Category pictures

Goodbyes

0 comments By potterzot Filed in events, in service, pictures, thoughts July 19th, 2009 @ 12:35 pm

I saw mary off very early Friday morning, and was relieved to hear from her that night that she made it safely back to the states. I wasn’t allowed into the terminal to help her check luggage and all that, so I was worried about people asking her for bribes, but apparently everything went well.

It was hard to see her go, and I am having trouble actually going back to my site. I was supposed to leave Saturday, and now it is Sunday and I am still here. I will be heading back tomorrow with a Peace Corps car though.

We had quite an adventure getting everything together. Thursday we walked around in the morning to look for art and other souvenirs. We found a couple of shops and some good pieces I think, and though we spent a lot of money, I was happy when I walked into a shop downtown on Saturday and found the same kind of statues for three or four times the price. The downtown shops cater to the rich (relatively) tourists, so of course prices are higher, but I was still surprised at how much higher they were.

Later that day we deplaced a taxi to the Royal Air Maroc office, where we attempted to pre-check her luggage, but of course air maroc is the only airline in Conakry that does not offer this handy bribe-avoiding service, and so we had to deplace a taxi back. It was a lot of money and wasted time, and we were not happy afterwards (and were more than a little nervous that we would have trouble at the airport).

But like I said, it all worked out fine. Saturday I printed up some photos to bring back to my family, and I’ve put them here as well. And don’t worry, Guinean’s don’t smile during photos. They are happy, though they don’t look like it.

From left to right: Bintu, Lamom, Mary, Papa, Mamadi.

The four adults are (left to right): Tenen, Bintu, Mamadi, and (I don’t know the guy in purple’s name, he isn’t closely related).

With my cat to boot. That’s my house behind us, and Mamadi and Cece.

Cece seems to have more fun with photos. Maybe he is the right age, or maybe in Cote d’Ivoire they smile for pictures.

That’s the hut that some of the kids sleep in. Most of these were taken hastily the morning we were leaving.

Cece’s class right after their annual exams, which determine if they will go on to the next class.

Pictures From A Walk

1 comment By potterzot Filed in in service, pictures July 14th, 2009 @ 10:24 pm

Here are some pictures from a walk Mary and I went on to meet with a groupement:

A typical shade hut in a field:

Cool tree:

Local bee nests. Made with grass and then broken to get the honey out:

Another hut:

The groupement. They make honey and gave me some, which was delicious. Our next meeting got cancelled but hopefully I’ll be doing some work with them:

And there are some more pictures for you. I have a couple other sets to post as well when I get the chance.

Pictures of Rain and Other Things

2 comments By potterzot Filed in in service, pictures June 19th, 2009 @ 5:37 pm

Here are some photos of the sky before it rained. And the inside of my house. And a giant mutant mango. That is my little laptop sitting under it. I am in Conakry now to pick Mary up from the airport. The trip was very smooth and fast. I road the whole way with a really nice guy from the military.

I also found a couple of letters in my mailbox and there are several volunteers here, so I am trying to decide whether to go see The Vagina Monologues in French with them or to stay at the house and do nothing…

Here is a giant Mango. That’s my laptop underneath it.

Inside of my house looking directly on from the doorway:

Inside to the left (thanks for the map mom):

Inside to the right:

Il faut protect your foundation from flooding. This is looking out of my window:

A little closer:

The sky before it rains. The sun is down:

Hand held long exposure of same. Maybe out of focus also:

My stamp I had made for $4. He spelled my last name wrong though, so I think I am going to have to ask for another one. If you look closely you can still see where I should have an O and instead have a C that looks suspiciously like it used to be an E:

stamp

And that’s all for now. All this air conditioning is getting to me. And I’ve been up since 5:30 and travelling in the car all day. I need a nap.

Pictures of Home

1 comment By potterzot Filed in in service, pictures May 21st, 2009 @ 8:16 pm

I have had a few requests for pictures of my house and the surrounding area. I hope you enjoy. Starting with my house, it basically goes clockwise from there.

My House. Isn’t it “charming?”

One frame to the right.

Two frames to the right.

Three frames to the right.

Four frames to the right.

Five frames to the right.

One frame to the left.

My cat thumper.

Moringa trees I planted behind my house.

Giant mango threatens to take over the world.

View from Mamou. Some volunteers have all the luck.

Anyway, there you go. I hope you enjoyed my little slideshow.

Pictures

0 comments By potterzot Filed in in service, pictures May 13th, 2009 @ 8:58 pm

I am making my first mass picture post. These are from IST, and involve a large banana, pineapple, and palm oil farm, a smaller agroforestry farm, and bee keeping. They were pretty interesting field trips and I think all the volunteers appreciated actually getting out into the field a little bit.