Last time in village

October 6

Tonight is my last first night in village! Only 7 more nights for me in Village! Before I get to that, however, a note on our trip to Dakar. Yesterday we did a one day trip to Dakar to familiarize ourselves with the Peace Corps offices as well as to have a few meetings with people there. As we drove from Thies to Dakar, I saw everything I saw that very first day two months ago. It was a little different this time, though, because everything that shocked me the first time mostly seemed normal. Don’t get me wrong, I’m nowhere NEAR adjusted and I still feel like almost EVERYTHING is new, but it was a little comforting to not be anxious by the site of sprawling, dirty markets or the mass of people that is Dakar. I’m sure my first trip to Dakar alone will be HORRIFYING and exciting but this time it was a little comforting to not be completely intimidated by everything on the road like I was the first time I made that trip.

So here I am in village for the last time! It’s interesting because as everyone else in my training village is having increased problems with their host families (nothing too major, just little annoyances) I seem to be getting along better with mine. I won’t dare to theorize why because there are way too many variables, but things are going alright. In other news, I started Wolof today and I REALLY want to learn it. I think there will be plenty of work where Wolof is the easiest language to communicate in (working with women/girls who don’t have much schooling) so I want to make sure I’ll be able to do my best work. Also, let’s face it, it would be awesome if I could argue with vendors in Wolof, I’ll totally get more respect.

7 nights left!

A Prochain!
KO

October 9

I haven’t been writing much because this village trip is kind of going the way as the rest, mostly uneventful. I’ve started learning Wolof which is both easy and hard, but it’s interesting and I’m starting to think that I really like languages… we’ll see how long that thought lasts. In other news, I’m picking up my swearing in outfit at the tailor tomorrow (we’ll see how it turns out). The tailor in village is a LOT cheaper than the tailors in towns and in Thies, but he also doesn’t seem to be that good… I’ll keep you posted and pictures will go up after swearing in. Also, I taught the girls in my house (7 and 6) how to play hopscotch. If anyone can think of good games for children that don’t require anything that wear them out PLEASE email me. Also, if they could be easy to explain that would be great considering I don’t speak any languages in common with these kids. I’m still holding myself back from posting about these kids, but let it be known that I’m trying. I’m trying to be friends with them but there’s only so much of kids staring at you, poking you, and saying your name while you’re clearly occupied doing something else that a person can take.

I’m thinking about making dinner for my family Monday (my last night in Village). I can’t really think of a good parting gift for them so I might just make dinner. It’ll be interesting if I do, imagine cooking dinner with practically no spices (except Maggi) and only non-perishable foods. If I cook it’ll be spaghetti with, hopefully, an “alfredo-esque” sauce (non-perishable cheese, margarine, powdered milk). I’ll keep you posted.

That’s really all that’s going on here, it’s HOT during the days, I can’t wait for the cold to come!

Ba suba (a demain/see you tomorrow),

KO

October 12

I really haven’t blogged much this time in village because my days are highly repetitive: get up at 8, bucket bath, eat breakfast, go to class, take a break and eat a mayonnaise sandwich (don’t knock it till you’ve tried it), go back to class, sit at home, eat ceeb u jeen, go back to class, sit at home, bucket bath, watch tv, eat dinner, go to bed. Obviously there’s been a LOT of sweating involved – October is HOT.

Here are the few things that have happened:

My relationship with my hfmom has improved significantly because we can now communicate a little. I can tell her what I’m doing and I think she’s enjoying the new mutual language. Yeah, she knew what I was doing before when I came out with my bucket and gestured towards the bathroom. Now that I can tell her, though, she seems to like me more.

I’ve decided to make dinner tonight so we’ll see how that goes. I’m trying to make the alfredo-esque sauce so my ingredients are: spaghetti noodles, some non-perishable “cheese”, powdered milk, butter, flour, water, and garlic. We’ll see how it goes! More on that later.

Now, for the icing on the cake: The Village seems to be giving me the full goodbye! It started a few days ago with an increase in insects and other creepy crawlers but last night it (hopefully) culminated. My family turned off the TV relatively early so I was able to start drifting to sleep around 10:30 (usually it’s around midnight). Aside from the heat, I was having a relatively uninterrupted sleep until about 4am when I awoke to the sound of crinkling neck to my head. First groggy and half-asleep, I assumed it must be some sort of horrible insect digging through my clifbar wrapper (a girl’s gotta get her protein somewhere!)… oh what I mistaken… the good news is I scared my new friend the mouse as much as he scared me. We were in a standoff: the mouse trapped in my mosquito net unable to get out and me, now fully awake, standing outside of my mosquito net frantically looking for an answer. There I was, standing in disheveled pajamas (it gets really hot and everything is askew by 4am), wearing my head lamp, turned on, with the lights on, holding an empty liter and a half water bottle as protection. I decided to un-tuck my mosquito net from the furthest distance possible and, after I thought I heard my new friend get out of my bed, I poked at things with my weapon (aka the water bottle) just to double check. Luckily (I guess) the mouse ran by me, up the wall, across a ceiling beam, and out the slats between the room from where it came. I deposited my wrappers on the floor, turned the lights out, and got back into a (fixed and re-tucked) mosquito net. Trouble was, I couldn’t sleep…. So I did was seemed natural: texted AS and wrote in my journal. After a receiving a quick phone call (for which I am so grateful), I decided it was time to fall back asleep. Not willing to sleep unarmed, I also decided that sleeping wearing my headlamp (which was turned on) would be a good idea. I eventually got back to sleep (only to wake up to the slightest movement and turn my headlamp off) and was able to be, mostly, back to normal by class in the morning.

I’ve already packed most of my bags and condensed anything that might interest mice OUTSIDE of my mosquito net (actually far from my bed) so hopefully tonight brings peaceful sleep and no visitors. We’ll see! Off to make dinner (let’s hope it goes well).

KO

PS the pasta turned out well, I’m back in Thies and CBT (community based training) is OVER!!!