a brick of francs

Tomorrow morning Jonathan and I will finally be sworn in as "vrai" volunteers with the Corps de la Paix. It's all pretty sureal right now. I can say with certainty that training has been the most severe test of my endurance then anything I have as yet experienced.
That being said, I am both relieved and slightly sad that training is over. On the one hand, our lives are finally ours once more to be lived in the manner of our own choosing. We will finally have a house, a space of our own and independence. we will have time to adjust, to rest, and maybe even to read. And yet on the other had, we are really stepping out from our nice and sheltered microcosm into a lot of unknowns. Most likely for many of us, the language that we have feverishly been learning may be of little truly practical use when we get to our sites and 3/4 of the population only speaks sussu or malinke.
Today was a very strange day. Today we went to the bank to withdraw money for our adjustment to site (aka all the stuff we will need such as gas camp stoves, pots, pans, spices, cutlery, plates, etc) Needless to say this is quite a bit of money under normal circumstances. In Guinea however, the rate of inflation is incredible. One american dollar is equivilent to about 4,500 Guinean Francs. So as we roll up to the bank teller to take out our 6 million Guinean Francs we are handed a brick and I mean a brick of money banded together with plastic lacing. And then upon leaving the bank we have to pass by people sitting on the ground begging and refuse as we cary our wads of money to buy groceries or treat ourselves to icecream and pizza...a luxury that most guineans will seldem or never have.
And the sureality continues...




Today I was able to have two short converstations with two wonderful friends. It was amazing to hear their voices. Please know everyone that even though we aren't able to call or write all that often that you are thought of all the time. We miss you all very much!

The next few days should be pretty busy for us. Tomorrow we are going to the US embassy to swear in as Volunteers. After there will be much swimming and fete-ing for the next few days.( I have heard rumors of pig roasts and bbqs and broniews and creme brulee!!) We also have a lot of shopping to do. Between now and then, I will try to post some more pictures on facebook and elsewhere so you can see a bit about what our lives here are like here. And hopefully byearly next week we will be at our site celebrating the end of ramadan!!!

Love to all!! Enjoy the pictures!!! I will try to finish posting more later!