Hoop Dreams

A quick little post before I head back to class/session. I finally got to play some basketball on Monday. I am glad that I brought a ball, but I really wish I had brought an outdoor ball. While the people here in general are really athletic, there were a lot of people who didnt know the fundamentals of the game. Part of this is related to the lack of resources in the country. There just isnt money to spend on equipment and good coaches when you have to worry about water if it doesnt start raining on time. I think one of my secondary projects will end up being related to teaching basketball and just the fundamentals of teamwork. I guess if I were to really dream big it would be to organize camps for players/coaches for multiple sports so that people can develop their skills on multiple levels.

In case you want to send me things, I would really love candy (that wont melt in hot weather), Cliff/Luna/Granola bars, tea, brownie or cake mix, and letters.

Village Visit

This past weekend a lot of SE trainees visited the GEE trainees (aka, the village people) in their respective villages. I officially visited Y--- in K---. It is small village located about a 30 to 45 minute bike ride from the city. Just as we arrived a lightning storm started. It rained for a short while. L--- and I, who were staying with Y---, hurried inside and had some dinner and waited out the brief rains.

Afterwards, the rest of the trainees who were in the village came over to hang out chez Y---. We enjoyed a relatively long lightning storm sans pluie. It was really beautiful, unfortunately, my camera decided not to work at that time, so I don,t have any good pictures.

Soon the HCNs told us that the rain would come. Us Americans looked around and didnt see anything, but we listened anyway. Luckily, everyone made it home just before the rains came down again. I spent the night listening to the bleating of lambs (extremely skinny and unwoolly) as they tried to push in the screen doors of Y---s house. Unfortunately, Y--- got sick from something she ate that night, too. The next morning I tried this fried dough reminiscent of a donut, but more like the Taiwanese breakfast food "yio tiao" (please excuse my lack of characters or even pinyin). It was delicious and brought back many memories of summers in Taiwan.

Reactions to village life? I think I can handle it.

I am trying to post pictures on Picasa right now of all the pictures I have taken so far (not many). So, you can see them at http://picasaweb.google.com/pictureandrea/

Different Cafe

I am trying out a different cafe today. It is 100 CFA cheaper. The connection is very slow and I cannot get my email to work right now. My phone will probably be decodé (unlocked) by Friday (if it can be done).

I dont think I am going to try to upload any pictures today. A lot of the computers here have readers for smart cards and compact flash which is awesome. Yesterday morning, we had our first heavy rain during the day. As I was biking to class with my classmates, we were biking against the win towards these giant brown clouds, reminicent of really smoggy days in Los Angeles. The dust/sandstorm got closer and closer and finally it hit. After the wind paused for a little bit, the heavy rains started. The rain lasted until a little before we had to leave for our technical session (where I am learning how to teach). It was still drizzling, but only lightly. TC should be happy to know I got some use out of my Interhovse STAFF jacket. It is very compact so I always carry it with me since it is currently the rainy season.

My first five-minute teaching session went pretty well. The only downer was that it was only five minutes and I had more than five minutes of materials. I gave a 6eme (approx sixth grade) introduction to points and lines and had a pretty nifty group activity to explain points and lines. I am looking forward to the longer session where I can actually have time to deliver my lesson without rushing.

I think I am going to really enjoy teaching. I say that now before having to deal with discipline issues and cheating. I guess we will see how I feel in a few months when I am actually teaching. As frustrated as I am with heat rashes and the billions of insects (apparently they dont use the word billion in french either) and the lack of cool things (let alone cold things), I felt so excited to teach and reenergized. I am hoping that I really enjoy this teaching thing... and that I survive. 10-year plan still on track.

I am tired and probably should go home to dinner soon before my family starts worrying about me. Especially,if I want to get in my evening bucket bath!

à la prochaine!

Free Time

Today. I have the first real free time I have had in a while. I am hoping to go swimming soon. While I am in training I think that I will be able to check email about once a week (probably more since this is one of the few places in town with le climatisation). I got a cell phone number, but I need to find someone to unlock my phone here. I hear it is about 5000 CFA.

In training, we have different segments all day long on language, health, technical training, etc. Our days are pretty busy except for Saturday afternoons and Sundays. I am almost out of time, but in short...

- My host family is wonderful,
- Rain is awesome,
- Humidity and heat arent awesome,
- I have a terrible full body heat rash,
- I miss eating sausage, egg and cheese anything, food from my mom and Ernies,
- And iced water that doesnt taste like bleach.

<3, AK

Hot Hot Heat

It is very hot here. It has been about 100 F every day in the morning. On Saturday, there was a ceremony with the local chief. On Sunday, I was officially adopted. Today is a little bit cooler since it rained yesterday. The keyboards here are different. I dont know where the apostrophe is. I think the thing I miss most about the USA is just air conditioning and non-deadly ice cubes and flies that havent come fresh out of a latrine. Dont really need anything right now except good wishes. Wend na kond niidaare!

Prelude to Training

I'm now in Africa! It's been pretty cool by BF standards in the capital. I would guesstimate 90-95 F max. Dry heat is good beause it doesn't make me wish for A/C as much as humid heat does. I'm alive and smell quite natural.

Staging (orientation) was rather painless, and my fellow trainees are all great people... so far. There are two primary programs in our stage, girls' education & empowerment and secondary education. I'm part of SE, in particular, I've been assigned to math. The rest of the SE trainees are science teachers.

What's it like in BF so far? We've been staying at a nice place with a few other PCVs. It reminds me a lot of my grandmother's place in S---. The bathrooms are communal, but there is that sort of feel to it. They've been breaking us in gently so far with electricity and running water. Even in the capital, not all of the roads are paved. It actually reminds me a lot of walking around in S---, but not as paved or crowded. We walked around a little yesterday and got to experience a little shopping.

Yesterday, I got tested in my badass language skills. I also found out that I would be receiving lots of shots today... Yay! :p I also got my medical kit with enough to take care of me for a lot of things.

The keyboard in BF is the French version, so it's quite interesting.

How do I feel? Sore from receiving four shots, but generally okay. There are definitely moments when I am feeling anxious or overwhelmed, but I know everyone else in my group has that similar sort of feeling at times. I joke and say that between our group there is one confident person, but from moment to moment that person changes. I hope that as time passes, that one person grows to encompass our entire group.

I haven't taken that many pictures yet, so I don't have much to share.

Today, we are leaving for training in O---. I believe now begins the "hard" part.

Write me luck, and think cool thoughts.

<3, AK

Packing Is an Art

So, I knew I had a lot of stuff, but really! Packing it has trimmed it down a lot. Especially as I keep downsizing in bag size to fit into the baggage requirments. I have a large pack (the REI Mars - small size), a medium-sized rolly suitcase, a carry-on backpack, plus a carefully stuffed bike helmet with my toiletries (really just tons of floss, a hairbrush, and a small tube of toothpaste). Against many recommendations, I've gone with the rolly suitcase because of its hard frame so I can put my heavier stuff inside for the plane flights and not worry about it bursting out from poor manhandling (one of my bigger fears because of recent experiences). In a land of unpaved roads, I know the wheels won't survive, but I have a plan involving duct tape and swapping the contents of my pack and my suitcase.

I'm sure a lot of you are wondering what I've packed:

- Clothes (less and less with each down-size)
- Lots of underwear
- 1 hat
- 2 pairs of sandals, my cheapy Nike Frees (already sporting duct tape courtesy of my orthotics), pair of not-terrific sneakers, and my orthotics
- Linens, laundry bag, work gloves
- Sharp pointy objects
- Bright shining objects (of battery-powered and hand-crank variety)
- Camera/Laptop/iPod/calculator/associated electronics junk
- A power inverter/assorted cables
- A big, fluffy sleeping bag (and also the bane of stuffing into my luggage, but I really didn't want to buy a thermarest or a new one that was a smaller stuffsize)
- A sleeping bag liner
- Toiletries in liquid and (mostly) bar form (including the shampoo, I'll let you think about that)
- Cooking utensils (minus the frying pan, that's either being shipped or I will attempt to bargain it off of a PCV who's on their way out)
- A screen tent (the Bug Hut II from REI)
- Some canvases and business cards for painting
- Paintbrushes, art pens
- Stationery and writing utensils
- My flattened basketball and a tire/basketball pump
- Lots of ziploc bags...

Things I had to take out...

- Clothes
- My acrylics. They were about five pounds worth... actually... now that I think about it I think I've downsized enough to repack them... I may actually bring them after all... and not have to have them sent
- The frying pan
- Books, lots of books
- My yoga ball + pump
- Tupperware

Why did I...

- Choose the basketball over the yoga ball... I love basketball, end of question.
- Bring the paintbrushes if I'm not bringing the paint... I have hope... and maybe I'll be able to squeeze a few bottles in.

Well, it's lunch time... maybe I will try to rearrange some more and downsize a little bit more so I can fit in my paints. That would make me very happy.

Moving Woes

So, I moved from California to New Jersey and since I own a lot of books, I shipped them media mail. Well, unfortunately two of the boxes never made it. I received two new boxes with a few things I've never seen before. Two of my newer yearbooks didn't make it. More unfortunate, one of my favorite paintings was in there.


I hope someone finds it and returns it to me.