I am in Bissau for 2 weeks!

Well Hello, it has been a while since I last used this computer. I have written a few things on a paper but paper sucks. My spelling is bad, my writing is hard to read and it takes a lot longer for it to get to you guys so I will write out somewhat lengthy summary of what is going on. I expect family will read the whole thing and possibly a few friends but I will not blame you if you can not make it through this hefty report (unless you are immediate family, then you are blamed and then some).

Let me start off with describing Ingore. I have no idea how big it is. I would be surprised if the population was over 5000 or even 3000 at that matter but even in those estimates the size fluctuates a solid 40% or so. About 50% of the houses have the old school African thatched roofs and nearly all the houses are made of classic mud bricks. However, some of the better off people can afford to layer the bricks with a couple centimeters of concrete to keep the termites out and make the place last a little longer.

It is currently in the rainy season and it looks nice and green. Titus’ house is in a prime location. About 10 minute walk from the church and I would say about 7 minutes from the city center. This puts it on the outside of the town and it means that there is not so much external noise going on during the day. His house is slightly downhill from the soccer field (little less then 5 minute walk) which is nice because we head out to watch games about ever second day.

This city center I mentioned earlier is really just where three roads meet and there is some extra asphalt hanging around. This is where they have their market. The market is a neat little thing they have on Wednesdays where neighboring “cities” chip in and they all try sport there stuff. There is a lot of useful things and a lot that are not so useful. I bought the largest pair of sandals I could find (which is still had to “adjust” with a knife to get theme to fit) for shower.

There is also a daily food market. This one smells a little different because of the meat sitting out in the sun and all the fun juices that are hanging around. It has some good food there though and we get a solid amount of fresh food every day. This is mostly because there is no fridge and the food would go bad without it.

The meals I get are huge. They fill a bowl that fits two liters with rice, meat and vegetables and expect me to finish it. I have on several occasions but when I am only sitting around and reading all day my appetite is not so large.

There are two showers one is indoor and the other is outdoor. There is not much of a difference between them. The outdoor one is nice and close to the well and you get to pull up your own water before dumping it on you. There is also a little more room. The indoor shower has a big bucket that is filled with well water everyday.

As you probably just guessed, there is no running water to go along with the lack of electricity and internet and all that fun stuff. However, cell phones are not lacking. Apparently it is a lot cheaper just to put up a cell phone tower in the middle of nowhere and supply phone service for people then making land lines. I must admit, it is a little odd seeing so many cell phones in a place where the only power comes from generators and solar panels.

There is always people at Titus’ house. This makes for a friendly but noisy time. There is never silence. When the people are gone it usually means it is dark and the bugs take over the noise. In the morning birds a plenty are there to wake me up. The neighbor’s rooster really enjoys his morning scream fests about 5 feet from my window which is far from the ideal spot unless, of course, the “idealness” of the spot is rated by how much it irritates me, for then finding a more perfect spot would be difficult.

Most of the people are young people from the church or soccer teams. The oldest of the group is Timoteu who is a solid 28 (he is also my English teacher). The youngest of the group that hangs around is about 3 or so. His name is Marcus (Marcooos) he is a funny little guy that still is afraid of me.

The church here is about 300 people strong. It is the only church in Ingore. There are also 13 other churches that this church started and helps support. Unfortunately there is only one pastor for all of the churches. He is a nice local guy, but recently he has had a stroke and is in Senegal until October. He lost a lot of use of the right side of his body but when I went to see him he looked like he was doing well and he is hoping to get back as soon as possible.

Right now it is still rainy season so there is no school and regular life sits at nearly a standstill for many of the people. Things will pick up when the rainy season ends and the roads become a little more reliable. I will have to teach some classes starting mid October which should be an interesting challenge.

Well, I think that catches you up for the most part. In October I will start teaching English 3 hours a day along with regular meetings and all that fun stuff. I will have a better idea what life is like out here once the rainy season ends which should be around when I start teaching school (fancy that). Until then I will use the time to get some of my reports done for school and to get a decent start on the local language, which is coming a long, but coming along slowly.