The Rains...?

I usually wake up every morning around 5:30am for morning prayer call and then promptly back to sleep. This morning, however, I woke up a second time before my alarm to a sound that I just did not comprehend....rain hitting the awning outside of my window. Real, actual, rain. Honestly I thought I was going crazy or just hearing things but I got a text message from Alyssa with news of rain in Thies and saw the two volunteers on either side of my site had posted on facebook about rain. Overreacting much? Have too much time on our hands? Yeah... possibly... but the first rain last year was some time during June. Senegalese responses seem to be between, "CATASTROPHE!" and, "a freak rain. the heat will still come."

The rain seemed to give everyone energy which might sound like a good thing until you're the only white person in the room and, on top of that, a girl. I went to Thies and back but life here isn't that easy (and apparently it's harder after a 15 minute sprinkle). Let's just say every person that saw me today thought it was appropriate to try to talk to me, ask me how I was, ask me to marry them, ask me to buy bananas, or just generally ask for money.

So, what I learned today was that, though the rain brings cooler weather it apparently makes everyone feisty in a kind of annoying way and less enjoyable way. Oh well, I shouldn't be complaining much work is starting to come along. Let's hope the rains hold off for a few more months though - I'll take the heat to not screw up the growing season.

KO

Babies and Commonalties

To be honest, I'm not a kid person. This really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who knows me. Sure, I find babies adorable, and sometimes I do want to hold them or make funny faces and make them laugh but I'm not a kid person. I have a friend from college who is a kid person and it's amazing how interesting and adorable she finds all children. Frankly, I only like the cute ones and I like them when they're quiet, but she has patience unending for all kids. Until very recently I thought she was an exception to the general rule (who likes crying kids?) and then I've started to watch my hfmom more closely. It turns out, she's just like Sarah - she's a kid person too! Crying, cute, ugly, sick, happy, giggling, you name it, she'll hold your baby. Maybe, in her case, it's something that comes from having 11-ish (it's bad luck to count your children here so I have no idea exactly how many kids she has but it's between 10 and 11) kids but she, somehow, still has patience that I don't. There's the very real possibility that this is just something every parent has and, due to my age and lack of younger siblings, I haven't come to appreciate children yet. But I'd rather attribute it to universal commonalties.

Even though somethings seem so foreign to me still (cut me some slack I do live in Africa), almost everyday I come across these little things that are the same in any culture. And really this probably isn't an enlightening observation. Maybe it's just that mom's are the same all around the world but sometimes Africa doesn't feel quite as foreign.

Only on days when I have work...

It seems like it is only on days when I actually have official work today that I get called "red ears." I was on my way to a meeting at the University of Bambey and some kids called me "red ears" really loudly. I realize that racial slur sounds ridiculous and it probably shouldn't anger me as much as it does but it's the rudeness that gets to me. For some reason today it really got to me and I almost turned around to scream obscenities at them when I realized I was surrounded by other people and kept them to myself. I was able to get myself back into a "professional" mindset before my meeting and the meeting was amazing. I met with the Secretary General who was a Fulbright professor at Fordham so we had a really interesting conversation about his time in New York as well as the role of Islam in America (he studied Theology and Philosophy). He also approved the project I had presented (the real reason for the meeting)! The big project is moving forward but it still has another big hurdle to get over so more to come I'm sure.

KO

Wedding!

I'm sorry this is delayed! Everything's been crazy and I've been in Dakar for Jackie's birthday but! Here's the wedding post with pictures to follow:

The wedding actually started the night of the 2nd after some family members had arrived. The women all sat on a mat in the courtyard and prepared green beans for the next day (and there weren't really any men around). We also had a whole bunch of local women cooking dinner (cous cous and meat). After the bin-bin exchange went down, I just hung out with everything until dinner was over and I could retreat to my room. Before turning in for the night, however, I received instructions on dressing for the next day from the bride: wear your normal (green) complet until the afternoon then change into your new clothes....

...Luckily for me I've been here long enough to know that I wasn't supposed to come downstairs in my nice clothes (the green complet I wore for swearing in) because in Senegal women ALWAYS have work to do in the morning and everyone would be in casual clothes. I hung out while my hfmom got her hair done and then went upstairs to change. From about 10am until lunch the women sat in plastic chairs under a tent in our courtyard and the men sat on couches under a fan in our salon (typical of Senegal). Right after lunch after I had changed into my new clothes, the bride appeared briefly in a fabulous blue outfit, and I also got to meet Youssou's mom (he's technically my "cousin" that lives with us). Around 3pm, with the men still sitting in the salon, the women started to bring out the gifts for the bride (who was nowhere to be found... I'm pretty sure she was getting her hair done). A traditional singer came and sang praises of my hfamily, especially my parents and Ndaiye Fatou. Then everyone gave their gifts while the singer announced how much/what each person gave. My parents had sent me some fabric so I gave that to my hfmom for Ndiaye Fatou.

Around 5pm the men emerged from underneath the ceiling fan and went to the mosque while everyone else contined to hang around... I think, if the power hadn't cut, there would have been dancing (luckily the power cut).

Afterward the men got back, some prayers were held outside of my house (the only space big enough for everyone to fit). Then I was told to go to the Mayor's office/reception hall for the reception.

The reception, it turns out, is only for young people - mostly her friends. After we were all seated (in plastic chairs of course) and given our plate of fried food and small bottle of Africa Fun! soda, the wedding party entered. First came each of my hostsisters dressed in bright pink gowns escorted by guys (who I've never seen before) in white dress shirts and slacks. Then, finally, Ndiaye Fatou (the bride) came in escorted by her uncle.... yeah.. the groom has NOTHING to do with the wedding on the brides side. She was dressed head to toe in gold with gold things in her hair and glitter on her dress. After the entire party walked around the center table, the party walked around Ndiaye Fatou and her uncle (aka the groom stand in) while raising and lowering their hands. Then we were all invited up to give her a gift (this time I gave money) and take a picture with her. We had about 15 minutes of dancing and then were ushered back to the house. When I say ushered, I really mean it. See, Alan had sent a Yankees hat for Youssou and now Youssou loves me (and wore the hat the whole time). He spent the entire reception making sure I had my food and soda; at the end he personally cleared the way for me to exit and return home. Once at the house, the older family members, who hadn't come to the reception, were still talking and giving gifts. Finally, my hffather gave a serious speech in Wolof... which he then translated to me: "we have to get going, it's late and they're waiting in his village for us to show up." I was then told that the plan for the rest of the night was to drive through the middle of the desert (in the pitch black). At the outside of the groom's village they would be met by the women of the village who would then mock the bride (yep. mock. I had to ask for a clarification) and her inability to find a husband/her attempts to steal a man from their village. They would then party for the next two days at the groom's house. I politely declined going: my host family has been so hospitable to me, I wanted to give them time as an actual family to celebrate.

Overall the wedding was amazing and exhausting. I think I have some pretty good pictures that I'm uploading!

Other than the wedding it's been pretty low key. Like I said I was in Dakar for Jackie's birthday (quarter of a century!) and now I'm really trying to get things moving with the girls' camp... hopefully good news will come this way around Wednesday (keep your fingers crossed). I hear it's been great weather in Chicago and New York, I hope everyone's enjoying spring! We've had a break from the heat so I'm getting some spring here too!

KO

The Night Before The Wedding

The big day is tomorrow and you can tell! My house has been taken over with family friends, mostly women. In addition to the 15 or so here for the wedding, there are about 10 women from Bambey that are cooking all of the food. Today we had couscous and meat and tomorrow's looking like something delicious but who knows what. I've finally been told the schedule of events: hanging out in nice but not super nice clothes all morning, eating lunch, then getting ready and going to the mayor's office (which functions as a reception hall) for the actually party. That'll go until about 11pm and then my hostsister is off to her husband's village (he isn't present for any of tomorrow's activities).

But! To the best part of the day. I had bought bin-bins (aka a kind of bead necklace women wear around their waist "at night, in the bedroom") for my hostsister. I presented them to her wrapped in a little fabric and tried to explain a bachelorette party (I think I said, "before a wedding your friends give you nice bras and things like this"). When she opened them she was AMAZED for several reasons. I think the shock of the gift, the fact that I knew what they were, and general appreciation for the cultural exchange/gesture caused her shock. After she finished laughing, she asked me how I knew what they were and I explained Peace Corps showed us them as part of a cross cultural awareness day (keep your minds out of the gutter, we learned about Senegalese clothes and food mostly). Then she thanked me a million times and told me it was really nice of me. I explained that she was my sister and she was getting married so I wanted to share this little American tradition. Within 15 minutes she had shown all of the women of the house who thought it was the most amazing, hysterical thing ever to hit Bambey.

The wedding is tomorrow so I'll have lots of photos and hopefully more stories.

KO

Dafa tang. (It's hot)

It's hot. But odd enough (because we haven't had rain since December) it's humid. We've had some pretty bad sandstorm-y things (mostly the air is filled with sand to make it seem hazy) so that might have something to do with it.

In work related news, I went to the middle school today and got my list of scholarship winners. Some of the girls have really outstanding grade (far above their classmates) and I'm really excited to start working with them. I also officially proposed a business club and an environment club (continuing with my ancienne did). Because of "Easter Break," yeah it's a 95% Muslim country, they're out of school for about two weeks and everything that got started today will be re-started the 18th. The principal at the middle school is really excited to work with me. He answered all of my questions about the Senegalese school system (it's based on the French system and I didn't really understand it until today). He also asked about the sustainability of the projects we're about to start and was a little bummed when I said I was only planning on being here for two years but really happy when I explained that I would replaced. People have been really nice to me but it's exciting to find a great work partner!

Tomorrow I'm going to the University to further discuss the camp... it's an important meeting so hopefully it happens and it goes well!

Seriously... it's so hot. I don't understand. Oh - the basil plant my parents sent is growing nicely! I'll have pesto in no time (aka about 10 weeks).

KO

Fool me once, shame on you.. fool me...

... can't get fooled again! Yep. My hair's braided. Again. Senegal 100,304,213 v. Katherine 0. This time Miriam took about 4 hours and braided a million, tight, tiny, braids. I'm trying to figure out how long I have to leave it in for. If I was Senegalese these would be in for about two weeks... I'm thinking two days tops. Other than have my hair braided, nothing really happened today. There was a HUGE Senegalese wrestling match (I think the championship). Not surprising to Senegalese culture, there were about four hours of show and the match lasted 30 seconds tops.

I really wish I had more to report but unfortunately the last few days have just been hanging around and preparing for the next two. Tomorrow, I'm going to the middle school to hopefully get things moving with a scholarship as well as two clubs. If I have time in the afternoon, I'm going to go to the University to (hopefully) organize things for the girls camp (much more on that to come). If I don't have time tomorrow, then I'm going there Tuesday.

Dinner was rice, beans, and "unfit for human consumption" dried fish so I'm making Magictime (http://www.magictime-intl.com/) dino mac and cheese.

KO