So What's Really Going On ... followed by the wackest thing I have ever heard.

Alright, so some of my favorite stories have been updated, the details of what I'll be doing are now online ... but now to answer the question I keep getting: "How are you really?"

Usually? Awesome. Some parts of Guinea suck, but for the most part, I love. Amazing people, these Guineanas. So welcoming, they love Americans. It would be impossible to do PC here in this place if these people weren't lovers of all-things American. That includes Obama, and fortunately, me too.

However, this last week of training was the worst week by far. A lot of things in Guinea are terrible. For example, there complete and total lack of a culinary tradition. How can you be a population of people for 100s of years and have 3 meals to show for it? (Those 3 meals are, by the way, rice with green sauce, rice with red sauce, and rice with brown sauce. And there are always rocks and fish bones in your food.) So that's just a maddening thought. Like Mexico's a poor country, but their food is bomb. Guinea? Not so much.

Another thing that was awful this week was that my demon of a host sister padlocked me inside the compound, and when I called her to tell her to let me out, she did nothing. Needless to say, by the time I escaped, was in tears and ran to the Peace Corps office hyperventilating "I hate my host family, I hate my host sister!" But, because I have completely lost control of all my emotions, and know I'm being ridiculous, I am also hysterically laughing through these tears. I don't think the two lovely teachers who calmed me down have ever seen a scene like me. I'm still laughing about it.

Another thing that sucked about this week was that my neighbor, a beautiful 3 year old girl, died. Why? We'll never know. They blame everything on malaria. But one day she was there chasing me through her yard, and the next day, gone. It's so sad. And the worst part is that when I went to offer my condolances to her family (which, not knowing a language, is harder to convey than I thought) the look in the family's eyes was just one of "yes, we are in Guinea. anywhere else in this world, my daughter would be alive, but not here, and it sucks." I mean, they don't even do funerals for kids because this type of thing is so common.

And yet another thing that I hate about Guinea is this Femal Genital Mutilation. I meantioned that 99% of women currently have it done (that's the stat we learned) and basically these girls that are 7 or 8 years old get carved up with a dull blade. I feel like I can't go into too much detail, but the WORST part is that I was having a conversation with my host-sister about it (she's circumcised) and she believes these lies like "Girls who are not circumcised are promiscuous" and worse yet, "Girls who are not circumcised will never be able to enjoy sex." It breaks my heart hearing her in all her ignorance, and knowing she fully believes these things. And how do I tell her that the information she is given is completely wrong? And that you are now missing certain organs that serve no other purpose BUT TO give you certain sensations. I think I am going to have to develop a way to tell people the truth that won't leave them feeling hopeless. That's hard. And it's also hard to tell people what they've been told their whole life is a lie. Not to mention, these covnersations aren't even in my language. Ohhhh that's a task I'm thankful I have two years to master.

On a funnier side, my same ignorant host sister was telling me all about devils here in Guinea. There are good ones and bad ones. And sometimes they change forms ... like into boys who puruse women with gifts and jewlery. Hmm... have I met a few of those? Just kidding. If you call out someones name at night the devil will find them and kill you. If you go to the well at night the devils will push you in and kill you. But the greatest part was this: according to Oumou, you can meet and fall in love with a good devil. But no one can see him, and no one can know about him. You can even have sex with him and have babies. Yes, devil babies. But no one will know you are pregnant, because you won't gain weight or anything. Ohhh Oumou. She is telling me this, never for a second even considering I think this is by far the wackest thing I have ever heard.

Okay, that is a lot of updates for today. Shout out to Claire and Dad for the packages. I actually live package-to-package ... it's my morale to get through bad days. "At least there's a package in the mail." Not to mention the granola that increases my protein intake about 500%. In case you weren't aware, rice and green sauce does not contain protein. Shout out to Corinna's mom for sending me a special something. And thanks to Darchuk/Kristi/Christine for the phone calls. And Amy/Uncle Robby & Aunt Indiana/Michelle/Cara/Leah/Katy for the letters, newspaper clippings, crossword puzzles and pictures. Thank you all so much. So so so so much. Really, it means the world.

I'll be writing soon, and more often. I forgot to mention this, but in Mamou I have my own office. With internet. And two computers. 100 computers in this country, and two are for me. And I have chauffers, too. Peace Corps sure does have it's advantages...