On Jarama

Hey! This is Mamadi Diobate checking in from Labe (regional capital of the Fouta Jallon). Internet access has been completeley unavailable for the last month so i am sorry i havent been able to post in so long....but, c'est la Guinea, n'est pas? So so much stuff has happened in the last month i have decided to start free associating starting right now so I dont overthink it...in the last month I have been given my Guinean name Mamadi Diobate(africanized Mohamad), I have danced in Guinean night clubs where some dude sat in the corner and flicked the light on and off for three hrs to create a strobe affect, had my name and occupation announced over the loud speaker at that same night club, followed my grown men searching out the white dude in the club and hugging me. I have eaten no less than 1,000 bowls of rice and assorted sauces, learned how to say 'god willing' or 'thanks be to god' in at least 7 languages, been prostylatized by 'my muslim brothers from the Gambia', killed a snake with my host brothers that got inside our house, travelled on the worst roads mankind has ever seen, learned how to ask after peoples families in 4 languages, been called Fote (white person) by thousands of small susu children, sampled the assorted, and all bad, beers that Guinea has to offer, done socially unaccaptable things to a pizza we found being sold in Labe, cursed loudly at Guinean Basketball players in English so they could not understand me, got my soccer skills up to a new level, made a disastrous but still awesome breakfast for my host family, found myself being grilled by a guinean 22 yr old about how much porn americans watch, been through the craziest lightning storm I have ever seen, learned that I live in a region inhabited by black mambas (3 meter snakes that kill you in 20 minutes if they bite you), ate the most delicious pineapple on this side of the afterlife, lied outrageously about my age on a consistent basis, frolliced with my group in a gorgeous waterfall, smoked hookah on top of that same waterfall, missed my family and freinds intensley, and have had my tounge burned off on nunerous occasions by the piemont pepper that Susu's seem to think no dish is complete without.

A few things need a a little flushing out. My host family, the Dioubate's, are awesome. My mother, whom I call Na, my brothers Cidi'ki (18), Mamadi (23), and Mohamad (4), my sisters 'lily' (9), Bintu (20), and Jaqueline (25ish), are all fantastic. lil Mohamed is an adorable devil, and everyone else is patient and helpful to varying degrees. Everyone except my mother and the wee one speaks french, so communication is never a problem expect when my older brothers try and have a conversation with me about something complex when i'm really tired. For example, I have bombed one convo about sharia law, and another about excism (female circumsision), both of which are topics that I would love to talk about with my family but need a clear head and command of all my french to talk about with the verbal dexterity required to be both polite and well understood.

Right now I am on a trip up to the Fouta to see my future home! I am actually no allowed to put the name of the village on a blog, but I can tell you in personal emails or phone calls so you can look it up on a map. Yesterday a peace corps car(read: tank with unbreakable suspension) took me and some of my closest neighbors on a whirl wind tour of our future villages. At each village we met the local officials, 'salued' (said what up, hows the fam, and the work, and the children, and the day...), some of the older men and women, saw the school we will work at, and check out our house.

At my site I got to meet the CRD (i forget the French akry.), the only elected local official. He was 70 plus in a country where the life expectancy is somewhere in the 50's. He spoke no french, but I was able to have a french-puular conversation with the help of my driver cum translator cum cultural liason. I asked my translator to thank the man for his welcome, and his hospitality, and tell him I looked forward to living and working in the community. My awesome driver turned that 20 second welcome into a 4 minute address complete with all the embellishes and cultural nuances one must use when talking to very important people, and by the end of it the CRD loved me...it was that easy. I then presented him with a bag of kola nuts (kola nuts work kind if like flowers in the western world, but are perhaps a bit more ceramonial), and went inside to meet his family. The CRD than said a benidiction for me in Arabic which the driver said was a very good sign. Although I knew none of the responses, I allah-hu-akbar'd my way through and they loved it. It was an emotional welcome, and it got me pretty psyched to finish up training and start my life in the village.

I only have ten minutes left in this internet cafe, so I will try and close out. Everything that is hard about Guinea involves missing friends and family, and from time to time, being unable to be yourself because you do not have the words. My french is more than adequate for conversation, and even for some complicated discussions, but tackling emotional or controversial topics is often beyond me capability because I an scared that if I get backed into a whole I dont have the words to get out and save face with my host family or community. My point being that pit latrines and never ending rice and sauce and heat and 12 hrs of rain a day all take less than a month to get used to. Lonliness and feeling like a different person will likely persist in some form for my entire experience.

To those who have sent letters, I can not tell you how much it means to get a letter here. I love it. Truly, you become an instant celeberty to me when I see your name at the bottom of the letter....as soon as I get to Conakry, which si allah Jabi will be soon (god willing), I will get the return letters in the mail.

PHONE NUMBER: To call me, dial 011 224 66-54-37-19. I would love to talk to you! and you should call just to give me your phone number as well!

I miss everyone, and hope you and your families are happy and healthy. And for my own family, please tell my Cousin Beck that I love him very much and know that he is way too strong for anything to bring him down.