It's Official

I applied to the Peace Corps 1 year, two months, and 23 days ago. And now, finally, I can officially say I am a Peace Corps Volunteer. It's surreal!

The end of training went smoothly. Highlights included a talent show (I showed off my ability to lip sync to the Spice Girls), practice school awards ceremony, and farewell ceremony with our host families. The practice school awards were given out to the top three students in each class. The ceremony was held at the Lycee de Dubreka, and of course consisted of the trainees being forced to dance in front of all of our students while they crowded around taking pictures. We've gotten used to being a dancing spectacle. I was the "professor principale" (basically the homeroom teacher) for one of the Terminale classes, so I got to read off the rankings of the students and give the awards to the top three. The top student was not at all a surprise -- a girl named Maimouna Barry who is incredibly sassy but is incredibly devoted to learning English. Each of the top three students were given certificates and gifts of notebooks and pens for the coming schoolyear.

The farewell ceremony with our host families was held the morning we left Dubreka at the same location where the adoption ceremony took place, so it was nice bookends to our eleven weeks! The ceremony had lots of speeches (including one I had to give in Malinke, the local language of Haute Guinea) and dragged on as almost everything does here in Guinea, but I didn't mind because I was sitting with my favorite petites from my host fam. They got all dressed up for the occasion; it was adorable. The 4-year-old that my family decided is my "husband" spent the ceremony on my lap. The one downer is that, at the end of the ceremony when I went up to get a bowl of rice for my family, my camera was stolen... meaning all of the pictures I've taken of Dubreka and my host family in the past three weeks are gone. I'm working on figuring out a way to get a new camera, but I'm really disappointed and it was a sour note to leave on.

I've been in Conakry, the capital, since Wednesday, staying at the lovely volunteer house. We've had running water, a kitchen, air conditioning... it's unreal. Things I have eaten in the past few days: delicious omlettes and hashbrowns for breakfast, pizza (times two), salads (with LETTUCE and CARROTS ... unable to find these things in Dubreka), brownies and ice cream, the list goes on... Last night we celebrated two volunteers' birthdays that are coming up our first week at site. Julie, the country director, let us take over her house and kitchen (which feels like a little America, it's too bizarre), and we made a giant salad, mashed potatoes, chicken on the grill, and CAKE! We got to swim in Julie's pool, drink some beers, and hang out. It was lovely, and she really does feel like our surrogate mother.

We officially swore in as Peace Corps Volunteers on Friday evening. The ceremony took place on the Peace Corps compound. It was loooooooong (surprise surprise) but we were all so excited for the day to finally be here that I didn't mind. We all got matching fabric and tailored different outfits from it; we looked pretty great if I say so myself. At the end of the ceremony, we finally all stood up, raised our right hands, and recited the oath that all PCVs state and sign. It's a rite of passage (and felt a little bit like graduation all over again). After the oath there was much rejoicing and hugging. We ate a delicious dinner and proceeded to have a dance party (taking advantage of the fact that there was a DJ with real speakers) and a night of celebration.

On a heavier note, for most of our time in Conakry we've been unable to leave the Peace Corps compound due to unrest around the capital. The clashes are not part of the anti-American demonstrations that have been occuring so we are not in direct harm, but there has been some ethnic violence stemming from political strife. You can read about the situation here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/guinea-police-use-tear-gas-to-disperse-fighting-between-ethnic-groups-in-conakry-market/2012/09/21/5cbe1b7c-03e8-11e2-9132-f2750cd65f97_story.html
It's unsettling to be living in such an unstable country. Although I know I'll be perfectly safe in my little village away from Conakry, the future of Peace Corps Guinea and of the country as a whole seems to be a giant question mark. Peace Corps has evacuated Guinea twice since 2007; we are all hoping that things settle down for our sake and for the sake of Guineans.

On Tuesday I'll be leaving Conakry for INSTALLATION! I don't actually move into my hut until Thursday since I need to go to Kankan to meet the governor, but I'm really almost there. It's a terrifying and exciting prospect. The school year starts almost immediately, so I'll be busy busy busy which is definitely for the best. I'm sad to be leaving the 25 trainees that I have come to love so dearly. This group is so unique and I feel incredibly lucky to be a part of it! From here on out, I'll have internet access once a month, so I'll update my blog when I can. Thank you to everyone for all of your support. Let the real adventure begin!

Training Winding Down

I can officially say I’m at the home stretch of training, which is certainly a relief.

The past three weeks have been the busiest part of training: practice school. Everyday from 8 to noon, Guinean students from 7^th grade to Terminale (the final year of high school) came to the lycée (high school) de Dubreka for summer classes. Everyday, I taught a two-hour English class to high school students.

If you want to imagine me as a teacher in Guinea, I will paint a picture: covered in chalk, sweaty, and wearing pajamas. (Really. You can get an outfit tailored here that would be pajamas in the U.S. but that are seen as formalwear here.) Teaching English in Guinea requires a good deal of imagination. The national curriculum is underwhelming (to put it lightly) and resources are lacking (no books, just a blackboard and chalk). Students come to class with a notebook and a pen (or, at least they are supposed to, although I lent out a lot of paper and pens over the three weeks) and everything you write on the board they insist on copying down, since they have no textbooks or dictionaries. So basically as teacher, you better not tell them anything incorrect since you’re their only resource!

Some highlights from practice school:

One of the Terminale sections was actually filled with university students and graduates that had taken an interest in learning English. For that reason, their class was far more advanced than the other sections and it was a struggle to figure out what to do with them. When I taught them, I brought in a Time magazine from this past August and we dissected an article on the current drought in the U.S. Unfortunately since I don’t have access to a photocopier it had to be an oral exercise, which made it more difficult, but it ended up being a success.

My favorite level to teach is onzième (eleventh grade), the first year of English. The classes are introductory so they are focused heavily on vocabulary, rather than grammar, and vocabulary learning lends itself to more enjoyable activities (a.ka. games). Over the three weeks with my classes I played Guess Who, Jeopardy, I Spy, word jumbles, and the “line game” that we played in Mrs. Reed’s middle school French class…

I loved sitting in on other trainee’s classes, too. The 7^th grade class was around fifty students large, and was pretty crazy… although it was a much more realistic depiction of a Guinean classroom (50 students is an average class size here). The class was pretty unruly. Anytime a question is asked, students eagerly raise their hands, snap, and yell out “moi, monsieur!” or “moi, madame!” When they answer questions or when the teacher enters the classroom, they’re expected to stand.

Every Friday, we were expected to give our classes exams. That was another challenge. Cheating is rampant, and students have concocted a variety of ways to cheat with varying creativity. They sit staggered so they can see each other’s papers, hide cheat sheets in their desks, whisper in the local language, crumple up pieces of paper and throw them across the room with the answers, etc… Current volunteers have given us words of wisdom about how to handle these instances.

At the end of the three weeks, we had an awards ceremony for the stop students. Each of us listed off the top three ranking students in our classes, and they got certificates and gifts of notebooks and pens. It was nice to recognize the really motivated students.

On Wednesday, we leave Dubreka to go to Conakry. Our “swearing in” ceremony is on Friday. We spend six days in the capital, taking care of logistics, banking, shopping for site, etc. I’ll be able to update my blog once more before I head off to site. I’m a little sad about leaving my host family, but I’m ready to move on and actually get started as a Peace Corps volunteer!

On a final note… you may be curious about the political climate here in Guinea given what is going on globally. Guinea is a predominately Muslim country. Things have been calm for the most part, although today is a planned demonstration at the American embassy. We’ve been told we can’t leave the training center until further notice. However, the sentiment towards Americans is very positive here, and so far Peace Corps staff is on alert but remaining optimistic about our presence here. Hopefully it remains that way.

Thanks for reading, more to come later!

Pictures from Site Visit

My future hut and village, Cissela. I move in at the end of September.