The End of Orientation

Alright...so orientation is offcially over today...meaning we are finally done with all the "this is our policy, break it and be kicked out" talk and we are finally going to begin the actual training etc...

So far my days in Guinea have been spent at the Peace Corps house in Conakry under air conditioning, americanized food, few mosquitos and overall a lot of time spent with people who speak my language etc...

Meaning life has been easy...

tomorrow however I along with other volunteers will be adopted into a Guinean family in an adoption ceremony involving dancing and food....I think. I will me living with them for the next three months. These people will help me to learn more about Guinean culture and also helo to integrate into a community and learn the language.

I am feeling very excited right now adn also very anxious and nervous. I am worried about the fact that I will hardly be able to communicate with them. I am nervous to mess up and offend them. Yet at the same time i know that this is exactly what i need. I absolutely need to receive a complete slap in the face and be thrown into the culture. I have come to realize that I will not be doing much growing and adapting if I remain where I am now which is a very comfortable environment for me.

On Tuesday I will begin classes which I think run from 8-5 every Monday-Friday and I think on Saturdays we have to do something or other also...

Orientation has been fun though. They treat us very well and they try their best to explain everything so we do not feel as nervous going into all of this. The people are very friendly as I have said before.

Let the challenge begin!

Guinea...here I come!

I finally am taking the time to post a very quick blog entry. I am currently in Philly getting ready to catch my bus to JFK airport and fly out to Guinea West Africa. The past two days of staging have been pretty good. They mostly covered safety and security issues mixed in with some role playing, drawing, storytelling...oh yes and body sculptures.

I am in the G-16 group. There are 25 of us all of which are science, math, or english teachers. We have two married couples and all of us are below the age of 30. There are two otehr spanish people besides myself--one from Ecuador and the other from Mexico. We also have two African Americans. Oh and a French guy. Everyone is extremely nice and I am really looking forward to working with these people.

Last night was my last night in the USA...so of course we decided to pick a hardcore American restaurant (well some of us did since the rest decided that Italian would be better)--we went to Chilis which is basically a wannabe foreign restaurant with a total American twist--perfect. We all headed out to the pub afterwards where they were having a Trivia challenge night. A certain person decided he would cheat his way through it--but it was all part of the 'information sharing' which the Peace Corps promotes.

Anyways...other people are waiting for the computer so I should get off. In 24 hours I will fly into Conakry!

I will try to post as much as I can, but I dont know what my internet access will be like so we'll see.

Au Revoir!