Hi from Dabola

Hello again, everyone! I didn’t think I’d be lucky enough to be writing again so soon, but we’re in Dabola for the weekend to celebrate Sacha’s birthday, and the generator at US AID is back up and running, so we get to use the internet Ben, Levi, and I made it back to Bissikrima just in time for sunset last Saturday after a painless bush taxi ride (painless for us anyway, not so much for the poor woman behind me with two kids on her lap who was puking into a plastic bag the whole way). Even with the insane heat, I’ve had the best week yet at site.

I love coming back to Bissikrima after an absence because everyone seems so happy to see me, stopping by to welcome me home and ask me about my trip. Since we actually got to take our vacation this time, I came back feeling well-rested and ready to get back into village life. After my chats with Conor in Conakry, I have been dealing with the difficulties of being a female here in a much more positive way. I had a great week at school with my students. I marvel at the progress they’ve made since the beginning of the year — the same students who struggled with basic addition and subtraction and had never before plotted a point in a graph are now solving systems of equations completely on their own. Next Saturday we’re doing a small math competition with my 10th graders in Bissikrima to choose the eight students who will get to participate in a math competition with Hunter’s (one of my neighbor PCVs) 10th graders at the end of May. We just got the go ahead with the funding, so when Hunter gets her later today, we’ll get all of our plans in order. My students and I are very excited!

This has been the most intense week yet in terms of the heat. On Sunday I went out and bought a bamboo bed so I could start sleeping outside because I’ll wake up at 2AM in a pool of my own sweat, and when I glance at the thermometer, it reads 93 degrees. Ninety three degrees at 2AM. Yeeouch. We’ve been ending school around 11:15 or 11:30 because the students can’t pay attention any longer with the heat, which is even worse in the tin-roof schoolhouse. They keep saying the rains are coming, and I just keep on waiting. On the bright side, it’s mango season! They are plentiful, cheap, and delicious, although I have to say I still prefer the oranges.

All kinds of projects have been sprouting up lately, and so I’m no longer worried about being bored to tears this summer without school. In August we have Girls’ Conference, where each PCV brings a girl or two to their regional capital for three days to participate in sessions ranging from education to HIV/AIDS to discussions on what life is like for girls here in Guinea. So Salematou and I are already getting excited for that. Sacha and I just started discussing doing a Girls’ Camp, one in each of our villages. We haven’t started working on funding yet, but we’re throwing ideas around about things to do at the camp while we’re together this weekend. Paul is putting on a race (running) the first Saturday in October, so my girls’ group and I are going to start running together once the heat is over. I’m also helping him plan the big spaghetti dinner for all the participants that will take place the night before the race and setting up one of the water tables. Conor and I are also working on a project modeled after the photography exhibit I saw in Sierra Leone. Whew! And on top of all that, last night at dinner Paul introduced me to an English woman who is working at Concern Universal here in Dabola. Concern Universal works with girls in Guinea. She and I have been living just 23K apart for the last seven months and didn’t meet until last night! Apparently she comes to Bissikrima’s Sunday market to get out of Dabola sometimes. In any case, we were both really excited to meet another English-speaking female who lives nearby.

So that has been my great week. I also read a wonderful book that took my mind off the heat for hours at a time (Prep I highly recommend it). On Saturday, I arrived home to packages and mail from the US (the mailrun came while we were in Sierra Leone), so thank you thank you so much to everyone who sent letters and packages (Laura Martini, Aunt Lori, Grandma, my parents, Van and Diane, my roommates!). You guys make my life here so much easier (and my students love it when I share bonbons from the US with them). I miss you all so much, and it’s so nice to hear from you. To top off my great week, I open my email to find the nicest message from my 10th grade math teacher, Mr. Rumppe, who apparently just met Di Dimond, my mom’s best friend. That put a huge smile on my face

I think I mean it this time when I say I’ll be out of touch via the internet for a while. It’s not so much fun biking to Dabola in this heat, but I never know where the week will take me. It’s hard to believe an entire winter has gone by back home and a new group is already graduating from UM. I hope you’re all making the most of the nice weather (I heard it was 70 in the Twin Cities last weekend). Much love from Guinea!