I took the oath

And now I'm a Peace Corps volunteer, no longer a trainee. The ceremony was pleasant and brief. During the swearing in, our country director, Dan, gave a speech in which he quoted President Barack Obama's inaugural address:

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics...What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character than giving our all to a difficult task.
This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

I was moved by these words and felt proud and also privileged to be able to be someone who can afford the luxury of leaving work and life in the US behind to serve for two years in a place where I can help.

I thought of who I am choosing to be in my life, who I am striving to be. The person I choose to be is responsible, compassionate, patient and flexible. The person I choose to be is love and kindess.

I remembered something I read in Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch:

You are goodness and mercy and compassion and understanding. You are peace and joy and light. You are forgiveness and patience, strength and courage, a helper in time of need, a comforter in time of sorrow, a healer in time of injury, a teacher in times of confusion. You are the deepest wisdom and the highest truth; the greatest peace and the grandest love. You are these things. And in moments of your life, you have known yourself as these things. Choose now to know yourself as these things always.

I know that sometimes, during my two years here, I might lose sight of this. I might forget my purpose and wonder what am I doing here? But I will try to remember to remind myself who I am and who I choose to be. I choose hope. I choose love.

Anyway, then we ate rice and sauce and drank mango juice! We thanked Ousmane, our incredible training manager and all of our language and technical trainers who helped us learn how to speak and function in Guinea's educational system. We thanked the current PCVs who helped us through training. Everyone has been wonderful, really.

So tomorrow we will go shopping again for gas stoves and other things for our houses, and if all goes as planned, we will go to our respective regional capitals on Sunday (mine is Labe) and then off to our respective villages on Tuesday or Wednesday.

I should have internet access in Labe as well, so feel free to email or call me in the next few days if you want.

I put more pics on flickr if you want to see them.

Peace.

if you want to send a care package...

Here are some ideas:
-Soy protein powder
-Dark chocolate M&Ms
-Earplugs (I have some but they get old and crappy really fast because of the humidity)
-Crystal light packages to put in my water bottles
-Good deodorant (like prescription/clinical strength). The only deodorant they have here is that French roll on crap or spray. And I have to wear long sleeves while teaching and teaching makes me soooo sweaty and gross. Whew.
-Headscarves (I like the ones from Sally's beauty supply-- the big ones) I pretty much always cover my head here, and I will continue to do so in Timbo since it's a pretty conservative town.

That's about it for now. I actually got paid today (YAY!) and went to buy a bunch of stuff for my site installation. I bought another phone for my other SIM card, so you can always try to reach me at both of my numbers here in case one is not working. I bought some olive oil and vinegar for cooking, and some rice pasta at the Lebanese store. I bought some school supplies too. The day after tomorrow, we are going to shop more and buy gas stoves, pots and pans, hammocks and stuff like that.

Tomorrow is swearing in. It would be lovely to hear from any of you :)
I love you all...

photos, finally

I am uploading my much anticipated photos to my flickr account. Check them out at http://www.flickr.com/photos/moxie469/

The photo above is of me giving a thank you speech in Pular at the farewell ceremony in Forecariah.

swearing in on Friday!

Well the 11 week training in Forecariah is now over and I am in Conakry, preparing to swear in as a Peace Corps volunteer on Friday, the 25th.
We had a farewell ceremony in Forecariah today, where I gave a speech in Pular to thank the host families and community for hosting us and to thank the Peace Corps trainers for teaching us local languages and how to teach in Guinea. My Pular abilities are still pretty low, so I'm sure I massacred the speech, but it's the thought that counts, right?
I'll try to post pictures of the ceremony tomorrow.

I will be here in Conakry for the next few days. I'll be buying things for my house in Timbo and getting ready for site installation. I have to get things I won't find in the villages, like a gas stove and toilet paper! I am excited to be able to live on my own after having lived all this time with a Guinean family. They were wonderful, but I do miss my independence and being able to choose my food and cook for myself.

The last few weeks of training went by so fast because I was so busy teaching summer school review courses to Guinean students. It was incredibly exhausting and difficult, but rewarding and fulfilling as well. I am looking forward to teaching my students in my village in a couple of weeks when school starts.

The rainy season is coming to a rather sudden end. Last week it was pouring constantly and now it only gets cloudy. I got so used to bringing my umbrella everywhere, it feels strange being able to leave it behind when I walk.

Here is a six word summary of the last two and half months:
rain, rice, spiders, chalk,
yoga, sleep

Mmmm. Sleep. I'm tired, so I'll write more in the next few days.

Love you all.

two months in Guinea

Yesterday was the two month mark in country. I have about two weeks left in training in Forecariah before the swearing in ceremony.
Sometimes I feel like I’ve been here for much longer than two months. I remember my going away party—saying goodbye to all of my friends. I remember the day I stepped off the plane into the rain and then into the chaos of the small customs room in Conakry. All this seems so distant.
Now that I’ve grown accustomed to things in Forecariah, it is time to change it up. I’m moving to Timbo to teach for two years!
I have already started teaching here in Forecariah. Peace Corps has us do this ingenious thing we call “Practice School,” where we get to practice teaching Guinean students for three weeks of summer review courses. We are a week and a half in. I have to say that it’s incredibly exhausting, this teaching business.
The students are excitable and hard to manage. I have been teaching 8th, 9th, and 10th graders and for the most part, they struggle with basic arithmetic. Last Friday, when I was trying to give a quiz, on of my boy students hit a girl. She hit him back and I kicked both of them out of the class. The girl left, but the boy refused to move. He kept saying, “Pardonnez-moi madame. Pardonnez-moi.” I told the class that I wouldn’t start the quiz until he was out. The class yelled at him to leave and the ‘chef de classe’ or teacher’s aide, got up to force the boy out. Then the chef de classe and the boy fought. It was 20 minutes into the class before I gave the quiz. It was an easy quiz, but very few students passed. Many students tried to cheat, although I told them the quiz was open book.
Exhausting. But I feel that it will be rewarding overall. I also feel that I have a natural knack for teaching, and I remember something I read in A Course in Miracles: "Teach only love, for that is what you are"