Tenki! Tenki! (Thank you, Thank you!)

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 . . .

Q) Is it always hot there?

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.

Q) Are you close to the equator?

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 :)

Q) Are you having fun there?

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 :)

Q) How’s the food there?

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.

Q) How is your cat?

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 :)

Q) What kind of animals have you seen there?

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. 

Q) What is a discorama?

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. 

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.

For a quick update on life in Kamabai:

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.  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.

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.

Oh, I realized a few things that should have been on the packing list I included for the incoming trainees:

-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.

-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.

- 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.

-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.

-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.

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!

It’s almost time for a new batch of trainees!

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. 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.

1.       

 -    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.

      

      2.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  

      

      3.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.

       4.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).

      5.  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.

      6. Shoes: For girls: One or two pairs of cute, leather sandals to wear to training and to teach in.  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.

      7. 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. 

       8.Towel: Those tech dry ones are cool 

       9.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. 

       10 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. 

       11.Camera: Some people have really nice, big ones, others have small point and shoot varieties. Whatever works for you. 

       12.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. 

       

       13.   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. 

       14.   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. 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.

       15.   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. 

       16.   Things not to bring: Sunscreen or any meds(you get that in your med kit), ugly clothes (you won’t wear them), anything really heavy

        

       17.   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. 

      

       18.   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 

Spring Break 2012

Greeting 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

Red House Una De De?!?!?!? (Red House are you here?!?!?)

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

Alright I think I have thoroughly exhausted this topic. Sorry for the rambling. Love and miss you all!

Discoramas and Chickens

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.

               

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. 

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.

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!