One week!

In honor of my one-weekiversary of being gone from the States, I thought I'd post and give you a little update of how things are in Guinea.

I arrived safely and soundly in Guinea last Wednesday after about 24 hours of traveling. Everything went pretty smoothly, all my luggage arrived without anything missing that I know of, and I was blessed to have an open seat next to me on both the flight from Chicago to Brussels and Brussels to Conakry, which makes sleeping a whole lot easier.

Conakry is the capital of Guinea, and there are a few NTM families that work there, doing things like exchanging cash, renewing visas, working with passports, etc. I got to stay in an unused apartment next to one of the families, the Nicholsons, and they feed me and kept me entertained while I was in the city (for about 2.5 days). Conakry's a pretty busy place, driving is crazy, and there are lots of noises, smells, and people, but it was a fun experience, at least for me. For the most part, we stuck around the apartment building which has a little courtyard, too, but I also got to venture into the marché (market) with a couple people to buy an umbrella and a watch.

On Saturday, we took a taxi from Conakry to the mission base near the Landuma people, about 4-5 hours from Conakry. Unlike the Guineans who generally cram at least 6 people plus a driver in a taxi (regular sized car), we just had 3 of us, plus all of my luggage and a few things we had gotten at the marche, so it was a good drive through the country side. Gave me another view of the city and then various towns/villages along the way. Some roads are paved nicely; other roads encourage a game of "dodge-the-pothole" where the drivers weave all over the road trying to find a smooth place to drive. Fortunately the road isn't super busy, so there aren't accidents caused by the weaving.

My new home is pretty excellent. I share half a duplex with a girl named Jen who's here for 4 months from Canada, teaching science at the mission school. She's fluent in French & English, so she's started giving me brief French lessons, which is helpful, although some of the local people only speak their tribal language, Landuma, or Susu. I got to attend a church service on Sunday with some of the Landuma believers, and although I couldn't understand any of it, it was still a cool experience. Plus we had a couple missionaries who work with the tribe available to translate parts of the service for us. It's always encouraging to hear other people's testimonies of God at work.

So far I've mostly been settling into my new home. My roommate's been pretty helpful with that, and so far the missionaries have been feeding me. I love going to each home and learning about these people -- what brought them here, how long they've been here, what things they've struggled with, what things they love about Guinea. Everyone just seems to have a passion for what they're doing, which is pretty cool. Hopefully soon I'll get to start fixing some computers. The school's nearing the end of 1st quarter, and I think maybe for 2nd quarter, I might be able to teach a computer elective or two, so that should be good as well.

Well, that's a brief look at the first week. If you want more details, just ask. :)

It's official!

I have my Guinean visa; it's official, I'm going to Guinea! I feel much better having my passport and immunization record back in hand, along with my new Guinean visa, which tells someone on the other end to let me into their country. Fortunately, I think the visa speaks better French than I do, since I don't even know how to say "Let me into your country." I don't even know "country" for that matter. Now I just need to find a safe spot to put everything where I'll remember it.

My packing is coming along. I've managed to collect a decent number of skirts to wear while I'm over there, and if I don't have enough, I've heard you can find clothing fairly cheaply. Thankfully some of the missionaries in the field already supplied me with a packing list, so I'm trying to go through it and figure out what I still need. Soon I get to figure out how to cram all of what I want to take into two 50-lb bags. It feels a little strange and yet freeing at the same time trying to simplify my life down to 2 bags.

I don't have much other news for now since I'm still in Midland, but for those of you who are interested in keeping up with me while I'm over in Guinea, I will try to post back to this blog on a regular basis as well as send out occasional email updates. If you'd like to be on the email list, please email kelsey_hill @ ntm.org (without the spaces), and I'll add you to the list. Otherwise, I'll see you back here once I've got some news from Guinea.