Oh Guinea

So I'm in Conakry right now. I was talking to Aimee and my mom today and they said the States are great but Y'all are making a big fuss over the Da Vinci Code...suprise.

Ok enough of the news you already know. On the interesting side of things here in Guinea is the strike that will happen starting Monday the 5th or 12th (they haven't decided yet...you know mobilzing a whole country can be difficult) So the long and the short of it is there will be no services, transport, school, or much of anything until "demands" are met. I don't have all of the details and in part as an agreement with the Peace Corps I am not at liberty to discuss the details in this public of a forum. So if you want my honest take on this whole thing, call my mom, get my number (I'll be in Conakry until Saturday 3rd give me a call I'll give you the scoop!) Really I just want people to call and chat with me.

Aimee and Mom had asked me about what people wear here and perhaps you all are wondering the same thing. Women traditional wear long wrap skirts and matching tops gengerally with short sleeves, a head wrap and a prayer shawl. Men tradtionally wear long Boubous kinda like a Moumou for a man with pants underneath...all of these are in very bright patterns and colors, women more then men. In smaller villages you see more of the traditional wear in bigger towns men wear pants and collared shirts, ties only in the city. Women in the city wear a mix of traditional and western clothes. On of the culturally different things here is breast are not as "private" as we see them in the States and knees and thighs are socialized like breasts in the States.

Now there's a whole industry for 2nd hand clothing here, so all of the stuff you take to Goodwill or the Salvation Army gets bailed up and sent to 3rd world Africa. Where it is sold in markets for pennies. They are called dead Porto clothes (Porto meaning White Person)because most people think that the clothes come from people whom have died. Because here you wear your clothes until they fall off your body then you use them for baby diapers, or to wash the floor or something else, nothing is thrown away until it is dust, then they burn it.

I see old Wendy's work shirts, Jump Rope for Heart, Green Day, family reunion shirts, Polo, random frat and sorority shirts, my friend bought a Kappa shirt the other day (sorry kid some not so loyal Kappas around) and a lot of University of Michigan tee shirts and sweat shirts. Not once have I seen a Michigan State shirt all though I'm looking. So what has this said to me??? (others have noticed this as well) is that there are a TON of fair-weather Michigan fans back in the States because all of the Guineans are wearing your old shirts.

I suppose that is all for now. Hope you are all healthy happy and well. And a Big congratulations to my cousin Leslie and her husband Nick on the birth of their son Liem!!!! Love you and miss you all.

Cheers,
Rasa

A Funny Thing Happened at 7am

So I had a hard time sleeping the other night bordem probably. The good news is now that my French teacher has left I can focus my attention on making new friends in the community...back on topic. So staring into the darkness or the inside of my eyelids (same view when the moon is not out) I could hear drumming in the distance. Bummed I had not been invied to whatever party at the same time knowing it would go till dawn or so (not that it made a difference I wasn't sleeping).

As the drumming and eventually singing grew closer I got curious. So I was up and trudging down a path in the dark trying to find who was having the good time. The best I could make out was a bunch of kids they came as close as my conessio's parmimater but never entered. The two reasons I didn't try to join them one, I was still in my PJ's and two I'm a bit of a chicken...next time!

Eventually I do fall asleep, and when I roll over it's about 5:30 and no one's up! Miraculously b/c it's a Monday morning and usually someone is pilaying the corn (smahing corn in a giant morter and pestal thud thud thud for hours) I'm excited thinking I can sleep in....wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong. The #1 wife whom watches over me the most starts calling my name a good distance from my house why she needs to talk to me this early is beyond me...anyway she has to pass my one, open, window to get to the front of my room to see my door is shut which means I'm sleeping or not home. Then she mumbles 'the door is closed' so I'm up but in no mood to talk to anyone.

In my half dazed consiousness I hear some kids in the distance half mumbling kinda singing kinda chanting. I start to wonder if they were practicing the songs from the night before b/c they were obviously younger then the kids I had already heard. Anyway, I wonder why they are not headed to school and insted towards my house...this quickly passes as I start to reconize the tune of this chant-like song. Briefly I wonder if its something I've heard before in other cerimonies in passing or perhaps one of the 3 songs played over and over at the "clubs" here. Then it registers the kids are singing "I live to move it move it, I like to move it move it" In plain English. (and for thouse of you who are not laughing histarically right now it's one line from an old popular song mid 90's I think) Ahhhh Guinea.