Day 003 - It is like a summer camp so far

Our flight was a bit delayed leaving NYC, stopped over Brussels, then switched plane to fly to Conakry, with a stop at Dakar.

Dakar looked quite dry in around the airport. Conakry on the other hand is very green and the earth looks quite red. It was drizzling when we landed. The rain brought out the lush color of the vegetation even more. We were greeted immediately by PC staff in Guinea and loaded bags and bags of our belongings. The airport is quite small, just one terminal. We were cheered on by lots of PCVs who started a year ago when we got out of the airport, almost like a receiving line. They wanted to provide some comic relief for us since we were traveling for a long time. Conakry didn't shock me much at all. Perhaps I am feeling numb from some past traveling to third world countries and my readings so far on Africa. Off the main road, lots of 1-story cement buildings with tin roofs, many people walking about and selling food and household items on the street, lots of trash everywhere, there is no traffic lights, some round abouts when there are two major roads intersecting together.

The PC transit house is a place for PCV to stay when they come to the capital. There are rooms with bunk beds, a living room with lots of books (mostly pop novels), and a video room with a pretty nice TV. The CD's house is in the same compound and we were invited to his home for some munchies in the evening. We met more current PCVs and other PC staffs. The house is very nicely decorated with lots of African motifs. The first night sleep was okay, not too hot, we had to sleep inside a mosquito net. Lots of tropical trees around the transit house and the ocean is just beyond the trees. The next morning we had a brief formal meeting with all the staff at the PC headquarter in Conakry, then we set out to a mountaineous region for a few days of orientation before our pre-service training (PST).

The site of our orientation is beautiful, lush green vegetation everywhere. It is much cleaner in the countryside, quiter and peaceful. The air is so fresh. We are at a school site, staying in dorm rooms and sharing public bathrooms. There are only latrines, but pretty good and clean ones. We are fed three meals a day. For breakfast we usually have baguetts and tea, lunch is salad, rice and a stew of some sort with beef, potato and carrots, for dinner we had chicken and peas. All pretty good and I have no problem adjusting to the taste. I feel like we are being quite pampered. The weather at this site is very pleasant, feels like in the high 70‚s. It would shower really hard for awhile, then bright sunshine would break out. Orientation sessions are everyday morning and afternoon, but so far they have been quite interactive and fun.

I feel very peaceful here. We played frisbee with some kids yesterday. They just had so much fun and it was very hard to stop playing with them when we had to get back to our sessions. Everything feel just right here for me, no emotional rollercoasters yet. I am feeling quite calm. I even got to do some yoga yesterday outside.

Most of us are feeling rather sick from something we ate last night. I hope it will all pass soon. I must sign off now, as I am having quite a hard time focusing with this bad headache.

I miss you all and hope you are all doing well.