A Weekday in the Life of a Peace Corps Stagiere (Trainee)

I am a morning person so I typically woke up with Prayer Call which starts around 5 am. A man wanders the neighborhood crying out or if you live by a mosque an electronic prayer call is one’s morning alarm clock.

However I wouldn’t get out of bed until maybe 6-6:30 am.

Morning salutations to all 9-10 members of the family starting with the father, then the mother, and then the brothers and sisters ranging in age from 9 years old to 22 years old. My 14 year old brother would always go out and buy me some fresh bread. I would sit out on the Veranda just chilling, eating bread with butter, peanut butter, avocado with sugar, or honey until it was time to leave for school.

It was a good 15 minute walk to the high school dotted with kids yelling out Fote, Fote (white person, white person) or salutations in the local languages as I would walk through people’s yards.

From 8 am till 5 pm Monday through Friday I was in training.

During practice school the morning was spent teaching and observing classes. In the afternoon, I had language class (local language Pular) as well as numerous other sessions.

We have had sessions on safety and security. Do not walk in Conakary at night. Take a taxi. Integrate into your community when you get to site. They are your best protectors.

We had sessions on health. Don’t eat shit.

We had diversity and cultural sessions. Be aware of the heirarchrial structure of your school. Go through the right channels or else you will not be able to get anything done.

We had teaching sessions on classroom management, lesson planning, how to say chemistry words in French.

We had a few community development sessions: how to give a sensiblization on hand washing or brushing your teeth or how to go about determining the needs of a community.

Twice a week, we ate lunch at the Peace Corps office. They fed us well: meat, beans, fruit, rice and sauce.

The rest of the week I would walk the 20 minutes into the town center where I would eat rice and sauce or an omelet sandwich. A few times I ate a bean sauce with bush meat. Don’t ask me what type. I am not sure.

By 5 pm, I was drained and ready for home.

I would often buy a deep fried cassava root or some little fried manioc balls or some boiled peanuts, my Guinean fast food for the walk home.

As soon as I got home, my 19-year-old host sister would bring out a plate of rice covered with fish and red sauce or a green leaf sauce. I would eat but I would try not to eat too much because I knew I would be fed again at 8 pm.

The family would sit outside until nightfall. Sometimes I would help the brothers fill the 20 water containers. They would pull water out of the courtyard well and then I would use a funnel and a cup to fill the bidons. My host mother didn’t want me to pull water out of the well even though I really wanted to (good workout, you know?), too dangerous? In Guinea it is typically the girls who get water; however, my family was progressive. Boys cleaned the house and did the water. However the traditional role of cooking still went to my 19-year-old sister; although, a few meals were cooked by my brothers which was a HUGE deal. At the market, you never see males shopping and you rarely, rarely ever hear of males cooking.

By nightfall, if we had electricity, we would go into the hot house and eat. My family would eat rice and sauce, but they always had something different and special for me like a cucumber, potato salad or spaghetti with oil sometimes with fish meatballs, or black eyed peas.

Then my family would watch TV. There is a different local language night. Since there are 3 major local languages in Guinea, Monday night might be Sous-Sous night. News and stuff was in French though and there were lots of soap operas dubbed in French. My family loved watching African music videos.

I always preferred the nights when we didn’t have electricity. Then we would sit outside and talk and sing. Those were some beautiful moments especially when darkness was lit up like a stage with the moon as the spotlight. It was like daylight during those evenings. We would talk about so many things like religion, the differences between America and Guinea (there is a generalization here that white people and black people in the US dislike each other and people keep asking why and if it is true), what school is like, ghosts, snakes, and many other topics.

I would typically take my bucket bath after dinner and be in bed by 9-10 pm especially during practice school. A full day of French was exhausting.

Now though I am going to a new pace of life, village life. What will it be like? I have no clue. Will I cook for myself? Will I find a variety of veggies and fruits? Will I be lonely? Will I make friends?