Well, I have one fortnight left in the US until I leave for Guinea. My things are somewhat packed, if by packed you mean cluttering up the living room in a giant pile. But I definitely feel ready to go; after waiting for so long it seems like the 28th can't come soon enough.
So what exactly will the next couple months look like for me? Probably a lot like school.
I leave the morning of the 27th for Philadelphia, where all the other volunteers, including the public health and community economic development folks, going to Guinea in
G21 (that's our volunteer group number) will be meeting to sign some final forms, get shots, and enjoy our last cheesesteak for a couple years. Then we load into a bus the next morning and depart for JFK airport in New York, where we will catch a flight to Conakry (Guinea's capital) via Brussels and Banjul.
Then, after about a day's worth of traveling and plane food (which I secretly love), we will walk off the plane and be hit by that wall of humidity and heat so characteristic of tropical places. That's another thing I secretly love. The first couple days will be spent in
Conakry at the Peace Corps headquarters. We will be getting some more vaccinations, taking our language tests (see how I said it would be like school?), and just generally getting oriented.
After recovering from jetlag, all of G21 will head to
Dubreka, a town about 50 km from Conakry. Fun fact: it is also President Conde's hometown. This is where our
pre-service training (PST) will be taking place for the next 10 weeks. Remember those language tests? Those decided what level French class we would be placed in. After a while, we will start learning the local language of our site. This could be Susu, Malinka, or Fula depending on where we are placed. Each day we will spend about four hours in language class in the morning at the training center. The afternoons will be spent doing cultural and technical training. More details on that once I get there. I need to have
something to write about in my next blog post.
Where I'll be spending the next 3 months.
During PST, we each stay with a homestay family in Dubreka. This helps us with our language and cultural learning, as well as gives us a base within the community. My homestay was one of the best parts of Tanzania, so I am really excited for this.
You are probably all thinking this sounds great, but will you talk to me while I'm there? What will you do without my entertaining anecdotes and spot-on sense of humor in your life? Have no fear, there are several ways through which you can get a hold of me.
During PST, I will have pretty reliable access to a rather unreliable internet connection, so e-mail is the best choice. Please use this e-mail, as I probably won't be checking any others regularly:
mvevans89 [at] gmail.com.
I also love getting mail, and while I'm at site that will be the best way to contact me. At the moment, the US doesn't accept mail from Guinea because of security risks, but the Peace Corps has a deal with the Embassy where they will bring our letters back to the US to send, so it will be not be a one-sided penpal situation. My address is:
Michelle Evans, PCV
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 1927
Conakry, Guinea
West Africa
Make sure you date and number letters, as they sometimes don't arrive in the order you sent them. And write
par avion on the envelope or it may be shipped by sea, camel, or other equally slow method. Any type of mail is appreciated, with letters, photos, current gossip on Bret Michaels, anything.
Also,
please e-mail me your mailing address before I leave so I can write back to you. Or include it in the letters you send me. Or both. Otherwise how will I send you pictures of me doing unbelievably exciting things?
How I will feel if I don't get mail.
I will be getting a cellphone in Guinea, although it may only work sometimes at my site. The easiest way to call me is by using a calling card or through
Skype, which costs about $0.50 a minute. Skype is a computer program that lets you make calls to phones through the internet using your computer. It also has free video chatting, but I doubt my connection will be strong enough for that.
Of course you can always leave comments or questions on this blog and I will try my best to answer them in the next post.
Congratulations to those of you who have made it through this lengthy blog post! Hopefully this answers a lot of questions you may have had about the beginning of Peace Corps.
Til next time!
