A few days ago, we had quite the adventure in a river that runs right by Forecariah – its a story worth telling, so i’ll just rewrite an excerpt from a letter to my brother that tells the whole story. Listen closely:
“So in Forecariah there is this great river we like to go swimming in. The other day, we went walking for about an hour and a half, crossing a tiny bridge made of tree branches (I nearly killed myself on it) and wading through waist high rice fields (where I nearly lost my sandals as I began to sink into the mud before being rescued by Patrick). By the time we got to the river, we were filthy and tired and ready for what we though would be a relaxing 20-30 minute float down the river. The first 30 minutes definitely were enjoyable, as the fast moving current pretty much just propelled us downstream without too much effort. But then, te river decided that it would just never end, and we could not find the beach where we were planning on jumping out of the river, the beach were we normally jumped in to swim in the river. So, our 20 minute river swim turned into an hour and a half struggle to stay afloat. Every bend in the river we hoped we would find the beach, but at every bend we were disappointed. As the swim dragged on, we began to drift further apart, hearing only our own shouts of “One more bend!” and the occasional bird that cried out in seeming mockery of our desperation. My sandals, which had already sunk in knee deep mud, had already fallen off long before in the river, as I kicked my legs in increasingly futile attempts to keep my head above water that was certain to contain at least 10 dangerous parasites. (Up to this point, I have yet to experience any symptoms of parasites burrowing in my intestinal walls, which is a good sign. Then again, there’s still two years for them to manifest themselves.) Anyways, at the end of the hour and a half, someone finally shouted, “There it is! The beach!” I grabbed my sandals in one hand, and paddled furiously with the other until i finally reached the shallow waters of the muddy strip of land we called the “beach”. Patrick threw himself downonto the sandy mounds as I attempted to regain my breath and my strength. But, at least we had made it out of the water, rather than ending my Peace Corps adventure in the muddy bottom of a Guinean river.”
So, yeah, that was a great day. I went home exhausted, and ate a massive plate of rice and sauce, then proceeded to go to the volunteer house for an abundant feast of mexican food, sangria, and crappy gin – oh it was a good night.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Stage is almost over! Crazy!
So - second blog entry of the day - this one on everything except practice school.
So training is almost coming to a close! Man - time is crazy in Guinea. The days draaaaag on - mostly cause i'm in class from 8-5 and then the evenings FLY by - overall, time has flow by - I can't believe it's almost 2 months since I arrived in Guinea!
We have about 3 more weeks till Affectation (when we become official Peace Corps Volunteers) and I'm psyched. I'm getting ready for training to be over - its fun (at times) but you NEVER have time for yourself. I feel like I'm getting people overload. Of course, I know i'll be saying, DAMN, i wish i had people near me in about a month, but, such is the life of a Peace Corps volunteer! I'm just excited to finally move to my new house, buy all my new furniture and decorate, start teaching at my actual school, and be able to relax a little bit. During training, there is not one second of down time - its nuts.
Anyway - on other news, Jen and I made my host family "fote" food the other day! Fettucini alfredo! And DAMN was it good!! Oh man, it was soooooo good to NOT eat rice and sauce. It was actually surprisingly easy to make with local ingredients (butter, condensed milk, laughing cow cheese, flour, and garlic) but expensive. Although with 35,000 FG (about 6 dollars) we did manage to feed 14 people! Remember though, we get 20 dollars every two weeks - so six dollars is hella expensive! But anyways, yeah, it was soooooooo worth the 35,000 FG. Tomorrow, we will be making spaghetti with tomato sauce and garlic bread for Jen's family - that should be equally awesome.
In other news, the worst month (supposedly) of rainy season just ended - only 3 more months of rain left!! I still have yet to buy an umbrella - I'm really an idiot - it rains like crazy here, EVERY day. But here's my logic - when its not raining, I don't need an umbrella, so I don't buy it when its not raining. When it's raining, they raise the prices of the umbrellas, so I don't buy it when it IS raining. So i'm just constantly wet. At least I've finally managed to adjust to temperatures and am not constantly sweating.
In other news, I commissioned my first couple Guinean outfits from the tailor - 3 bucks to get two shirts and two pants made! I'm sure I look ridiculous, but its still fun to wear Guinean clothes - and the Guineans LOVE it - they crack up at the site of a "fote" in African clothes.
Finally - I'm learning Susu!! It's great - I can actually buy things at the market now with my susu skills - like, "muluxunyi yeri a ra?" (how much are the lemons?) or "A sare xoroxo!!" (That is too expensive!!!) .
Alright, well, my internet time is running out - I promise I will post pictures in a few weeks, once we come to conakry for a few days for affectation!
O'oo!! (Bye!!)
So training is almost coming to a close! Man - time is crazy in Guinea. The days draaaaag on - mostly cause i'm in class from 8-5 and then the evenings FLY by - overall, time has flow by - I can't believe it's almost 2 months since I arrived in Guinea!
We have about 3 more weeks till Affectation (when we become official Peace Corps Volunteers) and I'm psyched. I'm getting ready for training to be over - its fun (at times) but you NEVER have time for yourself. I feel like I'm getting people overload. Of course, I know i'll be saying, DAMN, i wish i had people near me in about a month, but, such is the life of a Peace Corps volunteer! I'm just excited to finally move to my new house, buy all my new furniture and decorate, start teaching at my actual school, and be able to relax a little bit. During training, there is not one second of down time - its nuts.
Anyway - on other news, Jen and I made my host family "fote" food the other day! Fettucini alfredo! And DAMN was it good!! Oh man, it was soooooo good to NOT eat rice and sauce. It was actually surprisingly easy to make with local ingredients (butter, condensed milk, laughing cow cheese, flour, and garlic) but expensive. Although with 35,000 FG (about 6 dollars) we did manage to feed 14 people! Remember though, we get 20 dollars every two weeks - so six dollars is hella expensive! But anyways, yeah, it was soooooooo worth the 35,000 FG. Tomorrow, we will be making spaghetti with tomato sauce and garlic bread for Jen's family - that should be equally awesome.
In other news, the worst month (supposedly) of rainy season just ended - only 3 more months of rain left!! I still have yet to buy an umbrella - I'm really an idiot - it rains like crazy here, EVERY day. But here's my logic - when its not raining, I don't need an umbrella, so I don't buy it when its not raining. When it's raining, they raise the prices of the umbrellas, so I don't buy it when it IS raining. So i'm just constantly wet. At least I've finally managed to adjust to temperatures and am not constantly sweating.
In other news, I commissioned my first couple Guinean outfits from the tailor - 3 bucks to get two shirts and two pants made! I'm sure I look ridiculous, but its still fun to wear Guinean clothes - and the Guineans LOVE it - they crack up at the site of a "fote" in African clothes.
Finally - I'm learning Susu!! It's great - I can actually buy things at the market now with my susu skills - like, "muluxunyi yeri a ra?" (how much are the lemons?) or "A sare xoroxo!!" (That is too expensive!!!) .
Alright, well, my internet time is running out - I promise I will post pictures in a few weeks, once we come to conakry for a few days for affectation!
O'oo!! (Bye!!)
Oh, You Gotta Love Teaching English in Guinea!
Ok, so it's been a month since I last updated my blog - I came to conakry once since then, but barely had time to get some emails sent off. Im back in Conakry, and hopefully I'll be able to get a couple decent entries up!
So, first entry - teaching English in Guinea. I haven't really started teaching at my high school (the school year here starts in October). Rather, I've been teaching for two weeks now in Forecariah with all the other trainees, giving summer course to the towns students in a sort of "practice school" us. And oh man, let me tell you - it's hilarious teaching these students at times.
My students are anywhere from 16-25 - and their english level varies hugely. But teaching is a lot of fun, I've really been enjoying working with them so far. Because it's summer classes, it's mostly really motivated students who are there, so I imagine it may be harder once I get to Boke, but at least its good to know that I really do enjoy the job i'll be doing for the next two years.
A few of my classes highlights:
Some of these kids barely know english, but they know random obscure verbs, like smitten, and flog. Examples from homework I have received:
"The worst thing I have done is flogged my sister."
"I'm sorry. I did not mean to flog your sister, but I did not know she was your sister. "
As soon as I saw that example on the board of course I had to tell them it is not good to flog anybody's sister, even if you don't know her. Apparently - my students enjoy flogging their sisters. For those who do not know what "to flog" is: To beat severely with a whip or rod.
Another wonderful thing about my guinean students. We were doing superlatives and the present perfect - for example: The most beautiful place I have seen is Guinea. The best food I have eaten is rice.
So what other examples did my students give me?: "The most handsome man I have seen is Mr. Forero." and "The strongest man I have seen is Mr. Forero."
Nothing like an english class to boost your ego! So, I decided to go searching for compliments of my own, and on the test put the following question. "Who is the most intelligent person you have met?"
Well, there were two students who said Albert Einstein, one who said Isaac Newtwon, one who said Victor Hugo, another who said Bill Gates, and FOURTEEN who said, "The most intelligent person I have met is Mr. Forero." Oh, I loved it!! Once I get to Boke, I will constantly make questions to get compliments from my students.
Haha...anyway - so far I have taught two grade levels, 12th and Terminale (the last grade in high school.) Next week, I teach 11th grade, which is the begginer level in English in Guinea. Only one more week of practice school though - then, in three weeks, I officially become a Peace Corps Volunteer instead of Peace Corps trainee!
Oh - other funny things about teaching - Guineans draw hilarious pictures!! With my 12th grade class, we were learning animal names and properties - I had them draw a dog. The smartest kid in the class raised his hand to draw a dog on the flip chart paper- now this kid is great at english - not so talented at drawing. But in his barely recognizable drawing of a dog, he did manage to put in a fully recognizable penis and anus. hahaha...as soon as I can, i will take a picture of the picture and post it. Ahh - anyway - teaching itself is a blast - the lesson planning sucks ass.
But if my students continue drawing dogs with penises and saying Mr. Forero is the most intelligent person they have known, I think I could get used to teaching.
So, first entry - teaching English in Guinea. I haven't really started teaching at my high school (the school year here starts in October). Rather, I've been teaching for two weeks now in Forecariah with all the other trainees, giving summer course to the towns students in a sort of "practice school" us. And oh man, let me tell you - it's hilarious teaching these students at times.
My students are anywhere from 16-25 - and their english level varies hugely. But teaching is a lot of fun, I've really been enjoying working with them so far. Because it's summer classes, it's mostly really motivated students who are there, so I imagine it may be harder once I get to Boke, but at least its good to know that I really do enjoy the job i'll be doing for the next two years.
A few of my classes highlights:
Some of these kids barely know english, but they know random obscure verbs, like smitten, and flog. Examples from homework I have received:
"The worst thing I have done is flogged my sister."
"I'm sorry. I did not mean to flog your sister, but I did not know she was your sister. "
As soon as I saw that example on the board of course I had to tell them it is not good to flog anybody's sister, even if you don't know her. Apparently - my students enjoy flogging their sisters. For those who do not know what "to flog" is: To beat severely with a whip or rod.
Another wonderful thing about my guinean students. We were doing superlatives and the present perfect - for example: The most beautiful place I have seen is Guinea. The best food I have eaten is rice.
So what other examples did my students give me?: "The most handsome man I have seen is Mr. Forero." and "The strongest man I have seen is Mr. Forero."
Nothing like an english class to boost your ego! So, I decided to go searching for compliments of my own, and on the test put the following question. "Who is the most intelligent person you have met?"
Well, there were two students who said Albert Einstein, one who said Isaac Newtwon, one who said Victor Hugo, another who said Bill Gates, and FOURTEEN who said, "The most intelligent person I have met is Mr. Forero." Oh, I loved it!! Once I get to Boke, I will constantly make questions to get compliments from my students.
Haha...anyway - so far I have taught two grade levels, 12th and Terminale (the last grade in high school.) Next week, I teach 11th grade, which is the begginer level in English in Guinea. Only one more week of practice school though - then, in three weeks, I officially become a Peace Corps Volunteer instead of Peace Corps trainee!
Oh - other funny things about teaching - Guineans draw hilarious pictures!! With my 12th grade class, we were learning animal names and properties - I had them draw a dog. The smartest kid in the class raised his hand to draw a dog on the flip chart paper- now this kid is great at english - not so talented at drawing. But in his barely recognizable drawing of a dog, he did manage to put in a fully recognizable penis and anus. hahaha...as soon as I can, i will take a picture of the picture and post it. Ahh - anyway - teaching itself is a blast - the lesson planning sucks ass.
But if my students continue drawing dogs with penises and saying Mr. Forero is the most intelligent person they have known, I think I could get used to teaching.
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