Day 027 - In General...

July 25th, 2005

In general - I've gained a better grasp of where everything is and how things work here after 3 weeks into training, also feel more comfortable around my family members. I can remember now about 08 - 10 people's names in the family. I look forward to going home for dinner everyday. Most of the time I get fish in different sauces and I eat it alone with rice. The fishes are small about hand length. I get spaghetti sometimes, but I prefer rice. I finally figured out, that my family eat much later than me, and they only have rice and some sauce, not too much meat. They can feed me better food because the Peace Corps gave them money for any food. There is no way they can afford to feed me w/o PC paying for it. Right now, one bag of rice that feeds a family of 05-06 for a couple of weeks cost half of a teachers salary. I've been having peanut butter w/ bread every morning for breakfast and loving it. I actually made peanut butter myself w/ a "machine" which looks kinda like the "machine" where you crank one side and spaghetti will come out the other. Pretty neat. I do wish I have more vegetables and fruits to eat through, but they are hard to come by in my town.

They must know that I'm used to small living quarters because I'm from New York. The room they gave me is about 6 X 8, a single bed w/ mosquito net, a table and chair, with my bike in one corner. I pretty much have no other space. It gets hot in my room, so I try to study in the living room most of the time, because there is a draft, and it's also a little brighter. During the day, my family is always outside. No one really stays inside unless they are napping. I think that goes with the fact that it is a more communal culture, so they can greet everyone that walks by, also it is more breezy outside.

I'm frustrated at the moment with my progress in learning french. My family all speak Susu among each other and while I'm in school, outside of the the classroom, we always congregate together and speak English. Sometimes I feel things are just not sticking. I wonder if I'm too old to learn. I sure hope not! I am going to force myself more to speak more to a family member who is a primary school teacher to improve.

Training Days - Training is very rigorous. Sometimes I feel my brain is totally fried and my tongue is numb from attempting French. With so many long and repetitive non-language sessions there is just not enough time (to clarify day light) in a day to study, write my journal, letters or simply just sit with my family and trying my broken French on them. It would've been nice if we had some study break during the 08:00 - 17:00 school day.

A typical day would be:
08:00 - 10:00 French
10:00 - 10:30 1/2 hr break
10:30 - 12:30 PCMO medical Session
12:30 - 14:00 Lunch (it's late here)
14:00 - 15:30 Cultural/Safety/Education system, etc.
15:45 - 17:00 French or Technical French

I usually get home around 17:30, eat and shower (Then, begin sweating again!). Sometimes I go sit with my family a little in the outdoor hut which is also the kitchen. My mom and dad pretty much spend their whole day there I think. In the evenings, my siblings will congregate inside and outside the kitchen hut also. I can never sit there for too long, because it gets hot. I'm still not too good with working by candles and headlamp yet.

Washing Clothes - Is a process! And if there isn't any sun on the weekend, you might as well just forget it. I would have 2 buckets, and have to change water a lot, rinse my clothes and there is no way I'm rinsing all the soap off. I feel bad for having so much cloth to wash and using so much water. I don't let my family help me with washing, partly because I worry my clothes won't last as long if they wash it using the washboard, also I feel that they have already done a lot for me. I could use some exercise anyway, since I don't have time to do much of it right now.

Education System - So there is primary school with grades 01 - 06, then it is considered college for grades 07 - 10 where I will teach at. Upon completion the Student's take an exam "brevet", where if they pass they go to Lycee which represents grades 11 - 13. Upon completion of the 13th level they will have to take an exam to graduate from Lycee, and then another if they want to get into the public university which is paid for by the government. To encourage women to study math & Science, the government has set aside 1/3 of allotted spots to women in those areas of study. It is still a big problem here that girls drop out of school early either because they are needed at home to work or they are married off at a young age.

Regions - There are 4 regions here in Guinee:
Basse Guinee are mostly populated w/ Susu, it is coastal and humid where I am right now.
Moving east, it is the Foute region, (the Mountaineous region), cooler and very picturesque, supposedly the best place for hiking in all of West Africa. Puel populate the region here and they speak Pulaar. I just found out today that my site is in the heart of Foute region, so I'm glad to be out of this hot, humid sweaty climate soon. I heard the Average temperature is around 70. Can you Believe it!?! I can't wait.
East of Foute is Haute Guinee where mostly Malinke live here. They are very lively people who like to dance and sing more, but it is very dry hot there. I wouldn't mind having a site here but the physics site in Haute got cancelled.
The 04th region is forest region which PC isn't sending any volunteers because of earlier refugee situation from neighboring countries.

- Bonnie