Just Shake it Off

I had a very Guinea day yesterday. I just got back to site from IST and so walking anywhere took forever. I had to stop and say hello at each house, inquire after people’s families and explain that no I had not gone to America and that I promise to tell them before I leave for good but that will not be for a long time. The thing is, I enjoyed joking around and chatting with my neighbors. I missed joking in Susu. I even missed the woman who every morning asks me if I brought her bread, while she is sitting on her step gnawing away at a loaf. I got into work and nobody was there, so I did some work on my own in the morning and then went out to run errands. I went to the tailor to get some fabric altered. I chatted with the man as I tried to describe what I wanted him to make using an old J.Crew catalogue. When I asked him how much it would be, he said free. Last time I was there his wife went off at me saying she did not want a co-epouse (sister wife in American). I ensured her there was nothing to worry about, but now I am not so sure that he is not trying to marry me. I then went out to a new part of the market. I found an area that sold used glass jars with lids. I was so pumped. These are a rarity in Guinea, but crucial for volunteers who want to make jam for food security projects. I could not wait to call my agfo friends. Walking to the carpenter to buy supplies for my paper beads, I found my way blocked by a truck. Men were using shovels to fling trash from a big pile into the truck. I was happy because that trash pile had been growing and rotting since I have been in Kindia, but annoyed because I did not know how to go around it. I could not go around the outside of the trash, there was no way to pass. I could not go between the trash and the truck, so I went around the outside of the truck. Big mistake. An over-eager worker flung trash up, over the truck and onto my head. I rock that was part of the trash whacked me in the tooth. I had trash in my mouth for a split second before it bounced off my tooth and into the road. What did I do? I shook my head like a wet dog, brushed off my shoulders, and went about my day. Of course I bucket bathed as soon as I got home, but in the meantime, it was not worth throwing a fit over. I’ve been in Guinea for over 6 months now, and it is changing me. I think it is changing me in a good way although I should I go about my day with trash in my hair in the US or take people’s babies and as if I can marry them, we might have problems. I am becoming, as we say here, bien integrée.  Guinée ka na n na!