i felt really bad...but i would have felt worse if i had gotten back to my hut and he had eaten holes in all my clothes and food...
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
the malaria day festivities- a lot of "groupements" came to represent themselves. * a groupement is a lot like a co-op usually formed to get something accomplished as a group. there are women's groupements, farmer's groupements, and livestock raiser's groupements as well as many others. there were a lot of dancers and musicians in attendence as well, all looking for a little tip:)
still here
first of all i need to thank some people who are AWESOME and havent forgotten me:) Aunt Marian- thanks sooo much for the pix from the family reunion! it was so nice to see the fam having fun- i dont remember when we last got all the sides together- cali plus fl plus everyone else. i will def be at the next one when im in the states and ill make Matt and Kristing and Becky come too:) Also, Becky, thanks sooo much for the cds and letters- i love that snail mail and ill be putting the songs on my mp3 player as soon as im finished with this blog. Matt- YAY! you can still write without using a computer:) i loved your letter and the house pix. i cant wait to crash there:) haha! DAD- you are amazing and i love love love your packages and letters- thanks for not forgetting the crazy daughter:)
for almost the whole last 2 months ive been just hanging out in the hut, dreaming of ice cream and smoothies, and, well, anything cold. it has been SOOO HOT!!! most nights when i go to bed the temperature is at least 86 degrees F. after it rains it cools off a little bit but then it heats right back up again a couple hours later. i have been working on making a useable plot to plant some medicinal trees. that involved hiring someone to make a grass fence and put it up, then pulling out my huge hoe and howing double dug raised beds. last year my moringa (the tree's name) project failed because i didnt have a fence and the goats/sheep/cows ate them all. this year im determined to make it work.
i have also begun to raise chickens. i am feeding them a diet of corn, rice, peanuts and dried fish. i hammered together some beams to make a coop and covered it with screen (chicken wire is big enough to let in snakes, which we have a LOT of here). ill keep yall updated.
recently my friend Julie, who lives near the coast, came to do a tour of the Haute region, and my hut was the first stop. i put her to work as we gathered fertilizer (cow poop), soaked it overnight to make a sort of tea, then carried the shloshing buckets on our heads over to my moringa garden plot, where we poured it onto the beds and i later mixed it into the soil with my little hoe. it was gross but fun- julie took a picture but i dont have a digital copy, so just use your imagination. my village loves to see my manual labor attempts and thinks it is really funny, which really annoys me. i havent seen any villagers using poop as fertilizer, but a lot use expensive (relatively) chemical fertilizers that they buy in the marche and i try to argue against (usually ineffectively).
ive been continuing my english classes but running out of ideas of what to teach. i think from this point i will start pulling out passages from different books which we can read together for pronunciation then analyze for meaning.
other than that. well, nothing is going on. ohhh the other night i heard a noise and found a mouse crawling on my wall (how did he not fall i do not know). i took a hard flip flop and chased him around for about 25 min then ended up smacking him hard enough with the flip flop to knock him out. then i picked him up by the tail and threw him out my door. the next morning he was still there (so i guess i killed him, sort of sad about that) so i took a picture (here it is).
ohh i forgot to tell you about world malaria day. my friend Jess, who is a public health volunteer, set up a big party to spread awareness where local gov officials came. it all culminated in a big soccer match. there was a lot of cool dancing and drumming.
i think that's all the exciting stuff that has happened to me lately. ive started the countdown to feb 4th (my COS-close of service- date). ive decided that it is not so much that i dislike being here, as i am ready for my next adventure. ive prob learned about 95% of what i will learn in guinea, and im ready for a change. and some ice cream. oh, and cheese. plus...seeing all of yall!!! as always, i love you all and think of you all the time:)
for almost the whole last 2 months ive been just hanging out in the hut, dreaming of ice cream and smoothies, and, well, anything cold. it has been SOOO HOT!!! most nights when i go to bed the temperature is at least 86 degrees F. after it rains it cools off a little bit but then it heats right back up again a couple hours later. i have been working on making a useable plot to plant some medicinal trees. that involved hiring someone to make a grass fence and put it up, then pulling out my huge hoe and howing double dug raised beds. last year my moringa (the tree's name) project failed because i didnt have a fence and the goats/sheep/cows ate them all. this year im determined to make it work.
i have also begun to raise chickens. i am feeding them a diet of corn, rice, peanuts and dried fish. i hammered together some beams to make a coop and covered it with screen (chicken wire is big enough to let in snakes, which we have a LOT of here). ill keep yall updated.
recently my friend Julie, who lives near the coast, came to do a tour of the Haute region, and my hut was the first stop. i put her to work as we gathered fertilizer (cow poop), soaked it overnight to make a sort of tea, then carried the shloshing buckets on our heads over to my moringa garden plot, where we poured it onto the beds and i later mixed it into the soil with my little hoe. it was gross but fun- julie took a picture but i dont have a digital copy, so just use your imagination. my village loves to see my manual labor attempts and thinks it is really funny, which really annoys me. i havent seen any villagers using poop as fertilizer, but a lot use expensive (relatively) chemical fertilizers that they buy in the marche and i try to argue against (usually ineffectively).
ive been continuing my english classes but running out of ideas of what to teach. i think from this point i will start pulling out passages from different books which we can read together for pronunciation then analyze for meaning.
other than that. well, nothing is going on. ohhh the other night i heard a noise and found a mouse crawling on my wall (how did he not fall i do not know). i took a hard flip flop and chased him around for about 25 min then ended up smacking him hard enough with the flip flop to knock him out. then i picked him up by the tail and threw him out my door. the next morning he was still there (so i guess i killed him, sort of sad about that) so i took a picture (here it is).
ohh i forgot to tell you about world malaria day. my friend Jess, who is a public health volunteer, set up a big party to spread awareness where local gov officials came. it all culminated in a big soccer match. there was a lot of cool dancing and drumming.
i think that's all the exciting stuff that has happened to me lately. ive started the countdown to feb 4th (my COS-close of service- date). ive decided that it is not so much that i dislike being here, as i am ready for my next adventure. ive prob learned about 95% of what i will learn in guinea, and im ready for a change. and some ice cream. oh, and cheese. plus...seeing all of yall!!! as always, i love you all and think of you all the time:)
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