First, I'll actually start with the speakeasy: As you may or may not know, Senegal is a very Muslim country and thus, most of the country, doesn't drink alcohol. Because of this most towns don't have bars (and if they did only creepy guys and prostitutes hang out there - that is actually true and I'm told is not an exaggeration). The really large cities, like Thies, have a few bars and even a disco (aka night club) but they're expensive on a PC salary and no one really wants to head into town when there's the speakeasy/beer garden practically around the corner. The place is a Catholic family's compound and they sell beers (Gazelle or Flag), red wine, vodka, gin, and soda. They keep their compound door locked and you have to knock to get in. Once you're in, it's the same guy sitting around the TV and one guy who gets up to sell the drinks. Other than that there are some plastic lawn chairs and a plastic table. You can also go onto the roof which is legitimately just the roof with a whole bunch of rebar wire sticking up from it. Last night, to make it a party, we bought a whole bunch of snacks and candles (to put around the wire so no one cute themselves), and we even got some balloons! We needed to submit a short description of each person in our stage to the PCSenegal newsletter so a few kids got together and wrote short, clever, kind of first impression-y kind of inside joke-y things about each person and we read those aloud last night. They were all clever and well put together (mine was short and sweet "KO- she is not Japanese," for those of you who don't know the story, in the states I was constantly asked if I was Japanese and it didn't help that my friends took to telling people I was. There are some Senegalese that also think I'm Japanese and my new host father didn't believe me when I told him I wasn't). After that we celebrated well into the morning with 600CFA beers, snacks, and an ipod with speakers.
Today I've already done laundry and I'm going to the Orange/Sonatel office in Thies to see if I can get an appointment to have my internet set up in Bambey early next week. There's a slight possibility they won't be willing to go out there and I'll have to go to Diourbel on Tuesday or that they won't do it because I don't know my address (which really shouldn't be too much of a problem, you think I'm kidding but the description of: you get off the road and you turn left off the main road, then right down the big dirt road then go straight then it's on the right, it's a two story house and there might be a black car out front, goes a long way here). The rest of my day will be packing slowly, maybe just organizing things to pack them tomorrow and hanging out with people before we all go our separate ways.
I keep joking with everyone here that I feel so different and already wise in the past few hours of being an actual volunteer and while that is far from actuality, there is a little truth in it. I still don't know anything about how to be successful with work projects here and I don't know much about the culture/language, but I'm feeling pretty happy about finishing the last 9 weeks. Everyone says PSTs the hardest part and there were times when it was really hard. Yesterday as we were riding in on the bus I had the feeling of "hey! I'm that white girl looking ridiculous in African clothes! I'm that Peace Corps Volunteer! this is awesome!" There also seems to be a sense of continuing tradition (we were told yesterday, a million times, how many volunteers Senegal has had and how we're carrying on their work, etc.
I'm really excited to get to Bambey and start working. The first 3 months are supposed to be focused on learning the local language and finding work partners. We haven't been given any technical training so there isn't much we can do in terms of starting our SED work. I might try to find some smaller projects to occupy my time but I'm supposed to hold off on the huge stuff until I understand more about the community. It seems daunting right now, to spend 3 months learning language and meeting people, but all of the volunteers who have already done it, told us it actually worked out fine. Mostly I want to get to Bambey and get my room set up and really move in. I think it's then I'll feel more like a volunteer.
I'm off to lunch and trying to get Internet now!
KO
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