first entry from site

Hey everyone!! I am finally in Siguiri and doing very well. As I am sure any RPCV will tell you, the first week at site is full of ups and downs. My ups have included:

-finding my way around this HUGE city alone
-finding a family to eat with… kinda
-meeting the owner of a café which I have frequented daily
-and using my Malinke successfully with older women who love it when you speak their language. Let me give you a sample conversation:

Me: I Ni Ke ( thank you, but it’s a greeting)
Them: N Se, I ni ke (I am here, thank you.)
Me. Tana ma si? (is there evil ?)
Them: tana si te. Tana ma si ? (there is none here, is there evil there ?)
Me: tana si te. (there is no evil here).

I especially love when men say ‘N ba’ instead of a woman’s n se because it means something like ‘I am here and you can thank my mother for it.’ I like that. ( speaking of which – it’s my mama’s birthday – everyone call Pat Klein today and say Happy Birthday!)

anyway, continuing the ups list:

-Pulling my own water out of the well for bathing and fetching my own cleaner pump water for drinking (which is down the street a bit and water is heavy – I may pay someone to do this for me in the future)
-Buying veggies for making my OWN dinner – I haven’t cooked for myself in months!
-Buying fabric - yay clothes!
-Not buying jewelry – I have held out so far. This is the only place in this god-forsaken country that makes jewelry – how did Yamilee know to put me here? It’s all local gold too – so gorgeous and cheap by American standards. I will buy some soon.
-Taking a walk out the road to mali alone yesterday morning – greeting everyone along the way
-Realizing they have COCA COLA LIGHT here in siguiri, but it’s pas glace (not cold)
-Ordering customized furniture from my new friend, Kante, at the carpenter groupement.
-Buying Kante and I warm sodas. He’s a very good new friend.
-Running into my other counterpart in the busy streets of Siguiri– I hope he stops by to see me later today!


Ok – now for my downs this first week, which have been fewer than I imagined –

-Not having a key to my door when we arrived and having to break the door open
-My counterpart is in kissidougou for the week. Hopefully he will return soon!
-Not being able to sleep a wink due to the heat.
-Waking up in a pool of my own sweat
-Missing my mom
-Missing Reid
-Missing everyone else
-Realizing that there is NO electricity in Siguiri – which may force me to invest 300,000 Guinean francs (60 dollars) in a generator simply for the benefit of a fan at night
-Realizing there are NO cold beverages here bc there is ABSOLUTELY NO ELECTRICITY.
-Damn the lack of electricity.
-Oh, and trunks cost 3x as much here as in Kankan. Now I have to trek down there to buy a few.

Oh, and I am not sure whether to put this under good or bad, but I have lizards in my bathroom – big ones! And I saw a little one in my bedroom yesterday. Oh, and I have most of the other usual guinean houseguests: spiders (giant ones!) and ants, but there have been no roaches or rats YET. I just jinxed it, huh?

Well, I will leave you all with that. I should be back at internet in a week or so – it’s a long uphill bikeride in the haute heat, but it’s worth it! Keep sending emails and care packages. I need the love.

You guys don’t know how much you are missed. I love you.