First week complete!

I am here at a cyber in Sokone where I came in to meet some volunteers, check my mail and buy some stuff. Its a pain typing on this though since it is a French keyboard and I almost have to relearn to type everything. But lots to say, so Ill do my best until I can get on an American computer again, preferably mine.
My site is lovely! Pics to come when I get back into Kaolack, which will be Thanksgiving. Where do I even begin? I have a small family, which is a huge change from my homestay site where I was surrounded by tons of people all the time. Now, if I need to get away and rest for a while, that is perfectly feasible. I have a backyard where I am working on starting a garden, and my own bathroom (a hole in the ground wth some concrete and a millet fence surrounding it). I actually have my own patio, with a little plastic and millet stalk roof covering it, so people can come over and sit on the concrete banister and chat. And best of all, I have lighting!! It turns out that my counterpart is also my dad at site, and he is pretty patron, so he installed three solar powered lightbulbs in my hut; one inside, one in my backyard and one on the front patio. It is rather convenient.
As of right now I dont have a bed, but I commisioned a local artisian in a neighboring village to build one, and we are going to get it back on a horse drawn charette in the next few days. Yes, I will make sure to take pictures of that. For the time being I am sleeping on a cot I bought in Kaolack before install and my camping mat on that. For what its worth, it gets the job done.
My sister and mom make my life a much happier experience as well. My sister, Umi, is the same age as me, and she is amazingly not yet married. She has a boyfriend in Keur Saloume Diane, the aforementioned neighboring village, and she always pretends to deny it, so I tease her. She then proceeds to tease me back about my boyfriend, who I refer to as my husband here in Senegal so as to avoid a long cross cultural discussion every time I mention him. Umi is the only person I have met in Senegal so far who can go toe-to-toe with me when I tease her for something. We actually managed to start dueling with our spoons at the dinner bowl the other night, which progressed into a pretend kung-fu match, and eventually ended up as an all-out wrestling tournament. Sometimes I wonder about my own antics...
My mom, Arame, here is adorble. She called me yesterday while I was at another volunteers house in Sokone to say goodnight and check up on me. I am pretty sure I never really appreciated people always checking up on me back in the States to see if I am ok, but now in this foreign culture and place it means the world to me to know that I have support and am not completely on my own all the time trying to figure out what I am doing. Oh and ps, I`m pretty sure she is the same age as me, but Senegalese have a habit of never telling you their real age. It is not an embarresment thing like it is in the states, but more of a superstition. And for clarification, Umi and Arame are not actually related; Umi is my sister because she has a room in the house with which I am associated, but she is just living in Keur Andalla for a while because she is a teacher there.
Usman, my counterpart/dad, normally stays in a room that he has in Saloum Diane because he works there. He comes home a few times a week to see the village and spend a bit of time with Arame and Diama, their 1-year old baby. Diama is adorable and I play with her all the time. She`ll get into her terrible twos while I`m living here, so maybe it`ll start to get annoying, but 2-year olds can be cute too sometimes.
There are two major downsides to my site: first, it is the most remote site in all of the Fatick region. To get to Sokone, I biked around 48 kilometers yesterday, mostly on a packed laterite road, which is basically a red gravel and clay mixture. In the future, I can take a car from Saloum Diane at 6 am, but that involves waking up and walking 4 km to Saloum Diane before it is light out through the fields, probably not the safest means. Otherwise, I can bike on the bushroads which I have not yet learned about 25 km here, which is better distance but worse quality roads and may just be annoying. I guess I`ll learn my options quickly enough.
The other downside is water- I do not have a robine (tap) at site, so I am pulling water from a well for everything- laundry, drinking, showing, watering my garden, etc. It`s amazing how much you are concious of your water usage when you have to carry every drop you use on your head for about 150 meters. Really makes you appreciate showers. I am starting to get the hang of it; it will definitely involve some next muscle strengthening before I perfect the art that is carrying binoirs of 10 gallons or so of water on your head.
I haven`t started any major work projects yet, and I don`t plan too for a while. We won`t hqve the training for it until after IST in December. Right now, our jobs as new volunteers is to integrate into our communities, learn everybody`s names, settle, start to form ideas about where we would want to start projects in the future, talk to other volunteers about their work, and start to pinpoint potential work partners outside of just our counterparts. To start, however, I`ve already started a guava pepiniere as part of a reserch project for one of our PST trainers, and I plan on starting more of a garden in my backyard. I am also learning to cook Senegalese dishes, and generally I go out to the fields with the other women in the mornings to pick peanut plants and help carry a few back to the compound. It`s pretty hard work, but I do enjoy getting outside and having something to do rather than just sit and drink Senegalese tea all day. My sister and I are also going to paint my room tomorrow or the day after, should be fun!
Ok well my time at the cafe is running out quickly so I`ll wrap this up. Now you can all start sending me packages! Easy mac, instant oatmeal packets, granola bars, and American candy/chocolate is all apprecited.
love you all from across the ocean,
~E

New mailing address

At the regional house in Kaolack. I will probably be posting entries from here and cybercafes in Toubacouda from now on. It's a pretty neat place to just chill and relax with other volunteers, and it is stocked with a library of books that volunteers brought over the years, a guitar, and NesCafe. Yes, we drink instant coffee because the alternatives are either difficult and time-consuming, expensive or non-existent. But I digress.

As the title of this blog indicates, and the main reason for me posting a blog entry two days in a row, is that I got my mailing address today! See side bar -------------------->>>

So now all of you lovely people and can send me stuff. It is a shared box with 3 other volunteers, which is good because a) I spend less money to have the box and b) if my site mate happens to be in Sokone, she can pick it up for me and bring it to me, enabling me to receive mail slightly more often. I don't know what the situation will be like for making it there, but at the very least I will receive the gifts that you bestow upon me every other week or so.

This morning we went out and bought a ridiculous amount of things for install. We need to buy all sorts of new tools for gardening, kitchen supplies, storage containers, buckets and baskets for showering, etc. I will also have to aquire a bed at some point along the lines, but I may end up buying a cot to hang out on and sleep on until I can find a better solution. Most volunteers said they found an artisan or someone in a road town near them and hired a charet- a horse-drawn carriage- to get it back to site. I’ll take pictures believe me.

Side note-while writing this blog entry my homestay family called me to say hi. They call me every day to tell me that they miss me and make sure I’m ok. I miss them. Senegalese phone conversations are very bizarre; I’m pretty sure the cellphone has not been a common item until recently, so local phone etiquette is much different than it is in the states. People will answer their phones no matter what- Aissatu used to answer her phone in the middle of the class all the time because it would be rude not to. My two older brothers from homestay- Mousa and Alisou, call me all the time just to tease me and reference our old inside jokes. I used to call them my “nari jafe-jafe,” my two problems. They teased me so much that I joked about how I loved everyone but them because they were “sy-sy” or teasers. I definitely want to go visit them all whenever I get a chance to get up to Thies.

Ok I’ll wrap this up for now seeing as I’m probably blabbing on now, but I will soon have stories about install and my site. Ba benen yoon (until next time)

~E

Hey mom look! I'm a real PCV!

Swear in!

A lot has happened in the last few days. It’s all pretty overwhelming actually. Let’s recap:

Wednesday- last day of classes. We finished logistics and review of our final language exams. And guess what? I scored advanced low for Wolof! (There’s a breakdown of novice, intermediate, advanced and superior for languages, and we’re required to achieve intermediate-mid to swear in. Thus, I win.) Also got perfect scores on my tree ID and tech exam, so if you’re are ever wondering if the tree you’re looking at is a Delonix regia or a Leucaena leucocephala, hit me up. We had a soccer match of staff vs. trainees Wednesday night too, which was rather amusing. Senegal vs. America minus 2 or 3 American trainers. The soccer game is a tradition at the end of stage, and America has lost the last 10 years in a row or so. Last year they did not even score. This year, we lost 2-3, so all things considered, I’m pretty proud of us. I got to play about half the game, and there’s a couple of pictures in the swearing-in album.

Thursday- Family reception! Fatou, my homestay mom and namesake, came to the center and brought her baby, Ndaiy, with her. It was really nice getting to hang out with her one last time and enjoy a good meal. We had a small ceremony for the families and gave them a chance to speak to everyone, and everyone wished us luck and congratulated us on making it through PST despite the obvious difficulties.

Friday- Swear-in! We all shipped it to the ambassador’s house in Dakar where we immediately commenced picture-taking and head-scarf wrapping (see pictures) and watched the ceremony. It was a bit like graduation all over again- they had speeches, had us take the oath of service, and 4 of the other trainees gave speeches in local languages that they had prepared ahead of time. Then they called us each up to receive our official PCV ID cards and documentation that we are, in fact, part of the organization. The important thing occurred after the ceremony- food. As any PCV knows, good food must be cherished and hoarded, and they had lots of it, so we ate all sorts of fun delicious American finger foods. Afterwards, we got on the bus, went to the office to do the necessary paperwork, and proceeded on to the so-called “American Club” where rich white people go to send their children to school or go swimming. It is actually called Club Atlantique, but they have American food and menus in English. We jumped in the pool, had a beer and chatted with other volunteers who came to share in the occasion. It was, all around, quite entertaining.

Today- moving. I packed up all of my stuff, went out to lunch with some friends, and now we are waiting for the busses to take us on the bumpy pot-hole filled road that leads to the magical land that is Kaolack. More madness will occur- moving all of the stuff I own into the house (there’s more than I stared with because we now have so many things that Peace Corps gave us or we bought here), and we also have to store the major purchases tomorrow- beds, trunks, cots, etc. We’ll see how that goes.

I cannot believe that I am already going to install. In some ways, it really does seem like we just got here, and in some ways, I have been over training and ready to move on for a while now. I guess that’s what happens with everything- it was the same with graduation too. I miss college to no end, but I can’t imagine wanting to go back and start classes again at this point. Life moves on. On another, related note, I am surprisingly ready to go back to the village now. Yes, it will be stressful trying to integrate into a new family, and it will probably suck a lot going back to village food and lifestyles, but it is also quite tiring having ceremonies and going out with people a lot. It’s fun at first, but after a couple of days in the center, the idea of going back to someplace quiet, having some time to myself to organize, collect and read a book actually sounds quite tempting. Also, I know it will not be as bad as going back to homestay the first time. While I am by no means fluent in Wolof, I know I can start to converse, talk about myself and express my needs right off the bat. It’s useful. I am also looking forward to having a routine again- not having to think too much about my daily activities to make sure I am not pissing anybody off. By the time I was done with homestay, it was normal for me to go running or change in the shower. It takes a lot of stress off of having to explain yourself for every stupid little thing you do. Also, I got amazingly close with my family in the two months I was there, and then we had to leave. Now, I get to bond with my family and actually stay for a while. I still get calls daily from my family saying hi and good morning or just teasing about random jokes we have. It’s sort of hard to talk on the phone in Wolof because a lot of the conversation is lost when your communication ability depends greatly on gestures and facial expressions, but we get the point across that we miss each other and they want me to come visit when I can. I suppose I’m going to go need to buy more phone credit soon.

So before this gets too long, you can check out pictures of swear-in now on the picassa album! There’s a whole album for soccer, family day and swear-in that I posted. Also, I should have my new address when I get to Kaolack later so I’ll be able to post that, and care-package sending can commence immediately thereafter. An idea that Tim and I started- take videos of stuff and put them on an old flash drive or burn them to a cd and send that. That way, I don’t have to depend on the internet to download stuff about your lives, and you can give me tours of things like new apartments (you all know who you are) or projects/bands you are working on. I’ll be putting together a flash drive on my own and shipping it back to the states once I get a chance to settle into site and get some videos of it, so you can see glimpses of my life here and hear a bit of Wolof. Look for that probably in a month or two. Thanks for everyone’s support and emails, you mean the world to me.

~E

Goodbye Keur Madaro

Wrote this yesterday then my computer decided it didn’t want to connect to the internet, so here we go. Thank god for Word.

Sort of sad story. We were supposed to have our final language tests in the village this morning and then have the afternoon to pack and spend the last few hours chatting with our families. This morning, as I was reviewing for the exam and chatting with my siblings, Spencer showed up at my house telling me that Aissatu was sick and a car was already on its way to pick us up. I rushed to put all of my things together and said a relatively quick goodbye to my family as I tried to explain that no, I was not going to be back that afternoon, and I will see them when I can go visit in December during IST. (IST, for those of you who are lacking in Peace Corps lingo, means in-service training, and occurs a few months after our initial PST when we all go back to Thies for a couple weeks to do some more advanced tech training.)So thus I am back in Thies, took my language exam with the program language coordinator while my teacher recovers at home. I would have left around now anyway, but still, I will miss them. Posted a few pictures of the last few minutes at homestay on the homestay album. I am about to consider my online album organization a lost cause and start from scratch after swear-in.

At any rate, the last week of homestay was pretty nice. We took an afternoon to come into the market in Thies so I could print some pictures for the family and get an album to put them in as a last nice gift to them. Also, the three of us trainees all bought chickens for the families to make a special last dinner with them last night. It is a huge treat for them to have chicken or any sort of meat, so despite the fact that I am now out about half of my walkaround money, it was a worthwhile last thought. Chickens here run around 2500 CFA each, which is the equivalent of 5 dollars American. I bought three for the family, which in America is an extremely cheap last gift, but considering the fact that I make 28000 CFA (about 60 bucks) every other week, it was a pretty significant gift.

Now, the madness begins. Tomorrow we have a few wrap-up type of sessions and logistics for swear-in and install, and then Thursday afternoon we have our family reception! Fatou, my training mother/counterpart/sister will come to meet me here and we can dress up and have good food and dance, then it’s D-Day! Swear in occurs Friday in Dakar, pictures and stories to come. We have a day here in Thies preparing, and then we’re off to Kaolack house for 2 days to go buy stuff we need to install into our new homes. Me, Amy, and Garrison will be going to a hotel in Sokone for a night on the way to Toubacouda to make transport for install easier the next day, and finally, on the 20^th, I move into my “dekk bu bess,” or my new home. Logistics for you lovely people back home: don’t send stuff to the Thies address anymore, since it won’t get here on time. Stand by for further instructions, since I’ll be getting a box in Sokone in a few days that will likely be a shared box with a couple of other volunteers. I will explain when I know more. When I get to Kaolack, I will posted a wish list, since it seems many of you lovely people are interested in sending me presents from the States. I cannot express my true and undying gratitude if you decide to do so, as it is amazing what trivial items you appreciate when you do not see them for a long time.

As always, stay tuned. Love from Africa,

E

Almost there

Finally changed the background of my blog! So now instead of some random road picture that google provides as a template, you can see an actual African scene- taken by yours truly behind my homestay house. Enjoy it.

So I swear in as a full PCV next Friday. There are parts of training that went by incredibly slowly, and heaven knows I'm ready to get to site and start to gain my independence back, but at the same time I almost can't believe that I've been in country almost 2 months now. I can only imagine how fast time will go by once I'm at site, into the swing of things, comfortable with my family and language and have regular projects going. That may be a stretch to think of now, but one can always dream...

For the time being it's back to homestay today for the last time. I am actually excited this time- I love my family and I know it will go by super fast; I am now comfortable in the village and we will plan a really nice going away dinner or something with the other PCTs in the village. I think we might buy some chickens and kill them for a final night or something- that's pretty special for people there because chickens are expensive. I'll also be pretty busy wrapping up our garden; we have to figure out who will continue it and maybe train a few people on watering or making a fence around it. First experience with really training people in country. That's not to say that I actually really know what I'm doing yet, but it's a start. Keur Madaro has survived without us for a long time and will continue to survive without us after we leave, so I'm not that worried. Not to mention we'll be back- IST is at the beginning of December, which is not that long away. It seems like a long time, but in the life of many plants and trees, it's just a drop in the bucket.

At any rate, the beach was fun. We took two Alhums (the big white van-like busses) down to Poupenguie (not sure how to spell that) where Kelsey's site will be. It was gorgeous, and it was a welcome break from the normal day-to-day that is class, translating every thought I have into Wolof, and digging in the dirt. The occasional beach vacation can do a world of good. I posted pics too- they should be under the PST album if you're curious. Since I'm bad at putting captions up, you'll see the cliffs and some other rock formations. Some artist carved random statue figures into one of the formations and you can see a picture of this face that greets you when you go to climb on the rocks. It's pretty cool actually. You can climb up to the top of the little island and look out at the ocean too, so Garrison and I went exploring there. Lauren and Rachel hung back, but me, being the natural rock climber/lover of heights, I climbed up the rock wall and checked it out. The other cool thing- the water here has plankton with bioluminescent proteins. We learned about them in school, and I remember all sorts of research and biological advantages to them, but nothing compares to how cool they are when you go swimming in the middle of the night and all the water sparkles white around you as you move your arms. Definitely up there with the coolest things ever. I'm a geek and I'm aware of that fact, so I will probably research what type of protein they produce and what biological function it performs.

We also had Dakar day yesterday. All of us piled into some PC cars in the morning and shipped out to downtown Dakar, which is a very bizarre experience after living in the village on and off for a while. In the nicer areas of Dakar, it feels like you are in a French version of NYC. Street vendors are everywhere, expensive brand name stores line the streets, and it is easy to go to a fancy restaurant and spend all your money on one meal. There are also a lot of white people in parts of it- you never know what nationality, but along the road of embassies you suddenly feel like you are no longer in Africa. This further emphasizes the separation of upper and lower classes in this country. Most of the wealth is located from Thies and west into Dakar, but as you move in any other direction from here, the landscape and overall socio-economic status changes dramatically. I guess that's where we come in.

Ok I've been rambling now so I'll leave it here. I'll be back in Thies next Tuesday night, and then stay tuned for swear-in! I'll have plenty more to share soon.

Love from Senegal,

~E

Anyone remember high school biology?

I’m sure that none of you were losing sleep after my last blog post mentioning my recent illness in country, but just in case you were intently waiting for an update, I just got the test result that I have amoebas. It’s funny how all I can think of is going back to high school and looking at the prepared iodine-soaked slides under a microscope of those little critters, and now they are alive and well, floating around in my intestinal track. A month ago, this may have freaked me out a bit. Now, it is a relatively normal occurrence that is quickly taken care of with Peace Corps’ readily available supply of medication. I swear I will dread the health care system upon my return to the states; I am spoiled here, medically speaking.

In other news, I get to go to the beach tomorrow! Every year, the new stage takes a day to put together a trip to a house on the coast as a chance to get away from the daily grind and relax a bit. I will be a much needed bought of repose, if you will. Pictures are forthcoming as well.

Finally, the fun part of this entry- counterpart workshop. I met one of my two counterparts, and his name is Ousman Sy (pronounced Usman See). He is a relatively short and mildly chubby quiet man, all unusual characteristics as Senegalese go. He also has only one wife and one kid, which is also pretty surprising given that Senegalese families tend to be around 10-20 people. He speaks French in addition to Wolof, which is quite lovely, as I was told that being in a village I would have very little chance to learn or practice French. This also means that he knows the difficulty of learning a new language and being able to pronounce it. His Wolof is pretty clear as well, so our conversations are less labored. We chatted a bit, and we agreed to be patient with each other while I learn the language and adjust to the culture.

Both of us are motivated to work and make some changes in the village, but from what I hear, the village is doing pretty damn well on its own. It has a few women’s gardening groups that meet regularly, good sources of water, large fields, many trees, and is set in a pretty beautiful location. I learned this from several sources including PCVs who have been in the area, my site information sheet and my counterpart himself. It looks to be a pretty good outlook for the next two years. Secondary projects may become a priority. However, it’s hard to really talk about my work when I have not even seen my village yet. We’ll come back to that, no worries.

For now, it’s onto more Wolof-ing and counterpart-ing. Let the good times roll.

~E