In April the haute region's education volunteers held their first Girls' Conference in Kankan, our regional capital. We each picked two of our best students to bring to the conference, which turned out to be a huge success. Our banner hanging outside the University of Kankan.

Walking to a community garden to teach the girls about the importance of taking care of the environment. CMC REPRESENT!!!

At the river adding water to the moringa seeds.

Our Peace Corps Country Director, Julie Burns and our Security Officer Yama Diabate giving the girls an encouraging pep talk.

The girls making friendship bracelets. Group photo! With my two girls.

Presenting a certificate of completion to one of my girls: Mariame CamaraMy second girl, Gnalen Doumbouya.

I know its a little late but I was finally able to get my hands on the first picture taken of my group. Fresh off the plane!!!

Who would of thought I would come to love cats?!?! Cassidy in his traveling basket.

He loves to eat papaya!

SO ADORABLE!!

Welcome to my life in Norassoba. My students playing each other in the class competition soccer games. The Directeur des Etudes giving a pep talk.

Burning my trash in my backyard.

The school where I teach. One of my students passed away due to malaria so the whole school went to the student's home to give their condolences. Visiting the community garden.Next to the Niger. The only road that leads in and out of my village.A Guinean bush taxi. This is what surrounds my village. Some of my favorite students and I.Got my hair braided by one of my students...I look bald I know lol Back shot. Left side shot. The inside of my hut.

In February we had our first regional capital visit with all 21 volunteers of the haute region, so we decided to celebrate. Family dinner, picnic style.

Jesse Michelle MaxOur party speakers.

Dancing on the rooftop: Amanda and Adrian.

Syd's new haircut! Wish I had a better picture but trust me, it looks AMAZING! Our neighbors partying with us down below. Say cheese! Adrian, Stacy and Carolina.Annie and Syd.

At the end of January G20 got together after being at site for about 4 months for our In Service Training (IST). Us hauters decided to have a mini themed party; Toga/Mustache Party. Megan and I. Mary, our honorary hauter, Max, and Betsy.

Momo and Lauren and their matching shirts.

The pretty princes of the party, Matt (left) and Shane (right). Team Haute! (and Mary): Betsy, Max, Momo, Lauren, Syd, Moi, and Mary. Julie, our CD (country director). Ousmane our TM (training manager). G20!G20 love.

At the end of November, Peace Corps Guinea received its second group of volunteers since the evacuation in 2007. G21 (Guinea 21) swore in at the beginning of February. Before swearing in however, they had site visit at the beginning of January so us hauters decided to give them a warm welcome to the haute. G21 Welcome to Our Family: Its the Haute LifeLauren and I holding up the sign we made them.Ashley and Jesse cooking delicious food.Garlic bread!!The infamous toga party at site visit: check out Lane and his awesome attire!The welcome sign hanging over the archway leading into the dining area.On the roof top.G20 minus Lauren.The new volunteer group: G21The boys of G21.The girls of G21.

The Niger. Standing at Point G overlooking Bamako.Point G.

Max, Betsy, Syd and Shane. At the Parc National du Mali.

Government buildings in Bamako.Tex Mex in West Africa?! What?! Henna tattoo I got at the Artisan's Market....new place for a real one? ;) The menu that had my head spinning...so many options I didnt know what to pick! In Siby.Our day hike to Siby. Siby. Im on top of the world! Group shot: Bamako crew. Sunset on the Niger. Cheese!! New Year's Eve celebration at the Sleeping Camel Hostel.Mary with a Peace Corps Mali volunteer. Yay Peace Corps! Lauren and Momo (Mark, sorry just so into the habit of calling him by his African name now lol) Betty with her awesome sparkly Africa shirt :)

Anyone down for some hookah??? Matt, the owner of the Sleeping Camel...thanks for an awesome vacation!

Kyle Mijlof (left), a photographer from South Africa...check his stuff out, pretty cool pictures;and Matt. Shyd. :)

Our Christmas tree and stockings thanks to Lauren and her family. Dinner: hamburgers and french fries :) Christmas morning getting ready to go to church.At Catholic mass. Our presents for each other under the Christmas tree.Everyone with their presents. <3 the Haute.

Celebrating the December birthdays...Annie (middle), Syd (right) and I. X-tina came to the Haute to celebrate my birthday!! :) Best bday present ever!Cheers ladies! Gotta love Betty's sparkly Africa shirt!

Wilbur our dinner tied to a chair while we do some Thanksgiving shopping (name courtesy of Lauren).



Chasing our dinner around the PC house.

Defeathering Wilbur.

Mashed potatoes in the mortar and pestle. Ryan pounding the mashed potatoes. Our salad with tomatoes, lettuce, avocadoes (which were added at the last minute), almonds and cranberries.Chicken cooking in broth. Our version of sweet potatoes (unripe squash). mashed potatoes...The final product...yuuuuum :)

Probably the largest Muslim celebration, even moreso than the end of Ramadan. This holiday commemorates the ultimate sacrifice Abraham was willing to make to God--his son (please keep in mind this is the simplified version and how it was explained to me). However, as the story tells, at the last minute before Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, God appeared to him and told him that it was no longer necessary for him to sacrifice his son and instead could sacrifice a sheep. This past Sunday Muslims celebrated this holiday by first going to the mosque to pray in the morning and then slaughtering a sheep, which men can only do because women are considered "unpure". (I was not present for the actual killing but I was present for the skinning of the sheep...pictures that I will not be posting.) As I went into Kankan this weekend, I spent an awesome holiday with Annie and Ryan and their neighbors.

Walking to prayer at 9 AM

Annie and I in our prayer attire.

Mark (aka Momo), Max and Annie preparing the salsa.

Flour dough balls for the tortillas.

No-bake chocolate and peanut butter cookies.

Rolling out the tortillas.

Semi-finished product!

Refried beans!

Home-made salsa.

Guacamole!

Betsy and Momo waiting anxiously for dinner time.

Group shot!!! Haute Guinea!!! :D (from left: Max, Syd, Lauren, Betsy, Ryan, Momo, Annie and I)

Mange away!!

Produit finale.

Our failed attempt at our Halloween costume: babies carrying babies.

Take two!

Success!!

Don't have many pictures yet, but as I spend more time at site, I'll try to take more.

My hut slowly started to feel like home.

A few things to remind me of home :)

Burning my trash in my backyard

The two flags together :)

Waiting for the ceremony to begin.

SO excited!!

G20 Education Volunteers.

Signing the next two years of my life away...wish me luck!

My host sister Binta.

Stacey and Allison playing drums at our goodbye ceremony.

My adorable twin sisters.

One of the last family photos :(

Right before the water works turned on.

To celebrate Dawan's birthday, Tosten made these delicious chocolate dipped donuts...soooo good!!

Dawan, as happy as can be :)

Dawan giving his little birthday speech...

Traditional Guinean clothing that was shown to us during our cross cultural fair. (Women's clothing)

Men's clothing.

Religious artifacts. In Guinea, most people follow the Muslim tradition but also mix in other beliefs that are outside of the Muslim religion.

After practice school was over, we handed out Certificates of Participation and presents to the top three students and girl.

Last waterfall trip...(from left: Amanda, Megan, Danny, Dawan)

From The New York Times, "On 9/11, Vows of Remembrance",

"On an elaborately choreographed morning, bells rang for silence six times: at 8:46 a.m., when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the north tower; at 9:03, when United Airlines Flight 175 hit the south tower; at 9:37, when American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon; at 9:59, when the south tower fell; at 10:03, when Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania; and at 10:28, when the north tower came down."

Ten years ago on this day I was arriving at school but something just wasn’t right. The t.v. was on in Homeroom and the same scene was playing over and over: smoke coming from one of the World Trade Center towers after the second plane hit. “This was no accident,” the reporter kept repeating, “this was an attack on America.” That day I would’ve never guessed that ten years later I would be serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in a Muslim country.Today several of us came together to honor the lives lost ten years ago. We couldn’t get any more patriotic even if we wanted to: we played the Star-Spangled Banner and in honor of all the lives lost and all the heroism that surfaced on that day we had a minute of silence at 12:46 pm (8:46 am EST), 1:03 pm (9:03 am EST), and 1:37 pm (9:37 am EST) which was when the planes crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. We then went around and recalled what we were doing at the time we found out about the horrific events that had occurred in New York City that morning.Before this mini memorial, we walked to the market to buy lunch at a café we go to regularly to buy egg sandwiches. While waiting for our sandwiches we sat and made small talk with the men lounging around. Then one of the men said, “Today is the anniversary isn’t it?” To which we replied, “yes, ten years exactly.” One of the other men sitting at the same table spoke up and said “our condolences go out to you” and all the men agreed in unison. Yet another man said, “we are all human, we are with you, we support you.”

To all those who lost a loved one ten years ago, you have my heart-felt sympathy.

Ramadan finally ended in Guinea so my family dressed up and took pictures.

Little sisters got dressed up for Ramadan...new clothes!!

The Diallo Family!!!

My little sisters and neighbor.

Dawan and his manjamas...err..I mean African clothing.

Trainers and trainees! G-20!!

Ousmane, our training director, asleep on the hammock.

The beginning of the wine-making process.

Making hibiscus wine.

Huge spider eating a roach...eeeewwwwwww.

Last week I visited my site of Norassoba, located in the Haute region of Guinea. The weather in that region is like the weather in Los Angeles, which makes me so happy to have something that reminds me of home. Here are some pictures of my site!! My awesome roof. That be my hut!

Sharon making dinner in Kankan :)

The first birthday in the group was August 8th and we celebrated it with an awesome meal. The birthday boy, Tosten, made us all a fantastic curry which of course tops everything we've been eating here in Guinea. Happy Birthday Tostyyyy!!!!!

Tosten mashing the coconut. Our great selection of vegetables. Mary working on making the sauce. I'm making food!!! Freshly made peanut butter. The final product...sooooo good!!Birthday boy!!!!

Smart phones might not work in Guinea but I at least have a working phone!! Call me!! +224 68-68-13-05

My host family has finally given me a Guinean name: Aminata Diallo. Two days ago while sitting on the porch after dinner, my mom decided to give me a family name; Housaïnatou, Hasanatou, Binta or Aminata. Seeing as I already have host sisters with the first three names, I opted for Aminata. Now whenever my mom calls me for dinner or anything else for that matter, she yells out Aminata instead of Keila. It's really taking some getting used to.My first complet. Check me oooouuuutt!!!!

At the beginning of my lesson.

Some of us girls decided to dress up for our peer teach. We like to call this "African Sexyyyy"!

This is what a typical day MIGHT look like....

....maybe a bunch of "fotés" might want to learn the art of African drumming....

...or take a field trip to a random waterfall...

...or maybe dance in the rain...

...go on a bike ride and do some sight seeing...

...hang out with a monkey that's tied by the butt...

...and even feed that monkey some "fromage"...

...some "fromage" that they then spit out...

...and finally end up hanging out in a hammock...

...but then again, there really isn't a "normal" day in Africa.

Last weekend we were taken to a beautiful waterfall located about 20 km from our training site. Here are some pictures!!

It's only been about 2 weeks since I arrived in Guinea, but it feels like its been longer. The first few days in Conakry were like living in a dorm once again with 23 people under one roof. After about two days in the capital, we moved to another location outside of the city where we will be living until September 23rd, the day we swear in as volunteers. Living with a host family has been really interesting due to the huge communication barrier that exists. I can't speak french to save my life so trying to get my point across is like one big game of charades. Its unbearably hot here but the culture does not allow for women to wear anything above the knee so I'm constantly boiling under a long skirt. It doesn't get any cooler at night so I wear as little clothing as possible, sprawl across my bed and don't move at all. I pretty much wake up in the same position I went to sleep in.

My water filter.

French class.Out and about with some of the other PCTs.

We have french class for about 4 hours a day plus technical training for teachers in french...I guess the best way to learn a language is to really be immersed in the language! My host family consists of my host dad and mom, my 3-year-old twin sisters, my 8-year-old brother and my 18-year-old sister. Due to the minimal french I speak, its hard to communicate with them but we do so through crazy gestures and charades. Whatever works right?

After a bike ride.

My twin sisters, Houssainatou and Hassanatou.

Our layover in Brussels.

Finally arrived in Guinea!!!!! Check out the Peace Corps Welcome sign!

Peace Corps Headquarters in Conakry.