Twas the second day of Ramadan
And all through the day,
Not a (muslim) Guinean was eating,
Even Kelsey a jeuné !
So, to get a better grasp on the experience of Ramadan,
yours truly decided to complete a day of fasting along with her host
family. I didn’t make it in the true
sense of “fasting,” however. I had a wee
bout with dehydration last week (I won, don’t worry), and so I thought it best
to drink water throughout the day. Didn’t
exactly fancy fainting in a pile of rice as I helped the other ladies prepare
food for tonight.
I learned to make “sauce arachide” and “foti” like a true
Guinean today. All the neighbors who came over to pray and
break fast tonight were astonished when my family told them I’d made their
meal. They all gave me thumbs up and my
brother told me I was a “good kitchen!”
As I was mashing some “oji” seeds (Kelsey, what are oji seeds? Pshht, they’re choco-paprika
pepper lentils that come from an enormous bean pod. Duuuh.), a young girl dressed in full
Guinean garb came up to me to check out my gigantic mortar and pestle. Our interaction went like this:
Girl: Whatcha doooin?
Me: I’m cooking foti!
Wow, you speak Englsh very well.
Where did you learn?
Girl: I’m from the Bronx .
You can imagine my
reaction.
This sassy middle schooler spent the next hour telling me
all about her family’s travels to visit relatives throughout West
Africa . It was one of the
more surreal experiences I’ve had thus far.
Tomorrow, classes recommence. I will be going into “Intermediate High”
French, which is the minimum level I need to reach in order to swear in as a
Volunteer! Next to come is instruction
in another language, which depends on my site location. Speaking of which, we are supposed to be
having interviews this week to determine our preferences and individual
suitability for different site placements throughout Guinea . I’m trying not to get my hopes up, but I’ve
heard many many many good things about the Fouta region. My host family comes from that area, and most
of the Volunteer-Trainers I’ve met so far work there as teachers. They tell me Pulaar is the dominant language
up there, but that Arabic is more widely spoken and written as well. Sounds nifty to me!
Also this week, I will be beginning djembe lessons with a
couple of other trainees. A few weeks
ago a Fulbright scholar named Janice came to the Peace Corps compound with a
group of Guinean drummers. They put on
an awesome show for us, and Janice talked a bit about her project. She was studying methods of recording
traditional Guinean songs, which don’t exactly exist, per se. Drummers rely on memory, traditional
songs/beats, and writing down the sounds that their hands make on the
drum. For instance, the part that I’ll
be playing in our little PCT drum line is the “pidi pidi baisse baisse” or the
“troixieme” djembe. Janice has since
returned to the States, but we loved the musicians’ energy so much that we had
to seek them out on our own. I’m sure
Drum-Master Moussa will take good care of us.
That’s all for now! A tout-a-l’heure, mes amis!
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