Man... I'm in Mali thinking "my year in Guinea has been amazing." Truthfully... it was hard... really hard. One, the illnesses and bacteria that I have acquired and continue to carry to the bitter end have been kkkkkkkkrazy. Then the whole communication thing... I took high school french, but that was a really really long time ago... and i barely passed that. I would think I'm saying something right and find out I had to say the "i" with an "eee" sound or do something funky with the "q" ... anyway it was tough; but what's tougher is when you get the french down and the people still don't understand you (and that could be for whatever reason). Et puis... the whole culture thing ... yo... i still don't get the whole thing but its amazing... and completely different. I lived in Faranah... in Sankara region of Guinea... and they party all the time. Everyday there's dancing and drumming... people are extremely friendly... and my host family was awesome. Yo... my host family was broke as a joke but they took me in like one of their own... offered food, shelter... even clothing. Anything I asked, they hooked it up. Yo... my host dad offered me wives! And that... is cool.
So when peace corps - guinea came to the difficult decision that it will be suspending the program, I knew that I that I also would have a difficult decision. Let me take this time out to say that PC Guinea administration is awesome...they have worked really hard to make this transition into the next phase of our lives so much easier. Even before the evacuation, I knew our admin was awesome...but they really took the cake with all the accommodation's they've made for the volunteers. PC Mali has also done a wonderful job hosting us as well. It will always be appreciated. So it has been really hard to come to the decision to leave peace corps. I've terminated my service and will be heading out to Ethiopia. I figure its that time, and it will be very difficult to continue where I left off in Guinea if PC is able to return by June. Personally, I feel that I should take this opportunity to spend time in the country of my family... Peace Corps is supposed to open up August 2007 so we'll see if I can be involved with that. So with that ends the Peace Corps Guinea Chapter... so till next time.