February 5, 2004
10:43pm
Gbereyire
That last entry was going nowhere. I should learn my lesson and not try and write during lunch breaks with other people around and too many distractions.
Today was a pretty good day overall. We have Makan now for a language teacher and he is a lot of fun. He is mad sketchy, but his classes are a lot of fun and I learn a lot of practical stuff, so it's nice to have language class go by fast. Passy was a very good teacher and was good for learning technical things, but it was so much more structured and school-like, so I'm enjoying the change of pace.
Most of our day was spent in Dubreka at the PC office which was fine with me. Escaping the fishbowl that is Gbereyire was fine with me. My father keeps telling me random places that he saw me and what he saw me doing and for how long and I never even know he was around. It is quite creepy/annoying because I constantly have to monitor my actions in case someone is watching me, which they most likely are, and will not fail to comment on! Ugh.
So yeah, just being able to mess around all day and not have to worry about being watched by the town was a nice relief. El Haaj [a Guinean man who worked for Peace Corps and had gone to university in New Hampshire] was also there today, which was quite a trip. He came up to me and said, "You forgot you have an Uncle here!" and I asked him where he had been and he laughed [When we were introduced to him, he asked if anyone was from New England. I was the only one who raised my hand and so he "adopted" me as a niece since he has a soft spot for New England]. A few minutes later he came over and gave me 1,000 Guinean Francs!! He said something like "Uncles give their nieces things" and when I tried to give it back he wouldn't let me and just said "you're in the right family." I was shocked but thought it was so sweet and so cute and it totally made my day. I can't remember the last time 50 cents made my day. :-) Just kidding, it's obviously about a lot more than that. I'm going to try and send some candy to Conakry for him on Valentine's Day. It's about the extent of what I can do for him here!
I got my water filter to work tonight (sort of) and then just sat around having really good talks with Ismael and Albert about the serpants [snakes], so that was surprisingly fun and bonding. Tomorrow is another day!
10:43pm
Gbereyire
That last entry was going nowhere. I should learn my lesson and not try and write during lunch breaks with other people around and too many distractions.
Today was a pretty good day overall. We have Makan now for a language teacher and he is a lot of fun. He is mad sketchy, but his classes are a lot of fun and I learn a lot of practical stuff, so it's nice to have language class go by fast. Passy was a very good teacher and was good for learning technical things, but it was so much more structured and school-like, so I'm enjoying the change of pace.
Most of our day was spent in Dubreka at the PC office which was fine with me. Escaping the fishbowl that is Gbereyire was fine with me. My father keeps telling me random places that he saw me and what he saw me doing and for how long and I never even know he was around. It is quite creepy/annoying because I constantly have to monitor my actions in case someone is watching me, which they most likely are, and will not fail to comment on! Ugh.
So yeah, just being able to mess around all day and not have to worry about being watched by the town was a nice relief. El Haaj [a Guinean man who worked for Peace Corps and had gone to university in New Hampshire] was also there today, which was quite a trip. He came up to me and said, "You forgot you have an Uncle here!" and I asked him where he had been and he laughed [When we were introduced to him, he asked if anyone was from New England. I was the only one who raised my hand and so he "adopted" me as a niece since he has a soft spot for New England]. A few minutes later he came over and gave me 1,000 Guinean Francs!! He said something like "Uncles give their nieces things" and when I tried to give it back he wouldn't let me and just said "you're in the right family." I was shocked but thought it was so sweet and so cute and it totally made my day. I can't remember the last time 50 cents made my day. :-) Just kidding, it's obviously about a lot more than that. I'm going to try and send some candy to Conakry for him on Valentine's Day. It's about the extent of what I can do for him here!
I got my water filter to work tonight (sort of) and then just sat around having really good talks with Ismael and Albert about the serpants [snakes], so that was surprisingly fun and bonding. Tomorrow is another day!
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