Trip to the Market

The road we took to the market:

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One heat source we observed was charcoal. Here's an iron powered by charcoal:

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French bread sold on the side of the road:

French bread sold from the top of this guy's head:

The vegetable area of the market which reminds me of a farmer's market:

We went out to the market yesterday to aquire fixings for our dinner last night. On account of the holiday, the staff were all off and we were left to fend for ourselves. The Country Director opened his pool to us in the afternoon, which was so very nice. It is definitely swimming weather here.

The market was crowded, winding paths with stalls selling jewelry, hair accessories, fabric, food, shoes. Everything was closing up by 10am for the holiday. There was also an area mostly dedicated to food with vegetables on tables (as seen above) and butchers chopping chickens and fish, lots of fish.

One thing of note while we were out the entire time was that almost nobody begged for money. We passed only a few people in a row who were begging from everyone. The people were so happy to say hello to us and did not want anything in return from our attention. Greetings are super important here. It's fun to go around saying hi and how are you? to everyone as if everyone is your friend.

In some of those pictures, you can see the trash littered about. There are two options for garbage disposal here - burn it or bury it. The air often smells of burning trash. The streets are often littered with trash. Welcome to a developing nation.

This is my last post for a while. We leave shortly for our homestays.

It's beautiful here

Here is a view on my way to the computer room. There are gorgeous flowers, palm trees, and so much green here. The walls of the compound have colorful murals of Guinean scenes. We are steps from the beach. This morning we went for a run. The air is coolest at the hour we go (6:30), but people burn trash all the time here. So the air is smokey in places. There are fewer cars, so there is less of a diesel smell. We pass some people. There are stray dogs, but they're not treated like pets here. They have diseases, most likely, so we shouldn't touch them. They are also not used to being pet, I would guess. We walked to the beach after the run. It's beautiful. Unfortunately, sewage and trash is put directly in the water, so it is not safe to enter the water at all. We are at the base of the peninsula it seems, so there are not big waves. Oh, if it were cleaned up, it would be amazing. At any rate, it is so beautiful here. I'll have to get a sunset shot, but take a look at the other blogs from people in my group and you may find one.

This may be my last entry for a while. Tomorrow we leave for our homestays in another city. We'll train in language, technical, and cross-cultural areas. We're very excited.

Restaurant on the Peninsula

So far I've been out of the compound twice. One night, we went out the back door, down a side alley, and across the street to a convience store. There wasn't much in there except snacks and a coca cola cooler with drinks. Also, there was a refridgerator containing yogurt in white unlabeled containers. It was delicious! It had a nice vanilla flavor. I highly recommend it!

The second time was to a restaurant way out on the peninsula that is Conakry. We drove past all the embassies and fancy (ish) hotels. Yes, there are more than one hotels. For the most part, in the city there are very modest small buildings that could really be called shacks. There are more sound buildings and multiple story buildings. We passed one built by the Chinese. The import a lot of resources, people included, to build impressive buildings. They prepared American-style food for us. Chicken, fish, spaghetti, salad, rice, bread. It was great. The current volunteers informed us that they eat chicken about once in three months. Protein comes from other sources. She did say she eats fish regularly. Here are pictures from the restaurant trip.

Also, here is a picture of one of many maps in the building we're staying in. We're slowly learning about the four regions of Guinea. It's a very diverse country.

My schedule for the next few days:

Monday is a holiday, so we have the day off. The current volunteers will take us to the market and show us how to get food. Then we'll cook for ourselves. It will be nice to relax for a day. Today (Sunday) we're have another day of lessons. Tuesday we set out for the city where we hold our training. We'll be there for two months and will be staying with a host family. I highly doubt that I'll have internet access. So please send me snail mail. Also, you can still send me emails. It's just that I may not respond or read them for a while.

I'm doing well so far. I feel great. I love the food. It's usually rice and a spicy sauce if not spicy rice to begin with. Then some vegetables or fruit. Breakfast is french bread, so yummy. Hope all is well with everyone!

Fote

There are accents on that word. I believe a chateau (hat) on the 'o' and possibly an accent on the é (comme ca (like this) if you can see it). It means white person. The children are particularly fond of yelling this at us white people. They consistently shout it at us until we're out of range. We experienced it for the first time on the way from the airport to the PC office. It reminds me of the Banana or Range Rover game, Matilda and Theresa. So as soon as their eyes focus on us, they scream Fote! but not just once (which is what I think you guys do with Banana) but nonstop. Makes you feel special, in a way.

Photos (Hopefully)

Here are some photos of where we'll be the next couple of days. Then it's off to a city south of Conakry for 2 months of training. We'll be staying in a home stay there. I do not know if there is internet in that city. The internet connection here is difficult and may be the best internet access we'll have. There are three other laptops in three other regional capitals in their PC houses. Those sometimes have internet access. I won't know for more than a month where I'll be posted for the next 2 years. When I do, I can figure out if I'm close to one of those regional capitals. Being in Small Enterprise Development, I should be posted in a medium city. Most likely I'll be in a house and not a hut. Bummer. Anyways, all of this is just to warn you that I may not be able to post for at least 2 months, maybe more. So, please send letters. They will become my most frequent form of communication, I suspect. I hope everyone's doing well!

Safely In Country

I'm in the PC Office for Guinea in Conakry where the internet connection and power is iffy. We arrived this morning after a stop in Dakar, Senegal. There are palm trees and lots of green and views of the ocean from the roof of where we'll be staying the next few days. And it's very hot and humid. Perhaps in the 90's. The housing at the PC Office is in a separate building inside the same compound as the office. We have electricity (except when it goes out for a spell) and showers with hot water! Lunch was a buffet with the largest bowl of rice I've ever seen followed by chunks of fish and spicy vegetables. Also, a coke. It's not so bad so far. I feel well, other than being a tired from the traveling. I won't have any trouble sleeping tonight. We're in rooms with 8 bunk beds. Everyone in the group is friendly and fun to be around. We have some current volunteers with us at our training. They met us at the airport and helped transfer our bags to the vans and trucks. All of us new volunteers have watches and not a single current volunteer does, if that tells you anything. We hear a lot of French now. It's exciting to get back into it.

I cannot post pictures yet and may not be able to because the computers are in high demand and slow. Also, I cannot get to all my emails now because the internet connection is too slow to answer them all in a timely manner. I miss you all! I'm doing fine and really enjoying it. Theresa, Happy (Early) Birthday!!

Mailing

Thanks everyone for all of your support and well wishes. I really appreciate them! I'll try to send updates whenever I have internet access. Please send me updates. You can email me at the same gmail address I've been using. Also, you can send me letters and packages. There are a lot of suggestions out there regarding this. Below are some details I borrowed from someone who went to the trouble of listing out the various suggestions. Thanks Dorian!





Mailing Address:

Kate [last name], PCV
Corps de la Paix Americain
BP 1927
Conakry, Guinea
West Africa




All mail is delivered to PC HQ, and then they do a monthly mail run out to my site to give me everything I have received. 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! 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. 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”.

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 rats and other 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. If what you are sending is light, you may be able to pay less than the flat rate. Ask your local post office.

12. 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.

[Edit:] Now that I've been here a while and seen what's available in-country (there is a lot), I have some ideas of what to send in packages:
Newspaper/magazine clippings (articles and crossword puzzles)
Gummy bears!
Dried soup and sauce mixes
Spices
Brown sugar
Yeast (found a recipe for bagels I'd like to try out)
Store brand AA batteries
Cheese products that won't perish - cheese and crackers or cheezits for example
Chocolate - my favorite is dark chocolate
Tuna fish pouches
Chicken meat pouches
Beef jerky
Plastic containers from restaurants or deli counters
Shampoo plus Conditioner
Deodorant
M&M's
Herbal Teas
Cake/Cookie mixes, preferably ones that request only water and eggs


Please go ahead and send everything as store brand because it's quality is really good.

But no matter what you send, I will be so so so happy to receive a package. Just having something in my hands from home is a huge reminder of all the amazing support I have from back home.

Lastly, here is a test upload or as Donna put it, a "Before" picture. My passport photo picture.