Dakar...alittle more info

Monday, April 24, 2006

Today, I met with the Volunteer I am replacing in Dakar. He is leaving early to start his own NGO. He is replicating what he did in Dakar with the Peace Corps, and starting an NGO that plans to build gardens at AIDS hospitals and orphanages throughout less developed nations.

While I had met him before, this was the first time I had gotten to talk to him, knowing that I was taking over his site. For me, it was very good, because I was provided very little on Dakar and my site on site announcement day. He gave me some good recommendations and suggestions, which should be very helpful.

The first thing he told me about was my living situation. I will be living in a family compound near one of Dakar’s soccer stadiums, towards the outskirts of town, but at the intersection of some major roads. The family is fairly westernized and very educated.

I have my own one room house. It is not a hut. With the quick transition between the other volunteer and myself, I will be entering into a fully furnished house, which alleviates a lot of stress and expense. I even have a refrigerator. The house has electricity. Also, I have internet. I can still think of all the people saying that I would be living in a mud hut with no electricity in the middle of nowhere. Well, I suppose I fooled you. When it comes to luxuries and conveniences, I probably will have the most out of all the volunteers in my stage…which is something to be fortunate about. Although, like all sites, there are pros and cons.

The second major thing we discussed was what I will be doing. I believe that I will be somewhat of an extension agent for the Center for Micro-Gardening…I think. Initially, my major project and most high profile, will be a garden for the AIDS patients at the hospital. After that, I really have a lot of selection and choice. His major suggestion was to not get bogged down and let projects continuously dictate all of your schedule. So, I plan to figure out which additional projects I will try and get involved in, once I know what they are.

Now that I know where I am going, if anyone is interested in coming to Senegal anytime in the next two years, let me know. Also, just to keep everyone updated on my plans, as of right now, I figure I’ll take two or three major vacations outside of Senegal over the next two years. I say this based off of current Volunteers and the fact that all other Volunteers typically go to Dakar to get out of their villages, but for me, I will be living in Dakar, so it isn’t really an option for getting out. As for where I will go, I tentatively plan to head back to the States around late Spring – early Summer of 2007, possibly go to Europe sometime, and then maybe to some other African countries. All of this is still up in the air and very preliminary, but that is what I am thinking now.

Viagra

Sunday, April 23, 2006

I have never really been a cologne person. I think I have had two bottles of cologne in my life; a bottle I got in France at a cologne/perfume factory my freshman year of high school (I was still using the bottle my senior year of college), and a bottle of some Kenneth Cole cologne. Today, I realized what would have swayed my mind into using cologne more.

During my short 23 years of life, I was never the proud owner of “Viagra Cologne.” One of my younger brothers busted out his bottle of Viagra and I got a pretty good laugh. I was offered some, but apparently one of the unwritten rules of being a Peace Corps volunteer is to be “el natural.” I’m not a believer in this, and it actually disgusts me, but, when it comes down between my natural sweet scent and Viagra, I prefer the sweet smell of JLand. You can’t even find it in stores. So, I had to decline the kind gesture.

After the offer, I saw something that I have never seen before. In the States, I grew up in a household ¾ of my family could smell every squirt of Preffered Stock Cologne across the house. And this was only 2, 3, or 6 sprays. Apparently in Senegal, things are different. My brother pretty much could have gone through half a bottle at once. I think I counted 6 sprays under each armpit (Viagra Cologne isn’t Axe or Speed Stick), followed by several sprays on the clothes. After awhile, I just had to get some fresh air.

While I am still young, hopefully that is my last Viagra encounter.

Bike Trip

Sunday, April 23, 2006

All week long, Tom, another PCT had been trying to get a bike trip together. The plan was to bike to the beach, spend the night at a rented house then bike back. Unfortunately, the plan fell through due to the fact that the cheaper houses that we knew of had been rented. While the plan foiled, we still decided to go on a bike trip.

On Sunday morning at 8:30, I met Tom and Kate at L’Hotel Residence. It is a hotel, which also counts as a landmark, near my house. The plan was to bike about 25 km to a crossroads town. For those of you who are eager to know what town it was, well, I don’t really remember the name. The road that we were on, connected Thies and Popenguine (The beach that we had been planning to go to).

Kate, Tom, and myself, were on our way. Along the way, we had a few locals pedal for a bit with us. The views were awesome to see. We made it to the unidentified crossroads time in about an hour and fifteen minutes. We all felt good, so we decided to pedal 10 km more and go to Popenguine.

We made it to Popenguine at around 10:30. None of us brought clothes to swim in, so we barely even got a glance of the ocean. Although, what I saw of it, was pretty nice. Instead of immediately pedaling back to Thies, we ate breakfast in Popenguine. I ordered a ham and cheese omelet, orange juice, and later a Coke. I got a ham and cheese omelet, Coke, and this orange-carrot juice that was interesting. I must say I prefer orange juice with pulp instead of orange juice with carrots.

After breakfast, we decided to make the 35 km trip back to Thies. The trip back was not fun. Coming to Popenguine, we apparently had the wind in our favor and the gradual slope of the land in our favor as well. Going back, we had nothing in our favor, so we had to make a few roadside stops.

The highlight of these stops occurred during our first stop. Yes, you guessed it, WE SAW MONKEYS. They could have been Ebola monkeys, but we saw monkeys, and that is the important thing. In Wolof, one would say, “Binu dawalee sunuy velo, giis nanu ay golo.” That phrase took me 20 minutes to figure out and it might not be right, but it is supposed to say “When we were ridding our bikes, we saw some monkeys.” I couldn’t even say that in French….shows what 15 years of being tortured through French class will do to a kid. I tried to get close enough to take pictures of them, but they are sneaky little guys and there were a lot of babies, so I didn’t want the mamma monkey to come and eat me because that is what they do here.

After that first stop, we still had about 28 km left in our journey back to Thies. Every minute of it was painful. The worst part about it, when we got about 20 km from Thies, there were mile markers showing how many kilometers we had left. Well, the spacing couldn’t have been entirely right and they only made us cry in pain even more.

Finally, after 70 km of biking, we made it back to Thies. I planned to take a shower the minute I got home, but the water was out (happens a lot during the day here) so I just went to the L’Hotel Residence to study. I was there for about 20 minutes and realized that I needed to get home because I could barely move. For the rest of the day, I laid in bed unable to move.

On Monday, many of the other trainees looked at us in amazement, much as my parents in Thies did too. Also on Monday, I rode my bike to school and it was a terrible choice. Every turn of the pedal was painful. Fortunately, the trip was great and we plan to do it again next weekend but spend the night in Popenguine.

Mouse Problems

Friday, April 21, 2006

Last night, I didn’t get home until about 10:30, due to having dinner at my urban ag teacher’s house. He is an awesome teacher and definitely has me excited about the next two years in Senegal. It was a great dinner...chicken and salad on a try with our hands and bread as utensils. My family usually uses bread or spoons, so I was used to using bread to scoop the food, but I’ve only eaten with my hands a few times here, so it was kinda fun. It isn’t improper when you are done, to lick your hand clean.

When I got home, I had two surprises. First, there was a girl at my house who I think is my sister. I’m not quite sure, but I think that is what my mom said. She lives in Mauritania. Although, she left this morning, so I couldn’t get the full scoop on her. Second, apparently, I have a small mouse that also calls my room home. It isn’t very big. The second I opened my door, I saw something quickly run from the top of the window, down my mosquito net, and under the bed. I wasn’t quite sure what it was…until today. I have two visual confirmations that it is a mouse.

I’m not too fond of the idea that I have a mouse in my room. The ants that frequent the floor don’t bother me, cause I just squash them. The mouse on the other hand, is sneaky. By weekend’s end, I hope to outwit the mouse and sleep through the night in peace. Until then, I have made sure that my mosquito net is tightly tucked under the mattress so nothing than crawl into the bed with me.

Hope everyone is doing well…Have a great weekend!

Communication

I just wanted to thank those of you who have sent me emails. Many of you have been from people I have in a sense lost some contact with in the past, so it has really been nice to hear from you here in Senegal. I do want to apologize to each of you for not being able to write you letters back that I wish I could write. Going to the internet café is a pain in the ass. I have tried to write emails on my laptop but found that I’m writing the email the night I checked my email and not sending it for another week when I go to the internet café again. Keep the emails coming and I will try to figure out a solution on my end on how to write you back adequately. Also, I apologize for not really sending out emails to people. I am having trouble fitting everything I want to do at the cyber café into an hour, so I’m sorry, but hopefully once I get settled into Dakar and a different schedule, I’ll be able to write more emails on my own initiative.

Some of you have posted comments on this site as well as on Facebook, which has been nice. It is nice to read your comments, and many times, I have gotten a good laugh out of them. I think Bobby Kerr has the best one yet though. I’m not gonna post it, partially because I don’t remember it verbatim and it would be an injustice to mess it up.

For those of you that have sent letters, I thank you too. Whether it has been inspirational or just keeping me updated on things back in the States, all of them have allowed me to relax and not think about all the stuff we have to learn. Please, keep the letters coming. Once I get to Dakar and get settled, I hope to start sending letters to the States.

Finally, I just want to thank those of you who have called or sent me text messages. It is awesome to look down at your phone and see a number from the States flash up on Caller ID. The world pretty much stops. If other volunteers are around, they pretty much know it is a call from home. Once again, my number is Country Code: 221 + 4589731. So, when you type it into your phone, it is 221-458-9731. As for myself, I feel like I have done a pretty good job so far in calling the States, actually, maybe too well. There have been several nights in which I’ve made more international calls than I ever have in my life. But, calling the States from Senegal is expensive (alittle cheaper if I call after 11 pm Senegalese Time). I am almost out of credit on my phone right now, and have to wait till I can find a way to cash my Traveler’s Checks before I can get a new card. This is not an easy task, so it might be some time before I start making international calls again. But, once again, incoming calls, whether it be from Senegal or the States, is free for me to take…so please call here too. Some of you I have yet to get a hold of yet, but plan too. Elove, I apologize about being disconnected the other night, but I was at the beach and didn’t get much service apparently. I’ll try again soon.

Thanks again and keep up the letters and calls.

Picture Night

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

I think in a previous post I briefly discussed my pictures. I’ll talk about them a little more here. I brought along a box of pictures that has traveled with me from every place I have lived in recent time, from the dorms, Springtree, the infamous Polo Club Apt 45, Camp Westmont, Holiday Inn Express/Best Western/Hampton Inn, Mountain House, Suitcase to Suitcase, and now to Africa. It is pretty much comprised of every physical photo that I have from my senior year of high school to now. In some of the pictures, I have bleached blond hair others, I just don’t remember being taken. Basically, there is a lot of history and stories to tell surrounding each photo. Every one of them and all the people in them, I cherish. All the pictures each make me laugh or at least smile.

Well, tonight, my brother asked to see a picture of my real parents again, Mama Land and Big Tex. I don’t know why he wanted to see it, but unlike the previous time, I decided to just bring the entire box out. I was a little hesitant at first due to the nature of some of the photos…I mean, you get some pretty crazy pictures during college, especially with my friends…but in the end, I handed the uncensored box over to my brother and mom.

All the crazy pictures, especially the ones that involved the two summers at Ingraham’s Beach house and yellow lacrosse shorts, they got a good laugh at, and so did I. For the one and a half girls that I know and make up the pictures, I got grilled on who they were. I mean, you think Judge Judy can ask tough questions (and she does, cause her show was the highlight of my day when I lived in the mountains), my mom and brother definitely had me on the hot seat. But on a good note, they thought every girl that I know was “tres belle.” For those of you who do not know French, that means “very beautiful” in English, or the language I plan to teach everyone in Dakar so I don’t have to learn Wolof or French. Because I don’t want to offend my guy friends, my sisters are in Dakar for school, so I don’t know what my family’s verdict is on you yet. I apologize but keep waiting on the edge of your seat.

Any picture with a car in it, they asked if that was my car. I was able to find a picture of my mom’s Tahoe and told them it was her’s. I found a few of the LS and pointed it out, although they were alittle confused with the picture of me driving with a football helmet on. It was kinda funny though, pictures that had random cars in the background, they asked if it was mine. I said that they weren’t mine, until we got to a prom picture that had the Stretch Escalade Limo in the background and I told them that was my car too. I didn’t really for those of you that don’t get my sarcasm at times, but it would have been funny if I had, instead, I had to explain the concept of formals and proms to my family. Trust me, I didn’t give them justice, cause I don’t know the premise of them, especially for someone who can’t dance.

In the end, picture night went well. It was nice to let my family here into a little piece of my life back home. To me, that is very important. I want them to understand who I am. It is tough coming here and them not knowing whom you are or what life is like back in the States. Tonight was a rewarding experience, I think for myself and for my family.

Pictures

These are some random pictures, some of my room, and from the beach

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?Uc=7cwno9h.fnk6nfh&Uy=bicxtp&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1

Beach Trip 2K6 (1)

Sunday, April 16, 2006

HAPPY EASTER!!! The countdown to leave for the beach started sometime ago. After much planning amongst myself and a few other trainees, reservations had been made for 30 at a hotel at Toubab Dialow. A allhum (in a sense, a charter bus, but not entirely) had been chartered to pick us up from the training center on Saturday and the hotel on Sunday.

The excitement was there. Those going to the beach, pretty much had the shakes all of Saturday. We ended up leaving right around 1:30 for the hour drive to the beach. The bottles of cheap Senegalese liquor floated freely throughout the bus.

When we got to the hotel, we all stood there in amazement. It was absolutely awesome. The beach was stunning as well. You can see pictures of it online. After dropping off our bags in rooms, most all of us decided to hit the beach. The water was pretty cold, but it’s a small price you have to pay when you are at the beach. I ended up staying in the water only shortly and played some bocce ball the rest of the time down on the beach. The afternoon was pretty much wasted away to some extent.

By the time night rolled around, after people did their own thing for dinner, the group got divided. Some people were gonna stay up pretty late, other people were going to try and get some sleep. I was in the later group, going to bed around 1:00. Normally I would be down for partying, but going a month without having a solid night of sleep, I wanted to try and see if I could get it at the beach, unfortunately, it didn’t work. I still woke up a few times.

When morning rolled around, waking up around 7:40, I decided to take a long stroll on the beach and take some pictures. I passed several kids along the way who kept saying "bonjour", so I started talking wolof to them instead of French because it was a wolof area, but either the only word in their vocabulary was "bonjour", or my wolof was far to advanced for their comprehension.

When I got back from my walk, I discovered that one of the trainees fell off a cliff the night before. He fell about 10 feet onto the sand, landing on is side. I ended up seeing him around 11:30 the next morning, and he was pretty sore.

After eating breakfast with a bunch of trainees at the hotel, I went down to the beach. I got in the water and it was even colder than the day before. I refused to stay in for more than 10 minutes, but the waves were awesome. The minute I got out, I looked and saw a trainee coming out of the water in great pain, holding here arm. She had dislocated her shoulder. It was not cool. The Peace Corps Medical Office in Dakar was called within minutes. Peace Corps was sending a vehicle to pick her up. During the next hour, Peace Corps Senegal, whether it was the medical staff or training center staff, they were in constant communication, it was quite amazing. The two injured volunteers were picked up about an hour after the call (Thies, where the vehicle came from, was about an hour away) and taken to the hospital.

The allhum wasn’t coming till 5, so after lunch, I sat down and did my wolof homework than laid down on a hammock and passed out. It was quite nice. The bus ride back was uneventful, some were hung over and others were tired. Overall, I had a good yet uncrazy time.

Site Placement

Friday, April 14, 2006

Today was site placement and for me, it was eventful. After lunch, all the trainees gathered in the back of the training center at the basketball court. On the court, there is a rustic map of Senegal. We were all told to close our eyes, and then eventually, we would be led to where our sites will be.

Slowly, I am led across Senegal, bumping into people. Finally, I got to my resting point only to hear the voice of my Wolof tutor cracking jokes at me. My eyes were still closed at the time and couldn’t tell what she was entirely saying, so I just kept saying "waaw, waaw, waaw," which is ‘yes’ in Wolof. It has become my favorite word. We were told to open our eyes and I was standing on…….not what I expected. But, I realized what my tutor was joking about, she said I was drowning because I was standing in the Atlantic Ocean.

I don’t say that with enthusiasm or animosity, but my site placement was more of a shock/surprise. Going into today, the other guy in urban ag and I knew we were going to either Thies or Mbour. It is what we had heard from several sources. Well, the other guy is headed to Mbour, but I’m not going to Thies. I’m headed to Dakar.

As it turns out, my site placement was the result of a last minute change. I will be replacing a volunteer who is leaving early and continuing his projects, which are incredible and quite impressive. The reality of the matter hasn’t really hit me yet, most likely due to the fact that it was so unexpected from several angles. First, this time last month, I never would have even thought that Dakar would be a possibility. It isn’t living in the bush, in a mud hut, wearing only a loin cloth that many of you and myself once thought. Instead, it is quite the opposite. It is the largest city in West Africa, so why would a PC volunteer be needed? Second, having the mindset of going to either Mbour or Thies without thinking about the possibility of a sudden change.
I didn’t join the Peace Corps to go where I wanted to or do what I wanted to, but to go to a place that needed a Volunteer. If Dakar is where I am needed, than that is where I will invest my heart and soul and do the best that I can. It would be no different if I were in Thies, Mbour, Tamba, Kolda, or anywhere else for that matter. Every location has its positives and negatives, its just figuring out how to handle them.

So, what do I think about it the surprise site selection of Dakar? I’m not going to lie, I’m scared shitless. Dakar is a huge city. It is the New York City or Los Angeles of Senegal. While its infrastructure is great, it is far different than that of any American city. While I am scared to death due to its size, I am also very optimistic. First, I am taking over an amazing project, which has more room to grow and still be sustainable. Second, while finding my niche in the city regarding any additional sustainable urban ag projects will be difficult and take time, there is so much potential and need. Third, when all of you come visit Senegal, it will be much easier to get you. Fourth, from what I heard, Dakar offers in a sense is a melting pot of Senegal and the West. Western goods can easily be found as well as an international array of food choices. It has something going on all the time. Fifth, other volunteers have to come to Dakar atleast once a year for medical appointments, so I will get to catch up with other volunteers. Sixth, it is a very diverse city, which is great. I’m hoping I won’t get called ‘Toubab’ that much, but who knows. Finally, I will not only have the opportunity to use Wolof, but also greatly improve my French, which might be important for a job after Peace Corps.

I wish I could tell you more about my project and where I will be living in Dakar, but due to it being a last minute change, I got an empty envelope with only "Justin Land - Dakar" on it. While I know alittle more now, I don’t know much.

A Night Around The Dinner Bowl

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Sitting around eating dinner every night with my family reminds me of a scene in the movie ‘Nutty Professor’. The Klumps, a heavy-set family, are sitting around the dinner table eating some good ole soul food. The conversations are mixed until somebody has gas and everybody bursts into laughter. You might ask yourself, why this reminds me of my family in Senegal. No, it isn’t because I have gained 300 pounds since I’ve been here.

So, tonight, we were eating dinner and my parents were asking me about my parents and if/when they were coming to visit Senegal. I told them the loose tentative dates. They were disappointed that they didn’t intend to stay for more than a month. But they want them to come to Thies, which I want them to as well.

The next conversation piece, once again, revolved around me, because I’m not going to lie, I’m the talk around town. Apparently, a few of the other trainees’ sisters have been asking when ‘Aziz’ (my Senegelese name) is coming over for dinner. I just don’t have enough days in the week to handle my social calendar. But, getting back on topic, my parents asked if I was going to visit Senegal after my two years of service were up, and I said yes. Then, they asked if I was going to invite them to my wedding. I did say yes, because I will, but I did tell them that there was one small problem because I had no clue when that was going to happen and that it wasn’t going to be Senegal, unless I was offered more than 200+ assorted farm animals and a lifetime supply of rice as a payment to take their daughter.

Then, one of my brothers had gotten into trouble that day, so we all called him crazy. My dad then went off alittle. In the US, this would be embarrassing for the kid and in a sense an unacceptable means of punishment, but in Senegal, it is acceptable and quite funny to an outsider.

After my brother got lectured by everyone in the family, my mom let out a nice loud burp. Quite unexpected I must say. I would have expected it out of my brothers and then a nice hard slap on the face to follow, but, when Mamma Toure does it, it is pretty funny. All of us burst into tears. I then learned how to say ‘burp’ in Wolof, which is important.

Mini Update

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

I'll write more later becuase I don't have much time left here, but things here are going well still. I think I am sick. My throat has been bothering me and I think I'm running a fever, but I can't seem to read the thermometer. It is in English, but I guess I just don't know how to read it. Hopefully whatever I have clears up soon, cause there isn't much time to recouperate here. I went to Dakar today for an Urban Ag field trip which was cool. When we got back, we got our bikes which all of us had been waiting for. I rode home with about 5 other volunteers and it was the most akward ive felt in a while. We definetly got the stares. Crazy Americans with their really nice bikes, bells, and helmets. We can get sent home if we dont wear our helmets...so its pretty much a big deal. Other than that, we are suppposed to find out our site placement on friday and I'm going to the beach on Saturday, which should be fun. Hope everyone is doing well and if I dont talk to you beforehand, have a great Easter.

Palm Sunday

Sunday, April 9, 2006

Today, another volunteer and I decided to go to church for Palm Sunday. While nearly 90% of the population of Senegal is Muslim I believe, there are Protestant and Catholic Churches in Senegal. The service started at 10:00 am, so I left my house at 9:00 am and walked to the Place de France. That was a mistake. According to my brothers, I walk fast and it still took me 45 minutes, so it wasn’t a short walk by myself in the streets of Thies. I should have taken a taxi for several reasons, but I didn’t. I ended up getting to the Place de France to meet the other volunteer, but neither one of us knew where the church actually was. After asking a few people we found it a couple of blocks away.

There were about 70 to 100 people there, once it got started. Any visitor had to stand up and say who they were, which was intimidating, cause I had to introduce myself in French. The service was very laid back. There was a lot of singing in French. Basically, over the course of 2 hours, I understood about 3 words. Actually, I’m not going to lie, I started to lose interest after a bit because I didn’t get the jokes being told. The congregation was laughing, but I wasn’t. The other volunteer felt the same way. It was kind of weird though, seeing it was Palm Sunday, but from my recollection, their was no reference to Palm Sunday. It was interesting.

I believe some of the churches and cathedrals, if not all, have services in Wolof. The church I went to had a Wolof hymnal, which I looked at and understood some, but not much. It was pretty nice because we don’t have any real Wolof books at the Training Center, so it was cool to see written Wolof being used.

Afterwards, I continued with my stubbornness and walked back to my house. I don’t know why I didn’t take a cab, but I really didn’t have much else to do. But I got home to face a large bowl of rice and fish.

I'm starting to discover the things that remind me of home here. I think everybody has to some extent. I found a place that sells the gummi bears I like, good pizza, and so on. Its going to take some getting used to, the withdraws of things I enjoyed at home and can't here, and things that just remind me of home. Don't take this the wrong way, but inorder to keep the sanity up, every once in a while, you need a Coke.

Second Batch of Pictures

I think they are mostly just of my family. Enjoy!!!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?Uc=7cwno9h.d0td97x&Uy=gzzdyb&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1

Another Highlighted Night....

April 7, 2006

Tonight was pretty cool. I went out for a bit with some volunteers to a chicken restaurant then to Pamandas…it was pay day so we all had some money. This chicken restaurant was awesome. In the States, we would call it a hole in the wall, but it was absolutely amazing. The chicken was cooked over a fire but I wouldn’t go as far as saying it was rotisseried. Their fries put Bojangles’ fries to shame almost…that takes a lot for me to say. I ended up splitting a whole chicken and fries with two other people and it came out to 4,000 CFA, which is like $7 for it all. Unfortunately, it is bad to think of money in U.S. terms here. Afterwards, I went to Pamandas to meet up with some other trainees for a few minutes before heading home.

I saw the presidential motorcade also, which was really neat. I don’t know if President Wade was in Thies tonight or was just passing through, but all of a sudden police motorcycles drive drove by followed by a long convoy of Ford Expeditions, a limo, police cars, ambulance, and other vehicles. The convoy definitely moved a lot faster than typical traffic in Thies. It was really weird because it just happened. It wasn’t like in the States where streets are shut down for the presidential motorcade.

After I got home tonight, I heard a lot of wolof screaming in the courtyard. I didn’t know what was going on, but one of my sisters drug me outside to watch some of my brothers beat the crap out of a snake that was in the courtyard. Chairs were taken apart and the pieces were thrown at it. It was nuts. It was pretty much like a scene from Jerry Springer. Finally, the snake was killed. It wasn’t huge nor poisonous, but don’t know what type it was. I’m not a big fan of snakes at all, so I’m glad it got the ax. I got a picture of it, so hopefully I’ll get it up soon.

The last thing I will say, before going to bed, is about the probability of getting in a taxi accident. I’ve come to realize that if I don’t feel like I’m going to die at least four or five in a cab ride in Thies, then, it just isn’t a normal ride. Sadly, some of us are thinking about making bets on how many cab accidents we will get in. One trainee has already been in one. Luckily, the cabs don’t go very fast, and by very fast, I mean they stall in the middle of intersections a lot.

I’m off to bed. Hopefully everyone enjoys reading this site. If you ever have any questions or suggestions, let me know. If one of your suggestions is for me to fix my grammatical mistakes, I’m sorry, its not going to happen…I just haven’t felt like rereading everything and I’d rather go to bed, like right now.

A Day In The Life

It’s been a fairly easy day here in Thies. I guess one thing I haven’t really talked about is my typical day, other than the layout of training. If I have talked about it already, well, I’m sorry, but I’m losing track of what I have and haven’t written.

I usually wake up around 6:15 every morning. I either wake up to the sound of my alarm clock or that of the donkey. Sometimes, I wake up a little confused do to the larium. It is the malaria prophylaxis that I take once a week. Once of its side effects is crazy dreams. I haven’t had too many but novels could be written about them. After making my way out of my mosquito net covered bed, I take a cold shower or bucket bath, depending on the water pressure.

Around 7:00, I leave the house and walk to my bus stop with 2 other volunteers that live a few houses down. At the bus stop, we have this amazing view of the sun every morning. I probably wouldn’t think much of it in the States, but here, it is a nice thing to see every morning. We are one of the last stops, so the bus comes full with volunteers around 7:20. Typically, everyone has their language notebooks in their hand studying over notes from the previous day. Hopefully we will be getting our bikes soon, so we can bike to the center. Unfortunately, I’m one of the farthest volunteers from the center, but the bikes are nice Trek 3700 mountain bikes, so I’m looking forward to biking.

We get to the center around 7:30 were we all eat breakfast. By breakfast, I mean a half loaf of French bread. I typically have a cup of "American" tea as well. During this time, atleast for the first few weeks, I would use it as a bathroom break, but thankfully, my stomach has now adjusted to Senegal. Classes start at 8. The two morning sessions, which each last two hours, are typically both language. Learning language in the morning is much better in the morning than in the afternoon. While it is interesting and essential to every volunteer’s success, it definitely isn’t always fun. My teachers are great, but at times, there is a love-hate relationship. In between the two morning sessions is a 30 minute break in which most of the trainees just relax or play ping pong.

Following the second session, there is a 2 hour break. This may seem like a long time, but it isn’t. Lunch begins at 12:30 or so everyday. We sit under a covered pavilion around large bowels on the floor. Each bowel seats about 4 or 5 people. Some people eat with their hands others use a spoon. A couple times a week during lunch, we have to sit with other people who speak our language (wolof for me) and only use that language.
Following lunch, everybody crams into the foyer to see who got mail. I’ve been lucky a few times, but I do encourage yall to write. After the mail craze, you have about an hour and a half. Ideally I would take a nap on a hammock, but lately that hasn’t been the case. Instead of napping, I’ve had wolof tutoring, had aataya (Senegelese Tea) with some trainers, or had to work on some urban ag stuff. In my urban ag technical training, we don’t have enough time in class to finish our projects, so we have to find time throughout the day to finish them up. Right now, the urban ag trainees have a few construction projects going on. Also during this time, if the medical staff comes from Dakar, we receive vaccinations. I couldn’t even tell you what number we are up to, but I’ve gotten four or five this week.

With the mid - afternoon break ending at 2:30, we typically go to technical training (Health, Urban Ag, Environmental Education), cultural training, or health/safety training for the afternoon sessions. The afternoon sessions last an hour and a half each. For technical training, it is very hands on, unlike the other two programs, so it is really cool because half the time we are in the classroom and the other half, we are outside learning.

Around 6:00 everyday, although it has started getting later and later each day, the center training is done. That is a typical day at the center, but there are many variations to the day. Sometimes we will only have one language session…which is nice.

With class over, I either take the bus home or go out for a bit with other volunteers. If I go home, I typically spend the rest of the evening with my family. Learning the language around them has been much better than the classroom. We have dinner around 9 or 10. Surprisingly, I have eaten everything that has been put in front of me. I don’t know how, but some of it is stuff I wouldn’t dare to eat in the States, but they make it taste pretty good here. Although, I like rice, I eat it atleast twice a day. Today, I had two dinners; one with volunteers and another when I got home. Even if I’m not hungry when I get home, well, I better still find room in my stomach to eat.

I try to get into my room for good before 11 every night. I have been pretty good about doing that. Still not sleeping 100% through the night, I try to get as much sleep as I can. By days end, I’m pretty drained mentally and physically, so it’s a bit frustrating that my sleep is not the best, but I don’t think there is much I can do about it.

That is my typical day here in Thies as a Peace Corps Trainee. Only 25 months and a week left….time flies.

Rumors...

April 5, 2006

Amongst the Urban Ag program, there are rumors flying about placements. We are supposed to find out late next week where we are going to be going. While far from easy still, the likelihood of living in a mud hut in the middle of nowhere scenario is very slim. As I have stated in previous post, there are 7 Urban Ag trainees (including myself) in my stage. There are 2 guys and 5 girls. Five are learning wolof and the other 2 are learning other national languages. I say all this because it is important in placement. The two learning other national languages already know their sites due to the availability of sites and where their languages are spoke. Apparently the sites in Mbour and Dakar are going to guys. I don’t say this to be sexist, but due to safety concerns, they are apparently easier places for guys to work. I have also heard Thies being thrown out on the table too, which is where the training center is. Mbour is a beach resort town but apparently has some racial conflicts. Dakar is pretty much the capital of Western Africa and has its own challenges. Because I came into this not wanting to have expectations, I don’t care where I get placed, whether it is in a village 40 km from a town (this won’t happen since I’m urban ag) or in a large city, but living on the beach isn’t where I thought I’d have a chance to live this time last year. But once again, this is all speculation but with input from credible sources. Placements apparently can change at the last minute due to certain factors. I’ll let yall know when I find out for sure.

I See White People

April 5, 2006

I can’t say I have been looked after this well before, at least not for along time. While I’m 23 years old, being in Senegal right now, I feel like I still wear a diaper. Learning the language is going to take a lot of time as well as understanding my surroundings. Fortunately, I have an awesome family here that looks after me and protects me to some extent.

Monday night, I went out with my brothers and sister to the Place de France here in Thies for Independence Day Eve rally. It involved kids marching with torches. It was pretty cool to see. We ended up meeting up with some other volunteers and their host siblings. When I say we met up, I really mean that we stand out like a sore thumb. Pretty much, I know about half of the "white people" I see. Because of this, at one point Monday night, a crowd of people kind of crowded around us and started talking to us. While not knowing exactly what they were saying, I don’t think it was the nicest of talk and it got alittle scary, I’m not gonna lie. My sister, who could hold her own anywhere, told them to f’off and got all of us Peace Corps people out of there. Pretty much all the trainees that have met her love her because, yes, she is awesome. It is kinda neat though, I feel like when I go out with my brothers and sisters, I have bodyguards. Its pretty cool. One day I plan on busting out a sharpie and start signing autographs.

Another example of how my family has looked after me occurred today. When I returned home from class, I went to a corner shop with one of my brothers and sister to buy ingredients for beignets. While there, all I could here was "toubab, toubab, toubab, toubab." This is a term that supposedly means all non-resident, but really is said to any white person. I don’t think it is the most respectful of terms, but you hear it all the time, mostly from kids. I heard it more when I was in Kedegou than here in Thies, but regardless, it gets old. Well, my brother Omar told the kids to shut up, then chased them, and then got the novel idea to throw a few rocks at them. Omar is probably about 12 or 13 and the kids that were calling me toubab were probably 5. Well, one of the rocks hit one of the kids in the head pretty hard. Whether he deserved it or not, that is a different story. He ran into his house crying and out came three of his bigger brothers/cousins/friends (relationships aren’t easy to figure out here). My sister started yelling at my brother and smacked the crap out of him on the face and yelled at the little kid’s entourage as well. We ended up leaving the store and while I condone hitting 5 year olds in the head with rocks, I did give my brother a hug and high five because of the principle of it. Its an amazing feeling when you know somebody is going to stand up for you like that. In a sense, I’m not a toubab, I’m here to live and work amongst the Senegelese people for the next two years. I’m glad my family has taken me in as much as they have. So we get back in, and the first thing out of my sisters mouth is "Papa, Omar hit a kid in the head with a rock." So Omar and Papa had a talk. Then the little kid’s mom/sister and the kid came over to figure out the situation. So here we go again. Fortunately, the two families know each other well and my dad set things straight I believe. Unfortunately, everything was in really fast wolof, which I’m not at the stage yet where I can understand a lot of even slow wolof. Then mamma came home…so I heard everything again. Finally, I just had to get out of the house for a bit, because I really wish I had known what they were saying partially because it was in a sense about me, and my family’s view on the concept of the ‘toubab’, so I walked two houses down to tell my story to another volunteer.

The moral of the story is that I have a family here in Senegal that looks after me and isn’t afraid to stand up for me, especially right now, when I’m not at a level to do it on my own. Laughing and playing dumb only gets you so far on the streets, so its nice to have a strong crutch to lean on right now.

First Batch of Photos

Here is the link to view my first set of pictures. They are mostly from my Demystification trip. Hopefully I can get my next set up pictures (ones of my family) up soon. If you are asked for a password, click view without signing in. If you have any problems let me know. j

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?Uc=7cwno9h.arhnuw5&Uy=-82d1ru&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1

Dosso--the night of April 1st

While i have a few minutes, Ill tell you about my Saturday night in Thies. It was my sister's birthday, so she was home from Dakar. She came out with me and we met up with some other trainees. After going to this place called the Beer Garden by PCVs, we went to a popular dance club called Dosso. We got there around 12 and it was dead, but it cost 2 mille to get in, which is alot....about 4 bucks. Well, let me tell you, i tried to dance. I said id never do it again, but I tried. I was even told that I had no rythme. That is one thing I have known all my life, so it wasn't very shocking. So I decided to have a seat and hang out with a few of the other trainees (about 8 of us where there). Around 2 am was when things started to heat up, so i tried to dance again. This time I was more successful. It wasn't till around 4 that I left with my sister and her friends. I don't know if they were trying to be nice, but they said I danced well. I felt like I was at a rave or something, although I'd never been to one before. There was fog machines and crazy strobe lights which probably made every move of mine even more amazing. Because most of Senegal is muslim, they don't drink, but honestly, dancing is one thing I can't do without the help of a shot or two, and it was obviously the cure to the plague last night. Hope everyone is doing well. I'm still trying to get the pictures up. I will eventually. Fortunatly, we don't have class on Sundays, so I slept till 1030 and decided to wear ear plugs, so the donkey wouldnt wake me. I helped my dad and brothers build a brick patio today so ive been pretty productive and now Im about to study for a few hours.

Update 4

Saturday, April 1, 2005
Wow, the past week has flown by. I only have a little less than 800 days left in Senegal…I don’t know where the time has gone. Things are going well here but it is really intense. The other day I had 6 hours of wolof class accompanied with 2 hours of technical training. The length of the day was like any other, but we had yet to have 6 hours of language class in a day...basically, I had more foreign language class in one day than I had in two weeks when I took French in college. Training is pretty much like going to college but you are in the classroom 8 hours out of the day and the rest of the day is pretty much studying or standing around with a confused look on your face, not knowing what anyone is saying. Fortunately, the teachers are great and make it interesting.

We had our first weekly language performance review today. It is pretty much like a report card but more critical and you don’t have to have your parents sign it. Mine said that I was enthusiastic about learning, had a great sense of humor, and asked well-qualified questions. On the negative, coming from the south has its drawbacks…my accent apparently affects the pronunciation of wolof words, so I am going to start reading wolof books/newspapers. The other negative aspect of my review was that I think too much before I speak in wolof. If somebody had told me this in the States, it probably would have meant I was slow, but not here. Fortunately, the purpose of these reviews isn’t to criticize trainees, but to make everyone proficient in the language they are supposed to learn.

Jeff and Rob, your predictions came true. You can pretty much call me Kevin Bacon. My afternoon was much like a scene from The Air Up There. A fellow volunteer, his two brothers, two of my brothers, and myself played alittle ball at the lycee. It turned into a game of 5 on 5. It was pretty much like the And One tournament. I really don’t think I have seen my double dribbles and travels in my life. Kris (the other volunteer) and I were at a disadvantage due to the heat. I must say, my body isn’t conditioned to playing outside during the heat of the day here. But it was pretty cool. I had fun. But I did learn an important lesson while playing. Out of the 10 people playing, 8 were wearing flip-flops. I probably will be next time too, since one of my air bubbles popped in my running shoes while playing. I wasn’t expecting that to happen 3 weeks in here, but nothing I can do about it.

There are two tough aspects that are taking time to figure out. First, the whole lack of privacy thing. This isn’t a problem all the time because I like my fellow trainees and I love my host family, but I really haven’t been anywhere before where I haven’t been able to fully control the things I do and when I do them and I really can’t just go and get out. I probably wouldn’t be lying if I said that I’ve had about 30 seconds of time where I’ve been able to veg out and relax. It seems I’m on the go all the time, which I think I am. Am I complaining about it…it may seem, but its really not a huge problem, just one of the cultural aspects that takes some getting used to. The second one is how to spend my time after class. We get done at around 6:15 every night and my options are to study by myself, hang out with other trainees at a bar, or hang out with my family. Its tough being pulled in three drastically different directions, all of equal importance to some extent. Honestly and surprising to some, I prefer hanging out with my family or studying. Both of those things are pretty important too. Although, sometimes, peer pressure and the fact we get a discount at one of the local bars (discount makes the beer 500 CFA…..less than a dollar for about 30 oz. Senegalese beer is fairly good). It is nice after long days to go and just hang out outside and be able to talk English and sip on a beer. Looking back at this past week, I feel I have divided my time wisely, I hung out with other volunteers 2 times after class, studied at the local hotel one night, and studied/hung out with my family the other nights. I’m going to try and study more at the hotel. I found that it was nice and relaxing. No, I don’t like studying, but its nice to be by myself in some peace and quiet every once in a while.

I have alittle more to say, but I’m going to hold off till my next post. Hopefully I can get my pictures posted soon. I have found that it takes time to get some things done here. Also, once again, I got a cell phone. You can find the number below, but I really have no clue what the country code for Senegal is, but google it and it should come up. I’m trying to make a short call to the States a day, but I don’t know how well that is going to hold up. It is fairly expensive for me. They have international calling cards at Wal-mart, but I still think skype.com would be a much better solution. For anyone who has lived overseas, I’m sorry I didn’t/haven’t called that much, cause I must say, talking to familiar voices sure is nice.

For those of you who have sent emails, thank you so much. I’m trying to write everyone back. Due to the French keyboards accompanied by keys that sometimes stick, slow connections, and power outages, I typically prefer writing my responses back on my laptop and then sending them the next time I go to the Internet café. Due to better knowing my surroundings and an hour over Internet time costing about 50 cents, I am hoping to check it twice a week. I say that now, but who knows…it isn’t easy to predict things here.
Some of the other trainees and I have this running humorous conversation about things we miss from back home. It typically starts at breakfast when we are eating our half loaf of bread…we have that everyday for breakfast. Somebody usually suggests someone doing a doughnut run, but we have yet to find the krispy kreme here in Senegal. I will say one of the things I miss most from home, apart from all my friends and family, is Bojangles/Weaver D’s. I’m not gonna lie, if somebody asked me to meet them at one of the two places tomorrow, I just might be on the next plane out of Senegal. In all seriousness, it really is weird the things you miss. A lot of the things I miss are food related…some Scooby Snacks or Gummi Bears sure would be nice. I probably wouldn’t be opposed to MacDonald’s or Taco Bell right now either or a nice Mountain Dew. Its part of the whole experience being here and having to deal with it, which most of us here understand. It is nice to go through my box of pictures that I brought; pictures that range from the bleached blond hair days of high school to the JLand Farewell Tour. I’ve shown them to other volunteers and my family and its nice for them to see more of who I am.

Well, I think I am done rambling….I don’t know where this message was going, but I guess its going somewhere. Overall, things are going great and I still think I made the right decision coming here. Thanks for all your support. Hope things are going well in the States and I sure wish I could watch the Final Four….apparently George Mason is in it. I’m sure yall knew that a long time ago, but it takes some time for news to cross the Atlantic.