From Alligators to Crocodiles

¡Aventuras en España!

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 14:40:05 +0100

Where to start? I feel like I was on vacation for a month…in a good way. We just saw so much. Four Spanish cities in 2 weeks, traveling south to North and then back south to then go to another country to catch the plane back to Africa. Whoa! It has been a great and exhausting vacation. I definitely recommended that every person do a backpacking trip once in their lives. It is not glamorous at all, but the travel and new cities you get to see are marvelous and worth it. Overall, I really enjoyed Spain. It is a beautiful country with so many cool cities and delicious food (I ate so much!). I thought about this, and I decided to talk about the trip by dividing up the cities we visited. Let’s start from the beginning.

Granada

Granada is a gorgeous city in the south of Spain known for the Alhambra (one of the places to see before you die); free tapas with drinks and a university city feel. I loved this city. It was my favorite city out of the four we visited. It is located in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada, so it has this great nature feel in the background of some great architecture. I really liked it because it felt like a city, but still had some hometown feels about it. The first day we arrived, Kenny and I went on a walk around the city. We were just wondering around for a couple of hours and I loved seeing the mountains in the backdrop. We saw this great park, gardens and walkways that made the whole city feel homey. One of our favorite things about Granada was the free tapas that came with every drink you ordered. We were big fans of that. You could basically drink and eat for less than 8 Euros, which worked well for us budget-conscious people. On the second day in Granada, we fully explored the city and climbed many hills to see the Alhambra from the opposite side. The Alhambra is one of the most popular attractions in all of Europe. It is the palaces and buildings of the last Muslim emirs in Spain. However, due to its popularity, you have to buy tickets months in advance, so we couldn’t go in. Instead, the gang and I explored other areas and neighborhoods of Granada, which were equally as beautiful. I think I enjoyed Granada a lot because there was so much to explore. You climb one hill; there was something new to see. Another reason why I really liked Granada was the Corpus Christy festival/carnival that we consequently were in town for. It appeared to us that everyone that lives in Granada goes to his festival and with good reason; it is like a carnival on steroids. You have your traditional carnival stuff: Ferris wheel, cotton candy, etc. But the Spaniards also put up tents, giant tents that become restaurants, nightclubs and concert halls. They take this festival very seriously. It is the most elaborate festival I have ever been to. It was so much fun! It was one of the best nights of the trip. We rode a roller coaster, the Ferris wheel, and ate carnival food, all the while, being amazed that just a couple of days ago, and we were in a completely different world in Guinea. We just had the best start to our trip in Granada.

Malaga

Malaga is known as the Miami of Spain and, we found out why. It is like one big party. Chris, Kenny, Stacy and I stayed at a party hostel in Malaga. Unlike other hostels, party hostels are meant for young 20-somethings. It was a 4-story cool and well-decorated place with a wonderful and posh roof-top bar. The moment you walked in, you knew that you were going to have a good time. Malaga was our first experience in mingling with other hostel people. We met people from Germany, Australia, Canada, etc. It was pretty cool. Stacy and Chris got really into the fun by participating in the hostel’s beer Olympics. Yup. You read right. The beer Olympics. To make a long story short, they did well and were celebrities among the hostel visitors for the night. The next day, we head to the beach. I wouldn’t say that it was the most wonderful beach ever, since it was rocky, cold and not ideal for swimming, but a beach is a beach and, I missed laying out in the sun and relaxing. At the beach, Chris, Stacy and I braved the cold water for 5 seconds and got in. Stacy and I lay out for the first time in a year and a half and of course, cine my body wasn’t used to it, I got pretty bad sunburn. Even though, we had red, sunburned skin and sleep-deprived bags under our eyes, we had a great time in the “Miami of Spain”.

Barcelona

There is nowhere in the world like Barcelona. I have done my share of traveling; even I am having a hard time comparing Barcelona to any other city. It is an indescribable city. Each neighborhood or area is different than the one next door, but they somehow all work together to create the city. The area we stayed at was very bohemian, but also felt like a mini town in the vast city since every few streets, you could find a square that had a supermarket, an ice cream shop and probably some great restaurants. We definitely ate the best in Barcelona. We ate every type of Cuisine you can imagine: Mexican, Indian, Italian, Asian, etc. If we saw it, we ate it. I have to say, Barcelona lives up to the hype. Within just a few hours in the city, we were taking a metro with over 80 other hostel visitors to a bar and then all of the sudden, we found ourselves at the beach at this amazing club that looked like something out of a movie or one of those teen soap operas shows. Barcelona has this crazy energy you feel the moment you get off the train and within 5 hours, we were experience it at the beach. Because Barcelona was the place we stayed the longest, were were able to get a better feel of the city. We toured some of the highlights like the Sagrada Familia church and Park Güell (my personal favorite), where you could overlook all of Barcelona. After the first week being such a crazy train-jumping time, Barcelona was our time to take it a little bit easier. We embraced the city for what it was and just chilled out. Our days usually consisted of sleeping in a little longer, eating a large lunch, doing some sightseeing, siesta-ing like the Spaniards, going out for dinner and then going out to a bar/club. It is a great life. We were able to relax, while still seeing a lot of Barcelona. Barcelona is also where we said bye to Chris who went on to France and welcomed Laura, my friend from home. I hadn’t seen her in over a year and a half. So of course, I flipped out when I saw her. It was great to have a little piece of home/my past and mixing it with my now, that are my Peace Corps friends. As I expected, everyone loved Laura and vice versa. Mixing old and new friends isn’t always easy or successful, but in this case, thankfully, it was.

Madrid

Last stop on the Spanish tour, the capital…Madrid. Unlike Barcelona, Madrid is not as laid back or chill. It is the capital of the country and it acts like it. It is like a toned-down Washington DC or New York. Like Barcelona, it has amazing architecture and sight-seeing to see and thankfully, since our hostel was basically on the Grand Via, we had everything at our fingertips. We saw the royal palace, the grand cathedral, this amazing park on the other end of the city and many other streets that we just wondered around. Stacy and I were finally able to eat some Paella on a mini culinary tour that we did and, along with Kenny, we made a small dent in the Spanish economy by doing some shopping. Side note: when you haven’t shopped for anything beside food in over a year and a half, shopping becomes the most marvelous experience. We shopped for presents for friends and family, clothes, shoes, handbags…basically everything. We shopped for bargains, which we luckily were able to find plenty of and make home with more stuff than we brought (which will be tons of fun bringing back with us in bush taxis). One of the last nights of our trip, we ventured to El Kaptial, one of the most well-known and largest (7 stories of different types of music) nightclubs in all of Europe. It was amazing. It is like an adult Disney world. Every level of that place had different music, a different environment. But nothing was like the main floor, which had crazy lights, confetti and a giant fog machine that come from the ceiling and looked like a mini tornado for those that viewed it from above. It is definitely a place that those that like to dance should experience. In my opinion, we left Madrid on a high note.

Rabat

On our way back down to Casablanca to catch our flight, we had an extra day, so we decided to stay 24 hours in Rabat, the capital of Morocco. I only include Rabat in the cities we visited because I loved it so much. Morocco is perfect for me. There is a natural juice bar every block like they are Starbucks; they eat salad for every meal and every piece of clothing and artisan work is just beautiful. Although, we had just 24 hours in Rabat, we made the best of it and did more shopping, ate more food and did a little bit of sightseeing. I plan to return to Morocco before returning to the US for good. I still need to see other parts of this fantastic country.

As for right now, I am in Conakry and heading back to Siguiri soon. I am bummed to leave Spain and Morocco, but excited that I am at the tail end of my service with only about 7 months to go. I hope everyone is enjoying their summers!

Best,

Carolina

Hanging with Amara

Sat, 25 May 2013 15:02:57 +0100

Hanging with Amara

Some pics of my room inside! I have a ton of photos on my wall...

Sat, 25 May 2013 14:59:59 +0100

Some pics of my room inside! I have a ton of photos on my wall to remind me of home. =)

Are You Ready to Rumble?

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 00:42:14 +0000

Basketball has come to Siguiri! The tournament was not the NBA, but we had our version of Shaq and Kobe. The tournament overall was a success and my friends at CECOJE were very happy. As the first day of the tournament arrived, we had at least 3 meetings in a span of 5 days. My tiny room held 8 boxes of health material and condoms from PSI, an international health organization, that were moved to the basketball court before the first game was to start. Multiple trips were made to the neighboring SAG compound to try to gain some type of sponsorship from them. My CECOJE counterpart ordered the banner and t-shirts to display and wear during the tournament and the PC friends from Kan Kan and Dabola finally arrived. The first day of the tournament was pretty low-key. It was basically a test run for the main event, which was on Saturday. The tournament had 4 teams from different high schools in Siguiri. The “basketball committee” (myself, Chris and 3 other people) decided that over the course of 4 days, 2 matches would be played each day with the final on the last day. The big day was Saturday when 5 of our fellow PCVs where kind enough to come support the tournament. The music started blaring; the banner was put up, the players started to warm up and the chairs and tables were placed around the court. It was show time. I was rooting for the team from Nelson Mandela, the high school that I teach my English club at. Unfortunately, they did not win. But, I think everyone involved had a lot of fun. The players were really excited that basketball was given the spotlight for a weekend since soccer is the most played sport about here. CECOJE was excited to promote safe sex and HIV/AIDS awareness and have an event that was different than usual. My CECOJE counterpart said that they plan to do the tournament again next year because they liked the event so much. Overall, it seems to have been a success for everyone involved and got people interested in basketball. I am most excited about the possibility that this tournament can continue on beyond my stay in Siguiri. It would be great if they could replicate and improve the tournament every year. Check out the photos below to see the tournament in action!

In “is Carolina melting from the heat?” news, I have been able to cope more or less with the heat that persists in Siguiri. I was not kidding when I said that I would be better equipped this year to deal with it. Thanks to my wonderful parents, I have 2 great fans and, I bought another one here to make the total 3. I have planned out how to keep my fans working throughout the night through electricity or rechargeable batteries, so I don’t sweat throughout the night. I also think that for the most part, the heat isn’t as bad as it was last year. It could be that I have gotten better used to it, but I don’t know….I don’t think that is it. I can tell by the mangos. Right now, we are in mango season (which, for the record, is really delicious), and this time last year, there were mangos everywhere…really big mangos. Every week there are more and more mangos, but just not like last year. If I am right, I am just thankful that the heat is milder than last year.

So, is my volunteer fatigue cured? Not quite. During reconnect, we talked about volunteer fatigue and feeling burnt out. I think my boss Kristine put it best. She said that after a year in Peace Corps, all those little things that seemed excited, that day-to-day routine, you just don’t want to do anymore. That is exactly right. I just don’t want to greet everyone a thousand times a day; I just don’t want to have pointless conversations about getting visas to America. I don’t want to be hit on all the time. It is just a lot of don’ts. It is a low point right now, but I am sure it will get better in the next few months, especially when rainy season comes.

I think my mood will get much better once I am vacationing in SPAIN!! Yup. Tickets are bought. 3 of my PCV friends and I are heading to Spain through Morocco to meet up with my best friend from home. I am so excited!! I am counting down the days. We will be landing in Casablanca and traveling up through Malaga and Granada in southern Spain and then heading north to Barcelona and Madrid. We are leaving at the end of May. It is only a month away!! It will be a good vacation to reset myself and then come back to Guinea feeling refreshed. I just want to eat some tapas, enjoy the beach in Malaga and Barcelona and hang out with my friends. It should be good times. I will be sure to upload some pictures of the trip once I am back in Conakry.

Dreaming of paella,

Carolina

Action shot! ; Amara showing off his bath time attire

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 22:16:41 +0000

Action shot! ; Amara showing off his bath time attire

Photo

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 22:01:04 +0000

PCVs and the basketball players; The banner we got made for the...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 21:47:13 +0000

PCVs and the basketball players; The banner we got made for the tournament

The upper haute crew at Adrian’s site for a river day

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 21:31:02 +0000

The upper haute crew at Adrian’s site for a river day

Volunteer Fatigue

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 22:37:00 +0000

Life is funny. As human beings we are always looking to adjust to changes and our environment, no matter how different or unusual it may be. That sense of home, as I have come to find out, is essential to living. Otherwise, we feel lost .When I was growing up, home was where my parents lived; in college, it was my college town and here in Guinea, it’s Siguiri. With an official PC year under my belt (15 months) that sense of home has begun to establish itself. But like with anything in life, the moment we feel settled and more-or-less content, is when we start to question ourselves. The thrill and excitement of being in Africa and living this new life has started to fade as I come to realize that this is just my life now.

I am settled in, thus begins the fatigue. I should say that fatigue is not necessarily a bad thing in this case. Like I said, it means that I have grown accustomed to my surroundings, which is vital to any PCV. It means that all that first-time experiences of being in Africa are more or less done with and now, I am just living my life. Volunteer fatigue is a real thing, just ask any PCV. It isn’t really about the people, city or country you are in, but more about where you stand in life, at least in my case. Since life moves slower here, fatigue isn’t used in the same sense as in The States. It doesn’t mean I am overwhelmed. It doesn’t mean that I am unhappy. It really means that I am restless. Peace Corps is a temporary job-a temporary situation. Thus, there is always a part of you thinking about the future. I think volunteer fatigue hits volunteers at their official one year mark because they are forced to start thinking about “after Peace Corps “plans, which can be unnerving. Other PCVs around me have already begun to look into their futures, while I am reluctant to do so. Why? Simply put, I have always thought about the future. As an American, you must always have a next step. You must always be thinking about the future. This is the way I have been since I was little, always looking for the future and often sacrificing the enjoyment of the moment. I don’t want to do this with my Peace Corps experience. I refuse to. I often forget to live in the moment, so I want to stop doing that. I am young and take this lesson as one of the most valuable I have learned thus far in Peace Corps. Guineans live in the moment, often because they don’t know what life will bring them tomorrow. Shouldn’t we all think like this from time to time? I hope that, with time, I will learn to embrace my American ways with the Guinean life lessons I have learned. Maybe, I will learn to enjoy the present, while still keeping in mind that the future isn’t too far ahead.

Speaking of the present, after the most lovely vacation in Europe, I have been back in Siguiri for the past two months and been getting back to the grind. I am officially done with my computer training/organizational development project. I have done all I can do right now with that project, so I am on to the next. The final step of my project was to go to the other offices of RAFOC in the cities of KanKan, Mandiana (east of Kan Kan) and Kouroussa (west of Kan Kan) and help install the same changes to their systems. It was a pretty productive trip. I felt like the agents and the office managers got a firm grasp on the material that I was teaching them. The mini work trip took about a week and some traveling Guinean-style, but I am just happy that everyone at my organization is finally on the same page. As the heat once again starts picking up here, I have started to look into my next project, which will be entrepreneurship training with RAFOC. I will be teaching accounting, marketing, management, etc. to the agents of my organization in french and in turn, they will go to the groupements that take out the loans from RAFOC and teach the same material in Malinke. This will present particular challenges as the majority of the people in these groupements cannot read or write. This is going to be another long-term project. I am just now starting to compile information and material. In the shorter term though, I have been working on a basketball tournament in early April for HIV/AIDS awareness with the government organization for youth called CECOJE. We have set up the dates April 6-8, 2013 for the tournament and are working on getting sponsors and creating teams at the local high schools. I am really excited about this event and really hoping that everything works out well. Teams have begun to form and sponsors have begun to respond to our requests, so hopefully all of this good news will continue. I’ll make sure to put up pictures on the blog after the tournament.

As always, I am in Kan Kan. I am on the way to my very last Peace Corps training with my fellow G-21ers in Mamou. It is really crazy to believe that it may be the last time that we are all together. I still can’t believe that I am 11 months away from being done with Peace Corps. I have a feeling that time is going to fly by this year. I hope everyone is enjoying the cold back in the U.S. Trust me, it could be a lot worse. You could be in a desert…with me. Lol.

Lots of Love from smoldering Siguiri,

Carolina

My brothers (Papa and Amara) and sister (Sanaba) on my hamock....

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 16:32:10 +0000

My brothers (Papa and Amara) and sister (Sanaba) on my hamock. They are obsessed with it!

On top of one of the many hills of Siguiri

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 16:25:10 +0000

On top of one of the many hills of Siguiri

Chris, Kenny and Adrian hanging out at Adrian’s village

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 16:13:19 +0000

Chris, Kenny and Adrian hanging out at Adrian’s village

When in Rome or Amsterdam or Paris

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 19:47:57 +0000

I had a fantastic vacation in Europe with the family! I met new family and met up with other family members as well. It was a great first time in Europe. We traveled using planes, boats, trains and cars and these are some of the things I loved/liked/learned.

1) I love dutch cheese…a lot. My dad and I went to a cheese store close to Amsterdam and got a ton of samples of different cheeses. It…was..awesome.

2) Beyond the known Amsterdam “guilty-pleasures”, I really loved the architecture of Amsterdam: tall townhouse-style buildings with a canal running through the middle like a water highway. It was extremely pretty at night.

3) Vincent Van Gogh was a pretty remarkable guy. There was an exhibition of his paintings in a musuem in Amsterdam and it was pretty cool to see the actual famous paintings in person.

4) French fries with mayos, Netherlands-style, is the way to go.

5) My 2 little cousins are the most adorable things. They both look like they need to be in a catalog.

6) I was impressed by how often and presistently people in Amsterdam use bicyles, no matter the weather. I was impressed by their overall sustainablity practices.

7) I FELL IN LOVE WITH PARIS. It was my favorite city. If you did a 360 in any place, everything was beautiful. Every street was just beautiful.

8) My French was passable! I understood 95% of what I heard.

9) That sterotype about French people being rude was not my experience at all. Everyone in Paris was really nice and hospitable.

10) Rome was like seeing history. It had a different feel than Paris and Amsterdam.

11) Food in Rome is ridiciously good. I love gelato. I ate my weight in gelato.

12) I was amazed by the fact that everyone had a iphone or ipad….everyone.

I fell in love with Paris and really liked Rome and Amsterdam.

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 22:53:24 +0000

I fell in love with Paris and really liked Rome and Amsterdam.

Part 2 of my computer training with the agents at my...

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 17:02:00 +0000

Part 2 of my computer training with the agents at my organization. Don’t they look great with their computers??!

The kids doing some homework on their blackboard. Just some...

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 16:55:39 +0000

The kids doing some homework on their blackboard. Just some everyday things.

My host sister Sanaba carrying my little brother Amara. This...

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 16:51:05 +0000

My host sister Sanaba carrying my little brother Amara. This technique is called “bambooing”.

Stacy, Ashley and I showing off our best Guinean prints at the...

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 16:46:35 +0000

Stacy, Ashley and I showing off our best Guinean prints at the kk house!

One Year (unofficially)

Thu, 22 Nov 2012 20:31:29 +0000

ONE YEAR! Can you believe it? I have lived in Africa for one year. Craziness. Technically, my official PC year isn’t until February when we swore in as volunteers, but official…unofficial…whatever. It’s a year, damn it! Lol. It really has been one hell of a whirlwind year. I have experienced one change after another, a whole lot of twists and turns, ups and downs and have survived/embraced/lived with it all. I feel like that graduation song by Vitamin C should be playing right now, as you read this. Anyway, it has already felt like one crazy ride. So, what do I hope for during the next 15 months? Fulfillment. Both in my projects and all other aspects.

But, let’s back up a little bit before I talk more about my year here. Let’s talk about Tabaski! Tabaski is the most important holiday in the Muslim calendar and it occurs at the end of October. Tabaski is known for the many goats and cows that are killed during this time period. This year, Tabaski was on October 27. Like all holidays in Guinea, this means that everyone gets dressed up, usually in a fabric called bazan. Bazan feels like wax paper and looks like tie-dye. It looks so pretty on the women who wear their heels and elaborate jewelry. Like Ramadan, everyone goes to the mosque in the morning and has breakfast afterwards. Unlike Ramadan, the holiday is really only 1 day, but like good Guineans, people here usually extend it to 3-5 days. For Tabaski, I started off my day by eating breakfast with my host family and taking a couple of photos with them. They were really excited about having their photo taken. I promised that while I was in Conkary, I would get the photos printed and give it to them. Afterwards, my little host sister, Sanaba, and I did a little tour of the neighborhood and stopped by the neighbors’ houses to wish them a happy Tabaski/Seli ma fo. In exchange, I got a bag of goat meat, which was very kind of them, which I quickly gave to my host family. A note to vegetarians/animal lovers/PETA supporters, Tabaski is not your holiday. I mean I had a great time, but I saw a lot of goats being cut up and some other volunteers saw cows being slaughtered. They had photos and video. I declined the invitation to view them…lol. Anyway, after my bag of meat, I hang around the family for a little bit and then, with Sanaba again, I headed to see my host family’s family that lives in downtown Siguiri, right next to the market. They have a block of houses where aunts, uncles, grandparents, mothers, fathers and children all live. I hang around there for a little bit and said hi to everyone and then headed back in my host family’s car with Amara on my lap. Overall, not at all a bad day.

On another note, I am almost done with computer training! At least with the training aspect of it. I have done three rounds of the same training of Word, Excel and Powerpoint. The first round was with the bosses of the office, the second with the agents and the third was with the chefs of the other offices in Kan Kan, Mandiana and Koroussa. While I understand that learning about computers will take some time, I feel like most of the people in the office have understood most, if not all, of the training. Which, of course, makes me very happy. I still have to finish the second half of the training with the third group since they aren’t based in Siguiri and only come at the end of every month, but I feel good about the direction that the office has taken in transitioning all reporting from paper to electronic. Step 1 was the basic training of computers and the Windows Office suite. Step 2 will be a little more difficult to implement since it will require behavioral change from everyone in the office. The chefs of my organization and I need to have a little pow-wow about how to start transitioning. We need to talk actual logistics and changes that need to be made, which will hopefully happen this month and the next. Finally, WE GOT COMPUTERS!!! If you can tell by the photo that I posted below, we got all 10 of them! I am super excited and happy with this outcome. We had a little bit of trouble getting them since the money transfer didn’t go through the first time, but with a little persistence, we were able to send the money the second time. I thought the most difficult part was going to be getting them through customs, but apparently, according to Mr. Camara, the CEO of RAFOC, it wasn’t that bad (I stayed in Siguiri). He just went to the Conakry airport, paid some customs fees and volia! We have computers. My job now is to go through all of them and make sure they all work and that all the programs work as well. In thinking about the projects I want to do and are doing, I have come time and time again to the same point. A little saying that applies to most things in life. It is not about quantity, but quality. That rings true for what I want to do here. Some volunteers would rather do many projects over their two years. But for me, I rather do just a few and make sure that when I leave, those projects will either continue or have actually made an impact in my community. It is just the way I feel about my time here so far, and it helps calm any insecurities I may have about not doing enough.

Another project I am working on right now is at the high school. Along with my English teacher friend, we have formed an English after-school club. I have usually between 10-25 students twice a week for an hour and a half. We go over grammar, spelling, vocabulary and we do a little reading and speaking practice too. I have held the club for about a month now and, it seems like the students are enjoying it. I am trying to focus more on the female students in the class, since, being that Guinea is a male-dominated culture, are less likely to raise their hands or participate. The first few times, it was mostly males, but thanks to the hard work that my English teacher friend has done in spreading the word about the club, more and more girls are coming. I want to shine a little light on the importance of equal education and how girls have just the same right to answering any question as the boys. Traditionally, the Guinean school system has based a lot on memorization and repetition. So, I want to start trying to implement a little bit of critical thinking into the lessons. Once a week, I ask a discussion question in English, and have everyone talk about it. Grant it, the students’ English is limited, but I want to give them a chance to practice and express themselves. I really look forward to teaching English every week, which would make my mom laugh. She is a Spanish teacher and, I have told her many, many times that I have no interest in being a teacher. Lol. Oh life, you never know what to expect.

Ok. Time for a little what-Carolina-has-learned/gotten used to-so-far.

Things I have learned/gotten used to:

1) I have gotten used to…greeting everyone all the time. It is a formality I will probably take with me to The States. Fair warning now, I am going to be weirder than I was before.

2) I have gotten used to…speaking in Franglais. I speak most of the time either in French, English or with other PCVs in a mixture of them both. When I am alone, I speak in Fran-span-glais. Again, I am going to be weird.

3) I have gotten used to….speaking in acronyms. Like any good American agency, Peace Corps has a lot of acronyms and special vernacular. We literally have an acronym for everything. When you speak to another PCV (example), it is like we are speaking a moonman language.

4) I have gotten used to/learned to do…manual labor of all kinds. People always said that Peace Corps is like camping for 2 years. I kind of agree with that. I have learned to pull water from the well, do laundry by hand; get rid of spiders the size of my hand and infestations of other creepy crawlers and bath with a bucket.

5) I have gotten used to (deal with)…unsolicited attention. One of the things that have been the hardest thing to get used to is the attention I receive as a single “white” female. I receive a lot of male attention, all of which I don’t appreciate. I have learned that the only way to deal with it is to be stern, strong and authoritative, which is something men in this country aren’t used to.

6) I have gotten used to….the African ways. By this I mean, no running water, little electricity and having to either bike or walk everywhere.

7) I have gotten used to…my work and family. I really like my organization and the work I am doing with them. And while the family across the way and I have had hard patches, I have to say we are doing pretty well.

8) I have learned….all about patience. Whether it is traveling around the country or trying to get projects going, patience is key and, l am learning all about it.

9) I have learned…. about not being so stubborn and going with the flow. Yes. I am stubborn. Africa has taught me that that just doesn’t work every time.

10) I have learned…about open-mindness. Africa has opened up my mind to new ways of life, and has me wanting to travel more and see more of the world.

11) I have learned…about friends (I know this is cheesy). Before coming to PC, I thought about every possible aspect except one of the most important parts of the experience, my fellow PCVs. Being some of the only Americans in the country, we have bonded like family. I think I may have never met some of the great people here. But, I am happy I have. I am especially happy I am in Haute with the crazy Osborne-like family we have in this region. I look forward to my Kan Kan visits.

Lastly, I can’t wait for Christmas!!! I will be seeing my family for the first time in over a year and, it will be in Europe!! I literally am counting the days. Only one month left!! I will be flying on the 21^st from Conakry (another epic cross-country trip I have to make…yeah) to Morocco and from Morocco to Amsterdam. I have family in Amsterdam, where I will be meeting up with my American-based family for Christmas and then we are off to Paris and then Rome for New Years and to see more family. I realllyyyyy can’t tell you how excited I am about this. I miss my family, warm showers and cheese so much. It is going to be the best vacation ever!

I will be thinking of everyone back home when the Haute volunteers celebrate Thanksgiving on Saturday and in Europe when I am with my family. Because I don’t think I will be writing another blog post until 2013, I want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year. Write some more in 2013!

XOXO,

Carolina

The computers from England!!! So excited to finally have them!

Thu, 22 Nov 2012 20:24:53 +0000

The computers from England!!! So excited to finally have them!