Well. For those of you who don't already know, I have left Peace Corps Nicaragua for personal reasons and health reasons and I'm back in the states.My emotions are mixed, but I feel that I've made the right decision for myself. Now I'm staying near the beach with my sister and trying to recoup and recover. I hope someone out there enjoyed this blog... I've enjoyed writing it and I've learned a lot in my Peace Corps adventures, however brief they were.I learned how to hand wash my clothes and to teach English and math; how to live without running water and electricity, and how to speak Spanish. Now let's see if I can find a career that will utilize those skills!

PeacePaixPaz

It's 10:35, which is about 3 hours past my typical bedtime.

Here are somethings I look forward to at my site:time to unwind and rest, finallyhaving my own routine to work and workoutchoosing what and when to eat, and cooking for myselffinally unpackinggood coffee (café de palo)Here are some things I really miss:my family and friendssushifroyothe gymyoga classesTrader Joe's blending ineasy travelNetflixfeeling pretty/feeling clean

Well. Good night.

I attended my second swearing-in ceremony this morning and swore in as a volunteer. I gave a speech in Spanish to thank the host families. My host mom came to support me. I was sad to say goodbye to her. She has been such a good mom and I will miss her. We sang the national anthem and Nicaragua's national hymn, and the US ambassador led the swear-in. We took a grip of pictures... well everyone else did. (My camera doesn't work so well lately.) After the ceremony, I went with my girls Meg and Kellz and we treated ourselves to a celebratory McFlurry. For dinner, all of the new volunteers of NICA 54 went to our country director's home for an "early Thanksgiving dinner" celebration. She made us turkey, vegetables, yams, stuffing, pies and more. It was delicious and we were all very thankful for some familiar food.Tomorrow I am making my way to my site. It will be a long trip with lots of bags and chaos on the buses, so wish me luck.

Finally it's the last week of training. This last month has been one of the hardest of my life, which is why I haven't updated the blog in a while. I didn't want to spread negative energy out into the universe. But it turns out that I am going to make it after all. I remembered that I was made of nothing but love. Everything is love!

So once I make it through this week, my long and grueling training will be over and on Monday, the 22nd, I will swear in as a volunteer in Managua. I will give a speech in Spanish to thank the training host families. Pictures will be posted. It will be a joyous occasion.

Then on Tuesday the 23rd, I am moving to my site in the mountainous Jinotega region up north. My site is located in between two major cities: Jinotega City and Esteli City. It is a small site, but it has electricity and running water and an internet cafe. There is no sewage system, so most people use latrines, but I have lived in Guinea and I fear nothing!

I will spend Thanksgiving in Jinotega City with a bunch of other local volunteers at a potluck party. I will spend Christmas back in my training town in the Masaya region with my training family.

Send me gifts for Christmas if you want, to either address. Just let me know.

Send me love and I will always be sending love to everything and everyone. Everything is as it should be.

Well it's been a while since I've updated. I spent last week in Jinotega, teaching English classes in their huge public high school. I taught 8th, 9th, and 10th graders, with an average class size of about 55 students. It was exhausting, but very rewarding. It was especially hard because I was still getting over the last of my dengue fever, so I was really weak and tired, which made it difficult to plan creative and innovative lessons. However, I did it, and I felt very empowered as a result.

We came back to our training towns on Friday and we've been back to work with Spanish classes, technical sessions, our grupo de jóvenes, and co-teaching.

Today I co-taught my first class in my training town. It was a lesson on reading and writing to a class of 10th graders, and I taught them how to write haikus in English. The current topic is Natural Disasters, so I gave them descriptive vocabulary and had them write poems that describe one of the disasters (hurricane, tornado, volcanic eruption, tsunami, Earthquake, etc...) It was a tough class, as I knew it would be because teaching reading and writing is challenging in any language.

My grupo de jóvenes has been especially challenging too. Last night we had a meeting scheduled at 6:00 pm, as usual, and no one showed up. It seems like our chavalos like to show up for our meetings to play games and do dinámicas with us, but when it comes to actually working on their community project, they lose interest. The community project is to create a manual of useful English phrases for the local artisans and shop owners who sell to gringo tourists. When we give them simple homework assignments, they blow them off. Last night, Kellie and Megan and I waited until 6:30 and we went home. I don't know whether the project will get done or not, but we only have a couple of weeks left in this town, so I guess we'll see.

On a more exciting note, site assignment is tomorrow! Peace Corps is finally going to tell us where we'll be living for the next two years, so I'll email you all this weekend to tell you the exciting news. Next week is our site visit, so I will be spending five days in my site, getting to know my counterparts and my (potential) new host family. After that, swearing-in is only two weeks away...

Oh yeah, and I feel a lot better. The dengue effects are pretty much gone. I am able to walk again in the mornings and do my yoga workouts. Today I went and ran some steps (like bleachers) and did a good 45 minutes of yoga before my bucket bath and Spanish class.

And my Spanish has increased by two levels, putting me at Intermediate-Mid-Strong. But I'm going to keep learning. In two years, I'll talk like a Nica!

Ok, well I love you all. Thanks for the stickers, Joy! And thanks for the letters, Dad.

I got that Jackson Browne song playing in my head: "I'm alive!"Okay, laugh at me if you want to, but there were a few days, mid-dengue, when I really didn't know if I was going to make it. Call me dramatic, but I was crying and terrified for a while there. I knew that the brief stint of depression was only because I was sick and I knew I'd feel better mentally once my physical status improved. I was right, too. Because even though I'm still very weak and tired, I feel my strength coming back and I feel happy again.It's 6 am here in Managua and I'm getting ready to get on a Peace Corps bus for a long trip up to the Jinotega region, up north and in the mountains. I will be there until Friday, shadowing a Nicaraguan teacher and teaching a few classes. This is week 7 of training, aka "Practicum Week." At the end of week 8, we will have "site assignment," which means I'll finally find out where I'll be living for the next 2 years. So training will finally be over before I know it, gracias a Dios!Love you all so much, and so thankful for your support!

Even though my platelet count is far from normal, it has come up 1,000 since yesterday! (It has decreased about 38,000 in the last 5 days). So at least it's not decreasing anymore! I have to stay tonight in Managua as well, but hope to get back to my site tomorrow after doing a few more tests.My palms are itchy and I have some rashes on my arms, but my doc said it's okay and it's part of the dengue. My body is still achy and tired, but less than yesterday. My headache comes and goes, but its frequency has decreased. Now I'm in the "recovery" phase, and according to Wikipedia, the "recovery may be associated with prolonged fatigue and depression." My doc says that I might feel this way for a up the three weeks, but I'm hoping for a quicker recovery. Take that dengue! I'm gonna kick your butt! I'm going to live!

I'm in a hotel in Managua because the Peace Corps doctors have to monitor my platelets and vital signs in this stage of dengue fever. This is definitely the worst sickness I've ever experienced-- worse than malaria and worse than amoebas!It started with a headache last week on Wednesday. On Thursday, I had a headache and felt fatigued. I thought maybe I was just dehydrated, so I just drank lots of water. By Thursday night, my body started aching and when I went to bed, I got a bad case of chills and a high fever. I took some Tylenol and tried to sleep. On Friday morning, I called the PC docs to tell them about my fever and symptoms. They told me to go to the nearest lab and get some bloodwork. I didn't attend my training sessions. I stayed in bed all day, feeling awful and crying under my mosquito net! On Saturday, I still had the fever and I missed out on the trip to the volcano. By Sunday, my fever had passed, but I still felt achy and weak. On Monday I got more bloodwork, which indicated that my platelets were continuing to decrease, so the docs asked me to come to Managua for further testing. I came to Managua this morning and I still feel awful. My bones feel achy and I have an intense headache that comes and goes. I had some more bloodwork done, but haven't heard the results yet. For now I'm in a hotel room watching Friends (in English!) and trying to relax. On the plus side, there is hot running water here so I'll get my first real shower in about a month and a half! I know this post is a little sad, but this has been hard for me both physically and emotionally. However, I know that once my health improves, I'll feel happier and get back to my training with enthusiasm and joy!Send me some good vibes...

On an unrelated note from the last blog, I went to this supermarket in a nearby city today. It's called Pali and I found out that it's owned by Wal-Mart. Wow. Wal-Mart is taking over the world!

Also, a word about transport in Nicaragua: one of the primary forms of transport is by busses. The busses here are recycled US school busses-- the yellow ones! They paint the busses with bright colors and build racks above the seats and "personalize" them with quotes from the Bible or stickers with Pokemons, Jesus, the saints or cartoon characters. They fill the busses above capacity and people stand in the aisles on the way to wherever they're going.

On the upside, it's cheap. And it's slightly more pleasant than west African bush taxis... I'll have to post pics soon.

Peace out :) I'm going to go eat bean soup.

So I'm doing a lot of lesson planning and for Christmas, I'm requesting teaching supplies this year.

Here's the list so far, and I'll update it as I think of other stuff:

construction paper

white paper

stickers (like those little stars)

lots of crayons

a lot of packing tape (I use it to "laminate" reusable materials)

I'll probably make a separate wish list for people who want to send me fun stuff, like hot sauce or chocolate or other luxuries!

Love you all...

Hello, world. I am in the internet spot downloading the first episode of Season 2 of Glee on my iTunes. (Sometimes, on the rainy days, or on the sick days, it's good to watch an American sitcom on my computer under my mosquito net.) The internet is so slow here, iTunes estimates that it will take 7 hours to download this 45 minute episode. So in the meantime, I thought I'd write a blog.Everything is fine here. I've been busy in training, working with my group of teens and learning Spanish. There have been some unexpected bumps in the road which have prevented me from co-teaching at the local high school, but if all goes well, I'll be co-teaching this Thursday. It's been fun working with the local teens. They seem to have a lot of fun in our meetings. Last week, we gave our first "charla" in Spanglish. (We were supposed to do it in English, but our kids don't understand it at all, so we helped them out by mixing it up.) Anyway, we gave a charla about responsibility and dreams of their futures. It was a good talk and we felt like we were actually communicating with the kids about something important. In other news, the tropical storm Mateo has passed and the sun is finally shining. This is great news because I can actually get up and run or walk again in the mornings. I've been faithful with my yoga, though. It keeps me sane and balanced! And since the storm is gone, Peace Corps is no longer on "standfast," which is good news. I don't really have much else to say. Everything is fine. I still love my host family and I think it's beautiful here. I'm grateful for this opportunity and incredibly thankful to all those who have been writing letters. Whenever I get letters, it makes my day! Just know that I'm happy and healthy and that I'm exactly where I need to be. I love you all.

and here's some Buddhist wisdom from Thich Nhat Hanh (Be Free Where You Are) to help us get through these busy hot days and the possible tropical storm that could hit this weekend:

Dear friends, you are nothing less than a miracle. There may be times when you feel that you are worthless. But you are nothing less than a miracle. The fact that you are here—alive and capable of breathing in and out—is ample proof that you are a miracle. One string bean contains the whole cosmos in it: sunshine, rain, the whole earth, time, space and consciousness. You also contain the whole cosmos.

As promised, here are some newer photos: my new sandals/pedicure, a giant avocado, and some photos of our grupo de jóvenes.

I spent some time this past weekend looking over the pages of my journal-- I went back two years and I was surprised at a few things:

1. I am a decent writer-- I was enchanted at my own spurts of creativity with language. Of course some entries are boring rants, but they are interspersed with insightful anecdotes and poetry.

2. I have created goals for myself and I have achieved or am currently acheiving them! I envisioned what I wanted my life to look like, and so far, it has manifested itself accordingly*(see below)

3. I have grown and blossomed in so many ways. I have been to so many places and seen so many things.

I thanked past Jessica for writing all these things for present Jessica to read. There were things that I might have otherwise forgotten. There were sour memories and happy memories and helpful insights in times of sorrow.

I read about Tucson and Phoenix and Africa. About past boyfriends and friends and triumphs and worries. Many of them seem so small and distant now, but I have learned from all of them.

A year ago at this time, I was in Guinea, almost finished with my Peace Corps training. It was Ramadan and I was exhausted, teaching summer school. At the time, I was reading this wonderful gem of a book called Be Free Where You Are by Thich Nhat Hanh. I borrowed this book from my fellow trainee, Jake. I copied long passages of this book into my journal, and I found it comforting all over again. He talks about living peacefully and doing things mindfully. He talks about smiling at oneself and using mindfulness to deal with anger. I would recommend this book to anyone!

In other news, I traveled to a larger town this weekend with my host sister. We went to an artisan's market where I bought some new leather sandals (picture coming soon) and a much-needed pedicure. My toenails are still damaged from my Grand Canyon hike back in February, and the lady giving the pedicure was really hurting me. I was actually crying, and my sister called me la llorona! Later, I went to church with my host mom. It was the first time I've been to church in about ten years. It was a Baptist-type church, and the service was similar to services I used to attend when I was younger and religious. There were some songs and some clapping, a few prayers for some sick people, and a sermon. I was impressed with myself because I understood almost all of the sermon in Spanish!

Even though I'm not religious (mostly spiritual in a yogic way), it was a good experience, both culturally and socially. I got to meet more people in my community. And it was some good quality time with my host mom. She is wonderful.

During the sermon, there were two butterflies chasing each other in aerial circles around the church in some kind of mating ritual. It was a lovely dance.

Oh yeah, and I was sick last week on Friday. I spent the day in bed after doing the required poo test. Ew! No parasites... I guess it was my stomach adjusting to the food. I drank my rehydration salts and slept a lot and felt much better by Saturday afternoon.

I also bought a sim card for my phone and now have a Nica number. For those of you who want to call, please email me and I will give you the number if you don't have it already.

For now I have to go and plan my English lesson for my grupo de jóvenes tomorrow. Pictures coming soon...

Peace and love!

*in addition to manifesting my conscious goals, I realized that I have also manifested certain unconscious attitudes and concepts I've had, which haven't necessarily been positive. For example, if I thought that men were flaky and untrustworthy, that would be the experience that would manifest itself in my life. Because I expect them to be a certain way, that is the experience that I would subconsciously create for myself. To correct this, I have made a new list of how I'd like my life to look. I was careful to make this list positive and to re-think the way I look at people and myself. Since I would like to see more integrity and responsibility in other people, I must have more integrity and responsibility in my own life. It's like Ghandi says: "Be the change you want to see in the world." Then your world will begin to change. The proof is in my journal, and in my life. (And in the pudding! Hahah.)

Hola amigos! This week is the celebration of the "fiestas patronales" in Nicaragua. September 14th and 15th are important historical dates here for the country's independence, so there should be a lot of interesting activities going on in my community, like parades and stuff. The schools don't have classes this week and most people have Tuesday and Wednesday off. This, of course, does not include Peace Corps. We have tomorrow off, but Wednesday we'll be back in business, baby. And training is just about to get real.

Next week I'll be observing, and possibly co-teaching my first class in the secondary school. This week we have 2 meetings with the grupo de jóvenes that we formed in the community. We will also have to travel to a larger town on Friday and Saturday to meet with all the TEFLers and learn all about malaria and dengue fever (yaaay) and talk more about our future jobs as English professors in Nicaragua.

On a lighter note, tomorrow I'll be visiting the "Laguna de Apoyo" to do some swimming. Then I'll probably take the rest of the day to do some required reading and some leisurely reading and probably some yoga.

I am loving it here-- loving my family and loving my neighborhood. I love you all, too!

I really like it here. It's very beautiful and the people are cool. Hearing Spanish all the time is very tiring because I'm constantly trying to process what's going on. When people talk slowly, I understand most everything, but when they talk all slangy and fast, I understand maybe 50 to 75 percent. I am opening my mind, like a child, and letting it all in. In a few months, I'll be fluent. Mark my words!

My host family is really nice. I am very lucky to be in their home. The mom is a great cook and she is sensitive to my preferences, like no bread and very little rice. She washes my clothes for me, which is also awesome. Her kids are mostly adults, except at teen girl, who is also very cool. They have a bunch of dogs and I love them... a big German shepherd who watches over the yard and a smaller mutt named Junior who loves to be pet. There are a couple more violent perros, too, and they're enclosed in their own little area.

Our home has electricity most of the time, but sometimes it goes off because of the incredibly violent storms. We don't have running water, so I have to force flush the toilet and take bucket baths, like in Africa.

There was a really crazy storm the other night, my first night in the house, and it scared me a little. The rain pounded on the corrugated tin roof and woke me up. The thunder shook the ground. And even though my room has no windows, I could see the flashes of lightning... the electricity went out for the next 8 hours or so.

During the day I have about 6 hours of intense Spanish courses, and it's tiring but my language facilitator is awesome. She always gives us time to process what's going on and she teaches us relevant Nica slang.

One thing that really confuses me is the use of "vos" instead of "tú". This is tough because none of my grammar books conjugate this verb for me, so I can understand it but I can't use it yet. I use tú for now and they get it...

Okay well I'm off to the casa for una siesta.

Love you all... and even though I have internet access, I'll appreciate letters!

I'm in Nicaragua and it's awesome. I'm moving in with my host fam tomorrow to start PST (la segunda vez). Wish me luck. I'll blog when I can.

So far it reminds me a lot of Guinea but of course it's very different and new. It's rainy and green, and in some ways it reminds me of Mexico as well. The Spanish is different and harder to understand.

I am open and ready. Let's do this!

The mind tends to create strangely vivid dreams when a person travels, or even when a person is about to travel. Some of the most interesting dreams I can remember, I've dreamt in France or Africa, or right before coming or going to either one. Maybe it's the mind trying to make sense of life's changes. Maybe it's the mind trying to cope with subconscious fear of these changes.

Why fear? Why do our minds tend to resist change in all its inevitability?

Lately I've been having half-Spanish apocalyptic dreams. Subconsciously, perhaps, I'm trying to deal with the fact that I know that in about 16 days, my life is about to change in a big way and I don't know what it will look like.

Since I've come back from West Africa, I have settled into a pretty comfortable existence, even though I knew it'd be temporary, only until my next assignment. I created a routine that probably made my subconscious mind feel secure and safe and now I'm throwing myself back out of this comfort zone, into the vast unknown world. I'm doing it on purpose, yet a part of me resists.

Sorry subconscious mind, but I'm sure it's all for the best...

I've been packing my things for Nicaragua and getting rid of things I don't need. I'm storing some of my stuff in boxes in Joy's garage. I am labeling and organizing, which makes me feel calm. When I left for Guinea, it was all in a frenzy and I sort of threw my stuff together without rhyme or reason.

This time around, I feel like I have a better idea of what I'll need and what I won't. I also have a better idea of what I'd like to come home to in 2 years: not chaos! When I was evacuated from Guinea, I came home to a few boxes of things thrown together, many of which I had no immediate use for. This time I know what I'll want when I come back. Things that will comfort me in the re-adjustment process: sweatpants, Snuggies, running shoes, old t-shirts, photos, books and journals.

Every time I travel, I get better at it ;)

This time, I'm definitely bringing my yoga mat.

Wow, time flies. I'm leaving for Nicaragua in 5 weeks. I'm posting my mailing address below. This address will only be valid for the first three months (September 2010 - end of November 2010), while I'm in training. After that, I'll post a new address when I move to my site.

Jessica (my last name), PCT

Voluntario del Cuerpo de Paz

Apartado Postal 3256

Managua, Nicaragua

Central America

Letters are especially appreciated during the stressful months of training!

If and when I have internet access, I'll update my blog and post photos on Flickr.

It was a year ago today that I said my tearful goodbyes at the airport and flew to my Peace Corps Guinea staging in Philadelphia. (See entry for June 5, 2009) I would have never imagined what was to come. (See subsequent entries on evacuation, etc..)Life is funny and unpredictable. I would have never thought that a year later I'd be back in Phoenix, waiting to embark on a new assignment in Nicaragua (leaving in 56 days!) I am filled with awe and gratitude for all of the little twists and turns that have steered me to where I am today, and I am open to the changes that the future will bring. I am grateful for my brief experience with Peace Corps Guinea, and for all of the wonderful people I met there. (G-18, I love you!) I am grateful for learning how to bucket bathe, teach math in French, greet people in Fulani, fetch water from a well, and hand wash clothes. Not to mention having learned to integrate myself into a culture that is vastly different from my own. I am grateful also for the time I've spent back at home after the evacuation. I have made new friends and done wonderful things in the past nine months, and I've had the opportunity to spend more time with friends and family. I have learned so much in the past year-- much more that I could have imagined-- about myself and the world. I have grown and blossomed in too many ways to count.Let's see where I'll be a year from now! If all goes as planned, I'll be in Nicaragua, using my summer vacation to work on English curriculum for my students. But you never know...

¡hola!

I have about three months left in the US!

Since I am not really doing anything this summer, I've started brushing up on my Spanish by using the following techniques:

1. Talking to Mexicans!2. Watching movies in Spanish3. Listening to Spanish music4. Talking to my Venezuelan cousin Ricardo on skype5. Doing grammar exercises in a Spanish grammar workbook6. Reading over my Spanish notes from college... back in 2003 (hace mucho tiempo)

I find that I understand most of the Spanish that I hear, but my responses are far from fluid. Sometimes I try to think of the best way to say something and my mind reverts to French.

Oh and I went to a used bookstore and traded in a bunch of my old books for some books in Spanish, including a yoga book. Maybe I can use it to start a yoga club at my school in Nicaragua! Wouldn't that be awesome?

Well, seeya later!

Last spring, when I got my invitation to Guinea, I had to do a whole bunch of stuff after accepting my invitation, like write an aspiration statement, update my resume and apply for a government passport and visa, not to mention the slew of other personal things to do like getting rid of stuff, storing stuff, canceling Netflix, selling car, etc...

Well now I'm doing the same stuff all over again, except this time most of it is done already. I don't have to get a government passport because I already have one! I just had to update my resume and sort of tweak my aspiration statement that I'd written for Guinea. I felt like I was sort of cheating at first, but then I realized my aspirations haven't changed much since last year. For example:

My strategies for adapting to a new culture include:

- Withholding judgment and staying in the moment

- Remembering that cultural adjustment takes time and being patient with myself and others during that adjustment period

- Being accepting of and patient with different cultural behaviors, even ones that I may find puzzling

- Trying not to compare to the new culture to my own cultural background, and when I do, celebrating the differences

By the end of my service, I think that I will have gained an insatiable thirst for knowledge, traveling, and new experiences. This may shape my life differently or push me in directions that I cannot yet imagine. I hope that I will have been inspired to continue to engage in activities that will help communities and people in need. I hope that I will have grown into a more compassionate, more open, more aware and wiser person. I hope that I will have developed lasting and meaningful friendships.

So that was just a sample. Pretty good, huh? Don't copy me, other future PCVs! Haha!

Anyway, I also got rid of most of my things before serving in Guinea, but now I have the opportunity to re-assess what I should store and what I should take along and what I really don't need. Today I've been trying to organize my things that have been stored in Joy and Tony's garage. (They are sooo good to me!) I am getting rid of 90% of my substantial book collection, which sort of breaks my heart, but then I remember that it's just paper so get over it! I am getting rid of clothes I never wear. I am cleaning and simplifying and it feels good.

Another thing I'll have to do all over again is PST (Pre-Service Training). Hmmm. I've been reading about the PST in Nicaragua and it seems similar to the one I did in Guinea. It is a community-based training, which means I'll be living with a host family. I will have sessions on cross cultural stuff, health, language, teaching, etc... Sometimes I think about going through the whole thing again and I'm like wooooaahh I'm crazy for doing this. But I must remember to be patient because it will be different and new this time and I'll do a stellar job because I've learned so much already in Guinea.

Also I'm excited about meeting my new training group. I know they will never be like G-18, but I'm sure they'll be awesome and smart and I'll love them all!

Can you feel it in the air? Everything is changing! I am blessed.

Next step: study Spanish! I've been slacking...

I got my invitation packet in the mail today and read the job/country descriptions. I was right: it's a TEFL job in Nicaragua!

And of course I sent my acceptance email right away!

Here is a link to the Nicaragua Welcome Book: http://www.peacecorps.gov/welcomebooks/niwb524.pdf

In other news, some of my Peace Corps Guinea buddies will be coming to visit me in AZ next weekend. YAY!

I got an email today from Peace Corps telling me to check my online toolkit and it said that there is an invitation kit on the way!

Once I get the invitation, I have ten days to accept or reject the assignment. The kit will contain information about my country and about the job I'll be doing there.

Now I'm not supposed to know this, but I am almost 100 percent sure that it is Nicaragua. I talked to a placement officer on the phone a few days ago and she told me that it's a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) program. She also said that I would be leaving in the end of August and I happen to know that Nicaragua has this program and the staging date is August 31.

I should be getting the invitation this week, so I'll write more when I get it.

For now, here's some info on Nicaragua: http://www.peacecorpswiki.org/Nicaragua

Peace!

Dang that's a big deal! Now that I am dentally and medically cleared (again!), I should be getting a new assignment very soon. YAY!

About an hour ago, I heard a knock at the door and I opened it to find a huge box sitting on the doorstep and a FedEx lady walking away. I knew immediately what it was: my long-awaited box of stuff I left in Guinea when I was evacuated in October of last year.

I opened it eagerly, feeling like it was Christmas. I was excited to get certain things back-- like my good shoes and my Camelbak water backpack, and I was also anticipating seeing the other things I had forgotten about. I opened it and the smell of West Africa came wafting out to meet my nostrils. I tore open my suitcase inside to see the colorful fabrics of my African clothes and some slightly moldy books I had left there, like the Tao Te Ching and some Peace Corps language books. My French press was inside as well, along with an unopened pound of Starbucks coffee that Joy had sent me in a care package.

As I dug through my things, the feeling of Christmas faded and I was flooded with memories, like my last day in Timbo when I was frantically packing my things and wondering if/when I'd come back to get them. Like locking my door when the Peace Corps bus came the next morning to drive me to Mali. Like saying goodbye to my host brother, and all the "petits" in my compound, telling them that I'd most likely be back in two weeks to start teaching.

I have been back in Arizona now for over four months and the feeling of living in Africa has faded into a story of the past that has very little to do with my everyday reality. Opening this box has made my Guinea memories come back into the present with a realness that reminds me that this part of my life is real and tangible. For some reason this hit me with a wave of sadness for my village in Guinea and my students that may or may not have a math teacher now and for my own Peace Corps experience that was cut so short by the unexpected violence in Conakry on September 28th. It also reminded me that Guinea is still over there, still struggling for survival and democracy and peace.

I am sending a silent prayer to Guinea and to all the people I met in my short Peace Corps Guinea experience. I love and miss you all.

On est ensemble!

I got my letter in the mail confirming my dental clearance! And I didn't even have to do anything this time...

As for medical clearance, I guess it's processing now that a huge error in communication has been corrected. I won't even go into it because the past is past and the future is now!

Due to some kind of error in the Medical Office, my medical clearance hasn't even begun yet (it should have started a month ago) and I would need to be cleared by now in order to leave in April for the program in which I was re-enrolled.

This kind of thing is frustrating about the Peace Corps, but I'm going to stay patient and focused and keep calling them until they give my file the priority it deserves as an evacuee.

A lot of my other Peace Corps friends who were evacuated with me have already re-enrolled, got their medical clearance and invitations, and a couple have already left for their new posts! (Good luck, Daywalker and Big Cactus!)

So I guess I'm not leaving in April!

Oh well, it's not the worst thing to have to stay for an extra month or two.

Maybe I'll go hike the Grand Canyon again! I did it a couple of weeks ago with my family and it was beautiful and terrible and covered in snow. We hiked South Kaibab trail to the river and back in a day, aka the "turn and burn." I wouldn't recommend this hike to anyone, unless they were in great shape and slightly masochistic.

I loved it, though. There is something magical about the canyon to me. Every time I hike up, I hike alone and always have some kind of epiphany about my life, which is usually a variation of the same realization: everything is perfect, everything will be okay, or there is nothing wrong.

This time, my realization was gratitude. I felt grateful for every breath, every step as I hiked up that steep muddy trail. I was grateful that I could feel my heart beating and my muscles working to get me out again. I was grateful for my family and friends and for every single moment of my life. I was grateful for all of the places I've been able to see and the people I've been able to meet. I have been privileged to have experienced so much beauty and love in my lifetime. And I am grateful in advance for all of the things to come!

So on my re-enrollment papers, I requested South or Central America. My placement officer called me last week and told me that I didn't have enough college Spanish (I only did 2 semesters) to go to a Spanish-speaking country in that region. She told me I had the following options:

1. She could try to place me in an English-speaking country in the region (like Belize or Guyana)

2. I could take a CLEP Spanish or ACTFL test to prove that I could hang in a Spanish-speaking place.

I chose to take the CLEP test, which would earn me the remaining credits for Spanish 201 and 202. I studied hard for about a week and took the test this morning. I needed a 63 out of 80 to pass. I got a 74!

So I talked to placement again today and she told me that she's re-enrolling me somewhere in Central America and that if all goes well, I should be leaving in late April. She told me that the position in this country involves tourism and English teaching.

Based on the staging dates on the Peace Corps wiki site, I'm guessing it's either Guatemala or Panama. Vamos a ver...

In the meantime, I'll keep brushing up on my Spanish and enjoying the lovely Arizona winter.

Paz y amor. Besos y abrazos!

I sent in my re-enrollment papers the other day. I requested South or Central America, so we'll see what kind of invitation comes my way.

I am home. Well, I'm staying with my little sister and her husband, who have been generous enough to let me use their extra room during this transition. Transition to what? I don't know...

I haven't made any firm decisions yet because I'm still jet-lagged and foggy-brained, but I am thinking of re-enrolling and trying to go to South America. Or maybe I'll stay here and learn to teach yoga. Who knows?

I arrived in LA last Thursday and attended my grandmother's memorial on Friday. I was exhausted and teary, but very comforted by the presence of my family. As I've said before, this whole evacuation has been difficult and jarring, but my family has been so supportive and I feel so grateful.

It's funny being back home. Everything is so clean and organized and well-labeled here. (I love going to the grocery stores!) But I am not experiencing the culture shock that I thought I would. Even after two months in Niger, I was completely overwhelmed by coming home to such vastly different living conditions. Now, maybe since I've done it before, I'm just recognizing the difference without too much surprise.

It's funny how quickly I can fall into old routines and rituals. Even though I have been brushing my teeth outside with a water bottle, squatting over a latrine, and taking bucket baths for the past three and a half months, it's pretty easy to go back to the luxuries of running water, toilets and showers. However, now, when I am doing these things, I am silently acknowledging the change, and I am grateful to be able to perform these rituals in both ways.

People keep asking me what I've learned from this experience. I tell them compassion and patience. (Well, these were things I knew already, but like most people, continually forget. Life is about forgetting and remembering and forgetting again!)

I have also learned how to carry water on my head, how to wash clothes with a washboard, how to use a latrine sans toilet paper, and how to teach math (shout-out to Madame Emily here!)

People keep asking me what is next. I don't know yet. But I will never forget my Peace Corps Guinea experience or the wonderful people I met there.

So I think I'll be leaving this blog for a while, at least until my next Peace Corps adventure, inshallah!

Please send loving vibes to Guinea, in the hopes that a democratic and non-violent government will soon be possible, and that Peace Corps can soon return to help out with the other stuff.

I am thankful to all of you for your support.

Love and peace,

Jess

I am at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris after my 5 hour flight from Bamako. It's 7:15 am here and still dark! And it's very cold... 10 degrees Celsius outside. I don't know the conversion for that, but I know it's "butt cold," as my dad would say. So that's pretty weird after about 7 straight months of heat and early sunrises.

I am looking forward to going back to Arizona in the autumn. The heat has ended, but it's not too cold.

So I just changed 20 dollars into about 10 euros and spent all of it on the following three items: a Coke zero, a small water bottle, and 30 minutes online. So expensive. Especially after living on about 1 dollar a day in Guinea and 2 dollars a day in Mali.

I feel disoriented and tired and dehydrated. My last day in Bamako was insane. I had to do a lot of things for my medical and admin clearance to close my Peace Corps service. It was a vrai bordel, quoi!

I was on the edge of tears all day. I guess I was just tired and ready to go and it was hard to say goodbye to my friends. And as uncomfortable and difficult as Africa can be, I cried a little as the wheels of the plane came off the ground. I don't know what it is, this attachment I have to Africa. I know I will be back one day, inshallah!

Speaking of inshallah, I know I picked up all kinds of mannerisms with my speech, especially in French. Instead of saying "d'accord," now I say "awa," which is the same thing in like every West African language-- it means "okay."

I also do the typical African "eh!" to express surprise. Or I say things like "alhamdulilaye," or random things in Fulani, like "si Allah jabi," which is just like "inshallah," or "if God wills it." They say this all the time in Guinea.

Oh and I say "walai," too, which I also picked up in Niger. It's just like "I swear." I'll say stuff like "il fait chaud, walai!" = "it's hot, I swear!"

It's a real wake up call, hearing real French on the airplane. French French. I may have picked up an African accent in French too. C'est grave, walai!

Well I need to go because my 3 euro internet half hour is almost up. See you soon, America.

A bientot, Afrique, si Allah jabi!

I am flying home tonight.

Peace Corps decided to officially suspend the Guinea program. I have decided to come home and re-evaluate my options.

Once I'm home, I can re-enroll and get another assignment. I have decided to do this rather than transfer directly to another country because I don't feel emotionally ready to make such a committment.

The whole experience has been incredibly jarring, and I decided that I needed some time at home before jumping back into another program.

The Peace Corps people from Washington have been helpful and supportive. They are flying me out a few days early so that I can attend my grandmother's memorial service on Friday.

I am looking forward to: seeing my family, eating fresh food, drinking good water, sleeping without a mosquito net, taking a hot shower and getting some good coffee!

See you soon.

So it rained all day yesterday. In fact, there was a rather apocalyptic storm that knocked down a pretty large tree in the compound. And I thought rainy season had ended!

It was a beautiful and terrible storm and I wanted to sit outside to watch it, to feel the rain on my face. But it became too violent and I took refuge in my hut, closing the shutters against the rain and the wind.

I was alone in the hut and I felt slightly scared, like a child again, afraid that the thunder would crack the world open and that I would fall into the crack.

Anyway, the rain continued into the night and it was actually chilly outside. I lay in my bed, covered only by a pagne (2 meters of African fabric), which is usually a sufficient cover. Around 4 am, however, I woke up feeling cold and so I reached down for the nasty wool cover down by my feet, which was half on the floor and half on the end of the bed. I pulled it over myself and as I arranged it over my body, I felt something hard in the folds. I turned on my flashlight and saw a petrified frog!

Now I'm no veterinarian, but I'm pretty sure this frog died of dehydration... about a week ago.

So I tossed the frog and went back to sleep.

The end.

I am still in Mali, still in limbo. I don't want to talk about the Peace Corps politics or about my future because I know nothing about either, so I'll talk about fun stuff like lizards, latrines, ducks, bats, and things of that sort.

So we're living in these little clusters of huts in Tubaniso, which means "village of white people," the Mali Peace Corps training compound. There are pit latrines everywhere, which is pretty normal here in Africa. I have grown used to them, and in some ways, prefer them over western toilets. They are basically holes in the ground. You just squat over them, do your business, and move on.

But I have developped this irrational fear of falling into one.

Well, it's not that irrational because we actually have a Guinea volunteer who fell into his latrine. I mean, not in the hole, because the hole is too small, but his latrine actually collapsed into itself and he fell into this ten foot pit of poo and other disgusting things. He somehow managed to climb out. I have no idea how.

So sometimes I think of him when I'm squatting over the latrine. I look into the hole and see all kinds of unpleasantness. Worms and maggots and bugs and poo. It looks, quite literally, like a pit of hell. I guess it's a bad idea to look down, but I always do. Then I start thinking about the possibililty that the cement on which I am standing might be starting to rot away under my weight. I think about falling in. So I hurry up and do my thing and get out of there.

Oh yeah, but we actually take showers in the latrines too. So my showers are fast. I don't want to linger in there...

So the other day, there was a baby duck in one of the latrines behind my hut. I mean, he wasn't in the poo hole or anything. He was running in circles around it. It was so cute. I hope he didn't fall in.

Frogs, however, are the most regular latrine visitors. I usually have to chase out 3-5 frogs before squatting. Or sometimes, I just let them hang out with me while I'm squatting. Crazy frogs. The other day I was showering and the soapy water wasn't draining out the hole in the side of the latrine. I looked to see why it was clogged, and of course there was a frog sitting there. I wondered if it was dead. It blinked at me. Nope. Just blocking the drain, taking a bath in my shower water. I shooed it away because you know that excess water weight might just crack the cement and the whole thing would collapse.

Oh and there are lizards and salamanders and bats everywhere.

The end.

We still don't know much about this situation, but a Peace Corps rep from the states is flying in today and we'll be meeting with him tomorrow to discuss our options.

The US Embassy has suspended its work in Guinea, which suggests that Peace Corps will suspend as well.

We learned yesterday that Liberia is willing to take all of the evacuated Guinea math/science teacher volunteers, as they need volunteers to re-open their education program. I think a lot of the education volunteers, new and old, are considering this option.

I don't know much about Liberia, except for the official language is English. I might consider this option as well. Other options include Mali, Togo, Benin and Niger.

I am also considering "interrupted service," which would mean I would go home and wait for another position, possibly in another region. However, if I don't do a direct transfer within the region, I will have to commit to another PST (PreService Training) and two full years.

These options are running through my mind, but I am calm and I know that I will make the right choice when the time comes.

I am a little sick (stomach stuff) and tired, but I have been doing yoga every day, which helps me to feel centered and balanced. After yoga this morning, I sent love all over the whole world!

Did you feel it?

Oh and I put some pictures on my flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/moxie469

So yesterday was probably my hardest day in Africa, emotionally speaking. But the storm passed, as it always does, and I woke up today feeling strong. I started reading my journal, and I found what I had written on October 6th, the day before I was evacuated to Mali. I was surprised with my own wisdom. Sometimes it's like that. Present Jess says thanks to past Jess for doing something or writing something helpful. So thanks, past Jess. Present Jess will keep working to make it better for a future Jess! So here is what I wrote the other day:

October 6, 2009

I am not attached to any particular outcome. I will go to Mali tomorrow, remembering that I am peace, patience and love. I will accept the present moment and love the present moment. I will take care of myself and be a comfort to others.

I opened Conversations with God, and found this today: "But judge not, and neither condemn, for you know not why a thing occurs, nor to what end. And remember this: that which you condemn will condemn you, and that which you judge, you will one day become. Rather, seek to change those things-- or support others who are changing those things-- which no longer reflect your highest sense of Who You Are. Yet bless all-- for it is the creation of God, through life living, and that is the highest creation."

This applies to my current situation because I was struggling to understand the violence in Conakry, the evacuation, and everything else in my life. I am now making a conscious effort not to judge it, only to help and or change the situations that I can change.

On my last night in Timbo, I sat on my porch alone in the dark. The stars were bright and infinite. The best view of the stars I've ever seen. I am that, I thought. I am the infinite sky and the bright stars and also the fireflies that sometimes look like shooting stars, but they are here on Earth.

I think it was one year ago today when I had my Peace Corps interview. I was so nervous, so hopeful I would be nominated. I never imagined that a year later, I'd have already been evacuated after three months of service.

I suppose this shows you that life is completely unpredictable, in and out of Peace Corps. Who knows where I'll be a year from now! I might still be in Peace Corps, somewhere in Africa, or perhaps on another continent. I might be in the US, or even in France. I might look back on this blog and reflect again on how much things change.

For now, I'm still in Mali, completely unsure of what my next step will be.

Today, Peace Corps took us into Bamako to an "American Club" with a pool and tennis courts. I think they wanted for us to relax and unwind.

I didn't feel well today... I think I may be dehydrated. I felt like I got hit by a train. I felt exhausted and inexplicably sad about everything and nothing in particular, but I did swim a little in a sports bra and boxer shorts (I didn't pack my bathing suit in my emergency bag!) My friends in Peace Corps have been incredibly supportive.

From what I understand, some Peace Corps staff from Washington DC will be arriving on Tuesday to tell us more about our options. I will let you know then what's available to me and what I'll decide.

Oh and I have a lot of free time here, so please email me!

After three months in Guinea and one week at my site in Timbo, I have been evacuated, along with all other Guinea volunteers, to Mali.

If you have been following the news in Guinea, you'll know what happened on September 28th in Conakry. I won't go into detail... it was a very sad day. I was in Labe, my regional capital on that day, trying to follow the news. Two days later, I was installed in Timbo, my village, where I finally unpacked after three months of living out of my suitcase in Forecariah. The next day, I trekked up a mountain to call Peace Corps and check in because we were on "standfast." I was told we were being evacuated to Mali, and to pack up an emergency bag, label my stuff, lock my house, and tell my village that I was only going for a conference. (I think they saw through this excuse, as they have had volunteers evacuated in the strikes of 2007.)

Yesterday, a Peace Corps bus picked me up in the morning and we drove for 15 hours to Bamako, where we were warmly greeted by the Peace Corps Mali people. We are staying in small huts at their training site, which is very nice (electricity! internet! showers! ceiling fans!) and is sort of set up like a summer camp.

I don't know how long we'll be here or what the next move is. I don't know whether it will be possible to return and carry out my service in Guinea. I think that we will learn about our alternatives in the next few days. Who knows? Maybe I'll stay in Mali to volunteer here! Or maybe I will go back to the US to wait on something in another region. (?)

When I know more, I'll write more.

For now, just know that I'm safe. Just disoriented, and sorry to leave my village.

I got a new phone number that I emailed to a bunch of you. Call me. Please!

If you don't have the number, ask Joy.

And now I'm a Peace Corps volunteer, no longer a trainee. The ceremony was pleasant and brief. During the swearing in, our country director, Dan, gave a speech in which he quoted President Barack Obama's inaugural address:

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics...What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

I was moved by these words and felt proud and also privileged to be able to be someone who can afford the luxury of leaving work and life in the US behind to serve for two years in a place where I can help.

I thought of who I am choosing to be in my life, who I am striving to be. The person I choose to be is responsible, compassionate, patient and flexible. The person I choose to be is love and kindess.

I remembered something I read in Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch:

You are goodness and mercy and compassion and understanding. You are peace and joy and light. You are forgiveness and patience, strength and courage, a helper in time of need, a comforter in time of sorrow, a healer in time of injury, a teacher in times of confusion. You are the deepest wisdom and the highest truth; the greatest peace and the grandest love. You are these things. And in moments of your life, you have known yourself as these things. Choose now to know yourself as these things always.

I know that sometimes, during my two years here, I might lose sight of this. I might forget my purpose and wonder what am I doing here? But I will try to remember to remind myself who I am and who I choose to be. I choose hope. I choose love.

Anyway, then we ate rice and sauce and drank mango juice! We thanked Ousmane, our incredible training manager and all of our language and technical trainers who helped us learn how to speak and function in Guinea's educational system. We thanked the current PCVs who helped us through training. Everyone has been wonderful, really.

So tomorrow we will go shopping again for gas stoves and other things for our houses, and if all goes as planned, we will go to our respective regional capitals on Sunday (mine is Labe) and then off to our respective villages on Tuesday or Wednesday.

I should have internet access in Labe as well, so feel free to email or call me in the next few days if you want.

I put more pics on flickr if you want to see them.

Peace.

Here are some ideas:

-Soy protein powder

-Dark chocolate M&Ms

-Earplugs (I have some but they get old and crappy really fast because of the humidity)

-Crystal light packages to put in my water bottles

-Good deodorant (like prescription/clinical strength). The only deodorant they have here is that French roll on crap or spray. And I have to wear long sleeves while teaching and teaching makes me soooo sweaty and gross. Whew.

-Headscarves (I like the ones from Sally's beauty supply-- the big ones) I pretty much always cover my head here, and I will continue to do so in Timbo since it's a pretty conservative town.

That's about it for now. I actually got paid today (YAY!) and went to buy a bunch of stuff for my site installation. I bought another phone for my other SIM card, so you can always try to reach me at both of my numbers here in case one is not working. I bought some olive oil and vinegar for cooking, and some rice pasta at the Lebanese store. I bought some school supplies too. The day after tomorrow, we are going to shop more and buy gas stoves, pots and pans, hammocks and stuff like that.

Tomorrow is swearing in. It would be lovely to hear from any of you :)

I love you all...

I am uploading my much anticipated photos to my flickr account. Check them out at http://www.flickr.com/photos/moxie469/

The photo above is of me giving a thank you speech in Pular at the farewell ceremony in Forecariah.

Well the 11 week training in Forecariah is now over and I am in Conakry, preparing to swear in as a Peace Corps volunteer on Friday, the 25th.

We had a farewell ceremony in Forecariah today, where I gave a speech in Pular to thank the host families and community for hosting us and to thank the Peace Corps trainers for teaching us local languages and how to teach in Guinea. My Pular abilities are still pretty low, so I'm sure I massacred the speech, but it's the thought that counts, right?

I'll try to post pictures of the ceremony tomorrow.

I will be here in Conakry for the next few days. I'll be buying things for my house in Timbo and getting ready for site installation. I have to get things I won't find in the villages, like a gas stove and toilet paper! I am excited to be able to live on my own after having lived all this time with a Guinean family. They were wonderful, but I do miss my independence and being able to choose my food and cook for myself.

The last few weeks of training went by so fast because I was so busy teaching summer school review courses to Guinean students. It was incredibly exhausting and difficult, but rewarding and fulfilling as well. I am looking forward to teaching my students in my village in a couple of weeks when school starts.

The rainy season is coming to a rather sudden end. Last week it was pouring constantly and now it only gets cloudy. I got so used to bringing my umbrella everywhere, it feels strange being able to leave it behind when I walk.

Here is a six word summary of the last two and half months:

rain, rice, spiders, chalk,

yoga, sleep

Mmmm. Sleep. I'm tired, so I'll write more in the next few days.

Love you all.

Yesterday was the two month mark in country. I have about two weeks left in training in Forecariah before the swearing in ceremony.

Sometimes I feel like I’ve been here for much longer than two months. I remember my going away party—saying goodbye to all of my friends. I remember the day I stepped off the plane into the rain and then into the chaos of the small customs room in Conakry. All this seems so distant.

Now that I’ve grown accustomed to things in Forecariah, it is time to change it up. I’m moving to Timbo to teach for two years!

I have already started teaching here in Forecariah. Peace Corps has us do this ingenious thing we call “Practice School,” where we get to practice teaching Guinean students for three weeks of summer review courses. We are a week and a half in. I have to say that it’s incredibly exhausting, this teaching business.

The students are excitable and hard to manage. I have been teaching 8th, 9th, and 10th graders and for the most part, they struggle with basic arithmetic. Last Friday, when I was trying to give a quiz, on of my boy students hit a girl. She hit him back and I kicked both of them out of the class. The girl left, but the boy refused to move. He kept saying, “Pardonnez-moi madame. Pardonnez-moi.” I told the class that I wouldn’t start the quiz until he was out. The class yelled at him to leave and the ‘chef de classe’ or teacher’s aide, got up to force the boy out. Then the chef de classe and the boy fought. It was 20 minutes into the class before I gave the quiz. It was an easy quiz, but very few students passed. Many students tried to cheat, although I told them the quiz was open book.

Exhausting. But I feel that it will be rewarding overall. I also feel that I have a natural knack for teaching, and I remember something I read in A Course in Miracles: "Teach only love, for that is what you are"

Tomorrow is the first day of Ramadan and I will be observing it by fasting during daylight hours. During the day, people are not even allowed to drink water or coffee or anything. They are also not allowed to fight, insult others, think angry thoughts, engage in sexual activities, smoke, or beat their children. The point of this fast, as I understand it, is to clear and cleanse your heart from all hateful and negative thoughts and feelings. It is to forgive others and to forgive yourself and also to be forgiven.

I will make a conscious effort to remember to stay peaceful and patient and full of love, even when my stomach is screaming. Daily yoga and meditation will help.

I will, however, probably continue to drink water, discreetly, because I get dehydrated very easily and I sweat a lot in Forécariah.

My family will be fasting too, along with most of the country, so I will get up at 5 in the morning with them to eat before sunrise and I will eat dinner with them at about 7 pm, just after sundown.

Tomorrow, the first day, will probably be hard because I'll be spending 7 to 9 hours in a bush taxi on the way back from Labé to Forécariah. Bush taxis are incredibly packed and stinky and uncomfortable. But I am choosing to see it in a different light: bush taxis can also be a moving meditation, like yoga! Although I will not be free to stretch my limbs, I will be able to breathe freely and feel my heart beating. If I can concentrate on these things, rather than the outer discomfort, I will be okay. After all, I am peace and patience and love!

Please send me love and good energy for the last part of my training. Practice school starts after next week, so I'll be teaching some summer school math to prepare for the real thing in October. Feel free to send letters, too!

I send you all love every day.

Just got back from my site visit in Timbo. I was in a city called Mamou for a few days for a supervisor conference, and on Sunday I went to visit Timbo-- the place that will be my home for the next 2 years. I went with a current Peace Corps volunteer, whose Guinean name is Alhassane. He has been in country for a year and he is a teacher in a nearby village called Poredaka. He was kind enough to accompany me all over the Fouta. We stayed two nights in my house in Timbo. During the days, we walked all over the village so that I could meet important people (the Sous-Prefet, the police, the principal, vice principal, the Imam of the mosque, and more) and so that I could situate the important things in town (the school, the water pump, the market, etc).

The nearest water pump to my house is about a 40 minute walk. My school is about 30 minutes. In order to get cell phone service, it's an hour walk up a mountain! Of course there's no electricity either! Timbo makes Forécariah look like a big city! But it's all good; I will be getting the real deal Peace Corps experience.

In other news, I've changed my Guinean name to a Peuhl name since I'll be living amongst the Peuhls. My name was M'Balou Camara, but in Timbo, I have introduced myself as Madame Fatoumata Binta Barry. But you can call me Binta for short! And yes, although I'm not married I do prefer Madame over Mademoiselle because it shows more respect.

Everyone in Timbo called me Madame automatically because I guess Timbo has a substantial history of Peace Corps volunteers. My host family, the Bah family of Timbo, is constantly talking about one of their old volunteers, a certain Monsieur Paul, who was apparently the best volunteer ever. Their last volunteer, a girl from Arizona, left in the 2007 evacuation after serving four months. They have been awaiting a new volunteer since.

Oh and I will be teaching 9th and 10th grade math at my school! My vice principal said that the kids at my school are "difficult." But most Fouta volunteer teachers say that the kids are pretty respectful. Alhassane said that the secret is you just have to kick someone out the first day to establish dominance!

The kids are different in the Fouta. I mentioned earlier that the "petits" in Forecariah and Conakry love to chase after white people, yelling "foté! foté!" Well the Peuhl kids are much more reserved, and are not so quick to address us as "porto."

So I am about to go explore Labe, my regional capital, so I must leave you now, my faithful friends and family. I might try to get online again tomorrow, so email me! Otherwise, my address is the same, so feel free to send real mail as well.

I love you all!

On jaarama! (That means goodbye as well!)

That's a greeting in Pular, the langauge I have started to learn. I have been assigned to a town called Timbo, in the Fouta Djalon region of Guinea and I will beging teaching in October, after training for another 8 weeks.

For now, I am still in Forecariah but we came to Conakry for the day to use the internet and visit a museum.

Forecariah is an interesting town. Electricity comes on randomly for a few hours every other night or so.

I eat a lot of really spicy sauce with white rice. It's seriously soooo spicy that it is hard to eat sometimes. And you know me! I LOVE spicy food. But seriously, it's too much here.

Training is tough but I find the joy in small things like yoga, Coca-Cola and avocados. The avocados are huge here. I live with a Susu family and they have named me "M'Balou Camara." The Camara family is pretty nice, but I also spend a lot of time at the neighbors' house. My trainee friend Scotty aka "Alimatou" lives next door and I visit her a lot and eat her food! It's much less spicy! Her host sister braided my hair the other day and it looks pretty good. Only took her five hours! I will send pics next time I am in Conakry when I have more time, inshallah (God willing)

It rains a lot.

Lots of spiders.

Mouse in my room.

Chickens. Goats. Cats. Dogs.

Keep in touch! I have only got two letters so far! Thanks to Aunt Sharon and Joy!

Bon. I love you all! Bye!