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!!!

Pictures are up!

My pictures are finally up from the beach and some time at the homestay. Enjoy! I'm spending a quiet weekend in Thies and heading to Dakar bright and early tomorrow morning.

Best,
KO

Counterpart Workshop, Day 2

So today was another day of the counterpart workshop and, even though it’s only halfway done, I feel like so much has happened. First off, I had yet another experience in Senegalese scheduling: we had to create a schedule for who I need to meet in Bambey after I get installed (I’ll officially be moving there the 19^th Oct!) and the schedule consists of me meeting one person, each day, for a month… tres Senegalese (compared to American style of have as many meetings as possible and get them all done the first week). Second interesting Senegalese behavior, it’s killing me with how many languages they speak. Today a counterpart told us he spoke 4 languages: English, French, German, and Italian… no, he also speaks Serer, Wolof, Pular, and a little Mandinka…. Most Senegalese people don’t count their native language in the total of languages, compared to me who will probably always count Wolof as a language I know even if I forget it a month after getting home.

After speaking with my counterpart (who I have decided will be way more useful than my supervisor) I had that exciting first day of school feeling. Now, before you call me a nerd, let me explain: it’s that feeling of there being exciting things in the future, new things coming, but they’re not there yet, so the work level isn’t scary, annoying, or overwhelming. My counterpart really wants me to work with organizing the women’s groups and creating more concrete bylaws and rules so they function better. She also really wants me to create a girls group for girls that have dropped out of school. Hopefully I’ll be able to create a group like that as well as a group for girls in school. Mostly I’m really excited to get to work and get started! Back to the village tonight, but then I have a few days at the center with nothing going on. I’ve decided to take advantage of my off weekend by staying at the center, not going to Dakar. A break with worrying about nothing and lots of internet time will be amazing!

A Prochain!

KO

Homologues (Counterparts)

This is going to be a disjointed post, sorry about that, but that's kind of how my train of thought is right now.

Our counterparts are here and both my counterpart and supervisor seem to be nice people. They both seem really interested in working with womens groups and with girls groups which makes me very excited for the potential work opportunities. There is a hilarious possibility that I'll be helping write bylaws from some of the womens groups (I was bylaws chair for my sorority in college and I thought I had escaped it, oh how circular life can be). One of the curious things about Senegalese culture is, even though I've explained that I cannot speak Wolof yet, it doesn't seem to matter. Everyone speaks to me in Wolof, even after I say "Only French, not yet Wolof" or the million other ways to convey that message. The bizarre thing about language, however, is that some of the time, I can understand the general message of what they're trying to say with simple things.

Before the counterpart workshop, there was one Senegalese behavior that really bothered me: hissing. The Senegalese hiss when they want your attention. They hiss at each other, vendors hiss if they want you to buy something, children hiss before the say toubab or ask for money, you hiss if you want a taxi (somehow it works too). Today, I added another behavior to that list: snapping as you raise your hand to speak. During the counterpart workshop when the counterparts had something to say they would raise their hand, snap, and usually say "eh" or something. It's just bizarre.

Last night, I had my first bad run-in with Senegalese food. Looking back on the situation I should have known better: bread with tomato/onion/noodle sauce with flavorless fried dough balls was probably not a good choice. Oh well. It was a weird sandwich and, let's just say, we did not agree.

Oh well! Back to the counterpart workshop!

Comments

Really quickly, I added this to the side, so it'll be there for a while, but if you're having trouble leaving comments and want you, you can also email them to koinsenegal@gmail.com.

Thanks! Off to village for a few days!
KO

Beach!

The beach was amazing. That's pretty much there is to it... but I'll give you a little more. We were given a weekend off... well and by weekend I mean Monday 5pm-Tuesday 5pm, but it's the first time we've had off since we got here August 12th. Before you think "but Katherine, you say you sit around your compound staring a dirt most of the day," remember that EVERYTHING is in French... and just generally work, even if it's not real work, it's hard. But back to the beach!

Along with another girl, I organized 50 trainees to take 2 Alham's (basically an emptied out large van that's been re-cramped with seats.. they each sit 30 and are no bigger than a mini-bus, if not smaller) and go to the beach for a day. We rented two houses and piled in for a relaxing 24 hours. Once we got to the beach town, we stopped at a boutique to fill up on drinks (let your imagination wander) as well as on things for dinner. Later that night along with a VERY HELPFUL group of other trainees, I made dinner (pasta and red sauce) for everyone.

The rest of the trip was full of swimming, walking, hanging out, and generally letting loose. There were times it was almost possible to forget I was in Africa and not on Spring Break... until I saw the bugs, swatted a mosquito, got hissed at, or had to use the bathroom.

I'll add more pictures soon (hopefully tomorrow afternoon) but I've linked to another friend's blog and she has some pictures.

Our counterparts start to arrive today which means I sleep in the village tonight, Thursday, and Friday, and driven to Thies each day for sessions with my counterpart and supervisor... I'm nervous to meet them because this could really determine a lot over the next two years (aka if I'm able to work with them or if they're just in the position for credit).

I'll try to blog at night and post them during the day if anything exciting is happening.

KO

Village, Part 3

Sept 20 2009

Last night there was a huge battle in the ongoing 2 year war: me v. the bugs of Senegal. I feel, for the most part, I have kept my blogging about bugs to a minimum. They really aren’t that integral to my life in Senegal. Yes, there are bugs, yes some of them are bigger than birds, yes ALL bugs here fly (even bugs that look like they don’t, but I’ve gotten used to them. I don’t freak out when there’s a bug on my, I smash bugs between my fingers all the time, bugs and I have practically called a ceasefire… until last night.

The story actually starts with my return to village: I opened the door to find about 150 earwigs had moved into my room. After calmly altering my hfmom (umm il y a beaucoup d’insects.. dans ma chambre), she got a broom and swept them all away! I thought that was the end of it, but boy was I wrong. Later than night bugs of all sorts and sizes (all with the ability to fly) started coming out and the battle really began. More than disgusting, it was frustrating to be CONSTANTLY swatting bugs of and hoping not to be bitten/stung. Eventually, I called it an early night (I couldn’t take them anymore) and retired to my room to discover more bugs! After killing a giant grasshopper, I tried to sneak under my mosquito netting which does a decent job to protecting from mosquitoes but, as I learned, doesn’t really protect against little green flying bugs. Finally around 1am I was able to fall asleep (I kept being almost asleep then waking up to the feeling of bugs on me) and woke up this morning to even more dead bugs on the top of my mosquito net. I was told last night than the bugs mean it’s almost the end of the rainy season which means the cold season (yay!!!!) is coming soon. I think the harvest is next week, but everything is already starting to come in (I spent about an hour helping shuck beans today). No school tomorrow because it’s Korite (aka Eid al fitra (sorry about the spelling) aka the end of Ramadan) but because we’re in a Catholic village we won’t get to celebrate… oh well! There’s always next year (as well as Tabaski (sp) which is the other big Senegalese Muslim holiday). Also, my hf in this village invited me to come here for Christmas which I have no real interest in doing but I might spend Easter here! I’ve heard from many volunteers it’s a really good idea to spend holidays that are important to you (Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc) with other volunteers… especially if you think you’re going to be homesick. I’m not really one to be homesick but I can’t imagine not missing everyone terribly on Christmas and Thanksgiving. Looks like the lunch cheb is ready!

A prochain,

KO

September 22, 2009

Regarding Bucket Baths:

While it might seem a little ridiculous, there is a lot to say apropos bucket baths (a really quick, nerdy French note “apropos de” is how you say “about”). So, bucket baths! Briefly, for those of you not familiar with “bucket baths”, here in Senegal it basically involves a big-ish bucket (maybe a few gallons) and a smaller quart sized bucket for pouring. You pour water on yourself, add soup, and pour more water to rinse off. It’s not a difficult task to do but it’s difficult to do well (don’t believe me, try washing shampoo out of your hair this method).

I really see there being 2 purposes for a bucket bath: to clean you, to cool you off. Starting with the first, I find this type of bucket baths to be the less pleasant of the two. For me, I take this type of bucket bath around 7am when there isn’t much motivation to jump out of bed and dump cold water all over myself. These are the bucket baths that I hurry through and they’re the ones that I really notice the smell of the bathroom.

The second type of bucket bath… that’s a WHOLE different ball game. These usually come around 6pm, maybe a little later but right before the sun sets because then it’s starting to cool off and you know that if you take a shower you’ll stay relatively clean until bed. Unlike its morning friend, this bucket of icy cold water is welcomed and the smell of the bathroom seems to fade into the background. It’s a great feeling to leave the bathroom knowing you’re not immediately stepping into the hot sun and going to be sweaty in 5 minutes. I, clearly, prefer cooling-off bucket baths to cleaning up baths.

Enough on bucket baths! Overall village days are going fine (clearly nothing too exciting going on as I have enough time to really debate bucket baths) and they’re moving kind of quickly which is nice. Oh, and there are some chicks in my compound so I took the initiative to name them (I figure we’re not going to eat them while I’m here because there are much larger chickens if we were ever going to eat one… which I’m sure we’re not). There are 6 chickens, 3 yellow ones and 3 black ones. The yellow ones are: Boris (the largest, pushiest one of them all – even though the only Boris I know isn’t pushy), Chip (it has markings like a chipmunk) and Swarly (an inside joke). The black ones are Maddy (it has black and yellow fuzz and is quite a mess) and then there are two that look identical thus earning the names Orangejello and Lemonjello (another inside joke, this time aimed at my roommates from Soph. year).

I swear my days are filled with more than bucket baths and naming chickens, it just isn’t that exciting to write about sitting in French class or talking about the heat. I hope everyone’s having a great week!

A Prochain!
KO

September 23

Today I had a moment with my host mom, and I really don’t know any other way to describe it (though I wish I did). First, a little bit of needed background: my hfmom and I have never not gotten along, but we’ve never really gotten along either. I’m not sure if she speaks just a little French or just can’t understand me, but we don’t talk, ever (she also only speaks to the other people in the family in local languages). I also would totally understand if she doesn’t like me, she and my hfdad were married August 9^th of this year… 2 weeks before I came. The best I can gather about Senegalese marriages is that there are 2 parts, the legitimate part and the party (which can happen YEARS… YEARS later). What, I think, happened, is that my hfparents were married (legit part) about 6 years ago but they just had the party with the church ceremony 1.5 months ago. Anyway, my interaction with my hfmom is limited to me thanking her for breakfast or other meals when she cooks. Other than that, we mind our own business.

So back to today! I didn’t tell my hfmom what time class was starting (kind of assuming she would know it started at 8am) but that’s not the Senegalese way. So when I woke up this morning no one was up. I proceeded with my bucket bath and, as I left for class, still, the compound was empty. I wasn’t too worried about the lack of breakfast because I’d skipped breakfast and my hfmom came and got me(the idea of interruptions doesn’t not exist). I went to class knowing that I would, eventually, be gotten for breakfast. I explained this to my teacher and my classmates and we started class. Sure enough, about 45 minutes later, my hfmom comes into the compound that we have class. We made eye contact and both just started laughing. I have no idea what was funny but there was some understanding between the two of us. So there I was, sitting under a mango tree, in Africa, laughing with a Senegalese woman because we both seemed to understand each other in that moment. I’m sorry I this didn’t really translate well being retold, but that was my morning!

Other than that, I learned how to make sugar peanuts, which are exactly what they seem to be: peanuts with sugar cooked on them. They’re sold in little packets for 25 cfa (about $0.07US). Only 4 more days until the beach!

A bientot!
KO

September 25, 2009

So it rained this morning, which really makes me change my thoughts on rain. Rain in the afternoon/evening is great because it gives me time alone, but rain in the morning is not my friend. Getting out bed knowing you have to walk through the rain to take a cold bucket bath isn’t really encouraging for the day. Aside from the far from excellent start to the day, it actually continued quite well. Class went by pretty quickly and we were off for the rest of the day. Today’s Cheb was really good (I honestly think I’ve become adjusted to the taste and my family has learned I just don’t eat fish). During the afternoon I visited Murial (the girl who makes sugared peanuts). There was a semi-final game for the summer soccer league so I walked with her the 1km to the soccer field then returned home. I’ve started taking a real pleasure in doing things that I know make the Senegalese shake their heads in confusion such as walking somewhere by yourself (even though it was 3pm, everyone walks with someone else) or even walking somewhere for fun not because I have to. After that I hung around the compound and got an early evening shower because it was Friday night and we were hitting the town! Of course by hitting the town I mean going to the boutique and drinking Fanta and eating a packet of 4 cookies but Fridays are always good days! After a few hours of good conversation with my fellow trainees I got home just in time for Marina, the Brazilian (I think) that’s on Senegalese TV every night. I’m not really sure of the plot, but it’s still fun to watch a soap opera. After that we had a fiesta for dinner! At least the closest thing to a fiesta that I’ll get in 2 years. I was rice with beans and fish (as usual I avoided the fish). When I put lime on the rice (my hffamily really likes lime on their rice) and closed my eyes it was almost as if I was eating at a really bad Mexican restaurant, and it was amazing. I ate a ton and one of my cousins even noticed that I was eating the beans and gave me more.

Unfortunately there are a lot of bugs tonight (due to the rain) but I’m hoping my mosquito net is tucked in well enough. Language exam tomorrow then a game for the “younger” team (the “cadets” are in middle school so 13-17ish and the “seniors” are in high school so 18-26ish). My hfcousin is playing in the game so hopefully I’ll be able to go.

A prochain,

KO

September 27, 2009

In my attempts to be a good peace corps volunteer appropriately integrating, or at least trying my hardest, into Senegalese culture, I went to the soccer game yesterday. Keep in mind, what seems like an easy task, going to a soccer game, is far from it. The field is 1km away and it was HOT yesterday. Of course the game started at 3:15, because when better to play soccer in an un-covered field than at the hottest part of the day? It is impossible to describe the heat but I’ll work on it and get back to you. I found out that my hfcousin is actually the captain of the team so that was cool. For the most part the game was 1-0 (my hfcousin’s team leading) until the other team scored with less than one minute left! The game went into penalty kicks but the goalie for my hfcousin’s team had been red carded in the last minute and my hfcousin had to step in to play goalie for the penalty kicks. My hfcousin finally blocked the 7^th penalty kick and his team won. It was really exciting but I got out of there are soon as I could because there was a lot of running and screaming and I didn’t want to be caught up in the middle of it (I try to avoid large crowds as much as possible). I’m really glad I went and I was even invited to stand with the girls that were cheering the team on (yay for having kind of friends!).

A quick thing I’ve noticed about my life: I spend a lot of time talking to things/people that I know cannot respond to me. I spend probably a total of an hour or so a day talking to bugs and animals in English. Most of my one-sided conversations are along the lines of “no, that’s my room, you don’t live there” or “don’t think about getting in my mosquito net!” or the worst “how did you get in my mosquito net!” When not speaking to insects, I also spend a lot of time talking to the kids in English. I’m saving describing my interactions with the kids until I think I can do it without ranting angrily without a point. But I’ll leave it at usually when the kids are annoying to me I start speaking to them in English: “Yes, I am reading, no I don’t want to talk to you,” “yep… still ignoring you, maybe you should go away now,” “yeah, I still have no idea what you’re saying because I don’t speak that language and I never will.” You get the idea. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes the kids don’t drive me crazy but these kids would drive anyone crazy (yes S.Low… even you).

I go back to Thies tomorrow to go to straight to the beach and I’m so excited! Hopefully I’ll get this posted before we go to the beach because our next few days after that are all over the place. Our counterparts are coming in so they’re staying in the center and we’re commuting in from our villages for a few days. I’ll for sure be back to the center Saturday.

Man, this is going to be a looooong blog post! Sorry, but 9 days in the village… and I had a lot to say about bucket baths.

A toute a l’heure (my most used departure phrase – “another time”),

KO

PS, congrats on making it through this 4.5 page blog… sorry… only one more giant blog from village time left then training is over and I’ll hopefully have internet in my room!

PPS- Here are some things I forgot to mention. My hfdad’s soccer team lost in the semi-final today. It also went into penalty kicks but the other team won (I have some pictures from the game just added). Also, I should have mentioned this in the food post but couscous here is not similar to the couscous most people in the US come across at home or in their travels. It is not what they call here “Moroccan CousCous” which is the kind that’s sort of like rice in little balls. It’s pounded millet that’s been sifted, dried in the sun, and then rehydrated just before eating. It honestly has the same physical characteristics of wet sand.