Gueckedou!

I'm visiting Gueckedou for a few days with Phil, Andrew and Jerrad. Gueckedou is about 45km south of Yende, my village. It is a pretty huge city and it has a lot of luxuries. I am at the Director of Educations compound taking advantage of the internet room there available to teachers. They must be running it on a generator because we haven't seen signs of electricity so far.

Last week we were in Mamou at a forestry school that the Peace Corps rents out for conferences throughout the year. It was a nice break from our host families as we enjoyed bunking up together and cold showers! It was a counterpart workshop where we met our superviseurs from our respective sites and got to know them and they learned about the role of a PCV, etc. Mamou is in the Foutah region, which is beautiful and even chilly at times because its in the mountains. On Saturday the forrest group piled into a bush taxi for a really long, bumpy ride to Gueckedou. Phil and I were sharing the front passenger seat staring danger in the face while Andrew, Jerrad and two of our counterparts crammed in the back. J, I relived Knoxville and listened to the Island Tour most of the way. It was a sweaty adventure to say the least. The nervousness wore off more quickly than I expected and we made it safe and sound, though gross and with sore bums and achey backs.

We just passed through my village so I didn't get to see my home or anything, but I am really really excited. It is beautiful. There is a gorgeous mountain right beside the village which will be first on my list of priorities when I settle in. We stopped the car and I greeted some children and important people who all seemed very eager and excited to have me. As my counterpart told me, "Je suis attendue." Which means they are waiting for me. He also gave me a new Kisi name, Sia Leno, Sia being the premiere fille. Leno must be a good last name too because so far in Gueckedou I have a lot of really nice brothers. It is a huge city but amazingly people call me by name when I walk around.

Tomorrow we will go to Yende to spend the night in my house. I am really excited. I have a great feeling about my new village and the villagois life. Unfortunately I won't have cell phone service but I'm right in between two big cities, Kissidougu and Gueckedou. Thursday we will head for Kissidougu to stay with some volunteers there before piling into a long and dreaded taxi ride back to Forecariah.

Physically I'm feeling great. Stomach bugs come and go but at the moment I'm feeling tip-top. I had a really overdue bucket bath this morning so I am feeling particularly clean and refreshed. I just finished reading Mayflower which I really enjoyed and I'm about to start The Cruelest Journey, about a woman who paddles 600 miles to Timbuktu from near Bamako. Oh yeah, and I tried bush rat the other day. It tastes like chicken. I just read that PC Mauritania was evacuated to Senegal. I don't know anything more than what was in the news but I think it is an example of how cautious PC is with these situations.

That's all for now. Soon I'll be back in Forecariah teaching summer school and scrounging for food during Ramadan. Then before I know it I'll be swearing in at the U.S. Embassy in Conakry. Thanks for your interest and support and your letters (which I know will be waiting for me on the next mail run). Don't forget to email as well even though I may not be able to respond for a while.

Signing out from the forest region, with love,
Em