This time last year, I was on my way to knowing exactly what an oven-baked chicken feels like. The blistering heat, the sensitive skin, the blistering heat, the constant fuss, the heat, the heat, the heat.
...Alright.
I realize this metaphor is flawed and perhaps disturbing on a number of levels.
You can't blame me for having food on the brain, however, since this post is coming at you from the profoundest depths of RAMADAN. Your friend and humble narrator has been fasting along with a couple other volunteers and about 85% of the population of Guinea.
It's day 15, and I have learned 5 very important things.
* To those of you who are familiar with fasting, please excuse my naivety. *
1. From before SUNRISE until SUNSET, No food + No water + No spit (depending on your particular religious views) + No alcohol + No smoking + No intimate relations with a non-spouse person = FASTING
2. All of the above + Just shy of the Equator heat = Le mois de Carem à la Guinée
3. There are a number of things I do not know about Ramadan, but in my limited understanding, this is a time to focus your thoughts and actions on God. It's also a time to more deeply consider the struggles faced by those living in poverty everyday. Pretty awesome idea. Pretty difficult, but that's the point eh?
4. People here continue to play soccer and work in the fields all the live long day, all while fasting. This has bumped them up from "hard worker" to "super human" status in my eyes.
5. There is very little more satisfying than breaking fast with a date, a handful of rice, and some hot corn-meal porridge. It's really nice to "makefast" at pre-dawn and to "breakfast" in the evening amongst friends.
Guys, this is tough.
While I made a valiant effort to forego both food and water for the first week, the fatigue broke me on the second week, and I've since used a couple of non-fasting days to replenish my strength.
I want to hand it to experienced fasters, it takes a lot of finesse to find the right balance between...
(Kelsey's 1st week)
...and...
(Week 2)
My tummy has a lot of adjusting to do, but never fear,
I'm sure weeks 3 and 4 will run more smoothly.
Transitioning to non food related items...
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Heh.
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Alright, for real now...
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Okay, okay, seriously.
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I'm moving on.
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BOOM!
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That was the last one, I swear.
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As you can see, food is becoming an obsession in our group.
For the love of God, families, please stop sending your PCV "Bon Appetit" and "Gourmet" magazines.
It's just cruel.
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Okay, I lied about the last picture, but LOOK at this thing.
It's a work of art.
* Now, before viewing more, wipe the drool off your chin. Then go visit http://foodporndaily.com . *
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Food transition complete.
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Training for G24 is well underway, and I couldn't have been happier to meet the new group of volunteers. They're all math and science teachers, and will be heading out to their respective sites in September. WOW. Our G22 group has officially graduated from Sophomore to Junior Peace Corps Volunteer status.
I'm heading back to site in a day or so, where I hope to begin a Youth Entrepreneurship class that will last the months of August and September. In very much "blossoming and exciting ideas" news, I've begun working on a literacy and sensitization initiative catered to primary school students. Yours truly and another woman in Ditinn will be working on a series of illustrated children's books, focusing on topics ranging from nutrition, to hygiene, to Malaria prevention, and gender equality. The books will be written in French and Pular, and my hope is to distribute them to the primary school teachers in our prefecture. I'll be sure to post some stories on here so you can browse at your leisure.
Also, before I forget, THANK YOU to those of you who have donated to our Learning and Information Technology Center project.
There's only about $360 left to go!
Every little bit counts, so if you know of anyone who might be interested in donating, please send along my contact information and the link to the donation page:
https://donate.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=13-675-006
Also, since someone decided to change all the phone numbers in Guinea (Without telling me, mind you. How daaaare they?), I haven't been able to reach y'all via Gmail chat.
Here are the instructions for re-establishing our
precious,
day-brightening and
indescribably meaningful
connection:
(Can you tell I miss talking with you guys?)
Text Kelsey for FREE from Gmail!
1. make a gmail account
2. go into SETTINGS (the flower/gear shaped thing in right corner),
3. then LABS
4. then enable SMS TEXTS
5. add Kelsey to your contacts, including her Guinean phone number +224 628 71 57 04
TO SEND A FREE MESSAGE TO HER PHONE: at the bottom left of your screen says CHAT and SMS.
Type in Kelsey's name in the search area, it will bring up her ...info and you can scroll across and select
"Send SMS" This will open up a chat screen and just type away!
TO SEND A FREE MESSAGE TO HER PHONE: at the bottom left of your screen says CHAT and SMS.
Type in Kelsey's name in the search area, it will bring up her ...info and you can scroll across and select
"Send SMS" This will open up a chat screen and just type away!
Keep the messages short, otherwise they will not go through correctly.
They are free to receive, and cost only 100 GNF for her to reply. So start sending her messages!
Good morning how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because trough them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Guinea? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Guinea in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Calle Valencia, 39
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez