ready for Ramadan

Tomorrow is the first day of Ramadan and I will be observing it by fasting during daylight hours. During the day, people are not even allowed to drink water or coffee or anything. They are also not allowed to fight, insult others, think angry thoughts, engage in sexual activities, smoke, or beat their children. The point of this fast, as I understand it, is to clear and cleanse your heart from all hateful and negative thoughts and feelings. It is to forgive others and to forgive yourself and also to be forgiven.
I will make a conscious effort to remember to stay peaceful and patient and full of love, even when my stomach is screaming. Daily yoga and meditation will help.
I will, however, probably continue to drink water, discreetly, because I get dehydrated very easily and I sweat a lot in Forécariah.
My family will be fasting too, along with most of the country, so I will get up at 5 in the morning with them to eat before sunrise and I will eat dinner with them at about 7 pm, just after sundown.
Tomorrow, the first day, will probably be hard because I'll be spending 7 to 9 hours in a bush taxi on the way back from Labé to Forécariah. Bush taxis are incredibly packed and stinky and uncomfortable. But I am choosing to see it in a different light: bush taxis can also be a moving meditation, like yoga! Although I will not be free to stretch my limbs, I will be able to breathe freely and feel my heart beating. If I can concentrate on these things, rather than the outer discomfort, I will be okay. After all, I am peace and patience and love!

Please send me love and good energy for the last part of my training. Practice school starts after next week, so I'll be teaching some summer school math to prepare for the real thing in October. Feel free to send letters, too!
I send you all love every day.

post site-visit note

Just got back from my site visit in Timbo. I was in a city called Mamou for a few days for a supervisor conference, and on Sunday I went to visit Timbo-- the place that will be my home for the next 2 years. I went with a current Peace Corps volunteer, whose Guinean name is Alhassane. He has been in country for a year and he is a teacher in a nearby village called Poredaka. He was kind enough to accompany me all over the Fouta. We stayed two nights in my house in Timbo. During the days, we walked all over the village so that I could meet important people (the Sous-Prefet, the police, the principal, vice principal, the Imam of the mosque, and more) and so that I could situate the important things in town (the school, the water pump, the market, etc).
The nearest water pump to my house is about a 40 minute walk. My school is about 30 minutes. In order to get cell phone service, it's an hour walk up a mountain! Of course there's no electricity either! Timbo makes Forécariah look like a big city! But it's all good; I will be getting the real deal Peace Corps experience.

In other news, I've changed my Guinean name to a Peuhl name since I'll be living amongst the Peuhls. My name was M'Balou Camara, but in Timbo, I have introduced myself as Madame Fatoumata Binta Barry. But you can call me Binta for short! And yes, although I'm not married I do prefer Madame over Mademoiselle because it shows more respect.
Everyone in Timbo called me Madame automatically because I guess Timbo has a substantial history of Peace Corps volunteers. My host family, the Bah family of Timbo, is constantly talking about one of their old volunteers, a certain Monsieur Paul, who was apparently the best volunteer ever. Their last volunteer, a girl from Arizona, left in the 2007 evacuation after serving four months. They have been awaiting a new volunteer since.
Oh and I will be teaching 9th and 10th grade math at my school! My vice principal said that the kids at my school are "difficult." But most Fouta volunteer teachers say that the kids are pretty respectful. Alhassane said that the secret is you just have to kick someone out the first day to establish dominance!
The kids are different in the Fouta. I mentioned earlier that the "petits" in Forecariah and Conakry love to chase after white people, yelling "foté! foté!" Well the Peuhl kids are much more reserved, and are not so quick to address us as "porto."

So I am about to go explore Labe, my regional capital, so I must leave you now, my faithful friends and family. I might try to get online again tomorrow, so email me! Otherwise, my address is the same, so feel free to send real mail as well.
I love you all!
On jaarama! (That means goodbye as well!)

On jaarama!

That's a greeting in Pular, the langauge I have started to learn. I have been assigned to a town called Timbo, in the Fouta Djalon region of Guinea and I will beging teaching in October, after training for another 8 weeks.

For now, I am still in Forecariah but we came to Conakry for the day to use the internet and visit a museum.
Forecariah is an interesting town. Electricity comes on randomly for a few hours every other night or so.
I eat a lot of really spicy sauce with white rice. It's seriously soooo spicy that it is hard to eat sometimes. And you know me! I LOVE spicy food. But seriously, it's too much here.

Training is tough but I find the joy in small things like yoga, Coca-Cola and avocados. The avocados are huge here. I live with a Susu family and they have named me "M'Balou Camara." The Camara family is pretty nice, but I also spend a lot of time at the neighbors' house. My trainee friend Scotty aka "Alimatou" lives next door and I visit her a lot and eat her food! It's much less spicy! Her host sister braided my hair the other day and it looks pretty good. Only took her five hours! I will send pics next time I am in Conakry when I have more time, inshallah (God willing)
It rains a lot.
Lots of spiders.
Mouse in my room.
Chickens. Goats. Cats. Dogs.

Keep in touch! I have only got two letters so far! Thanks to Aunt Sharon and Joy!
Bon. I love you all! Bye!