10 months in Guinea, and a number of funny changes have occurred.
1 _ While I may have arrived in Guinea with the intention of drastically developing race relations for the better and spreading oodles of knowledge about the United States of America, I've found myself gawking at pale-skinned people passing through my village along with the rest of my community. The other day, I stared at a pair of American-looking folk (the fanny-packs and croakies tipped me off) who were sitting at a booth in our weekly market (luumo). When I realized what I was doing, I snapped myself out of it, strolled on over and very tactfully initiated conversation with...
"Hi. What are you
doing here?"
So much for manners, Kelsey. (Sorry Moma and Gramma, you taught me much better than that.) I gracefully recovered with...
"I mean, um, well... It's just that I don't see many white people out here. Hi. My name is Kelsey."
Smoooooth.
Thank goodness my new-found friends were gracious conversation partners. They smiled, nodded, and explained that they were Christian missionaries who'd been working in Guinea for over 18 years. We chatted a bit, but on account of the sun beating down on my poor, un-sunscreened scalp, I bought an English-French-Pular phrase book from them and retreated home.
I'm beginning to understand how strange it is to be a part of such a visibly apparent minority.
2 _ Remember how I used to joke that it would be really cool for
my freckles to fuse together? Haha-well
it doesn’t seem to be as much of an impossibility anymore.
Folks, it’s HOT here.
I’ve been taking care to hydrate and lather on the
sunscreen, but poor Flo is having a rough time of it. I took her out for a bike ride (sadly, no,
she can’t reach the pedals so she has to run alongside me) that lasted about 20
minutes. By the end of it, she was
running from spot of shade to spot of shade, flopping on the ground, and then
lugging herself back up to catch me once I’d gotten far ahead.
When we arrived back home, I left her on the porch and went
inside momentarily to get her some water.
When I came back out, I found her passed out with her muzzle still in
her water bowl.
So you get the picture.
Luckily, this heat will only stick around for another month or so. For Spring Break, I plan on going to a waterfall-filled valley in the Fouta with a couple other volunteers. Swimming
will be a welcome luxury.
3 _ In my former life, I must have been a carpenter.
Yours truly built this rickety shelf...
...and just last weekend, converted a busted table into this lovely clothing shelf.
All this accomplished with sandpaper, a piece of re-bar (no crowbar available), hammer, nails, and a Swiss Army knife saw.
IKEA,
eat
your
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out.
You might think I'm bragging (ok, maybe a little bit), but what I really want to call attention to is that I still have a good amount of time on my hands. I've finally put forth the grant proposal for our computer center project, so all there is to do now is wait.
4 _ My students continue to delight, amuse and frustrate me every day. Absences, tardiness, and general teenage-hormone-induced surliness makes me want to douse them all with a cold bucket of water sometimes. Truly, I'm amazed at my high school teachers - you all must have had more patience than Mother Theresa.
Despite the frustrations, my spirits are frequently lifted by their enthusiasm, earnestness, and unwittingly absurd (and often poetic) statements like these:
"I burned my journal before she read it."
"She left me before I hated her."
"I ate my father last night."
"Ronaldo was angry because you slept with Roberta."
"If I go home, I will cook my wife."
"I dream to earn a lot of money, to fly a plane to Jamaica, and to promote full racial equality for whites and blacks in America." (We'd talked about Martin Luther King the previous week.)
And, when I caught a student cheating on a test and took away half of his total...
"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DO NOT DO THIS."
They're a good-hearted bunch, and they can sure make you smile :)
That's all for now. To sum it all up, I'm doing well, staying healthy, and trying to come up with a plan of action for this summer. It will most likely include many art projects (MURALS!!!), working out the details on my computer project, and beginning a waste-removal and recycling initiative in Ditinn.
I'll keep ya posted.
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