Christmas Stockings!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and I will be celebrating with seven other Peace Corps Volunteers in Kankan. We're going to do a White Elephant-ish gift exchange, and cook a big dinner together, and lounge around and, electricity permitting, watch movies on the projector and listen to Christmas music.

As I type this Stacy and Carolina are decorating the Kankan house, and if it's anything like Halloween and Thanksgivukkah it should all turn out very festively. My contribution was making stockings for everyone out of fabric from the market and the edge of one of my nice white sheets. I was working on them out on my little patio area the other morning and a girl came over to watch me sew. After awhile she asked if I was making things for a dress and so I tried to explain about Americans and stockings and Christmas and, translated from the French, it went something like this:

"Well, so, in America when people celebrate Christmas they have these things. They are like socks but you don't wear them on your feet, like normal socks. People put them on the wall, near a little place for a fire if they have a little place for a fire. And then.... the story is that a big man comes in the night before Christmas and puts things in the sock things. Like oranges or candy. In the socks. Americans like it. You see?"

This explanation earned me a bemused smile, and she told me they looked very nice. (Once again, I strongly recommend this David Sedaris story about explaining Christmas in other countries.)

Sewing Time

They all turned out pretty well, I put everyone's names on them and am hopeful that come Christmas morning they'll be full of little bags of peanuts and green oranges and weird little candies and all the other things that qualify as stocking stuffers in Guinea. More photos to come, as internet permits.

In the meantime, I hope everyone's enjoying the holidays, where ever you happen to be. Merry Christmas!

UPDATE: Here's a photo courtesy of Michelle's iPhone:

Christmas in Kankan!

House-Warming!

A couple weeks ago a few of us went to Diankana, a village not too far from Kankan, to see Sara T.'s new house. Stacy, Sarah J. and I even brought her a very classy and useful housewarming present - an assortment of CakeTreats and a Hazelnut Nescafe packet, wrapped in a dishcloth and wrapped in plastic twine. 

Happy Housewarming!

We all cooked dinner, watched a movie (Lars and the Real Girl, which I think is kinda adorable but which some people found "kinda creepy") and just generally had a good time. Happy Housewarming, Sara! 

New Senegalese

Last week, Sarah, Sara and I all had lunch at New Senegalese, so-called because it is the newer of the two Senegalese-run lunch places in Kankan. It is generally delicious, and probably the best place in town to get chicken with yassa onion sauce. They also serve what Guineans call riz gras, or oily rice, which is rice cooked with some spices and oil, fish, and some vegetables. (In Senegal the call it ceeb u jen "cheb-oo-jen", which is Wolof for "rice and fish.")

Riz gras, AKA oily rice

That particular day the riz gras happened to come with a piece of bitter eggplant, which has kind of grown on me, a piece of manioc, a piece of normal eggplant, and a hot pepper. Delicious!

Speaking English

Thanks to the wonderful podcasts and television shows available from the BBC, most of the English that I hear on a daily basis is of the British persuasion, more so than usual over the last couple weeks. I've watched all of Sherlock, re-watched some of Downton Abbey, and caught up with the Newshour.

As a result, my internal monologue acquired a distinctly British accent, which isn't bad, I guess, but was a little unsettling once I noticed it.

In any case, I've been hanging out more with Americans the last few days, and my friend gave me some Orange is the New Black to watch, so my monologue is back to sounding more or less American.

Today my Peace Corps neighbors Kenny and Michelle came over to the office to use the internet, and we're planning on making breakfast for lunch later. It's just the three of us in Kankan now, since Sarah J. is in Conakry and will officially finish her service and head back to America tomorrow.

Computer time with Michelle & Kenny

Last week we had one last Friday Fry-Day with Sarah - we made stir-fry, spring rolls, cinnamon rolls, and so many cookies - and stayed up late watching movies a the Peace Corps house. It was fun, and pleasant, and I didn't get really sad until the next morning, when Sarah went to sign out for the last time and all of a sudden her departure seemed real and imminent. (We have a bunch of photos of that, but they have yet to be uploaded.) It helps that Kenny, Michelle and I will all be leaving in January, but Sarah was my closest neighbor and the next few weeks in Kankan will be a little lonely without her. 

The Good Disco

Volunteers who live out the village come in to Kankan to check mail, go to the market, and hang out with other Peace Corps Volunteers. One of the places where we all wind up hanging out is Le Bon, a small local bar that's conveniently located, equipped with a TV and fridge that works when the power's on. As far as the bar goes, the clientele is composed of local Christians, foreigners, and Muslims who are flexible with the whole no-alcohol things. There are some guys who just come to hang out, and they drink soda or energy drinks and watch TV when the electricity's on. There's also a "nightclub" (a room with big speakers) that plays music some evenings, but I've never actually been in there. 

We all met up there the other day after work, to enjoy cold-ish beers, roasted peanuts, peeled oranges, and some English conversation, and I took some pictures. Le Bon offers a variety of beers, all well-priced but none of them particularly good. (They also sell liquor in small plastic bottles and little plastic packets but it's pretty terrible stuff.)

Me and Katie B. 

Me and Stacy M. 

Shrey and Sara T. 

Emily and Chris N. 

Snacktime! 

The PCVs of Kankan

While ordering beers someone laughed and said "You know you're in Guinea when instead of asking what kind of beer they have or how much it costs, you just ask for whatever's coldest."

I suppose you also know you're in Guinea when your standards for what qualifies as "cold" expand to include anything that's noticeably cooler than room temperature...

Meetings

Shortly after I arrived in West Africa, I was told by an older PCV to always bring a book, my cell phone, and plenty of credit to any meeting I attended, so that I'd have something to keep me busy. I remember being slightly put off - it seemed so disrespectful, I imagined that I'd want to be attentive throughout any meeting to which I was invited. But that was before I found out just how long it can take for a meeting to get started here, and also just how long it can last once it gets going.

Disclaimer: It is often worth it to go to meetings, and important things do happen at meetings, so it's good to pay attention. It can also be helpful to have something to do for the hour or three before things get started, and to have something on hand to help you stay pleasant during the more frustrating parts.

That being said, here are some things that I would include if I were making up a game of Guinean Meeting Bingo:

• Things starts at least two hours later than scheduled 
• A host country national complains loudly about how nothing ever starts on time 
• A host country national complains that the punctual people aren't giving others enough time to talk
• At least six cell phones go off 
• At least two people answer calls and have a conversation about how they are in a meeting
• Someone hands out plastic folders containing gridded notepads and blue ballpoint pens
• There are at least three fake fruit and/or fake flower bouquets in the room
• It is approximately 95°F/35°C in the room but it feels so much hotter
• The guy in front of you falls asleep in his chair
• A local official shows up, accompanied by an armed soldier, to declare the meeting officially started
• Lunch is served at 3:30 PM or later
• Someone hands out cans of tepid orange Fanta
• Someone asks if you are married 
• The power goes out and it takes at least 20 minutes to get it sorted out
• A long period of time is spent reading text from PowerPoint slides
• A supposed professional says something wildly inaccurate, i.e. "Fistula is a women's problem caused by HIV."
• Someone says "We are running very late so I will be brief..." and then talks for nine minutes
• Someone says "We have already thanked everyone many times..." and then thanks them all again

Oh, meetings. I can't say I'll miss them, but I will miss commiserating about them and trading never-ending-meeting stories with friends and co-workers, at least a little bit. 

Cadeaux!

Last week I got a lovely care package from my friend (and Senegal RPCV) Sarah K. (Thank you, Sarah!) 

It was filled with all sorts of fun things - Starbucks Via (which really is the crème de la crème of instant coffee packets), Clif and Luna bars (so good) and a nice mug (hot liquids in plastic cups = the worst).

Pumpkin Spice is Everywhere. 

I don't have all that much time left in Guinea (somehow it is December already) but it was still nice to get a package, and America really is excellent at making well-packaged, palatable, durable, portable food products - nothing like living without refrigeration to make a person really appreciate the usefulness of preservatives. 

Truckwrecks

Guinea's transportation situation is probably the worst in the region - the roads are terrible, vehicles are routinely overloaded with absurd amounts of cargo, nine passengers are crammed in where neighboring countries would only accept seven, and far too many cars are held together with little more than baling wire and hope. In my experience, breakdowns are much more common than accidents, but accidents do happen.

A few weeks back, on the way from Kankan to Conakry, we saw quite a few cars abandoned by the roadside- station wagons, compacts, the odd SUV or truck. Some were rusting and partly scrapped, some seemed to be recent, and all were covered in a thick layer of the dust that swept in as soon as the rains ended. We also saw multiple overturned tractor-trailer rigs. I'm pretty sure we saw three total, two that had tipped over on the same curve, the second sliding over in the mud while trying to get around the first one.

This photo is of the third one, which appeared to be a recent one-vehicle mishap; the cargo hadn't been salvaged yet, and gendarme officers were still on the scene. On the way back from Conakry, nearly two weeks later, all but one of the trucks had been cleared away and we didn't see much in the way of accidents, which was nice.

We did see a cobra trying to cross the road, though, a huge black snake maybe six feet/two meters long. From a distance we thought it was a piece of tire tread, but it reared up as the car veered to avoid it and it was definitely alive, and definitely a cobra. Exciting times.

Celebration!

The Peace Corps Volunteers of Kankan are big on celebrating holidays, especially American holidays, and few things are as quintessentially American as Thanksgiving. Except for maybe Thanksgivukkah. 

We improvised a menorah on the second night of Hannukah and then celebrated with latkes, an improvised menorah, and an entertaining re-telling of the miracle of the oil. The evening's festivities included an inflatable turkey and plenty of palm wine (which turned out to be far too vinegary for anyone's taste) but we waited until Saturday for our big Thanksgiving-style dinner 

All the shopping and cooking went well because Carolina handled all the planning, and because there happen to be a lot of good cooks in Kankan. I was in charge of frying onion rings, which was a sweaty job made much more pleasant by bringing the gas burner outside. Since we were inside the walls of the Peace Corps office compound we were all free to wear running shorts and above-the-knee skirts, which also helped with the heat. Deb helped serve the onion rings, which, despite being non-traditional, were a big hit. 

All in all it was a really pleasant day, everyone helping out and having fun - very Thanksgiving-ish. The menorah and turkey decorations were set up right next to the spiderwebs and ghosts left over from Halloween, and then we added some sparkly Christmas decorations that had arrived early to the ones that were still on the shelf from last year, and the whole place started to look like a party were the theme was just Holidays. Thanksgiving dinner turned out amazingly well - roasted chickens, mac n' cheese, garlic mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce and stuffing, salad and cornbread, pumpkin pie and brownies... the only disappointing part was how we all got so full so fast - Thanksgiving fare is so much more dense, so much more filling than rice and sauce! We did the best we could, and by the end of the night most everything perishable had been eaten, which is good because we don't have much in the way of refrigeration and it'd be sad to see it go to waste. 

So, Happy Belated Thanksgiving, everyone! Also, here are a couple photos from last month, while we were in Conakry. On the left, Lane was re-heating some polenta that had been gifted to us by the Country Director, and we got creative with it. Sarah J. and I are on the right, enjoying a lovely sunset on the beach immediately behind the Conakry office. Good times. 

Note: Despite the photographic evidence, I don't actually wear that blue-and-white t-shirt every single day. I do happen to be wearing it right now, but I'm going to change before I head out to the market later.

Photos courtesy of Sarah J. and Lane G.