Intermediate-Low French

I had my first weekend with my host family!  On Saturday we were asked to come to the office to be given our bikes!  Sadly, that was a huge day for us, quite exciting!  After getting our bikes and a lecture on how to maintain, fix, and change any feature on the bikes, we were off!  A large group of white people cruising the small village.  It was finally a chance to ride around and see the sights of Africa; beautiful, green, large rice fields, mountains in the back round, and people yelling to the train of Americans.  Little did we know, that you really cannot ride that long in the afternoon because the sun is so hot and its so humid, half way out we all had to turn around. lol  The Africans were asking if we were tired and why we were turning around; therefore fitting the stereotype of being out of shape Americans. lol  The rest of the day, I relaxed with my host family and rode my bike as much as possible.

My host brother asked me if I wanted to play soccer later in the afternoon (or so I thought that was the request), so I invited the other volunteers to come along.  I showed up at the field, and realized my host brother did not have a ball.  He looked at me and said lets go.  I looked confused and then begin running with him around that large soccer field where there was a game being played.  I thought maybe we were doing a warm up run, but 7 laps later, I'm sweating, he's giving his friends high fives and I'm thinking maybe I'm the fool here.  That's what you get for being level intermediate low in French, non-comprehension!

That night the volunteers went out to the bar, which consisted of a hut, with one flashlight/ lantern by the beers and drinks, and the rest is pitch black dark.  I ordered a beer and was looking forward to a refreshing drink... I took one sip and it couldn't have been warmer.  I should have known, given the fact the bar was black.  Quite a difference than the bars in the United States, where the music can't get any louder and theres much to many lights flashing.  Talk about not needing beer goggles!

The next morning, I decided to go to church with two other volunteer, because religion here is very important, and practicing is even more important! (Especially because it is a mainly muslim community where they pray 5 times a day)  So I thought I would show my host family I was also religious.  We show up to the mass at 9:30 am.  At 12:00, I now am so angry, hot, and annoyed; the fact that we are in a 4x4  room, with a microphone, and two men speaking so loud into the microphone, I have a headache, my stomach is moaning, and I don't understand a thing.  I look over at my friends and we all just start laughing, it was either that or started to cry!  At 1:30 pm we leave church and I make the executive decision to do coffee on Sundays with a prayer at night.  Where was this generator power for the bar last night???

We also found out today there was an attack on the President of Guinee!  We have been told were fine here, and to remain calm, so I'll let you know if the news changes!