Random stuff

Okay, it has taken me awhile to get this posted. The internet in Bo is mostly usable, just extremely slow. For those writing me letters - thanks! I really appreciate both email and physical letters! If you want to send me a package, that is super awesome! Most things I can find in the city here, but I'm trying to stock up on protein dense foods for when I move to site.. so send me some delicious food and whatever other cool thing you'd like. It seems like packages and letters do get here eventually. Send them soon, because I have two more months in Bo before moving to a less accessible part of the country.

I have a cell phone.. +23278615983 which you can text or call. I don't know how much texting may be.. it could be free, and calling is sort of expensive unless you use skype or other voip service in which case it is ~$0.40/minute I think.

So, I've made it safely to Sierra Leone - it was a very long and exhausting trip to get into West Africa. After having a quick orientation in Philadelphia, the group of us (43 from all over the US) flew from New York to Brussels, laid over for a bit, and then flew to Lungi Intl airport near Freetown, stopping for an hour in Senegal to refuel. We took a ferry from the airport to Freetown, the main city in Sierra Leone, and were bussed through the city to the Peace Corps hostel.

                A lot of things on this side of the world are pretty striking compared with anything you'll see in America. I'll try to start from the beginning, but a lot has happened that I basically won't get to, and the atmosphere of the place is hard to get across.

                Transportation is scary - road conditions even in Freetown can be really bad: there are massive potholes,  pedestrians are everywhere, there are tons of daredevil motorcyclists (okada drivers), and everyone drives really aggressively (and stupidly). Something else you immediately notice is that the place is sort of just a really big all week flea market. Unemployment in the American sense of the word is pretty high, but people still work a lot selling things or doing odd jobs. Most everyone wakes up before 7 and does hard work the whole day. I would say people here lean more towards working to live rather than living to work like some Americans do.

                Everything is more difficult here: there are no washing machines or easy solutions and it seems everything gets dirty more quickly. People are poor in the most basic sense of the word: there is simply a lack of material goods. In America if your toilet breaks, you think oh I'll go pick up the part I need from the nearest hardware store! But here people struggle to have the goods to even macgyver a fix.

                Despite all the unemployment, squalor, and poverty, there is a lot to love. I would argue that culture here is deeper. I mean, the country is smaller than South Carolina, yet has a deep history and rich culture that is apparently relatively unique. It is a pretty diverse and I think unique place. Though I'm sure many things are common across West Africa. Everyone is community oriented in ways Americans don't see often. They always try their best to help each other, and everything is shared. It is considered rude to not share food when there is someone available to invite to eat. It's rude to not help out your classmate when they don't have the answers ('spying' is a huge problem for us teachers)! Everyone is pretty much automatically my friend once I greet them, and most people despite not having much have good intents. A volunteer was saying how someone broke into their home, and only stole as much as they thought the volunteer didn't need.

                I can't really say everything that has gone on, or how much my views or personality may have changed. So far I am very happy with my decision to do this thing, and every day I am feeling better. Here's some random things: I have killed 6 huge spiders so far, and am currently dealing with trying to catch a mouse that keeps managing to eat some cookies I bought in this bizarre air conditioned supermarket this last weekend. The mouse kept stealing the spider bodies from my trash and it was sort of a mystery where they were going to! We are pretty much celebrities here, and have a big job on our shoulders. We are such a significant group in this country that we even got a special session with President Koroma, and a banquet thing run by the heads of the Ministry of Education. My host family has three girls (Beantu, 11; Kola, 12; Abata, 13) and a 16 yo boy named Luseni. Families here are extended and ill defined, so there are tons of random kids running around from the neighborhood, and most adults are my Aunties and Uncles (just a title).

                All of the other volunteers are fantastic individuals. A lot of us are pretty different from one another but all get along well. We all came here knowing what we were getting ourselves into, and we are all supportive about doing the job at hand.  We are at this training center in Bo learning Krio, pedagogy for the subjects we'll be teaching, and all sorts of other things. I wake up every day at 6:30, go to bed around 10. I'm busy all the time. When I am not at training and not socializing with my family (mostly playing with the kids) I'm eating by myself (tradition for honoring guests) and trying to study whatever. The last couple weekends we have all been going to the night club, the market and internet cafes. The internet sucks though. I'll try to get this posted next time I go.