I will be back in the US during the week of February4 to be best man in a buddy's wedding. With the exception of a couple days, I will be in Atlanta. Unlike my vacation home this past summer, my time is somewhat limited this time around, but I hope to see as many of you as I can. Let me know what your plans are.
Hope all is well.
The head of state has demanded a victory. The nation expects one. And the team is focused on what promises to be a memorable event.
The French-language Scrabble championship is being held in Dakar this year and Senegal is determined to demonstrate its prowess in a discipline that has become a national passion.
With President Wade throwing his weight behind the tournament, Senegalese players – who have won international Scrabble tournaments before – are under pressure to show that they are as much masters of la langue française as the French are themselves.
Although the World Francophone Scrabble Championship does not start until July the build-up is already under way in the West African country, with Issa Mbaye Samb, the Sports Minister, having declared the event a national priority.
“Scrabble will be treated with full honours,” he said. “It has brought a lot of satisfaction to our country.”
He said that the Scrabble team should enjoy the same facilities and prestige as other sporting stars, including footballers. A ten-day training camp is planned to enable the champions to sharpen their concentration and foster a team spirit.
“They’re absolutely passionate about this,” said Antonin Michel, France’s best player. “They’re incredibly competitive and it’s almost like an Olympic sport to them. I don’t know of any other country that takes it as seriously. It’s unique, certainly in the Francophone world.”
Among English speakers the only nation with a similar passion for Scrabble is Thailand, which hosts the world’s biggest tournament.
When Senegalese players won three titles at an international competition in Quebec, Canada, last year, President Wade told them: “I exhort you to conserve your titles. You are among the best. I am proud of you.” He added that Senegal’s success in a discipline of the mind and of the intellect showed that the country had the capacity to succeed in other areas as well.
Commentators added that the Senegalese Scrabble triumph would help to demolish stereotypes about Africans – particularly in France, the former colonial ruler, which used to think that only Belgium could rival its grasp of Molière’s language.
“The French were surprised at first,” said Ndongo Samba Sylla, a 29-year-old economist who was Senegal’s first international Scrabble champion. “They did not think that Africans could play in a language which was not their mother tongue. But now they know we can and they treat us as equals.”
This month Senegal’s standing was underlined when the International Francophone Scrabble Federation authorised the use of 14 Wolof words – the language spoken by 45 per cent of the Senegalese population.
The terms refer to local objects and customs – such as thié boudienne, a fish and rice dish, or xalam, a Senegalese lute – for which there is no French equivalent.
Such words have been included in a new version of the official French-language Scrabble dictionary, to the delight of the Senegalese. “This is a way of opening our culture to the world,” Mr Sylla said.
Letters abroad
— Duplicate Scrabble is the predominant version of the game played in the Francophone world. The rules are as follows:
— Each player sits alone at a table, with his own board and another on which all the letters are arranged face up
— A “director” takes charge. He holds a prearranged list of the order of tiles, and starts the game by announcing the first seven letters to be used by all players, who then have three minutes to make the highest-scoring word possible
— When the time is up, all hand in their suggestions on a small piece of paper. The highest-scoring suggestion is announced, and all players arrange that word on their boards, while earning the score from their own suggested plays
— A giant board hangs on the wall, charting progress with large paper letters pegged to it as the game unfolds
— The game continues, with all players playing with identical boards, until the tiles are exhausted. The player with the highest score wins
— Games take up to two and a half hours to complete. Accents are disregarded, and letter values are largely similar to those in the English version, with the notable exception of W, which is worth 10, rather than 4
Source: Jerusalem Scrabble Club
I have to tell you, it is really really weird to think that my two years here in Senegal are almost up. For nearly four years, the commitment to Peace Corps has been in my head. I value the ideals of the organization more than ever, and I know that they will have a large input in my future.
The magical thing about this experience is that everyone is different. Personally, I know I am going to have a tough time letting go of this experience. It is so unique and has made me realize more clearly great how great we have it and the importance of giving back. I'm not going to lie, I have battled back and fourth as to whether or not to stay an extra year. Honestly, I haven't reached that decision yet, but it is quickly approaching.
With that being said, it truly hit me today that my two year commitment is coming to close. Ironically, I was sitting at my computer searching for jobs, working on resumes, cover letters, and all the other fun stuff that accompanies looking for a job (doing this from Senegal has made it much more interesting too) and I received an email from Peace Corps.
This email was not the typical one, in a sense, it was one of the most coveted emails a Volunteer receives in their service.....Close of Service (COS) invitation. What this is, is the invitation to the COS conference, where the remaining Volunteers from your group get together for a couple days to discuss the past two years with PC Administration. Just in a flash, reality truly hit.
Not only did this email establish the date of the conference, but it puts into motion all mechanisms that go into a Volunteer finishing their service. The one thing that answers some of your questions is when I will finish here (if I don't stay). My official COS date is May 12, but you are allowed to leave up to 30 days before (April 14) and 30 days after (June 12). Depending on a few factors hindering the later, I will probably choose the latest date possible. As to where I plan to go, I don't know yet, but I'm not ruling out anywhere.
So, when June 13 rolls around, who knows if I'll be spending another year in Senegal, enjoying a job in an enjoyable place, or in my parents' basement (just kidding). I do know that my time here in Senegal is sadly one day closer to the end and when June 13 falls on the calender, I better call home and wish my mom a Happy Birthday.
PARIS (AP) — Al-Qaida threats against the Dakar Rally and an attack in Mauritania forced organizers to cancel the annual race on Friday, the eve of the 5,760-mile trek across North African desert scrubland and savannah.
It was the first time the automobile, motorbike and truck rally has been called off in its 30-year history. In a statement, organizers blamed "threats launched directly against the race by terrorist organizations." the Dec. 24 killings of a French family and international tensions.
The race's central appeal — its course through African deserts, scrubland and savannas — is also its weak point, making it difficult to protect thousands of people as they cross remote regions.
"No other decision but the cancellation of the sporting event could be taken," organizers said.
France, where the race organizers are based, had urged the rally to avoid Mauritania after the four family members were killed in an attack blamed on a terror cell that uses the Mauritanian desert as a hideout.
Officials say the cell is linked to the Algeria-based al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa, which has claimed responsibility for a series of deadly attacks, including the Dec. 11 twin suicide bombings at U.N. offices and a government building in Algiers, which killed at least 37 people.
Patrice Clerc, who heads the company that organizes the rally, told The Associated Press the threats against the rally came from al-Qaida's North Africa wing. He said the French government warned explicitly that the race was threatened but did not share its intelligence.
"Yes, we perhaps bowed to terrorism but our company today does not have the right to run this risk for all those people who trust it," Clerc added. "We don't have the right to play games with safety."
Mauritania's foreign minister criticized the decision to scrap the race.
"This decision has no relationship with the actual security situation in Mauritania, a country that has always been stable and peaceful," said Foreign Minister Babah Sidi Abdallah.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he did not want to "stigmatize" Mauritania, but warned of the risks "in a very uncertain region and one crossed by the networks of al-Qaida in North Africa."
"We simply want those who risk a lot to benefit from our information," Kouchner told RTL radio. "We are warning them: It's dangerous."
Al-Qaida in North Africa, in a Dec. 29 statement posted on an Internet site that it often uses, criticized Mauritania's government for "providing suitable environments to the infidels for the rally." It did not directly call for attacks on the race or its participants.
In the past, terrorism fears have forced organizers to cancel individual stages or reroute the race. In 2000, several stages were scrapped after a threat forced organizers to airlift the entire race from Niger to Libya. Several stages were also called off in 2004, reportedly because of terror threats in Mali.
The race, organized by the France-based Amaury Sport Organization (ASO), had been due to start in Lisbon, Portugal, on Saturday and finish in Dakar, Senegal, on Jan. 20. Eight of the stages were to take place in Mauritania. Some 550 car, truck and motorcycle drivers were expected.
Cyril Neveu, a five-time Dakar winner in the motorcycle category, acknowledged that the race could have been targeted by terrorists.
"It is a big caravan of more than 3,000 people," he told French broadcaster I-Tele. He said he respected the organizers' decision but added: "Many are going to be disappointed."
"Providing security from the first to the last competitor is an onerous job," Neveu added. "One cannot say that there was zero risk."
Only the father of the slain family survived the Dec. 24 attack, in a town 150 miles east of the Mauritanian capital as the family picnicked on the side of a road.
That attack was followed up be another four days later, when three Mauritanian soldiers manning a checkpoint were killed. Mauritania is a largely peaceful Islamic republic that has been rocked by the back-to-back attacks.
Authorities have blamed a terror "sleeper cell" linked to the Algeria-based al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa for the murders of the family. Al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa claimed responsibility for the killing of the soldiers.
The Mauritanian government had announced last week that it would mobilize a 3,000-man security force to ensure the race's safety.
Those in the country's tourism sector decried the loss, calling France's reaction "exaggerated and disproportionate."
"The worries expressed by the French are unfounded," said Mohamed El Moustapha Ould Cheibani, who heads a tour agency in Atar, a city 270 miles north of the capital, Nouakchott. "It's like getting punched in the back of our tourism industry."
Associated Press writers Ahmed Mohamed in Nouakchott, Mauritania, and John Leicester in Paris contributed to this report.
As Peace Corps Volunteers, we are all supposed to get mid-service medical check ups and dental cleanings. Typically, what happens, is that the Volunteer calls the medical office around their year mark to set up the appointments. The medical stuff is typically done in the Peace Corps medical unit while the dentist stuff is outsourced.
Because I am in Dakar and somewhat always around, I often get over looked....which doesn't typically bother me. Also, because when I feel healthy, I don't typically feel a need to get checked out. I guess the phrase, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" is somewhat a story of my life.
After my year mark hit, I stopped thinking about this whole mid-service medical stuff. Then Volunteers in the group that came 6 months after me started and probably finished getting theirs. So, a few days before Christmas this year, I went into the medical office to see if I could just get out of mine....we have to get medical stuff done just before we leave country. Regardless, this was 21 months after arriving in Senegal...far from my mid-service...my fault
I managed to compromise with the medical unit and just get my teeth cleaned, which happened this afternoon. Within five seconds of probing my mouth with a metal spike, the dentist had already determined that I had no cavities. I'm not going to lie, but I was surprised.
The whole appointment lasted about 30 minutes. The time I was supposed to wait to drink and/or eat after the fluoride was twice as long, but I'm not going to lie, it wasn't the best of days, so I waited 35 minutes and had some nems....I don't regret it. For some reason, free toothbrushes and floss weren't passed out.
So you may ask yourself, "why didn't I get checked out earlier?" It is simple, I am a firm believer that if I feel healthy than that is what I am. I can't choose the day I die but I can live my life to the fullest (and foolest as I accidentally typed). If I feel sick, then I'll take care of it, but for some reason, the last person I am typically concerned about is myself, and I don't have much of a problem with that.
To healthy teeth and good health...Happy 2008!!!
