Okay so let me apologize in advance for the lack of organization/
coherency in this post.  It is kind of late and I couldn’t sleep so I
figured I might as well write a blog post.  Needless to say it may not
be my best work but I think it covers most of whats been going on.
        Well its been a busy last few weeks.  First of all, school was
wrapping up so we had exams every day for 2 weeks and of course it was
my responsibility to collect all the exam questions from the teachers
so that I could make sure all the exams started on time and everything
proceeded smoothly.  ha Luckily I had to go to Bo for training to be
on a panel of volunteers that are currently in relationships with host
country nationals (aka Sierra Leoneans).  The training is for the
incoming volunteers so it was fun going to meet all the newbies and
finally feel like the cool, experienced volunteers for a change.  So
it was nice meeting them and imparting what little wisdom I have to
offer.  Also, it was a lot of fun just hanging out with some of the
other volunteers there to help with training.
        Anyways, after 2 days in Bo I returned to Fadugu and continued
administering and proctoring exams until last Thursday.  So we are
finally done with exams. Now I just have to enter the marks for 14
subjects onto about 100 students report cards.  What I am really
looking forward to is hopefully putting on a little Awards Ceremony
for the highest achieving students.  I am planning on having it just
after they give back the report cards and giving away some of the
school supplies I have as prizes.
         I also went to Kabala last Thursday to give a math lesson for our
BECE candidates (When you complete JSS 3 you have to take an external
examination, the BECE, to continue on to the Senior Secondary level).
Anyways, they had to take the math portion Friday morning so they
called me in to give a last minute refresher course.  So I arrived in
Kabala at approximately 5 pm to meet them all hanging out and just
starting to cook.  So we decide that when they are done cooking and
everyone is done eating I should give my lesson before they have their
Religious Education lesson.  After just sitting there for 2 hours they
were finally done and we go take class for about 45 minutes before my
time is done.  Then the next morning it took me 3 hours to get a car
back to Fadugu.  All I can say is at least a handful better pass the
maths portion (last year only 2 people passed so I’m looking to double
it and have 4 pass.  We’ll see how it goes).  But the kids were really
excited to see me there and see that I care so going wasn’t a complete
waste time.  Hopefully it will have been a bit of a morale boost
before the last two exams if nothing else.
        As you all may remember I have been talking about my girls club and a
program we have been planning.  The program happened this past
Saturday and went as smoothly as things do here I think.  Friday
evening I was a bit stressed as an American who is used to having set
plans and organization in a place where nothing happens until the time
of the show.  So I was very anxious about the fact that at our dress
rehearsal no one was in costumes and up to that day we had never had a
practice with everyone in their specific roles because one or two
people always failed to show up.  Mohamed did his best to explain that
that is just the way things happen here but I have to admit that
didn’t calm my nerves too much and I may have been a bit short with
him.  Poor Mohamed, he has to put up with a perfectionist American
that likes efficiency and timeliness in a place where time doesn’t
really matter.  Fortunately though he was right and things worked
themselves out in the end.  The girls got ready Saturday morning and
even though, as per usual, not everyone showed up the show still went
well and everyone seemed to enjoy it.  Also, four other Volunteers
came to watch so it was great to see their support of our efforts.
The crowd was a bit smaller than expected but I think that’s mostly
because we started pretty much on time and people here are used to
plays lasting 3 or 4 hours and ours was only 1 hour long so people
were still trickling their way in until the very end and even after
the show had been done for 2 hours people would ask me if we had
started yet.  Overall, I think everything went pretty well especially
considering it was everyones first show and I am excited to continue
working with the girls club when school reopens.
        Tomorrow for the 4th of July a few volunteers that live relatively
close are planning on coming to Fadugu to cook some American food in
celebration of Independence Day.  I am excited to try and cook some
new things and hang out with some other volunteers.  Other than that I
don’t have too many plans now that school is done.  The 17th-19th I am
attending a math/science conference in Bo as one of four
representatives from the Peace Corps Volunteers.  I was excited to be
chosen for that.  It is always nice to feel like someone actually
appreciates your work.  After that I will head to Freetown for a
wedding of two volunteers and then I get to go to South Africa and see
my family!! I am so excited to finally see them and then to show them
where I am now.
        Finally, thank you all that have contributed to my grant! I really
appreciate your help and my school is also very grateful for the
assistance.

Love and miss you all,
Sara

ONE YEAR

So today marks my one year anniversary in Sierra Leone!! WOOHOO!!! Things are going great. Love the work and have no regrets about volunteer two years of my life to live and work in Sierra Leone.

Tuesday May 29th

            Well I’ve decided to update my blog since I have had the past 2 days off from school.  I fainted in class Monday morning which apparently terrified the students and staff so they have forced me to just rest and relax.  Which to be honest I am fine with.  I really was quite exhausted yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed being able to just lay in bed and read or sleep all day.  And today I have been able to plan for my girls club, record grades, wash my hair, and now try and update all of you lovely folks out there reading this.  So you may be wondering what caused me to faint.. The most likely culprit is dehydration and low blood sugar.  Anyways the event caused quite an uproar in school and all of my students came to see me after school to tell me sorry.  Poor kids. Can you imagine a foreign white woman just collapsing in the middle of teaching you how to change decimals to fractions? Literally every kid in all 4 of the classrooms in the building was on his/her feet and rushing to see what happened.  Oh man. Well at least I finally accomplished my goal of getting everyone in the class to pay attention to me and not sleep. ha And I have had a nice little 2 day vacation to catch up on some much needed rest and to get a little ahead in my work.  Also, Mohamed has been the best nurse taking care of me and lecturing me that my health is more important than teaching, and “health is wealth.” ha At least he is looking out for me.  Oh and my sitemate Chelsea has malaria.  Things haven’t been great for the girls in Fadugu (update as of May 31^st, her health is much improved. The malaria is gone she is just a little weak.)

            Well that has easily been the most exciting event in my life for the past month but let me try and update you on the other mundane occurrences in my life.  School is going alright.  We just had midterms last week and as per usual the majority of my students failed the exam.  Even my JSS 1 students failed and their exam was just 4 questions, one of addition and subtraction, one of multiplication, one of subtraction of decimals, and one word problem.  And yet still at least 75% of the class failed.  These are things they should have been learning for at least 3 years in primary school, but the majority still appear as though they have never seen a decimal point in their lives.  Oh well at least a few kids in all of my classes are trying and doing well.  In each class I had a couple students get 100% so I know if they really pay attention they could do well and I cant possible be that terrible of a teacher.  It is just frustrating that education isn’t seen as that high of a priority.  On any given day there will be at least 10 students gone in each class to work on the farm, or to sell, or just because they didn’t feel like coming and there is no adult supervision that would force them to come.  I guess all I can do is my best but it is still hard when I see so many things I want to improve but know I cant possible tackle them all.

            On the positive side, one thing I am very excited about is my newly established girls club.  At the first meeting we had 41 girls show up.  This is much more than I actually wanted for my girls club so I asked any girls that were still interested after the meeting to write me an application letter just expressing that they were interested.  I ended up receiving 20 letters and 15 girls actually came to the first meeting which is the perfect number in my opinion.  We had elections for President, Vice President, Secretary, and Assistant Secretary which all went smoothly.   Then we decided to plan what we wanted to do.  I want the girls to be in control of the club as much as possible in order to really enforce that the club is for them and can be used to address the issues they are interested in and to build their confidence to voice their opinion and run a club.  Anyways, they decided the first topic they wanted to address is Teenage Pregnancy which is very important here as I think something like 70% of girls in Sierra Leone have had a child by the time they reach the age of 20.  So that is the first topic we will discuss as a club and the girls also decided that in addition to our weekly meetings they would like to plan a play to present for the community as well.  The play would obviously focus on teenage pregnancy and would try and educate the viewers on the consequences of teenage pregnancy and how to avoid pregnancy until you are ready.  All the girls were very excited for the chance to perform and practice.  Plays (or concerts as they call them here which is quite misleading for us foreigners who might expect music given the name) are very popular and people love to watch what is essentially a soap opera put on stage.  So the girls cant wait to start the planning and preparation for their own concert.   I am also excited because I think it is good to start with something that will get them invested and interested in the club and that can show the community what the club is doing.

            This weekend I am going to Bo for a bachelor/bachelorette party.  Two volunteers from my group got engaged back in February or something and the wedding is this coming July so they are having their respective parties this Saturday evening.  It should be a lot of fun to see everyone and to celebrate the event together! 

Okay well that’s plenty for you all to read for now.  As usual love and miss you all! If you have anything you want to send for me you can send it to my parents and they can bring it when they come to see me in July!

Here is a message from Mohamed:

Hey! Sara is the person I am always thinking of and I’m always pleased to be with her wherever life takes us. I am always in place to give her the fullest protection she deserves. I hope you guys are doing well and I cant wait to meet you, as I am very excited from what Sara has told me about you guys. Sara has been very honest with me all this while and helping me learn the American culture and always practice it. With tons of love…

Aww those Sierra Leoneans such romantics… Mohamed is doing well.  He has been helping to teach at both my school and Chelsea’s school so hopefully one of these days someone finally decides to compensate his work with at least a small stipend.  He has also played a very big role in helping me start my girls club and co-facilitates the meetings with me.  It is nice having him help when things get lost in translation.  We are also currently looking into some schooling options in America for him to see if he would be able to be an international student at a school in Michigan.  So hopefully we get the applications for that in this coming fall and then we just have to pray he gets accepted and some financial aid!  Overall, things have been going really well and he has definitely been a big help to me in getting some projects off the ground and to advise me on what would and wouldn’t work here and how to act appropriately in sensitive situations such as burials and things. 

Okay well now to end with a few “Only in Salone” moments:

Only Na Salone:

·        - Are mayonnaise sandwiches considered both delicious and nutritious

     spiders the size of my hand don’t scare anyone, but small garden snakes should be killed on sight.

·         will children run away from me screaming because I am white (at least I’m assume that’s the reason and its not actually because I am hideously disfigured)

·         can I convince a child to do any chore for me by promising him/her a reward of a pencil, pen, or even just a few almonds. 

·         will the children actually volunteer to do chores for me with an expectation of nothing

·         is mayonnaise mixed with ketchup a perfectly acceptable topping for a salad..

·         would the timekeeper at a school not have a functional watch or phone

·         would I consider buying a goat to increase my financial worth

·         is a goat worth 25% of my monthly salary

·         have I seen a two-year-old child say “f*** off” and not be punished for it. 

·         would my boyfriend think taking me on a date to McDonalds would be considered romantic

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile but considering my internet access is slightly limited I think I've been updating you all pretty well.. Ha but I might as well admit I have become a bit of a slacker when it comes to keeping people updated.  Its just that most of my life here seems pretty mundane now.  I mostly just teach and then hang around town or on people's porches.  My day-to-day activities dont vary a ton and I dont want to vent all my frustrations to the general public.  But I will try and find a few interesting tidbits from my life to share with you all today!

Well first of all, since my last blog post we had exams at school, break between term 2 and 3 which I spent half in Fadugu and half in Freetown, and now we are back at school and have been open for 2 weeks.

So let's start with exams.  First of all, not to brag but just to illustrate how schools are run here, I basically ran all the exams.  I made the exam schedule and had to collect all the exams from the teachers so we would have them in case the teachers didnt show up on the day of their exam.  You may be thinking, "teachers would never skip their exam day" but you couldnt be more wrong.  Some didnt even seem to know when their exam was scheduled for and had to write questions on the spot.  Anyways, after collecting all the exams, I then had to write the exams on the blackboards (at least for the morning exams since I am always the first to school).  Finally, when all the exams were done and results were calculated, I was lucky enough to get the job of entering them all, by hand, to the report cards.  Now those of you that know may be wondering how on earth I got that job since my handwriting resembles that of a 4 year old boy, but I guess they just knew I would actually get the job done.  But I just finished entering all the grades so I am finally done with that.. and guess what?? After not having school for the three weeks before exams, I would say at least half of the students failed all of their exams. Shocking. Okay so I feel like this reads pretty negative so I would like to counter this by saying, despite all the work I do enjoy teaching and I do enjoy the company of all the other teachers at my school.  Its hard to blame them for not being super committed when most of them only get paid $10 a month, which isnt enough to live off of even here.

Okay next, when exams were all done it was Easter!! So here Easter isnt really celebrated until the Monday after Easter.  Then, in Fadugu, everyone climbs a small hill and goes and celebrates on flat spot on top.  So me and Mohamed made the hike up the hill and just hungout for an hour or so before coming back down.  We wanted to come down before the mad rush of people all came running down the hill but about 2/3 of the way down, the music cut and all the kids started whispering "they're coming. They're coming now hurry."  Haha I felt like I was in a horror movie and zombies were chasing us or something.  But the danger wasnt due to zombies but due to the fact that since the hill was pretty steep, the favorite way to come down among locals is by running down the hill.  So essentially a stampede of people was threatening to overtake me as I slowly made my way down trying not to trip on any branches or rocks. Dont worry. I made it down safely.  Also, this weekend Chelsea's family and one of her friends were here visiting so it was fun hanging out with some Americans for awhile and most importantly picking up a few tips on what to do and what not to do when my own family comes.

After Easter I was just biding my time in Fadugu for the week before heading to the beach and Freetown.  I went to a beach called River No 2 for a night which was absolutely gorgeous.  White sand and palm trees and warm ocean water.  So I stayed there for a night with about 10 other volunteers and then went and stayed with Mohamed for a few days in Freetown.  Then I switched to the Peace Corps hostel for a few days and attended a workshop on Life Skills.  I really enjoyed the workshop and feel newly motivated and ready to get going on some projects like starting a girls club and having a career day to teach my students about opportunities available to them.  Also, we had to bring counterparts from our towns and my counterpart was just thrilled to be there and kept thanking me at every break for inviting him so I was glad I brought someone that really enjoyed the workshop and will be eager to work with me in Fadugu.  The rest of the time in Freetown I just spent time with all the other volunteers going to the beach or eating good food.  It was really nice to just get away for a bit and talk with other people that know exactly what I am going through.  Sometimes you just need to vent to someone that understands exactly what your talking about or share ideas/experiences of things you have done.  Also, sometimes it is just nice to laugh and talk with someone who understands your sarcasm and has similar interests and opinions.  All in all it was a very nice break.

So finally, we are back at school.  As per usual the first week of school is a joke, with neither teacher nor student in attendance.  I think we averaged about 15 students a  day and maybe 4 teachers a day.  So yeah the first week allowed me to ease myself back into the school schedule by teaching the kids that were there for an hour or two and then going home to nap. haha This past week though the students and teachers have started showing up so we have followed the real schedule and I have actually been able to teach a few classes.  Unfortunately my JSS 3 students who will be going to sit their external exam soon seem to have a case of something equivalent to 'senioritis' and are not taking class too serious anymore.  This is very annoying because they still need a lot of practice (and I really mean A LOT) if they have any chance of passing the math BECE.  I would estimate that only 2 or 3 of the 80 students will pass.  Which is actually common and expected here.. Anyways their incessant chatter during my classes has really started to strike a nerve and I dont know what to do since they dont care about school so all my threats are empty.  Also, it has become pretty aggravating for all my classes, for me to ask a simple question and have a class of 50 all just give me blank stares.  As much as I really really love some of my students, some days it can be just a little too frustrating and I cant wait for the school day to end.  But as I just said there are some kids I really care about and want to see succeed so much.  They are just so cute and try so hard!! Unfortunately there are also a few I really like that try really hard but math just isnt their subject.  Oh well.

Alright well this post is super long so I'll just leave it at that.

Love and miss you all!

17/3/2012
       So it has been 2 weeks since I have taught a class.  Second term is
“sport” term here.  Sport is a 2 day competition between the school
houses.  There are four houses (think Harry Potter and how they are
sorted into houses) that compete against each other in track and field
events.  You may be thinking if it is only a two day competition then
why is there no school for about 2 weeks??  Well the answer is simple.
 The children have to spend 2 weeks making the track, building a fence
around the track, and then building little pavilions inside the track
for each of the houses.  So all this work adds up and leads to very
little effective schooling for the two weeks prior to sport.  Also,
sport is mandatory since in addition to being graded based on their
cognitive aspect (i.e. test scores) they are also graded on
psycho-motor (athletics) and affective (attitude).  Anyways, while I
do think that sport is a fun activity with plenty of its own merits, I
do not fully support the sport setup, i.e. the whole missing school
for 2 weeks even though all the kids are struggling their way through
all their classes.
       Overall though, I must admit I did have fun at sport the past two
days.  It is nice to see everyone so excited about something and
working together towards one common goal.  Also, I do enjoy cheering
on the kids as they participate in the track and field events.  Oh and
some of the events here are pretty funny.  I can’t wait to put up
pictures but the events include: musical chairs, egg on a spoon race,
sack race, filling a basket with mangoes race, etc.  Haha I just love
that they include these events among all the other track and field
events and take them just as seriously as any of the normal running or
jumping events.  This year White House won in a major upset that left
many participants displeased.  White and Red were neck and neck the
whole competition but white pulled through with the victory.  However,
Red won the all-house relay worth the most points so they had prepared
themselves for the victory and lined up for the awards ceremony
expecting nothing less than first place.  Well as the announcer called
out “Second place goes to Red House” many of the red house
participants become quite disgruntled and after the initial shock wore
off the whole house (under the direction of the House Master - aka
teacher in charge of the students) stormed off without even watching
the presentation of the first place trophy.  Haha so much for good
sportsmanship and remembering that sport is for the kids and just for
fun.  Oh well everything else went off smoothly (aside from starting
at least 2 hours late both days) and I thoroughly enjoyed sport at my
school.  Oh and I forgot to mention I was on the Sport Committee so I
helped organize it (kinda, I really just did whatever they told me to
do since it was my first sport and I wasn’t actually super supportive
of the whole 2 weeks preparation process.  But I let them store all
the food and money in my house so no one would steal it so I guess
that’s a decent contribution on my part.)
       Okay moving on.. Well on a completely different note, I have found
through my time here that I am much more passionate about human rights
than I had ever realized before.  I guess I just had to go someplace
where many people are living without some rights that I feel are basic
and belong to everyone to really get charged up and interested in
them.  This applies mostly to women and children’s rights as they are
often marginalized here, doing a good portion of the labor yet being
without money or food quite frequently.  I especially feel for the
children since I look back at my own childhood and see now how good I
had it.  We are so spoiled in America.  Children here learn to work at
the ripe old age of 3 and continue until they leave the house
(although this also applies much more to the girl children than the
boys).  And I’m not talking about little chores like sweep once a week
and you’ll get $5 for your allowance.  No this is cooking, cleaning,
childcare, washing clothes by hand, etc. all without receiving a cent.
 Also, it is much more a tough- love mentality here.  Children aren’t
coddled or held or hugged too much and I cant help but feel that all
they need is a little love to really perk up their lives.  But I
suppose love is shown to them in a different way because I do believe
that the parents genuinely love their children they just don’t show it
in the way we are accustomed to.  Anyways I find myself getting heated
about issues I never used to consider at all and makes me want to work
towards making real change.
       Okay moving on again.. My life is pretty much the same old routine.
School and just hanging out with Keba and all the kids. Mohamed is
still here in Fadugu with me so obviously things are still going on
between us and are good.  He just got hired at the other secondary
school in town and will be teaching there starting tomorrow so that is
exciting.  In about two weeks we will be getting ready for final exams
for this term and then we have a short break between terms.  I hope to
do some travelling at this time in addition to attending a workshop on
life skills training and teenage pregnancy. So all in all things are
going well.  I hope all of you are also well.  Keep on sending the
emails, I really do love reading about your lives even if I don’t
always have the time (or a fast enough internet connection) to reply.
Also, for those of you sending letters and things I absolutely love
that!! It is like Christmas/ my birthday every time I get a mail drop
and see a letter or package from my family/ friends.
       Okay well I love and miss you all!!

Also some of you have requested my address again so here it is:
Sara Metzler
C/O Peace Corps P.O. 905
Freetown, Sierra Leone

25/3/2012

       So the internet wasn’t working last week so I couldn’t post the blog
so I decided I would just add a bit to it.  Sorry this will now be a
super long post.  Anyways I can update the last post to “its been
approximately 3 weeks since there has been any effective schooling at
my school.”  Its not just my school though this seems to be pretty
common among most of the volunteers I talk to here so apparently March
just isn’t a great time to be teaching.. I guess.  More kids (and
teachers) should show up next week though considering finals for the
term start on Monday.  Despite the low number of students and school
closing every day after 2 hours I tried to do some review exercises
with my students so we’ll see if that actually helped anyone (probably
not considering most students weren’t paying attention since I was the
only teacher crazy enough to actually try and teach.)
       Lets see, there isn’t much else new to discuss.  Next week for my
birthday I am planning on going to Makeni to with some other
volunteers to swim at a hotel’s pool and then go eat at a restaurant
that serves Western food.  So I am excited. It should be a fun time.
Otherwise, its just finals for two weeks and then we get a 2 week
break before the start of the next term.  Okay I really don’t have
anything else at this point so keep on enjoying America and don’t
forget about me, I’ll be back in a year or so! ha

March 5, 2012

So its been a few weeks now so I figured it was about time for me to
update the blog.  Things are pretty much just chugging along same as
usual for me.  Just teaching and hanging out.  The past two weeks have
been a bit rough though.  Not too bad its just that all the little
things have been adding up to make me a bit frustrated with life here.
 I mean I've gotten used to the whole no electricity or running water
thing but some of the cultural differences can be a bit aggravating to
say the least.  Our lives in America are just so different from their
lives here and while I understand that different things are priorities
here when just feeding your family is hard to do sometimes, it is
still difficult to see children pulled out of school to work, or
people just accepting that corruption is a way of life here.  I guess
that's what always having food on the table and money in the bank does
but I still cant help thinking that it doesn't have to be that way.
And that's not to say people here don't want things to change but as I
said it is more difficult when simply surviving isn't a given.
So as I said I had been feeling a little down and a bit homesick for
America but after a nice weekend at the beach two weekends ago and a
fun night out with some friends this last week things are looking a
little better.  Plus I think all my physical ailments are finally
healing up (knock on wood) so hopefully I am well on my way to being
healthy and happy in Africa.  Which Mohamed told me is not too much to
ask for. (haha I told him I just wanted to be happy and healthy in
Africa, is that too much to ask for? And he took my question quite
literally and replied "no sara that isn't too much to ask for. In fact
you could ask for more."  Haha sometimes I love how literally he takes
everything me and fellow volunteers say)
       Two weekends ago I finally made it to a beach outside of Freetown.  A
small group of volunteers went to Bureh beach.  It was absolutely
gorgeous.  Nice white sand and a beautiful blue ocean that was perfect
for swimming.  Also, the best part was we were the only ones there.
We had the whole magnificent beach to ourselves!  Mohamed ended up
meeting some friends of his from his community in Freetown so we
stayed in a nice room by ourselves very near to the beach and very
near to where the other volunteers were.  And not only did we save a
little money but we got to sleep in a bed rather than in a tent on the
sand.  Overall, it was a nice mini vacation full of sunbathing,
swimming, and chatting with fellow volunteers.  The only problem was
after travel time and everything it was a bit too short for my taste.
       It has started getting super hot again.  And apparently it only gets
hotter as we move towards the end of March and enter into April.
Considering I am already in a full sweat just by moving from laying on
my bed to sitting on my back stoop I don't know if I can handle the
weather getting any hotter. (Good thing I just got the cold-weather
clothes my mom sent for me this past week.)  Yup so its getting hot
and all the water is drying up.. I'm not sure what exactly happens but
I hear getting water becomes even more of a chore than it already is.
Also, it is definitely too hot during the day for my poor little dog
Keba as I found out when I tried taking him for a walk yesterday.  We
got almost halfway when he just turned around looked at me and started
crying.  He must think I am absolutely crazy or super mean for
torturing him in that way.  But don't worry we found some shade to sit
in and some water for him to drink so we could make it home without
anyone passing out.
       We just finished with midterms in school.  While I absolutely love
some students and I can tell they actually study and try in math, a
lot of my students still seem to be in a mindset that math is just an
impossible subject that they might as well not even attempt.
Sometimes it is incredibly frustrating to stand up in front of the
class and ask a question I literally have just said the answer to and
only receive blank stares.  Its as if what I say really does go in one
ear and out the other.  But then there are other times when the kids
are just so cute or try so hard that I absolutely love them and love
teaching.  I really do like working with children and really do want
to see some of my students do really well on their external exams but
sometimes it is really hard.  While I am now able to see that teaching
is a rewarding career I also have to say I have earned new respect for
my former teachers.  This job isn't easy to say the least.

My life at 22.
~ I go sleep by 9 at the absolute latest pretty much every school
night (and most weekend nights too).
~ I wake up at the latest around 7 every day. And yes that does
include weekends.
~ My best friend is an 8 year old boy. He does everything with me.
~ Its been a good week when I have washed my hair twice and maybe even
shaved my whole legs once if I'm lucky.
~ I eat rice literally every day.
~ This past weekend I had water that was almost so cold ice could have
been in it.  I almost couldn't drink it because it felt so cold.  My
normal drink of choice is nice lukewarm water from my filter.
~ I also slept on a bed with bedsprings for the first time in 9
months.  It felt incredible.  My normal mattress is foam and has a
clear indentation of my body.
~ I make approximately $250 a month doing a full time job.
~ I'm a local celebrity.  Everyone in town knows my name and all the
kids scream it whenever I pass.  Also, at any event in town I will be
given a seat at the high table with all the other VIPs.

Interesting/Different Things in Salone (Sierra Leone)

·      Sport is part of the curriculum in schools here.  That doesn’t mean students are required to play on after school sports teams.  Here it means that during second term at least a week is taken to play sports between the houses (think Harry Potter and all students split into 4 houses).  Some Peace Corps said sport takes up to a month because they give the students time to practice and construct little huts for each house.

·      Witchcraft and devils are not just a good plot line for movies here.  They are taken seriously and people fear and respect them.  Also, it is a common belief that witches and devils are part of American culture too but they put their knowledge and magic to good use to help scientists build airplanes, helicopters, computers, etc.  I had to tell them that I had never heard of this in America but since I’m not a scientists perhaps I was just never privileged enough to learn these secrets. 

·      Corporal punishment is very common here.  In school and at home it is common to see children being flogged for their misbehavior.  They like to quote “spare the rod, spoil the child” or tell me that African children are different than American children and wont learn unless they are flogged.  I keep insisting that all children are the same but alas that idea just doesn’t seem to take hold at my school.  Just last week the teachers and principal tried to make me flog a student that had been very bad just to show the seriousness of the offense he had committed.  I politely declined and said I just couldn’t hit anyone regardless of what they had done.

·      Being chubby or stout is considered beautiful here.  People think it is a compliment if they tell you you are putting on weight.  It would be like someone in the U.S. saying “you look good, have you lost weight?” Except that here people say “you look good, you’ve been gaining weight.” haha it takes some adjustment to say the least. 

·      Two of the most common questions I get here are “are you married?” and “do you have children?”  I always respond that I don’t yet because I am too young.  They then proceed to ask my age and laugh.  I would estimate about 75% of girls my age here have children and are engaged to someone if not married. 

·      People think it is weird that I could ever desire to eat anything besides rice and sauce.  Most people eat rice morning, noon, and night.  They joke that if they haven’t eaten rice that day it is like they haven’t eaten anything at all.