tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241326429424261482024-03-08T14:34:08.092-08:00Explore Dream Discover SaloneThis blog will be chronicling my Peace Corps service in Sierra Leone where I will be volunteering as a high school science teacher. This blog is for my own personal use and does not reflect the views or opinions of the Peace Corps. I'm not sure what the next two years entail for me, but I'm excited to share it with you all. Thanks for all your support as I embark on this adventure!Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04459465220854207121noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124132642942426148.post-15674329029172803182013-05-05T06:28:00.001-07:002013-05-05T06:28:22.373-07:00Three More Months!<br />
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May, June, July. That’s it. Safe to say that I am a mess of
emotions right now. Excitement about seeing friends and family back home,
apprehension about reverse culture shock (a.k.a. I have picked up some weird
habits here), guilt and sadness about leaving my students, friends and
community behind, uneasiness about future grad school/career options, etc. etc.
are all running through my head right now. I am in a weird sort of limbo where
I know that every day is one of my last and I am trying to keep living life
like how I have been over the last two years, but at the same time I am feeling
this pressure to do all of the things that I never got around to doing. It’s
mostly turning out to be a productive thing, I have gotten a lot of work done
these last few weeks and with school starting up, I hope I can continue that
trend. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s hard to believe that this will be my last term
teaching. Again, a bittersweet goodbye. On days like today where I had to
proctor an exam and I caught half of the kids unabashedly cheating, I am over
teaching. But on the first day back this week I had a bunch of kids come up and
ask where I had been the last two weeks of last term and if everything was okay.
(Unfortunately I had some security issues at my house and had to go to Freetown
for those two weeks. The issue is resolved now, and everything is fine.) Every
day is a mood swing, but the good parts definitely outweigh the bad. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In other news, I got a dog! His name is Pepe and I got him
to be an extra form of security. He is small, but his bark is ferocious. We’re
still working on the house training, but as they say here, small small. Who
would have thought that I would have two pets? Definitely not me. Yathiki (my
cat) is not too thrilled about the new addition to our family, but she is
managing the intrusion as best as can be expected <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This week we actually start teaching (this last week was just exams left over from last term). I am nervous because the BECE is approaching. The BECE is an external exam given all over West Africa in order to determine if students are qualified to pass from middle school to high school. I have been teaching the students who are going to take the BECE for the last two years and I hope that they will be able to do well in Integrated Science. We will see. Unfortunately a lot of them have lost their motivation and are relying on teachers to help them with the answers so that they can pass. They know not to ask me though, since I have made a recurrent spectacle of myself in regards to my opinion on cheating and my intolerance of it on my exams. This just makes me worry that the students will do great in all of their other subjects and fail Integrated Science horribly. Oh well, it's the principle of the thing, right? </span></div>
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Alright, my time with the internet is coming to a close. I should try to post this blog before the connection goes out. Thanks so much to everyone who has been praying for me! It has definitely shown itself this last month. Love and miss you and see you soon!</div>
Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04459465220854207121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124132642942426148.post-87407998884993267522013-03-02T09:58:00.000-08:002013-03-02T09:58:41.041-08:00LIfe UpdateI feel that all of my blogs start with apologies about how long its been since the last one, and this entry will be no different. Despite my efforts to use the internet in Kamabai, every time I went it seemed that the internet was not available, but now I am in Freetown and the internet here is cooperating for now. Let's keep our fingers crossed it stays on until I am finished writing this blog!<br />
<br />
Currently I am Freetown because I had a peer support training yesterday. After training we went out to an irish pub for an open mike night, where some of the PCVs performed, it was really fun. It's been nice just to chill in Freetown with other volunteers. Tonight we're going to a pizza dinner at Mamba Point to celebrate the end of girls conference and all of our hard work, which should be a good time. I'm not sure if I'm heading back to Kamabai tomorrow of Monday, it depends on if my principal can meet me here to buy the supplies for the science lab. Which by the way, I want to send a deep thank you to everyone who donated to the project, I was overwhelmed by the support. It has been completely funded now so we are just waiting for the community to get their contribution together, and then we can go buy the supplies and start experimentin!! <br />
<br />
Term two is off to a good start, I've been teaching a lot in anticipation of school stopping soon for sports. Although we still don't have a date for the sports because we're having some administrative issues (one of my principals has started working at a different school and it has been affecting the functionality of KSS). Hopefully once he actually leaves we can get a new principal and get back on track, but I hear it takes a long time to hire a new principal, so I'm not overly optimistic. <br />
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Classes have been going well, we're learning about body systems at the sss level and then physical science at the jss level. I'm learning all sorts of new things about batteries, kinetic energy and the like. And of course the body systems are a good time. I was teaching about antagonistic muscle pairs and I made this model of the arm with cardboard, string and a paper clip to explain about flexor and extensor muscles. Thanks Dad for sending those science demonstration books awhile back! In SS3 we learned about the heart beat and the students did their first science experiment ever about heart rates in different activities. It was really entertaining to watch them all jog in place for a minute. Oh and then when I told them to lay down they just looked at me like I was crazy, because how could I possibly suggest them to lay on the floor where there was dirt (Sierra Leoneons really like to keep their clothes clean). So their compromise was to push desks together and lay on those. Innovation.<br />
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The library now has a new librarian, which means it can be open throughout the school day as opposed to just being open during my free periods. I gave my SSS 1 students a reading comprehension assignment using these awesome biology books in order to force them to use the library, and I think it paid off, now more of them are coming in on their own. The downside is now I have 80 reading assignments to grade, but I think it was worth it.<br />
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Life around Kamabai has been going good. I put up a bunch of pictures recently which show how everyone is growing up ridicously fast (especially babies Christina and Randy). Everyone keeps talking about how I am going to leave soon, and saying that they want me to extend my contract. It's really hard to think about leaving, any time I do I get a knot in my stomach. It's a lot to process, thinking about leaving Salone, the awesome COS trip Dad is planning to India and Vietnam, life back in America, grad school plans, relationships formed in Sierra Leone and relationships that need to be rekindled with people back home, ahhhhhhhhh! Too much. I just have to revert back to the Salone addage "small small" and leave it to God, because at least he has a plan for my life even if I can't sort through the craziness right now. <br />
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Gonna wrap up now, so I can go get ready for our "fancy dinner", so excited for pizza!!! Love and miss you all!Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04459465220854207121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124132642942426148.post-91566837871034973322012-10-20T03:44:00.001-07:002012-10-20T03:44:24.371-07:00Over Halfway There<br />
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Mornin-O! I had to come to use the internet to email
something for my school, so I thought I would write a little blog update. Term
One is in full swing now and despite the bumpy start, classes are going well. I
have been put in charge of making the master schedule for my school, and that
has been pretty time consuming and stressful. Hopefully it will be finished soon,
as long as the teachers make up their minds about what they want to teach
everything should work out. Even though it has been really annoying to spend so
much time on it, I was able to give the teachers their own individual schedules
which makes the chances of them actually showing up for class a little better. In
addition to that I have been working on this science lab grant. We are in the
last stages of it, but I’m not sure if it will get approved because of the fact
that I only have 10 months left in country. I have been trying to communicate
the urgency of the project, but BMT transfers to all aspects of life here, and
the going has been a little slow. Hopefully it will be up and running soon.
Things in the library are going well. Kids are coming in, reading, asking to
take out books. We started a library committee so another teacher and I are
going to really focus on the library this year, making it operational, so that
next year when I go, the next volunteer can focus on something else. It’s
really great to see the kids coming in and researching for assignments, taking
books home, looking at the awesome posters Mom brought, and just taking pride
in the fact that their school has a functioning library. I’m really excited to
start working with my colleague teachers so that we can make it fit best to the
students’ and staff’s needs. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Community life is going well. Last night kicked off a
weekend spent entirely in Kamabai. I got out of school at noon (I don’t have
any classes Friday afternoons, one of the perks of making the master schedule <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span> ), cleaned my house,
cooked and hung out on my porch the rest of the day. One of my best students in
JSS 3 moved to Kamabai so he could be around for the extra classes they hold
after school hours (he lives in a village 8 miles away and was commuting to
school every day) and we had a great conversation. He is so incredibly smart
and wants to be a doctor. Hearing his story about growing up with his grandma
in the village while his parents are in Freetown, being the only one of his
siblings to go to school, walking 15 miles round trip every day to go to school
the last two years, and now moving away from his family to stay with strangers
just so he can study more, reaffirmed why I am here. Now that I am past the
half way mark of my service I have been thinking a lot about the future, being
back home, seeing my loved ones, and I haven’t really been present in my work.
Dennis made me realize that I still have 10 months to really work hard and try
my best to be a great teacher, even if it’s not the easiest thing to do . He is
a perfect example of someone who despite all of the hardships he has had to
endure, believes that God will provide as long as he continues to work hard. He
is an inspiration to me and I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to
meet amazing people like him every day. It makes up for all of the not so great
things that I have witnessed since being here. Thank you Dennis for showing me
what it means to be a true believing Christian, one who trusts completely in
God’s plan, even if it is not easy. This week you brought me back to the reason
I am here, and for that I am grateful. <o:p></o:p></div>
Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04459465220854207121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124132642942426148.post-36662793465762197282012-09-23T14:44:00.000-07:002012-09-23T14:44:49.522-07:00Back to School!<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Apologies for not writing in a few months. This summer has
been a lot of bouncing around from one place to another, and while I have been
pretty good about putting up pictures, I admit to slacking on the blog end of
things, so let’s get back on the blog wagon!</div>
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<br /></div>
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The summer was great. I stayed in Bo for a week, getting to
know the new group of volunteers and so far they are turning out to be pretty
awesome <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span>
Then there was Cody and Ivy’s wedding, which was incredibly fun. And of course
my family came to visit and that was a fantastic two weeks. Then I was off to
Freetown for a week for a mini vacation and then our mid service conference.
After that it was back to Kamabai to get ready for the start of school, which
technically was on Monday. Now I am in Freetown helping to train the new PC
response volunteers that are going to be working in the universities here
training teachers. So, hopefully by next week I will be back in the classroom
teaching! </div>
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I’m excited for school to start back up this year. I will be
teaching Chemistry in addition to Biology and Integrated Science. My middle
school kids will be taking the big test this year to see if they can move on to
high school, so I’m a little nervous about preparing them the best I can. I
think though that if they commit to coming to school, they will be able to do
fine, but, we’ll see. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who donated
materials that came over with my family. It has been the absolute best
distributing them all and seeing everyone get so excited. Everyone is so
grateful and says they are praying for everyone in America who helped them. I
am really looking forward to distributing all of the school supplies this year
as incentives to hard working students; I think it will be a great motivator.
Also all of the amazing supplies Mom brought over for the library and teaching
in general are starting to make me feel like a real teacher. I mean now I have
an actual eraser to erase the chalk board, I don’t have to use a piece of
sponge. How cool is that?! Before she left, Mom spent some time hanging up
posters in the library and the place looks great. I’ve been doing some last
minute organizing and it’s crazy how different it looks from last year. So many
thanks to everyone who donated money for textbooks! Thanks to you Kamabai
Secondary School now has 85 new books that both students and teachers will be
able to use. I am really overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity. People I have
never met gave so much to my community and it was really beautiful. It has been
such an awesome experience to see how just one little thing can make someone so
happy. All of the women are showing off with their new earrings, the little
kids love their toy cars and I can’t even talk about how cute the little girls
with their new dolls are. I’ve given out stuff to ten different families and
there are still left over things to give out at Christmas. Thanks again to
everyone that donated; it really means a lot to everyone in Kamabai.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span> </span>Since Mom and the
girls came everyone in town is asking me how they are doing. It’s awesome that everyone
knows my family now. The kids really loved the summer school that Mom and the
girls put on and when they ask how they are doing, they always ask about Miss
Kayla, Miss Kelsey and Miss Sallay (mom’s African name). And of course, Simon Says is in Kamabai to stay. Some things from summer school with the American ladies are gonna be hanging around Kamabai for awhile. </div>
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Alrighty, I’m feeling a little tired, so I will call it good
for now. Thanks again to everyone that donated, it really meant a lot to
everyone <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">:)</span></span></div>
Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04459465220854207121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124132642942426148.post-29481862117809165442012-06-27T06:46:00.000-07:002012-06-27T06:46:16.789-07:00School’s Out for the Summer!<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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I am finished with the first year of school! Exams are
graded, grades are compiled and I am on summer vacation!! So pumped. This
summer my plans consist of going to Bo to help train the new group of
volunteers, hanging out in Kamabai, traveling to visit friends and having my
mom and three sisters come and see Salone. Don’t worry Peace Corps, it won’t be
all fun and games. I have plans to really make my library awesome before the
opening of school. I want to decorate it with academic posters, fix up some
broken furniture and come up with some fun activities that will help kids get
to know the library. In addition to that I want to prepare lesson notes since I
will most likely be teaching Chemistry in addition to Biology and Integrated
Science next year. Also there is a grant that I am writing to help fix up our
science lab, but that has been a bit of a struggle to get going, so if the
community doesn’t start showing more interest I might just drop the project. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The great part about summer break so far is the rainy days
where I can put on a t-shirt and sweats (cold weather attire) and read a good
book. Also now I have more time to cook and my family hooked me up with some
bomb seasonings so my food can actually taste a little bit like home which is
nice. I now can make a killer bean, cabbage and sweet potato soup which is
perfect for cold rainy days. I even have my neighbor kids liking this strange
“American chop” as they call any food that I make. To get people to eat
anything other than rice here and have them think it is good is a struggle, so
I’m so happy that my kids like my food now and aren’t afraid to try it.</div>
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<br /></div>
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As far as the end of the school year is concerned, it went
alright. We had to cut teaching short because of the BECE (the exam kids have
to take to get from middle school to high school) which is currently going on
right now. Because my school is a testing site we had to finish exams before
the BECE started, even though school is not supposed to close until the middle
of July. Scheduling is a major struggle in this country. But my kids for the
most part did better on this term’s exams, which is encouraging. Unfortunately
a lot of them failed. For the high school students it doesn’t really matter as
long as they can get a passing average in all of their classes, since Biology
isn’t a core subject for them. But for the middle school kids in order to go to
the next grade they have to pass my subject, which only about 25% of them did.
We will see if my school holds to their promotion criteria and my class next
year is small, but I have a feeling that some kids will slip through, that’s
just how it works here. </div>
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My principal and I did have a really great meeting a few
weeks ago where we reviewed this academic year and discussed our strengths and
weaknesses. We then made up an action plan about how to fix those weaknesses
and we were able to come up with some really great ideas that I hope are able
to try and create solutions to these problems. I am so grateful that I have a
principal that is willing to sit down and have these conversations and actively
try to make a change in the school. Development is never going to come to
Sierra Leone unless Sierra Leoneons want to make a change and I am thankful
that I get to work with a staff that for the most part falls into that
category. </div>
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<br /></div>
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With the ending of the school year comes the anniversary of
my arrival in Sierra Leone. It’s crazy to believe that I have been here for one
entire year. I think that life back home has been put on pause, but anytime I
get on the internet or talk to my family I know that’s not true. My baby sister
just graduated high school for goodness sakes, how did that happen? I am so
thankful that God brought me to this country and I am happy to be doing this
work, but at the same time I am ready to go home at the end of my contract.
Being here has really made me realize what priority family and friends take in
my life and how I really don’t like being disconnected from them. At the same
time I have come to realize how location and culture can impact and change a
person and I am grateful for the opportunity to constantly challenge and shape
my attitude, my worldview and my identity. This experience so far has been one
of the most fulfilling and difficult things I have ever done and some days I’m
so happy I did it and other days I think I am crazy for moving 7,000 miles away
from everything I know. But, I value learning about the world outside my
limited Midwestern American experience and if there is anything I have done
here, learning is it. As much as I want to go home next year, I can’t imagine
leaving this place, especially my new family and friends here. With the first
group of volunteers getting ready to head home in a few weeks at the conclusion
of their two years in Sierra Leone, and the new group just arrived, a change in
my family is coming. Also PC Sierra Leone is getting a staff alteration with
our Country Director, Medical Officer and Programming Manager all being
changed. This upcoming year will be a different experience than my first year
and I hope a better one. So much of creating effective change comes with
knowing the community you live in, how to make things happen, who you need to
work with etc. Now that I have that down I hope that I will be able to be more
successful in my projects this year. I’m sure this next year will be full of
new challenges but I think that now I am better equipped to handle them. At
least I hope I am <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">:)</span></span><a href="" name="_GoBack"></a></div>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04459465220854207121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124132642942426148.post-22108805448691420042012-05-21T09:28:00.000-07:002012-05-21T09:28:06.435-07:00Tenki! Tenki! (Thank you, Thank you!)<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">I just received a package that contained some beautiful Easter cards from a class at St. Joseph’s school (the elementary school that I attended and that my mom currently teaches at). I so appreciate the cards and all of the prayers, it means so much. I enjoy reading about what is happening in St. Johns and when I share the drawings with my neighbor kids they absolutely love it. I wanted to mention it in my blog because if I send a letter now it won’t get to St. Joe’s until after school is out and I really want to make sure that the kids know how thankful I am for their thoughts and support. There were a few questions so I’ll take a minute to answer those . . .</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Q) Is it always hot there?</div><div class="MsoNormal">A) Simple answer: Yes. During the day it always ranges between 70 and 100 degrees. Sometimes at night during the rainy season it will cool off a little and I will have to cover myself with a blanket, and there was even one morning that I wore my Hope college sweatshirt (that was a glorious morning) but most of the time I am sweating. Good thing I packed a lot of deodorant.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Q) Are you close to the equator?</div><div class="MsoNormal">A) Ya, Sierra Leone is very close to the equator. That is the reason why we only have two seasons (rainy and dry) and why it is so hot. We are in a tropical ecosystem. When I was teaching about climates to my middle school class they thought it was crazy that there could be a place that was colder than here (and that people were able to live there). I showed them a picture of snow and they were amazed. Fun times <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">:)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Q) Are you having fun there?</div><div class="MsoNormal">A) YES!!!! Everyday I get to learn something new, and to a nerd like me that is the definition of fun. It’s not always the easiest thing to be away from my family and friends or the many amenities that come with living in the states, but the good days definitely outnumber the bad. (But the candy the class sent me will help with the bad days <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">:)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Q) How’s the food there?</div><div class="MsoNormal">A) The main local food here is rice with a spicy, oily, sauce. Normally it has fish, but it can also be made with beef or chicken. The main sauces consist of cooked leaves like cassava leaf, potato leaf, or a plant called kren kren. In addition to the leaf sauces they make a really good sauce from ground up peanuts and then another yummy one with tomato paste and onions. When I first came I didn’t really like the food and it was way too spicy for me. But now sometimes I find myself craving rice and sauce and the pepper doesn’t bother me so much anymore. Another perk about the food here is the delicious fruits that grow. Right now its mango season and I am in heaven. We also get fresh bananas, pineapple, oranges, watermelon and guava. Most of the time I cook for myself on my coal pot and I mainly make pasta, eggs, pizza, beans, soup or fries. Not the healthiest diet due to a lack of vegetables.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Q) How is your cat?</div><div class="MsoNormal">A) Yathiki is doing well. She is so big now! She has gotten very good at catching mice which I love because now I don’t have to hear them scratching around at night. Everyone in my village knows her name and when they pass my house they call her. They think it’s so funny how I hold her and pet her because her it’s not part of their culture to show affection to animals. But they just attribute this behavior to the fact that I’m a weird foreigner <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">:)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Q) What kind of animals have you seen there?</div><div class="MsoNormal">A) Everyday I mostly just see cats, dogs, birds, lizards, sometimes a pet monkey. I haven’t ventured off into the bush because of the warning about snakes, but I’m sure if I went there I would see more wildlife. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Q) What is a discorama?</div><div class="MsoNormal">A) An incredibly fun program. It was like a talent show that my school put on. The four houses competed against each other for the top score. There were five judges that decided who won. The events were single dancing for boys and girls, group dancing for boys and girls, single lipsynching, duet lipsynching, drama and cultural play. It was a great time and the kids got really competitive and excited. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Alrighty, thank you again for the thoughts and prayers. I am sure that is the reason why things are going so well for me here. I can’t even begin to say how grateful I am to you all.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">For a quick update on life in Kamabai:</div><div class="MsoNormal">School is slowly starting up again for the last term of the year. The official start date was a month ago but because of some issues, we’re just now getting into the swing of things. The bright side to us not having school was that I got to spend a lot of time in the library and it looks so good now! It is so gratifying to have it look like a real library and not just stacks of dusty books. The kids are excited too, if a little bit apprehensive. The truth is, they don’t know how to use a library because they’ve never had the chance before. Books here are so scarce and expensive that most times they are kept off limits to the kids because adults are afraid they will ruin them or steal them. Which to be honest is probably going to happen a few times as I’m getting the library officially started up, but I want to believe that after the kids see the uses of having the books in the library they will learn to respect the books. My action plan now is to do one more thorough cleaning (I am in a constant battle with the dust that blows in) and then start making the library more inviting. I’ve already got some ideas about painting, making a corner for the primary school kids, and an area for the computer we’re going to get.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s another thing to be thankful for, a church from London that started working with our school this year said they found three computers for our school and at least one of them will go in the library! So hopefully next year I can start tutoring kids in computer which is something that they are so curious about. The church also asked for a list of books that we could use in the library, so hopefully we will be able to get some more books which would be awesome.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Everything with the social life is going well. Two weeks ago I went up to Fadugu to visit Sara and go to a jam that was being put on for Bob Marley Day. I didn’t even know such a holiday existed until this year. It was really fun, I always enjoy hanging out in people’s towns, seeing their schools and the people they see everyday. This last weekend I went down to Makeni to celebrate Marc’s birthday, which was a lot of fun as well.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Oh, I realized a few things that should have been on the packing list I included for the incoming trainees:</div><div class="MsoNormal">-Power adaptor: Helpful for when you want to charge things. I got mine at Best Buy for $30. It’s a Targus and has worked well and isn’t bulky like some that you will see, so I recommend it.</div><div class="MsoNormal">-Batteries: You can get these here so don’t bring a two year supply, but its nice to have a few to start you off.</div><div class="MsoNormal">- Knife: A pocket knife works. Or you can get a legit small hunting knife, whatever your style. But its nice to have something to peel cucumbers and mangoes during training.</div><div class="MsoNormal">-Headlamp: I have had the worst luck with headlamps and now just use a local light that I bought. But I know some people really like them and they are convenient. </div><div class="MsoNormal">-Snack Food: The transition to local food was rough for some of us. Having some cliff bars or trail mix stuffed away somewhere would have been a nice comfort those first few weeks.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Okay, I think that’s everything. As I said before, don’t stress, just focus on spending the last few weeks with your loved ones and get ready for an adventure! See you at PST!</div>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04459465220854207121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124132642942426148.post-85520843456706320732012-05-04T11:27:00.003-07:002012-05-04T11:27:28.601-07:00It’s almost time for a new batch of trainees!<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal">To anyone who got that blue packet that was so long awaited, congratulations! You got into the Peace Corps! And you got assigned to one of the most beautiful countries in the world, get ready for two crazy years.<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"></span></span> But first, that ever important question about what to pack . . . I remember stressing out about how I was going to fit all of my belongings for the next two years into two bags and a carry on. Fact: I use about half of the stuff that I brought. It’s inevitable that you are going to bring some things that are ridiculous, but here is a list of things that you might consider.</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span><span>1.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span><span><span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>- 1. D-light solar light/charger: This thing is awesome. It can charge your phone and ipod and is a great light. However it’s not a necessity to get a solar charger. Most sites have charging stations where someone hooks up a generator and many of us charge there, or your school could have solar power. But if you get placed in a small village, this will be very useful.</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span><span> </span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span><span> 2.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span>Clothes: Yes, bring the ‘professional clothes’ that PC tells you to bring. But don’t stress about it. I really don’t wear any of those clothes that I brought with me, you can buy cute, cheap clothes here in the market (its like thrift store shopping). The clothes that I wish I would have brought more of are the ones I wear after school (tank tops, capri yoga pants, Bermuda shorts, light dresses) those are the ones that are not the easiest to find here. If you’re a girl, bring a cute dress, we like to go out here and you will want to not look like a teacher <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span><span> </span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span><span> 3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span>Computer: If you can swing it, try to bring a computer. PC is moving away from paper handouts and is in the habit of giving us flashdrives with a lot of great resources on it. But if you don’t have a computer it’s a little difficult to access those. You will be absolutely fine if you don’t bring one (we have computers at the PC hostel in Freetown) but I’m happy that I have mine.</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"> 4.<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span>Music player/speakers: Dance parties are a must. Even if you don’t listen to pop music, pack it full of ridiculous top 40 stuff so you can jam out with your neighbor kids, that will be the only American music they have a chance of knowing (Akon and Rihanna preferably).</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"> 5.<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Locks: Tsa approved locks for your luggage. PC gives you a padlock for your lockbox so don’t bring one. I think I have like three padlocks floating around my house that I don’t use.</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"> 6.<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Shoes: For girls: One or two pairs of cute, leather sandals to wear to training and to teach in. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>before I came and I never wear them. I also brought those silly croc ballet flats. DON’T BUY THOSE!! They suck in the rainy season, I was constantly slipping out of my shoes and as someone already disposed to clumsiness, that was not good. You can get pretty durable flip flops here. But it’s hard to find dressy sandals that won’t break in a week, so if you can find those, bring them.</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"> 7.<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Luxury Items: Bring some jewelry if you want. In the culture here it is strange if a woman doesn’t wear earrings so bring a few pairs.<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span><span> 8.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span>Towel: Those tech dry ones are cool<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span><span> 9.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span>Toiletries: The basics; shampoo, deodorant, makeup, body spray, face wash, razors etc. You can get the stuff here but it’s nice to have American quality for awhile. I’m still using my shampoo from the states and I just brought a regular sized bottle. Bring two big tubes of toothpaste, it’s nice to feel Crest minty clean. And you’re gonna use a lot of deodorant because its frickin hot here, always.<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span><span> 10<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Kindle: I had one sent to me. One of the volunteers here has a file of over a 1,000 books, enough to keep you busy for two years, so once you get that you are set. The battery lasts awhile which is nice. It gets dark around 7 pm here and when you don’t have electricity the only thing o do really is read, so this will come in handy. Again, not a must (we have a huge library of regular books that are constantly being shuffled around) but it’s nice to have.<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span><span> 11.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span>Camera: Some people have really nice, big ones, others have small point and shoot varieties. Whatever works for you.<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span><span> 12.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span>Gifts for your host family: They give you a place to stay for ten weeks, hook them up with some American goodies. Gift ideas include: American flags, novelty items from your state or university, candy (not chocolate, that shit will melt as soon as you get off the plane) bubbles, silly bands, bouncy balls, anything from the dollar store, just go crazy. They will love whatever you give them.<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span><span> </span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span><span> 13.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Spices for cooking: You can always get these sent to you, so don’t stress if there’s no room. Basil, curry, cumin, beef/chicken bullion etc. Whatever you use at home. You can buy onions, garlic, black pepper and thyme in the market so you’ll survive even if you don’t bring these.<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span><span> 14.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>School supplies: Most things here are made pretty shoddily so you will appreciate a good Bic pen and woe the day when you realize that they have slowly but surely all gone missing, so bring a few with you. You can get most school supplies here, they just are a little expensive for the good ones, so if you have room throw some in, if not don’t stress about it.<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> For teaching I recommend a good textbook for your subject. For science though you might want to wait until you get your assignment because you could be teaching biology, chemistry, physics or integrated and you don't want to waste space on the wrong book. But one good high school bio book, or middle school science book would help. For math maybe a workbook with middle school problems and for English I've heard grammar books are helpful.</span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span><span> 15.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Water bottles: Two nalgenes are pretty standard fare amoung PCVs. I prefer the narrow mouthed ones for traveling because that way you don’t soak yourself with water when attempting to drink on bumpy roads.<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span><span> 16.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Things not to bring: Sunscreen or any meds(you get that in your med kit), ugly clothes (you won’t wear them),<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> anything really heavy</span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span><span> </span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span><span> 17.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Water proof backpack: Rainy season is no joke. To prevent all of your stuff getting soaked repeatedly get one of these bad boys. Or a dry bag for your electronics that you can stuff inside a normal back pack will be fine too.<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span><span> </span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span><span> 18.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>I probably forgot a bunch of important things but honestly whatever you bring, you will make work. If you absolutely need something you can get it sent to you. Try not to stress about this, I brought way too many unnecessary things that just wasted space and contributed to back pain after lugging all of that baggage around the country. Try not to spend a lot of money. You are not going on a two year vacation or expedition, this is still ordinary life, you will still want and value the same things even if you are 7,000 miles away from home. Flexibility, my friends, the true characteristic of a Peace Corps Volunteer <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"></span></span></div>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04459465220854207121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124132642942426148.post-64337978318163727822012-04-21T13:03:00.001-07:002012-04-21T13:03:48.109-07:00Spring Break 2012Greeting from Freetown! I have been here since Monday taking in all of the luxuries like electricity, running water, internet and delicious food. It's going to be difficult to go back to site tomorrow, but school starts on Monday, so back to Kamabai I go. This week I came primarily for a Peace Corps training on life skills which was very informative. We learned a lot about ways to approach girls empowerment, teenage pregnancy and other difficult issues that we don't get to address in our formal classrooms. I have a lot of new ideas and hopefully once I get back to site I can begin to figure out the ones that will work best for my community. In addition to the Peace Corps stuff, I've been able to spend a lot of time with friends which has been great. It's so nice just to sit around talking or watching a movie because we don't get to see each other that much. We've been going out, to the beach, restaurants and shopping. I have been eating so many vegetables, it has made me so happy! They are really expensive here, but well worth it since I don't get yummy things like bell peppers, avocados and tomatoes in my town. Freetown has so many delicious things, like today we found a place that has pizza. Real pizza that tastes sooooooooo good. I had to take a picture of it before we ate it because I was worried that our friends wouldn't believe us when we described it.<br />
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On the trip into Freetown earlier this week Kim and I got a ride with a famous Sierra Leoneon rapper. I was star struck. This guy is on the radio all the time and everyone knows him here. When we got into Freetown, word got out that it was him and while we were stuck in traffic our car got mobbed by screaming fans. It was a little traumatic, but everything turned out okay. I mean only in Sierra Leone would this happen to me, crazy. <br />
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But tomorrow it will be back to the village and teaching. This week we are supposed to finish up exams from last term. Before the break the kids took their integrated science exam and the results were not encouraging, as I expected. A very low number of students passed which was disheartening. So a lot of this term will be review of what we did last term. The senior students will have my biology exam this week and I don't think they are going to do that great since its been a solid 7 weeks since we've had class. But one can always hope.<br />
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The SSS III students have begun to take their external exams that they need to pass to graduate and go on to tertiary education. It's a staggered schedule and the exams take over a month to complete with each student sitting eight subjects. Even though I haven't directly taught SSS III their biology classes I did help them with extra classes after school to try and cover some topics on the syllabus that they hadn't gotten to. I was happy because students made a point to come up to me after the exam and thank me because the topics we had covered were on the exam and they were able to answer the questions. It was really nice to know that at least something I did helped them with their test.<br />
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When school first closed for the break I went to River Number Two Beach which is beautiful. I think I will definitely take my family there when they come to visit in August (so excited about that!). A small group of us went and it was a relaxing few days. Then I was back in Kamabai for a week of hanging out, cooking and reading. It rained for the first time which was awesome. I forgot how much I loved falling asleep to the sound of rain on my tin roof. Also it makes getting water so much easier. Just set a bucket outside and voila I have water to flush my toilet, so great.<br />
<br />
On my last night in Freetown I think I am going to just chill out. We did it up pretty big last night, so tonight I'm going to just get my last dose of internet, pack up everything and hang out. Gotta get back in that village mindset. Love and miss you all!Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04459465220854207121noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124132642942426148.post-3068277620129393392012-03-27T11:06:00.000-07:002012-03-27T11:06:41.918-07:00Red House Una De De?!?!?!? (Red House are you here?!?!?)<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal">Sport is finished. It was crazy fun, but I can’t really condone any activity that eats up a month of school time. Nevertheless when it came time to the actual events, the two day discorama, and the two day track and field meet it was a good time (see facebook for pictures). First came the rama, my favorite event. Not all schools have a rama I learned from other volunteers, so I was pumped that my school thought that this talent showesque event was worthwhile. My house (red house) dominated. I was so proud of the kids for working so hard to come first. The format of the rama was two days (Friday and Saturday). It was supposed to start at 9:30 pm but because nothing here ever starts on time, we would get started around 10:30 and would go until all hours of the morning. The first night I toughed it out and stayed until it finished at 3 am. The second night 3 am came and went and we still had two events left and with four houses doing each event I knew there was no way that I was going to make it so I went home. They didn’t finish up until 5 in the morning! Crazy kids. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The rama was so much fun though. First everyone gets really into supporting their houses. There was so much smack talk for the weeks leading up to the event. Thank God my house killed it, otherwise I would have been eating some serious humble pie.I got all decked out for the event with everything red. Shirt, shoes, earrings, headband, nail polish, bracelets, all red. My house was by far the most energetic, yelling and jumping every time it was our turn to perform. Part of your score is how loud the audience claps for you and how many people come up and throw money at the performer, so we had that part on lock. My favorite events were single dancing for boys and single dancing for girls. The boys were awesome. Breaking and locking better than anything I had seen in any music video. The performer for green house was one of my JSS II students, Mohamed, who is 12. He seriously killed it, it was so cool to watch. The girls, oh man how do I even start describing that event. Let's just say that there was so much booty shaking and getting low that if I hadn't been exposed to this kind of dancing for 10 months it would have made me feel uncomfortable. They used muscles that I didn't even know existed. I bet that I looked ridiculous standing at the front of the stage watching in awe as they broke it down, but it was so cool I couldn't help myself. I tried to take a video but my camera doesn't do the best at night and it didn't turn out so you will have to take my word for it, these kids can dance.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">After all of the lip synching, melo drama and booty shaking fun of the rama we had a week to 'train' for the sport. For me this meant chilling at my house, working in the library, writing lesson notes, cooking and just hanging out. I got a little sick this week so it was nice not to have to teach. I only went to the field once to watch the kids train but it resulted in a fight between the kids over where I would stand, with my house, or with the person who brought me, a member of green house. By this point I was a little fed up with people losing their temper when anything competitive comes around so I just left. The actual 'sport' was on Friday and Saturday starting in the afternoon and going until it got dark, around seven. Red house performed well, but we still don't know who came first because they haven't announced the results yet. We weren't able to do all of the events because there was some drama and starting late of course so it is still up in the air, which makes a lot of people mad. Oh well, small small. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Now we are in the interim before we give exams. I'm not too optimistic about the results of these exams. I mean we haven't had school for a month and when I was doing some reviewing with the handful of kids that did show up to school this week, they have not been studying in their time off from school. I can only hope for the best though. School will close next week Thursday and then it's break time! Not that I really need a break, I've had a month off from teaching. But I am going to go to Freetown for a couple days (we have a training) and hopefully a beach. I haven't been out of Kamabai for awhile so it will be nice to take a mini vacation. I'm excited for this weekend though because it is my friend Sara's birthday so a bunch of us are meeting up in Makeni to go to lunch and have a pool party at the hotel. And of course later going out dancing. It will be nice to catch up with everyone. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Alright I think I have thoroughly exhausted this topic. Sorry for the rambling. Love and miss you all!</div>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04459465220854207121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124132642942426148.post-39468480453344720902012-03-14T07:26:00.002-07:002012-03-14T07:26:55.063-07:00Discoramas and Chickens<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal">Since I am basically on break from school I figured I would use some of my new found free time to update you all on what is going on over here. Currently, my school is in full swing of ‘sport’ effectively ending school until end of term exams. Last week and this week have been spent training for the upcoming ‘disco rama’ which will take place this Friday and Saturday. We were supposed to have classes in the morning and then training in the afternoon, but as soon as training was announced everyone left. Sure a handful of kids will show up on any given morning, but since there are not enough kids to hold class, they are just put to work building our stage for the rama. I mean I wouldn’t come to school either if I had to go tote water and stones for the stage, so I can’t really blame the kids. Also the stage for the rama isn’t completed and we’re supposed to be dancing on it in two days, so I’m curious to see how that will work out. Regardless of the ineffectiveness that sport has induced on my school, I’m still pumped to see the final product. I am a teacher in red house, so I have been attending the red house practices for the rama and the kids are spending a lot of time getting ready for this performance. I wish they would spend half as much time studying, but I mean what’s more fun, reading about the Euglena or breaking it down with your friends? I really hope that my house wins the rama, or at least does well. One of the teachers brought his friend from Makeni to train the kids, so this is serious stuff. Everything here is so competitive though, I know the kids will be really disappointed if they don’t win. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span></span>I went to Makeni yesterday to prepare for the sport which meant buying a crapton of red things, since I do not own anything of that color. But now that situation is remedied. I will be bluffing hard core with red sunglasses, jewelry, headbands, sandals and clothes. I’m going to look ridiculous and I can’t wait. I guess I will never get away from red, despite the protests from my hair which clashes wonderfully with that color. Once a Redwing, always a Redwing. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Oh my goodness yesterday going to Makeni I had one of the most uncomfortable yet hilarious transportation situations. As you may or may not know, I am more than a little afraid of birds. Especially chickens. This stems from an incident I had with a certain parrot that escaped from its cage while I was house sitting and in my attempts to get it back in its home it bit me a few times. Not fun. Anyways, yesterday I was sitting in the back of a poda poda (a large Scooby Doo esque van) and everything was fine. Then a guy with a chicken gets in and sits behind me, with the chicken touching me. Now, being in transport with animals is not an unusual thing. I have traveled accompanied by goats, sheep and chickens aplenty, but normally they have the decency to give me my space. I had adjusted myself so the chicken wasn’t touching me when the apprentice puts a bag of three ducks right at my feet. In a poda poda it is not like I can switch my seat or put my feet up, there is just no space, so the only thing left for me to do was to ‘bear’ as they call it here, which means to just deal with it. Even though I thought I was doing an excellent job masking my discomfort after the second bump where I jerked my foot away from a duck bill, the lady next to me started cracking up and telling everyone in the poda that the white woman was afraid of the ducks. Awesome. When we got to Panlap, which is a town just a few miles outside of Makeni the dude with the chicken got out and I breathed a little easier. That is until another dude with THREE chickens got in and promptly set them down right next to the ducks. Like was there any other place in that huge van that those chickens could have gone? Did they need to be right next to me? I seriously contemplated hopping out and walking the rest of the way, but I didn’t because I have made it through a lot worse things in things in this country. If I can bathe in a community latrine I am not going to let six feathered creatures get the best of me. As soon as we reached Makeni though I was out of that poda ridiculously fast. This experience just went to show me that some things about me will never change, especially my unfounded fear of anything with a beak. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Well that about sums it up, I promise to take lots of pictures at the rama and sport and to eventually get them up online so you all can see. Hopefully, Mighty Red House will be victorious! </div>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04459465220854207121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124132642942426148.post-64014153041519514412012-02-17T10:16:00.000-08:002012-02-17T10:16:47.221-08:00Term Two Continues . . .Hello all!<br />
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I'm currently in Freetown for the weekend, so I get to enjoy unlimited internet at the hostel, awesome. Also, we have electricity and actual showers here, living in luxury :) Since I have some time to kill (waiting on my friends to get in to the city) I figured I would write a quck post while Cat and I are absorbed in the interwebs.<br />
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Things at site are good. Just truckin away with second term. We finished our test one this week, so I've been working my way through those. Unfortunately, the results aren't that great. Since I actually started teaching the first week, a lot of the kids who just started coming to school didn't have the full note, or weren't there for any of the explanation. I know that these are things that are out of my control, but I can't help feel responsible when only 8 kids out of 50 pass the exam. Back to the drawing board, to try and figure out how I can get those scores up!<br />
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I don't actually have anything monumental to write about, so I'll just include as many random stories as possible. I apologize in advance for the disjointedness that is about to ensue. <br />
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A few weeks ago, Seray's dad sent a chicken for me. She was amused when I told her that I didn't want it to stay in my house for the few days before we cooked it. (If you don't know, I have a weird fear of birds, even if they are tied up at the feet). After a few days we cooked it which was quite the process. I've watched this happen a few times, and one day I want to be the one actually doing it, but goodness gracious is it complicated. First you have to kill the chicken, but girls can't kill it, a man has to because if a woman kills a chicken it will curse their future children. Gonna get around that one some how. After that, you boil water to pour on it which makes the feathers easier to pluck out. Then you wash the chicken and roast it quick. Then you butcher it, which is by far, the most complicated part of the process. When you are done seperating the edible parts from the unedible parts you steam it for awhile. Then finally you get to cook it, we decided to fry it. To go with the fried chicken I sauteed green beans and radishes with some yummy seasonings. The lady who works at the greenhouse at the mission hooked me up. It was so nice to get some veggies :) The best part of the meal was when I made some instant cheesey potatoes that my mom sent me. All you have to do is boil the water and then stir in the mix. Seray was astonished and didn't believe me when I told her it was done cooking and we could eat it. I shared the meal with Seray, her brother and my friend Mohamed. They didn't like the vegetables but they loved the chicken and the potatoes. It was fun to mix some American food in with Salone ingredients. Cooking is always a good way to spend time with people in my community and perpetuate the idea that I eat crazy American food :)<br />
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Valentine's Day was huge here. In Kamabai we had an outing and a jam with artists and DJs coming from Makeni. I didn't go to the outing (which is like a jam during the day) but Jessie and Chelsea came in from their sites to hit up the jam. It was really fun. Everyone was bluffin hardcore with their Valentines' red on. The funniest moment had to be when a boy was pushing around a stroller with a cooler in it all around the dance floor. Inside of the cooler is what they call 'ice' which is a kind of frozen yogurt sweet treat. I mean I understand you want to sell, but people were breaking it down and the stroller almost got tipped over a few times :) We ended up leaving early before the artists got there, because we had school the next day, but it was still really fun. <br />
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Hmmm sorry can't think of any more stories and the internet is extremely distracting today, so this will be a short and sweet post. Love and miss you all!Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04459465220854207121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124132642942426148.post-80497905521396035872012-01-23T11:29:00.000-08:002012-01-23T11:29:12.861-08:00Getting Back in the Swing of ThingsChristmas break was great, but now it is back to reality and responsibilities, hmmph. We have just started our fourth week of school, so that means that now the kids are finally showing up consistently. Which is frustrating because I've been teaching some difficult stuff, especially in SS and the kids that are just now coming are completely lost. I've debated with just doing blow off stuff the first few weeks, but I can't bring myself to do it. Our class time is so limited as it is, and there is so much information to cover for the external exams that I have to teach material, there really isn't any time to waste. Talking about what I'm teaching, I'm currently trying to teach cellular respiration to my SS students. Struggle. I love them though because even though they think I am crazy and talking some weird science language, they are right there with me concentrating so hard and really trying to understand. I might have to explain it a million times, and it will definitely take awhile, but I am confident that they can get it. Regardless, prayers are always appreciated :)<br />
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With my JSS kids I'm trying to wrap up ecology with food chains/webs and we are coming into the different cycles (nitrogen, water, calcium etc.). I get a little frustrated sometimes because the JSS are the kids that have to do the work around the school which lately has meant making cement blocks for a stage that they are building. Because of this work they are often pulled out of class when I am teaching, especially one of my classes which is now so far behind. I don't have that many free periods so I haven't been able to make up the lost time. Today they made kids leave school if they had not paid their school fees, effectively ending school for the day because there were only about 5 kids in each class that had actually paid. Instead of getting frustrated with how far behind we were getting, I took all of the JSS 2 kids left (only 12 out of 150) and we went to the library. We actually have some really good lower level science books with lots of pictures and simple explanations of the things that they are learning, so we spent an hour and half just having them read the books and go through the pictures. They would ask me to help whenever they didn't know a word or didn't know what a picture was. It was really fun to try and explain to them how diverse life on Earth is and how even I had never heard of some of the plants and animals that they were asking about. I was really happy because these kids chose to stay and learn when they could have gone home. And it was really great because there were so few of them that we could laugh, be more informal and get to know each other better, all around making a positive experience out of a sucky situation.<br />
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I'm planning on meeting up with Cat to go visit Kim up in Rokupur this weekend, which I am really excited about. The Congotown Crew will be reunited! (We all lived next to each other in training in the part of Makeni called Congotown) I've been to Kim's site once, but only for one night, so it will be fun to really see the place. All of our sites and schools are so different, and I love going and visiting friends because then you get to see what they are experiencing everyday, who they talk to and where they go, which is really fun.<br />
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Overall today was a good day. After school I was going for a walk with my lapa tied (finally I have mastered how to tie the 2 yards of fabric called a lapa as a skirt without it falling down all the time), my hair braided, sucking an orange (they don't eat the whole thing here, only suck the juice) and greeting everyone in Krio and Limba. I realized that I'm finally starting to fit in here. Yeah I have a long ways to go, but you have to give credit to the good days, and today was definitely one of those.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04459465220854207121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124132642942426148.post-78427238880616542822012-01-17T07:44:00.001-08:002012-01-17T07:44:28.973-08:00Belated Christmas Post<div class="MsoNormal">I wrote this on December 27<sup>th</sup> when I went to the mission to update this blog but then realized that everyone had gone to Freetown and there was no internet. So it’s a little late, but better late than never I guess.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Happy Christmas!<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">A belated Merry Christmas to you all! I hope that this holiday season has been filled with fellowship, festivities and of course delicious food. What I would give for some cabbage rolls, Grandma Ellie’s corn and of course those chocolate covered peanut butter bits of heaven called buckeyes. Earlier this week my friends and I listed all of the holiday foods that we were craving, which I realize now in retrospect was slightly masochistic since none of those things are available here. Oh well, there will be plenty of Christmases when I get back to indulge in all of those holiday treats. Christmas in Salone was different, but still a lot of fun. We are currently in the throes of ‘festive season’ as they call it here, the time right before Christmas until New Years. This means that almost every day there are football matches, dances or ‘outings’ which is like a picnic with a DJ. On Christmas Eve, one of my PCV friends came to Kamabai and we went out clubbing in Makeni, ya know because that’s a normal thing to do to get a person in the holiday spirit <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span> <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">On Christmas morning we went to church and it was so awesome to see everyone all decked out in their Africana dress and fancy hairstyles. Even the little kids were bluffing (showing off) with their twenty five hair clips covering their entire head and painted finger nails. After church I showed Cat around Kamabai, we got some food and then took a nap before we went to the football game. For Christmas dinner we had acheke which is a delicious medley of gari (ground cassava root), macaroni, gravy, onion, egg, potato, meat, mayonnaise, and ketchup. Acheke is different every time you get it. It can also include beans, cucumber, cabbage, lettuce, spam, or if you want the expensive kind, even chicken. The acheke lady in my town has a habit of not ever being at the table to sell the acheke so I’ve gotten used to just making it for myself and leaving the money for her. So if the whole going to grad school thing after PC doesn’t work out, there is always the option of opening up an acheke business. Also I realize that acheke might sound like a ridiculous combination of ingredients, but take my word for it, whoever created this culinary phenomenon is a genius, the stuff is really good. Anyways, the rest of the day was pretty chill, we hung out, read some People magazines (thanks Mrs. Cormier!) and just talked. A lot of our PC experience is pretty individual so when we do get the chance to meet up with other PCVs it is nice to just hash out some of the things that we’re all going through, and of course to share funny stories about cultural misunderstandings. There was a really big Christmas dance that night, but we didn’t make it because we were tired and both having some stomach problems. We had just gotten back from Bo, and it’s pretty normal that anytime we travel and eat food at a different place, there are going to be some digestive issues. That has gotten a lot better since we first arrived, but I don’t think we’ll ever be fully adjusted to the food here. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">So, on the whole Christmas was great. I am happy I chose to spend it in my community because Kamabai is my home in Salone and the place where I feel the closest connection to people. Yes, I admit it wasn’t a traditional Christmas, but it was still fun, shared with people that I love and at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter about the specifics of how you spend Christmas. What really matters is the presence of the Christmas spirit, rejoicing in the coming of Christ, being thankful for all of the opportunities and gifts He has bestowed on you, and wanting to share those opportunities and gifts with others. As long as that underlying spirit is there, it doesn’t matter your geographic location, because Christ is everywhere and in everyone. I love and miss you all and wish you a happy holiday season!<o:p></o:p></div>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04459465220854207121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124132642942426148.post-82460751988950177242011-12-09T06:43:00.000-08:002011-12-09T06:43:30.993-08:00Christmas Break!Oh exams week. I have been so crazy busy these last few days, giving exams, marking papers, and calculating final grades. It's so nice to be done! Now that I'm done I have to do some small work on a presentation for our upcoming PC training in Bo, try to finish the World Map mural that I've been working on (pictures soon, I promise) and get my house ready for being gone for over a week. I can't believe that the term is done. I feel like we were just getting on a role and now the time is up. It's a bit of a milestone though, six months in country and one teaching term under my belt and I feel a little bit accomplished :) I have learned so much these last six months and I am so excited to continuing learning and developing as an educator, positive female role model, and community member.<br />
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My birthday is coming up on Monday, and I think I may have been talked into throwing a party, which means food, dancing and a ton of people. Not ideal for my last day before I leave on a trip, but I will make it work. It's a birthday present enough to be seeing all of my PCV friends that I haven't seen in ages. It will be so nice to catch up with everyone and compare notes, talk teaching, and just take a break from teaching and community integration. I love living in Kamabai, but a little break will be nice.<br />
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I hope that everyone's holiday season is going well. I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas in case I don't update this before then. It doesn't even feel like December here. The weather is currently 80 degrees and sunny. It's funny though because at night it has been getting cold (let's say 55 degrees) and everyone has been complaining about it. They all think it's so funny when I say that I like the cold and the place that I come from is much colder than this. They can't really fathom how it could get any colder and you could not be sick all the time. So that's a fun thing to try and explain.<br />
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Oh! Earlier I posted a picture on facebook of me toting a bucket of water on my head and I joked about being able to tote the big bucket one day. Well I actually did tote that big bucket this week and we had to walk a lot farther to get water this time so I felt very African. I caused quite the uproar as I was passing and a few people even took my picture on their phone. So now their background is some white girl with a bucket of water on her head. Awesome. Anyways, I was proud of myself and wanted to share that little success story with you.<br />
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Finally, I just want to say thank you to everyone who has sent me birthday or Christmas cards. Especially everyone from St. Joseph's (thank you Mrs. Snyder!!). It was so nice to receive those and know that people are praying for me and my students.<br />
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Alright, I don't really have anything else to say. I will try to put up pictures soon, after I the holidays I'm sure I will have more pictures to put up, since Kamabai is supposed to be hopping during the season. Love and miss you all!Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04459465220854207121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124132642942426148.post-14964266797152303992011-11-07T03:22:00.000-08:002011-11-07T03:22:03.449-08:00Five Months In<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I apologize for not writing for such a long time. To be honest, this last month has been a little rough and I didn’t really feel like reiterating my struggles to you all. But, don’t worry I am doing fine, it is just starting to sink in that this job is not going to be easy. Not that I expected it to be easy, but now the specific challenges are arising and the problems of gender inequality and a struggling education system are no longer abstract concepts, they are my everyday life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am still figuring out how best to tackle these challenges, and right now I am just doing a lot of observing , which can be frustrating when I just want to jump right in and start making things happen. But I understand the importance of knowing the culture in order to make any change relevant and sustainable, so for now I am just taking it all in. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">School is going, slowly. SSS I started coming last week, so now I am teaching two classes of SSS I and two classes of SSS II Biologyin addition to the three classes of JSS II Integrated Science. With four periods per class, I’m one busy lady.I really enjoy teaching the SS kids. The classes are smaller, they are better behaved and I really like teaching Bio. Most of my students at the SS level are boys, so they all try to impress me, like their 15 year old selves have a chance, but hey if it gets them to study, I will continue to keep making a big deal out every right answer. I have some really bright students and I’m excited to be their teacher for two years. I think it is getting easier for them to understand me too which is a bonus. Now that SS I has come I have to remind myself to speak extra slowly again. I forgot to do that at first and they looked at me like I was speaking Chinese. Speaking of SSI, I am happy that they are here, because now I have all of my students, but at the same time, I now have eighty more names to remember, and they are hard names too. It is really difficult to remember a name that I</span><a href="" name="_GoBack"></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> can barely say, but I try and they appreciate that. Plus, learning their names is necessary for classroom management; I need to be able to call people out when necessary. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">JSS is a different story. They are let’s say, energetic. The classes are larger, they have a much harder time understanding me and they are less interested in school. It is a little crazy how the school system here slowly cuts down the number of students from year to year. JSS I currently has over 400 students, but SSI only has 80. I try not to think about where those other 320 students went and just focus on teaching the kids that want to learn, but it definitely is something to get used to. I do have one JSS class that I really have come to like. They do all of the silly comprehension checks I ask them to do. We laugh together when I make them say big words like commensalism and ampere and they can’t get it the first few times. And there are a few kids who I think really like science and are excited to learn. At least I hope it is that and not just them trying to impress the white person. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Community life has had a few ups and down recently. On Friday, one of my neighbor kids died. It was a real shock to me. When I got home after school on Friday I was told that Lamin had fallen down with convulsions and they had taken him to the Catholic mission. Later that night I was woken up at 1:30 in the morning by wailing of multiple people. I could make out some of what they were saying and from what I had heard from other PCVs I knew that this meant that Lamin had died. I had no idea what to do. I decided to stay inside and wait until morning. On Saturday morning I woke up and it was confirmed that Lamin had died. I went over to their house and sat outside with a congregation of women while the burial arrangements were being made. They were just finishing washing the body when I went over there. When they carried him out of the house covered in a lapa, I almost lost it. Lamin was only four years old and one of the kids that was always on my porch, break dancing, laughing and eating all of the weird American food I cook. I still can’t really believe that he is gone. And his parents, I can’t imagine what they are going through. His dad is a teacher at my school and his mom is one of the women that I talk with every day, one of the most kind and sweet people I have met here. She is currently about seven months pregnant and has a one and a half year old to take care of, so there isn’t much opportunity for her to grieve. Lamin was their first born son, so that, compounded with his age and the suddenness of his death makes his dying even more of a big deal here. The part that really breaks my heart is that my next door neighbor boy Arnold, who is four also, has no idea what happened to his best friend. He talks about how they ‘don put Laminna di gron’ but I don’t think it has really sunk in because he has been so happy these last few days. It’s going to be so hard for us all when he finally realizes that Lamin isn’t coming back.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The same day that everything was going on with Lamin’s burial, there was a wedding in my town, which is a huge deal because not many people can afford to have a big wedding ceremony. I accidently joined the church choir, so I had to go, which ended up being a good thing for me, to get out of the house and be surrounded by people that were happy and celebrating. The marriage took place in the Catholic church, so it followed the format that I was used to, but apparently the actual, traditional part took place a few nights before in the village of the woman. One of the teachers at my school was explaining to me that there is this process of the man giving the woman’s father money and cola nuts, very old school dowry business. But the mass in the church was the same as any Catholic marriage in the U.S. I loved seeing everyone done up in their fancy Africana and all the women with their hair all done and decked out in jewelry. After the church part there was a reception, that I missed most of, but when I showed up around 10:30 they were bringing out the food, so it was perfect </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After the food, there was dancing of course. It was fun, but a bit strange because a lot of my students were there and more than one of them tried to dance with me. I’m still getting used to the fact that my SS III students are mostly my age or older. At least I don’t actually teach them, I’m just their form master, so I’m in charge of taking attendance and doing their report cards. But still, it was weird seeing them drinking and dancing and everything else that happens at jams. I left early, around 1, so I think it was a good compromise between having fun and still being a respectable teacher. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Overall, I’ve learned a lot this last month and I’m starting to get into the routine of teaching, integrating and trying not to make a complete fool of myself. My strategy is to keep smiling and working hard. Love and miss you all.</span></span></div>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04459465220854207121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124132642942426148.post-14383854161323915452011-10-07T10:20:00.000-07:002011-10-07T10:20:34.192-07:00"Busy Ballay Biology Bangura"Quadruple B. That is what one of my teachers called me the other day while we were joking about how busy I was with teaching, working in the library and everything else school related. While busy, life has been good. The library is coming along, last Saturday I was working in there with one other person and before I knew it about six kids were in there helping us to wipe the books, taking off their own shirts to wipe when I ran out of towels. I'm pretty sure it was just because they wanted to listen to K'naan blasting from my ipod speakers, but I regardless I was grateful and once again surprised by their willingness to help. When we finished wiping for the day I let them look through some of the books and it just reaffirmed why I was attempting what seems a very dubious project. They were so excited and asked me many questions about the things that were pictured in the books, like space ships and foods that they had never seen. I am very excited for when everything is cleaned and organized and the library will be ready for the kids to use.<br />
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Sorting books in the library has been kind of fun. There was a whole cupboard full of old books from the fifties and sixties that bore a stamp on the inside saying 'discard,' 'for donation,' or even 'obsolete.' I can't help but wonder about the places that these books came from, who has read them before and how they ended to be in my little school library in Kamabai. All I know is that I am glad that they are here and I am going to make sure that the good intentions of whoever did donate them are realized when the kids actually get to read them.<br />
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This week has been good, not all of the students are coming yet, which is crazy to me because I'm having my first test in Biology next week. But the students that have been coming I've been getting to know and it's been just another example of the overabundance of welcoming and friendliness in Salone. I've been getting into a rhythm of lesson planning, teaching, cooking and cleaning, it is a little bit like I'm a real adult now, weird. The only problem is that many of my students at the SS level (the equivalent of high school in the U.S.) are my age or older and don't have any qualms about professing their love for me or telling me that we should get married. Awkward. Just another challenge of being the only white person in town. Today at the football match between Red House and Blue House I was acutely aware of my skin color. There is no sense of anonymity here which was nice to retreat into sometimes in the U.S. Here, everyone knows me, shouts my name, the kids run up and hug me, and while the majority of the time I'm fine with it, find it comforting even, today I was struck by how odd it was. From the time I entered the field and walked to the other side to stand in the shade (I'm not trying to get more freckles than have already sprouted up on my arms and face) I was yelled at so many times it was overwhelming. I just wanted to come and support my house while watching the game, but I couldn't just fade into the buzz of activity, because I was creating a new buzz of activity. I don't know if I'll ever get used to the amount of attention that I draw here. But, I realize that this attention is just based in curiosity and that is one of the goals of the PC, to share American culture with host country nationals, so dealing with the increased attention is just another part, however challenging, of my job.<br />
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Anyways . . . today I am going to a jam and then tomorrow I'm going to Kabala to meet up with some other PCVs to celebrate my friend's 25th birthday. Should be fun! I love and miss you all!Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04459465220854207121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124132642942426148.post-11372993582359843562011-09-25T08:31:00.000-07:002011-09-25T08:31:02.381-07:00Kamabai AdventuresHello all! Sorry to not be better about updating this thing. I'm going to try to start coming up to the Catholic mission once every two weeks to access internet, so hopefully I will be able to keep you all updated more frequently. A few weeks ago I discovered the Catholic Mission here and it is seriously like a little oasis. It has internet, running water, cold drinks (like with ice) and delicious food. I am so lucky to have it so close to me, but I'm a little weary of coming here too often, so I am going to limit it to twice a month because I really do love being in the village.<br />
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Anyways, school was supposed to start on Monday, but students haven't really started coming yet, so hopefully tomorrow they will come and we can start classes. Since there wasn't much teaching to do I decided to start the project of organizing our school library. I'm actually really lucky that my school has a lot of resources and support from the government. (The president's mother went to my school). The library has a ton of really great books but no one uses them. It's incredibly dirty, the first step of my work is taking all of the books off of the shelves, wiping the shelves and the books and then putting them back. Also sweeping and general cleaning, which has uncovered a few creatures that had made their home in the abandoned space, awesome. This is 'big work' as all of the people who come in to see me tell me, but I think it will be so great when it is done. I'm looking forward to getting everything set up, but I'm a bit overwhelmed by the largeness of the project. Any help with library organization would be much appreciated, I have no idea what I'm doing hehe.<br />
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It's really hard to articulate what I'm experiencing here when I write once a month, I will have to start doing rough drafts of blog posts so that you can get a better picture of what my every day life is.<br />
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I guess I can talk about all of the kids that I have kind of adopted. There are about eight kids that live around me and are constantly hanging out on my porch. They are awesome little humans. They work incredibly hard, the kids are the first ones called on for any type of domestic work like fetching water, cooking, cleaning etc. They have such great attitudes for the most part and any little luxury makes them so happy. I have loved sharing with them my kool aid, cookies, the strange food I cook and the abundance of food that people bring me. When I came back from the mission the first time, the priest sent me home with a water bottle that was frozen. I gave it to the kids, we hacked it up with knife and they ran to give it to their families. There was still some ice left and as it melted they patiently waited their turn to get some cold water and exclaimed at its coldness every time they took a drink. I tried to explain to them in my broken Krio about ice changing to water as the temperature increases, and I actually think they understood at least a little of it. Later on in the day the kids showed up with bananas, ground nuts (peanuts) and oranges for me as a way of saying thank you. I'm trying to teach them not to beg for things, to say thank you when I give them something and to share. They are getting it and always reminding each other to say 'tenki' and to not be greedy. Small small as they say here.<br />
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This last week my neighbour was in the hospital (she is better now and at home), but during the week I was the adult that the kids came to. It was interesting to be put in that position, but now after the motherly duties of holding Arnold after he fell down and breaking up a fight between Bassie and another kid,they all really feel like my family. Speaking of family, my host brother came to visit me in Kamabai. I haven't seen him for a month and it was so nice to see him and introduce him to my new family here. It was really funny how often he had to explain how he was my brother but black while I am white. He was the first person that I officially cooked African food for on my coal pot. It was a bit nerve wracking but I think I did okay, he ate it at least. I made 'stew' which is tomato paste, peanut oil, onions, eggplant, and other random things. Then you put that over rice, of course because this is Salone and everything has to have rice. It was good but lacking in some of the traditional Salone ingredients, mainly fish, msg, and hot peppers. But there has to be some compromise :)<br />
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Okay, I think that's all I have to say. If there are any questions that you have just face book me, I'm really going to try and be better about checking it now that I have free access to internet. Love and miss you all!Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04459465220854207121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124132642942426148.post-56597391781862407452011-08-22T03:51:00.000-07:002011-08-22T03:51:02.105-07:00Livin the Village LifeI am now an official Peace Corps Volunteer! The Swearing In Ceremony was a blast. Everyone dressed up in full Africana, I sported a crazy blue and gold shiny ensemble and it was great. When I arrived to the training center my Language teacher told me that I had been chosen to give the vote of thanks in Limba, the local language that I'm learning. So I quickly memorized four sentences in Limba and recited them to the entire audience. It was actually pretty cool to be greeted by the entire room in Limba. After swearing in we all went out and enjoyed our last night all together in Makeni. I left for Kamabai on Sunday and packing up and leaving my host family and friends was like leaving for the Peace Corps all over again. My mom was just sitting outside my room, looking at all of my bags and saying how much she was going to miss me. At least Kamabai is only an hour away from Makeni so I will be able to visit them often.<br />
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This week has just been a lot of hanging out at my house, unpacking, napping with my cat, reading and meeting people in town. Living in the village is kind of like being in a time warp. In order to get furniture made I talk with a carpenter, I visit the general store to buy everything from soap to eggs and everyone is so friendly and welcoming. It's kind of fantastic.<br />
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Yesterday I was able to go to my first Catholic mass while in Sierra Leone. It was beautiful. For as many things that I struggle with in the Catholic church, one of the things that I love the most is its universality. Here I was in a completely different part of the world then where I normally worship and yet I was able to be in community with everyone in that parish . The music was great and I can't wait to learn those songs and maybe bring some of them back to the states :)<br />
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Well that's all that I can really think of, if you have any specific questions feel free to email or facebook me, I will try my best to reply at least within a month. Sorry I can't be faster than that, such is life in Salone. I love and miss you all!<br />
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Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04459465220854207121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124132642942426148.post-60980669358067218692011-07-23T09:49:00.000-07:002011-07-23T09:49:55.816-07:00So rainy season= even more sporadic internet . . . .I apologize for the delay in update, but turns out that rainstorms are not ideal for good internet connection and since it is currently rainy season, access to the interwebs has been limited. Nevertheless, right now it is sunny and hopefully it will let me post this blog. I'll keep it short and sweet. In the last month I've found out my site where I will be living and teaching for two years. I will be a happy resident of Kamabai, Sierra Leone. It's in Bombali district, in the Birawa Limba chieftdom, so I've started learning Limba as my local language. It's challenging, but I love it. Now I can greet in 4 Salone languages (Krio, Temne, Limba and Mende) and I'm excited to learn more. I love the diversity that the different tribes offer and each one has their one traits that they are known for. For instance, the Limbas are known to be big palm wine people, so I hit the jackpot. On my 3 day site visit I got to see my house and my school. I think I'm really going to love it there and I cannot wait to move there in less then a month! Speaking of that I cannot believe that training will be over in 3 weeks! Just as I start to get used to an environment, PC goes and changes it on me :)<br />
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We started teaching summer school this week and I'm really glad that I have the opportunity to work out some teaching kinks before I get to site. Classroom management and teaching style is just something that comes with practice and three weeks of practice will be great. I'm teaching SS1 Biology with about 20 students and then JSS II Integrated Science with about 50 students. JSS is a bit of a challenge, those pikin are crazy, but it's probably what I will be dealing with at site, so it's good for me :)<br />
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This week we continue summer school and local language and on Friday we are all going back to Freetown to tour the PC headquarters. It will be interesting to see my impression of the city now with 2 months of living in Salone under my belt. Not gonna lie, I was pretty intimidated the first time we drove through it, Freetown definitly is chaotic.<br />
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Anyways, thanks everyone for the thoughts and prayers, they are much appreciated. Send me letters! I want to know what is going on in your lives and mail is just fun to get. :)Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04459465220854207121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124132642942426148.post-83033486293351721182011-06-28T12:46:00.001-07:002011-06-28T12:46:38.311-07:00Salone Update :)<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal">Hello again! Since my last post, things have been going smoothly. Training is going well, lots of sessions on technical aspects of teaching and cultural differences, fun fun. Last week I taught for the first time to a group of other PCTs during our first Peer Teach. It was a 25 minute lesson and the topic I taught on was parts of the cell, so surprising right? After we received feedback from our peers and tech trainers we took that same lesson to an actual school for our first micro teach. I taught at a junior secondary school (middle school equivalent in the U.S.) to a class of about 20 students. We were supposed to have three PCTs in our group of teachers, one for each subject (math, science and English). Unfortunately one of the girls in my group was sick that day so Michele and I taught an impromptu English lesson on writing directions. Flexibility, one of the PC core qualities at work my friends. Teaching was really fun and I’m excited to write lesson plans and get ready for our next peer teach this week and upcoming summer school later on in training. It’s really nice to be excited about teaching, it was one of the things that I was most nervous about. Not that I’m not still apprehensive about teaching on my own, but I definitely think that I will be able to handle it, and that is reassuring. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The host family situation is great. I found out after two weeks that my little sister’s name is not Junior two as I had thought, but Jeyatu which makes a whole lot more sense. Don’t judge me, it sounds really similar and when I repeated it after they told me initially, my family did not correct me. My Krio is coming along slowly but surely, we’ve finished all of our language sessions in Krio so hopefully I will continue to get better through practice with my family and when I’m out in Makeni.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m already using it when I’m in the market which is really fun. On Sunday a group of us went to buy some lapas to be made into clothes. A lapa is just 2 yards of fabric that you can either wrap around you as a make shift skirt or take to a tailor to have something made out 0f it. Shopping in the market is fun and I’m getting good at bargaining. Because I’m an ‘opoto’ I’m consistently overcharged and so I have to talk them down. It involves a lot of loud exclamations and explanations that “mi na pisco ticha, mi no get boco moni dem.” I’m not to the point where I get the local price, but I’m not being ridiculously overcharged, so I’m making progress. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We get to find out our sites this week so that suspense has been driving us all crazy. I’m really looking forward to knowing what subject I’m going to be teaching, what part of the country I’ll be in, what new local language I’ll be learning and what other PCVs I’ll be by. Hopefully we find out tomorrow, that would be amazing. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">To summarize the last few weeks, I’ve developed a crap ton more freckles (but just on my arms and face, my legs are severely white due to the dress code here) I’ve been able to start eating more local food without fear of deathly sickness, and I’ve accepted the fact that I will go through daily mood swings about being here. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers, they’ve been much appreciated. Love and miss you all! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04459465220854207121noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124132642942426148.post-730766810357860062011-06-13T13:13:00.000-07:002011-06-13T13:13:07.328-07:00I made it!<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style>
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<div class="MsoNormal">I have officially been in Salone for 12 days, but time passes so differently here, I feel like I said my goodbyes a month ago. Staging in Chicago was great, all of us PCTs (peace corps trainees) met for the first time and a lot of awkward small talk was exchanged. For our last night in the States we broke off into groups and went to dinner (with money the PC gave us, awesome). The group I was with went to a nice Italian restaurant and I had a fantastic ‘last meal’ which consisted of a breaded pork chop seriously covering my entire plate and a delicious arugula and tomato salad.<span> </span>Oh and wine of course.<span> </span>The next day was all about getting our yellow fever vaccinations (the first of many, many shots) and getting to the airport. Then it was the eight hour flight to Brussels which left an hour and half later then scheduled a quick dash across the Brussels airport to catch our plane to Banjul and then finally we landed at the Lungi airport after a solid day of traveling. We were greeted by the media, Peace Corps staff and oh yes, the wonderful heat that is characteristic of Salone. Craziness then ensued as we all located our bags and packed them and ourselves onto three buses to be taxied to the ferry which would take us to Freetown. From the ferry we took the buses to our hostel, dragged all of our heavy bags up four flights of stairs and then fell into bed, completely exhausted.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The next few days were spent in Freetown, within the compounds of the hostel adjacent to the national stadium. The days were spent in meetings but at night there were dance parties aplenty. On Monday our group was able to meet the Vice President decked out in traditional African clothes that the Ministry of Education had made for us. I completely destroyed my outfit in true Christina style. First I ripped my skirt attempting to jump into the back of the jeeps that were taking us back to the hotel. Then, this is a great diplomatic move, I thought it would be a good idea to get a massive nose bleed in the middle of the luncheon sponsored by the Ministry of Education. I just cannot handle having nice things. <span style="font-family: Wingdings;"><span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span> </span>On Tuesday we departed for Makeni, our training site for the next 10 weeks. We were squished onto buses for the three hour ride to Makeni, the fifth largest city in Sierra Leone. We arrived to music, dancing, and a magician of sorts performing, pretty sweet. We were able to meet our host families and head home with them. My host family is amazing. I have a mom (Mama Sue) who is so sweet. I also have a younger brother, Junior who is 17 and a younger sister Junior Two who is 12. They are so great to me.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So now I am a week into training and already feeling the rollercoaster of emotions. There are parts of the day when I am so grateful to be having this experience, like when Mama Sue gets so excited that I’m washing my clothes correctly (they call it “brooking” here). But there are also times of the day when I really want to go home, like when I found out that I take my bucket bath in the same place where half of the compound goes to the bathroom. You learn to just take it day by day, minute by minute and I know that everyone else here is going through the same thing, so there’s always someone to talk to. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">A quick shoutout to my wonderful friend Emily and her fantastic brother Micheal on today their birthday! Love you and hope you are doing splendidly! Also, Dad, happy birthday tomorrow!</div><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal">Love and miss you all!</div>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04459465220854207121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124132642942426148.post-21953442684918208092011-05-18T11:03:00.000-07:002011-05-18T11:03:12.668-07:00It's like Christmas!!Today I received the fruits of my online shopping labor. Five packages were delivered including hiking backpacks, water bottles, solar chargers, shoes and much more. With tangible items here everything is starting to become more real. As I finish packing up my room (with the help of my wonderful friend Bri), it's really starting to hit me. All of that added on to my recent donation of 10 inches of my hair (still getting used to the crazy shortness!) makes me realize that I have less then two weeks until I start this amazing adventure which simultaneously scares and excites me.<br />
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This weekend is my going away party and I cannot wait to spend time with family and friends one last time :)Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04459465220854207121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124132642942426148.post-81781728915422411752011-05-16T16:52:00.000-07:002011-05-16T16:52:26.532-07:00Let's try this again . . .My first experience with blogger has been interesting, my blog was deleted. So I remade it since it wasn't that intricate and only had one post. Hopefully it sticks this time :)Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04459465220854207121noreply@blogger.com0