Back From Site Visit!
Hey Everyone! I am sorry that it took me so long to post a blog. I’ve been super busy the past two weeks and I have not had access to the internet until now. My past two weeks in Guinea were designed to provide me with a preview of what’s to come for me as a Peace Corps Volunteer. These past two weeks have been very interesting and have made me even more excited about service in the Peace Corps. This preview of what is to come began with the counterpart workshop in Mamou, Guinea. At this workshop, we were able to meet our counterpart that we would work with for the next two years. The workshop was really helpful but challenging for me because all the sessions were in French. As some of you know, coming into the Peace Corps, I did not have much experience with French. This has by far been the most challenging aspect of my service thus far. I am really enjoying my time here in Guinea and the wonderful experiences I have had so far but the fact that I am still learning French is quite daunting. I have to reach the “Intermediate-High” Level before we depart for site in the second week of February. Wish me luck! Sorry about the tangent! At the counterpart workshop, we also got the opportunity to meet and work with our counterparts! I don’t even know where to begin the discussion about my counterpart. My counterpart is by far the most eccentric and intense person that I have ever met in my life. He appears to be very excited to work with me which is definitely a good thing but I am envisioning some “interesting” times/moments ahead of me (I have already had a mini preview of what’s come. I’ll elaborate later). I feel like after working two years with this person, I will be set for life in terms of working with people. After the conclusion of the counterpart workshop, we left for our sites with our counterparts. This was my first experience with a long-distance bush taxi in Africa, but thankfully, since all the volunteers were leaving at the same time for the same area, we shared a bush taxi. Our taxi, which was headed to Kankan (my site), was a station wagon designed for about 8 people. We ended up with a total of 10 people (5 counterparts and 5 volunteers) in the car not including the driver. Two people in the passenger seat, four in the second row, three in the last row and one person in the trunk (Guess who was in the trunk???….my counterpart! lol For some reason, I feel as if my counterpart is the only one among the counterparts that would actually do this!) The ride to Kankan was long and took practically all day because most of the roads in Guinea are really bad. If you could only see how the taxi driver has to drive in order to avoid potholes, the occasional cow that decides to stand in the middle of the road and any other distraction that you could possibly think of. In all honesty, it feels as if the driver is playing Mario Kart racing but in real life in the middle of Africa. I kid you not. There were many times during the trip in which we actually traveled on the side of the road because the actual road is so terrible. We left early in the morning at around 7:30/8 and we arrived in Kankan in the evening around 7pm or so. As I described above, it was a long day of traveling and I was extremely tired so this definitely played an effect on my initial perception of my site. In all honesty, the first night at my site, I did not like the place where I would live for the next two years at all. We got in super late, I was extremely tired and there was also no power at my site. I kind of had a mini realization that I was in Africa. I’ve been living with an amazing host family that have provided me with everything I’ve needed thus far. For instance, electricity in Guinea is generally very sparse and comes on occasionally, but this is not the experience I have had so far with my amazing host family. My family has a generator that they run quite often so I have some exposure to power practically every day since I moved in with my host family. My first night at my site in Kankan was my first real night without any power. Basically, when I got to site, I called my parents and other volunteers to rant about my site and I got some pretty sound advice which was to basically go to sleep and assess what you have the next day. The next day I woke up, I felt like a complete idiot for not liking my place. My place is really awesome and is really nice compared to what other volunteers normally receive as volunteer. I do not have the best or worst space but it is definitely a place I can see myself for the next two years in Kankan. The room that I have is attached to the bureau of the organization that I will work with so it has many perks! For instance, I am in a compound that has guards 24/7, my room is tiled; I have a western style toilet that flushes and an awesome bed! I also have a tv, dvd player and an ac but I have no power. I will have to convince my organization to run the generator for me at night or buy my own. I hope we can work something out. I took photos and a video of my place! I will try my best to post them, but the internet here is really slow. I can definitely get the photos up but I am not sure about the video. Kankan is a really awesome city! I can definitely see myself living here for the next two years! Kankan is one of the largest cities in Guinea and is the home of the largest university in Guinea. I have already found places that I will more than likely go to all the time. With the help of some volunteers that already live in Kankan, I’ve found two ice cream shops, a hamburger place and three really great restaurants. I can’t wait until I actually live in Kankan so that I can learn even more about the city. Another thing about Kankan is that I should have pretty stable access to the internet! For the first half of my visit in Kankan, I spent all of my time with my counterpart. My counterpart showed me a lot of the city and was a great host. We had a few awkward moments that I will post about in my future blogs. We’ll that’s it for now! Hopefully, I’ll update the blog next week on Thursday!
