WOW

Wow.

I don’t even know where to start. I’ve never been to Africa before, so this might seem redundant or naïve to those that have made the journey already. I’m just going to paraphrase what I wrote in my journal last night.

Descending into Guinea was really exciting. All the volunteers on the plane craned their necks to get their first view of the country we were/are to live in for the next two years and three months. Everyone’s first view was a mass of green trees and rivers, which surprised us all because it was so different compared to the part of Senegal we flew into/through, which was dusty and brown.

We arrived in Guinea yesterday evening and it really is a different world over here. We waited as a group on the tarmac by the light of the sunset for a bus to drive us to the airport (which we could have easily walked, but we were all delirious after 25 hours of being on the road, so it was much appreciated).

The airport was open air and baggage claim was absolute chaos! There must have been 200 people jostling around one small baggage ring and I was nervous that someone was going to take my bags. One interesting thing that people do in Guinea is wrap their luggage completely in several layers of cellophane, probably to deter the baggage handlers from hacking into them while in transit.

All 74 of our bags made it to Guinea, which was a surprise to all of us. And then, we went into the outside world!!!

There were people everywhere, just socializing outside of the airport. They weren’t selling anything apparent and were just hanging out. I’ll have to ask someone if the airport is like Guinea’s In-N-Out.

We loaded all our baggage into the back of a truck and ourselves into various SUV’s and busses and left the confines of the airport’s parking lot and moved into the insane streets of Conakry.

When I say “insane”, I’m not exaggerating. THERE ARE NO TRAFFIC LANES ON THE STREETS! So, cars just weave around each other, with about an inch of space separating each car. There are also no street lights. Well, there are a few on one road, but they were just added two months ago, and were a gift from Canada. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more overwhelmed in my life. All I was doing was sitting in the car, yet my heart was pounding like I’d just gotten off of a treadmill. People were everywhere—on the side of the road, in the road, hanging off the backs of cars. We were all silent on our way to the regional house in Conakry, just taking in the chaos that is Conakry.

The transit house is one that I am going to consider extremely luxurious in a few weeks’ time. It has air conditioning and sit down toilets and showers with hot water. The electricity shuts off almost every half hour (the city’s electricity is very sketchy) but man oh man is that air conditioning appreciated.

And, no, it’s not hot. It was in the mid-80’s today, which was totally manageable. Then again, this is considered the cool season, so I will probably be eating my words a few months from now.

I haven’t slept in three days—my nerves and jetlag are really messing with me, so I’m probably going to induce some sleep tonight with the aid of a few (legal) drugs.

The teachers are really friendly and tomorrow we’re going to have our language interviews which will determine what language we will start learning, whether it be continuing with French until the desired proficiency is reached, or beginning a local language such as Malinke.

I’m trying to write as much as I can in these few days because I’m not going to get the chance to write on this very much while in Forecariah. So, check back in tomorrow, you will probably have another update.