along the way.

Once I got home from the cruise I started looking for work. I sent out probably close to 75 resumes and within a week I got an interview and two weeks later I was hired. I took a job with HELP Malawi and will be heading back to Africa for another two year paid contract working as a program manager. I’m writing this from the airport so once I got to Malawi I’ll blog again letting everyone know I’m alive and well. I’m also excited to show off my new lodging arrangements. I will be living at a safari lodge right on a river where I’ll hopefully be able to see wild animals from time to time. But if you want to know more go to http://helpchildren.org/

Ghana Christmas Vacation

2011-02-12T08:23:00.004-05:00

In December two friends and I set off for our Christmas Vacation in Ghana, a two day trip on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea. We were lucky and got a direct bus from Bamako to Kumasi, Ghana which took 44 hours.

Kumasi hosts West Africa’s largest open air market and it was in full Christmas shopping swing when we arrived. Ghana is almost 50% Christian and 50% Muslim and with the larger disposable income of the country the market was swelled with people. It was amazing to see blenders, X-Box, iPods, and laptops on Christmas special where in Mali most of those things are inaccessible to most of the population.

We also visited several slave castles along the coast, including the two largest slave trade castles in West Africa. The historical significance of visiting these places, having local Ghanaian’s as tour guides explaining the savage history of their land will be something that I will remember for the rest of my life.

On a lighter note, we also meet up with two other friends from Mali and took the aerial walk outside of Cape Coast. Towards the coast of Ghana is rainforest and in the Kukuma National Park they have constructed a walkway bridge between eight trees stretching more than 400 meters into the air. You could feel the rope bridge swinging in the air and at parts you couldn’t even see the ground threw the trees below us.

Ghana also has some amazing coast lines. For Christmas we spent three days at a “Green Resort” on a secluded beach. We passed the days in the water and the nights around bon-fires on the white sand beaches. However, sadly all vacations must come to an end and this trip was no different.

Women in village vs. city

2011-02-12T08:19:00.002-05:00

I recently read the book Monique and the Mango Rains about a Peace Corps volunteer in the 80’s stationed in Mali writing about her experience. The book focused on women’s rights and Malian culture. I thought I could give a brief profile of two different women that I have worked with during my service

Fatamata Sydibe

Fatamata (age 26) grew up in Segou Mali and went to high school up to grade 10 then dropped out to get married off at age 17. She is the first wife of her husband and she has three children under the age of eight. She works as a secretary at Miselini (my work) from 9-4 Monday threw Friday, and because she has a one year old child she gets an hour off every morning to breast feed. She wakes at 5am to start making the morning porridge and because her house servants left her she and her mother take turns preparing the daily meals in the morning before work. On Saturday it is laundry day where she washes by hand the family laundry for the week, which is no small task. She owns her own moto that she has worked hard to afford and the majority of her money goes to her husband who makes all of the monetary decisions for the family. From her salary her husband gives her an allowance for herself that she purchases her cloths. She is in charge of food shopping every week and rationing the food amongst the family.

Aminata Berry

Aminata (age 52) grew up in a small town in Guinea. She was one of 15 siblings and was the top female student in her class up until grade 5 where she was forced to drop out so her younger brothers could go to school and she would have to take care of the house. She was married by 14 years old and soon started having a family. Her husband moved around and married three other wives. When Aminata’s first son started going to school, she would take his text books at night and teach herself math, French and even English when they lived in Ghana. She ended up settling in Doune Guinea, and was working as the town mid-wife, activist against women’s genital mutilation (excision), president of the women’s group, village pharmacist, hospital nurse, village chef and host. She was living on top of a hill and was often seen carrying heavy buckets of water for her family. Due to her busy schedule she often got to skip making family meals and one of the other three wives would prepare while she was off working. She received very little money for any of her work and all of her money went straight to construction of her own house. After 40 years of living with a man she never loved she was moving out, something unheard of in village. She saved her own money and on the outskirts of town was building her own three bedroom house. She was also taking moto lessons; in Guinea it is almost unheard of for women to drive a moto. She was the president of the group I worked with and was by far the most influential person I had ever met.

Both of these women have a lot in common however they are very rare exceptions. In village it isn’t unheard of for women to never leave their compound with no contact with people other than their family.

Also women are in charge of all cooking, cleaning, fetching water, field work, raising children, selling in market and buying in market. All of those things are done by hand year round. Now I am not advocating polygamy but it is easy to see when there are several wives that the work gets split and life does become much easier.

Getting Braided

2011-02-12T08:12:00.003-05:00

As hot season approaches I recently got my hair braided again. I have a serious love/hate relationship with getting my hair braided for several reasons.

On the side of LOVE:
-Every woman Malian has her hair braided from the moment the hair is long enough to braid
-It is much cooler
-It gives me a reason not to wash it
-I don’t have to fuss with it

On the side of HATE:
-Malian women don’t know how to braid white hair
-Sunburns!
-It takes forever to braid and even longer to take out
-My hair is so long it tangles inside of the braids
-It pulls a lot of my hair out and makes it more fragile

However despite all that, I went to a baptism and had my hair braided for it. Two girls came over in the morning and started to pull at my hair. After about five rows, my eyes are watering and they ask me if my hair is extentions because it has the feel of mesh. That is never a good sign, which means they are having a hard time braiding my hair in rows. Almost an hour later they were finishing up and all three of us were ready to finish.

All said and done, it looked ok and after two days the pulling pain went away.

Meeting Etiquette

2011-02-12T08:10:00.000-05:00

Once a quarter my micro-finance organization has a meeting with five women who have been elected to represent the voice of our loan clients. These are most likely the loudest five women in Segou.

Our meeting was supposed to start at two pm on a Friday. I biked back to work after lunch to find the office locked up still from Friday prayer. So a boutique owner lent me a chair and some shade and I waited for half an hour for my bosses to show up and let me inside. Once inside it was almost three, and there was no sign of these five women anywhere. Normal work hours are 8am to 4pm here so when I saw it was past three and still no women I thought the meeting would just be canceled.

Two women show up around 3:30, so my boss and I start the meeting. Because the women don’t speak French, my boss was in charge of running the meeting and I was just to sit there and wait for translation. Over time more women show up and the meeting keeps getting repeated to catch the late comers up.

At one point all five ladies were screaming their heads off and my boss was screaming back at them. Because it was in bambara I still had no idea what was going on so I just sat there in awe of the argument. I mentioned earlier that these were the five loudest women in Segou, well the room was almost vibrating from the commotion. And by that time it was pushing 6pm… on a Friday. All of a sudden everyone sat down very calmly and said its over and the women left. I looked at my boss and asked what happened and he just shook his head and said they were talking about bread prices.

Tabaski 2010

2010-12-10T08:54:00.007-05:00

Tabaski is the Muslim holiday that celebrates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son to God, then at the last second God presented a ram instead to sacrifice.

In Mali they sacrifice sheep or goat after the morning prayer. I went to Marks village this year for the celebration. Early in the morning we got dressed up in our matching Malian outfits to go to the prayer in the open field in town. The men were able to pray in the shade while the women were in the direct sunlight.

After the prayers were over, Mark and I followed the parade of people leaving the prayer and marching threw village singing religious songs to the mosque in the center of town.

When we made it to the mosque we found out that Marks co-worker was the one in charge of leading the prayers which is a very respectable job.

Once all the prayers were done, it was time to kill the goat. I had no part in the killings or the cooking for that matter which is how i preferred it. It is not pretty work killing and cleaning a goat. However it sure was tasty. I ate so much meat, which is a luxury.

This was my first traditional village tabaski since i've been in Africa so i was happy i was able to share this experience in Marks village with his friends and mine.

Two years, Two countries

2010-12-10T05:51:00.005-05:00

December 6th marked my two years in Africa. It is so hard to believe that two years ago I was setting off into an un-known world, not knowing what to expect. And its even more unbelievable how fast I adapted to life in Guinea.

When I set off for my two years in the Peace Corps i was sent to a small village where i didn't know the language, didn't understand the customs and cultures, didn't know where to turn or how to make a phone call. I even had to re-learn to eat. Everything about my life in Guinea i had to learn from the beginning. The first meal I shared with my host family, there was no spoon. I had to reach my hand into a hot bowl of rice and try to make a ball of rice and my hand fit into my mouth. I spilled rice all over myself. With each falling grain of rice I couldn't help but think, I’m spilling these peoples livelihood all over my lap. Sedda Sedda (small small) my Pular came along. I remember the first day I could go to a market and order all of my food in Pular. It was such a success to be able to have a conversation, no matter the content in the local language, and the first time I had to pull water from the well and thought I would loose my glasses down the well. I also remember the day that the children by my house stopped calling me Porto (outsider or white) and started calling me by my Guinean name, Oumou Kesso Barry. There were many days where I spent hanging out with a group of 7th graders under an avocado tree. I looked forward to my afternoon tea time with those kids everyday. I felt included and looked after hanging out with them. Despite the fact that we had nothing in common they were some of my best friends.

I also had to learn to be away from my family and how to build a new family. At first especially i had a hard time being away from everyone and everything i knew. I didn't have access to phones or internet and letters and packages only came once a month bringing special treats from loved ones. I had to accept my host family as my new family. The children helped me with everything and looked up to me like a big sister.

I was also able to share my experiences with the village. I helped at the village health center, weighing babies and encouraging mothers to feed their children more so they can become healthier and stronger. I shared information about hand washing and ways to prevent Malaria. I taught an English class where I encouraged students to continue with their education so they too can one day make a difference. I worked with a women’s group trying to promote the rights of women and helped them find some financial independence from their husbands. I worked on a polio campaign to give free vaccinations to children and inform families to the benefits of western medicine.

While doing all of those things I was fighting off sickness and political unrest. In my year in Guinea I had been so sick many different times. There are different standards of clean and sicknesses run wild. When I first arrived in Guinea the president Conate died leaving the presidential seat wanted by all. There was a bloodless coup d'etat that followed with military enforced curfews. It became very common to see AK-47's and traveling around the country became more difficult and dangerous.

In September 2009 the military open fired on a stadium of unarmed peaceful protesters. 157 reported dead and the capital city, Conakry was not the same. It became too hard to keep volunteers in Guinea and we were evacuated to Bamako, Mali.

After a month of limbo, the Guinea program was closed leaving 97 volunteers heartbroken and homeless. We had the choice to transfer countries, close our service or take a leave and wait for guinea to re-open. I ended up transferring to Mali because I felt that my service was incomplete and I would be able to experience a new place. There with nine other Guinea volunteers that transferred with me to Mali and could help share the feelings of having to start lost and out of place all over.

My new home in Mali is in Segou, a large regional capital with all of the amenities of a large African city. I was happy to accept a house with running water, electricity and I even have internet access everyday at the Peace Corps house.

My transition into Malian life was cushioned by the amenities but I still miss my Guinea village and think of them often. My lifestyle between my village in Guinea and my life in Segou is almost incomparable. In Segou, I live alone inside a family compound and have very little interaction with them. I go to work every morning and socialize with Americans on a daily basis. Also, I started dating Mark in December and have enjoyed splitting my time between his village and my city. This has allowed me to have the village interactions I was missing from Guinea and Mark and I can share the hardship of being ripped from one country and installed in another since he was one of the nine that came from guinea.

I have spent the last year working specifically with a micro-finance institution called Miselini. I set up a marketing campaign so they could reach out and grow their clientele however hit a wall after giving out 12.000.000 CFA or $60,000 to 24 women’s groups and had to turn down women who needed credit to grow their business and help their family. I worked along side the president of Miselini to apply for a partnership between Miselini and Kiva International. I felt that Kiva would be a good fit because it is a no-interest loan from American’s. Please check out the Kiva website to find out more ways that you can change lives. http://www.kiva.org/

Over the last two years I have learned to make Africa my home. I have been exposed to so many new cultures and customs that I would never have been able to understand from America. I have meet some of the poorest people in the world and been able to break bread with them and travel to some of the most naturally beautiful places. I will never take for granted running water again. The project I am working on will not be done by my original COS date, therefore I just submitted my extension until August 2011. I am looking forward to the next nine months that I have left in Mali despite the hot season where temperatures can raise over 120 degrees.

I would like to specifically thank certain family members that have sent me countless packages that help keep me sane and full of tasty American food.
-Mom and Dad: almost every month I get at least one package from you with things that keep me in touch with America and with what is going on with the family while I’m away.
-Aunt Betty and Uncle Dan and all the Curley’s: I don’t even know how to thank you for all of the food you have sent me. You have made me very popular among the volunteers when I share my food with them. And all of those jelly beans were devoured by my work and Marks village.
-Grandma: I love the letters you send on a regular basis. I know I’m not good at sitting down and writing you back but I enjoy reading what you are up to and whenever you send the grandma crackers or homemade cookies its like I had just been to your house in Tennessee.
-Uncle Tim: I love the music, books and brownies you send
-Aunt Bonnie, Uncle Wes, and Kyle: Thanks so much for everything you send

And a huge thank you to everyone else who has sent me cards, letters and packages. I know how expensive things are to send here and I truly appreciate everything.

The Bamako Zoo

2010-12-10T05:24:00.005-05:00

While I was in Bamako the last time some of us went to the zoo. When I first got to Mali I was really surprised there was a zoo, and then when i found out it was only $.10 to enter i had to go.

When you walk in, you are greated with shreaking monkeys. People had brought in peanuts to threw to the animals so we watched the monkeys catch and fight over peanuts for a bit. Then we found some donkeys in cages. The irony of donkeys in a zoo here is funny because donkeys are in every village as work animals. It would be almost the equivalent of golden labs in a zoo in America.

We also found a baby elephant. The elephant also loved when people feed it peanuts and was standing at the gate entertaning people for food. I almost had my camera eaten by the elephant while trying to take photos. All of us had a chance to pet the elephants truck. I guess i never really thought about what an elephant would feel like but they are corse and hairy. Not plesent to pet at all.

We also saw a pumba (wharthog), a lion, several panthers, hyenas, turtles, and wolves. The bamako zoo isn't really compairable to american zoo's because the cages are tiny and most of them are just concrete slabs with bars. There are not the fun, themed exhibits. So there is a general feeling of depression coming from the animals.

I however really enjoyed the zoo. Despite the fact that the animal cages are small you were allowed to get right up there and pet the animals. Even the panther cage i could have stuck my hand in, if i wanted. But this gave a real chance to see the animals. A lot of time in American zoos you search for the animal and only get to see it from far away.

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-09T08:12:00.006-05:00

Now some of you may remember last year I helped cook the traditional family style thanksgiving, and i almost lost a leg in the proses. So this year I happily took the invite to go to Sikasso (the southern region of Mali) where a group dinner is prepared.

Thursday
Around four in the afternoon about 60 of my closest Mali volunteer friends got together inside the civil center of Sikasso to sit down for thanksgiving dinner. There was a cooler of salad, a tub of green beans, a bucket of mashed potatoes and five turkeys! Now if that wasn't enough (and it was enough but it's thanksgiving) so there were apple pies and pumpkin pies!!! Now i'm sure most people wouldn't think this is possible for 60 people to finish all that food, but we sure tried and came close to finishing.

It wasn't the same as being at Aunt Bettys house with family but it was really nice to see some old faces and meet tons of new ones. Not having gone threw training in Mali, i'm not as close with some of the volunteers but being able to spend a major holiday weekend with them sure was nice.

Friday
Friday afternoon we had rented out a pool and got to enjoy the fun in the sun. No black friday shopping for me. (Well i think i went and bought an avocado in the market but there was no pushing or sales so i don't think that counts.) The pool was a funny color so few people went in, but i enjoyed sitting in the sun.

There were also donkey races. Two volunteers at a time would race donkeys. Sounds easy but from what i saw, not the case. I didn't race but people were struggling to make the donkey go in the right direction or even go at all.

For dinner the volunteers of Sikasso cooked up burritos! There was rice and beans and guac and everything. So taisty.

Now needless to say, I eat well those two days!

Saturday

Saturday morning a group of about 14 of us meet up to go out to the water falls just outside of Sikasso. We filled two taxis and left. Most of the trip was on a nice paved road but the last 3 miles was on a dirt trail barley wide enough for the car. Then the path got too narrow for the car. We had to get out and walk maybe the last mile. There were dirt cliffs we had to climb down, and otherones we had to climb up. And worst of all there was a bamboo bridge we had to cross. It wasn't high at all but to keep your balance with a back pack can be tricky. But we all made it across just fine. Once we finally got to the falls it was increadable.

This was one of the prettiest places i've seen, so instead of me trying to explain it, i'll just put up some photos.

After playing around in the falls a group of us climbed up to the top part of the falls. The climb was a bit interesting. There is no path up so we just went in the general direction. Climbed over rocks and forged threw sholder high grass. The climb was well worth it because on top of the falls was even prettier than below. There were also pools you could swim in, Mark and I made tree leafs into boats and tried to race them over the falls and then just relaxed in the sun.

We were spending the night out there so before the sun set we had to climb down and set up camp, make a fire and make dinner. Another car of volunteers ended up showing up so there were a lot of us spending the night. There were pop up bug nets everywhere. I didn't have a sleeping pad so i had to sleep inside my bug net on the rocks. Between the rocks and the rushing sound of the falls i had a hard night sleeping. But watching the sun rise over the falls was breathtaking.

My house

2010-11-13T09:53:00.008-05:00

While I was back home in June/July 2010 a lot of people asked me what my house was like here in Mali. It never really occurred to me to take photos, but i finally did so you can see how i live. Its not as ruff-ing it as you would think.

My "little kitchen" including a food trunk, a fridge, and a gas stove top.

The place where I keep my dishes, water filter (large white thing) and all of my plastic trash bags.

My living room furniture, on the table is my books and my dogon book holders (olo couple), and my oh so important fan. Now mind you that all of the "kitchen" and "living room" are in the same room.

My king size bed, my closet, and my folding chair

So this is my bathroom. My toilet, shower head and there is a sink off to the right of the photo that you can't see.

And this is my mango tree. I live on the second floor, so there are three mango trees, with all of their fruit right at eye level, just there for the taking. Mmm!

Dogon Photos

2010-11-10T09:11:00.007-05:00

This is the 8:00am photo right as the three of us (Myself, Mark and Dorian) and our Guide Adjoro were heading off on our three day hike

Here is a photo of me inside one of the ancient villages on the dogon hike. Most of the structures, like the one behind me are not houses but grain storage. After the yearly harvest men would fill their graineries and pray to their many Gods that the harvest will last until next the harvest.

A sacrificial rock is where families would bring up millet beer along with goats to sacrifice. When a baby was born they would poor out the millet beer and slater a goat so that the child would take on the personalities and longevity of someones ancestors

At the end of the hike there is a cave of artist who sell their touristy things. Now each object has a very interesting story, I bought an Olo couple. An Olo is the oldest man in a village. It is a highly respected person who holds a lot of power within each village. The couple represents long lives, strength and wisdom.

You can find more photos from my Dogon trip (and more) by clicking on this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2214085&id=39500264&l=1f2ed3a834

Dogon Country

2010-11-10T04:47:00.029-05:00

Dogon Country is a small, isolated section of Mali about 10 hours away from where I live. It is famous for its dramatic cliff faces, resilient people and hiking trips. This is a place where people come from around the world to hike these paths and see "how they live".

Now, I will be the first person to admit that I am not a hiker but when the opportunity presented itself to take a three day hike i couldn't turn it down. The ten hour journey there turned out to take three days but when Mark, Dorian (a good Peace Corps friend from Guinea and Mali) and I got to Sanga (the village where we would start and end the hike) we were ready to start on the hike and stretch our legs after three days in buses and vans crammed in like clowns.

Hike, Day One

At 8:00 am the three of us set off with our guide, Adjoro, with a change of cloths, three liters of water, cameras, and enough bug repellent to last us a week. Sanga is at the top of an amazing cliff, overlooking the encroaching desert, a river and what little farm land there is.

Our first stop took us to an ancient (+3000 year old) village inside of the cliffs. The people who first settled here chose to live inside of the cliffs because it was the safest places. Water was available about six months a year within the cliffs and then women would have to go down into the valleys to get water the remaining six months. No-one knows exactly why theses people moved out of this particular cliff but its assumed to find water would be a key reason.

We continued to walk down hill and threw peoples millet fields until noon. Even though it was not hot season, in the direct sun between the hours of 12-3 can still reach well over 100 degrees, so every day we took our naps, eat lunch, and rested the feet. After already walking about 8 miles that day we get to a cliff and Adjoro points up and says "We will be sleeping up there in the cliffs that night" AHH!!! My feet were already killing me, i felt like i was going to die, walking on flat land, now i have to hike up another hour STRAIGHT UP!!! Thank God Adjoro found me a local Malian man who helped pull me up and he took my heavy bag. Now when I say that this man, also named Adjoro, pulled me I literally mean he pulled me up. We walked hand in hand, him about a pace or two in front of me and he would pull my arm. But we made it to the campsite and there was warm water to bath and mattresses to sleep on and food was on the fire! I wish i could say i slept well that night but the truth was that there was a lot of "commotion" going on in the village. There was signing and dancing, along with loud clapping of the hands. Normally I probably wouldn't have even noticed this but for some reason i kept thinking that the village was doing human sacrifices (the Dogon people are more traditional animists as opposed to the rest of Mali which is Muslum). Oh course there was no human sacrifices going on and in the morning I found out that the local teenagers, after all the daily chores are finished have dance parties around villages to encourage kids from doing drugs.

Hike, Day Two

After a terribles night sleep i was refreshed and ready to start the next days hike. I knew we were going up the rest of the mountain and then back down. I was dreading the up, but very much looking forward to the down part of the day. I was also relieved to see Adjoro, my porter, waiting to help me up. On the way up its just steps of wobbly rocks and having an extra person (who is highly skilled at balancing these rocks) saved my knees from meeting those cold hard rocks several times.

At the top, there was a breathtaking view of the valley that we walked the day before. It gave a true sense of accomplishment. However the sun was rising and we had a long day ahead of us still so we had to keep moving. Now this day was really going to show me what I was made of. I never thought i had a fear of heights but on day two i think a fear was born. While on the top of the mountain there are endlessly deep crevasses in which you have to cross a bridge made out of sticks and rocks (I KID YOU NOT). In order to continue i had to have Adjoro, the porter, and Mark take my hands and push/pull me arcoss. I say a fear was born because if i fell I was at LEAST 17 hours from a hospital which here, means curtain death. (Sorry Mom) Needless to say, I can only write this seeing as I survived, so lets not focus on that.

After going up and over the mountain it was time for the going down, this is the part that I always thought was the easiest. Boy was i wrong! Remember how i was saying there are countless crevasses, well now i had to climb down one! Now mind you, I'm a girl from Ohio, we don't do this kind of thing... EVER! And my two California friends who did this kind of thing every weekend I was with thought I was hilarious. But the only way to move was forward, so Adjoro and Adjoro helped guide me into the crevass and down a very narrow rickety handmade latter. Now remember I survived!

Inside the crevasse there was a man made dame that gathered rain water so a local village would be able to get water 10 months a year and the other two months a year the women and girls would take a 5 1/2 gallon bucket painstakingly down the cliffs to the well and carry these buckets back up to their homes without spilling a drop.

I had to say goodbye to Adjoro, my porter at lunch. I thanked him profusely for his services, and making sure i stayed alive. I paid him the equivalent of $3.00 and he merrily went back up and over the mountain to his house.

Hike, Day Three

On the start of the third and final day i was more rested but my body felt like it was dying. Within two days we had walked over 20 miles in triple digit heat up and down mountains.

At one point Adjoro, the guide, pointed out a village in the mountain, barley noticeable and was explaining that now the more remote cliff villages are used as burial grounds. If looking in the exact spot you can see the sun-bleached bones of the dead overflowing from long ago abandoned houses. Men scale up the cliff attaching ropes and pull the dead bodies into place. This may sound morbid, but when you live on rock... you can't bury.

After lunch we had to climb the 1,000 steps back up to Sanga where we started the hike two and a half days earlier. We are back on the climbing wobbly steps and this time i was more tired and didn't have Adjoro my porter to help me. Mark was so nice and took my hand and walked with me up the steps. To my surprise it only took about an hour and a half to make it up with several small breaks

This three day hike was one of the hardest yet most rewarding experiences of my life. I struggled, fighting off fatigue and dehydration but for me, this was only a three-day mini-weekend. The villages that we walked threw live these lives day in and day out, living in one of the host in-hospitable environments i have ever seen.

Photos from the 50th Parade

2010-10-09T10:12:00.002-04:00

Cencen helping me study for the GRE... we are going to ace it!

Traditional Dogon dancers in the Parade

The "Meat Cutters Association" in the Parade

Some photos from Eid ul-Fitr

2010-10-09T09:59:00.006-04:00

Mark and I with the Imam of Madiama (Marks village) and some of Fakoro's family members

Myself and Mark (in our matching Eid ul-Fitr outfits) and Fakoro, Marks co-worker

A traditional Fulani woman selling fresh cows milk from a gord on top of her head inside of Marks compound

Eid ul-Fitr (end of Ramadan)

2010-10-05T14:18:00.001-04:00

This year for the large holiday of the End of Ramadan I went out to Marks village to celebrate. Most Islamic (if not all) are lunar based so you don’t know when Ramadan is ending until the night before.

I cheated and looked up on line when the experts were speculating and used that to determine when to go out to Marks. Since I didn’t know a lot about Ramadan before living in an Islamic country let me give you some key notes.

-Fast from sun up to sun down (4:30 wake up to eat and drink water, and break fast around 6:45pm)
-Give thanks to Allah for another year of life
-If you miss a day of fasting you have to make it up before the next year
-Breastfeeding/pregnant women, children under 14 and people who are sick do not fast
-The month of fasting is about 28 days

The first morning I was there Marks Malian co-worker comes over early and tells us today is the grand celebration, we need to hurry and go to the mosque. Once we finished scarfing down our breakfast of peanut butter and plantain sandwiches we got dressed and went over to the mosque.

I was always told that in my Guinea village because I was a women I couldn’t enter the mosque and because I am Christian I am not allowed in the compound. I always respected that and sat outside for the large religious ceremonies waiting for everyone to finish and I would greet them as they came out. So to my surprise when Mark and I got to the mosque we were invited in. We asked if it was ok since we both aren’t Muslim and I’m female. They said to go in. We stood in the far back courtyard with our backs on the mud wall. It was so awkward. I was the ONLY woman inside or so I initially thought. After a while I heard a cough from behind and saw a small door and peeked in to my delight found women! I felt better but still awkward. I was also holding a giant bag of jelly bean to hand out to the kids after prayer too. (Thanks Aunt Betty)

Once prayer was over and all of the men started to leave the mosque we meet up with Fakoro, Marks co-worker again he helped us find our shoes and navigate over to the Imams house for more blessings. Once we were blessed again the three of us started to walk around a great people in the village. Each one wanted us to eat too. The kids were going crazy over the jelly beans. They all wanted to know what flavor it was going to be.

Around mid afternoon it started to look like rain so the three of us went back to Marks house and made tea over charcoal in this living room. The rain didn’t let up until late which is when we had to start making dinner.

The festivities were cut short by the rain but it was a good day. I have always wanted to go into a mud mosque and I finally got my chance.

The Cinquant Anni Celebration

2010-10-05T14:13:00.003-04:00

The Cinquantetheure Celebration

On September 22, 2010, Mali celebrated its 50th anniversary as a country. Back in 1960 while America was all about free love and worshiping the Beatles (MOM!), Mali was transitioning from the French colonialist power to become an independent nation.

Over the past 50 years Mali has had three presidents, paved several road spanning large parts of the country, and had the Chinese donate several hydro electric dams providing electricity 24/7 ish for several of its largest towns. However, Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world. Children suffer from malnutrition, clean water is hard if not impossible to find in most villages, and diseases go un-treated because medication is too expensive. Now I don’t mean to sound like a Debby Downer here because Malians are some of the over all happiest people I’ve ever meet. You will never hear someone complaining about having to walk across town to get water from the pump or women slumped over a charcoal fire preparing food for four hours a day. The kids will run around with their swollen bellies playing games in their free time. And the men at the end of the day will sit under trees making tea and talking about just about anything.

I was recently reflecting on the state of development here in Mali, it is years ahead of Guinea but that’s not saying a lot in the grand scheme of things. The thing that really got me thinking was how the Malian government spent some obscene amount on the celebration for Bamako (the capital). There were parades, marathon runs, jet fly overs and parachuter’s jumping out of planes. Also you can’t forget all the repairs that the city did trying to snazzy things up so the city looked good for the celebration. Now I’m all for cleaning up the streets but I find it ironic that this country is suffering from countless poverty stricken problems and can justify sending fighter jets all around the country to celebrate their independence.

All of this said, I did have a great time at the Segou parade. Everyone and their brother was there by ten in the morning to watch every single association walk down the street. There were groups of farmers holding corn/millet stalks, bakers with break, butchers with meat hanging off a truck (I couldn’t even make this up if I tried), and school children with matching t-shirts. And the grand finally of the parade there was the jet fly over. It was a dramatic ending to the parade indeed.

A very special thanks to:
-Mom and Dad
-Aunt Betty and Uncle Dan
-Grandma and Gramps
-Aunt Bonnie, Uncle Wes, and Kyle
-Aunt Mary and Uncle John

For all the birthday wishes and gifts. Thank you so much!

I bought a Refrigerator

2010-08-27T12:37:00.002-04:00

Well everyone, i finally broke down and bought a refrigerator. Its amazing. I hadn't bough one at first since they are expensive but i saved my money and got it.

Also a big motivator was the mini-hot season coming up again where the temperatures will raise again and ice cold water at my becking call was just worth forking over some cash.

So the good news is you can now send me "Refrigerate After Opening" stuff, like cheeses, or well anything that requires refrigeration.

Its a mini-fridge about waist hight with a freezer on top, i'm so looking forward to filling it with tons of goodies!!

I got my wallet stolen

2010-08-27T11:51:00.002-04:00

Three days ago, i was sitting at the bus station waiting for Marks bus to arrive/leave when i noticed my wallet was missing out of my purse. I had my purse sitting next to me and when Marks bus arrived i checked my bag and realized it was missing!

Generally Mali is a very safe country and petty theft isn't a problem but its Ramadon and money is short all around... It happens I guess. I had about 15,000 CFA ($30), my ID card, and my bank card in my wallet so i was more concerned about those. I went and talked to the staff of the bus company while Mark called Peace Corps asking what we should do. The bus staff wasn't helpful at all and just said there were too many people to do anything and that i should just go to the police in town. Basically that is what the Peace Corps staff said too.

On the walk out we looked all over for my wallet with the thought that someone would have just taken the money and thrown the rest out. But we found nothing...

At the police station we had to declare my wallet stolen and write out a report... in french. When we were done writing out the report then we had to take it to the secretary who was supposed to do something with it. Well the secretary said she didn't need anything and we were done with her and we should go over to the bank to tell them my card was lost.

So we taxi down to the bank and find someone to report my card missing to. He asks if we had went to the police and i show him the paper we got for declaring my wallet missing. He tells me its not the right paper and we need to go back to the police and get something else. I ask if there is anything he can do now and he just looked up my account info and told me to finish with the police and come back the next day.

So we get back in a taxi, oh i forgot to mention it was POURing down rain during most of this, and go back to the police station. The secretary now is saying that we need to go to the Treasury office to get a stamp, come back and let her sign something.

We leave, get in another taxi, and try to find the treasury office. After searching for a while we find the office and it looks closed. But as we are walking up a window flys open and a nice malien man says he is happy to stay and help us. So i tell him what i need and he is telling us all about the Malien hospitality. Then he asks why i need this stamp and i tell him my wallet was stolen and i need to declare my bank card missing. He was shocked and apologized.

So then we walked back to the police station and waited for the secretary to fill out and sign a paper, put the stamp on and charge us a $2 fee. By this time it was past 5 and since its Ramadon the bank was already closed. So at this point we called it a day.

We were tired, frustrated, and soaking wet.

The next day we got up and went to the bank. Sat there for several hours waiting for a new card to be issued and was able to take out money.

So everything work out fine and everything is now settled. Now please don't think that Mali is a bad place or anything... Remember, this could have happened anywhere!

Some old photos

2010-08-23T16:43:00.005-04:00

So here are some old photos that i haven't posted that I thought you guys would enjoy seeing!

(Your one and only plowing a millet field)

(Myself in front of a GIANT termite mound on a walk into the bush)

(Zame or Riz au Gras, my all time favorite African dish)

(A bone yard... like in Lion King... outside of Marks village where all of the large animals are sent to die)

Flight over Segou

2010-08-23T13:51:00.007-04:00

Another part of my amazing birthday was going up in a little plane and flying around over Segou. I have a German military friend who lives here in Segou that owns a private little plane that he will take people up for a small fee. So i contacted him a few weeks ago and set up to fly on my birthday weekend.

It is a private airstrip... he and one other guy are the only ones how know how to fly a plane in all of segou and he owns the only plane in the entire city of Segou. So Gerhard, the German guy picks Mark and I up and takes us out there, checks all of the things and I load in for my flight.

It was a really small, two seater plane. I really don't know how to explain how amazing it was so here are some of my photos.

(Me getting ready)

(Take off)

(The Niger River)

(Downtown Segou where women go to do their laundry in the river and dry in on the river banks)

(Segou!)

An amazing birthday in Mali

2010-08-23T13:31:00.004-04:00

Happy 24th birthday to me!

Mark came into town on my birthday. On the morning of the 19th we got up, made breakfast burritos (Mmmmm!), went and made a cheesecake (from a Pilsbury box), and went to the pool. My birthday was a surprisingly sunny day so the water felt so good and it didn't even rain. At the pool some other peace corps people meet us for a beer and slish splashed in the pool with us.

(The pool we swim at)

Around 5:30 Mark and I started to clean up because we wanted to go and watch the sun set at the Italian restaurant right on the river. Because it was a picture perfect day, the sunset was incredible but too short.

(Sunset on the Niger River)

And then, there was no gas for the restaurant to cook so all they could make was salads. I didn't want salad so the two of us went over to the "Shack" a local "upscale" malien restaurant that i love and had a nice dinner there and taxied back home and ate the cheesecake we had prepared that morning.

Overall it was an amazing birthday... but it got better (please read Flight over Segou)

Bless the rains down in Africa

2010-08-23T13:09:00.006-04:00

My favorite time of year in Africa has arrived. The rains have come, allowing people to start their rainy season harvests, the markets are filled with good veggies now and most importantly, IT HAS COOLED OFF!

Typically here in Mali the rains are not as frequent as they were in Guinea but we are still getting rain about two to three times a week where in guinea it was two or three times a day.

(Main national highway completely washed out by an over flooded highway)
When the rains come, the streets turn to rivers and city life practicly stops until the rivers become roads again.

Biking has become interesting... I'm always muddy and have to do laundry more than ever. But the sun shine is so unpredictable it is near impossible. One day i looked outside and saw blue skys for miles, started laundry and when i was about halfway finished it was pouring for the rest of the day...

Also, I'm lucky enough to live in a concrete house but many people (Maliens as well as Peace Corps Volunteers) live in mud houses. When the rains come so heavily so often, without time for the mud to dry out, the mud becomes weak. And yes the houses will crumble. Along the older section of Segou, where there is the highest concentration of mud housing, walls and roofs have been falling left and right. There has also been a PC Volunteer who had his house fall with the rains.

But i will take the african rains over the sweltering heat any day!

Surprise… Here’s a cat!

2010-08-11T13:41:00.004-04:00

Surprise… Here’s a cat!

While I was out at Mark’s house one morning we woke up, started making breakfast and when his neighbor came over to greet the day to us he pointed out four baby kittens in Marks compound. Someone knew that mark had a cat that he took care of well and thought he would like four more to take care of.

Of course Mark doesn’t want four kittens plus his cat so we gave them some milk and started looking for some homes. We found two people who said they would take one cat each which left two kittens. One kitten is very small, definitely the runt of the litter and is too small to give away and the other was so cute and so playful that I just had to take him. So I now am a cat owner. Who would have thought? I always thought of myself as a dog person, but we will test out the cat thing for a while.

So this is Cεncεn, as best as I can tell it’s a boy. Maybe about 8-9 weeks old. Don’t worry when he gets a little older I will have the vet come out to get his rabies shot. Also there is a huge sand pile in front of my house that I steal/barrow a handful and use as cat litter. Now, Cεncεn eats smoked, dried fish and milk. The fish is a new thing so he is still getting used to it.

Also, Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for the package. I loved the birthday card, and of course GRANDMA CRACKERS!!!!!!! And Aunt Mary & Uncle John thank you for the birthday card. I opened it early but enjoyed the card.

You can take the girl out of the village, but you sure can’t take the village out of the girl

2010-08-11T12:53:00.004-04:00

You can take the girl out of the village, but you sure can’t take the village out of the girl

Every few weeks or so I like to go out to Marks village, Madiama, for a few days. Clear my head of the “city” life, have a chance to just sit around the tea set and joke around. I was starting to feel the anxiety that builds up with having a work schedule so I took a week off and went out to visit the village.

First off, I received a lot of questions while I was back home about how I travel around the country. Public transport can very from company to company and bus to bus. I usually take Bittar, I’ve never had major problems with them and they are only about an hour late most of the time. I chose Bittar again this day and had problems the entire way. I go to the bus station about 45 minutes before the bus is supposed to be there; 11:30am, bought my ticket and batted flies. They don’t announce busses when they come in so you have to rush up to the bus and find out where that bus is going. Every bus that came by I would jump up and ask, hoping to hear Mopti the direction of where I was going. Around 2:30 pm my bus just pulls in. I run up, give the man my ticket and go to jump on the bus but am pushed off by the entire bus load of people. Normally bus stops are around 2-5 minutes, so I thought that is what it would be. I was wrong! We had to fix not one, not two but THREE TIRES! That is never a good sign!

Finaly around 3:00 we are off. I push my way on and find a nice old man to sit next to from Timbuktou. I have a general rule I like to abide when bussing alone. Buy candy or a treat for the person next to you so they will watch out for you and make sure you don’t get left somewhere. I don’t think my rule has ever saved my butt, but I don’t ever want it to come to not being polite that I get left somewhere.

We truck along for a bit and then stop, in the middle of the bush. Nothing around us, not even a latrine to pee in. Another tire has broken something or other. I’m not to keen on my mechanical French terms so I didn’t understand a lot. But I go under the big mango tree and sit with my new friend. We sit and wait for 45 minutes and then after a few fights (that I stayed away from) we got back on the bus.

Mark was expecting me around 5 and I wasn’t even halfway there by five. We went without problems until I was going to get off. The bus driver jokingly didn’t want to let me off in the village he wanted me to continue just until the city. I convinced him I was in fact getting off in Madiama and it sure helped that I had a fan club of Marks friends there to pick me up. An easy 5 hour trip can shortly run into a 9 hour day from hell.

Marks village is a small mud village. Everything, or at least almost everything is made of mud. Its amazing what you can do with mud. We spent the first day just walking around and making sure I said hello to the village chief and town mayor, the lady that is in charge of the watering pump and the tailor. It’s a great feeling to be welcomed back into a village, I don’t get that in Segou.

I also spent two days learning how to make rice and sauce. Here is a recipe for all of you daring cooks out there. This is one of the best dishes here in Mali.

Peanut Sauce
5-6 small onions, chopped
5-6 small tomatoes
3-4 small eggplants
2-3 globs of peanut butter
1 cube Maggi
salt and pepper to taste
optional--fish or meat, cooked well
prior to adding
potatoes, ignames, or manioc, boiled
separately until soft before adding
Boil 2-3 cups of water, add eggplant and
cook. Add peanut butter. Stir frequently
until peanut butter is fully blended, adding
more water if necessary. Add onions,
tomatoes, Maggi, salt, pepper, and other
desired vegetables. Continue boiling until
sauce becomes thick and the oil from the
peanut butter surfaces abundantly. Keep
stirring over low heat. Serve sauce over
rice.

Mark and I also went out to Nericoro, a neighboring village where Mark is working with his community to build a school and finance the desks and chairs. It was about three kilometers out of town so we woke up very early, walked out there and Mark showed me the school. It only took about five minutes to see the school since there is no roof or floors right now. Then we walked about a quarter of the way back with a herd of sheep. We also climbed giant termite hills and a bayobob tree. And the final thing we did on our walk back was help plow a field.

Its rainy season which means everyone is out in the fields all day. We saw a great opportunity to help a man out. A child was leading two cows/oxen (I don’t know how to tell the difference) and an old man working the plow. Mark jumped in and grabbed the plow and his line was very crooked. I thought I could do better than that so I took over. My line was stick straight, however my line ended up half way to China. Lord knows I don’t know how to plow a field but I think with a little more practice I could be an amazing plow women.

The other big thing that I did “au village” was markets. Markets are a once a week highlight for villagers. It’s the day where everyone comes out to buy and sell their livestock, produce, or other products. We went to Sofara, a larger town about 45 minutes away. They have ice and bread!

Weirdest Day Ever

2010-08-10T14:23:00.003-04:00

Weirdest Day Ever

A couple of Fridays ago, I woke up, brushed my teeth and went into work like any normal day. As soon as I got into work my boss told me we are going out. He was sick and tired of just sitting around all day. We were going to hit the ground running that day.

We ride over to the market area and then Diarra (my boss) wants me to go and meet his Tae Kwon Do master. So he carts me over to his master’s house to introduce me. We sit, watch some bad music videos and then France 24 News. I keep thinking we are going to leave any minute but we never do. More and more little kids in Tae Kwon Do outfits keep coming in and soon after a dance party breaks out. Diarra uses his cell phone to DJ, I hand out candy to motivate the kids to dance.

After sitting in the Tae Kwon Do Master’s house for three hours I finally ask Diarra, “What are we waiting on?” He keeps telling me to just wait, something will happen soon. About five music videos later I start to hear honking moto horns coming our way. Usually honking moto horns in processions is saved for marriages and I didn’t think there would be a wedding on a Friday morning. But sure enough I was wrong. The honking stopped and the once empty living room filled up with about 100+ Maliens dressed for a wedding.

I try to search out Diarra but I’m swarmed by the photographer and bride party. Mind you I didn’t know the bride (or groom for that matter) let alone I didn’t even know there was a wedding going on. But I smile nicely for the photos because I know that one day the will decorate some wall and grandchildren will be told about how I was once friends with a Toubabou.

Then it got even weirder. Suddenly everyone leaves, leaving Diarra, the master and I alone in this living room. I get swept away by the master into the gym where the tae kwon do classes are held and then the wedding party enters the gym. The bride and groom put on the Tae Kwon Do outfits over their wedding gear. We take a few more photos and then everyone leaves. So there I am, alone thinking, what just happened?

Hammock Study Time

2010-07-28T06:23:00.002-04:00

When i was back in America i wanted to look for a hammock. I spend a lot of time reading and a nice hammock under a shaddy tree would be nice i thought. Well i just simply ran out of time to look in America, but i knew Mark had one that was made in Guinea. I thought maybe i could find someone who could use his as a model and make me one here.

Mark and I drag his hammock down to the people who weave thick plastic rope to medal frames to make chairs. I thought its the same idea and they should be able to make it. Well they loved the hammock but said there is no way they can make it. BOO, i really wanted my hammock!

After the disapointing meeting with the chair weavers we had to go to the market and get some stuff. Mark was talking to some Malien guy and ended up asking about hammock. And the guy knew where they sold them in the market. The nice man, i think his name was Coulibally, went and got two differnt types of hammocks to show us while we sat under his hanger filled with childrens clothing. I ended up getting a hammock from him for about 4,000 CFA or $8.oo, found some nice thick rope and took it home to hang.

On my balcony, the hammock is entirly shaded from the sun by two large mango trees creating a nice, relaxing area. Since i have recently decided that I will be taking the GRE soon i have designated this hammock as my study hammock. I hope using the hammock as motivation to study will increase my GRE score so i can get into a good school, find a good job and retire by 40. I have high hopes for this hammock i think!

Plumbing problems

2010-07-28T06:06:00.002-04:00

When i got back from my month long America vacation i came back to a house where my toilette wasn't working. Great, i thought. So i had to talk to my host dad and tell him it wasn't working so he could call someone to come out and have it fixed. He knew someone who could fix it, so he called and said he would be there the next day.

So, the next day Mark and I wait all day for the plumber to come and fix the problem. Well like a Malien he comes at 4:30 in the afternoon. I had spent HOURS waiting but finally he was there. It took him about 3 minutes to fix the lever thing that tells the water when to stop running. He told me "Pull it like a baby". My toilette is the pull kind where there is a pull thing on top of it that you lift to flush (different that American toilettes). So he made me practice a few times in front of him to make sure i wouldn't brake it again.

The toilette is all fixed and working like a charm now. BUT, two days after this, Mark and I are coming back from pizza night at one of the hotels. Our feet are muddy from the walk back, so we get back to my apartment at about 11pm and go to wash our feet when the faucet breaks. It is gushing water everywhere. I grab buckets and those start overflowing. Mark is trying to fix the faucet with no luck. After about 5 minutes of failed fixing we run outside to find someone to turn off the water to my house. By this time its past 11:30 and there is noone up in my compound. But there were voices outside so Mark runs over and says something along the lines of "The water is running and wont stop" in Bambara to the men. Thank god, one of the men there was from my compound and knew what to do. He also knew where the water line was for my house. BUT, there was a lock on the box to turn off the water. So he had to go and wake my host dad, find the keys and start looking for the key. No luck finding the key, of course. So we had to smash the lock and turn off the water. Host pappa said that he would call the plumber again in the morning.

The next day i had to wait, again, for the plumber to come. But i thought since he came late afternoon the last time, he could come about the same time again. Well at 5:30 pm still no word from the plumber so i went to ask host dad what the deal was. He said that the guy would be here by 4. I told him that it was an hour and a half past 4. So we tried to call the plumber but his phone was off. Mind you, i haven't had water in my apartment for over 17 hours. I wanted to take a shower and was getting nervous that the plumber wasn't comeing. At 6:15 i got a "conk conk" on my door and it was the plumber. This time it only took him about 30 seconds to fix the problem and then procceded to ask me for the baseball hat sitting on my coffee table. I gave him the hat and he went on his merry way.

America

2010-07-28T05:54:00.004-04:00

When i was back home in America there were several things that i noticed that had changed. Now, given that i had been out of "civilization" for so long part of it might have been just me changing as well.

The first thing i noticed when i got off the plane, green. In the dessert in hot season, there is no color other than sand. Seeing all of the trees and grass was mind blowing. Another thing i noticed, the beds are so comfy. I stayed in plenty of differnt beds in many cities while home and each and every one was delightful! In Guinea i slept on a straw mattress and in Mali i have a cotton mattress, so a real boxspring and mattress american style was like sleeping on a cloud!

This may seem weird but the toilette paper is so much softer in America. Also, the food portions are HUGE! I went to the cheesecake factory with some friends in Dayton and my salad could have fed a family of 5 in Mali easily!

The next big thing i noticed, everyone is ALWAYS on their cell phones. It seemed like every ten minutes peoples phones were buzzing. And also, people just text like crazy. Do people even talk on the phone anymore?

The last thing that i noticed was Americans are more hospitable than i remember. I was welcomed with open arms all around the country. People asked questions about my life and were generally interested in things i had to say. They let me sleep in their house and eat their food without asking for a thing.

America part 1

2010-07-21T12:08:00.002-04:00

As you all know, for the month of June and into July I was able to go home for a little well deserved R&R. I was lucky enough to get around and be able to visit a lot of people however not everyone. I thought i would share some of the reoccurring questions.

1. What is the weather like in Mali?
Easy, hot. I know i complain a lot about the heat but really, its at least 120 everyday during the hot season. However there is the rainy season which is a big sigh of relief when the temp drops to about 95-100. The third and final season is cold season, which entails temperature in the low low 80's.

2. What do you eat?
A lot of fruits and veggies. In my daily market i can get lettuce, cucumbers, onions, potatoes, carrots, green peppers, coconuts, bananas, oranges, mangoes, guavas, pineapple, apples, and grapefruits all depending on the season. Also since i'm in a city i have restaurant choices. There is a (real) Italian restaurant, a togolease restaurant that has amazing rice and sauce, and "the shack". Which is literally a grass shack that has amazing food at good prices. And last but certainly not least, American food when people are so generous to send some.

3. What do you do all day?
I wake up and bike to work. I usually stay at work from 8-12 and then pass by the daily market for lunch/dinner. Bike back home and put all the veggies in bleach water to kill all the gross germs and then make whatever lunch is going to be. Sit in my new hammock and read/nap for a bit and then go out and say hello to a lot of my malien friends. Usually drink some tea. But don't forget i have to hand wash all of my cloths and dishes. So things take a lot longer to do here.

4.How do you do it?
I really don't know. Some days are harder than others but you just kind of wake up, look around and remember life isn't all that bad.

5. Do you like it?
In case you can't tell, I love it here. The people are amazing and the problems really just kind of disappear. When the water cuts out... you just wait. When your bus doesn't leave on time... you just wait. Its a whole different lifestyle here.

I'm going to try to update my blog more in the coming days. I have lots of new stories and adventures that i would love to share with everyone.

Elephants

2010-05-17T12:46:00.004-04:00

After a nightmarish trip from Segou to Hombori, a 10 hour bus ride several volunteers and I finally made it to our destination around 5 am to start our weekend of elephant looking. Lelele, our guide was waiting for us at the side of the road to take us to our “hotel”. Around two o’clock the next afternoon myself and seven other volunteers set off in a 4x4, into the desert on an expedition to find elephants.

The elephants in Mali are migratory, meaning they move from watering hole to watering hole between Mali and Burkina Faso depending on the time of year. Going in May meant that the elephants were about 4 hours outside of Hombori on very bad, unpaved goat path. After being shaken and stirred over the bumps and into the valleys we started to see elephant footprints and droppings. Our driver kept asking random nomad herders we saw if they had seen the elephants recently, giving us minor hope that they were close.

We came upon a massive lake and across the way, ELEPHANTS!!! Herds and herds of elephants right as the sun was going down. A truly breathtaking scene. Once we had finished taking some photos, Lelele wanted to get closer. So we climbed back into the 4x4 and drove closer. We had to jump out at a certain point, not wanting to startle the elephants with the car and proceeded closer on foot. At that point, the car just pulls away, leaving us exposed to the MASIVE elephants, latterly surrounding us. Lelele said the driver was too scared to be that close to the elephants and drove off to seek safer ground.

Us, being the brave (and potentially naive) Americans walked closer. The sun was setting and we needed to set up camp before sun down so we went back to the 4x4 and drove looking for a safe distance place to set up camp in the middle of an elephant breeding zone. We set up camp, Lelele had prepared couscous and chicken for us, so we devoured that and tried to cuddle up in the sand watching the shooting stars overhead.

I fell asleep no problem and woke up with Yik, another volunteer standing over me, nervously looking off into the distance. I sleepily asked what was he doing and he said, “there is something big out there, I think I’m going to wake Lelele.” Lelele was woken and he just told us it was some elephants coming to check out our camp site, no big deal so he relit the fire and said all was fine. I got up and went to the bathroom and when I was coming back there was a HUGE grunt that sounded about four feet away. Knowing my cat like abilities I dove into the 4x4 seeking shelter (along with Molly, another volunteer) at this point Lelele declared this site unsafe and quickly threw everything into the car and said we gots to go. It took us about 30 seconds to tear down our site (grass mats on the ground) and hit the “road” seeking safer land.

At camp site number two the sand was softer, the elephants further away and I fell asleep like a champ. Slept right until sunup. In the morning Lelele told us last night at camp site number 2 we were surrounded by jackals looking for food. Comforting, almost got squished by elephants and eaten by jackals all in one night. After breakfast we loaded up the car with less urgency and drove back to camp site number one to see how far the elephants really were from where we were sleeping. Turns out they were about 50 meters from where we were sleeping. Gulp, a little too close for comfort.

We went back over to the lake to see if the elephants were still there, drinking and bathing for the day but they had wondered into the bush already. Once the elephants enter the bush it is too dangerous for us to enter so we sadly had to call it a day and start our long, bumpy trip back to Hombori.

Overall, seeing the elephants was amazing and sleeping in the desert a once in a life time thing (hopefully), a great vacation I would highly recommend to anyone. Enjoy the photos!

Climbing the sand dunes

2010-05-17T12:34:00.003-04:00

Another adventure that we went on while on vacation in Hombori was climbing the sand dunes. Right on the edge of town, a 40 minute walk the desert starts with these incredibly high sand dunes. Paul told us to were good shoes for the hike and also we would want them for the sand. Well all I had was a good pair of hiking sandals (Keens) I thought that would be good enough.

The 40 minute walk was relatively painless despite all of the prickers that stabbed me. Once we got to the sand, which is when it got hard. Your feet just sink and my sandals filled with sand making it so that every time I lifted my leg, I felt like I was lifting half the dune with me. I finally took off my sandals and enjoyed the scolding hot sand between my toes. We played in the sand for a long time, but the sun was rising and the day was getting too hot to stick around.

The walk back felt like a million years. By 10:30 it was most likely 115 degrees and not to mention we were almost all out of water with a 40 minute walk ahead of us. Needless to say, it was the longest walk of my life. So hot, so far, so dehydrated! Some how or another we all made it back to civilization, i.e. the bar to find cold pop and warm water waiting for us. In the first 15 minutes back, between the five of us, we drank 8 liters of water and 6 Cokes. For the rest of the day we sat at the bar, drinking water and pop until the sun went down enough to walk back the 1/8 of a mile back to the hotel.

I got pulled over (it sounds worse than it really was)

2010-05-02T07:15:00.000-04:00

Last night I was riding my bike with two fellow Peace Corps volunteers, (going to get pizza!!) when at the only stop sign in Segou we got pulled over. ON OUR BIKES! The police officer starts yelling in Bambara, so I just smile and nod having no idea what is going on. He makes us get off our bikes and walk them to the police station to be held. Our violation, not having a flashlight attached to our bike. First off, we were on a well lit street. Second, it wasn’t yet dark enough to require a light. Third, we were racially profiled (being white we are assumed to have tons of money), none of the other biking Malians were pulled over for not having a flashlight.

So the three of us calmly walk our bikes over to the station where the officer puts our bike in a graveyard of collected motorcycles. We ask to talk to the chief on duty and I call our safety and security officer for Peace Corps. I explain the situation to him, and he talks to the chief of police over the phone. As soon as the phone is handed back to me, the chief asks for our names, we all give our Malian names. Some bean jokes (bean jokes are a way to joke with people, eating beans = farting, hilarious in all cultures) were exchanged and they told us to walk our bikes back home and find some flashlights. A bana (Finished).

We get our bikes back, thank the officers kindly for letting us go so quickly and walk a few blocks past the intersection where we were pulled over, find our flashlights (you NEVER go anywhere with out at least one flashlight) and bike to the hotel where the pizza is, have a few drinks, enjoy the luxury of pizza and laugh at our luck.

That is the story of my one and only moving violation.

Boat ride on the Niger

2010-04-28T09:05:00.009-04:00

Over the weekend some friends of mine went on a peroge ride. Peroges are the flat bottom river boats that take you across the Niger River. Here are some photos from my adventure! Enjoy!!

Leaving Segou on the boat ride

Me, on a boat

Boat traffic

Mark and I on a boat

Cows at the river

Women doing dishes and laundry in the river

Our boat taking on water

A woman carrying two pots on her head

Some babies eating rice with their hands

A hungry hungry (fake) hippo

You’re getting a tattoo

2010-04-28T08:45:00.002-04:00

The other day at work, my co-worker, Fatimata, informed me that she had called someone to come into work and give me a tattoo. Then she proceeded to tell me not to be scared, it will make me look beautiful. I was a little apprehensive because here the word tattoo can be one of two things, a permanent never coming off tattoo or henna.

Fatimata had just had henna done on her hands, so I was hoping it was that. I told myself not to freak out until I saw what was going on, since I’m always just a little out of the loop with the language barrier.

So I sat, waiting for this lady to show up, anticipating what was going to happen. About 2 hours late, she shows up. She sits down next to me, grabs my hand and starts taping off sections. Once the pieces of medical tape were cut, I knew it was henna. HUGE sigh of relief!

So, she cut long strips of medical tape into thin bits and then laid down the tape on my hand, (then came the scary part) she took a straight razor and cut the tape on my hand. Now call me old fashion, but I get a little nervous whenever someone is around my skin with a straight razor so this part took forever. However, I must say she was very gentile with me; she only cut the tape (no skin!).

Traditionally henna is only done on married women, where they write the new last name of the women on her hand so everyone knows she is married. I however was told I could pull off henna even though I’m not married. My “family name” here in Mali is Keita so, keeping with tradition they wanted to spell out Keita on my hand. Now this woman was illiterate meaning she had no idea how to spell Keita or what it even should look like to write. So someone wrote it out on a piece of paper, showed it to her and then had to explain how to write it for her. This was a little nerve racking, I didn’t want Keita to become Kcltn. I few little lines makes all the difference. Thankfully things turned out well in the spelling department.

Once my hand was all taped up we spread on the henna mixture. Henna is a powder mixed with water to make a paste that after left on the skin for an hour turns the skin red. There is another step that by mixing something that looked like sugar and smelled really bad with wood ashes and water and applied will make the red henna turn black. So that is what I did. I had to sit for TWO HOURS with my left hand in a black plastic bag, one hour for the red color and another for the black. But when it all came off it looked good!

I’m writing this post about two weeks after the henna/tattoo day at work and sadly all of the henna is already gone. So don’t worry, it wasn’t a tattoo!

Frustrations, just another part of life

2010-03-29T10:47:00.005-04:00

I got up early the other day to go to the bank since i was BROKE! Its a three mile trip one way so i got up an hour before the bank opened to bike out there and get in line early. Well, i get there about 7:35 to find the door still locked... Odd. The guard just looks at me and says "The banks closed for the holiday" I had no idea it was a holiday so I ask, what holiday. He tells me the 26th of March, duhh! I told him i didn't know the 26th of March was a holiday and he just tells me "Silly white girl, of course its a holiday. The bank opens at 8 tomorrow."

So i have to bike the 3 miles back home, still broke and frustrated. Somehow i had to survive on $0.12 for the day. Street food for me.

The next day, Saturday, i woke up early and made the same 3 mile trek out to the bank, AGAIN! This time i was greeted by 100 Malians wanting to withdraw money too. I was there, at the bank at 7:35 again and this time i surely wasn't the first one there. I went and pulled my number ticket and i was literally 100 people behind. AHHH, not an ideal way to spend a Saturday morning. But at least there is air conditioning, cold water, and i had a fully charged iPod in my pocket. I sat there for 4 hours. 4 HOURS!!! I don't know how it takes people so long to go to the counter, ask for money, count the money and sign a piece of paper?

The bank shuts and locks the doors at 11 and i don't get up to the counter until almost 1. I ask the man how much money i have, he tells me a sum way higher than i thought i had (SCORE!) and i take out what i need for the next month. Done and done. I was at the counter for less than two minutes. Now i got stuck biking back 3 miles in the hottest part of the day...

Every Monday is market day for Segou. So today i had the day off of work and thought I would go to the market and pick up some stuff I needed for my house. I slept in a bit, read a bit of my book and since the market doesn't get going until about 10, I thought I would stop by the Post Office.

Back in Guinea my mail came to my door step once a month. Every first Friday (following the first Monday) of the Month it was my little Christmas Day. However here in Mali I have to go to the post office. I find this a much more dissapointing method. I know I have at least 2 packages coming my way so i have been checking the post office regularly and have left empty handed many times.

Today I found out however that packages come in from Bamako on Tuesday and Thursday of every week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this week I finally get my packages.

Don't let this detur you from sending packages!!! I have NEVER (knock on wood) not gotten a package that was sent to me!

When I was done at the post office I didn't feel like fighting my way threw the crowds in the market so I went to my local boutique (shop) and bought some of the things that I needed.

Its just getting too hot and dusty to do anything anymore. So I biked home and contemplated what color turban I want to buy. (I ultimitly decided on green)

When I got home, it was time to burn my trash and clean my house. You would not believe how much dust i had in my house. I know everyone complains about dust, but we have small dust storms here everyday and when its so hot you have to leave your windows open and the dust just goes everywhere. Its rediculous!! But I cleaned, thats all that matters I guess.

Only 2 more months until i get to come back to America for a VACATION!

Thanks Aunt Mary and Uncle John, just got your letter today!! Loved the Easter Card!

Take Your Daughters To Work Day 2010

2010-03-29T10:12:00.010-04:00

During the week of March 22-25 twenty middle school aged girls came from all around the Segou region for our first annual girl’s conference. The theme of this year’s conference was “Take Your Daughter to Work Day!”

On Monday, we split the girls into 4 groups of 5 girls to go to a work shadow. I was one of the volunteer chaperones to go to my work and interview female working women. Unlucky for me, two women from my work weren’t there that day which left us with one woman to interview. The girls spent several hours the night before preparing questions so passing the four hours was easy. My favorite question:
Jeanne “How do you work all day and manage a family?”
Fatimata “I wake up at 4 to start making breakfast for the morning and preparing rice for lunch. I go to work from 8-4 and then come home, sweep the floors, wash dishes and start making dinner. Then every Sunday, my only day off of work, I do laundry for my three kids, husband and myself.” (Not to mention, laundry is all done with a washboard and bucket, sweeping is with a small hand broom and preparing food is three rocks with burning wood underneath.)

After being here this long, it is still hard to believe that this is possible. These women work sun up to sun down literally everyday with out complaining once in their life. After hearing that, it isn’t hard to see why there isn’t a large work force of women in West Africa. But at the same time it is motivating to hear that it can be done.

Because of the style of the conference, we did some of the conference in local language and then about 2/3 in French. Lucky me, I was the only volunteer who spoke good French and I was also the volunteer that had the highest language skills period so I got stuck running most of the sessions or at least translating sections of sessions. That is something we need to work on for next year. The sessions were supposed to be run in bambara but children are never taught to write in bambara, only French. So as soon as anything needed to be written, class had to switch over to French. But it worked out somehow.

We also had a student panel from the trade school where 2 student secretaries, 1 student accountant, and 2 student public health personnel came to talk to the girls. Tons of questions were asked about what is accounting? What does a secretary do? How many boys are in your classes? Where do you get money for school? How can I become a secretary? These were great questions and with the motivating answers the students gave, the girls started to open their eyes to the idea of continuing school and getting a real job.

We did tons of team building exercises including; human knot, human chair, sharks and minnows, limbo (just for fun), telephone, and name game. These girls have never been exposed to crazy games like this and they were very hesitant to trust us at first, but once we did an example and they started opening up everyone had tons of fun.

Overall the week went very well. Information was traded between the girls and volunteers about women’s roles in the house, work, Africa and America. Hopefully we opened the eyes of some of these girls that there is more to life than marrying at 16, having babies and then running a house (sadly this is normal). We showed them women that can do both, women that go to university and wait for marriage, women who were married that are now widowed or divorced and work for a living.

Playing Telephone

Human Knot

Human Chair

Marketing in Markets, radio stations, bogalon and tea

2010-03-10T04:43:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, my boss asked me what we were going to do for the day. I know in america your boss rairly asks you what you want to do and more tells you what to do but here i have a unique situation. I told Diarra, my boss, I have no idea and reminded him that he is the boss. This went on for a bit and finally i suggested that we go to the market and talk to women about finance.

So Diarra and i go over to one of the three markets in my town. I can tell that he wasn't very comfortable just walking up to people talking about our micro-credit institution so i started us off. I saw some lady sitting infront of a mountain of lettuce and hot peppers and i used my very limited local langue to strike up a conversation. I quickly ran out of things i knew how to say and thankfully Diarra took over and started promoting Miselini (the name of my work) and explaining how micro-credit works. Once he got the hang of it i started wondering around the market. I have learned to love markets, all the bright colors, piles of foods i've never seen and keep saying "I should try that" but rarely do. Once Diarra and I had talked to about six people he said we were done for the day and would return another day. I enjoyed walking around, making friends, and doing a little bit of work.

Then Diarra wanted to go and visit a friend at a radio station, so away we went. Surprisingly his friend was an english teacher too so he was very interested in what ever i had to say, as long as it was in english. I got shown around the station and even got to go on air for a hot second... yikes, me in french on the air. Someone there even told me I look like Alicia Keys with my hair braided. (Ha, last time i checked, i look nothing like her)

Next to the radio station is a bogalon cloth dyeing place that Diarra wanted to show me. Bogalon is using different types of mud from the rivers, bark and leafs from the trees to dye white cotton cloth. Its very traditional african. They explained some of the symbols and what gave the different colors and then we were given our own little square of cloth to africanize. I painted my yellow cloth with the mud and set it out in the sun to dry while i was given a tour of where they make the dyes and how they apply it. Very cool! By the time the tour was done my cloth was dry and it was time to leave since the sun was getting high in the sky and it was time for a nap!

With the heat it is impossible to do anything in the afternoon so i use that time for my daily mid-afternoon nap! Around 5 when it started cooling off a little more i dared to go out and find tea. When i say tea, its nothing like what you are picturing. Tea is a traditional past time that takes hours to prepare. It is very strong sugary green tea surved in a shot glass. I love it! Normally you share three glasses, however i only stayed for the first two and then i got hungery. I have fallen in love with "cho furu furu" which i guess is bean cake is how you would translate it. Maybe i've just been in Africa too long but i swear it tastes like hush puppies from Long John Silvers. So i get some of those with hot peppers and call it a day.

I know it doesn't sound like much, but overall this may have been one of the best days i've had in Mali.

Oh i also want to thank
-Grandma for the People's magazine i just got
-Aunt Mary for the nice letter and photos

Keep the letters and love a coming!

International Women's Day

2010-03-09T14:27:00.001-05:00

Most of you may not realize that March 8th is International Women’s Day. I had never heard of it until Africa so don’t feel too bad if you had never heard of it either. Last year, my small Guinean village didn’t celebrate it (sadly), whoever this year in Mali we did.

To start off all of the women from my work and I had traditional outfits made with festive fabric. I even went and got my hair braided, partly for the holiday and mostly because it’s too hot. On the morning of the 8th I was told to meet my work ladies by the parking place somewhere by a stop sign. I know real specific. So I find the stop sign I think I’m supposed to be at and hope for the best. There are tons of people there and I know there is no way I am going to find who I am looking for. At that point I am just relying on my white skin to stand out and for them to find me. I get bored of waiting so I start to wander around a bit and then some man comes up to me and grabs me by the arm and kindly leads me over to a bunch of chairs and tells me to sit. So I figure at least if I can’t find my friends at least I’m sitting in the shade.

Surprisingly enough they did find me and we all sat down together. I asked what was going on today since a huge stage was set up and a crowd was forming. No one had any idea. So we sat. Eventually my complimentary water baggie (yes they put water in square plastic bags here) showed up, followed by my free coke and then the most surprising thing of all, my free can of beer. Yes Castel (one of the “brewers” here) was publicizing a new beer and was handing out cans. Mind you, I’m still in a Muslim country where drinking is very much frowned upon. I had no idea what to do. Do I take it or not… Once the ladies next to me took their cans I figured it was ok. Its 10 o’clock in the morning and people are cracking open bottles of beer in public. That just never happens here. I’m looking at the can a little bit closer and I realize it is 0% alcohol. They handed my alcohol less beer. Now mind you, I don’t like Castel, it kind of tastes like pee, formaldehyde and what I imagine anthrax to taste like all in one. So I kindly just left my can on the ground to see a little kid run up and take it.

The events that day were 4 speeches in French that were given by different governmental men thanking women for all of their work around the house and in the community followed by 15 speeches given by different women all in bambara (local language that I can barely understand). I kind of fell asleep during those. Once all those speeches were over there was a skit that I once again couldn’t understand but gauging the laughter of everyone else it was hilarious.

Even though I didn’t understand the majority of what was going on (what else is new) March 8, 2010 turned out to be a great day honoring the women of Segou for all of their hard work.

Festival Sur le Niger

2010-02-28T07:56:00.011-05:00

A boat race on the Niger river

An African puppet dancer

This man came down from Timbuktu for the festival. He danced and sang traditional Malian songs for the crowd.

A dance in the middle of the festival

A monkey mask dancer

African mask dancing with stilts

African mask dances

cheke (or spelled something like that) dish. Pounded manioc with onions, green peppers, tomato, salt, oil and a fried fish. Mmmm so good

W.A.I.S.T 2010

2010-02-27T14:33:00.000-05:00

Every year in February the expat (ex patriots otherwise known as Americans living over seas) community of Dakar Senegal host a soft ball tournament for the American community living in West Africa. It is a chance for us Peace Corps volunteers to wash off the village dirt, un-braid our hair, put on those old pair of jeans that have been collecting dust and be American.

In case you don’t know, Senegal is right next to Mali however it is one LONG bus ride away. Since there were so many Mali volunteers going we were able to rent an entire bus with 70 some odd places, five to a row. Not even going to lie. It was one hellish ride. The road is rough, the seats were ungodly uncomfortable and it was hot during the day and cold at night and not to mention we left Bamako at 5 in the morning and didn’t get into Dakar until 9 the next morning. One long bus ride. But some how we all made it nearly intact.

Arriving in Dakar, everyone on the bus was ewwing and awing over everything. Dakar is so much more developed than Mali and ten fold more so than Guinea. They have nice restaurants, hotels, and best of all and American Club. I never knew this until I came to Mali but there are these clubs set up around the world set up for Americans or other Westerners so it’s like a little America away from home. They serve hotdogs, nachos, chicken wraps and ice cream. This is also where the games were held for the softball tournament.

You guys know me, I was not going to show off my softball skills and make everyone else feel under par so I along with some others were the camera people along with the cheering squad. The team that I cheered for was the “Refugees” otherwise those known as the former PC Guinea and Mauritania people who are still in Africa. It was great to see some of my former stage mates (people I served with in Guinea) who are now in The Gambia, Benin, Senegal and Burkina Faso. Our team sucked, there is no two ways about it but we all had fun playing the three games in two days.

In all of our extra down time we hung out at the pool, went to the beach and climbed to the light house. We found a cozy little beach called the “Secret Beach” where the waves were big, the surf boards were plentiful and the sun was never setting. Some of my California friends were explaining to me how to surf, I was assured by them it wasn’t that hard and it is fun. Everyone was going out to at least try to ride a wave back in so my turn came up…. I didn’t want to chicken out but I wanted to live too. Adrenalin and some liquid courage started flowing and I decided it would be alright to try it once. I get on the board and start to paddle out and some guy starts screaming for me to come in because the waves were too big. Saved by the gods! I didn’t have to chicken out or look like a fool trying to surf. Relatively quickly the waves turned into these massive crushing beasts of the sea taking down anything it could and I didn’t want to be a part of that so I sat my little butt on the beach working on my broze.

Another morning Mark and I went up to the light house of Dakar. We walked the two miles from our home stay and climbed up the hill along with some other expats in their little track suites while we are in tanks and pants. The light house is open to the public so we got to climb the three flights of stairs to the landing to look out over the massive city. We saw the ports, the mansions, downtown and the islands. It was gorgeous. The lighthouse is also right by the international airport (that I actually flew into when coming to Guinea oh so long ago) so we watched some planes land over the water then the man asked if we wanted to see the light bulb. Um duh I do so Mark and I crawl up this little latter and see the massive spinney thing that rotates and a tiny light bulb around tons of mirrors. I figured it would have been a huge light bulb but sure wasn’t. Then Danielle, another Wright State grad turned Guinea volunteer turned Mali volunteer showed up to take a look at the city, so the three of us took tons of photos and then started to climb down back to the games.

A few eatery highlights of Dakar
-N’ice Cream: an amazing American style ice cream place that had 3 dozen different flavors
-Indiana: an Indian restaurant that made delicious authentic meals
-Magiadore: a little French/Seafood place that was pricy but so worth every bit of it
-Times Cafe: an American diner where you can order a club sandwich and mozzarella sticks
-Chez Lucia: a Portuguese place that served meals so large that it took three people to eat one plate

My softball team didn’t place so we were done early so we had some time to plan a vacation for a few days before we had to get back to Bamako for a wedding. A decent size group of us decided we wanted to go to Touba Djallo, a beach town about an hour from Dakar where the hotel rooms were cheap, the food was fresh, and the beach was stunning.

When we get out to the beach, everything was surprisingly good. Maybe I just have lower expectations after spending so much time in Africa but the people were nice, the food tasty and the hotel room was small, but nice (especially for the price). We spent three nights there and had an amazing time playing in the ocean, jumping in the reasonably tame waves and just hanging out.

Sadly it was time to go back to reality and vacation was over and the long and trying journey back to Mali started again. This time since everyone was going back at different times we didn’t rent an entire bus which means it takes longer. The bus was suppose to leave at 7 but didn’t end up leaving until after 9 and then around 3 in the morning a tire blew out. So there we are, about 14 volunteers and a bus load of Africans on the side of the road, in the middle of the night, in the middle of no where. We were stuck there until morning when someone could find a new tire for a bus once again in the middle of no where. We tried to sleep on the bus but couldn’t get comfortable, some tried to sleep outside but the passing cars were a little too scary. Six hours later a truck finally pulls up with our tire and shortly after we are back on the road. In its entirety it took us 40+ hours to get back to Bamako.

It was a long eventful week that was worth every Franc that I saved up while I Guinea. I had the time of my life, took some amazing photos and got tons of stories that I will remember for the rest of my life.

Vacation photos

2010-02-24T11:48:00.019-05:00

So I took a little week long vacation to Dakar Senegal here are some photos and expect a few blog enteries about all the good times to come!

Gorez Island from the boat

A painter on Gorez Island

The door in the House of Slaves where there are old quotes from former slaves before they leave Africa

Here as to oradour gleans one only can say never more never!

The Secret Beach in Dakar

The lighthouse of Dakar(which i climbed)

Mark and I after we climbed the light house

A cliff and beach in Dakar

Our blown out tire on the drive back from Senegal which caused a 6 hour delay

Bringing in the days catch

Me on the beach

The beach!

The Hotel i stayed at from the beach

A garden over looking the ocean(Atlantic) where i stayed in Touba Djallo

Sunset over the city of Dakar

Me on Gorez Island off of the coast of Dakar

2010-01-02T13:38:00.008-05:00

New Years Eve out to a nice Italian Restaurant in my town

Christmas dinner! mostly sent to us in packages by my mom

A toast to many Christmases to come... around our Charley Brown Christmas Tree

Christmas morning breakfast, mostly sent to us in packages by my mom again

I know long awaited thanksgiving photo

This is the Niger River that runs along my town

Thanksgiving

2009-11-27T06:58:00.000-05:00

A lot of you probably wonder what do I do for major American holidays such as Thanksgiving. Well, its really not all that different from what you do back in the states, I eat! However the prep work is a little different, i.e. everything is from scratch.

One of my fellow volunteers calls me up Tuesday and asked if I would like to have a real American thanksgiving this year. Um, of course I do so I told her I would help. So we plan a menu and agree to go shopping on Wednesday. When I say “go shopping” I don’t mean we met up at the local Wal*Mart and walked around the store throwing everything into the cart. Oh no, nothing close. Megan calls me and tells me she is going turkey shopping at the moment and asks me to come. So I find her, and she is sitting with someone who owns turkeys. He agrees to go get the biggest one and bring it back to where we are.

About 15 minutes later a white Mercedes pulls up and the men pop the trunk and there is a live turkey just chillin’ in the trunk. I of course have to take photos with it but ultimately decided the bird seemed a little small. So our turkey search wasn’t over, but in the mean time we needed to go and get all of the food stuff for dinner at the market place. Thank God someone we knew offered us their car and driver to help with the shopping so Megan and I didn’t have to bike 7 miles with kilos of potatoes and everything else. The market was a relatively normal event for us but as we were crossing the street, heading back to the car the day took a drastic change.

I look left, no cars, I look right, all clear so I start to cross the street. Next thing I know I am pelted from the left side and I am on the ground. I see out of the corner of my eye a motorcycle just a few feet off to my right smashed up on the ground. Once I realize I had just been hit by a motorcycle, I start to check to make sure no bones are sticking out. There wasn’t! But I have road burn on my left leg from my knee cap to my big toe. My right foot is a little banged up. I got hit in the head my the rearview mirror so I have a bump behind my left ear, don’t worry I don’t have a concussion though, my right hand took a little beating and I have bumps and bruises all over. Once I get to my feet I realize the huge crowd forming around this white girl that is all banged up. Megan grabs her water bottle and pours it all on my leg to wash out the rocks and dust while the Malians were screaming that I needed to go to the hospital.

Given normal circumstances, in America I probably would have gone to the hospital to have my leg looked at but here, in West Africa, absolutely not. They would have just poured pure alcohol over my leg and I would have passed out from pain, not to mention Mali is not world renowned for their cleanliness in the medical field. So I thought I couldn’t do worse than the hospital here and decided I should just be taken to someone’s house where I can clean everything really well. So the driver went and found me a block of ice to ice my head while he drove Megan and I back to someone’s house where I could clean out my leg.

At the house, I found the bathtub, and start running water over my leg. Just the water burned so bad but I knew I needed to wash out all the dust and rocks so bit the bullet and cleaned it out really well with soap and water and iodine. I dressed my wounds and bruised ego while Megan went and looked at another turkey.

She came back with a nice looking bird so we had someone kill it and clean it and throw it in the fridge for us. That’s about when I called it a day and gimpily rode my bike home the 7 miles.

On Thursday morning, bright and early around 9 o’clock I set back out on my bike to trek the 7 miles again to help start prepping all of the food. Megan and I had to peel and cut all 3 kilos of potatoes and sweet potatoes without a peeler, wash all the veggies, cut them, steam most of them and prep everything. Thank god we had a Malian cook the bird for us so that was one less stressor for us. But in order to have pumpkin pie we had to carve the pumpkin, boil it, steam it, puree it, and strain it in order to get the stuff Americans pour from a can. Somehow however around 4 we had everything done. The bird was out of the oven and cut, the potatoes were mashed, the green bean casserole was cooked, the gravy was done amazingly I might add, the apple pie was in the oven and the pumpkin puree was waiting for a pie pan to cook. After seven hours of preparing and a lot of googleing later I could not believe we pulled together a full thanksgiving dinner with very limited resources and the most surprising part was everything looked and smelt amazing.

Final count was 11 people, I was a little concerned that there wouldn’t be enough food for everyone but we were going to have to make due at this point. Around seven everyone was there and the reheating process began. So we fired up the oven and reheated everything, set out a buffet spread of deliciousness and released the dogs to the food. By the time it was all said and done, I had snacked on everything all day and wasn’t all that hungry but, come on you can’t pass up a thanksgiving dinner in Africa. So I pilled my plate high and joined the others.

To Megan and my surprise everyone raved about every single dish! People even went back for seconds and one guy even did thirds and there was plenty of food left over! I managed to find room for seconds. I was shocked that everything turned out good, there were no fires, no one got food poisoning and it turned out to be an over all enjoyable experience. However I don’t want to be in charge of another large scale dinner for a long time, maybe not until next year’s thanksgiving.

I just have to say this one more time, I, the girl that can barely make mac and cheese pulled together a thanksgiving dinner that people actually eat, willingly!!

Let the holiday season begin!

P.S. Expect pictures in the coming week, once I get my new camera cord.

Yay, new site!

2009-11-06T11:18:00.001-05:00

Corinna Merrill
Corps De La Paix
B.P. 117
Segou, Mali
West Africa

New mailing address

I feel like the country bumpkin in the big city for the first time. I forgot what it was like without all of the amenities of America. By no means have I cross the Atlantic but coming from my Guinea village to the sprawling metropolis of my new town where I hear I can get ice cream and yes, even Frappuccinos. Well they aren’t the real thing exactly but I hear they exist and I will be trying them out one day soon. There is a tourist market therefore; there is pizza, hamburgers, really awesome souvenirs and one hotel even has a pool. I will have to control myself not to go out every night and get a ham and cheese crepe or a half chicken in a cream sauce but even worse, the souvenirs are so nice, and I want them all.

Yesterday I went down on the Niger River bank and stumbled across a place the dies fabric. I hung out with the men there for a while and then they took me upstairs to the Cabana in the sky overlooking the river. It was like Disney meets Africa. I fully intend to return to that magical place to die my own piece of cloth along with enjoy a cold coke in the Cabana in the sky.

I also went house hunting. I looked at several different houses. Some were too far from work, some were too big, some were too small, but I found one that was just right. It’s a nice apartment overlooking a mango tree and a quiet dirt road. I will be living in the second floor and on the flat roof I will sleep during the hot season. I’ll pull my mattress and mosquito net out and sleep under the stars like all of the other Malians. The best part is, I have running water, a flush toilet and get this, electricity all in my house!!! Therefore, music and movies are welcome (note new mailing address). Really, I listen to my iPod all the time and I need new music, so have your kids, your friends or even yourself pick some of your favorite new songs and send them over.

Well, I have internet access now everyday so expect more blog updates along with more e-mails from your number one favorite person in Africa, other than Madonna (if she is still here).

From Guinea to Mali

2009-10-30T15:29:00.000-04:00

Well, one chapter of my life is over, and a new is just beginning. Because of the civil unrest and political turmoil of Guinea, the Peace Corps has officially suspended their program for the moment being, pending a civil change of government it fully intends to re-open in the near future. That leaves me along with some of my new closest friends stuck in the middle of it all. Our hearts rest in guinea while we are now scattered all over the world. I along with eleven other volunteers from Guinea have been adopted into the Peace Corps Mali program. Some of my other friends are going to Botswana, Liberia, Senegal, Madagascar, Zambia, Benin, The Gambia and back to America.

The twelve of us staying in Mali have already received our site information. I will be living in a large town on the Niger River working with a microfinance institution helping women’s groups to get and understand loans, I also just heard that a new university opened in my city so I really want to work along side their business program, and there is a huge African music festival in my city once a year so I am very interested in working with the planning of that. I fully intend to hit the ground running and it sounds like I should have no problem staying busy.

So funny story, today in one of our local language (Bombara) sessions, I reached into my purse to grab a pen. I’m fishing around and I find something squishy. I thought for a second, what is squishy in my bag, I couldn’t think of anything so I look down and in my hand, I am squishing a live frog. I scream and throw it across the room. My heart is pounding and everyone stares at me, I point to the stunned frog on the ground and everyone starts laughing. I give my bag to Dorian and make her find my pen because I’m in the middle of having a heart attach and she finds another frog inside my purse. I’m living a little bit closer to nature than I ever really wanted. But it makes for a good laugh. I have found that in moments of extreme stress, you either laugh or cry.

This week I will be continuing more language classes (hopefully with less frogs), Mali culture classes along with administration classes and then the plan is to start moving into sites starting Tuesday next week. It is an exciting yet nerve racking time. I am looking forward to getting to know another culture and make new friends however everything has happened so fast, I haven’t really had a moment to process that I have left guinea and will not be returning and then dropped off in a new town in less than a week not being able to speak the local language. Getting back into a schedule is something I am looking forward to but going threw and putting myself out there and making mistakes is going to be hard again.

I will be continuing my service here, that means I will move into site and stay until February 2011. There are a lot of things I need to re-learn here, for example using an ATM card. Haven’t done that in a few months. I will also pay rent, use a post office, have a job to go to everyday, and learn a bus system. They are so much more developed here in comparison to Guinea. So, all of you that want to come visit, now this is a good change for you. They have paved roads with only 4 people in a car unlike Guinea where the roads were unpaved and you put up to 8 people in a normal Peugeot.

I will also be able to set up my house again which is exciting in its own way. However, I only have one back pack full of all of my clothes to get me started. I will be getting a moving in allowance from the Corps to buy everything again, however there were a lot of things that I left back in Guinea that you can’t get in West Africa, i.e. food! So if you want to send me a new package full of goodies to help ease the pain of being a refugee please stay tuned for a new mailing address and talk to my mom if there is something you have questions about sending or needing ideas.

Soon I will have photos of Mali to post, once I get outside of Bamako (the capital). I now realize how few photos of Guinea I have, and I don’t want to make that mistake again so I want to take tons of photos here. So stay tuned for more updates and photos!

Thanks all for your good wishes, thoughts and prayers. They really do mean a lot.

Guinea is Evacuated

2009-10-20T05:36:00.001-04:00

Well all you all, it’s official. Peace Corps Washington has suspended the Guinea program. I, along with all other volunteers and staff have been holding out on this small little thread of hope that the program will continue but this morning as of 9 am Greenwich time word dropped that due to political and safety reasons the program is thus far suspended.

What is next now? Well I have several options. First off I could COS (close of service) where I would leave the Peace Corps, with full benefits and move back in with mom and dad and find a “real” job. YIKES, a 8-6 job, I don’t think so! I could COS and then re-in role into the Corps. This would mean I would have to go through the 3 months of training again and make a 27 months service commitment. Or I could direct transfer, where I would just transfer into a new Peace Corps country. There is some flexibility with COS dates for the end of the service in the new country.

What will I do? Still don’t know. By Sunday October 25 all Guinea volunteers will have either COSed or transferred, so I don’t have a lot of time to decide. Six days if you are counting. I am kind of playing it by ear at this moment in time. I want to keep my options open. I am really interested in one country’s Small Enterprise Development program but I don’t want to have false hope or jinx myself by saying anything prematurely. So I will wait for the list of countries that want to receive us Peace Corps Guinea evacuees and then read out my options.

So what am I doing now? There are papers upon papers to write. There are resumes to be updated, aspiration statement to be redone, description of services to be had, quarterly reports to finish, not to mention the epic list of my stuff that needs to be qualified and quantified by memory of prices and locations around my house so Peace Corps can pack it up to ship to my next location or give away to my friends and family in Guinea. Then there is medical clearance, fun fun! But wait; there are over 90 of us here so try doing all that with 90 people. It’s going to get crazy quick I’m sure.

How am I feeling? That answer changes every 10 minutes it seems. There are extreme highs (i.e. being with friends in Mali) and extreme lows (realizing your not going back to Guinea). The news of evacuation was not unexpected by any means, I knew it was coming with all of the political unrest that has been surfacing in Conakry but there was always that small thread of hope you hold on to. Well that thread was cut clean. Now, I’m so busy just trying to plan for the next stage of my life, not knowing where that may take me. Once I get a chance to sit and realize what has happened and why my life plans have changed it will all become so real, now I’m just floating in a stage of survival. Find a new home! Once that stage is done, then it will hit I’m sure.

But I am enjoying my remaining few days with some of my closest friends and people who have become my family, enjoying the electricity and running water while I still have it (don’t know if I’ll have that in my new country) and even getting a milkshake now and again poolside at the American club (I know it sure is rough being a “refugee”) and in a weird way, I am looking forward to what the world has to offer for me.

2009-10-11T07:52:00.001-04:00

Please read entire entry!!!!

Cliffnotes of my last week:
• Riots in Conakry (Capital of Guinea, where I am/was) leading to 150+ deaths
• Rapes and Pillages
• Standfast
• Consolidation
• Goodbyes
• Captain America / Jack Bower
• Refugee camp in Mali

Did that get your attention?? OK, I am fine! No really, I’m fine.

It all started last Monday September 28, 2009. Lead by the opposition leaders against Captain Dadis Camara the “President” of Guinea there was a demonstration at the soccer stadium. One thing lead to another and the Military opened fire on the crowd. By the end of the day the BBC was reporting over 150 deaths while the Guinaen government was only reporting 10. Ok so really quick, I highly encourage you to look up official articles about this event because there are a lot of things I am forgetting and I kind of forget English so reading another source will really help you understand the situation I am in.

This lead the Peace Corps Guinea staff to put us under standfast, which means that we are not allowed to leave our site (home) and we have to call and check in with staff twice a day. Well when your cell phone mountain is about an hour walk a way that gets kind of hard and hot in the sun. But whatever I make the walk and it helps pass the day when four hours is devoted just to getting phone calls. One afternoon while I’m making my phone calls I get a call saying I need to pack a bag and prepare to be consolidated in Mali (the neighboring country).

By the time I get back to my house I’m in shock. The country that I have been devoting my last ten months of existence is falling apart and there is nothing I can do about it. I pack my life back into the same three bags I came to Guinea in and have to start the goodbye process. I devoted two days of taking photos and emotionally dealing with the situation.

There is no official word from Peace Corps Headquarters saying as to whether we will be going back to Guinea or if we will be evacuated as of now, so saying goodbye was difficult because we were not to say that we wouldn’t come back but statistically there is no chance of going back. I told me friends that I was going to a month long conference in Mali and I would be back. Some people believed me, while most knew that I wouldn’t return.

While I was saying goodbye to some of my students from my English class they asked me if I had heard the news. I was like, what news? It turns out one of my students was in Conakry for the end of Ramadan and went to the stadium for the protest and he and his older brother were shot to death in the demonstration by the military. He was one of my best students and only 20.

But my last night in Dounet (my village) I was burning all of my trash around 10 o’clock at night when my best friend from site comes running up to my house. This never happens so I was like, “hey whats up?” And he just looks at me and says “Your not coming back, I’ll never see you again. Will I?” That is when I broke down. Because I couldn’t lie but I couldn’t tell the truth.

The next morning the Peace Corps picks me up in the bus and we start our long and emotional ride to the border. What feels like 27 hours later we reach the Mali – Guinea border. It was a long uneventful trip until the border that is.

We reach the border around 9:30 at night. We are all spent but expect this process to take several hours trying to get a bus of Americans through. Little did we know that Captain America was waiting at the border for us. When we pull up to the first of several “gates” Captain America jumps onto the bus and literally is just oozing red white and blue. By midnight we were all through into Mali and in our Bamako “refugee camp”. Yep that’s right, I am now a Peace Corps refugee.

I have no home, yep I’m homeless. All of my stuff is spread across two continents and I have no idea where my future home will be in two weeks time when we are transferred out of refugee stage. But I am ok, I am safe and all Americans have evacuated Guinea.

2009-09-23T04:41:00.002-04:00

Welcome to the hight of Rainy Season in Conakry, Guinea West Africa

Walking through the waist deep water is never a good idea especially here but Mary (another PC volunteer)got stuck walking back from the market in a flash flood in the capital city here. Needless to say it was a mess.

Back to my life, lets see. What else have i been up to? I've been stuck in Conakry for a week on hold and today G-18 will come in finishing their training and getting ready to go up to their respective sites. How exciting, i am no longer one of the "newbes" I have elevated up to sophomore status! YES!!!

Otherwise i've been "en ville" (in town) only once to go to the bank and the womens co-op to buy stuff. The womens co-op is great. It is a big group of women here that have a cute shop down town that has set prices (that like doesn't exist here so i love it just for that) but they also use their profits to educating women. So yes their prices are high but at least when i feel i'm getting ripped off my money is going to something good as opposed to so guy buying a new cell phone.

I've been down to the beach bar several times. Its a Conakry classic. I went two nights ago for the end of Ramadon celebration there. There were so many people dancing and having a great time. I also went over to the U.S. Embassy to hang out with the marines for a while and really that is all i have been up to.

Can't wait to come home in November!!!!! Its so soon

2009-09-20T06:50:00.001-04:00

Also, i have had to change my e-mail address do to lame reasons but anyways here is the new e-mail address so change it in your address books.

Corinna.Merrill@gmail.com

2009-09-19T13:28:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone,

Your friend Corinna here, just going to fill you in on what has been going on in my life on the other side of the world.

I know what you are thinking, “Why has it been so long since your last blog?” Well that is a simple question to answer. I don’t have electricity and even if there was electricity there is no internet for 33 km. But, I have been working on my English class having the kids learn progressive pronouns, future simple and what nots. I have a Moringa garden planted of about 170 trees in the nursery. Sadly I will need at least 3,000 trees to start using the dried leaf powder to enrich the food with vitamins, and nurturance. My business class crashed and burned. That was my fault. The timing was all wrong but I will persevere and try again when the school year starts up. Hopefully it will have a little more success the second time around. I’m also working with a health insurance group in my town re-organizing the book ledger and giving new ideas on business structure. I’m still going into the health center twice a week helping with odds and ends. Also, I am working with the Child Fund Guinea translating documents (Eng-Fr) and general business stuff. Not to mention, getting my own water from the well, hand washing all articles of clothing, finding food and then preparing it (and trust me, finding food is not like walking in to Super Wal-Mart and shopping) and all the other odds and ends survival stuff.

But don’t just think its all work and no play. There is plenty of down time. I have read well over twenty books in the last 5 months, learned (or re-learned) French, picked up some Pular, made friends and slept, a lot.

So a funny stories.

Normally before I leave my house for an extended period of time I will have a big burning of all my trash. Granted I don’t really create that much trash but regardless it must be burned and here’s why. I was running behind one morning and I didn’t burn the night before because of the rain so I thought I could just throw my trash over the wall, like everyone else does (remember there is no city trash man who comes and collects garbage once a week). No big thing. Well when I got back from where ever it was that I was going I found some kids play in the trash pile. This is normal, sadly, but worst off they found my bag of trash. Every single item they were pulling out and asking “What is this?” or “Can I have this?” Keep in mind these are old M&M’s wrappers or a box of empty crackers but they were all up on it. I was mortified. Imagine your garbage man looking at EVERYTHING you used this week and asking “What did you do with this?” Humiliating!!! But now I know, burn everything!

Special thanks to:
Aunt Betty
Aunt Anne
Aunt Bonny
Grandma and Grandpa
Molly and Danielle
Mom and Dad for sending me packages on the August Mail Run

And also:
Aunt Betty
Uncle Glen and Becky
Lori
Amy and Mike
Mom and dad for sending me packages on the September Mail Run

Photos!!

2009-08-26T04:03:00.007-04:00

2009-08-25T17:40:00.006-04:00

PHOTOS!!!!!

2009-08-25T17:25:00.008-04:00

2009-07-29T14:44:00.001-04:00

Whoot whoot! It is July and the rainy season is well underway. Yes, there are only two seasons here; hot and rainy! Thank god the hot season is over, let me tell you what. It was un-godly hot. We are talking 110 + in the shade at 10 am. I did spend the majority of my time sitting in the shade chugging water and not moving as much as possible but now we are into the rainy season and the temperature has dropped significantly and all is wet in the world of Guinea.

Big news, I switched houses! I had a problem with the old house and so I was moved last week. Its nice, small but very nice. I have big plans to make it my own. I will try to send pictures as soon as I can. Otherwise, I just started my garden. I’m not really sure if anything will take. It is late in the growing season but I figured “Why not at least try” so I did. I sat outside and dug my little holes in the ground all morning and then had to leave town to go to a conference. We will see what happens… C’est la Guinea.

You are probably wondering what I do with all of my free time. Well as a matter of fact my days are jam packed believe it or not. Usually I wake up around 5:30 (morning prayer call) and lay in bed until 7 am when I’m too hungry to wait any longer. So I get up, get ready and leave my house around 7:30 to get a good choice of bread from the bread man, if I leave any later than that I get the crappy burnt piece that I don’t like. Then I have to say “Good morning” to every single person I pass on my walk to the bread man in Pular. We are talking every old person, youngin and child I pass. It takes me about 15 minutes to walk an equivalent of two blocks. I get my bread and then have to make the walk back greeting everyone again.

By the time I get home, make something out of my bread (i.e. sandwich) its time to leave for the hospital (Mondays and Tuesdays) or my English/Business class (Wednesdays or Thursdays) or my meetings (Fridays). I’m usually at one of those activities just until the 1:30 prayer call and then I go home, fix myself something to eat and then sit in my chair and read or play with the kids for a bit then its tea time.

I’ve got two really close set of friends one is older and the other set is younger and I switch up the days but I always go and hang out with them. I know I’m saying hanging out is work. But it is! Let me explain why. First off speaking in French/pular is hard work, but the French is really come a long way since I’ve gotten here. But normally the real work for me is my friends ask me questions about things that they would otherwise never get to talk to someone about. Just the other day someone asked me about HIV/AIDS and I explained to them everything that I knew and how to get some more information about it but on a day to day basis there isn’t someone to talk to about those things here. I think of tea times as conversation facilitating. Lord knows I love to talk so it works out great!

Around 7ish when it starts to get dark I go home, play with the kids (that live in the house next to me), eat dinner with the family next to me and then I have to go and heat my water. Since the weather got so cold I have to heat my bath water so I don’t freeze to death, so I go and boil some water to mix into my bath water. When that’s ready I go to my outdoor shower, and wash off the mud. At first I hated to outdoor shower, its cold, there are bugs but now, I love it. I get to look at the stars (when there are no clouds) and get clean at the same time. Its actually really sweet! And I bet you can’t say you do that every night. Then I crawl in bed around 9, read until I can’t keep my eyes open and wake up the next morning and do it all again.

That my friends is a “typical” day for me. There are of course the variations such as the hour long walk to my cell phone tree where I can make a call, or the days when I have to go into the big city to buy cheese and eggs and what nots, or the time I couldn’t find water in my town because all of the wells went dry. But that’s it..

Otherwise, I’m starting a business club that I will be teaching about marketing, accounting, finance options, management… you get the idea. But the coolest part, I am teaching the class in French to the kids who are home on summer vacation and they as part of the class will hold a similar class in Pular for the women and men of the town to learn as well who don’t speak French. I’m really excited to see how that goes.

I’m also holding English classes during the summer break. I have about 30 students who are really excited to learn English so they can go to America, as they love to tell me. I show them photos of American things (i.e. parks, roads, buildings, kitchens, houses in general) and they love it. It is a cultural exchange as well as an English lesson and they just eat it up.

Like I think I said before I go to the hospital as well to help out on the two busiest days. And then I have been working on doing Action Plans for two groups in my town as well as working on a financial plan for a community run health insurance group, next week I am also going to do another Action Plan for another group. So I’m just doing my thing.

What else, it seems as though that is all the news I have for now but I will be sure to write more later, and when my camera battery is not dead I will upload some photos. Expect a lot of photo updates around end of Aug or beginning of September.

Special thanks to:
Aunt Betty and Uncle Dan, really you guys are too much!!! And the Cheetos and chips were amazing, I hadn’t had a chip since November!

Mamma and Pappa you know you’re the best

Christine and Matt, sorry I missed the wedding, Bonne Mariage as they say here

Grams and Gramps, loved the letter. Thank you so much for writing to me.

And thanks to everyone for keeping me in their thoughts

And don't forget that my b-day is coming up on August 19 so send me a card if you want!

July

2009-07-03T08:11:00.002-04:00

Hello everyone!

First off i am on a french keyboard that does not have english spell check. Sorry! So a little bit about what i have been up to. The other night i came back to town after a trip to visit another volunteer and my really good friend in town comes running up to me so excited i am back and is screaming something about meat. So i hear this long story about how a taxi hit a goat and killed it and left it in the middle of the road. So all of my guys stole two legs off the goat and waited for me to come back to cook it. Then at 9 oclock they wanted to start cooking it. You know who guys in the states like to start cooking meat at random times and they get half way and they realize they are missing half the stuff, yeah it was kind of like that, only in Guinea. It was a delicious disaster that took forever. Around 10:30 our fried goat meat was done and then i made them walk me home. But i was surprised to find out that cooking large quantities of meat at random times of the night is an international phenomenon. Sadly i am out of time at the internet lab so more later.

Happy 4th of JULY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the packages:
Mike, Amy and the kids
Aunt Peggy

2009-06-04T06:14:00.000-04:00

Workin' in Guinea

2009-06-03T07:24:00.002-04:00

OK, so I am all finished with trainings (at least until mid-service)!!!! This means I am starting work! After several months of intense trainings I was ready to start my own thing and use some of the information I learned.

I know everyone back state side is wondering “What are you doing over there?” Well let me give you a run down of what I have done in the past two weeks. I have been going to my towns “hospital” a few days a week. I often just spend my time there talking to the doctor giving him as much information that I know about Malaria (which does not come from MANGOS! Which I am often told here), family planning (it really is cheaper to only have 5 kids compared to 30 no matter what a Guinean tells you), and fun stuff like sanitation (WASH YOUR HANDS!!!). I also have been giving vaccinations to the children for Polio and dispensing vitamins to help counter-act malnutrition. I have gone/helped with one informational class about women excision (which is mortifyingly aweful). Because the class was in Pular, I really didn’t get a lot of it, but the general idea was burned into my brain. I hope by just me sitting there horrified the other Guinean men in the class understood the significance of everything.

There is also a Youth Association for Development in my town which I have been going to. I was invited to sit on the board, giving fresh ideas and a female voice to the group. I am very excited to work further with them. It is a group of over 50 “older teenagers” who are motivated to learn and change some things in my town, which I think is great! I am really hoping to do some cool things with them.

When I get back to my site I will be starting my garden which I plan to plant moringa trees to give to people all around my village. (PLEASE
http://www.treesforlife.org/our-work/our-initiatives/moringa/moringa-tree/
, it really is amazing). I go to weekly meetings with my woman’s group as well as I will be starting savings and loans groups amongst them in the next few weeks. Which I hope will encourage the women to save money over the summer break for their children’s educational fees for the upcoming fall school year. Otherwise, I am working on improving my French (which I will confidently say is getting a lot better) and I am struggling to learn Pular, which I am determined to learn.

So that is how I occupy my time. Sure beats a 9-5 doesn’t it!

One last thing, special thanks out there to Aunt Bonnie and fam, Aunt Betty and Uncle Dan, and of course the ’Rents for all of the amazing packages, Danie thanks for the postcard. Also congrats to all of those who are GRADUATING this JUNE!!! Chrissy-baby that means you! Whoot whoot!!! And can’t forget those how are just excited for the school year to be over and move on to the next year, Creekview Elementary 3rd grade as well as OLH 5th grade classes!!!! YAY summer!

The frist three months, an explination!

2009-05-13T13:43:00.002-04:00

Why hello everyone,

I am doing fine and am still very happy here in Guinea. Right now i am rapping up more training and working on great ideas of projects ranging from very small to very large scale operations that i want to start-up here in the next few weeks.

The first three months, an explination:

Feb, March and April are months of observation for us. So what i did every day was observe how people in my village perform the everyday stuff. Like, where do they get water, who prepares food, why only certain kids go to school, what types of medicine do they have at my health center and things like that. For those of you sitting inside your little cubicle from 9-5 or longer this might seem like an ideal day. Waking up when you want, going where you want, doing whatever you want, but let me tell you, it is a lot harder than it sounds.

There were certain days where getting out of the house seemed worse than crunching numbers in a cubicle under fleurissant lighting all day. Imagin, being dropped off in a place you don't know, where you don't know anyone, a language you don't speak, it averaged about 110-120 degrees a day and a culture you can't even begin to understand. Well that was my every day life. Don't get me wrong i loved every pain staking minute of it, and i wouldn't change it for a cubicle at all. Things did get easier and conversations became more fun and less work as the months began to pass but i am still working on understanding the culture here. There are certain times when you just want to throw your hands up and scream, like when you just finished telling people you can only get malaria from mosquitos and then you ask and they tell you that you get it from mangos and milk..... But those things just take time.

I have made great friends and some of my favorite times thusfar are just sitting around under a mango tree, drinking (strong, sugary) tea, watching the traffic go by (about a car every 20 minutes, on the NATIONAL HIGHWAY) and just talking about life with my friends. That is where i feel i will be able to make the biggest difference. Opening up the eyes of the youth in my town to a world larger than just Guinea. But i have big plans, we will see what really happens while i'm here.

I'm begining to adjust to things as well. I no longer detest rice and sauce, i can now tolerate it. I no longer get the wicked cravings for food that i got while in training. OK thats a lie, i still miss american food but i try to tell my self i don't. I take a bath from a bucket, i squeeze into a compact car like the best of them and i even have eaten with my hands (but i DON"T like to make a habbit of it). Who would have thought. The heat is still killer, but i have learned to take naps (mainly sitting in bed trying to remember the days of snow) after lunch until about 4 when the sun starts to cool down.

My all time favorite part of the day is right after the last meal of the day (9.30 ish) when i know i made it through another day and i look up into the sky and see a million stars twinkling. There are no city lights, no lights period so you can see every star in the sky. It is an amazing site. I never knew how many stars there were until i moved here.

I have learned lots of valuable information that i hope to share with everyone back in the states especially about how to do business in a country ranked 166 out of 177 on the world development scale (USA is in the top 3 fyi) but if you have specific questions about anything at all, please e-mail me so i can answer any questions you might have and there are no dumb questions. Lord knows i asked a lot before coming here and about 95% of what i thought before i came was wronge.

Well my time is up at the internet "Cafe" so i'll write more next time ;)

2009-04-30T05:58:00.002-04:00

YAY, I got medically cleared to go back to site. I am amoeba free and there are no crazy African viruses in my system!!!!! How exciting, I know. Anyways i will be saying goodbye to Conakry and all of the wonderful amenities that i get to enjoy here today. Starting Monday i will be going to In Service Training, which is a two week program of more language and business trainings now that i have a better idea of what i will be doing!!! Can't wait!

Only in Guinea...

2009-04-26T20:55:00.005-04:00

So I went to get dinner tonight at the Beach Bar (and yes the name is correct, a bar on the beach overlooking the Atlantic Ocean) and look what i found.... one of those real, "Only in Guinea" moments

2009-04-26T20:24:00.002-04:00

Part 2

2009-04-26T20:04:00.012-04:00

So I went to get dinner tonight at the Beach Bar (and yes the name is correct, a bar on the beach) and look what i found....

Step TEAM

1/2 American Step team + 1/2 African Robot = CRAZY COOL

Thats a man, on a head!!!!

1/2 American Step team + 1/2 African Robot = CRAZY COOL

A nice Reggae African band

Same band different angle

A great band too, rapping about Guinea

Good times!

Me playing the "White girl card" and getting back stage of the concert

Great African Band, singing about Guinea's independance

Same band, different angle

Another great African Band

Walking up the stairs to the computer lab in the Conakry house

update of mailing me stuff

2009-04-26T09:19:00.005-04:00

Now that I have spent some time in country and everyone keeps asking me what are good package ideas or what do I need/want/like from them I thought I would take some time to update what are good ideas to send.

- Magazines (especially fashion mags, I can take the photos to the tailors and I can get CUSTOM made cloths TAILOR FITTED from the ads of Dior or JCPennys)
- Food (microwaves do not work when there is no electricity so nothing microwavable but easy mac/ramen/pasta with sauce are good) *Note I can easily get butter and eggs and stuff like that
-Beef Jerky (always a classic)
-Handheld games (something to kill the time)
-Movies (I still have my laptop so I can watch movies!!!)
-Granola Bars (makes a great breakfast, snack, treat to give little children)
-Instant Coffee/Late stuff (there coffee here is AWEFUL and the electricity is non-existent so no coffee maker, I.E. the powder you spoon into hot water to make "coffee") oh actually I should have my mom and dad (*wink wink*) send a French coffee press so I can make REAL AMERICAN COFFEE that way you could send specialty coffees (and yes I consider Folgers specialty right now)*We do have instant Nescafe powder here
- Books (the newer the better, there are a lot of books in country so older books are probably already in country)
- So far I’ve noticed people send can/packaged fruit. DON'T get me wrong I love it but I can get pineapple and oranges here a lot cheaper than you can send them. I got a really good apples and caramel packaged parfait thing. Delish!
- Snacky stuff is always a classic (at site I crave salty snacks so anything like crackers and cheese, pretzels, sunflower seeds, cheetos, cheese in a can... you get the idea)
- I'm going to start a garden here soon so seeds are always good. I've got some herbs but fruit's and veggies would rock too. (If you are wondering its hot here in Africa so if you would check to see if the plant can take the hot arid temps) oh a flower garden would be cute too...
- Make me a mix CD/cassette of your favorite songs. Really please do, I can not tell you how much Akon and Bob Marley I listen to here. Include song titles so I know the new song names and I don't have to just make them up.
- Little packets of Oreos or other cookies
- Deodorant (Its hot and I sweat, not joking)
- TV Shows (lord knows I like my TV shows and Guinea just isn’t cutting it so you should sent me your hot new favorite series)
- Photos of you and your loved ones (I’ve got a special wall in my house for photos that have been sent and right now that wall is pretty bear except for Molly, me and Nate and Aunt Bonnie, Uncle Wes, Matt, Kyle, and the soon to be bride Kristine)
- Cans of soup (I love cheesey potato with BACON!!!!!) and Ravioli
- A jump drive with music and podcasts (even TV shows and movies!) on it (if from iTunes, include your username and password so I can authorize use)
- M&M’s (they melt in your mouth, not in your hands) *LOVE Peanutbutter, Peanut, Almond, Dark Chocolate you name it…
- Hot chocolate mixes
-Any kind of pampering stuff (It’s rough living out “en brushe”)

**Be aware that you can do all of this stuff online at www.usps.com, including ordering free flat rate boxes, and printing postage. In fact, you get a 5% discount on the shipping fee if you do it online.**

I've heard horror stories from volunteers saying that they got entire packages of things that you can easly get in country and in order to prevent that i wanted to list somethings i can get here.
- Organic peanut butter (In fact, that’s the only type of PB that’s here)
- Instant Nescafe (we got it, so don’t send it)
- Sardines (I don’t eat them and they are here)
- Soap (actually the soap here smells good and is anti-bacterial)
- Spam (ok its knock off brand but its everywhere)
- Candles (yep, I can easily walk across the street and get candles even matches)
- Coca Cola
- Peanuts (or ground nuts as they call them in England)

Please refer to the November 18, 2008 MEGA-BLOG for more packing and mailing instructions as well as more ideas of gifts.

And one last thing a huge THANK YOU to everyone that has been sending me stuff.
Aunt Anne, Bubba, Nate and Cora- the pancakes/syrup AWESOME idea with the cinnomon and sugar, you rock
Uncle Tim and Mark - The books were great and i just finished the last one you sent last week
Aunt Peggy - still working on those People Cross Word Puzzles. I am determined to finish the book without looking in the back by the end of my two years here
Grams and Gramps - You guys are great with the cards and box. Needless to say the crackers were delish and have been long gone for a while (and the map is hanging on my wall)
Molly and Ginger- You know you rock and the pudding was a great idea, love the post cards too (they are hanging next to the photo of me, you, and that hubby of yours)
Aunt Betty and Uncle Dan - You guys know you are too much and thank you doesn't even cover it and i will have some happy neighborhood kids next week!!
Elizabeth- Loved the X-mas card and when i get back we WILL make good luck Turkeys
Aunt Bonney Uncle Wes, Kyle and Matt-You are one of two photos on my *SPECIAL (PEOPLE SENT ME PHOTOS) WALL* in my house
Aunt Mary and Uncle John- A little birdy told me that you send someone something to send me stuff. Thank you so much!
Mom, Dad and the little Kurt Cobain- You are AMAZING and i look forward to everything you send, mainly because i know you send what i want/need and your letters always cheer me up and make me laugh. SEND PHOTOS and a Coffee press ;)

2009-04-26T06:24:00.009-04:00

2009-04-26T06:10:00.009-04:00

A Day in the life of the BEST PCV in country

2009-04-26T05:06:00.003-04:00

4:06 - Wake up to the sound of the bats in the ceiling. Grab broom and start hitting the ceiling.

5:45 - Say a silent prayer to Allah so that my neighbors keep it down

7:30 - Wake up on my own accord and grab the broom (conviently right next to the bed) and sweep the house

8:00 - Lie on mat and do some crunches and push ups. OK i did that once but still...

8:15 - Start boiling water for some easy mac or ramen or whatever it is that i feel like making into my new favorite breakfast food for the week.

8:30 - Sit down and eat my breakfast inside so i don't have to "invitation" out my american food.

9:00 - Walk over to the bosses house and see if anything is going on for the day (assuming nothing is I might just go up to my cell phone mountain and call someone)

1:30 - Meander my way home and eat rice and sause with the neighbors. Extra pimont (hot peppers) to drown out the taist of the fish.

3:00 - Pular lessons. Mainly consists of me trying to pronounce the word and the crowd of on-lookers laughing their butts off at my butchering abilites of their language that is "tres facile"

5:00 - Leave Pular leassons utterly imbarrased and overwhelingly overwhelmed. Tea time with the boys. This is where i get a chance to laugh at them with our impromptu English lessons.

8:00 - Burn off a layer of skin on my tongue from all of the pimont i use for more rice and sause which is a cold repeat of lunch.

9:00 - Grab my bucket and goble and take a "shower". Scrubbing all traces of Guinea dust off of me.

9:30 - Crawl in bed with a good book and Owen Bennet Jones from BBC en Afrique

10:00 - Say a silent prayer that i made it another day and secretly count the days in my head until i can see another America.

2009-04-24T12:58:00.007-04:00

2009-04-24T12:50:00.001-04:00

OK so I’ve had a rough couple of weeks here in guinea. Let me elaborate for you. I’ll start at the beginning because, well that is the only logical place to start I guess. So a few weeks ago I was having some foot problems. As in the skin on my feet were FALLING OFF! GROSS, I KNOW!!!!!!!!!!! So I called my doctor and he confirmed my fear. A flesh eating fungus! Yep that’s right. A fungus was eating the flesh right off of my foot. Nothing a little bleach and the hard core attitude of a Peace Corps volunteer couldn’t handle. Ain’t no big thing *** I know what your thinking, a FLESH EATING FUNGUS, no big thing, well keep reading, it gets worse!*** In case you are wondering I am fungal free now!

Then someone stole my bike! Yeah that’s right, I got by bike stolen. In the states, I never and I mean NEVER rode my bike but here, in guinea that is my ONLY form of transportation at site. Imagine your car being stolen and that’s how I felt. I do believe I shed a tear or two as well over my lost bike. Someone came into my compound (walled area around the house) and cut my AMERICAN lock and rode off with my bike. AND THEN, someone was knocking on my door in the middle of the night and asking for me. Which is so not cool. So I had a nice talking with our safety and security personnel and she feels it is safer for me to move. Never fear, I am safe at site. The family I live with got a dog and someone sleeps outside now making sure no one bugs me anymore.

AND THEN I started feeling sick. And this isn’t a normal kind of sick. It was more of an “only in guinea” kind of sick so I called my doctor again and he and I did some tests and I’ve got an ameba. So I went to Mamou (closest large town outside of my site) to get the meds to take care of my ameba friend and the hospital DIDN’T HAVE THE MEDS!!!!!!! They told me I could only get the meds in the capital city. So I spent the next 15 minutes sitting on the steps of the hospital, crying out of frustration and fear that my ameba would take over my body. Once every single Guinean came up to make sure the white girl crying in front of the hospital was alright, I calmed myself down and called the doctor. He said we had two options. The first one being he could send them up on a bush taxi in a few days that just might get there, but there is a big chance the meds might not even make it, or we could try a cheaper generic version of the same med. So obviously I took the latter approach. Well, I had an AWEFUL reaction to that medication, called the doctor first thing Thursday morning and told him “I can’t do this” and he said come on to down Conakry. So here I am, on the good medication, getting more tests done (to make sure there is nothing else wrong).

To drown out my worries and bad feelings yesterday I went and eat pizza on the beach watching the African sun set over the ocean and today I went down town and had a schworma and ice cream and bought tons of food and stuff to take back with me up country.

But other than that, everything as A-OK here. But really, don’t fear, I’m ok!

2009-04-24T12:46:00.000-04:00

PHOTOS!!!!!!!!

2009-04-23T12:47:00.009-04:00

Ambassadors, The Governator, and Home Sweet Home (en Afrique!)

2009-03-21T13:16:00.000-04:00

Ambassadors, The Governator, and Home Sweet Home (en Afrique

Well I made it one full month already, living on my own in an African village. Who would have thought? Let’s go over some of the highlights of the last four weeks of my life. The inevitable happened. I became a volunteer and then the Peace Corps car pulled away. That was by far the hardest part thus far, standing amongst my village watching the white land cruiser with Peace Corps printed on the side pull away. Leaving me to fend for myself, alone, IN GUINEA!! Tears in eyes, I waved goodbye to everyone and everything that had become familiar in this foreign world I now live in. Then about a million little kids came up and started jumping all over me which quickly made me forget that “What did I get myself into…?” moment.

Despite the MASSIVE language barrier, I have started to make friends. Thank God I had so many years of French under my belt. Who knew that back in high school when it came time to choose a foreign language and everyone told me “You should take Spanish, you’ll never use French” I was right, French is now my ONLY real means of communication. Don’t get me wrong, I am struggling to learn Pular like the best of them but I am now being taught by my village friends which are in about 8^th– 10^th grade. Let me explain. My village doesn’t have a high school. I know right?! So IF the kids want to continue their high school experience they have to go to a larger city to go to school. This leaves an enormous age gap, so everyone around my age is uneducated or in the city. So I hang out with 10^th graders. It’s all good.

OH, I threw up on my village. Everything is fine. I was walking around with some of my friends on market day (which means everyone and their brother is out and about) and all of a sudden, out of nowhere I just start heaving all over my friends as well as some stander-biers. I have no idea what happened. I’m sure it was just a combination of the heat, dehydration, and the smells of the market (imagine an open air fish market in 115 degree heat….. not good!) My friends were more freaked out than I was, which is surprising. They rushed me back home, went out and bought me water and threw me in bed. I’m fine now and that was the only incident, I’m drinking tons of water and taking it slowly during the day. It’s cool! I promise!!

I got my hair braided. I look like Coolio serca 1992 but everyone thinks it looks great. I think it looks like I’m a 14 year old girl on vacation in the Caribbean. But its cooler on the head.

So crazy thing happened about two weeks ago. I’m just sitting on my balcony reading a book when a car pulls into my yard. I don’t really think anything of it and go back to reading my book. Some guy starts walking up my steps, I close my book and great him in Pular. He tells me that the Ambassador is here. I thought I misunderstood what he said so I kind of gave him an odd look and he said come here. So I follow this guy into the living room of the house below me and low and behold there is the Ambassador of Mali just chillin on the couch. I do my standard meet and greet and sit down and talk to the ambassador. I’ve never talked to an ambassador before and I wasn’t really sure what to say. I still to this day don’t know why he was at my house visiting my “family” but he was really nice and congratulated me for the work I’m doing here. Then he invited me to go with him to Timbo ( a village about 30 K away) for a mosque opening. I was going to go anyways with some friends, but a free ride in a land cruiser WITH AIR CONDITIONING! Shot, I took the free ride, thinking I would just meet up with everyone once we got there. Boy was I wrong. I had never been to a mosque opening before so I really didn’t know what to expect. Well it was a sea of people! The Ambassador and I get escorted to the mosque where I am told to stand outside while they go in and pray. So I wait and then when he comes out we get escorted to a house. I really do mean escorted. Like, the military surrounded us, parted the sea of people and walked us everywhere.

So at this house, I still have no idea what is going on but more and more people keep coming. Everyone introduces themselves to me as Ambassadors or other foreign dignitaries while I just sit there in my bright yellow African dress feeling way out of place. Everyone is making a huge fuss over me, asking if I need anything, if they can get me anything, if I want anything just let them know. Somehow I was the star of the afternoon. Then a man walked in, and judging by the size of his entourage he must have been every every important, and he sits right next to me. I’m talking to him and then he asks if I’m married. A question I get a lot around here and I didn’t want to lie so I told him no, I’m not married. Well I thought he said “We’ll find you a Canadian.” I kind of looked at him like he was crazy and responded “I’m American, not Canadian.” Mind you, this is all in French. I figured out after he returned my crazy look that he told me he would find me a candidate (not a Canadian) for marriage. Once I realized what was going on I told him he would have to consult my mother about any kind of marriage, he laughed awkwardly, I laughed awkwardly and then he dropped it. Oh language, how you fool me everyday.

Then it was time for the speeches. So all of the foreign dignitaries and myself are escorted back across the street to the mosque. Well seeing as I’m a girl I wasn’t allowed to follow my Ambassador friend. So the (female) Ambassador from Niger and I sat outside chatting. She didn’t speak pular also so during the speeches we just chatted about life in Guinea. Then it was prayer time. Well, little white catholic girl from Ohio here didn’t know that you had to cover your head so about five guys came running up to me screaming in pular and pointing to me. Thank Allah that the ambassador I was sitting with had an extra scarf in her purse that she let me use during prayer. I thanked her profusely for saving my catholic butt at a mosque. It finally ended and then a swarm of paparazzi come running up to me. I’m in shock! Everyone, and yes I do mean everyone wants photos with me and to interview me for their paper. I politely decline all interview because lord only knows what I would end up saying in French. I stand around and take some photos and then am escorted back to the house where I meet up with the Ambassador of Mali. It was a real Angelina Jolie moment. It was crazy! I never expected anything like that to happen. I couldn’t believe how I was treated like a celebrity when I’m just a volunteer. Oh and the worst part was, I forgot my camera. So I have no photos of my day with the Ambassadors… bummer!

I’m still, two weeks later, having complete strangers come up to me asking if I’m the girl from the Timbo mosque opening. Welcome to my life. It’s always crazy!!!

Let’s see, what else is new and exciting in my life. Never did I ever think that I would miss the voice of Arnold Shwartzinager. I’ve been going to the video place (kind of like a movie theater, but not really) in my village and they show BADLY DUBBED war/action films every night. I go only because it is a bit of normality but after about a week of badly dubbed Arnold you really learn to miss his voice. Especially when it’s replaced by a high pitched, fast talking French man.

I rode in a bush taxi with 10 other people. OK, so imagine a small car only being help together by a few Madonna stickers and the will of god, and shove 4 people in the front (don’t forget the stick shift) and 7 (YES, SEVEN) people in the back, including me! Then, to make things even better there were 3 people sitting in the trunk. Why you may ask, well that’s simple, they were holding on to the goat and three chickens. DUHH! Oh there were also four or five people on the roof. Thank god it was a short ride to Mamou!

Otherwise, yesterday a guy came to change the light bulb in my room and then magically the electricity now works in my house. I guess the family I live with got more solar panels so now I can use my laptop!!!!!!! I’m not sure if you guys can sence the awesomeness of the situation from back in the states but this means I can type up my blogs at my convience and WATCH MOVIES!!!!!!! So if you are hurting for care package ideas and you’ve got a few extra inches of space in your flat rate USPS box slip in a new movie.

Brining up the point of care packages I would like to send a special shout out to Grams and Gramps (the crackers were AWESOME!), Aunt Peggy (I’ve been doing cross words all week), Molly and Ginger (that box was the bomb) and lastly the rents (a million times, thank you). Otherwise, if you would like to send me a note that would be great (the address is on the sidebar) and packages are always welcome. Any kind of pre-packaged single serving food is good. I have recently taken a massive liking to many things that I never ate in the states (i.e. spaghetti-O’s and hummus) so don’t fret about sending me something I “don’t like” because now I’ll eat just about anything.

Lastly, congrats to Marquita and her new hubby as well as Lori and Jon Champion on their past and upcoming weddings respectively.

Photos of Swearing in

2009-02-07T06:24:00.006-05:00

Danielle, believe it or not another Wright State grad, in GUINEA none the less.

The group of us who now call the "Fouta" home sweet home. These next two years should be interesting... ;)

"Southern Guinea" Represent! (The few of us who live in the southern part of Guinea)

The swear in oath that we took to become a volunteer.

Yes, good times!

Our group. Aren't we so colorful

My day in Conakry shopping

2009-02-05T11:01:00.003-05:00

Let me explain my excitement. First, I haven’t seen a real (4 walls and a ceiling) grocery store since I have left Ohio, and today I got to go to my first Lebanese store in Conakry. Lebanese stores are kind of a God send to American in a third world country. They had the most random stuff I’ve ever seen but it was AWESOME.

This morning we got up early and went and withdrew our money from the bank. Who knew, I moved to Guinea and became a millionaire!! Yep, I withdrew millions of (Guinean) dollars. I’m rich!!! Ok so converted into American dollars it’s under $1,200 for three months and moving in but here… good lord that’s a lot.

After our bank experience some one years (PCV’s that have been in country for a year) take us to the leb stores. I walk inside those double wide doors and the ark angels from the heavens are singing the songs of joy! They had Dove shampoo, deodorant, CHEESE, soy sauce, pickles, snickers, Franks Red Hot sauce, air freshener, cereal, hummus, you name it. It was like a little America, with a Lebanese accent. Really, it was like walking into any American dollar store but here it was a gift from god. For the first time in Guinea, I almost forgot where I was but then I had to walk back outside into the hussle and bussle and heat and I remembered where I was.

Oh today, I also got ICE CREAM!!!!!!!!!! I know all of you are back home freezing your butts off, but here its hot! It’s really really really hot. And today was the first thing of ice cream I have had in a long time. But when I ordered it I thought it was cookies and cream and when I asked, the guy responded in some thing I could not understand. So I just nodded and said ok. Sat down and expected one thing and got a mouth full of something else. It was pistachio, odd I know right. But it was delicious none the less!

I just want to give a quick shout-out to all of the other partents out there who i know are reading these blogs. All of your kids are great, we really have turned into our own little family network here.

PHOTOS!! Long awaited, i know

2009-02-04T18:47:00.008-05:00

Most of our group on "fairwell Foricairah" day

The bathroom my family used

The kitchen where my rice and sauce was prepared everyday

This is the place where I ate lunch, every single day while in Foricariah. Egg sandwiches

The signs in Guinea

My little next door neighbor boy... so cute!!!

Doing laundry, well not me of course...

watching the presidentail inaugeration from a video club we rented out. and by club i mean shack

I MADE IT THROUGH STAGE

2009-02-04T18:20:00.005-05:00

For all of you know are not up on your PC lingo (Peace Corps language) stage is the first 2 months in country that entails all sorts of craziness. For instance, you move in with a family, you go to class in 100 degree heat outside, you struggle through all kinds of crazy language problems (i.e. you can’t speak Sous-sous and your family doesn’t speak French), you eat crazy food and you are busy 24-7. Well its OVER!!!!

This morning I woke up, finished packing and gave my gifts to my family. Oh man were they a HUGE hit. I had gotten a calendar of the US National Parks, a few beanie babies, a few matchbox cars, a few base ball caps from my dad’s work, and a photo album. They acted like it was Christmas day, they were so excited! *DAD- your AMP hats were a HUAGE hit. They haven’t taken them off. Once the excitement of the gifts had worn off a bit, it was photo time. You have not seen anything until you see Guinean children have a change to have their photos taken. It is like feeding time at the zoo! Kids come out of the wood work that I have never even seen to get their photos taken.

Today was the official end of STAGE! We had our going away ceremony today where we said goodbye to our families, dressed in African outfits and tried to sing in French. OK so my African outfit… well it turned out to be a crazy mess. Don’t get me wrong, I love it, but it is crazy. OK so imagine me, in a dress, which looks like you crewed 4 yellow skittles, 2 orange skittles and 1 red skittle in your mouth and spit it into a napkin, and then make an entire fabric out of it. Yes I was the loudest one dressed in the room. My outfit demanded attention, but really when don’t I? But the Guineans loved it, so I am “bien integre” (well integrated in French)

After the ceremony, we loaded the bus and cars with all of our stuff. Imagine this, 29 volunteers with a minimum of 4 bags each loading all of that stuff to survive in Africa for two years in/on 2 cars and the bus. CRAMPED! Then we drove to the capital, never to see Foricariah again. Which I am absolutely not upset about. Don’t get me wronge, I’m just ready to be on my own here.

Getting to the end of Stage

2009-02-04T18:06:00.003-05:00

Well I made it!! In two days I will be sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I survived two of the craziest months of my life. There have been many ups and downs while here in Guinea and we are just getting started.

Let’s start with site visit. The three days that I was at site was literally the hardest thing I have done thus far in country. After leaving the safe comfort of friends who have now become my family in Mamou my homologue (counterpart if you wish) and I got into a taxi. But this was not any normal American taxi. Oh no, this was a Guinean taxi. Let me explain. It was a Neon, ok picture an old beet up Neon and now cram (and yes I do mean cram) 8 people in it. YEP, four in the front and four in the back. And these are grown adults we are talking about. SQUISHED!!! So once we all get in we start the 33 K to my village. 33K that doesn’t sound very far, now does it. It should only take about 20 minutes. Well it doesn’t. Our little car breaks down not once, not even twice but 3 times, lord only knows why. But we eventually make it to my village in one piece. After a brief tour of my town with my homologue she asks if I would like to nap. “Well yes I would!” I responded in French. So she took me to my new apartment! It is a really cute one bedroom, small living room and then a Guinean master bath (basically the squat whole is in my room, walled off of course). My village is really small but cute none the less. It is about 2 miles long on the main road (only paved road) up country into Haught Guinea. I live on one end in my apartment while my work is on the other end of town. And since I’m on the only road into upper Guinea I am petrified to ride my bike. So I will be getting a lot of walking done. Which is good, I guess.

OK so the best part about my village is my apartment. I am going to spend the next two years turning it into my Little America and I can’t wait! I live on the second floor of someone else’s house but there are two families that live in my compound. One family is older and then there is a teacher and his wife and kids in the other house. They are all great people and I am very excited to get to know all of them. As of now I’m not exactly sure what I will be doing over my next two years but I have three months to find that out and I will share more about that once I get to know it better.

Otherwise as a business volunteer, the Peace Corps thinks it is a great idea to have us try to create a business and sell something. So we broke up into our little teams and had to brain storm this brilliant idea on how to make a profit in Guinea, one of the worlds poorest countries. Sounds easy, piece of cake. My partner and I thought to ourselves, what do we have that Guineans want? AKON! If you haven’t heard of him, don’t be ashamed, I hadn’t either until I got to Africa. (He is a singer, that I think was born somewhere in Africa that now lives in the states). So we scrounged up some music and burned them onto CD’s and called it a day, fully thinking that this would be the cats meow. Well on project day we hooked up our ipod to our speakers and put our sign up right in the center of town and sat waiting for the flocks of teenagers to come and buy up our American made CD’s. Well the crowds did come, but we forgot to take into account that people don’t have a way to play our CD’s here in Guinea. So we only sold three but we had another Guinean dance party with the locals all day! Oh silly Americans with their fancy technology.

So here are some things I’ve noticed myself changing
1.I am always dirty.
2.My nails are always cut short. In the states, my nails were always kept long, but here they must be cut for sanitation purposes.
3.I carry a knife. Believe it or not a Swiss army knife is now always in my pocket. They are just so handy! You can use it for just about anything. Who knew?
4.I haven’t brushed my hair in about 3 days. I wash it then go to bed, wake up and pull it into a pony tail. Crazy!
5.I don’t ware makeup. That’s right, haven’t touched the stuff since I left Philly.
6.Haven’t seen my reflection in about 2 weeks. But I really don’t care, and I do find myself avoiding reflective sunglasses because I really don’t want to see myself. If something was up, someone would tell me. I hope!
7.All of my cloths are getting kind of baggy!!!!
8.AND I’M BLONDE

My laptop battery is about to die so I’m going to make this quick. Thank you to everyone that has sent letters and packages. You really don’t know how much it means to receive those things. I will be facing the hardest three months starting a week from today and getting even a little card means the world. I know how busy all of your lives are and even reading my blog means a lot to me but if you can find yourself the time to just jot down a little bit of news or a funny story that happened to you I will truly appreciate it. Hearing stories of back home means a lot!

Oh Guinea...

2009-01-09T12:22:00.004-05:00

Well hello all,

Surprise, I have internet!!!!! EXCITING, for me at least. Once again, I'm fine and well although I've been all kinds of sick for the last 7 days. Only in Guinea! Today we got to go outside of Foricariah and into Mamou, a large town in the Fouta (middle Guinea) and the best part is, ITS NOT HOT HERE. I wore a hoodie, yes thats right, I am wearing a Hoodie in Africa. Its probably about 75 degrees F but when you are used to 95-100 F 75 feels cool. I know I know. Most of you back in the states are freezing with inches if not feet of snow on the ground and here i am in 75 degree weather thinking its cold. Well you should have joined the Peace Corps, then you could be enjoying the nice African climate as well.

On Sunday I get to go and see my house where I will be living for the next two years! I can't wait. I hear that I have the second story of an older couples house inside of a compound shaired with a teacher. From what I've been told by my APCD ( lady in charge of SED) it is nice. But i will give a full report when i have some legit info.

Just wanted to put it out there that i have been getting some packages and letters in the mail and they are awesome. Thank you to everyone who has sent out packages and letters!!!! They really do mean the world over here.

New Years eve in the Capital

2009-01-01T07:45:00.003-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!!!

Last night all of my fellow "stagers" and I drove the two hours from Foricariah to Conakry to ring in the New Years in style. IE flushing toilette's, air conditioning, and running water for showers. The two hour ride was full of joyous song and military check points. After the Coup, they monitor who is going/coming into Conakry. So got to drive by that. Good times!

Finally got to Conakry around 7, stuck out my bed and ran up to the computer room to start responding to e-mails and blogging away. How nice it is to have the Internet!!! You guys have it too good at home.

After my hour of pre-assigned computer time i went back to the Volunteer house and eat my hummus and bread for dinner and rounded up the troops to go out to the beach bar to celebrate in style. Almost all of the "stagers" and volunteers were down there sitting on the beach drinking our Guiluxe (crappy Guinean beer), feet berried in the sand. I sat and watched the tide roll in for a while and then danced the night away. Of course, the mass group of americans were the only ones that did a huge count down to the new years. We shoot off fireworks and had a good old time.

Around 12:30 we decided to peace out and go back to the house. So we meander our way back to the P.C. compound and hang out for a few hours just chatting and enjoying the air conditioning. Finlay hitting the sack around 2:30 am.

Had a great night sleep ( IN AIR CONDITIONING) and woke up around 9:30 (which is the latest I've been able to sleep in while in Guinea). And then, I TOOK A SHOWER, that didn't require a bucket! It was AWESOME!!!! And then went down stairs and watched 5 episodes of Sex and the City. Once again AWESOME!!!!!

I leave Conakry at 4 pm local time today to go back to Foricariah for more PC training. I stay in Foricariah until Thursday when I leave to meet my counterpart and do a workshop with them and then i go straight out to site for a week!!!!! I can't wait to find out what my living situation will be like!!! It should be rich.

This is my last time with the internet until Feb, so expect another blog update around then. But i would like to thank all of you who have been thinking about me and sending me letters/packages. It truly means a lot to open up cards from everyone and read a little about life back in the states.

Love and miss each and everyone of you,

Corinna

Christmas Coups and Dance Parties

2008-12-31T15:03:00.008-05:00

I would like to preface this blog by just first saying that I AM OK!!!!!!

In case you haven’t been following the world news President Lansana Conte (of Guinea) died last week, leaving the country, where I am, in a state of morning and searching for hope. Well to make a long story short a Captain in the Army decided that this would be his perfect chance to rule the country. A Coup D’ Etate soon followed!!! Yes, I survived my first coup! I would highly encourage all to take a few minutes and BBC News Guinea and find out what you can about it. In a nut shell, Conte died just before X-mas and within 24 hours Captain Camara decided that the Guinean Constitution was no longer going to be followed and he was President. He called a nation wide curfew from 8pm to 6am so no one could plan any other takeovers at night and limited movement around the country. Yep, little Corinna survived a Coup, on Christmas none the less. HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!

I was not affected too much by any of this other than my Christmas plans were changed and I got tackled. So, since our training is done outside of the capital city, we were originally going to go to Conakry for X-mas to take a shower, check some e-mails and enjoy some air-conditioning. Well since there was a Coup D’Etate on Christmas day needless to say, that didn’t happen. We ended up spending the night at the Peace Corps compound here in Foricariah for Christmas Eve so that no one would have to wake up alone on Christmas morning. We crammed about 15 people in one room to sleep, and no one complained only because there was air conditioning. And let me tell you, here that is getter than gold! We each decided to make a dish which turned out to be too crazy so we ended up with a Christmas dinner that consisted of mashed potato’s, spaghetti, garlic bread (which I helped make), chicken (which three people had to slotter themselves, and I was not a part of that), Indian food, soup, cookies, and I’m sure some other things that I’m forgetting. And all of that was prepared for 30 + people on only 4 burners and no oven. Only in Guinea! There was also a gift exchange and a lot of Christmas carols.

Then after Christmas I was hanging out with my host family in the front “yard” (dirt area) having a dance party with my little siblings, when curfew rolled around. Well once again let me say I’M OK! But to enforce curfew around here the military goes around shooting their guns in the air so the first gun shoot goes off and my host family bolts for the inside. Well nothing happened for a while so we all went back outside to continue our dance party, and then the second shoot goes off and my host brother tackles me and about 5 or 6 “petites” (little African children) jump on top of me. That is when I was thinking, I think its time to go to bed. So I did. Don’t worry, I’M FINE!!!! The curfew is lifted and there are no more gun shoots!!

Well on a much lighter note, I am adjusting to the Guinean lifestyle just fine. I have learned to love my bucket bath and the idea of peeing in a hole no longer grosses me out! Not going to lie, it does take some getting used to, but its really not that bad. I KNOW, RIGHT, who would have ever thought I would say that?! I have even learned to get by with out electricity. Who would have thought? Well where I am right now, we have electricity about every other night but since the new President Camara came to office electricity has been coming on more frequently.

Next week I find out where my site is. Site is where I will spend my next two years living and working, for all of you who haven’t brushed up on your Peace Corps lingo. That is very exciting for me! I can’t wait to see where I will be placed.

Let’s see, what else is there to talk about. There is so much, I don’t even know where to start. Well it’s hotter than the surface of the sun here. I think each day since I’ve been here, I’ve sweated out at least a gallon of sweat, and this is the cold season. Can’t wait for summer! Don’t get me wrong, I would much rather be here sweating than freezing in the States.

My French is moving swiftly however, the family I’m with and I have a hard time communicating, which is very frustrating. See the funny thing here is French is only used in school, so only the educated people know French and all the kids know French. So my host family speaks Souesou as their first language and French as their second. So unless I’m talking to my host father or one of my siblings that’s in school I have a hard time getting what I want understood. This week too, all of my siblings are gone on vacation visiting family.

So funny story, my siblings love to count. Weird, I know. So I’m sitting outside with some siblings one Sunday counting to 100 in French (my siblings and I), English (me), and Souesou (my siblings) when out of no where my host Grandma who must be about 100 (or at least she looks it) walks out and in perfect English counts from 1 to 100. Keep in mind; this is the woman that I have never had a conversation with because she doesn’t speak French. My jaw dropped, she finished counting and walked back inside and to this day, we still haven’t had a conversation….

I was given my bike two weeks ago, which is now my main source of transportation. I haven’t ridden a bike since I was a kid minus the one time that my college roomy and I took our bike out and rode around campus one day. I am now expected to bike ride everywhere and in some cases volunteers will bike anywhere from 2 – 30 KM to see their closest Peace Corps neighbor. I hope I have a close neighbor! But on Saturdays after classes let out often people ride down to the river to cool off from the African sun. It is an absolutely breathtaking river that we go to but I don’t go swimming in it. Don’t worry Mom. Me and African water do not mingle, we barley make eye contact unless necessary.

Training has been moving along swiftly. I can’t believe I’ve been in guinea for a month already. It seems like a million years and yet only five minutes. The way stage (training) is set up, you never have a free moment so we have been very busy in and out of classes. We have some great Guinean staff working with us, helping with language, culture, diversity, health (which is actually taught by our Romanian Doctor, random), and business. But we are also having volunteers that have been in Guinea for a year here helping with trainings too. They are great with us. Leading us around like a pack of lost puppies.

Oh also, I got my first marriage proposal. Don’t worry, I said NO. There will be no Guinean wedding for me! Besides, he only wanted my American citizenship. Lame!

Despite the Coup D’etate, bucket bath, peeing in a hole, heat, humidity, fishy dinners, dust, bugs, and no predictable electricity I am really loving it here. The people are great, with a little direction this country of 10 million could be prospering from their mineral rich soil.

BOOK YOUR PLANE TICKETS NOW!!!

With love,

Corinna

P.S. I’m really fine here! I have never felt unsafe and besides Sierra Leon isn’t far incase we need to flee the country. But really I’m fine!

SEND ME LETTERS, PLEASE!!!!!!!!

Last day of internet! OH NO!!!!

2008-12-08T06:12:00.003-05:00

Well, today is my last day of internet until X-MAS but thats alright. I have been so busy and only getting busier that it will be ok. At least that is what i've been telling myself.

Yesterday I had my first survival course in Susue, the local langage of my host family that i will be moving in with tomorrow. Survival language... what do you think that means? I thought it would be like " Help me"or "What is that?" but no it was "hello, good day" "Good night"My name is Corinna" "I am an American" but i guess that phrase will get me far. I just hope that my french gets me through the family stay.

After our survival language class we had culture shock 101. In that, we were given instructions on how to use the bathroom (NO TOILET and NO SHOWER, AHHHHHHHH) how to boil the water and filter our water. What did i get myself into??? But, oddly enough, i feel ok about it. I know, so unlike me! But once you see the local and the poverty, you can't help but to adjust your ways.

We didn't have to get up early this morning (first time since i've been here) so last night we stayed in and played MAFIA. A card/murder mystery game. So much fun! This morning we woke up and since it is an Islamic holiday we have nothing to do. Around 10 I got up and stared to dip mosquito nets. I know, right! Yesterday, the PC gave us your medical kits and our mosquito nets and some chemical that needs to be applied on to the net.

On the roof top of the PC house we brought all of our nets and dipped them in a mixture of some chemical and water and had to hang them to dry. With 29 white nets hanging to dry in the African sun, it was so cool looking. It didn't take long to dip but it was cool.

Tomorrow, everything will change. We have been living in such a sheltered compound that once we move with the family culture shock will hit. In the PC house now, we have air conditioning, flushing toilets, running water, internet, pre-cooked food, and its beach front. Tomorrow, who knows what to expect?

I'll fill you in on Dec 25, when i'm back at the compound for Christmas. More photos and stories of me butchering language to come!!!!!

I'm in GUINEA!!!

2008-12-04T14:45:00.002-05:00

Well all,

I made it. I am officially a Peace Corps Trainee!!!! I'm sitting in Conakry right now, after the longest day of my life. On Wed I woke up in Philly at 5:30 to make check out by 6:30, went and had Starbucks for the last time (in a while) and then went and get my Yellow Fever Vaccination along with my Malaria pills. Then sat on a bus to NYC to fly out of JFK. Since our bus got into JFK about an hour early everyone had to unload our bags and move them inside only to have to shuffle them around for an hour because of security....

By the time I got on the plane for my eight hour flight i was dead to the world. Another girl in our PC group was my seat mate (thankfully I had the aisle) but she wanted to move so i ended up with the two seats to myself. SCORE!!! I also got to watch the Dark Knight. Rock on South African Air!

Landed in Dakar Senegal around 6am local time and followed the rest of the group around the airport until I sat my butt on a plane seat and flew to Guinea.

By the time we landed in Guinea everyone was crazy tired but there was a nice group of other volunteers to welcome us. They had their cameras out and posters everywhere, it made me feel like the true celebrity I am.

Anyways, we gathered all of our luggage and loaded up some buses to take us to the PC house. The drive over was so surreal. There really is no way to describe it. No word in the English Dictionary (even French for that matter) could sum up what it was like to step off the plane in 95 F weather and be in Guinea. It was everything I expected yet nothing at all like what i thought.

Can you believe it, I'm actually here!

With love,
Corinna

Send me stuff, really please do!!!!!

2008-11-18T17:11:00.003-05:00

Guidelines for Mail

I am told that receiving mail and care packages is key to keeping up morale in a successful volunteer. Please write often and send packages as often as is practical. In a place with few comforts, a box of things from home will seem like Christmas any time of year (and no matter how hot it is!).

MY ADDRESS:

Corinna [you know my last name], PCT (PCV after February 6, 2009)
Corps de la Paix Americain
BP 1927
Conakry, GuineaWEST AFRICA

The way mail works in Guinea is that the only place that actually has a mail system is the capital, Conakry. This is where our PC headquarters is located. All mail should be delivered to PC HQ, and then they do a monthly mail run out to my site to give me everything I have received. During training (12/4/08 – 2/6/09), I may receive mail more frequently.

Something you send could take up to six weeks to actually get to me, and outgoing mail is no better. But PLEASE send letters and packages as often as possible. They will keep up my morale!Anything that will arrive after February 6, 2009 should say “PCV” (Peace Corps Volunteer) rather than “PCT” (Peace Corps Trainee) after my name.

LETTERS:

When you send letters, number them clearly at the top and put the date. Also, make a photocopy of the letter before you send it in case any get lost in the mail, so we will still have it if it never gets here.Good things to send with letters are photos, comics, and news clippings. NEWS ITEMS will be especially important, as I will have almost no access to news from the US (!!). Due to budget cuts, Peace Corps recently canceled the Newsweek subscriptions they have provided to volunteers since the beginning of the Corps. Do not send money or anything valuable as oftentimes the edges of letters will be clipped to see if there is anything of value inside.If you’re sending a postcard, put it in an envelope. The pretty pictures are likely to end up posted on some Guinean’s wall instead of mine.Be sure to write “AIR MAIL” and “PAR AVION” on the envelope.

PACKAGES:

1. Print the address label from a computer if possible to make it official-looking. I have read that packages with labels printed by hand have not made it to their destination.

2. Insure the package, even if it’s just granola bars. One volunteer kept track of his packages and received 100% of those that were insured and only 56% of uninsured packages. Write “INSURED” and “ASSURANCE” (French) on the outside. Also write “AIR MAIL” and “PAR AVION” on the box.

3. Number and date your packages so I know I am receiving them.

4. If there is something super-important you really want me to get, put it inside an empty tampon box – apparently no one will touch it.

5. Mail is less likely to be tampered with if it’s addressed in red ink.

6. It’s also less likely to be tampered with if you draw crosses and write religious phrases on it (in French) such as “Dieu regardez-vous” or “Dieu merci”. A great link of French bible versus http://www.wordproject.org/fr/index.htm just pick one and copy it on the envelope. Oh and "Dieu" means God in French.

7. Please tape the box up really, really well after you seal it so no one can easily reach in and steal stuff.

8. If sending food, please wrap and double wrap in plastic bags (ziplocs preferably, since I can reuse them) to avoid wonderful creatures from sharing in on my treats.

9. You will also be required to fill out customs declaration form PS Form 2976-A. You can complete this form at the post office or online before you ship at https://webapps.usps.com/customsforms/. Indicate all contents as “Used” on the customs form to reduce the risk of theft.

10. On the Customs form, when listing the contents make them lame. For example, tell them you are sending me pencils or education materials and not expensive chocolate or soccer balls. Just downplay everything. If you’re sending books, magazines, DVDs, things like that, you can mark it as “educational materials” (I would say you could even mark that for stuff like soccer balls and stuff for kids), as it is less likely to be tampered with.

11. If what you’re sending is relatively heavy, I suggest sending with the post office’s Priority Mail flat rate international box (same as the domestic box), as the weight restriction is 20 pounds as long as the stuff fits in the box. The rate is $38.95 for the regular box (11" x 8.5" x 5.5") and $49.95 for the larger box (12” x 12” x 6”). This rate is only good for parcels, so DO NOT include a letter inside as you may be charged the letter rate, not package rate, for the whole package. If you want to include a letter, it is suggested that you tape it underneath the address label or to the inside page of a magazine so it is unlikely to be detected (I'm sorry Aunt Anne and Uncle Glen, forget what I'm saying, you can send me things the official Post office way). If what you are sending is light, you may be able to pay less than the flat rate. Ask your local post office.

12. If you wish to send money, the larger the bill, the better the exchange rate I will get. To send it most safely, I would put it inside something boring in the empty tampon box or tape it to the inside of a magazine page. But please note that this is risky. A better way to send money is to send to my parents ( you know the address, we've lived there for 20 years) to deposit into my bank account, which I will have limited access to. You can make the check out to me, as they will have Power of Attorney to deal with my financial matters.

13. There is no method of disposing of trash or recyclables where I will be going (other than burning or throwing on the ground), so please minimize packaging or put things in containers I can reuse, like Ziploc bags, jars or airtight plastic containers/Tupperware.

Be aware that you can do all of this stuff online at www.usps.com, including ordering free flat rate boxes, printing postage, and scheduling a pickup. In fact, you get a 5% discount on the shipping fee if you do it online.

WHAT TO SEND:

I compiled this list based on things I might enjoy and the advice of current and past volunteers.
-AA & AAA batteries
-Photos (of you, you with pets (Mika!), places/vacations, etc…)
-Magazines/Newspapers (People, Time, National Geographic, Newsweek, etc…)
-Secret or Degree Anti-Perspirant/Deodorant
-Wal*Mart brand Apricot Scrub (The Wally World version of St. Ives Apricot Scrub)
-Sudoku books/Crossword puzzles
-Movies/TV Shows on DVD
-Music on CD
-Fancy soap (even Dove works for me)
-Hair shampoo/conditioner (weak shampoo is available in-country, but conditioner is elusive – try to make it something natural/herbal, as scents can attract more mosquitoes!)
-Shaving cream
-Foot care items (my feet will get nasty)
-Hair clips/claws/ties
-Stuff kids would like: SOCCER BALLS (I will have a bike pump to inflate it), stickers, glue, tape, kids safety scissors, colored pencils/pencil sharpener, paper, picture books, inflatable beach ball world globe, etc…
-Books (good novels will be appreciated)
-Hand sanitizer
-Vegetable/tree/flower seeds (make sure it’s something that does well in Guinea’s climate)
-Macaroni & cheese (EZ Mac, Velveeta Shells & Cheese, etc…)
-Dried fruit/fruit leather
-Candy (non melty I.E. no chocolate)
-Sugar-free gum
-Trail Mix (no peanuts please! there will be lots there)
-Edible Seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, etc…)
-Emergen-C (vitamin section), Crystal Light, or other drink mix (preferably sugar-free)
-Jiffy Pop popcorn (you know the kind you put on your stove and it pops into this big bubble)
-Granola bars
-Energy/protein bars
-Nutella
-Non-refrigerated cheese (Velveeta, Parmesan, Hickory Farms, Danielle, you better be on this!!)
-Non-perishable condiment packets (Taco Bell sauces mild is my fav, soy sauce, crushed red pepper, etc... In case you don't know this already, I do not like ketchup or mustard, so please don't send them)
-Spices (garlic salt, cayenne pepper, cumin, taco seasoning, pesto sauce, Ranch powder, etc…)
-Graham cracker / Oreos
-'Just add water' cookie mixes
-Any kind of food that will keep and is easy to prepare (i.e. add water, milk, eggs, oil)

Please think of this list as guidelines and suggestions and send anything you think will make it up to 6 weeks en route, as I’m sure whatever you send will be MUCH APPRECIATED! Also, check my blog for any special requests!

EMAIL/INTERNET:

Please send ALL email messages to merrill.9@wright.edu I will probably only have enough Internet access to check one box, so make sure whatever you send goes here. You can also read my blog at http://corinnamerrill.blogspot.com/ . Please know that I will do my best to answer personal emails, but my Internet access will be spotty and limited (most likely, I will only have access to Internet when I make it into the capital, Conakry), so my replies will likely be few and far between. Please feel free to share the blog with any other family or friends as well. I will post stories, pictures, package requests, times I will be in phone service, etc…

PHONE:

Sometime (hopefully) in December, I will be getting a cell phone. I believe it will be free for me to receive calls, but expensive to call out. In all likelihood, I will not have service all the time. Watch the blog for dates and times that I will be in a service area.You can buy phone cards to call or use Skype on your computer, which will allow you to call international cell phones. Go to www.Skype.com and sign up for a free account. You will be using your computer/internet connection to make the call (so you will need a microphone and speakers). It will cost about $.20/min. You put a certain amount of money on there and it will debit from that each time you call.

I look forward to hearing from all of you happily and often! Thanks so much for being such a supportive group of family and friends! And I would like to give a big shout out to Dorian (another PCT) for typing up this massive blog and allowing me to personalize it.

Before I leave

2008-11-12T10:36:00.001-05:00

Things I must get done, and fast!!

2008-10-24T17:12:00.002-04:00

Well before I leave for Africa, I have so much stuff to do. There is a million and one pages of info that i have to fill out for the Peace Corps along with everything to get ready to leave the US for two years.

I MUST:
Finish my Resume and aspiration papers
Fill out all legal and insurance papers
Hand over POA to my mom
Shop for all survival stuff
Find a few good books to take
Pick up my new glasses (yep no contact in Africa)
Visit as many people as possible
Make some flight reservations (once i get more info)
Cancel gym membership
Pack up my room and convert it into a guest bedroom
Clean out and back up my computer
Print a billion photos to take with me
Re-learn French (I'm moving to a french speaking country and i haven't spoken french in three months)

Oh and I'm sure there are tons of other things I'm missing but I can't wait. Everything will be crazy heck tic right up until the day I leave, I'm sure. Only 37 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let the countdown begin!

2008-10-21T22:15:00.003-04:00

Dear Friends and Fam,

As some of you may know, I joined the Peace Corps. I just received my placement location and I'm going to GUINEA, West Africa to do small enterprise development!

I am leaving Dec 1, 2008 and will return to the US on Feb 4, 2011. Dec 1, 2008 I fly out to either Washington DC or Philadelphia (still waiting to know where) to meet the group and start my three days of US training and then on Dec 3 the entire group flys over the Conakry Guinea which will begin the three months in country training. Around week five we are to get our in country housing assignments, so until then i will not know exactly where i will be.

While gone, I'm still not sure how much Internet time I will have, but I will do my best to try and send out e-mails and blog regularly. The web address to my travel blog will be http://corinnamerrill.blogspot.com/

Much love,
Corinna Merrill
merrill.9@wright.edu