It has come to my attention that there are a few people out there who still want to support me through finances yet do not know where to give the money. To solve this problem, I have listed the place to send it.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Questions of Guinea-Bissau
Another month has passed and it is wild for me to think that there are only 10 days left in my time here. As I reminisce on the different things I have done and learned here, different things and questions come to mind like:
-at about month 5 of my stay here, Titus’ truck changed from a key start to a key + push start (an awesome red button was placed in the dash to get the thing started). What was even more fun was the fact that the car still had to be pushed to get it started, making it the ultimate ‘push start’ vehicle.
-I learned if you have pens and stickers (thank you mom, dad and Fiona) motivating the class is super easy. (Today I made them act out a short play with props and everything. It was rad.)
-if it is under 30 degrees it is ‘cold.’
-dancing solely to the beat of a drum is legit.
-to get fruit from a tree there are four methods methods. A. throw a stick at it. B. wait for the fruit to drop. C. find a long stick and hit it off. D. get a kid to climb really high and shake frantically until the fruit drops.
-another thing is here, if you want to use public transportation, be prepared to stop about a million times. This stopping turns short trips in to long ones and makes long trips into epic journeys.
-fun fact: while it may be nearly impossible for a fellow resident of the lower mainland to picture, rain actually does not fall here for a solid 7 or 8 months. A thing I have enjoyed very much even though this has contributed to the heat here.
-how are cell phones so crazy popular if there is vertually no electricity (goverment officials and some other important people in the capital city are the only ones who actually get power).
-What are the odds of me planning my trip to miss the mango season perfectly? (I love mangoes.)
-If
-why did I think going to the beach with no sunscreen in
Questions asked/thought of while in transportation:
-how does a car lose its speedometer?
-what percentage of this car is held together by tape and cardboard?
-how long does it take for a car to lose all of its interior and become a metal shell?
-are working windows a luxury?
-why is there 10 people in this car?
-how did we fit over 40 people in this van?
-is the hole in the floor to tell how fast we are going? (this one goes well with the first one)
-where does the key go if there is no ignition?
-how do you open a door with no handle?
-so, this door comes right off eh? Neat. No seatbelts either? No problem.
-if the government put lines in the road, would it make a difference?
-how is the stuff piled on top of the car bigger than the car itself?
Ok, so most of it was questions. But they hint at some fun experiences here that I have neglected to put so far or just wanted to repeat. I figured this is the shortest way to get it all in.
In further fun news, I have officially booked all my flights and have my travel plans back home set. Friends in Toronoto, I will be there from the 16th-18th.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
a shorter blog
Well, now that I have been here for a little over 7 months, it looks like I finally learned how to condense a message (at least a bit). Here are some of the happening of the last little while:
After a three week break from classes I was ready to dive back into my last 6 weeks of teaching English. However, after just one week, I discovered I had another week off due to ‘Paskua’(Easter).
I used this opportunity to go to
I also should mention that over the course of the past month I received all the other things that were taken from my house. This had good and bad results: the good, was obviously that I had my things back for use, the bad being that now we know who the people are and we have the difficulties of dealing with what to in our situation.
I have a little less then a month left here so this will be one of the last blogs you will get to see from
I have also spent a little more time on the little Kiriol learning thing. I have typed out a couple ‘lessons’ and I was wondering if anybody would be available to make it look just a little prettier. If you think that person could be you, send me an e-mail at steve_berk@hotmail.com.
So ya,
a shorter blog
Well, now that I have been here for a little over 7 months, it looks like I finally learned how to condense a message (at least a bit). Here are some of the happening of the last little while:
After a three week break from classes I was ready to dive back into my last 6 weeks of teaching English. However, after just one week, I discovered I had another week off due to ‘Paskua’(Easter).
I used this opportunity to go to
I also should mention that over the course of the past month I received all the other things that were taken from my house. This had good and bad results: the good, was obviously that I had my things back for use, the bad being that now we know who the people are and we have the difficulties of dealing with what to in our situation.
I have a little less then a month left here so this will be one of the last blogs you will get to see from
I have also spent a little more time on the little Kiriol learning thing. I have typed out a couple ‘lessons’ and I was wondering if anybody would be available to make it look just a little prettier. If you think that person could be you, send me an e-mail at steve_berk@hotmail.com.
So ya,
Monday, April 6, 2009
This is what a cashew fruit looks like. The nut grows on the bottom of it. It is juicy but you dont swallow the fruit. You just chew and drink the sweet juices. Its pretty good once you get used to it (it is a skill as the juices stain clothing).
My birthday. If the picture is large enough... note the 'candles' / matches on my cake. Hurray! (none of these people are Titus, he was in Germany at this time.)
An old blog that I forgot to post.
February ended nicely. Titus left for a three week leadership conference in
The first stop on the list was Cacini. A Brazilian named Valberto lives there. He has been there for 11 years and currently works at the school there. He also had a 24 year old visitor from
The ride there was an experience on its own. Taking anywhere between 7 and 10 hours, a trip to Cacini includes driving a whole lot on cement and then a near equal time on dirt. The vehicle of choice is a ‘Kandonga’. I am unsure of its meaning but I would not be surprised if it was Kiriol for ‘put as many people as you think you can fit in it, then stop every time you see someone on the road to see if they want to squeeze in too’. If you ever go, either sit in the front or plan on getting mighty dirty. I sat in the back and was caked in a nice layer of dirt/dust by the time I was out. The ride did have its positives though. I got to talk with some of the guys in the back and after a couple of hours somehow it ended in me giving them an English lesson. I was surprised at how well some of the guys could speak English just by working in the back of a ‘Kandonga’.
When I arrived Zalan was put in charge of taking care of me as Valberto was quite busy at the time. This had its difficulties as Zalan spoke good Portuguese and Hungarian but little English. I spoke none of his languages and had to settle for trying to talk to him in Kiriol (which is quite similar to Portuguese). Somehow we made communication work and I was grateful for the forced Kiriol practice that Zalan had to endure. Also, I was able to help out a little bit by doing some digging at the school and repairing some of the floors as the older classrooms were in rather rough shape. (I have to point out that one day we went to the beach: I took pictures, got burnt, played with crabs, went swimming, put on sunscreen and got more burnt. It was a good time.)
After 8 days of hammock sitting/laying down, reading, watching construction, helping out a bit and wondering around the town with locals I decided to make my way back to Bissau as my schedule had me going to a place named Nchumbe in two days.
This is when the commotion of the assassination of the president came in. It put my plans aside a bit, but in the end it worked out fairly well for me. I stayed in Nchumbe for 11 days instead of the planned two days and after I got a chance to visit Canchungo for two days instead of the planned 7 days. After all was said and done I got to see all the places I planned to see and walked away with an irreplaceable learning experience.
I had to go back to
It seems as though the political situation is back to semi-normality and there are currently no fears of anything going awry again. I am teaching English classes in Ingore again and African life is back to normal after a relatively eventful bit of travels.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Explosions, gunfire and more regular African stuff.
Instead of giving you the usual blog, here is my journal entry from March 2, slightly revised. I figured since I had not told you guys what my day was like, this should be adiquate: (and yes, sometimes I do journal as if I am talking to someone. Crazy? Not if I post it to others later.)
March 2, 2009
Before I tell you about my trip in Cacine that happened in February, let me tell you what has gone on the last 22 and a half hours.
Around 10 o’clock at headquarters Kevin stopped by my room before turning off the generator to note that there had been an attempt on the life of the General of the Army. He mentioned an explosion and gunfire. I figured this was something similar to the time that there was an attempt on the president’s life a couple months ago and passed it off as one of those things that happens all the time in small, poor countries in
After an hour or so I was preparing for bed thinking of how nice it would be if I had a mosquito net as the last night I was up for some time in the late hours trying to kill the mysteriously loud mosquito roaming around my room.
I woke up at around 4:24am to the worst sound. That same lame mosquito was making his rounds in my room just for the fun of it, probably taking some of my blood and giving me malaria while he was at it. After about 5 minutes of useless searching I gave up. I figured it was worth it just to go back to sleep. I lay there for five minutes thinking of how rotten my feelings were towards that mosquito. It was the worst.
I was just drifting back to sleep when at approximately 4:36 am I heard another terrible sound, much louder then a mosquito. It was somewhat familiar. If it were deeper and longer lasting I could have mistaken it for thunder, but it had more of an abrupt clap to it; a bomb. My heart rate jumped to a pretty decent speed, only to increase upon hearing the pattering of gun shots. They were similar to the sound of someone popping bubble wrap, except a little less playful. I calmed myself down fairly quickly as the noise seemed to die off after a couple minutes. I managed to convince myself it was normal African activity, plus I had the comfort of hearing the old night guard wake up and turn his flashlight on (he usually ‘guards’/sleeps near my window).
My mind was turning back towards sleep as another explosion could be heard followed by more gunfire. The second one got the heart palpitating at its peak rate for the evening, but again I was able to convince myself that it was alright. The pattern of explosions followed by gunfire continued for a decent hour and a half or so with short breaks in between. Explosions and whatnot got less concerning as it went on.
The field leader stopped by while it was still dark and mentioned that it would be best to pack the bags incase we had to evacuate. I thought this was a brilliant idea and packed up my stuff and put it outside my room.
I do not think many of us got much/any sleep that night after the first explosion. We got together when it started getting light outside and the different missionaries exchanged information. At this time it was confirmed that the General of the Army had been killed and that there was an attack at the president’s residence. We soon learned that the president and his wife were also killed in the attacks. In case the night’s explosions were not indication enough; this was confirmation that it was not an every day activity for a small, poor African country and that we should probably try leave
The streets were not the same as usual. Instead of the noise of people yelling for Toka-Tokas and the bustle of morning activities, there was silence met by the odd motor passing by. As the hours passed the streets became slightly more littered with people and I had breakfast. We decided to wait in the mission until we got some more information.
We left after we heard that it was possible to get out of the city. I went in the first vehicle with a silent/crying Nathan, I wondered what he thought of the whole situation at about 6 years old. We took back roads and got redirected a bit but eventually we made our way onto the right road (after driving a bit the wrong way on the street and passing the median at the first possible spot).
It was strange driving on the roads being the only car in sight. Every gas station was closed and we were low on fuel. By the time we got to the exit point it was clear that they were not letting anybody through. The guards were under orders not to let anybody at all through the road, and of course it was the only way out of the city.
After 2 hours of waiting and a decent amount of talking on the mission leaders behalves, we had a guard come out with us to the car, make sure everything was all right and lead us through. Apparently the bible college that the missionaries who we are staying with started was sending out the soldier’s cousin to
He drove with us across the line and got out. While he was in the car I looked at his aging gun and noted how it could use some polishing and how the tip had broken off a bit.
The only other real check point a soldier at the post was a Christian and we were let through immediately. In the end we all made it down to Nchumbe safely and that was good. For me it was not even that different of a time as it was directly in my plans to leave for Nchumbe at approximately 10 o’clock that morning anyways (we left at about 9:48).
Nchumbe is hot. The people were not joking when thy said it was the hottest area in
Despite the heat, Nchumbe is a pretty cool place. I am pretty sure it is actually the middle of nowhere, just a plot of land a bunch of kilometers off the main road. They turned it into a
I got a tour of the area and ate my first cashew fruit. They look a little like a yellow or red apple with a nut growing out the bottom. They are soft and juicy and you do not eat them, just get the juice out. The juice pours out as you eat it and you have to be careful not to get it on your clothing as it stains. Duly noted? Dearly noted? Meh. Noted.
Oh ya, I gotta mention, I ended up having my birthday in Nchumbe. I got to open some sweet presents sent earlier by my family which was rad. They baked a banana bread cake for me there. Instead of candles I had two matches. It was nice because it meant no wax on the cake. Hurray! The gifts here were sweet. Dutch Blitz can now be enjoyed here and my new mug is the talk of the town. Haza.
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