Welp, we're here! Vive Guinea!

I'm going strong on week 2 and honestly, I'm having  blast.  The first week all 34 volunteers stayed together in the "Peace Corps House"; basically it was like living in a fraternity house where we all spent every waking second together in our compound.  It was kind of like a vacation with a bunch of people I never met before.  We got to know each other frighteningly well those few days.  My first impression on most people was "southern tall guy"; go figure.  Of the 4 southerners (I don't count Florida), I've got the thickest accent -- needless to say, Peace Corps is a more Northern and Western draw.  But much to my surprise Peace Corps attracts a lot of 'normal' people.  That might be rude, but I'm being honest when I say that I thought Peace Corps was a bunch of hippie, tree-hugging weirdos -- not at all!

But first things first.  Anyone who knows the Peace Corps knows that things don't always go as planned.  And, they didn't.  Our flight to Guinea included a layover in Brussels, Belgium (if you're offended by our 'pat downs' by TSA you ain't seen nothing yet.)  Two girls' plane tickets accidentally got canceled and they couldn't fly with us to Guinea.  So we were down to 32.  Well at least for 2 days until the next flight to Guinea arrived.  Quite a surprising introduction to Peace Corps - Guinea.

After we adjusted to Guinea for the first few days we traveled to a smaller town called Dubreka (Doo-break-ah) and attended our adoption ceremony for our host families.  The ceremony was pretty fly; the local african percussion school played (we danced) and the town mayor came to speak.  The ceremony was a traditional way for Guineans to accept us as members of their family.  So henceforth, in Guinea, my name is Aboubakar (A-boo-ba-car) Camara. Je m'appelle Aboubakar Camara.

My family is great. I'm still trying to figure out who all I'm related too, it seems like it's the entire village, though.  Their hospitality puts the South to shame; I always get the best seat in the house, I have my own room and bathroom, I eat before everyone else and they get me soda to have as dessert.  They're also very enthusiastic about helping me learn French (which is a struggle).  And because of my 'performance' at the adoption ceremony, the first thing asked me to do when we got home was to dance for them (of course I obliged.)  Now I can't go anywhere in my village -- Yorokoguia (Yo-row-ko-gia) -- without someone wanting me to dance.

My village is just outside of town (10km) and I live near the 7 other public health volunteers and the entire village already knows us all.  Which brings me to another anecdote.  We all got bikes the other day so we rode them home.  One volunteer got light headed and dizzy so we had to pull over on the side of the road.  We called the bus to come pick her up, but on Guinean time we didn't know how long that would take. So, in broken French, we asked a woman if we could sit on her property because our friend was sick.  Of course she let us.  And not only did she let us, she brought all of us chairs and sent her son up a tree to gather us oranges.  She wouldn't even let us pay her for them.  Seems quite the opposite of what would happen in America, no?

Overall, my time has been great.  Of course, there are some things to adjust to -- it feels like 100 degrees here right now and I have a heat rash all up and down my back and arms.  I eat rice everyday, twice a day.  I don't speak French (yet).  But, if that's all I've got to complain about, then life is good!

From now on you can expect a blog post once a week or every other week.  We get internet one hour per week on Thursdays and I hope to post during that time.  See you later!  A tout a l'heure!  Shane