Coming to you live from an internet Cafe in Labe, i just wanted to let the support crew back home know that I'm still kickin. Its been over two months since I went to the regional capital, and as you know, Guinea is not exactly staked when it comes to internet connections (or other luxuries such as water, roads, or electricity) Though a recent discussion with Peace Corps medical Staff has confirmed that the award for hardest Peace Corps Post country does not go to Guinea, but rather to our northern neighbor Maurataina. The infrastructure is equally bad, but its in the middle of the dessert and so conservative they don't even sell beer in the capital city. Both of which win it serious points....

Of the last two months I have spent the last 4 weeks at sight without seeing any other volunteers. Yikes. That may not seem like a long time, but even living in the bush, I usually still manage to bike to another volunteers site once every two weeks or so. At the end of four weeks my temper was on a short leash. You know you need to leave site when you suddenley want to throttle the little kid who hangs outside your house for asking for the same things in the same whiny tone that he has been asking for since you arrived (money, music, an American woman to marry, etc...) At that point you must calmy go inside, grab the peace corps stress manuaL 'Pas de Panique' (don't panic) and read one of the numerous useful articles written by PCVs. In this case I read the brief section entitled "ten reasons not to hit a petite" They include:
1. What would your friends at home think
2. His mom can beat him way better than you can
3. its way to hot to leave your porch and chase him

All true. But before the dark side began to take over in the last couple days, I was having a great couple weeks. Recentley I have been throwing myself into learning Puular for a variety of reasons. First, its a great language. While it certainly can't describe newfangled technology (like after the iron age), it is so descriptive for all the elements of human behavior that remain relatively unchanged for that last couple centuries. Raising kids, marriage, friendship, making fun of those friends, cattle, infidelity, spirituality, getting old, and a variety of other constants. My Puular is now good enough to trade insults with my three year old host brother Misbau...every night I will say something like "Misbau Sokkaade" (You're eating like an animal), and he'll fire back with something like "Abubucar Domude" (You show up around mealtimes hoping to be fed) General hilarity ensues. Now you may say, with reason, that knowing some obscure Niger Congo language that I will inevitably forget in two years might not be the best use of my time when french suffices for many situations, but, its something to throw myself into, and in the words of another Peace Corps Volunteer, "while knowing that local language certainly helps you communicate, it also just makes you a bad ass".

School has been great recently too. Let me see if I can give you a quick update on your "tokara" (namesakes) Uncle Mark, Amy, and Taylor continue to dominate, but recentley Pat and his crew have been making serious gains. Bammy (Jane) gave birth to the philosophy teachers baby (talk about not following your namesake), and I discovered that Madeleine has a three year old at home(though she still kicks some serious butt in school) Tyler and Tucker are a dynamic duo that are both fun and on the ball, and leslie has recentley been on an impressive run (word from the other teachers is that she dominates other classes too) Oh, and Cole, while not the strongest of english students, is a math whiz who dominates any type of the logic question I work into my English classes..... who would have guessed. The rest of you are polite and well mannered even if your not shining stars in the world of Fatako English.

Other news in Brief: I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of Scotty Kit Ying Wong, who will be the first of the tribe to make the trek to Guinea and will be arriving in mid APRIL! How awesome is that!

I, as always, feel like I am just getting started now that my time is almost out, but I have all day tomorrow and I think I will definetley be getting back on. I'll go ahead and make that a promise....talk to you tomorrow!

CONOR