Poo to Guinea

First night in Pellel Kendessa!

How incredibly strange a feeling it is to first drive up to the place and people with whom I already know I'll fall irrevoccably in love. And to shake hands, ask names, find a spot to sit under the mango trees, while being simultaneously aware of that parallel world of the future in which I laugh and love effortlessly and know mango branches like veins on my hand.

I couldn't ask for a better introduction. My fun and optimistic language class and diva-trainer, the volunteer I'm replacing at my disposal for questions, a beautiful "shire" of a village, sweet hut, kick-booty regional house bohemian co-op haven... I lucked out! Only excepting minor difficulties such as a more painful permanent heat that I've ever experienced, the sad LACK OF WATER (for a few months because an NGO came and gave a water tower that doesn't work. thanks, ngo.), my own silly lack of clothing because I thougl I'd be able to wash them WITH WATER, my sweat, and my inability to communicate.

We had language class under the mango tree and it was comically ridiculous. We sat on a mat with our pens and notebooks, ready to take notes as we've done in classes all our lives. Houssay stood at the flip-chart with markers, ready to instruct as she normally does. Everything else was like an over-the-top "What Doesn't Belong?" exercise in a coloring book. Chickens pecked our toes, goats and sheep explored the flip-chart, no less than 10 people from my future family sat on top of each other behind us, watching the whole class like a great movie and interrupting to pass out attaya. Fires dotted the neighboring fields, the moon brightened as the sky darkened until we could no longer see Houssey's writing. Did I mention there is no electricity? I've definitely never had a class like that before.

We also slept outside and woke up to said chickens and goats and the HORRID CREATURE that is the rooster. Dawn is one thing, 3:30 is another. I had some very un-vegetarian thoughts. For the donkey as well.

Another fun fact: my village is so far south that my bathroom (i use this term loosely and really mean hole in the ground outside slightly fenced in) is actually technically in Guinea!