So school has locked for the holidays and I'm now in Freetown for an "up in the air" duration. There are alot of options but for now, the gameplan is be here in Freetown and somewhere in there sneak in some Bureh beach.
So a number of things have happened since my last posting.......
Right before OLGSS took off for break we had an awesome time on our founders day, Dec 12. It was the day the Clarissan sisters arrived in Salone from Mexico back in the 1960s. All the girls had all these crazy gorgeous plants and they were allowed to accessorize so all their usual uniform looks were upgraded with hairclips and such. We hired a marching band to lead us as we marched all over Lunsar alongside our sister schools: the primary school and Maria Ines SS. The girls were so proud being Guadalupe girls as they sang and danced throughout the dirt streets of Lunsar. Adding this to my log book of happy Peace Corps moments, lol. No lie, it's true. How can I not be happy. A bit surreal, I suppose. I could be sitting in a cubicle now, but I'm not. This is my reality now and I'm loving it.
Africa and poverty also brings in the darker side of things because it's not always children dancing in the streets. I was in Makeni for the past week for In-Service-Training (IST), the 2nd milestone in our 27 month service. It was great seeing everyone and catching up on each other's sites. Along with seeing how everyone has changed since Day1 in Philadelphia. We're a lot dirtier and there's alot of long hair beard action from the guys, lol. But we look great! More "integrated" I suppose, lol.
Anyways, my point was..........
Poverty can sway some people to make bad choices. I was out by the clock tower in Makeni grabbing some street meat from a stand and some asshole rips my bag from my arm and takes off. Just by pure reaction, I immediately turn around and run after him yelling "tifman de de, red shirt". I was hoping that someone would give a shit and stop him but as with any big city, people just look. My adrenaline was pumping and I ran into the dark streets of Makeni and the tifman turned a corner into a narrow alley and disappeared into the darkness. I had to stop myself from running in, that would be a stupid idea.
So instead I yelled at the crowd of people that gathered around me because I knew that they knew the asshole that stole my shit. I told them that I don't give a fuck about the damn money or the camera and they should feel like shit because all that mattered to me were the pictures of them.....of Salone. I went on this tirade saying that I came to this country to teach their children for nothing and fucked up shit like this happens. Whatever, I'm so fucking over it. I'm alive, I wasn't injured. The only injury I had was my feelings and my pride. I swear to god I'm freaking paranoid about getting tiffed all the time but the split second I am not paying attention to order some street meat, this jackass nabs my shit, whatever, it's just things, it's replaceable. I was just really bummed out because I didn't backup my files before I went to Makeni and some major events were on that camera: the boarding home Xmas party & the OLGSS founders day.
You know, there's assholes all over the world and I have no control over that. I just believe in karma. That stupidfuck will get his fair share of bad karma. He's gonna get hit by an okada, lose his legs, get a sexually transmitted disease where his penis will melt off and then die a slow excruciating death from internal bleeding. FUCK YOU ASSHOLE......ok rant done, I'm so over it, I'm still alive.
Assholes exist worldwide, and a tiny incident like this hardly puts a dent on how I feel about Salone. The good outweighs the bad. In all that craziness, some kid picked up my bread off the ground and gave it back to me. I mean it was obviously dirty but it's the thought that counts. Even today, on my way to Freetown, this guy I rode out with from Lunsar chartered a motokar all the way to Lumley and dropped me off right in front of Peace Corps Headquarters. The driver was charging him Le15,000 and I tried to give him Le5000 for the ride but he refused. That was really nice of him. Good karma. I gave him a hug and wished him a Merry Christmas.
The good outweighs the bad.......
Salone, you are far from perfect but, I still love you.....
Friday, December 28, 2012
12/09/12-Has 1/2 A Year Really Gone By?
I reached my 6 month mark here in Sierra Leone this past Friday. Time sure does fly fast nowadays. I feel like I just got here when in fact I've been living here for half a year!
I really have to be thankful because I'm happy and I've gotten everything I asked for, if not more. I remember sitting at my Peace Corps interview back in March 2011 and the recruiter asked me where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. I said that my #1 choice was Africa and I wanted to work in the education sector with children. I also told the recruiter that I was willing to go to anywhere and do any job but my biggest preference was warm climate and luxury preference was to be close to a large body of water. So here I am, in Africa, teaching kids, next to the Atlantic Ocean with a plethora of untouched beautiful beach territory. On top of things, I'm here in Sierra Leone taking part of the early Peace Corps groups returning since the war.
I think alot of my happiness has to do with me wanting a do-over with New Orleans. I took NOLA for granted while I lived there and bitched and complained about how the Bay Area had this & that and how NOLA didn't. It wasn't until the day I left when I realized how awesome NOLA was and how I had a great life there. I felt terrible for taking the place for granted. So from that day, I promised myself that if I were to live somewhere outside the Bay Area again that I wouldn't constantly compare and be more appreciative of what that place had to offer. That's why I love it here in Salone. I love it for what it is and I don't think too much about what it isn't.
So we'll see what the next 21 months will bring me. The US Ambassador to Sierra Leone was in Lunsar the other day and decided to visit me at my school. He seemed to have taken an interest to my pitch about the computer lab upgrades. So hopefully,
I can get some movement and turn it into a successful secondary project.
Projects aside, it's great being here. I really enjoy teaching and I love how the girls all call me "Ms. Paskal". It's great going around Lunsar hearing my girls call out my name just to say hi. And what a great way to celebrate my 6 month mark......I was invited to the Boarding Home Christmas Party. We had couscous with chicken, there was music and dancing. I even found some watercolors and did face painting on the girls, they loved it. The girls would grab me left and right wanting me to dance with them. I had a great time. Definitely had those Peace Corps warm fuzzy feelings inside. All of this is totally worth it.
Heres to the next 21 months........ <3 SALONE <3
I really have to be thankful because I'm happy and I've gotten everything I asked for, if not more. I remember sitting at my Peace Corps interview back in March 2011 and the recruiter asked me where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. I said that my #1 choice was Africa and I wanted to work in the education sector with children. I also told the recruiter that I was willing to go to anywhere and do any job but my biggest preference was warm climate and luxury preference was to be close to a large body of water. So here I am, in Africa, teaching kids, next to the Atlantic Ocean with a plethora of untouched beautiful beach territory. On top of things, I'm here in Sierra Leone taking part of the early Peace Corps groups returning since the war.
I think alot of my happiness has to do with me wanting a do-over with New Orleans. I took NOLA for granted while I lived there and bitched and complained about how the Bay Area had this & that and how NOLA didn't. It wasn't until the day I left when I realized how awesome NOLA was and how I had a great life there. I felt terrible for taking the place for granted. So from that day, I promised myself that if I were to live somewhere outside the Bay Area again that I wouldn't constantly compare and be more appreciative of what that place had to offer. That's why I love it here in Salone. I love it for what it is and I don't think too much about what it isn't.
So we'll see what the next 21 months will bring me. The US Ambassador to Sierra Leone was in Lunsar the other day and decided to visit me at my school. He seemed to have taken an interest to my pitch about the computer lab upgrades. So hopefully,
I can get some movement and turn it into a successful secondary project.
Projects aside, it's great being here. I really enjoy teaching and I love how the girls all call me "Ms. Paskal". It's great going around Lunsar hearing my girls call out my name just to say hi. And what a great way to celebrate my 6 month mark......I was invited to the Boarding Home Christmas Party. We had couscous with chicken, there was music and dancing. I even found some watercolors and did face painting on the girls, they loved it. The girls would grab me left and right wanting me to dance with them. I had a great time. Definitely had those Peace Corps warm fuzzy feelings inside. All of this is totally worth it.
Heres to the next 21 months........ <3 SALONE <3
11/25/12-Black Friday Thanksgiving Weekend Crowded Mall Bazaar
Joe has really been testing my bike skills. I feel like he is upping the difficulty level everytime I go out for a ride with him. I reluctantly deal with it, I don't have a choice, he "sabis" the road pass me and the road is rough......so ya, no choice.
We headed south this time, to another one of Lunsar's neighboring villages. During our rides out, Joe and I pretty much just chat about anything. As we rode through the African bush, he reminded me that the American holiday shopping has officially begun. Only mentioning it b/c he bought his son a machete from a local blacksmith on Black Friday, lol.
So easy to forget these things when you're halfway across the globe. Just shows how irrelevant those things are in your life. Who fucking cares about Black Friday and their lame door buster deals, I'm cycling through the African bush right now!!! I know I can be a priss about the biking, but I am trying, lol. It always pays off in the end and this time around I was treated to a gorgeous view of a huge flowing river. Of course, we can't have an African village scene without the posse of children instantly gravitating towards us. I found it hilarious that this one small boy just straight up hugged me and clung on for dear life, lol. Pretty ballsy since they usually stare from a close but safe distance. God knows what these crazy opotos might do, haha. We headed off and the children ran after us, as usual, but this time one kid had his hand on my fender.....time to put the peddle to the metal.....sorry buddy you're not hopping on, lol.
So on these bike outings children always say things like:
- give me your bike
- give me money
This is aside from the "opoto" calls. But it was great, on the ride back from the river, this one boy about 12yrs old; he didn't ask for my bike, he didn't ask for money, he didn't even call me opoto. As we rode through his village he said: "Good afternoon, you are a very beautiful lady." Aw, how sweet was that?!?! Thanking his mama! That really made my day. I'll take that over any door buster deal from Target.
I've quickly adapted to life here in Salone and it's really hard to remember the details of this supposed life I lived in America. The only thing that sticks out and is truly important are the relationships.......my family and friends. That's something to be thankful about......family and friends. OK, and fine, the food, the food is also hard to forget, lol.
I spent a shitload of time bitching and complaining about this "daily grind" and now I can barely remember it. Out of sight, out of mind. It kinda scares me that I wasted years on something eating me inside just because I was just trying to do what I thought I was supposed to do when I "grew up". The even more scary part is how quickly I forgot, that tells me, that it was never really relevant to begin with........sticking a square peg into a round hole.
Something to think about as you pull out of that crowded mall parking structure with your trunk loaded with literal "stuff". It's all about family and friends. Don't forget it.
Here I am, all the way in a small West African country and all I can remember about life in America is laughing and happiness with family and friends. (ok fine, and delicious food too)
It's all about family and friends. Thank you Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Furture, lol.
We headed south this time, to another one of Lunsar's neighboring villages. During our rides out, Joe and I pretty much just chat about anything. As we rode through the African bush, he reminded me that the American holiday shopping has officially begun. Only mentioning it b/c he bought his son a machete from a local blacksmith on Black Friday, lol.
So easy to forget these things when you're halfway across the globe. Just shows how irrelevant those things are in your life. Who fucking cares about Black Friday and their lame door buster deals, I'm cycling through the African bush right now!!! I know I can be a priss about the biking, but I am trying, lol. It always pays off in the end and this time around I was treated to a gorgeous view of a huge flowing river. Of course, we can't have an African village scene without the posse of children instantly gravitating towards us. I found it hilarious that this one small boy just straight up hugged me and clung on for dear life, lol. Pretty ballsy since they usually stare from a close but safe distance. God knows what these crazy opotos might do, haha. We headed off and the children ran after us, as usual, but this time one kid had his hand on my fender.....time to put the peddle to the metal.....sorry buddy you're not hopping on, lol.
So on these bike outings children always say things like:
- give me your bike
- give me money
This is aside from the "opoto" calls. But it was great, on the ride back from the river, this one boy about 12yrs old; he didn't ask for my bike, he didn't ask for money, he didn't even call me opoto. As we rode through his village he said: "Good afternoon, you are a very beautiful lady." Aw, how sweet was that?!?! Thanking his mama! That really made my day. I'll take that over any door buster deal from Target.
I've quickly adapted to life here in Salone and it's really hard to remember the details of this supposed life I lived in America. The only thing that sticks out and is truly important are the relationships.......my family and friends. That's something to be thankful about......family and friends. OK, and fine, the food, the food is also hard to forget, lol.
I spent a shitload of time bitching and complaining about this "daily grind" and now I can barely remember it. Out of sight, out of mind. It kinda scares me that I wasted years on something eating me inside just because I was just trying to do what I thought I was supposed to do when I "grew up". The even more scary part is how quickly I forgot, that tells me, that it was never really relevant to begin with........sticking a square peg into a round hole.
Something to think about as you pull out of that crowded mall parking structure with your trunk loaded with literal "stuff". It's all about family and friends. Don't forget it.
Here I am, all the way in a small West African country and all I can remember about life in America is laughing and happiness with family and friends. (ok fine, and delicious food too)
It's all about family and friends. Thank you Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Furture, lol.
11/24/12-Results In.....APC Stays In Power
Everyone had their radios on this afternoon. The official NEC (National Election Committee) results came in and were being announced.
The APCs President Ernest Koroma is back in for his 2nd term. As they announced the official victory, I heard the entire town of Lunsar cheer in unison. Living amongst the Temnes in the north, I am in APC dominated territory. I'm sure the reaction was the complete opposite in my family's city, Bo. The Mendes voted for Maada Bio for their SLPP Party.
Children were parading up and down my street and singing songs about President Koroma's victory. For the most part, Lunsar seemed safe with the exception to the stupid okada boys zooming past crowds barely missing children on the street.......fucking idiots. I stayed home and just watched from my steps as a precaution. Right before the NEC results were announced over the radio, a mob of people got into a palava (argument/fight) in the middle of town which caused the market to close early. Better safe than sorry, simply being an observer from my veranda is good enough for me.
I'm sure the celebrations will continue throughout the weekend. I don't think staying under lock & key is really necessary; I'll just have to keep my eyes peeled for any situation that might pop up.
The APCs President Ernest Koroma is back in for his 2nd term. As they announced the official victory, I heard the entire town of Lunsar cheer in unison. Living amongst the Temnes in the north, I am in APC dominated territory. I'm sure the reaction was the complete opposite in my family's city, Bo. The Mendes voted for Maada Bio for their SLPP Party.
Children were parading up and down my street and singing songs about President Koroma's victory. For the most part, Lunsar seemed safe with the exception to the stupid okada boys zooming past crowds barely missing children on the street.......fucking idiots. I stayed home and just watched from my steps as a precaution. Right before the NEC results were announced over the radio, a mob of people got into a palava (argument/fight) in the middle of town which caused the market to close early. Better safe than sorry, simply being an observer from my veranda is good enough for me.
I'm sure the celebrations will continue throughout the weekend. I don't think staying under lock & key is really necessary; I'll just have to keep my eyes peeled for any situation that might pop up.
11/22/12-Rice & Plasas For Thanksgiving
I'm thankful for delicious tasty Thanksgiving food.
I had rice & plasas today.......what's new, lol.
Happy Thanksgving everyone! For my sake, please, please, please, please, eat 2nds, 3rds, and even 4ths on my behalf.
The national holiday of gluttony and treptophen induced coma should be celebrated accordingly.
Duya, a beg! Tenki!
Happy Thanksgiving :D
I had rice & plasas today.......what's new, lol.
Happy Thanksgving everyone! For my sake, please, please, please, please, eat 2nds, 3rds, and even 4ths on my behalf.
The national holiday of gluttony and treptophen induced coma should be celebrated accordingly.
Duya, a beg! Tenki!
Happy Thanksgiving :D
11/21/12-It's Hard To Stay Mad At Kids
My SS1 girls have been around for about 2 weeks now. My workload has increased to a legit full load of classes.......Peace Corps actually expected me to work?!?! Lol! WTF!?!
During most of Term1, I only taught all streams of SS3 once a week and would substitute all over the place so I never had that regular interaction with the same set of students. So here I am now, the core math teacher for SS1, all streams: art, commercial, semi-science, and pure science.
I have my good and my bad days with them. For the most part, I think I'm fairly strict but the girls seem to like me regardless, lol. I get really frustrated at times when I just feel like I'm talking to a room full of dead carcasses. It's hard but I know it's only because they are results from the rote teaching method.
My SS1 girls range anywhere from 14-18, the annoying defiant teenage stage, but it's hard to hate them, haha! I've grown to really love the girls at OLGSS. Everyday, I always hear a girl yell out, "Ms. Paskal!!!", waving their hand frantically at me, lol. I have them call me Ms. Paskal b/c Pascual was too difficult to pronounce. It's really cute, it's like, wow, these are MY girls. And now that I see my SS1 girls 4 times a week, I can see how the favorites start forming. They're not always necessarily the smartest ones either. This one girl Rebecca, she tells people that she loves me, asks me to be her mother at least once a day and when I'm teaching in the next classroom over she peeks in for god knows what reason, lol. Today, her class had a ghost teacher so she even snuck into my class even though I JUST taught her the previous period. I'm like, what in heck are you doing you crazy girl, get out if my class!!! Lol.
Rebecca is just one of the many stories. In the end, these girls are still just kids and they mean well. Sometimes I want to wring their necks when they act like crazy caged animals or silent dead cows, but they're kids......I love'em. Probably, the same goes with them. They seem to really love me even though I can be an überbitch most of the days, haha.
The principal is going to have me follow these girls to SS2 so I will be them for the next 2 years. I'm excited to really get to know these girls and hopefully I'll be able to teach them some Math too, lol.
During most of Term1, I only taught all streams of SS3 once a week and would substitute all over the place so I never had that regular interaction with the same set of students. So here I am now, the core math teacher for SS1, all streams: art, commercial, semi-science, and pure science.
I have my good and my bad days with them. For the most part, I think I'm fairly strict but the girls seem to like me regardless, lol. I get really frustrated at times when I just feel like I'm talking to a room full of dead carcasses. It's hard but I know it's only because they are results from the rote teaching method.
My SS1 girls range anywhere from 14-18, the annoying defiant teenage stage, but it's hard to hate them, haha! I've grown to really love the girls at OLGSS. Everyday, I always hear a girl yell out, "Ms. Paskal!!!", waving their hand frantically at me, lol. I have them call me Ms. Paskal b/c Pascual was too difficult to pronounce. It's really cute, it's like, wow, these are MY girls. And now that I see my SS1 girls 4 times a week, I can see how the favorites start forming. They're not always necessarily the smartest ones either. This one girl Rebecca, she tells people that she loves me, asks me to be her mother at least once a day and when I'm teaching in the next classroom over she peeks in for god knows what reason, lol. Today, her class had a ghost teacher so she even snuck into my class even though I JUST taught her the previous period. I'm like, what in heck are you doing you crazy girl, get out if my class!!! Lol.
Rebecca is just one of the many stories. In the end, these girls are still just kids and they mean well. Sometimes I want to wring their necks when they act like crazy caged animals or silent dead cows, but they're kids......I love'em. Probably, the same goes with them. They seem to really love me even though I can be an überbitch most of the days, haha.
The principal is going to have me follow these girls to SS2 so I will be them for the next 2 years. I'm excited to really get to know these girls and hopefully I'll be able to teach them some Math too, lol.
11/20/12-Voting For Sierra Leone
Democracy is a wonderful thing. It was great to see the citizens of Sierra Leone excercising their right to vote.
My school was used as one of the polling stations. I walked over to OLGSS to do a little program with the boarding school girls and also to get a sneak peek at the voting process. Everyone was all lined up and smiling, excited to vote for their country's future. Sierra Leoneans are notorious for "black man time", as they call it, lol. For the first time, I witnessed Sierra Leoneans not just on time but EARLY!!!! The polling stations opened at 7am and long lines formed at 4am at many places. Things in this country are generally handled in a loud, unorganized, and chaotic way but everyone was quietly lined up, organized, and sorted to their voting booths. I swear, I'm in Bizarroland, where the fuck am I?!?! Lol. But it was great, it just showed me how much Sierra Leoneans want to move forward from their dark past.
So now, we play the waiting game. Based on unofficial results, supposedly, the APC's President Koroma is back for another term. The official results should come in about Tuesday. Everything seems quiet and peaceful for now, it'll be a wait and see. I just kept saying to everyone that I wish for a peaceful election b/c it will keep me in this country. My opinion is that I think there will be pockets of violence in certain politically heated regions like Kono, Kenema, and Kailahun but I highly doubt there will be nationwide political unrest. So I think I'm good where I am in Lunsar. Besides, I'm in a big town with supplies, I'm by a main highway, and I can access the airport in a fairly timely manner if need be.
For the meantime, I just proceed as is and continue to do my thing in Lunsar and work at OLGSS. Many of the schools closed down for elections with exception to Lunsar where all the schools only closed on Friday & Monday........it makes sense to me. The elections shouldn't affect a child's education. Besides, this is the last week of school and we start Term1 examinations next week. After that, we submit grades and then we're off for the holidays.
So here I am, simply an observer for Sierra Leone's elections. In the end, a Sierra Leonean will be the president for the country of Sierra Leone. Good Luck Salone! :)
My school was used as one of the polling stations. I walked over to OLGSS to do a little program with the boarding school girls and also to get a sneak peek at the voting process. Everyone was all lined up and smiling, excited to vote for their country's future. Sierra Leoneans are notorious for "black man time", as they call it, lol. For the first time, I witnessed Sierra Leoneans not just on time but EARLY!!!! The polling stations opened at 7am and long lines formed at 4am at many places. Things in this country are generally handled in a loud, unorganized, and chaotic way but everyone was quietly lined up, organized, and sorted to their voting booths. I swear, I'm in Bizarroland, where the fuck am I?!?! Lol. But it was great, it just showed me how much Sierra Leoneans want to move forward from their dark past.
So now, we play the waiting game. Based on unofficial results, supposedly, the APC's President Koroma is back for another term. The official results should come in about Tuesday. Everything seems quiet and peaceful for now, it'll be a wait and see. I just kept saying to everyone that I wish for a peaceful election b/c it will keep me in this country. My opinion is that I think there will be pockets of violence in certain politically heated regions like Kono, Kenema, and Kailahun but I highly doubt there will be nationwide political unrest. So I think I'm good where I am in Lunsar. Besides, I'm in a big town with supplies, I'm by a main highway, and I can access the airport in a fairly timely manner if need be.
For the meantime, I just proceed as is and continue to do my thing in Lunsar and work at OLGSS. Many of the schools closed down for elections with exception to Lunsar where all the schools only closed on Friday & Monday........it makes sense to me. The elections shouldn't affect a child's education. Besides, this is the last week of school and we start Term1 examinations next week. After that, we submit grades and then we're off for the holidays.
So here I am, simply an observer for Sierra Leone's elections. In the end, a Sierra Leonean will be the president for the country of Sierra Leone. Good Luck Salone! :)
11/11/12-An Unspoiled Beauty
It felt like it was straight out of a movie.......fucking ridiculous, really!
I spent this past weekend at Bureh Beach. I've been to alot of beaches all over the world and I have to say that this is definitely in my Top 5. It was straight out of a post card......fucking ridiculous, really........
Micheal and I rode out to Bureh Town where we were welcomed by a local fisherman. We make our way down the hill and walk through the village. Like some magical village fisherman, he extends his arm and points out between the trees and goes, "Welcome to Bureh Beach." My mouth drops open out of disbelief......are you fucking kidding me?!?! It's gorgeous here!!! I felt like Alice when she peeked through that tiny door and saw the queen's beautiful garden in Wonderland........I had to get in!
I step into this unspoiled beach paradise surrounded by lush green African bush. The warm waters of the Atlantic wave through soft powdery sand and crash against large black granite rocks. Off into the distance, I see I some of my Peace Corps buddies walking towards my direction. Excited for the reunion, we run up and group hug. They lead us to the one and only beach shack run by the villagers. For Le30,000 (~$6), you can pitch a tent on the sand, Le15,000 for me b/c I shared my tent. Or, just sleep out in the public beach area for FREE. The fact that my Bug Hut tent didn't have a rainfly, the $3 was worth pitching my tent under a thatch hut and have Prince Williams (the manager) keep an eye on our gear. The money goes towards the villagers and the upkeep of the beach, money well spent.
We spent most of the weekend frolicking in the ocean, lounging on the sand, or napping on the hammocks in the palava huts. I almost forgot what "relaxed" felt like but, I definitely remembered again. I must've gone skinny dipping like half a dozen times in one day........so liberating to not just give a fuck and splash around the ocean in your birthday suit. To be able to just wear my bikini all day or not wear anything at all was just a great break from my "Christian Missionary" wardrobe and to not have to worry about people staring at my tattoos and asking if it is a stamp.
We dined on oysters and fish, fresh out of the ocean. Am I food-gasming here in Salone??? I am! Most of our meals though, consisted of the food we packed or the cheap, but good, fry-fry that the lady was selling in the village. Peace Corps has put me back on college budget status again, so splurging on one fine meal will have to do.
The evening was just too beautiful. We all stripped down and headed into the ocean under the night sky covered with stars. Stars that I never see because of light pollution but here in Africa, this is what my night-sky looks like, unspoiled. The water was warm & welcoming; and for the first time, I experienced phosphorescence. As we moved through the ocean, our bodies gave off this light, or phosphorescence, like a soft green light emanating from our skin. It was just too beautiful........the whole experience.
I slept well through the night with the sounds of crashing waves. Beat that, "Sleep Sounds" iPhone App!!! The real thing is so much better, lol!
All good things must come to an end, I unfortunately had to be a responsible adult and leave the next day to meet the SS1 girls arriving on Monday. These are moments where I hate working at one of the most functional schools in the country, haha.
I wanted to soak-in Bureh Beach one last time before I left so I walked along the other side of the beach that was even more secluded. It was just me on this long strip of sand and a fisherman making a boat far off on one end. I sat on a rock and inhaled the ocean air as the waves wet my feet beckoning me to come back in and to not go home. I fight the urge knowing that I'll be back soon.
Gat Damned Fucking Beautiful.........
I spent this past weekend at Bureh Beach. I've been to alot of beaches all over the world and I have to say that this is definitely in my Top 5. It was straight out of a post card......fucking ridiculous, really........
Micheal and I rode out to Bureh Town where we were welcomed by a local fisherman. We make our way down the hill and walk through the village. Like some magical village fisherman, he extends his arm and points out between the trees and goes, "Welcome to Bureh Beach." My mouth drops open out of disbelief......are you fucking kidding me?!?! It's gorgeous here!!! I felt like Alice when she peeked through that tiny door and saw the queen's beautiful garden in Wonderland........I had to get in!
I step into this unspoiled beach paradise surrounded by lush green African bush. The warm waters of the Atlantic wave through soft powdery sand and crash against large black granite rocks. Off into the distance, I see I some of my Peace Corps buddies walking towards my direction. Excited for the reunion, we run up and group hug. They lead us to the one and only beach shack run by the villagers. For Le30,000 (~$6), you can pitch a tent on the sand, Le15,000 for me b/c I shared my tent. Or, just sleep out in the public beach area for FREE. The fact that my Bug Hut tent didn't have a rainfly, the $3 was worth pitching my tent under a thatch hut and have Prince Williams (the manager) keep an eye on our gear. The money goes towards the villagers and the upkeep of the beach, money well spent.
We spent most of the weekend frolicking in the ocean, lounging on the sand, or napping on the hammocks in the palava huts. I almost forgot what "relaxed" felt like but, I definitely remembered again. I must've gone skinny dipping like half a dozen times in one day........so liberating to not just give a fuck and splash around the ocean in your birthday suit. To be able to just wear my bikini all day or not wear anything at all was just a great break from my "Christian Missionary" wardrobe and to not have to worry about people staring at my tattoos and asking if it is a stamp.
We dined on oysters and fish, fresh out of the ocean. Am I food-gasming here in Salone??? I am! Most of our meals though, consisted of the food we packed or the cheap, but good, fry-fry that the lady was selling in the village. Peace Corps has put me back on college budget status again, so splurging on one fine meal will have to do.
The evening was just too beautiful. We all stripped down and headed into the ocean under the night sky covered with stars. Stars that I never see because of light pollution but here in Africa, this is what my night-sky looks like, unspoiled. The water was warm & welcoming; and for the first time, I experienced phosphorescence. As we moved through the ocean, our bodies gave off this light, or phosphorescence, like a soft green light emanating from our skin. It was just too beautiful........the whole experience.
I slept well through the night with the sounds of crashing waves. Beat that, "Sleep Sounds" iPhone App!!! The real thing is so much better, lol!
All good things must come to an end, I unfortunately had to be a responsible adult and leave the next day to meet the SS1 girls arriving on Monday. These are moments where I hate working at one of the most functional schools in the country, haha.
I wanted to soak-in Bureh Beach one last time before I left so I walked along the other side of the beach that was even more secluded. It was just me on this long strip of sand and a fisherman making a boat far off on one end. I sat on a rock and inhaled the ocean air as the waves wet my feet beckoning me to come back in and to not go home. I fight the urge knowing that I'll be back soon.
Gat Damned Fucking Beautiful.........
11/07/12-An Older Perspective & Little Italy via Chemende
I've befriended a guy named Joe, a volunteer for a bicycle NGO here in Lunsar. I feel like I was meant to meet this guy as part of my journey of finding myself, happiness, or whatever it is I'm hoping to find here in Africa.
Joe is an author originally from the Bronx but is now living in a small village south of France with his wife and kids. Now in his 50s, he has lived a colorful life of travel and adventure and continues to do so. He had the balls to give the big F-U to the "American Dream" facade that many of us, including myself, have signed up for. I've really enjoyed his company and hearing his stories of travel on a bicycle, meeting his wife in Nepal, and his lovely self-sustaining French village. In meeting him, it reassures my feelings towards sitting in a cubicle, living in a beige home in the suburbs next to a shopping center with a Starbucks, and living forever in debt...........things that just make me feel trapped in this Stepford Groundhog's Day. It doesn't have to be that way. I mean, to each their own, but for me, I can't be happy that way and coming to Salone was my first step to changing that. Joe is a great example of happily living "off the grid" and doing it on his terms. I want that, I want to strive for that.
Joe's here for another month so I will enjoy his company in the meantime and make use of my bike to check out the neighboring villages of Lunsar.
This past Sunday we biked out to Chemende to talk to Boss K. Really, it was more for the bike project and I was just there for the great ride through the African bush. So interesting to see the impact foreigners have on small villages. I'm so used to children chanting "Opoto!" or "Hello!" in this really weird high pitched voice as their way to mimic the American accent, lol. As we biked towards Chemende, there was clearly a strong Italian influence.......everyone was saying "Ciao!", lol. Uh ok Buon Giornno??? Lol! Aside from the Italian curveball, the scene was pretty much similar to my bike ride to Kamasundo. Topless old grannies with their sagging boobs down to their waist and hoards of half naked children chasing us on our bikes as we try to dodge chickens, goats, and ditches, haha!
We finally arrived in Chemende where we met Boss K and also acquired an entire posse of children that followed us like a shadow throughout the village. So funny how I'm used to the children staring and following, lol. They would all try to cut each other off so they could be the closest to my bike to have the opportunity to touch the back fender as we walked through the bush to the village school made from handwoven grass. The school had a hole on the side wall, the goats had started eating the school, haha.
Part of Sierra Leonean hospitality is offering your guest a chair. Often, they INSIST on you sitting down, they don't let you stay standing up, no matter how much you INSIST on standing, haha. Boss K had already arranged on having chairs put under the shade of the tree next to the school. So we sit down to talk business as we become swallowed by a hoard of village children who quietly sit and observe "di opoto dem". Joe & Boss K talk shop as I smile and wave to these curious rugrats. In Temne, I would ask "Nes a mua?" and they would tell me their names and they'd giggle when I would say, "Mine yi Yainkain." This one girl, Mariama would give biggest smile whenever we made eye contact. How cute is all of this, really. It was, haha, you still get poster picture Peace Corps kumbaya moments, lol.
When Boss K found out that I was an OLGSS teacher, he showed me one of my JSS1 girls, Kadiatu. She walks the 7+ miles to school everyday to and from Chemende. So right now, we're looking into getting her registered for the bike program to ease her commute a bit.
We wrapped things up and I slathered on another layer of sunscreen as the children curiously watched me. I was about to put the sunscreen back in my bag then I saw Mariama smile at me again with her huge white teeth and I decided to give her a little dollop. She rubbed it on her arms, copying me. Mariama was the center of attention as all her friends circled around her and sniffed her arms. All you heard where kiddie whisperings of "Eeeeehhh....Ofolfol...." which means "nice smell" in Khathemne.
We head out and all the kids give us a double thumbs up and their biggest smiles. The thumbs-up, Joe's doing, he taught them this, lol. This village will be "thumbs-upping" for generations, haha. As we slowly bike away, the children start running after us and laughing. It's all great at first but then they start catching up and it starts transitioning to more like a horror flick chase scene, lol. So this is the part where we pick up the pace to prevent kids from jumping onto our bikes because YES, they will do that, lol. We speed off, wave goodbye and head back into Lunsar town to end our day with some couscous at a local kukri.
Joe is an author originally from the Bronx but is now living in a small village south of France with his wife and kids. Now in his 50s, he has lived a colorful life of travel and adventure and continues to do so. He had the balls to give the big F-U to the "American Dream" facade that many of us, including myself, have signed up for. I've really enjoyed his company and hearing his stories of travel on a bicycle, meeting his wife in Nepal, and his lovely self-sustaining French village. In meeting him, it reassures my feelings towards sitting in a cubicle, living in a beige home in the suburbs next to a shopping center with a Starbucks, and living forever in debt...........things that just make me feel trapped in this Stepford Groundhog's Day. It doesn't have to be that way. I mean, to each their own, but for me, I can't be happy that way and coming to Salone was my first step to changing that. Joe is a great example of happily living "off the grid" and doing it on his terms. I want that, I want to strive for that.
Joe's here for another month so I will enjoy his company in the meantime and make use of my bike to check out the neighboring villages of Lunsar.
This past Sunday we biked out to Chemende to talk to Boss K. Really, it was more for the bike project and I was just there for the great ride through the African bush. So interesting to see the impact foreigners have on small villages. I'm so used to children chanting "Opoto!" or "Hello!" in this really weird high pitched voice as their way to mimic the American accent, lol. As we biked towards Chemende, there was clearly a strong Italian influence.......everyone was saying "Ciao!", lol. Uh ok Buon Giornno??? Lol! Aside from the Italian curveball, the scene was pretty much similar to my bike ride to Kamasundo. Topless old grannies with their sagging boobs down to their waist and hoards of half naked children chasing us on our bikes as we try to dodge chickens, goats, and ditches, haha!
We finally arrived in Chemende where we met Boss K and also acquired an entire posse of children that followed us like a shadow throughout the village. So funny how I'm used to the children staring and following, lol. They would all try to cut each other off so they could be the closest to my bike to have the opportunity to touch the back fender as we walked through the bush to the village school made from handwoven grass. The school had a hole on the side wall, the goats had started eating the school, haha.
Part of Sierra Leonean hospitality is offering your guest a chair. Often, they INSIST on you sitting down, they don't let you stay standing up, no matter how much you INSIST on standing, haha. Boss K had already arranged on having chairs put under the shade of the tree next to the school. So we sit down to talk business as we become swallowed by a hoard of village children who quietly sit and observe "di opoto dem". Joe & Boss K talk shop as I smile and wave to these curious rugrats. In Temne, I would ask "Nes a mua?" and they would tell me their names and they'd giggle when I would say, "Mine yi Yainkain." This one girl, Mariama would give biggest smile whenever we made eye contact. How cute is all of this, really. It was, haha, you still get poster picture Peace Corps kumbaya moments, lol.
When Boss K found out that I was an OLGSS teacher, he showed me one of my JSS1 girls, Kadiatu. She walks the 7+ miles to school everyday to and from Chemende. So right now, we're looking into getting her registered for the bike program to ease her commute a bit.
We wrapped things up and I slathered on another layer of sunscreen as the children curiously watched me. I was about to put the sunscreen back in my bag then I saw Mariama smile at me again with her huge white teeth and I decided to give her a little dollop. She rubbed it on her arms, copying me. Mariama was the center of attention as all her friends circled around her and sniffed her arms. All you heard where kiddie whisperings of "Eeeeehhh....Ofolfol...." which means "nice smell" in Khathemne.
We head out and all the kids give us a double thumbs up and their biggest smiles. The thumbs-up, Joe's doing, he taught them this, lol. This village will be "thumbs-upping" for generations, haha. As we slowly bike away, the children start running after us and laughing. It's all great at first but then they start catching up and it starts transitioning to more like a horror flick chase scene, lol. So this is the part where we pick up the pace to prevent kids from jumping onto our bikes because YES, they will do that, lol. We speed off, wave goodbye and head back into Lunsar town to end our day with some couscous at a local kukri.
10/31/12-Happy Halloween
So what do you call Halloween in Sierra Leone??? A WEDNESDAY!
Lol!
Ba Rum Bump!
Lol!
Ba Rum Bump!
10/30/12-Hella Richmond Cray-Cray Ghetto
I had a really really bad day today. Probably my worst to date for my Peace Corps experience. I'm hoping that this is the only worst thing that I experience for the next 2 years here in Salone......
Hawa had a catering gig today for a mining company's public disclosure meeting with the community today. I offered to help serve food. So I left school early after my last period and headed over to the town hall. She was contracted to serve 600 plates but there was way more than that, there were alot of who-riders in for a free meal.
When it was time to serve, I would carry out my tray of food to serve folks. Each time I left the kitchen, there would be a crowd of men/boys/children yelling "Ay Chinese!" or "Ching Chong" or whatever fucking combination thereof. Small children, ok, I get it, you are only a child and do not know any better. But seriously, when you are a grown man in your early 20s you ignorant stupid fuck, you rude ass motherfucker incapable of saying anything civilized so the best thing that comes out of your dirty fucking trap is "Ching Chong" really though, fuck off you dumb fuck!
I tried today, I really did but I'm no Jesus Christ. It took me about 5 round trip passes through that crowd of ignorant fucks before I couldn't fucking take it anymore.
First few passes.......I ignore. Next few passes.....I say, "Duya, mi noto Chinese, lef mi nomo". Next few times......I say "Ay, una lef mi! Shut the fuck up!". They come back for more, so it's ok to call me a racial slur but when I yell back "OTemne OTemne BlackMan BlackMan!" all of a sudden it's not ok. So they push me harder. They get in my face do some more of that ching chong bullshit and grab my arm. So what do I do.....my inner Richmond hella ghetto cray cray mode goes in full effect and I fucking literally lunge at the crowd of men and start yelling in Krio/English calling them stupid ignorant black men and I will fucking punch them in their damn mouths.
They think because I'm a woman that I'll just put up with that fucking bullshit. Fuck that, you seriously fucked with the wrong American girl. I was pulled away kicking and arms flailing at those stupid ignorant fucks. I was trembling with anger and couldn't help it but cry because of that fucked up bullshit. Hawa was pissed, she went out on a manhunt as I sat behind the counter in the corner to settle down from all that adrenaline pumping in my system.
They found the main guy and kicked him out. The Paramount Chief came by and apologized that I had to experience that along with other folks that checked up on me to say "Osh-Ya" (Sorry).
The thing that pisses me off is that they make "Greetings" such a big deal here in Salone. That's what you do here, you greet so why is it ok to blurt out "Opoto" "Chinese" "Ching Chong" to a stranger. That's fucking bullshit. For the most part everyone was on my side saying that they were ignorant rude stupid fucks but I had to argue with this one Pa who tried making up some stupid bullshit excuse on behalf of their misbehavior. He said that they say "Chinese" or "Ching Chong" because they do not know if I speak Krio. Bull fucking shit! Den yerie mi fucking Krio fayn! I said in Krio several times, no I'm not Chinese, leave me alone. Last time I checked, respectful Sierra Leonean greetings does not include yelling racial slurs in my face. The other excuse I hated is when some of them said that they did not know what they were doing because they were under the influence of alcohol or smoking the jamba. Again, bull fucking shit! Why can't people just be stupid ignorant fucks because they are just plain stupid ignorant fucks. Please don't use the excuse of "the devil made them do it" bullshit.
Whatever, it's over and done with. I had to do my rant because they fucking pissed me off. Totally isolated situation and doesn't represent the majority of people who welcome me and protect me in this community. But hey, ignorant dumb fucks exist all over the world. God help their uneducated ignorant souls. Like I said though, I'm no Jesus Christ living a life of humility, I'm ready to throw down Richmond style if need be.
Fuck that.....I'm so over it....tomorrow is another fucking day. I will deal......
Peace out!
Hawa had a catering gig today for a mining company's public disclosure meeting with the community today. I offered to help serve food. So I left school early after my last period and headed over to the town hall. She was contracted to serve 600 plates but there was way more than that, there were alot of who-riders in for a free meal.
When it was time to serve, I would carry out my tray of food to serve folks. Each time I left the kitchen, there would be a crowd of men/boys/children yelling "Ay Chinese!" or "Ching Chong" or whatever fucking combination thereof. Small children, ok, I get it, you are only a child and do not know any better. But seriously, when you are a grown man in your early 20s you ignorant stupid fuck, you rude ass motherfucker incapable of saying anything civilized so the best thing that comes out of your dirty fucking trap is "Ching Chong" really though, fuck off you dumb fuck!
I tried today, I really did but I'm no Jesus Christ. It took me about 5 round trip passes through that crowd of ignorant fucks before I couldn't fucking take it anymore.
First few passes.......I ignore. Next few passes.....I say, "Duya, mi noto Chinese, lef mi nomo". Next few times......I say "Ay, una lef mi! Shut the fuck up!". They come back for more, so it's ok to call me a racial slur but when I yell back "OTemne OTemne BlackMan BlackMan!" all of a sudden it's not ok. So they push me harder. They get in my face do some more of that ching chong bullshit and grab my arm. So what do I do.....my inner Richmond hella ghetto cray cray mode goes in full effect and I fucking literally lunge at the crowd of men and start yelling in Krio/English calling them stupid ignorant black men and I will fucking punch them in their damn mouths.
They think because I'm a woman that I'll just put up with that fucking bullshit. Fuck that, you seriously fucked with the wrong American girl. I was pulled away kicking and arms flailing at those stupid ignorant fucks. I was trembling with anger and couldn't help it but cry because of that fucked up bullshit. Hawa was pissed, she went out on a manhunt as I sat behind the counter in the corner to settle down from all that adrenaline pumping in my system.
They found the main guy and kicked him out. The Paramount Chief came by and apologized that I had to experience that along with other folks that checked up on me to say "Osh-Ya" (Sorry).
The thing that pisses me off is that they make "Greetings" such a big deal here in Salone. That's what you do here, you greet so why is it ok to blurt out "Opoto" "Chinese" "Ching Chong" to a stranger. That's fucking bullshit. For the most part everyone was on my side saying that they were ignorant rude stupid fucks but I had to argue with this one Pa who tried making up some stupid bullshit excuse on behalf of their misbehavior. He said that they say "Chinese" or "Ching Chong" because they do not know if I speak Krio. Bull fucking shit! Den yerie mi fucking Krio fayn! I said in Krio several times, no I'm not Chinese, leave me alone. Last time I checked, respectful Sierra Leonean greetings does not include yelling racial slurs in my face. The other excuse I hated is when some of them said that they did not know what they were doing because they were under the influence of alcohol or smoking the jamba. Again, bull fucking shit! Why can't people just be stupid ignorant fucks because they are just plain stupid ignorant fucks. Please don't use the excuse of "the devil made them do it" bullshit.
Whatever, it's over and done with. I had to do my rant because they fucking pissed me off. Totally isolated situation and doesn't represent the majority of people who welcome me and protect me in this community. But hey, ignorant dumb fucks exist all over the world. God help their uneducated ignorant souls. Like I said though, I'm no Jesus Christ living a life of humility, I'm ready to throw down Richmond style if need be.
Fuck that.....I'm so over it....tomorrow is another fucking day. I will deal......
Peace out!
10/29/12-Small Town Water Tower Scene
I went over to Port Loko for Charles' birthday. It's always good times seeing other PCVs.
Before I met up with folks, I did my monthly bank run to SLBC Port Loko. All the workers know me there now. I always have to bat my eyelashes at them b/c I always ask them for small bills and they hate doing that. But who can say no to Opoto eyes with a local name of Yainkain, lol.
At Charles' house, we made a fantastic gumbo with a summer sausage that Charles donated from his care package. Good lord, to taste something that is not plasas or something not swimming in pamayn!
Then we headed over to the water tower, climbed up, and chilled out at the top. We waited for the sunset as we threw rocks as far as we could into the open African bush. Also aiming for large puddles on dirt roads that were way too far for us to reach. I never really did shit like this. I felt like I was in one of those movies that takes place in a small town where a group of kids climb up the water tower to talk and usually some epiphany happens but the difference is that no epiphany happened, we were really just plain 'ole shooting the shit, lol. It does get surreal sometimes though. Every now and then, I have to remind myself that I'm in Sierra Leone. It really was beautiful being at the top of the water tower overlooking Port Loko and out into the bush with the cool breeze on our faces and the sun slowly setting.
Life is good here........
Before I met up with folks, I did my monthly bank run to SLBC Port Loko. All the workers know me there now. I always have to bat my eyelashes at them b/c I always ask them for small bills and they hate doing that. But who can say no to Opoto eyes with a local name of Yainkain, lol.
At Charles' house, we made a fantastic gumbo with a summer sausage that Charles donated from his care package. Good lord, to taste something that is not plasas or something not swimming in pamayn!
Then we headed over to the water tower, climbed up, and chilled out at the top. We waited for the sunset as we threw rocks as far as we could into the open African bush. Also aiming for large puddles on dirt roads that were way too far for us to reach. I never really did shit like this. I felt like I was in one of those movies that takes place in a small town where a group of kids climb up the water tower to talk and usually some epiphany happens but the difference is that no epiphany happened, we were really just plain 'ole shooting the shit, lol. It does get surreal sometimes though. Every now and then, I have to remind myself that I'm in Sierra Leone. It really was beautiful being at the top of the water tower overlooking Port Loko and out into the bush with the cool breeze on our faces and the sun slowly setting.
Life is good here........
Friday, October 19, 2012
10/15/12-The Plateau Of Lackluster
I think I'm hitting one of my service plateaus. During PST, we were given this chart that forecasted our general feelings of mental health and well-being throughout our whole service. I've never really hit an ultimate low, well not yet, but I think I'm heading towards a thumb twiddling stage. It could be the fact that my SS1 math students aren't in yet and I'm just doing alot of random subbing to take up my time between the computer classes I teach.......I dunno.
I've been onsite for a consecutive 3 weeks now. I'm not even going to include the morning bank run last weekend to Port Loko b/c I literally just went there and came back. Don't get me wrong, I love it here in Lunsar and there's so much to still discover but, I think I'm just having a case of cabin fever.
I am planning on doing a weekender to Freetown to do some unwinding at Peace Corps HQ. I think some American chop, American movies, electricity and wi-fi internet along with a change of scenery will give me the fix I need.
No biggie, I just realized that I hit this plateau when me and Michael were drinking poyo (palm wine) on his porch by candlelight. I mean, we had a great time, we were mixing low grade coconut spirits stuff with our poyo, doing crazy talk about everything and nothing while gazing up at the stars and chamming on moringa leaf. Sounds great right? Well ya, it was! We were celebrating his return to site after his several battles with miscellaneous medical stuffs. The PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Office) is a revolving door to the 100+ volunteers in all of Salone dealing with every kind of infection known to man. You can even reference my "PC Infection Medley" blog entry back in July. And it keeps going on like this for the rest of our service. Luckily for me, knock on wood, I haven't had anything major that required medical attention. Aside from my legs looking mangled from the constant biting from mosquitos and black flies, oh and the bed bugs (chinch dem) that attacked my legs in Panlap when I slept on the ground, I'm actually doing great, lol.
There's no real reason for me to go to Freetown PC HQ aside from just an unwinding break away from Africa. Sometimes you just need it and I think that this is one of those times.
I've been onsite for a consecutive 3 weeks now. I'm not even going to include the morning bank run last weekend to Port Loko b/c I literally just went there and came back. Don't get me wrong, I love it here in Lunsar and there's so much to still discover but, I think I'm just having a case of cabin fever.
I am planning on doing a weekender to Freetown to do some unwinding at Peace Corps HQ. I think some American chop, American movies, electricity and wi-fi internet along with a change of scenery will give me the fix I need.
No biggie, I just realized that I hit this plateau when me and Michael were drinking poyo (palm wine) on his porch by candlelight. I mean, we had a great time, we were mixing low grade coconut spirits stuff with our poyo, doing crazy talk about everything and nothing while gazing up at the stars and chamming on moringa leaf. Sounds great right? Well ya, it was! We were celebrating his return to site after his several battles with miscellaneous medical stuffs. The PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Office) is a revolving door to the 100+ volunteers in all of Salone dealing with every kind of infection known to man. You can even reference my "PC Infection Medley" blog entry back in July. And it keeps going on like this for the rest of our service. Luckily for me, knock on wood, I haven't had anything major that required medical attention. Aside from my legs looking mangled from the constant biting from mosquitos and black flies, oh and the bed bugs (chinch dem) that attacked my legs in Panlap when I slept on the ground, I'm actually doing great, lol.
There's no real reason for me to go to Freetown PC HQ aside from just an unwinding break away from Africa. Sometimes you just need it and I think that this is one of those times.
10/09/12-Today Was An Off Day
I ended my day early and stayed in for the rest of the afternoon after school. It was just a series of small events that just rubbed me the wrong way and I didn't feel like being interactive.
1) On my way to school one of the Guadalupe primary school boys thought it would be funny to say "CHING CHONG" as he passed me. I either ignore this or just tell them to "lef mi and fuck off". Telling children to "fuck off" is common here and doesn't have the same meaning as it does in America even though it's saying the same thing......fuck off. The thing that pissed me off is that the kid was being disrespectful while wearing the Guadalupe uniform and on top of that, he did it to a teacher. Bad move kid, he was lucky I was running late, he just received a public shaming from me in the middle of the road. I've decided that the next time a kid in a Guadalupe uniform calls me Ching-Chong, I will write "CHING CHONG" on their forehead with a sharpie......good luck explaining that to your teachers and parents why you have that on your head for several days.
2) My computer classes with my SS3 girls did not go so well today. They are 2yrs away from university and they can't follow directions. I understand that I have to take things a bit slower here when it comes to computers but I wrote out directions and the procedure was as clear as day. A good chunk of them could not differentiate the difference between backspace, spacebar, caps lock, and shift. We are now on week 3! I wanted to rip my eyeballs out for the fact that I had to talk about shift and caps lock for 45min each for 3 periods. Someone shoot me in the fucking head! Anyone ever seen "Election" with Matthew Broderick??? I kinda felt like him when he was teaching the same government class over and over again. HAPPY GROUNDHOGS DAY! For 45 min, I literally circled around the classroom and pointed out the shift and caps lock and then I circled back around and individually asked them to point them out to me, and they still got it wrong. These are the days where I hate kids. Den get trangga yes! (They have selective hearing).
3) The Math Dept. is in charge of assembly this week and I practically set up the whole thing for us and I gave clear and simple instructions. Talk about a technical occupation that uses math in order to increase interest in Math. As well as provide a numerical fun fact about Salone to increase knowledge about their own country. Why did my co-worker give the definition of mathematics. SNOOZE-FEST!!!!! There is no "I" in team, I put together the ideas, concepts, and schedule, just fill in the blank.......let's work together here people, I can't spoon feed you every single fucking detail!!!
4) Part of this week's Math Dept Assembly, I suggested that we help beautify the school by having a door decorating contest because all the classrooms are bare and it's hard for me to tell which classroom is which b/c they are not properly labeled. And it's competitive, creative, and fun. I go to help out with JSS3A, I come with art supplies. Kids love art hour, right??? The kids all said that they don't know how to draw and proceeded to take out their pencils to draw boxes with rulers. Children rejecting markers, crayons and colored pencils?!?! It's sad! These children were never taught to use their imagination and develop their creativity. If you ask them to draw they will draw the same 4 items in the same exact way: 1) a plant from their agriculture class 2) the house looks exactly the same 3) the same damn bird 4) the same stupid procedure for this ugly car that someone decided should be mandatory for all children to draw cars this way in primary school. I had to force them. I made them come up in groups of 4, I said no pencils no rulers and they have 2min to draw something, anything and can use as much colors as they want. It was better even though most of them just re-drew what the person before them had already drawn. This really made me sad.
So after a full day of disappointment and scowling at misbehaving students I had a huge pounding headache and couldn't bear to be social and just hid my house and bumped my tunes because sometimes you just need that escape every now and then to keep your sanity.
I understand the "WHYs" but sometimes understanding "why" doesn't help with my feelings. So today was a not so great day, I will try again tomorrow.
1) On my way to school one of the Guadalupe primary school boys thought it would be funny to say "CHING CHONG" as he passed me. I either ignore this or just tell them to "lef mi and fuck off". Telling children to "fuck off" is common here and doesn't have the same meaning as it does in America even though it's saying the same thing......fuck off. The thing that pissed me off is that the kid was being disrespectful while wearing the Guadalupe uniform and on top of that, he did it to a teacher. Bad move kid, he was lucky I was running late, he just received a public shaming from me in the middle of the road. I've decided that the next time a kid in a Guadalupe uniform calls me Ching-Chong, I will write "CHING CHONG" on their forehead with a sharpie......good luck explaining that to your teachers and parents why you have that on your head for several days.
2) My computer classes with my SS3 girls did not go so well today. They are 2yrs away from university and they can't follow directions. I understand that I have to take things a bit slower here when it comes to computers but I wrote out directions and the procedure was as clear as day. A good chunk of them could not differentiate the difference between backspace, spacebar, caps lock, and shift. We are now on week 3! I wanted to rip my eyeballs out for the fact that I had to talk about shift and caps lock for 45min each for 3 periods. Someone shoot me in the fucking head! Anyone ever seen "Election" with Matthew Broderick??? I kinda felt like him when he was teaching the same government class over and over again. HAPPY GROUNDHOGS DAY! For 45 min, I literally circled around the classroom and pointed out the shift and caps lock and then I circled back around and individually asked them to point them out to me, and they still got it wrong. These are the days where I hate kids. Den get trangga yes! (They have selective hearing).
3) The Math Dept. is in charge of assembly this week and I practically set up the whole thing for us and I gave clear and simple instructions. Talk about a technical occupation that uses math in order to increase interest in Math. As well as provide a numerical fun fact about Salone to increase knowledge about their own country. Why did my co-worker give the definition of mathematics. SNOOZE-FEST!!!!! There is no "I" in team, I put together the ideas, concepts, and schedule, just fill in the blank.......let's work together here people, I can't spoon feed you every single fucking detail!!!
4) Part of this week's Math Dept Assembly, I suggested that we help beautify the school by having a door decorating contest because all the classrooms are bare and it's hard for me to tell which classroom is which b/c they are not properly labeled. And it's competitive, creative, and fun. I go to help out with JSS3A, I come with art supplies. Kids love art hour, right??? The kids all said that they don't know how to draw and proceeded to take out their pencils to draw boxes with rulers. Children rejecting markers, crayons and colored pencils?!?! It's sad! These children were never taught to use their imagination and develop their creativity. If you ask them to draw they will draw the same 4 items in the same exact way: 1) a plant from their agriculture class 2) the house looks exactly the same 3) the same damn bird 4) the same stupid procedure for this ugly car that someone decided should be mandatory for all children to draw cars this way in primary school. I had to force them. I made them come up in groups of 4, I said no pencils no rulers and they have 2min to draw something, anything and can use as much colors as they want. It was better even though most of them just re-drew what the person before them had already drawn. This really made me sad.
So after a full day of disappointment and scowling at misbehaving students I had a huge pounding headache and couldn't bear to be social and just hid my house and bumped my tunes because sometimes you just need that escape every now and then to keep your sanity.
I understand the "WHYs" but sometimes understanding "why" doesn't help with my feelings. So today was a not so great day, I will try again tomorrow.
10/08/12-All About Politics
So part of the rules in Peace Corps is that you're not allowed to participate or meddle with anything that has to do with politics.......Sierra Leonean politics. No rallies, not even opinions....... nothing, nada.
Like America, Sierra Leone has many political parties where 2 are the powerhouse parties. The biggest difference is that these parties are deeply rooted by tribe. You have the SLPP (Green Party) primarily in the South with the Mende tribe and then you have the APC (Red Party) primarily in the North & East with the Temne tribe. There's a big election coming up this November, all I can hope for is a safe and peaceful election. Political unrest is a ticket out of here but I'm in for the long haul, so please, please, please, Salone, I beg.......peaceful elections!
We're currently going through Parliament Seat elections. I've been pretty much out of pocket to stay uninvolved but certain big local events are hard to avoid. There was an election here in Lunsar between 2 candidates within the APC party, the winner.........Isata Kabia. I guess there was some disagreement within the party itself and some people were not happy with the results.
As I was walking home from school, I got up to my gate and it was locked. Hmmmm, weird......we don't lock until late in the evening..... Then all of a sudden, Hawa started yelling at the kids to grab the gate keys. I was confused and scared, WTF was going on?!?! There was this mad scramble to open the gate, pull me in, then lock the doors. What the hell was going on?!?! Not everyone was happy with Isata Kabia's victory and to show their disapproval, live bullets were shot and tear gas thrown towards crowds in the center of town which isn't too far from where I live. I saw large groups of people running towards my street coughing from the tear gas. Is this really happening to me?!?! Scary shit!!!! It went on for a few hours, didn't really want to find out how or why it all settled down, but it did.
It kinda freaked me out that this little episode was b/c of an election with 2 candidates within the same party. Crossing my fingers for the November presidential elections between the APC & SLPP (aka Temne vs. Mende). Everyone is saying that it should be a peaceful election but we'll see. Whatever happens, Peace Corps has trained us on the various procedures of "what do do when this happens".
This past Sunday, the town of Lunsar welcomed the arrival of Isata Kabia to celebrate her victory. Kabia and her opponents came to plead for peace within the APC party. I worked that day to control the OLGSS girls that came to represent the school. It was pretty cool seeing all the children of Lunsar in their uniforms all lined up on the main road, Port Loko Rd. There was music, food, and dancing under that African sun beating down on us. I don't really know who decided that our girls' uniforms should include a thick wool beret.....this is Africa! No one should ever wear wool in Africa, it's too freakin hot!!!!!
I don't know if it was the smartest idea for me to be in the middle of this APC event but nonetheless it was a fun, lively, and peaceful. Everyone was decked out in red, marching down the streets heading for the town field. There were people on foot, fleets of okadas, and motokars. Isata Kabia was on this huge white truck doing her best beauty pageant wave to the crowd.
I tried my best to follow the masses to the town field but I had been under the hot African sun for several hours and called it a good day's work of keeping my girls in line. I left the rest to the other teachers that showed up later. I ended my day by buying an ice cold ginger beer from the street and headed home.
Please Salone, I want to stay here. No political unrest.
Like America, Sierra Leone has many political parties where 2 are the powerhouse parties. The biggest difference is that these parties are deeply rooted by tribe. You have the SLPP (Green Party) primarily in the South with the Mende tribe and then you have the APC (Red Party) primarily in the North & East with the Temne tribe. There's a big election coming up this November, all I can hope for is a safe and peaceful election. Political unrest is a ticket out of here but I'm in for the long haul, so please, please, please, Salone, I beg.......peaceful elections!
We're currently going through Parliament Seat elections. I've been pretty much out of pocket to stay uninvolved but certain big local events are hard to avoid. There was an election here in Lunsar between 2 candidates within the APC party, the winner.........Isata Kabia. I guess there was some disagreement within the party itself and some people were not happy with the results.
As I was walking home from school, I got up to my gate and it was locked. Hmmmm, weird......we don't lock until late in the evening..... Then all of a sudden, Hawa started yelling at the kids to grab the gate keys. I was confused and scared, WTF was going on?!?! There was this mad scramble to open the gate, pull me in, then lock the doors. What the hell was going on?!?! Not everyone was happy with Isata Kabia's victory and to show their disapproval, live bullets were shot and tear gas thrown towards crowds in the center of town which isn't too far from where I live. I saw large groups of people running towards my street coughing from the tear gas. Is this really happening to me?!?! Scary shit!!!! It went on for a few hours, didn't really want to find out how or why it all settled down, but it did.
It kinda freaked me out that this little episode was b/c of an election with 2 candidates within the same party. Crossing my fingers for the November presidential elections between the APC & SLPP (aka Temne vs. Mende). Everyone is saying that it should be a peaceful election but we'll see. Whatever happens, Peace Corps has trained us on the various procedures of "what do do when this happens".
This past Sunday, the town of Lunsar welcomed the arrival of Isata Kabia to celebrate her victory. Kabia and her opponents came to plead for peace within the APC party. I worked that day to control the OLGSS girls that came to represent the school. It was pretty cool seeing all the children of Lunsar in their uniforms all lined up on the main road, Port Loko Rd. There was music, food, and dancing under that African sun beating down on us. I don't really know who decided that our girls' uniforms should include a thick wool beret.....this is Africa! No one should ever wear wool in Africa, it's too freakin hot!!!!!
I don't know if it was the smartest idea for me to be in the middle of this APC event but nonetheless it was a fun, lively, and peaceful. Everyone was decked out in red, marching down the streets heading for the town field. There were people on foot, fleets of okadas, and motokars. Isata Kabia was on this huge white truck doing her best beauty pageant wave to the crowd.
I tried my best to follow the masses to the town field but I had been under the hot African sun for several hours and called it a good day's work of keeping my girls in line. I left the rest to the other teachers that showed up later. I ended my day by buying an ice cold ginger beer from the street and headed home.
Please Salone, I want to stay here. No political unrest.
10/01/12-I Live In Sierra Leone, Africa
So I think I've come to a certain point in my service where I don't feel like I'm here as a Peace Corps Volunteer serving a community. Without losing sight of my objectives as a PCV, I just kinda feel like I live here.
I mean, ultimately in the end, I think that the government's not-so-hidden hidden agenda is this large international PR campaign of sticking Americans in these villages as some sort of Ambassador so that children grow up thinking that America is awesome, lol. I mean it makes sense. Africa has a shitload of NGOs coming in and out doing all kinds of building, rehabilitating, educating, etc, etc. Whereas for Peace Corps, we LIVE in the damn place for well over 2years. The job is simply the bi-product, to show that America's tax dollars is going towards something measurable like: "Built 5 water wells" some crap like that. The main job is clearly forming a relationship with the community. What's my backup for this theory? Well, when you teach at a village school, you may have 1 kid that might be smart enough to probably amount to something. But now, you have a village of 100 asking if I know a Bob Smith from Indiana that did Peace Corps in the 70s. On top of everything else, they love America. Job well done, the villagers have been brainwashed, lol. It sounds kinda, bad, yet strategic, but that's on the high government level. As the PCV, yourself, the personal intentions are there, no hidden agendas, and you form relationships b/c you integrate into the community.
Integration for me has been going well in many aspects. I'd like to mention my largest feat in integrating into Sierra Leone.........the food, lol. I know I had this angry rant of how I hate the chop a few entries back, but things have changed. Do I love Sierra Leonean chop? No. Can I eat it without complaining? Yes. A few reasons:
1) My mom's cooking wasn't that great.
2) Hawa's cooking is WAY better.
3) I only eat rice & plasas once a day.
4) Portion Control: I eat just a small amount of rice & plasas as a means of survival, just to feel full enough. Depending on how hungry I am, on some days, I even look forward to my rice & plasas, lol.
5) I was too quick to judge, even though the primary diet is rice & plasas, there is other kind chop.
So I'm no longer sneaking in the ketchup and I haven't bought Laughing Cow cheese in weeks. The cheese is partly b/c I'm too cheap to pay the Le5000 (~$1.25) for it, lol. I think alot of this is largely due to the fact that I now have control of my diet and it is my choice to eat the rice & plasas once a day. And the rest of the day is a mixture of the street lady cham that's sold at the school and fruits. Also, mixed with the occasional American snack that I crack open from my care packages. BOOM! I'm a happy motherfucking camper! I can go on and on about the food but I won't.
So back to why I feel like I live here........
I have my own place, I have a job, and I have friends. That's what happens when you're out living on your own, right? It's really as simple as that. Having my own place has greatly contributed to my happiness.......privacy. I mean, I'm rarely inside my house unless it's evening or siesta hour after school but I like having my space my way and being in it when I want to. My job is not much different from any other job I've had. Summer school in Bo helped a great deal with my fears of teaching children. So now, I'm just working and attack issues just like how I did back with my previous employer. The job is way less stressful but my contributions are huge for them. They lack resources so they lack the knowledge of certain technologies like the computer. And by just having that "thinking outside the box" mentality, you can accomplish so much here. My mind is just overloaded with secondary projects, it's crazy. I mean, secondary projects don't have to be big. For example, I was asked to join Guidance & Counseling, the office is a plain empty room. I pulled all these ideas out of my ass of how we should decorate and set up the place and teaming up with an NGO for a workshop to properly train us. Do I have the background to call shots like this, absolutely not! But Sierra Leoneans haven't experienced a school counselor's office and issues like self-esteem, and whatnot. So here I am, being a supposed expert on random things based on stuff I was exposed to in my life in America. I've already started my after-school adult computer literacy program with the teachers. The demand was clearly there when I presented my syllabus for the students during staff meeting and all their questions about the syllabus were: "Well, what about us?!?!"
So onto the friends. I had it all wrong here. In the beginning, I had been so wrapped up in "I'm a PCV and I'm here to serve a community" that I never really truly considered what integration meant. During PST in Bo, I had my American friends and my Sierra Leonean friends. I treated the two differently and I felt that I was closest with my PCV buddies. It made sense b/c I spent most of my time with my fellow Americans. But my perception of Sierra Leoneans were that these were people that I'm out here to help and serve, lol. Which in the end seems like a load of bullshit, lol, b/c actually they help me more than I help them and they're just my fuckin' friends is all, lol. And my family, I don't call them "host fambul", den jus na mi fambul dem, na in dat (they're just my family and that's that).
In the end, PCVs are in their community by themselves so you're not surrounded by your American buddies. I mean, we call and visit each other but the day to day is with Sierra Leoneans. I've been really happy at the school, I really like the staff. Everyone has been really welcoming. Just like any job, you work and then shoot the shit in the break room. Everyone has been super nice to me. I was talking to Anthony, a teacher and good friend, he was telling me how everyone really likes me and that made me feel really good. It's not like I'm super close with all of them but I like them all. Hawa is my rock, she is such a good friend. She is so straight-up and tells it how it is. I sometimes question her if she is Sierra Leonean b/c of her straight forwardness, lol. Friends are friends, no matter what part of the world you come from.
I used to be so aware of me being an outsider like: they are black and I am not. I mean, ya, I still get stared at which I've already gotten used to. As well as, children running after me, yelling OPOTO and waving their hand is a daily occurrence. Excluding those slight nuances of being somewhat like a local celebrity or maybe even community curiosity, I actually live a very normal village life. I'm not so conscious of the difference of skin color which was more of like difference in culture translated by skin color. It doesn't cross my mind anymore, just like back in America where I don't really think about difference in ethnicity. That's just how it is in the Bay Area, it's diverse, you don't notice. I'm sure that it has alot to do with feeling like I belong to a community rather than being a PCV in a host community.
I've really adjusted to life here in Salone. When it's sunny, you bruk b/c your clothes will dry fast. When it rains, you put out your buckets to collect rain water. When "light don kam" (light turns on via generator), you make a mad dash to the closest outlet to charge your phone, lol. When you eat, you say "kam it" or "ta de di" (in Temne) b/c you never eat alone. When you leave you say "a de kam" or "i ti der" (Temne) b/c you never say goodbye.
I'm sure I'll have my every now and then shitty moments but right now I'm just basking in the awesomeness. I'm loving it here!
I mean, ultimately in the end, I think that the government's not-so-hidden hidden agenda is this large international PR campaign of sticking Americans in these villages as some sort of Ambassador so that children grow up thinking that America is awesome, lol. I mean it makes sense. Africa has a shitload of NGOs coming in and out doing all kinds of building, rehabilitating, educating, etc, etc. Whereas for Peace Corps, we LIVE in the damn place for well over 2years. The job is simply the bi-product, to show that America's tax dollars is going towards something measurable like: "Built 5 water wells" some crap like that. The main job is clearly forming a relationship with the community. What's my backup for this theory? Well, when you teach at a village school, you may have 1 kid that might be smart enough to probably amount to something. But now, you have a village of 100 asking if I know a Bob Smith from Indiana that did Peace Corps in the 70s. On top of everything else, they love America. Job well done, the villagers have been brainwashed, lol. It sounds kinda, bad, yet strategic, but that's on the high government level. As the PCV, yourself, the personal intentions are there, no hidden agendas, and you form relationships b/c you integrate into the community.
Integration for me has been going well in many aspects. I'd like to mention my largest feat in integrating into Sierra Leone.........the food, lol. I know I had this angry rant of how I hate the chop a few entries back, but things have changed. Do I love Sierra Leonean chop? No. Can I eat it without complaining? Yes. A few reasons:
1) My mom's cooking wasn't that great.
2) Hawa's cooking is WAY better.
3) I only eat rice & plasas once a day.
4) Portion Control: I eat just a small amount of rice & plasas as a means of survival, just to feel full enough. Depending on how hungry I am, on some days, I even look forward to my rice & plasas, lol.
5) I was too quick to judge, even though the primary diet is rice & plasas, there is other kind chop.
So I'm no longer sneaking in the ketchup and I haven't bought Laughing Cow cheese in weeks. The cheese is partly b/c I'm too cheap to pay the Le5000 (~$1.25) for it, lol. I think alot of this is largely due to the fact that I now have control of my diet and it is my choice to eat the rice & plasas once a day. And the rest of the day is a mixture of the street lady cham that's sold at the school and fruits. Also, mixed with the occasional American snack that I crack open from my care packages. BOOM! I'm a happy motherfucking camper! I can go on and on about the food but I won't.
So back to why I feel like I live here........
I have my own place, I have a job, and I have friends. That's what happens when you're out living on your own, right? It's really as simple as that. Having my own place has greatly contributed to my happiness.......privacy. I mean, I'm rarely inside my house unless it's evening or siesta hour after school but I like having my space my way and being in it when I want to. My job is not much different from any other job I've had. Summer school in Bo helped a great deal with my fears of teaching children. So now, I'm just working and attack issues just like how I did back with my previous employer. The job is way less stressful but my contributions are huge for them. They lack resources so they lack the knowledge of certain technologies like the computer. And by just having that "thinking outside the box" mentality, you can accomplish so much here. My mind is just overloaded with secondary projects, it's crazy. I mean, secondary projects don't have to be big. For example, I was asked to join Guidance & Counseling, the office is a plain empty room. I pulled all these ideas out of my ass of how we should decorate and set up the place and teaming up with an NGO for a workshop to properly train us. Do I have the background to call shots like this, absolutely not! But Sierra Leoneans haven't experienced a school counselor's office and issues like self-esteem, and whatnot. So here I am, being a supposed expert on random things based on stuff I was exposed to in my life in America. I've already started my after-school adult computer literacy program with the teachers. The demand was clearly there when I presented my syllabus for the students during staff meeting and all their questions about the syllabus were: "Well, what about us?!?!"
So onto the friends. I had it all wrong here. In the beginning, I had been so wrapped up in "I'm a PCV and I'm here to serve a community" that I never really truly considered what integration meant. During PST in Bo, I had my American friends and my Sierra Leonean friends. I treated the two differently and I felt that I was closest with my PCV buddies. It made sense b/c I spent most of my time with my fellow Americans. But my perception of Sierra Leoneans were that these were people that I'm out here to help and serve, lol. Which in the end seems like a load of bullshit, lol, b/c actually they help me more than I help them and they're just my fuckin' friends is all, lol. And my family, I don't call them "host fambul", den jus na mi fambul dem, na in dat (they're just my family and that's that).
In the end, PCVs are in their community by themselves so you're not surrounded by your American buddies. I mean, we call and visit each other but the day to day is with Sierra Leoneans. I've been really happy at the school, I really like the staff. Everyone has been really welcoming. Just like any job, you work and then shoot the shit in the break room. Everyone has been super nice to me. I was talking to Anthony, a teacher and good friend, he was telling me how everyone really likes me and that made me feel really good. It's not like I'm super close with all of them but I like them all. Hawa is my rock, she is such a good friend. She is so straight-up and tells it how it is. I sometimes question her if she is Sierra Leonean b/c of her straight forwardness, lol. Friends are friends, no matter what part of the world you come from.
I used to be so aware of me being an outsider like: they are black and I am not. I mean, ya, I still get stared at which I've already gotten used to. As well as, children running after me, yelling OPOTO and waving their hand is a daily occurrence. Excluding those slight nuances of being somewhat like a local celebrity or maybe even community curiosity, I actually live a very normal village life. I'm not so conscious of the difference of skin color which was more of like difference in culture translated by skin color. It doesn't cross my mind anymore, just like back in America where I don't really think about difference in ethnicity. That's just how it is in the Bay Area, it's diverse, you don't notice. I'm sure that it has alot to do with feeling like I belong to a community rather than being a PCV in a host community.
I've really adjusted to life here in Salone. When it's sunny, you bruk b/c your clothes will dry fast. When it rains, you put out your buckets to collect rain water. When "light don kam" (light turns on via generator), you make a mad dash to the closest outlet to charge your phone, lol. When you eat, you say "kam it" or "ta de di" (in Temne) b/c you never eat alone. When you leave you say "a de kam" or "i ti der" (Temne) b/c you never say goodbye.
I'm sure I'll have my every now and then shitty moments but right now I'm just basking in the awesomeness. I'm loving it here!
09/23/12-Tiny Slices Of Luxury
So this weekend marked my one month anniversary on site which is also the first official TAC (Time Away from Community) weekend. I spent the weekend in Makeni, technically the village of Panlap, for Bryan Gs birthday.
It was mostly folks from the north that came through but we had a few Bo District stragglers that came along. It was a great reunion and good to hear how everyone had been doing at their site. Lauren's next-door neighbor who owns this Nigerian Film-like mansion of a home insisted that we stay there since the home is not occupied. The house looked like a normal American home with real leather couches in a living room. Oh good lord, the feeling of curling up in the corner of a comfy leather couch was soooooo comforting! The owner was even nice enough to turn on the generator for us so we had light and an actual refrigerator. I mean, the beers never got cold but everyone seemed to find comfort in opening the fridge and grabbing a beer, lol.
The next day we headed out to Makeni to watch a futbol match at Apex. Apex is an expat/foreigner hangout spot. Also a great place on Sundays to watch prostitutes mingling with sleazy miners, lol. Aside from the sleaze factor, it felt so luxurious to drink a beer poolside. Yup that's right, poolside! Like a legit clean chlorinated pool in a nice Best Western, lol. It costs Le35,000 (~$7.50) to swim in it and I wasn't willing to shell out all that dough for a dip in the pool. Best alternative, just drink my beer alongside it, lol. Yes, I know, I'm a poor cheap bastard. Hey man, my life is in terms of Leones now, not dollars. I just convert on this blog for people to understand the exchange rate but typically Le35,000 to go swimming is "Eh diya" aka expensive as fuck, haha!
The bathroom was beautiful! It looked like a nice clean bathroom equivalent to like maybe slightly below a Cheesecake Factory bathroom, haha. Oh damn my standards have gone down the drain, lol. I had to conjure up a poo just so I could use this bathroom with an actual working flush. I took so damn long that my friend checked in to make sure I wasn't being raped by a sleazy miner, lol. I'll take my pieces of luxury when I can take it. This was definitely a luxury poo. And! And......when I washed my hands with an actual working sink I started to shake my hands dry then my eyes met with the hand dryer. WTF, I'm in heaven!!!! Clean bathroom, toilet paper, a flush, a running sink, a mother fucking hand dryer!!!!! Fucking ridiculous, really!!!!
So Cindarella turns back into a pumpkin........
I went back to the Lori Park and hopped in a motorcar with some chickens behind me and a sheep in the trunk which kept bleating every 2minutes during the whole hour ride home. No complaints here, I had a great time seeing all the folks in Makeni, the weather was great, and our car didn't breakdown.
As fun as every other trip I've had around Salone, I'm always happy and relieved whenever I arrive back in Lunsar. Kinda like: "Ah yes, I'm so glad to be back home." :)
It was mostly folks from the north that came through but we had a few Bo District stragglers that came along. It was a great reunion and good to hear how everyone had been doing at their site. Lauren's next-door neighbor who owns this Nigerian Film-like mansion of a home insisted that we stay there since the home is not occupied. The house looked like a normal American home with real leather couches in a living room. Oh good lord, the feeling of curling up in the corner of a comfy leather couch was soooooo comforting! The owner was even nice enough to turn on the generator for us so we had light and an actual refrigerator. I mean, the beers never got cold but everyone seemed to find comfort in opening the fridge and grabbing a beer, lol.
The next day we headed out to Makeni to watch a futbol match at Apex. Apex is an expat/foreigner hangout spot. Also a great place on Sundays to watch prostitutes mingling with sleazy miners, lol. Aside from the sleaze factor, it felt so luxurious to drink a beer poolside. Yup that's right, poolside! Like a legit clean chlorinated pool in a nice Best Western, lol. It costs Le35,000 (~$7.50) to swim in it and I wasn't willing to shell out all that dough for a dip in the pool. Best alternative, just drink my beer alongside it, lol. Yes, I know, I'm a poor cheap bastard. Hey man, my life is in terms of Leones now, not dollars. I just convert on this blog for people to understand the exchange rate but typically Le35,000 to go swimming is "Eh diya" aka expensive as fuck, haha!
The bathroom was beautiful! It looked like a nice clean bathroom equivalent to like maybe slightly below a Cheesecake Factory bathroom, haha. Oh damn my standards have gone down the drain, lol. I had to conjure up a poo just so I could use this bathroom with an actual working flush. I took so damn long that my friend checked in to make sure I wasn't being raped by a sleazy miner, lol. I'll take my pieces of luxury when I can take it. This was definitely a luxury poo. And! And......when I washed my hands with an actual working sink I started to shake my hands dry then my eyes met with the hand dryer. WTF, I'm in heaven!!!! Clean bathroom, toilet paper, a flush, a running sink, a mother fucking hand dryer!!!!! Fucking ridiculous, really!!!!
So Cindarella turns back into a pumpkin........
I went back to the Lori Park and hopped in a motorcar with some chickens behind me and a sheep in the trunk which kept bleating every 2minutes during the whole hour ride home. No complaints here, I had a great time seeing all the folks in Makeni, the weather was great, and our car didn't breakdown.
As fun as every other trip I've had around Salone, I'm always happy and relieved whenever I arrive back in Lunsar. Kinda like: "Ah yes, I'm so glad to be back home." :)
09/21/12-Things Happen For A Reason
I was supposed to leave today for Makeni for a PCV buddy's birthday but due to time and weather constraints I decided to stay behind and head out the next day.
Weather and time is so sensitive here in Salone when it comes to travel. It technically takes 1hr to get to Makeni from Lunsar but you take into consideration of the poda or motorkar's condition. Or when it rains there will be accidents, flooding, or gigantic puddles of mud traps. So ya, the fact that it was the afternoon and it had been raining like crazy all day, I decided to be smart about it and just wait.
My PlanB, hang out around home and help out Hawa with her catering gig for one of the mining companies. Luckily for her, the rain stopped by late afternoon and many of the community women came over to help out. Why should the rain affect the cooking? Well, it's because the kitchen is outside, duh, lol.
So Hawa was running a tight ship as we all did things from skinning chickens to cutting yabas (onion) to stirring giant cauldrons of food. I had a great time, it was like a big community party. Women prepping, cooking, and laughing, as all their children were playing around the compound.
After I was done with my contribution, I took out my radio and put in my USB stick of music (thanks Juan and Gina & Co.) and chilled out on my steps with all the kids. The kids loved the music. It really felt surreal chillin' on my porch, rockin' out to some Jurassic5, children dancing, and African aunties in their lapas cooking on coal pots while tapping their feet to the music.
That was a really happy moment for me. When I initially thought about how my service would be like in Peace Corps, I always thought of these grandeur events when in reality the it's been all these tiny spurts if simple moments that seem so special.
I truly believe that things happen for a reason. Staying behind one night was so worth it. I'm really happy here in Salone. I'm not just a tourist or some fly-by volunteer. I live here, in Africa, in Salone, in Lunsar. This is my community...........
Weather and time is so sensitive here in Salone when it comes to travel. It technically takes 1hr to get to Makeni from Lunsar but you take into consideration of the poda or motorkar's condition. Or when it rains there will be accidents, flooding, or gigantic puddles of mud traps. So ya, the fact that it was the afternoon and it had been raining like crazy all day, I decided to be smart about it and just wait.
My PlanB, hang out around home and help out Hawa with her catering gig for one of the mining companies. Luckily for her, the rain stopped by late afternoon and many of the community women came over to help out. Why should the rain affect the cooking? Well, it's because the kitchen is outside, duh, lol.
So Hawa was running a tight ship as we all did things from skinning chickens to cutting yabas (onion) to stirring giant cauldrons of food. I had a great time, it was like a big community party. Women prepping, cooking, and laughing, as all their children were playing around the compound.
After I was done with my contribution, I took out my radio and put in my USB stick of music (thanks Juan and Gina & Co.) and chilled out on my steps with all the kids. The kids loved the music. It really felt surreal chillin' on my porch, rockin' out to some Jurassic5, children dancing, and African aunties in their lapas cooking on coal pots while tapping their feet to the music.
That was a really happy moment for me. When I initially thought about how my service would be like in Peace Corps, I always thought of these grandeur events when in reality the it's been all these tiny spurts if simple moments that seem so special.
I truly believe that things happen for a reason. Staying behind one night was so worth it. I'm really happy here in Salone. I'm not just a tourist or some fly-by volunteer. I live here, in Africa, in Salone, in Lunsar. This is my community...........
09/17/12-The "Official" Nonofficial 1st Day Of School
Today was the government approved official 1st day of school. Alright, let's get the ball rollin'........ums not, lol.
Silly me, to think that I would be running around and actually be doing some teaching today. That's what teachers do, right? Teach? Lol! There was alot of shoulder shrugging and thumb twiddling in the staff room for me. I think 2 traits are crucial for survival in Salone: patience and a sense of humor.
The thing is, the first day of school is only a "soft" date. People kinda trickle in over the next few weeks which includes people that are still registering and people who want to transfer and take entrance exams. That's a great way to show a school you want to go there. Show up a week late and go, "So ums, I'm kinda late, so can I go here still?"
I'm slated to teach SS1 Math, which is like 9th grade math along with some computer courses. Don't bother asking me my schedule b/c it's not done yet, lol. I'm estimating for the timetable details to be smoothed out maybe sometime by Friday??? Who fucking knows, it beats the hell out of me??? [**commence shoulder shrugging & thumb twiddling**]
Did I tell you that I was at one of the country's most functional schools? Lol! Oh Salone...........
Coming from a world where the first day of school is spent going to all your classes, meeting your assigned teachers, going over the syllabus, classroom rules & expectations......this was a complete 180.
I at least introduced myself during assembly. "Hi, my name is Ms. Pascual, I'll be teaching Math." Oh wait, I also bought a delicious meat pie off some lady. Ya that pretty much sums up my big accomplishments for the 1st day of school.
I know I shouldn't be expecting regimented structure in an unstructured world. Sue me for being a creature of habit. But like I always say with a smile here in Salone, "A de try fo go manage, smol smol." It's my way of saying "Serenity Now!" (Seinfeld reference).
So for now, I am still in the middle of prepping the computer lab which is a dusty dark room filled with 2006 Macs. Something is better than nothing and this is more than what any other school has. Except for Muraldo, the rival all-boys school in Lunsar where my site mate teaches at. >:P
Actually, I'll only be teaching 3 computer classes a week for most of Term1 since my SS1 students will most likely not show up until Term2. Why, you ask? Well, after JS3, they take the BECE (Basic Education Competency Exam) and they cannot move onto SS1 until those results come out which should be October-ish? The "?" is to emphasize that it should be October but is most unlikely especially with upcoming elections in November where the government may close the schools down for around 2 weeks (note the "around"). It doesn't make sense to me why a student should only attend 2/3 of a school year. Making note of holes in the educational system :/
Oh Salone, once again I have to set my standards to another low. I didn't realize that there was a literal sense of just "showing up to work".
So, tomorrow's gameplan..........School, Day #2, I will literally just show up to work and continue the shoulder shrugging and thumb twiddling. I will definitely buy another meat pie. Oh, but I will change one thing; I will bring a good book.
My slogan for the day is: "Making A Difference In West Africa, One Meat Pie At A Time!"
Silly me, to think that I would be running around and actually be doing some teaching today. That's what teachers do, right? Teach? Lol! There was alot of shoulder shrugging and thumb twiddling in the staff room for me. I think 2 traits are crucial for survival in Salone: patience and a sense of humor.
The thing is, the first day of school is only a "soft" date. People kinda trickle in over the next few weeks which includes people that are still registering and people who want to transfer and take entrance exams. That's a great way to show a school you want to go there. Show up a week late and go, "So ums, I'm kinda late, so can I go here still?"
I'm slated to teach SS1 Math, which is like 9th grade math along with some computer courses. Don't bother asking me my schedule b/c it's not done yet, lol. I'm estimating for the timetable details to be smoothed out maybe sometime by Friday??? Who fucking knows, it beats the hell out of me??? [**commence shoulder shrugging & thumb twiddling**]
Did I tell you that I was at one of the country's most functional schools? Lol! Oh Salone...........
Coming from a world where the first day of school is spent going to all your classes, meeting your assigned teachers, going over the syllabus, classroom rules & expectations......this was a complete 180.
I at least introduced myself during assembly. "Hi, my name is Ms. Pascual, I'll be teaching Math." Oh wait, I also bought a delicious meat pie off some lady. Ya that pretty much sums up my big accomplishments for the 1st day of school.
I know I shouldn't be expecting regimented structure in an unstructured world. Sue me for being a creature of habit. But like I always say with a smile here in Salone, "A de try fo go manage, smol smol." It's my way of saying "Serenity Now!" (Seinfeld reference).
So for now, I am still in the middle of prepping the computer lab which is a dusty dark room filled with 2006 Macs. Something is better than nothing and this is more than what any other school has. Except for Muraldo, the rival all-boys school in Lunsar where my site mate teaches at. >:P
Actually, I'll only be teaching 3 computer classes a week for most of Term1 since my SS1 students will most likely not show up until Term2. Why, you ask? Well, after JS3, they take the BECE (Basic Education Competency Exam) and they cannot move onto SS1 until those results come out which should be October-ish? The "?" is to emphasize that it should be October but is most unlikely especially with upcoming elections in November where the government may close the schools down for around 2 weeks (note the "around"). It doesn't make sense to me why a student should only attend 2/3 of a school year. Making note of holes in the educational system :/
Oh Salone, once again I have to set my standards to another low. I didn't realize that there was a literal sense of just "showing up to work".
So, tomorrow's gameplan..........School, Day #2, I will literally just show up to work and continue the shoulder shrugging and thumb twiddling. I will definitely buy another meat pie. Oh, but I will change one thing; I will bring a good book.
My slogan for the day is: "Making A Difference In West Africa, One Meat Pie At A Time!"
09/09/12-Yamandu Station Stay-cation
It's official, the government announced that school will start on the 17th......so what does that mean for me.....road trip!
I went down to Bo District to visit my friend, Anne, in Yamandu Station. The other Kristyn (with a Y), or "Di Kristin Dem" as the entity that we like to refer to ourselves, from Jenbe which is only about 6miles away from Yamandu, joined us as well. I know it's only been about a month but it was an awesome reunion. Also, people are curious about other sites to see how it differs from their own.
It's just cool seeing the different setups for each village and meeting the people within them. It was a little weird being back in the south and hearing Mende being spoken all over the place. I had been so used to hearing Temne all around me this past month. The fact that I can differentiate between Mende, Temne, and probably even Limba are things I never thought would be in my skillset, lol. Something I can bluff about in America I suppose, lol. Major bluffing would be if I can greet in all 16 tribal languages.......I have 3 down so far: Krio, Mende, Temne........13 more to go, haha.
Yamandu Station is such a cool site, I am super jealous! I haven't seen very many sites but, so far, I love Anne's site the most. It's only 20min away from Bo, it's right off the highway, it's still considered "in the bush", the market is small and less stressful yet, has everything you need more or less, and it's clean b/c it's in the bush. Anne's spot is on the outskirts of Yamandu Station so it's quiet and she doesn't get much foot traffic. Walking into the center of town was really cool, I don't know if it was just how the town was set up but you kinda walk into the bush a bit and through a collection of houses and then there's this town setup with narrow dirt roads, it was really chill.
SIDENOTE: For once "Pssst, eh, eh, Chinese! Chinese!" wasn't echoing all around me. If you're so fucking curious then just greet me and ask me your damn self. Don't be an obnoxious dumbfuck and think that yelling "Chinese!" is a way to win my friendship. I understand that some people are curious but there is etiquette for greeting people and it is definitely not just exclusive to Sierra Leoneans. It is as simple as asking my name and asking where I come from. That is how I've befriended many people in Lunsar, just don't be rude and have some fucking manners for God's sake. Small children can get away with it and actually they just do the "opoto" call but when I say "Yainkain" they call me by my name from then on. I had to shame a teenage boy in the middle of the market b/c he was tapping me on my shoulder saying "Eh, eh, Chinese, Chinese!". I exploded on him and made "palava" (argument) at the market and said:
O'Temne bobo, mi noto so Chinese, mi na Ameican uman, fuk off, lef mi, yu no get mana! If yu wan fo sabi mi yu tink a go wan yu fo padi if yu don yel CHINESE CHINESE pan mi yes. Yu no sabi fo grit sef en ask fo mi nem sef lek oda Salone posin?!?! Lef mi, fuk off!!!
So I basically called him a child and called him O'Temne which is just like saying "Hey Black Man!" then set him straight and told him to fuck off. Everyone at the market laughed at him b/c he got told off in Krio by an opoto and he apologized and I still told him to fuck off, he pissed me off.
ANGRY RANT OVER........
But ya, back to Yamandu Station, I'm totally jocking this village. We totally chilled out at her spot and hung around with her neighborhood kids. I got my first proper "hole in the ground" latrine squatting experience which was actually pretty cool and decent. We even had a great discussion on optimal squatting position with precision angling, lol. She also had a straw outdoor shower setup which was nice so you don't have to bathe over the hole where you piss & shit. Her latrine was dry, spacious, and clean. I'm rating the bathroom facilities an 8 out of 10. It was way better than my wet pour-flush toilet in small moldy latrine/shower closet in Bo. And if you so choose, if late enough in the middle of the night, you can just open the backdoor and bathe right outside b/c it's all uninhabited bush. The thought of a naked woman bathing in the bush like some wild animal may sound sexy. The reality was me listening to Anne washing herself down at 2am quietly yelping [*water splash*] "dear god it's cold, help me....." [*water splash*]. LMAO!
The next day, her friend Paul came by and took us for a stroll through the bush. I complained that we needed a cutlass b/c the overgrowth was too thick and I was afraid of running into blade grass or worse a snake. Death by "snekbet" is serious shit here. If you yell out "SNEK!!!" random people will emerge out of the bush with big sticks, ready to do beat downs on a "snek", lol, swear, it's true! Besides, I didn't have the village herbal medicine patched into my body to protect me from snakebites. So I was telling Paul, that obviously he wasn't scared to be in the bush b/c he had the herbs. The walk was actually really beautiful, I was just being difficult for the sake of being difficult, to annoy the hell out of Anne, lol. That's what happens when you go off the grid, you are your own source of entertainment, lol. But I digress, it was a gorgeous walk through farmland up to this rock where we got an amazing view of guess what......more bush, lol. I'm in fucking Africa right now looking at this fucking awesome view......I live in Sierra Leone......fuck ya!!!!
The stars looked awesome tonight. I rarely see stars twinkling back at home so I was just loving the nightsky. We ended the evening on the veranda just staring up at the stars with the cool night air, it was beautiful. Then I ruined it by saying that it would be awesome if Mustafa's face (Lion King reference) would emerge from the sky and you'd hear James Earl Jones' voice......"Simba.......".
Cue the irritation........laughing and self satisfaction of annoyance achieved, lol.
I'm having a great time in Salone and I've met some really awesome people, both PCV and local.
Things are not perfect here in Salone but "den go try smol smol, i go go tek tem" (they are trying, it will take time). No country is perfect but I am happy here. There is this rugged beauty about it that I just can't explain. I'm not just talking about the landscape, I'm talking about Sierra Leone as a whole package..........imperfections and all.......I'm down with it.
I went down to Bo District to visit my friend, Anne, in Yamandu Station. The other Kristyn (with a Y), or "Di Kristin Dem" as the entity that we like to refer to ourselves, from Jenbe which is only about 6miles away from Yamandu, joined us as well. I know it's only been about a month but it was an awesome reunion. Also, people are curious about other sites to see how it differs from their own.
It's just cool seeing the different setups for each village and meeting the people within them. It was a little weird being back in the south and hearing Mende being spoken all over the place. I had been so used to hearing Temne all around me this past month. The fact that I can differentiate between Mende, Temne, and probably even Limba are things I never thought would be in my skillset, lol. Something I can bluff about in America I suppose, lol. Major bluffing would be if I can greet in all 16 tribal languages.......I have 3 down so far: Krio, Mende, Temne........13 more to go, haha.
Yamandu Station is such a cool site, I am super jealous! I haven't seen very many sites but, so far, I love Anne's site the most. It's only 20min away from Bo, it's right off the highway, it's still considered "in the bush", the market is small and less stressful yet, has everything you need more or less, and it's clean b/c it's in the bush. Anne's spot is on the outskirts of Yamandu Station so it's quiet and she doesn't get much foot traffic. Walking into the center of town was really cool, I don't know if it was just how the town was set up but you kinda walk into the bush a bit and through a collection of houses and then there's this town setup with narrow dirt roads, it was really chill.
SIDENOTE: For once "Pssst, eh, eh, Chinese! Chinese!" wasn't echoing all around me. If you're so fucking curious then just greet me and ask me your damn self. Don't be an obnoxious dumbfuck and think that yelling "Chinese!" is a way to win my friendship. I understand that some people are curious but there is etiquette for greeting people and it is definitely not just exclusive to Sierra Leoneans. It is as simple as asking my name and asking where I come from. That is how I've befriended many people in Lunsar, just don't be rude and have some fucking manners for God's sake. Small children can get away with it and actually they just do the "opoto" call but when I say "Yainkain" they call me by my name from then on. I had to shame a teenage boy in the middle of the market b/c he was tapping me on my shoulder saying "Eh, eh, Chinese, Chinese!". I exploded on him and made "palava" (argument) at the market and said:
O'Temne bobo, mi noto so Chinese, mi na Ameican uman, fuk off, lef mi, yu no get mana! If yu wan fo sabi mi yu tink a go wan yu fo padi if yu don yel CHINESE CHINESE pan mi yes. Yu no sabi fo grit sef en ask fo mi nem sef lek oda Salone posin?!?! Lef mi, fuk off!!!
So I basically called him a child and called him O'Temne which is just like saying "Hey Black Man!" then set him straight and told him to fuck off. Everyone at the market laughed at him b/c he got told off in Krio by an opoto and he apologized and I still told him to fuck off, he pissed me off.
ANGRY RANT OVER........
But ya, back to Yamandu Station, I'm totally jocking this village. We totally chilled out at her spot and hung around with her neighborhood kids. I got my first proper "hole in the ground" latrine squatting experience which was actually pretty cool and decent. We even had a great discussion on optimal squatting position with precision angling, lol. She also had a straw outdoor shower setup which was nice so you don't have to bathe over the hole where you piss & shit. Her latrine was dry, spacious, and clean. I'm rating the bathroom facilities an 8 out of 10. It was way better than my wet pour-flush toilet in small moldy latrine/shower closet in Bo. And if you so choose, if late enough in the middle of the night, you can just open the backdoor and bathe right outside b/c it's all uninhabited bush. The thought of a naked woman bathing in the bush like some wild animal may sound sexy. The reality was me listening to Anne washing herself down at 2am quietly yelping [*water splash*] "dear god it's cold, help me....." [*water splash*]. LMAO!
The next day, her friend Paul came by and took us for a stroll through the bush. I complained that we needed a cutlass b/c the overgrowth was too thick and I was afraid of running into blade grass or worse a snake. Death by "snekbet" is serious shit here. If you yell out "SNEK!!!" random people will emerge out of the bush with big sticks, ready to do beat downs on a "snek", lol, swear, it's true! Besides, I didn't have the village herbal medicine patched into my body to protect me from snakebites. So I was telling Paul, that obviously he wasn't scared to be in the bush b/c he had the herbs. The walk was actually really beautiful, I was just being difficult for the sake of being difficult, to annoy the hell out of Anne, lol. That's what happens when you go off the grid, you are your own source of entertainment, lol. But I digress, it was a gorgeous walk through farmland up to this rock where we got an amazing view of guess what......more bush, lol. I'm in fucking Africa right now looking at this fucking awesome view......I live in Sierra Leone......fuck ya!!!!
The stars looked awesome tonight. I rarely see stars twinkling back at home so I was just loving the nightsky. We ended the evening on the veranda just staring up at the stars with the cool night air, it was beautiful. Then I ruined it by saying that it would be awesome if Mustafa's face (Lion King reference) would emerge from the sky and you'd hear James Earl Jones' voice......"Simba.......".
Cue the irritation........laughing and self satisfaction of annoyance achieved, lol.
I'm having a great time in Salone and I've met some really awesome people, both PCV and local.
Things are not perfect here in Salone but "den go try smol smol, i go go tek tem" (they are trying, it will take time). No country is perfect but I am happy here. There is this rugged beauty about it that I just can't explain. I'm not just talking about the landscape, I'm talking about Sierra Leone as a whole package..........imperfections and all.......I'm down with it.
Friday, September 7, 2012
09/03/12-Day Trip To Makeni
Micheal & I decided to go to Makeni and check out the city. Getting real comfortable with traveling within Salone :) and Lunsar is a great hub for checking out different places because the highway is so accessible. I've gotten pretty used to the pace in Lunsar so heading over to Makeni was pretty intense, it's definitely a city crowded with people and vehicles.
We spent the day with one of our former Krio teachers, Solo. I have no idea where Peace Corps finds these people, but our LCFs are fucking awesome. Solo was just showing us around Makeni and was totally bluffing the Renault van that his sister had sent him from Holland. We decided that it was going to be called the "Magically Machine" and we were gonna do a road trip all over Salone in it.....mind you, this was over the course of several beers, several locations, and the hot African sun beating down on us.
We then meandered over to the central shopping district where we bought some sweet ass fayn fayn gara. Makeni is known for having the finest gara in Salone. I didn't intend on buying any gara but the price was way too good, way cheaper than Bo. I bought 4 yards of this beautifully dyed gara, all for Le42,000 (~$10). Bo, at it's cheapest was selling fine gara for at least Le18,000/yd and that was a good deal too. So I'm definitely gonna look for a good tailor to hook it up with a proper Africana outfit with headwrap and all, 4 yards is plenty.......it's gonna be so fuckin' fly! The tailor should only cost me at most Le25,000 (~$6)........so excited.
Definitely a great day trip. We then headed back to the lori park to hitch a ride back to Lunsar where Fenghai, another LCF, ran up behind us. Of course he spotted us. We "opotos" stick out like sore thumbs in a sea of Sierra Leoneans, lol. It's a really good feeling to know you have friends all over the country and can feel at home anywhere in Salone.
Had a great time in Makeni and will definitely hit it up again.
We spent the day with one of our former Krio teachers, Solo. I have no idea where Peace Corps finds these people, but our LCFs are fucking awesome. Solo was just showing us around Makeni and was totally bluffing the Renault van that his sister had sent him from Holland. We decided that it was going to be called the "Magically Machine" and we were gonna do a road trip all over Salone in it.....mind you, this was over the course of several beers, several locations, and the hot African sun beating down on us.
We then meandered over to the central shopping district where we bought some sweet ass fayn fayn gara. Makeni is known for having the finest gara in Salone. I didn't intend on buying any gara but the price was way too good, way cheaper than Bo. I bought 4 yards of this beautifully dyed gara, all for Le42,000 (~$10). Bo, at it's cheapest was selling fine gara for at least Le18,000/yd and that was a good deal too. So I'm definitely gonna look for a good tailor to hook it up with a proper Africana outfit with headwrap and all, 4 yards is plenty.......it's gonna be so fuckin' fly! The tailor should only cost me at most Le25,000 (~$6)........so excited.
Definitely a great day trip. We then headed back to the lori park to hitch a ride back to Lunsar where Fenghai, another LCF, ran up behind us. Of course he spotted us. We "opotos" stick out like sore thumbs in a sea of Sierra Leoneans, lol. It's a really good feeling to know you have friends all over the country and can feel at home anywhere in Salone.
Had a great time in Makeni and will definitely hit it up again.
09/01/12-Time Flies Even On Rainy Days
The government has yet to announce the start of the school year. It is technically scheduled to start on Sept. 10th but rumor has it that the government may announce a Sept. 17th start date. Not to mention the other rumor of school not even starting until 2nd term in January, after the November elections. Regardless of start dates, we are continuing registration activities at Our Lady Of Guadalupe JSS/SSS (OLGSS).
I've been helping out at the school here and there for registration, proctoring entrance exams, etc, etc. Aside from that I've just been kinda hanging out. You'd figure I'd be bored out if my mind but I'm not. I'm doing actually less since PST is over but the weeks are flying like crazy.
I'm really enjoying Lunsar. The people, the town, my house, my dog <3 Pot-Pot <3 ......it's all been great. I thought there would've been an adjustment phase of not being around other Americans everyday, but I haven't. I've been doing really well being on my own. I mean, I do have Michael as my site mate but we don't see each other everyday and most of the time it's just in passing. We're both doing our own thing and it's great where we each have our own space in Lunsar.
Today was really chill. We're still in the middle of rainy season so I usually stay close to my house during the heavy downpours and the streets are all muddy with flooded ditches.
So on this rainy day, Hawa walked me through on how to make ginger beer. Ginger beer, though relatively easy to make is a muthafuckin bitch to scrape the skin off the tiny little gingers that they have here and grate each and every one of them..........food processor, where are you?!?!?!
Abdulai and Lamin from down the street came by my house. They usually stop by everyday and want to impress me with whatever contraption they've invented from scraps they find on the streets. Sardine can toy cars are really popular here with the kids. Abduali though, has created this 2 truck bed big rig with scrap metal. It was really cute how he would pull his truck and glance up at me to see if I was looking. I told him that he needed to put a load on his truck so he grabbed four giant snails on my porch and dragged them around through the mud and puddles.
Watching children play in Salone really makes me happy. Living conditions don't matter, children will always find a way to play. In America, kids go to toy stores and everything is all packaged up for them. Whereas here in Salone, toys are anything you can pick up from the streets and put together. Another one of Dulai's toys is a kite he's made out of plastic, twine, and sticks. He shouts out "Yekia! Luk mi!" as he runs up and down the street smiling because I'm watching him.
The rain started pouring down again so Dulai & Lamin spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the steps with me, teaching me Temne phrases. The children here are so helpful when it comes to language learning. They are very patient and are willing to say things slowly over and over again so you can learn.
Taking in Lunsar one day at a time has been a great gameplan for me. I'm here for the next 2 years so no need to rush to the finish. When I envisioned myself in Peace Corps, I had pictured myself doing these large extravagant things but, it's really been the small things that have been standing out the most so far. Anywhere from sharing a meal, chatting on verandas, to playing with children.
I know I'll definitely have my ups & downs here in Salone but I've been really happy so far and I'm excited for what the next 2 years will bring me. :)
I've been helping out at the school here and there for registration, proctoring entrance exams, etc, etc. Aside from that I've just been kinda hanging out. You'd figure I'd be bored out if my mind but I'm not. I'm doing actually less since PST is over but the weeks are flying like crazy.
I'm really enjoying Lunsar. The people, the town, my house, my dog <3 Pot-Pot <3 ......it's all been great. I thought there would've been an adjustment phase of not being around other Americans everyday, but I haven't. I've been doing really well being on my own. I mean, I do have Michael as my site mate but we don't see each other everyday and most of the time it's just in passing. We're both doing our own thing and it's great where we each have our own space in Lunsar.
Today was really chill. We're still in the middle of rainy season so I usually stay close to my house during the heavy downpours and the streets are all muddy with flooded ditches.
So on this rainy day, Hawa walked me through on how to make ginger beer. Ginger beer, though relatively easy to make is a muthafuckin bitch to scrape the skin off the tiny little gingers that they have here and grate each and every one of them..........food processor, where are you?!?!?!
Abdulai and Lamin from down the street came by my house. They usually stop by everyday and want to impress me with whatever contraption they've invented from scraps they find on the streets. Sardine can toy cars are really popular here with the kids. Abduali though, has created this 2 truck bed big rig with scrap metal. It was really cute how he would pull his truck and glance up at me to see if I was looking. I told him that he needed to put a load on his truck so he grabbed four giant snails on my porch and dragged them around through the mud and puddles.
Watching children play in Salone really makes me happy. Living conditions don't matter, children will always find a way to play. In America, kids go to toy stores and everything is all packaged up for them. Whereas here in Salone, toys are anything you can pick up from the streets and put together. Another one of Dulai's toys is a kite he's made out of plastic, twine, and sticks. He shouts out "Yekia! Luk mi!" as he runs up and down the street smiling because I'm watching him.
The rain started pouring down again so Dulai & Lamin spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the steps with me, teaching me Temne phrases. The children here are so helpful when it comes to language learning. They are very patient and are willing to say things slowly over and over again so you can learn.
Taking in Lunsar one day at a time has been a great gameplan for me. I'm here for the next 2 years so no need to rush to the finish. When I envisioned myself in Peace Corps, I had pictured myself doing these large extravagant things but, it's really been the small things that have been standing out the most so far. Anywhere from sharing a meal, chatting on verandas, to playing with children.
I know I'll definitely have my ups & downs here in Salone but I've been really happy so far and I'm excited for what the next 2 years will bring me. :)
08/29/12-Dinner With The UN
Lunsar town is loaded with NGOs and other kinds of foreigners. I was invited by Italians, Brits, and Spaniards to meet up at a bar to watch a futbol match. It doesn't hurt to make new friends so why the hell not.
I thought it would be really comforting being around other volunteer-like folks from other western countries who speak English well. I think I'm in this weird space where I didn't really fit in with this group. They were perfectly fine people, don't get me wrong, and we are all here to help Sierra Leone. Some of them even arrived a couple months before me. Everyone was a mixed bag of anywhere from 3 weeks to 6 month assignments. There was alot of jaw-dropping when I said that my stay was for 27 months, lol. The response was similar though to all my friends & family back at home. "WTF, 27 months?!?!" lol. Whatever, it is what it is.......haha.
There was a big difference between me and them.........INTEGRATION. I was really surprised at how some of them had been in Sierra Leone longer than I have yet they speak absolutely no Krio. I know I complain alot about the food here but at least I know what the local people are eating.
Kudos to the Peace Corps training program, really. They tortured us with 10 weeks of training and made us live with Salone families......the lack of privacy and the neverending lectures & group activities was really grueling. But in the end, I think it was for the better, to prepare us for our assignments as the lone PCV in our village.
Learning to live WITH the HCNs (Host Country Nationals) is a huge part of what makes Peace Corps different. These other folks live together at guesthouses with better facilities like electricity and running water. They only hang out with each other......other "opotos", I mean. It makes so much sense to me why I never see any other "opotos" walking around Lunsar except for me and Michael. They go out to do their good deeds then come back to their comfy accommodations and swig their fancy Carlsbergs & Heinekens with each other. I was the only one on that table swigging a Star beer.......Salone's finest local beer, lol!
How can you make friends with HCNs if you don't try to at least speak the language??? I can now see why Sierra Leoneans are excited when I talk to them in Krio and even better, a tiny bit of Temne.......we are trying. Whenever I talk to Sierra Leoneans and they ask me what I'm doing here, I always say that I'm here to teach students math but most of all, I am here to learn to live among them and know all about Sierra Leone. So the locals can laugh and stare all they want when they see me bruk my clothes or fire up a coal pot or fetch well water......it's only because it's an oddity, they don't usually see opotos trying.
I tried my best to socialize but I felt that many of them misunderstood Salone. It's convenient for them b/c they are like drive-by NGOs who do their good deed for the year and they can come home and roll around their 1000 thread count sheets and drink their fine wine. I'm sure they've helped a ton here but they've learned nothing about the people.
I was offended when this guy called the children here stupid. I get it, education is a problem here which is rooted from so many different facets like the war, parenting, the system.....everything! I then asked him if a 5yr old in our western countries were able to do chores like toting water on your head, starting fires, cooking, carrying a baby sibling, selling africana soap in the streets first thing at 7am, and etc. The children here have a different kind of knowledge. Ya, I then got up and excused myself. Good thing he is only here for a 3 month stretch then it's "See ya later, buddy!"
I started talking to a local at the bar who I met the other day......it felt more comforting. When the game finished, everyone started taking off and the bartenders rejected the Italians offering of their homemade pizza mostly b/c they had no idea what it was and also the language barrier. In Krio, I told them the ingredients and that it was delicious Italian food made by these Italian people. They took the pizza even though it looked kinda "sketch" to them and said that if they get diarrhea they were going to come after me, lol. With that, we were all laughing and asked for each others names, etc, etc.........trying......all you gotta do is try "smol smol".
I guess the only foreigners I find true comfort with are my other PCV buddies, b/c we are all going through a similar experience. It's awesome when you visit other PCV sites and see how they've integrated into their community. So far, I've only been to Kamasundo and Port Loko Town. This Friday, we'll be checking out Makeni.
Lunsar is a big town so it takes a little more time to know people. I've been yelling out "Mine yi Yekia" when they do the opoto call so lately I've been hearing people greet me by name. All the market ladies seem to know my name nowadays too, lol. I think I'll be getting to know people by veranda small talk as I walk around town.
This morning, I walked my friend, Ani, to the lori park so she can hitch a ride back to Binti. As I walked back home, I decided to try some ataya and met Mohammed, a Fula man, who runs the stand. We talked a bit and I shared boiled peanuts with his daughters Fatmata & Mariama as they tried to teach me Arabic. Then, I spent a few minutes in Mr. Conteh's veranda just to chat a bit and entertain him with my story of how I biked all they way to Kamasundu and back all in one day.
So ya, dinner with the United Nations wasn't as interesting as I thought but, it gave me some perspective on how I viewed my own service with the Peace Corps.
Totally biased opinion but, I think Peace Corps is pretty BadAsser-ie....... just sayin.........
I thought it would be really comforting being around other volunteer-like folks from other western countries who speak English well. I think I'm in this weird space where I didn't really fit in with this group. They were perfectly fine people, don't get me wrong, and we are all here to help Sierra Leone. Some of them even arrived a couple months before me. Everyone was a mixed bag of anywhere from 3 weeks to 6 month assignments. There was alot of jaw-dropping when I said that my stay was for 27 months, lol. The response was similar though to all my friends & family back at home. "WTF, 27 months?!?!" lol. Whatever, it is what it is.......haha.
There was a big difference between me and them.........INTEGRATION. I was really surprised at how some of them had been in Sierra Leone longer than I have yet they speak absolutely no Krio. I know I complain alot about the food here but at least I know what the local people are eating.
Kudos to the Peace Corps training program, really. They tortured us with 10 weeks of training and made us live with Salone families......the lack of privacy and the neverending lectures & group activities was really grueling. But in the end, I think it was for the better, to prepare us for our assignments as the lone PCV in our village.
Learning to live WITH the HCNs (Host Country Nationals) is a huge part of what makes Peace Corps different. These other folks live together at guesthouses with better facilities like electricity and running water. They only hang out with each other......other "opotos", I mean. It makes so much sense to me why I never see any other "opotos" walking around Lunsar except for me and Michael. They go out to do their good deeds then come back to their comfy accommodations and swig their fancy Carlsbergs & Heinekens with each other. I was the only one on that table swigging a Star beer.......Salone's finest local beer, lol!
How can you make friends with HCNs if you don't try to at least speak the language??? I can now see why Sierra Leoneans are excited when I talk to them in Krio and even better, a tiny bit of Temne.......we are trying. Whenever I talk to Sierra Leoneans and they ask me what I'm doing here, I always say that I'm here to teach students math but most of all, I am here to learn to live among them and know all about Sierra Leone. So the locals can laugh and stare all they want when they see me bruk my clothes or fire up a coal pot or fetch well water......it's only because it's an oddity, they don't usually see opotos trying.
I tried my best to socialize but I felt that many of them misunderstood Salone. It's convenient for them b/c they are like drive-by NGOs who do their good deed for the year and they can come home and roll around their 1000 thread count sheets and drink their fine wine. I'm sure they've helped a ton here but they've learned nothing about the people.
I was offended when this guy called the children here stupid. I get it, education is a problem here which is rooted from so many different facets like the war, parenting, the system.....everything! I then asked him if a 5yr old in our western countries were able to do chores like toting water on your head, starting fires, cooking, carrying a baby sibling, selling africana soap in the streets first thing at 7am, and etc. The children here have a different kind of knowledge. Ya, I then got up and excused myself. Good thing he is only here for a 3 month stretch then it's "See ya later, buddy!"
I started talking to a local at the bar who I met the other day......it felt more comforting. When the game finished, everyone started taking off and the bartenders rejected the Italians offering of their homemade pizza mostly b/c they had no idea what it was and also the language barrier. In Krio, I told them the ingredients and that it was delicious Italian food made by these Italian people. They took the pizza even though it looked kinda "sketch" to them and said that if they get diarrhea they were going to come after me, lol. With that, we were all laughing and asked for each others names, etc, etc.........trying......all you gotta do is try "smol smol".
I guess the only foreigners I find true comfort with are my other PCV buddies, b/c we are all going through a similar experience. It's awesome when you visit other PCV sites and see how they've integrated into their community. So far, I've only been to Kamasundo and Port Loko Town. This Friday, we'll be checking out Makeni.
Lunsar is a big town so it takes a little more time to know people. I've been yelling out "Mine yi Yekia" when they do the opoto call so lately I've been hearing people greet me by name. All the market ladies seem to know my name nowadays too, lol. I think I'll be getting to know people by veranda small talk as I walk around town.
This morning, I walked my friend, Ani, to the lori park so she can hitch a ride back to Binti. As I walked back home, I decided to try some ataya and met Mohammed, a Fula man, who runs the stand. We talked a bit and I shared boiled peanuts with his daughters Fatmata & Mariama as they tried to teach me Arabic. Then, I spent a few minutes in Mr. Conteh's veranda just to chat a bit and entertain him with my story of how I biked all they way to Kamasundu and back all in one day.
So ya, dinner with the United Nations wasn't as interesting as I thought but, it gave me some perspective on how I viewed my own service with the Peace Corps.
Totally biased opinion but, I think Peace Corps is pretty BadAsser-ie....... just sayin.........
08/27/12-Underestimated Bike Trip To Kamasundu
Michael & I decided to do a bike ride into the village and visit our friend Sean in Kamasundu. From what we were told, it was merely a 7 mile ride which was highway for the first half and dirt road the second half.
What I should've realized is that Sierra Leoneans have a poor perception of distance and time. I'm already aware of this concept yet I still believed, lol. Boy was I wrong, lol! It could've been anywhere from 15-20 miles. I'd consider 15 miles not so terrible if you're talking about smooth paved concrete or nice dirt paths in the burbs, the basis of my cycling experience, good ole flat Dublin, Ca.
The nicest bike I've ever owned had been my single gear beach cruiser from Target for $80. Peace Corps had issued us these sweet mountain bikes which had all the gears, breaks, and most importantly an awesome suspension system.......very important in Salone. Definitely the most expensive and most sophisticated bike I've owned......EVER! I was gonna learn how to use this thing on the spot, it's now or never, lol.
Some of the best stories from Peace Corps Salone comes from transportation experiences.......this is one of them. So as I'm biking on the highway, I'm crossing my fingers hoping that podas, okadas, cars, and gigantor construction trucks don't run me off the road or worse........turn me into roadkill. I'm no cycling professional, but as I'm on the road, I can tell I've gone past the supposed 5 mile highway cruise to Faradugu, the village junction into Kamasundu. It's hard to get frustrated especially during the moments when no cars were passing and I was hitting some sweet scenic spots and be like, "FUCK! I'm fucking biking in Africa right now, this is so fucking awesome!"
As I turn off into Faradugu, all the okada drivers idling at the lori park ("taxi stand") start giving me shit and asking if "A sabi ride bike". Duh, of course I "sabi". Seeing girls ride bikes in Salone is rare b/c it is only something that men do. So by me riding a bike means I'm trying to be like a man. Whatever, all I can do is just brush it off, laugh, and tell them to "lef" me.
I turn off into the dirt road and head into the interior......deep Temne-land. Luckily for me, Lunsar is a big town so Krio is often used to cater to all the tribes in the community even though it is predominantly Temne. That is not the case as I go towards Kamasundu. Now is the time to beef up my Temne.
Faradugu to Kamasundu was supposedly a 3 mile bike ride.....ya right, lol! Did I mention that it was a series of peaks and valleys.......Sationary Bike Action, Level 15, Integral Training.........dear god I'm sweating like a mother!!!! I had to pass 7 villages before I got into Kamasundu. Everytime I started to see something that resembled a village, I was like......"Please be Kamasundu....". By this time I've already told Michael to go ahead of me being that him and his bike were like 3 times my size.
I was profusely sweating and completely out of shape but you don't have a choice, it's not like I can just hop on the next BART train, lol. I had to keep going. Besides, it was a beautiful bike ride in. The highway was a bit scary but, it was pretty fucking awesome heading into the interior. The dirt road was really wide and the potholes and lake puddles were way less than I had anticipated.
In between villages it was really quiet and serene where every now and then I'd run into a farmer and greet them
good morning. Heading into the villages was hilarious. I've always just driven through them with the children running up chanting "Opoto!" which is Temne for white man (Pomuy in the south for Mende). This time I was on bike, and all eyes were on me. What else is there to to in these villages aside from stare at the outsider passing through??? Don't really blame them, I guess. So as I biked by, children ran after me and my bike doing their best "Opoto" chant. I can see how it can get annoying if you're not in the mood but I was, so I thought it was cute and ridiculous all at the same time, lol. By the 3rd or 4th village I got tired of the old women going "Opoto, Seke-O!" So I would yell out "Yekia! Mine yi Yekia!" (my name is....). Along with all the opoto calls, I would constantly get invites to come sit on their veranda with them, maybe another day since we were shooting for a one day trip, which was actually an aggressive schedule, lol. The best way to say "No" in Salone is to not say it, haha, so all I would say is "Momo, I der tonang, I-yo!" (thanks, I'll come back later today, bye).
Finally! I reach Kamasundu!!! I was stopped by the police stand by Inspector Turray. Police stands just barricade the road with a piece of string that they hang onto all day. Luckily for Mr. Turray, his home is the police station/stand so he greets me and tells his kids to let the string down so I can pass through. He then points me to the open field to show me the direction to Sean's house.
Sean lives right on the outskirts of Kamasundu on the school compound next to his principal. It's really lovely, so quiet and serene. He's definitely in the bush though, lol. His Temne is way more developed than my own b/c of his environment. He goes by the name of "Pa Kumbra Bai", a Chief's name given to him by the Paramount Chief. So technically he is a chief of sorts in Kamasundu, kinda still up for debate by some community members though.
His principal, Mr. Kamara walks with us into Kamasundu proper to do the official obligations of introductions something that we've grown accustomed to in Salone. When in Rome, right? Lol! We walk through Kamasundu, greeting people left and right. In the villages, greetings are much more lengthy like about a good 5 minutes each involving a repeating series of "Enpiari, seke, seke-o, topia, I tanto, momo, i-yo, seke, owa". You say it like a good 4 times back and forth. The village itself is very small but the greeting formalities just makes it alot longer.
We reach the end of Kamasundu which leads us to the road to Binti, Ani's village (another PCV), another 7 miles. We stop there, turn and head into the bush to walk towards the Paramount Chief's compound. Behind his home is his palava hut where he is conducting a meeting with all the other town & section chiefs in his Chiefdom. We greet all chiefs and then Mr. Kamara formally introduces the three of us. The Paramount Chief and his 2 advisors then officially welcome us to Kamasundu and their Chiefdom. All in Temne by the way, so Mr. Kamara was translating. The Paramount Chief was very eloquent with his Temne, this old and soft-spoken Sierra Leonean. Sean told me that he speaks perfect English but wants him to learn Temne. I was really thankful for this special moment, it was a classy speech and I felt welcomed into the community.
So different from our introduction to Malanpa Chiefdom's Paramount Chief in Lunsar. In Lunsar, the Paramount Chief's pink house was on the outskirts of the town where we were escorted to a waiting parlor with pleather couches and a Nigerian film playing on the huge flat screen TV. We then were
escorted into this huge office where the Paramount Chief walked in and greeted us as he was silencing his 4 cell phones and signing paperwork. It was more like meeting a businessman rather than what one would envision meeting a Paramount Chief.
Anyways, it was a great visit into Sean's world in Kamasundu but, we had to headback into Lunsar before sundown for the two and a half hour ride back. This time around, the passing villagers were yelling "Yekia" now that they knew my name. Instead of saying "No", as a courtesy, I said "Mandirao, I der ninang, momo, i-yo" (good evening, I'll come back tomorrow, thanks, bye).
The ride was beautiful and scenic but it beat the fuck out of me, I was so happy when I saw the Africell sign saying "Welcome To Lunsar". I got back to my place, chugged down 3 bottles of water, washed up, and crashed.
I love you Africa. Never in my life would I ever think I'd be experiencing all these things that I'm experiencing.......but I am.......
What I should've realized is that Sierra Leoneans have a poor perception of distance and time. I'm already aware of this concept yet I still believed, lol. Boy was I wrong, lol! It could've been anywhere from 15-20 miles. I'd consider 15 miles not so terrible if you're talking about smooth paved concrete or nice dirt paths in the burbs, the basis of my cycling experience, good ole flat Dublin, Ca.
The nicest bike I've ever owned had been my single gear beach cruiser from Target for $80. Peace Corps had issued us these sweet mountain bikes which had all the gears, breaks, and most importantly an awesome suspension system.......very important in Salone. Definitely the most expensive and most sophisticated bike I've owned......EVER! I was gonna learn how to use this thing on the spot, it's now or never, lol.
Some of the best stories from Peace Corps Salone comes from transportation experiences.......this is one of them. So as I'm biking on the highway, I'm crossing my fingers hoping that podas, okadas, cars, and gigantor construction trucks don't run me off the road or worse........turn me into roadkill. I'm no cycling professional, but as I'm on the road, I can tell I've gone past the supposed 5 mile highway cruise to Faradugu, the village junction into Kamasundu. It's hard to get frustrated especially during the moments when no cars were passing and I was hitting some sweet scenic spots and be like, "FUCK! I'm fucking biking in Africa right now, this is so fucking awesome!"
As I turn off into Faradugu, all the okada drivers idling at the lori park ("taxi stand") start giving me shit and asking if "A sabi ride bike". Duh, of course I "sabi". Seeing girls ride bikes in Salone is rare b/c it is only something that men do. So by me riding a bike means I'm trying to be like a man. Whatever, all I can do is just brush it off, laugh, and tell them to "lef" me.
I turn off into the dirt road and head into the interior......deep Temne-land. Luckily for me, Lunsar is a big town so Krio is often used to cater to all the tribes in the community even though it is predominantly Temne. That is not the case as I go towards Kamasundu. Now is the time to beef up my Temne.
Faradugu to Kamasundu was supposedly a 3 mile bike ride.....ya right, lol! Did I mention that it was a series of peaks and valleys.......Sationary Bike Action, Level 15, Integral Training.........dear god I'm sweating like a mother!!!! I had to pass 7 villages before I got into Kamasundu. Everytime I started to see something that resembled a village, I was like......"Please be Kamasundu....". By this time I've already told Michael to go ahead of me being that him and his bike were like 3 times my size.
I was profusely sweating and completely out of shape but you don't have a choice, it's not like I can just hop on the next BART train, lol. I had to keep going. Besides, it was a beautiful bike ride in. The highway was a bit scary but, it was pretty fucking awesome heading into the interior. The dirt road was really wide and the potholes and lake puddles were way less than I had anticipated.
In between villages it was really quiet and serene where every now and then I'd run into a farmer and greet them
good morning. Heading into the villages was hilarious. I've always just driven through them with the children running up chanting "Opoto!" which is Temne for white man (Pomuy in the south for Mende). This time I was on bike, and all eyes were on me. What else is there to to in these villages aside from stare at the outsider passing through??? Don't really blame them, I guess. So as I biked by, children ran after me and my bike doing their best "Opoto" chant. I can see how it can get annoying if you're not in the mood but I was, so I thought it was cute and ridiculous all at the same time, lol. By the 3rd or 4th village I got tired of the old women going "Opoto, Seke-O!" So I would yell out "Yekia! Mine yi Yekia!" (my name is....). Along with all the opoto calls, I would constantly get invites to come sit on their veranda with them, maybe another day since we were shooting for a one day trip, which was actually an aggressive schedule, lol. The best way to say "No" in Salone is to not say it, haha, so all I would say is "Momo, I der tonang, I-yo!" (thanks, I'll come back later today, bye).
Finally! I reach Kamasundu!!! I was stopped by the police stand by Inspector Turray. Police stands just barricade the road with a piece of string that they hang onto all day. Luckily for Mr. Turray, his home is the police station/stand so he greets me and tells his kids to let the string down so I can pass through. He then points me to the open field to show me the direction to Sean's house.
Sean lives right on the outskirts of Kamasundu on the school compound next to his principal. It's really lovely, so quiet and serene. He's definitely in the bush though, lol. His Temne is way more developed than my own b/c of his environment. He goes by the name of "Pa Kumbra Bai", a Chief's name given to him by the Paramount Chief. So technically he is a chief of sorts in Kamasundu, kinda still up for debate by some community members though.
His principal, Mr. Kamara walks with us into Kamasundu proper to do the official obligations of introductions something that we've grown accustomed to in Salone. When in Rome, right? Lol! We walk through Kamasundu, greeting people left and right. In the villages, greetings are much more lengthy like about a good 5 minutes each involving a repeating series of "Enpiari, seke, seke-o, topia, I tanto, momo, i-yo, seke, owa". You say it like a good 4 times back and forth. The village itself is very small but the greeting formalities just makes it alot longer.
We reach the end of Kamasundu which leads us to the road to Binti, Ani's village (another PCV), another 7 miles. We stop there, turn and head into the bush to walk towards the Paramount Chief's compound. Behind his home is his palava hut where he is conducting a meeting with all the other town & section chiefs in his Chiefdom. We greet all chiefs and then Mr. Kamara formally introduces the three of us. The Paramount Chief and his 2 advisors then officially welcome us to Kamasundu and their Chiefdom. All in Temne by the way, so Mr. Kamara was translating. The Paramount Chief was very eloquent with his Temne, this old and soft-spoken Sierra Leonean. Sean told me that he speaks perfect English but wants him to learn Temne. I was really thankful for this special moment, it was a classy speech and I felt welcomed into the community.
So different from our introduction to Malanpa Chiefdom's Paramount Chief in Lunsar. In Lunsar, the Paramount Chief's pink house was on the outskirts of the town where we were escorted to a waiting parlor with pleather couches and a Nigerian film playing on the huge flat screen TV. We then were
escorted into this huge office where the Paramount Chief walked in and greeted us as he was silencing his 4 cell phones and signing paperwork. It was more like meeting a businessman rather than what one would envision meeting a Paramount Chief.
Anyways, it was a great visit into Sean's world in Kamasundu but, we had to headback into Lunsar before sundown for the two and a half hour ride back. This time around, the passing villagers were yelling "Yekia" now that they knew my name. Instead of saying "No", as a courtesy, I said "Mandirao, I der ninang, momo, i-yo" (good evening, I'll come back tomorrow, thanks, bye).
The ride was beautiful and scenic but it beat the fuck out of me, I was so happy when I saw the Africell sign saying "Welcome To Lunsar". I got back to my place, chugged down 3 bottles of water, washed up, and crashed.
I love you Africa. Never in my life would I ever think I'd be experiencing all these things that I'm experiencing.......but I am.......
08/24/12-Went To "College"
It's interesting how everyone's Peace Corps experience differs from one another.....
Even down to same sites, everyone has a different viewpoint. Michael and I are both assigned to Lunsar since it is a large town and we are at different schools. I'm only a 10min quick walk to his place but our difference in gender has made him see another side of Sierra Leone........the Salone "man" culture.
Last night, I went over to Micheal's place and had a romantic dinner for two by candlelight, haha! We shared a plate of seasoned dry gari (dried & milled cassava) topped with a can of baked beans that was heated on his kerosene stove, lol. We then headed over to our local watering hole, "College", which is a palava hut located behind his water pump.
I was going to finally get a tiny glimpse of the Salone "man culture". As I approached this low-lying thatched roof palava hut, I hear men heartily laughing. I enter and walk into this cloud of cigarette smoke and sit on one of the benches along the circular wall of sticks. The hut is filled with men drinking poyo (palm wine) and discussing anything.....mostly nothing, clearly people have been indulging a bit. To my right, there is an old woman filtering the poyo into used 1.5L water bottles. I go grab a cup in the bucket of water outside, ok I admit, not being very smart about cholera at this moment, lol. So we grab a bottle of poyo for Le1000 (20 cents) and just sit back, drink, & relax.
The poyo tasted pretty good but, it was "polluted". We usually call it polluted when it's been diluted with water and sugar is added, it loses it's potency and probably has the alcoholic consistency of half of a wine cooler. You usually want to find a good source of poyo where it is "From God To Man", a saying used here which means, directly straight from the palm tree without being diluted with water.
I introduced myself as Yekia Kabia, my Temne name, everyone always gets a kick out of it so it's a good ice breaker. This man across from me kept insisting in Temne that I was his "wathebera" (woman) and that we were going to get married, he was going to win a TV, and I was going to take him to America, lol, ums, ya sure.......Lay off the palm, buddy, haha.
I also met one of my co-workers who was talking cray-cray stories that made absolutely no sense whatsoever on how palm wine gets stronger in potency b/c the Limba man who tapped the tree took the day off and rested.......wtf, lol. I'm just here to enjoy the show, haha.
They were passing around a packet of ORS (Oral Hydration Salts) and putting it into their bottle of poyo, convinced that it will increase its potency. ORSs is used to hydrate your body when you get cholera or malaria, lol. The guy next to me said it was just to give the poyo "a little more love". Dear god, this place is ridiculous, haha.
I can't judge, they were just having a good time after a long day of work. I was just one of the sober ones in the room is all, lol. It was an interesting peek into the man culture here. Michael was brought there by his male teacher friend and culturally, women shouldn't frequent those places. It was a good way to observe and listen to alot of Temne. I don't want the town to perceive me in the same light as they probably do about the one woman I saw in the corner smoking, drinking straight from the bottle, and swaying back & forth all over the palava hut and cackling like a madman.
So ya.....I went to "COLLEGE" the other night and I definitely learned some stuff, lol.
Even down to same sites, everyone has a different viewpoint. Michael and I are both assigned to Lunsar since it is a large town and we are at different schools. I'm only a 10min quick walk to his place but our difference in gender has made him see another side of Sierra Leone........the Salone "man" culture.
Last night, I went over to Micheal's place and had a romantic dinner for two by candlelight, haha! We shared a plate of seasoned dry gari (dried & milled cassava) topped with a can of baked beans that was heated on his kerosene stove, lol. We then headed over to our local watering hole, "College", which is a palava hut located behind his water pump.
I was going to finally get a tiny glimpse of the Salone "man culture". As I approached this low-lying thatched roof palava hut, I hear men heartily laughing. I enter and walk into this cloud of cigarette smoke and sit on one of the benches along the circular wall of sticks. The hut is filled with men drinking poyo (palm wine) and discussing anything.....mostly nothing, clearly people have been indulging a bit. To my right, there is an old woman filtering the poyo into used 1.5L water bottles. I go grab a cup in the bucket of water outside, ok I admit, not being very smart about cholera at this moment, lol. So we grab a bottle of poyo for Le1000 (20 cents) and just sit back, drink, & relax.
The poyo tasted pretty good but, it was "polluted". We usually call it polluted when it's been diluted with water and sugar is added, it loses it's potency and probably has the alcoholic consistency of half of a wine cooler. You usually want to find a good source of poyo where it is "From God To Man", a saying used here which means, directly straight from the palm tree without being diluted with water.
I introduced myself as Yekia Kabia, my Temne name, everyone always gets a kick out of it so it's a good ice breaker. This man across from me kept insisting in Temne that I was his "wathebera" (woman) and that we were going to get married, he was going to win a TV, and I was going to take him to America, lol, ums, ya sure.......Lay off the palm, buddy, haha.
I also met one of my co-workers who was talking cray-cray stories that made absolutely no sense whatsoever on how palm wine gets stronger in potency b/c the Limba man who tapped the tree took the day off and rested.......wtf, lol. I'm just here to enjoy the show, haha.
They were passing around a packet of ORS (Oral Hydration Salts) and putting it into their bottle of poyo, convinced that it will increase its potency. ORSs is used to hydrate your body when you get cholera or malaria, lol. The guy next to me said it was just to give the poyo "a little more love". Dear god, this place is ridiculous, haha.
I can't judge, they were just having a good time after a long day of work. I was just one of the sober ones in the room is all, lol. It was an interesting peek into the man culture here. Michael was brought there by his male teacher friend and culturally, women shouldn't frequent those places. It was a good way to observe and listen to alot of Temne. I don't want the town to perceive me in the same light as they probably do about the one woman I saw in the corner smoking, drinking straight from the bottle, and swaying back & forth all over the palava hut and cackling like a madman.
So ya.....I went to "COLLEGE" the other night and I definitely learned some stuff, lol.
08/22/12-Feeling At Home In Lunsar
I'm all about small wins in the Peace Corps....
I went into Freetown today with my principal. I had to buy stuff for my house that is not readily available in Lunsar like: cleaning supplies, giant container of bleach, toilet paper at a reasonable price, a gas camping stove, etc, etc. Damn, today burned a hole right through my wallet. Living in Sierra Leone for the past 3mos has made it hard for me to pay anything over Le10,000 (~$2.50). What can I say.......I'm a cheap bastard, lol.
Anyways, the point I was trying to get to was.....
After a long day outside of Lunsar, I finally got back in. When I arrived, Hawa & and kids greeted me and Pot-Pot (my inherited Peace Corps Dog) was wagging his tail, barking, and jumping on me <3 The kids helped me get me stuff in the house and they told me "Kristin, yu don los tide-o" which is the Salone way of saying that they haven't seen me all day and that they missed me. <3
Hawa had been in Freetown marking BECE Exams during my initial arrival so today was the first time we've seen each other since my last visit. Like a big mama bear sitting on her porch, she got up to hug me and welcomed me home. <3
I spent the rest of the evening chillin' on the porch with Hawa & the kids while rubbing my feet all over Pot-Pot's lazy big belly. <3
I really felt at home this evening :)
<3 Small Wins <3
I went into Freetown today with my principal. I had to buy stuff for my house that is not readily available in Lunsar like: cleaning supplies, giant container of bleach, toilet paper at a reasonable price, a gas camping stove, etc, etc. Damn, today burned a hole right through my wallet. Living in Sierra Leone for the past 3mos has made it hard for me to pay anything over Le10,000 (~$2.50). What can I say.......I'm a cheap bastard, lol.
Anyways, the point I was trying to get to was.....
After a long day outside of Lunsar, I finally got back in. When I arrived, Hawa & and kids greeted me and Pot-Pot (my inherited Peace Corps Dog) was wagging his tail, barking, and jumping on me <3 The kids helped me get me stuff in the house and they told me "Kristin, yu don los tide-o" which is the Salone way of saying that they haven't seen me all day and that they missed me. <3
Hawa had been in Freetown marking BECE Exams during my initial arrival so today was the first time we've seen each other since my last visit. Like a big mama bear sitting on her porch, she got up to hug me and welcomed me home. <3
I spent the rest of the evening chillin' on the porch with Hawa & the kids while rubbing my feet all over Pot-Pot's lazy big belly. <3
I really felt at home this evening :)
<3 Small Wins <3
08/20/12-Lunsar, Port Loko District
I'm on Day2 in my new home for the next 2 years in Lunsar. I spent my first day sweeping, mopping, semi-unpacking, and reconfiguring furniture. I got the place as clean as an African home can get. Alot of the PCVs say that they don't have time to clean and pay someone else to do it but, I find it comforting to do it myself and know where I've cleaned and how well I've cleaned it. So for now, I'm fine, but we'll see in the next coming months especially around dry season when the Harmitan winds from the Sahara come in and insane amounts of dust fly all over the place.
My Salone1 counterpart was paying someone to cook, bruk, and fetch water for her. I'm a bit of a control freak where I like things done a certain way so I want to roll solo for now. I'm pretty excited about having control over my food. I just need to buy that kerosene stove, the last thing I need to do is to try to start a coal pot after a full day of work.
So I pretty much have about 3 weeks before school starts and get to do whatever I want as long as it's on site. Day1 I just walked around the town with my next door neighbor kids: Esther, Georgie, Mamifatu, & Alfred. Lunsar is a big town so it's "busy-ness" is a bit intimidating with all it's cars and okadas zooming up and down the streets.
I think I'm going the "smol smol" route and taking it in one day at a time. Day2 I just went to the market to buy some ingredients. I cut up the giant cucumber I bought over in Moyamba Junction, and made "Kokumba Gran Sup" which is basically a spicy cucumber salad. It was huge so I shared it next door, we ate it the Salone way, communal style in one big bowl. I also helped make casada lif by using the giant mortar & pestle to beat the pepe, yabas, ogri, and okra. They were impressed, lol. So I guess I got a little street cred by showing them I was down with the business, haha.
I've met some people but people don't typically greet on their verandas because Lunsar is a town setting rather than a village setting like New York in Bo. I'm sure it'll take time, I've only been here for a couple days. It took me weeks to settle in Bo b/c I was still dealing with the culture shock of my initial arrival into Salone. Things should go alot quicker here.
The major thing I've been enjoying is my private space. I can walk around in my underwear, I have space to put things where I want to put them, and I even took a crap in my indoor bathroom with the door open, lol. It feels great being on my own again.
My Salone1 counterpart was paying someone to cook, bruk, and fetch water for her. I'm a bit of a control freak where I like things done a certain way so I want to roll solo for now. I'm pretty excited about having control over my food. I just need to buy that kerosene stove, the last thing I need to do is to try to start a coal pot after a full day of work.
So I pretty much have about 3 weeks before school starts and get to do whatever I want as long as it's on site. Day1 I just walked around the town with my next door neighbor kids: Esther, Georgie, Mamifatu, & Alfred. Lunsar is a big town so it's "busy-ness" is a bit intimidating with all it's cars and okadas zooming up and down the streets.
I think I'm going the "smol smol" route and taking it in one day at a time. Day2 I just went to the market to buy some ingredients. I cut up the giant cucumber I bought over in Moyamba Junction, and made "Kokumba Gran Sup" which is basically a spicy cucumber salad. It was huge so I shared it next door, we ate it the Salone way, communal style in one big bowl. I also helped make casada lif by using the giant mortar & pestle to beat the pepe, yabas, ogri, and okra. They were impressed, lol. So I guess I got a little street cred by showing them I was down with the business, haha.
I've met some people but people don't typically greet on their verandas because Lunsar is a town setting rather than a village setting like New York in Bo. I'm sure it'll take time, I've only been here for a couple days. It took me weeks to settle in Bo b/c I was still dealing with the culture shock of my initial arrival into Salone. Things should go alot quicker here.
The major thing I've been enjoying is my private space. I can walk around in my underwear, I have space to put things where I want to put them, and I even took a crap in my indoor bathroom with the door open, lol. It feels great being on my own again.
08/18/12-It's Official, I'm A Peace Corps Volunteer!
Yesterday was my 10 week milestone of Pre-Service Training, we were finally being sworn in as PCVs. It felt like a high school graduation, lol.
It was a proud moment for me, singing both national anthems of Sierra Leone & America and then to be officially sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer by the US Ambassador. They even handed out our Aspiration Statements to remind us of our original intentions of joining Peace Corps.......this experience is truly special.
So different from weeks ago for the Pulnado (adoption ceremony) where we came in our American clothes, barely spoke any Krio, and met these strangers who would be hosting us in their homes.
We have grown accustomed to our African names. Most of us were all decked out in Africana and some even busted out with the AlShobi which is a form of bluffing where the family all wears matching Africana by using the same gara. My mama lent me her Africana, I felt like a real African woman with my lapa and wooden jewelry :)
During the PCV Swear-In, we did speeches in the represented local languages of Mende, Temne, Loko, Soso, Kono, & of course Krio. The Mende speech definitely had hometeam advantage where everyone went all cray-cray after each sentence. So not fair for me and my Temne peeps, lol.
One of the best parts of being a PCV, no curfew, lol! We celebrated our last night in Bo Town. For the 2 months I've been in Bo, I've been completely unaware of it's nightlife, it's that damn curfew! Most of the PCVs got a room in town except for a group of us that were leaving for site first thing in the morning. Unfortunately, I was in the 7am group. Regardless, it was an awesome night where we partied with other PCVs from Salone 1&2 along with our awesome LCFs who party like rock stars. By the stroke of midnight I went home before I turned into a pumpkin, lol. Luckily, we didn't have to make the 1hr trek back home in the pitch darkness b/c Josh's parents came out to party and brought us to our village junctions.
By 6am, I woke up with headache from all the 5block (10cents) Tyson baggies I drank. I'm sure my eyeliner was smeared across my face like some used-up 50cent motel whore, haha. But who cares, I had a great time and it'll be December before I see most of these folks again over in IST (In Service Training). The Peace Corps vehicle rode right up to my house and I threw all my gear into the car. I hugged my family goodbye, and spun my little brother, Viktor Jr one last time. Mama Kenyah started crying a bit, it got me a little misty eyed. I told her to not cry for me b/c I'll be back to visit. I hopped in the car and drove away waving goodbye to my African family.
As we drove through the village of New York, I passed through all the houses that I greeted everyday on my way to school. Everyone was calling out "Kenyah Simbo!" and I waved back and said "A de kam, a de kam!" which just means "I'll be back" instead of saying goodbye.
We hit the highway heading northwest for Lunsar, I look in the mirror and see Bo behind me. I really got to know this place. I'll see you next time Bo, you were my first home in Africa...........
It was a proud moment for me, singing both national anthems of Sierra Leone & America and then to be officially sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer by the US Ambassador. They even handed out our Aspiration Statements to remind us of our original intentions of joining Peace Corps.......this experience is truly special.
So different from weeks ago for the Pulnado (adoption ceremony) where we came in our American clothes, barely spoke any Krio, and met these strangers who would be hosting us in their homes.
We have grown accustomed to our African names. Most of us were all decked out in Africana and some even busted out with the AlShobi which is a form of bluffing where the family all wears matching Africana by using the same gara. My mama lent me her Africana, I felt like a real African woman with my lapa and wooden jewelry :)
During the PCV Swear-In, we did speeches in the represented local languages of Mende, Temne, Loko, Soso, Kono, & of course Krio. The Mende speech definitely had hometeam advantage where everyone went all cray-cray after each sentence. So not fair for me and my Temne peeps, lol.
One of the best parts of being a PCV, no curfew, lol! We celebrated our last night in Bo Town. For the 2 months I've been in Bo, I've been completely unaware of it's nightlife, it's that damn curfew! Most of the PCVs got a room in town except for a group of us that were leaving for site first thing in the morning. Unfortunately, I was in the 7am group. Regardless, it was an awesome night where we partied with other PCVs from Salone 1&2 along with our awesome LCFs who party like rock stars. By the stroke of midnight I went home before I turned into a pumpkin, lol. Luckily, we didn't have to make the 1hr trek back home in the pitch darkness b/c Josh's parents came out to party and brought us to our village junctions.
By 6am, I woke up with headache from all the 5block (10cents) Tyson baggies I drank. I'm sure my eyeliner was smeared across my face like some used-up 50cent motel whore, haha. But who cares, I had a great time and it'll be December before I see most of these folks again over in IST (In Service Training). The Peace Corps vehicle rode right up to my house and I threw all my gear into the car. I hugged my family goodbye, and spun my little brother, Viktor Jr one last time. Mama Kenyah started crying a bit, it got me a little misty eyed. I told her to not cry for me b/c I'll be back to visit. I hopped in the car and drove away waving goodbye to my African family.
As we drove through the village of New York, I passed through all the houses that I greeted everyday on my way to school. Everyone was calling out "Kenyah Simbo!" and I waved back and said "A de kam, a de kam!" which just means "I'll be back" instead of saying goodbye.
We hit the highway heading northwest for Lunsar, I look in the mirror and see Bo behind me. I really got to know this place. I'll see you next time Bo, you were my first home in Africa...........
08/12/12-Gonna Miss Bo
Only been in Africa a little over 2 months and I feel like I belong in this community. I had a really good day yesterday. I said goodbye to my summer school kids after the prize giving ceremony to the top students. I'm really gonna miss little Mohammed Rogers, such a bright kid.......
I spent the rest of the day in town to buy stuff for site and make my way back to the village. It was a great day, it wasn't pouring rain for once during this rainy season and the market was bustling. I ran into other PCVs, some of our LCFs, some of my students, and people I know from around the community. I was talking in Krio and greeting in Mende. I even bargained in Temne to this one guy I was trying to haggle by saying that we were cousins b/c we are both Temne and from Port Loko District.
It just felt good not feeling like a stranger in a strange place. Knowing I can feel comfortable in a large community such as Bo in only a few months lets me know that I can do the same in Lunsar. And with Lunsar, I get 2 years to know that town.
Walking around New York village is kinda like "Cheers"........everybody knows your name, lol. I always hear someone yelling out "Kenyah! Aw di bodi!" I can do things like draw water out of the well or bruk my clothes without a crowd gathering around. I've integrated pretty well, I think.
I know I complain alot about my personal space but I'll definitely miss my family. There are its pros and cons I guess. With my own place, I can finally feel like I'm not living out of a suitcase and have things around the house my way and be able to lounge around in short shorts and a tanktop and go out without anyones permission. Ok wait, there are more pros, lol, ok fine but, I'll just miss the damn people is all! Lol! I even openly went to church today, yes, it was my idea. I just went to say goodbye to the pastors and the other members of the church. Figured I might as well go one last time to make my mama happy.
I've also become really close with the Fourtune family next door. Auntie Musu gave me this beautiful country cloth that she wove herself.....how do you thank someone for such a beautiful gift?! Country cloth is the high quality stuff here. She gave me 2 yards so I can get a fayn embroidered tunic made by the tailor. I can't even tell my parents that I got this gift b/c it's kinda like another family overstepping their boundaries but, they have been so good to me, they treat me as one of their own. I guess they appreciated it when I was there for Florence, their daughter, when her baby came out stillborn. Florence and I have gotten closer, I call her my sister b/c she only has brothers. She always offers to bruk my clothes for me. She even made me and Joe acheke last night.
Things have been good here and I'll definitely miss Bo but it's time to take off the training wheels and do my own thing in Lunsar.
I spent the rest of the day in town to buy stuff for site and make my way back to the village. It was a great day, it wasn't pouring rain for once during this rainy season and the market was bustling. I ran into other PCVs, some of our LCFs, some of my students, and people I know from around the community. I was talking in Krio and greeting in Mende. I even bargained in Temne to this one guy I was trying to haggle by saying that we were cousins b/c we are both Temne and from Port Loko District.
It just felt good not feeling like a stranger in a strange place. Knowing I can feel comfortable in a large community such as Bo in only a few months lets me know that I can do the same in Lunsar. And with Lunsar, I get 2 years to know that town.
Walking around New York village is kinda like "Cheers"........everybody knows your name, lol. I always hear someone yelling out "Kenyah! Aw di bodi!" I can do things like draw water out of the well or bruk my clothes without a crowd gathering around. I've integrated pretty well, I think.
I know I complain alot about my personal space but I'll definitely miss my family. There are its pros and cons I guess. With my own place, I can finally feel like I'm not living out of a suitcase and have things around the house my way and be able to lounge around in short shorts and a tanktop and go out without anyones permission. Ok wait, there are more pros, lol, ok fine but, I'll just miss the damn people is all! Lol! I even openly went to church today, yes, it was my idea. I just went to say goodbye to the pastors and the other members of the church. Figured I might as well go one last time to make my mama happy.
I've also become really close with the Fourtune family next door. Auntie Musu gave me this beautiful country cloth that she wove herself.....how do you thank someone for such a beautiful gift?! Country cloth is the high quality stuff here. She gave me 2 yards so I can get a fayn embroidered tunic made by the tailor. I can't even tell my parents that I got this gift b/c it's kinda like another family overstepping their boundaries but, they have been so good to me, they treat me as one of their own. I guess they appreciated it when I was there for Florence, their daughter, when her baby came out stillborn. Florence and I have gotten closer, I call her my sister b/c she only has brothers. She always offers to bruk my clothes for me. She even made me and Joe acheke last night.
Things have been good here and I'll definitely miss Bo but it's time to take off the training wheels and do my own thing in Lunsar.
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