Passing the Torch

Yesterday was the last day of de-myst/volunteer visit and the Thies Region decided to celebrate 4 generations of volunteers in style. The Thies region didn't really exist, or at least not in its current strong form, until my group came along. We started organizing lunches in Thies and followed our social gathering with work projects: collaborations and the girls' camp. Top this off with shirts and an appreciation for the finer things in Senegal and you get the current Thies region.

So! To introduce our replacements into this high class living style as well as to their new besties (or at least their newest neighbors), we organized a little get-together. Everyone from the region met at Warang, a liquor distillery, for a tasting of liquors made with local flavors (bissap, ginger, cashew apple, etc.) followed by lunch at a beach front restaurant. The lunch place is FAMOUS for their pizzas, apparently some of the best in Senegal, but somehow their wood burning pizza oven was broken and irreparable (even by a specialist brought in from France), so we had pasta instead. Originally we were supposed to get rice, chicken, and onion sauce but, given that Alyssa and I have PROUDLY gone 2 years without paying for Senegalese food outside of our houses, we weren't going to let that slide. I called to organize alternative options. We settled on two pasta options; I asked for 11 of one and 11 of the other... instead we each got a plate with, from left to right, sauce 1 (carbonara), pasta, sauce 2 (bolognaise)... it was a little odd but kind of brilliant at the same time. After lunch I took my last public transport ride back to site and here I am. I need to spend my final two days packing and saying goodbye to people but I can't help but stall. It's bizarre for the end to actually be almost here. I really can't believe that what has seemed so mundane for two years is the end - I'm trying to remember everything. I need to get a little more packing done tonight but I'll leave you with a picture of the Thies/Dakar region, past, present, and future.

To Thies and Back

This morning I went into Thies to run a few errands and meet up with the girl posse. Alyssa and I did some banking and then bought fabric for Matar to turn into chic dresses (I’ll update you on how it turns out). We bought a TON of cheese, bread, and apples then met Jackie, Tamar, and her friend from home at the training center. After a lovely picnic I grabbed my COS packet and headed back to Bambey.

If I haven’t defined it before “COS” means close of service or continuation of service… depending on who you are and how you look at things. Some say that because I will always have fond memories of Peace Corps and I hope to continue spreading my stories of this adventure it’s a “continuation of service” just no in Senegal. In my mind one chapter is ending and another is starting so it’s a “close of service” which, besides, sounds way more exciting and way more like I’m done in 2 months! So today I got my COS packet, it contains all sorts of information about COS: paperwork to do, checklists to fill out, advice from former volunteers, and much, much more! The checklist is definitely my favorite part of the entire packet it makes it look like the 30 or so tasks I have to do before July will be a breeze. The next step is to attend my COS conference which will be in Dakar early next month. It’s three days with my entire stage (or the 40 some of us that are left) where we’ll learn all of the final details about how to get out of Senegal and end these two years.

After reading my entire COS packet on the ride back to Bambey, I dropped it off in my room then went to a meeting at the middle school. Today my scholarship girls met me at the school to write their essays for the application. The questions were simple: what do you want to be when you grow up? and what’s the largest issue facing girls in education in your town? One girl also did her interview and the rest of them picked times for me to visit their house and do the interview. After I’ve done that, I will recommend 6 of the 9 girls. A final committee of volunteers from other sites will pick the 3 girls that win $30 each to buy school supplies. My replacement will take those 3 girls shopping (which, if it’s like last year, will be amazing) and then pay $10 of all 9 of the girls’ enrollment fees for the school (the girls will be left with about $2 to pay themselves).

It’s up to me to figure out who gets to come to the camp from Bambey so I’ve decided that the 9 scholarship girls from this year as well as the 5 girls that went to the camp last year and have been actively participating in the girls’ group are guaranteed spots. For the rest of the spots, I’m inviting everyone that participated last year (but wasn’t part of the girls’ group on their own choosing), the top students from the other two middle schools, and I told this year’s scholarship girls they could each invite a friend, to my house on the 19^th. I’m going to have Salamata and Soukey (another OUTSTANDING camper from last year) present on what the camp was like so the girls get a better idea. Then I’m going to give them each a form to fill out and tell them to return the forms to me by a certain date. The forms won’t be that involved – it’s more of making sure they’re dedicated enough to actually fill out a form and return it. Last year I had to invite random girls at the last minute (which worked out but was unnecessary) because girls weren’t dedicated or excited for the camp. I think giving the girls a little bit of responsibility (writing their information, getting their parents approval or inviting me to talk to their parents, and maybe writing a reason why they want to go to the camp) will give them some responsibility and ownership of the camp. The camp will be the last week of September – so about a month after my replacement gets to Bambey. I’m so excited that my replacement will get to participate in all of these incredible activities at the beginning of their service – I hope it sets the tone for the rest of their two years.

One other awesome thing happened today, I was walking back from the essay writing and had this conversation with a random 8 year old girl:

Girl: How are you?
Me: I’m fine, how are you?
Girl: I’m fine. What’s your name?
Me: Fatou, what’s your name?
Girl: Ndeye. Will you give me 25cfa?
Me: Will you give me 25cfa?
Girl: But you should give me money because you’re so pretty.
Me: You’re also pretty.
Girl: Will you give me your hair?
Me: I can’t do that.
Girl: Look – I live over there. Bye!

The last thing today is just well wishes for my cousin and his fiancée who are getting tomorrow – I hope everyone has a great time at the wedding and I wish I could be there to see it!

KO

WAIST 2011

I have so much to say about WAIST so I'll try and get it all in. For those of you that don't know WAIST aka West African Invitational Softball Tournament is an annual softball tournament that the US Embassy puts on. For the USO team, Senegalese teams, high school team, and almost everyone else - WAIST is both fun and competitive.... for Peace Corps volunteers costumes are the most important part. Let's be honest - I still don't know who won but I know who had my favorite costumes (well, who had the second best costumes to our lederhosen).

The festivities kicked off Friday night with a Peace Corps talent show that was great but WAY more importantly, that my sub-region and I rocked these shirts:

We live in the "Thies Region" of Senegal - pronounced like "chess" so, as an entire region of girls (with Oliver and Thomas as honorary members) we got shirts - pretty clever, no?

After seeing our talented friends sing, dance, juggle, act out a puppet show, and more - we headed to a Peace Corps standard bar. No first night of WAIST is complete without 100 volunteers packing a club and that's how we ended the night.

Our first game was bright and early Saturday so we got up, dressed in lederhosen, and met our team mates (for WAIST we all play in regional teams, so I played with Dakar because Thies is my sub-region). Our first game was against Tambagou (a combination team of the Kedougou and Tamba regions) who were cops and robbers (including several ladies in jump suits, a couple of guys in SHORT shorts and cut off shirts, and the hamburgerler). Tambagou is notorious for forfeiting every game and that's what they did. Instead of playing real softball there was a little of this:

Followed by some of this (leap frog between 1st and 2nd and more awesome batting):

Not to mention, the robbers kept charging the field to steal the bases - yes actually pick them up off the ground - while the cops chased them down.

Our second game followed immediately and was a little bit of a buzz kill as we played the Mali team that was more about softball and less about costumes. It was still fun and we put up a really good showing (in our defense, we make an effort to let everyone play not just our people who will hit home runs).

That ended softball for day one. Everyone hung around the American club (where there's a pool) for a bit until going home to nap, ice sun burn, and (in the case of my homestay) make AWESOME bacon mac and cheese. The second night of WAIST is a date auction (raising money for Gender and Development projects) but I decided to take an easy night so I could be ready for the last full day of WAIST.

Sunday started with a game against CapeGerLi aka Cape Verde, Mali, and Niger volunteers (the Cape Verde volunteers were on vacation, the Mali team was mostly visiting Dakar so only a few people played, and the Niger volunteers had just transfered to Senegal after their program got shut down). Our second and final game was against Kaolack - our closest neighboring PCSenegal region who was dress like ballerinas. Though we started serious at the beginning (and I got a base hit and eventually scored a run) we started playing 3-ball softball which like if 2 softballs had a kickball for a child. That game ended, somewhat surprisingly, without injury, and everyone headed back to the pool. Sunday afternoon was for swimming, volleyball, and admiring everyone's costumes. In case you were wondering:
The North was Jersey Shore
Dakar was Lederhosen

Linguere was Cows and Cowboys
Kaolack was Ballerinas
Tambagou was Cops and Robbers

Kolda was Star Corps (like Star Wars - and they had some impressive storm trooper and Princess Leia costumes)

Sunday night two of the Cape Verde volunteers came over for a pasta dinner and we all headed to the defining WAIST party. During the day Oceanuim is a hotel/scuba school and by night can be rented for open air parties. The third year volunteers did an amazing job of planning, bar-tending, and generally supervising the party (while wearing matching white suits) while everyone else danced the night away. I can't think of a perfect way to describe the Oceanuim party other than to say imagine having all of your friends and their friends over (about 200 of them) and dancing until 5am. One of the great things about PCVs is that, in a situation like that, we've all had WAY more embarrassing things happen to us (getting sick, being peed on by a sheep, you name it) so no one cares about how they look when dancing - we just enjoy ourselves.

Unfortunately Alyssa got really sick pretty much the second we got to the party, so she went home early. I was the second person home and went to use the bathroom then to hang out with Alyssa. My first question was about how she was feeling and then my second question was whether or not she had seen the dead scorpion on the stairs next to the bathroom. She pretty much called me crazy until we went to look. I tried to prove it was dead by throwing a shoe at it and was proven HORRIBLY wrong when the 3-inch scorpion started skittering all over. We beat the crap out of it and quickly flushed it. My feet had been danced on all night (the nail polish on my toes chipped off and they were coated in dirt) so I couldn't really feel them. After doing significant Google research and being reassured by Alyssa and I would have felt a scorpion sting, I finally went to bed.

Monday was all about recovering, sleeping, and doing laundry. Monday evening we went back to the American club for one last hurrah. Like last year, the party started a little slowly. It was supposed to be a pool party but most people were either dancing or sitting and talking. While I was sitting by the pool with my legs dangling in I noticed 2 people from my training group looking suspicious and I heard one of them say, "I think she heard us, we can't do it now!" I moved away from the pool but took my phone out of my jean pocket instead. As a joke I then offered another volunteer $1 to throw Oliver - the volunteer who had planned the entire party and made a HUGE deal about it being a pool party - in. Like a good business volunteer, Oliver upped the offer to $4 to throw me in... eventually we ended up agreeing to jump in together (after taking our shoes off). We quickly became a pool gang: we would pick a target, then the guys would jump out and throw that person into the pool. Sure it sounds a little childish and maybe a little reckless but we all knew we would be returning to site the next day and back to our normal American-less lives of work. After finding some dry clothes I played some volleyball and joined the dance party.

Today, with WAIST actually over, I ran some errands and headed to Thies for an Artisan training. It ends tomorrow afternoon and I'll be back at site by dinner.

Summing up WAIST is fairly difficult (hence the long post) and I'll have more pictures in an album over the next few days. Overall, I had an amazing, amazing time - it was an awesome WAIST to be my last (then again I think WAIST is always great).

KO

The English camp was legendary and sweet. I made so many new bffls. Then I took a jankity car back.

I'm back in Bambey after an outstanding week at the ACCESS English camp (and the title of this blog contains all of the "slang" words we taught them). The camp is for high-achieving, low-income students and they were all so amazing. Some of my favorites were (by their English names):
LandonDonovan: who was quiet but very intelligent and an outstanding dancer;
Jym: pronounced like 'Jim,' also quiet but always said very complicated sentences;
Claire: super intense and always ready to participate;
Ana: short and halfway through the week got awesome braids - she also danced well;
Holly: wore a side ponytail, large shirt, and leggings all week - also won the olympics for our team.

This afternoon we had a really successful meeting for our own camp. We were able to take the things we learned from the ACCESS camp and apply it to our girls' camp. The curriculum looks great and I'm really excited.

Now that I'm back at site I'm starting an accounting class tomorrow (if anyone shows up) and I'm a week away from my one year in Africa.

KO

Access English Camp Day 1

Today was the first day of the US Embassy sponsored English camp. We left the center this morning not knowing what to really expect and were met at the high school by about 50 15-17 year olds and a few English teachers. We had of only the lesson plan a few volunteers had created which was, no fault on them, bare bones. The teachers hadn't bought any of the supplies we requested so we had nothing (no paper, pens, markers, etc.). We broke the kids into groups and started playing games.
My group has 17 Senegalese kids, Jackie, Zach (a volunteer from Kedougou), and me. We started off with name games ("my name is Katherine and I like ketchup) but had to explain several times that if your name was Anna you couldn't like "the beach" but something with an "a" (they all chose to pick American names for the week - we have a Landon Donovan). The rest of the day was full of other games and things you can do outside without any supplies. It was fun to speak in English the whole time and I think the kids really enjoyed themselves. At one point, the game involved asking each other questions and one girl asked another (who then said "yes"), "would you like to have an American husband?" Zach better watch out!

The camp was 4 hours and we were all pretty tired (with no lesson plan it had been 4 hours of making up games on the fly) and went to the garage to get chicken sandwiches. It sounds gross but I think I've explained it before: the garages (where you get cars to go to Dakar etc.) have food for people to buy and eat while they're traveling. A while ago Jackie, Alyssa, and I made friends with the best chicken sandwich lady (we'd tried a few and decided on the best one). Jackie and I were there earlier in the week and she remembered us and was annoyed that we didn't invite our 3rd friend (Alyssa) to eat lunch with us (we had invited her but she was eating with her host family). Today we came to our friend's stand with other volunteers and pretty much bought all of her chicken sandwiches. In case you were wondering, a chicken sandwich is: 6 inches of baguette, onion sauce, rotisserie type chicken, and fries... they have lettuce when lettuce is in season which is not now... all for 500cfa (about $1).

Post chicken sandwiches we ran some other errands and are now hanging out. The English camp is every morning this week so I'm sure I'll have more updates coming. I hope all's well in the US!

KO

Access English Camp Day 1

Today was the first day of the US Embassy sponsored English camp. We left the center this morning not knowing what to really expect and were met at the high school by about 50 15-17 year olds and a few English teachers. We had of only the lesson plan a few volunteers had created which was, no fault on them, bare bones. The teachers hadn't bought any of the supplies we requested so we had nothing (no paper, pens, markers, etc.). We broke the kids into groups and started playing games.
My group has 17 Senegalese kids, Jackie, Zach (a volunteer from Kedougou), and me. We started off with name games ("my name is Katherine and I like ketchup) but had to explain several times that if your name was Anna you couldn't like "the beach" but something with an "a" (they all chose to pick American names for the week - we have a Landon Donovan). The rest of the day was full of other games and things you can do outside without any supplies. It was fun to speak in English the whole time and I think the kids really enjoyed themselves. At one point, the game involved asking each other questions and one girl asked another (who then said "yes"), "would you like to have an American husband?" Zach better watch out!

The camp was 4 hours and we were all pretty tired (with no lesson plan it had been 4 hours of making up games on the fly) and went to the garage to get chicken sandwiches. It sounds gross but I think I've explained it before: the garages (where you get cars to go to Dakar etc.) have food for people to buy and eat while they're traveling. A while ago Jackie, Alyssa, and I made friends with the best chicken sandwich lady (we'd tried a few and decided on the best one). Jackie and I were there earlier in the week and she remembered us and was annoyed that we didn't invite our 3rd friend (Alyssa) to eat lunch with us (we had invited her but she was eating with her host family). Today we came to our friend's stand with other volunteers and pretty much bought all of her chicken sandwiches. In case you were wondering, a chicken sandwich is: 6 inches of baguette, onion sauce, rotisserie type chicken, and fries... they have lettuce when lettuce is in season which is not now... all for 500cfa (about $1).

Post chicken sandwiches we ran some other errands and are now hanging out. The English camp is every morning this week so I'm sure I'll have more updates coming. I hope all's well in the US!

KO

In Senegal, birthdays come with good food!

Today's Alyssa's birthday so to celebrate, the volunteers around Thies came in for lunch. My Thies day started when I met Jackie at the garage and we ventured out to go to the bank and buy fabric before meeting up with everyone. About an hour later (and after purchasing some excellent fabric) we met up with everyone at a bar the volunteers in Thies found. Because of the amenities and hospitality in Bambey, I wasn't really stir crazy to get out, but it's always great to see other volunteers. Sure, our conversation usually revolves around the same topics (who's asked to date/marry you? sickness? peace corps gossip, etc.) but it's so nice to speak English and just have a break, for a few hours, from Senegal. After about an hour at the bar we headed to Chicken Dibi!

I don't think I can accurately convey the amazingness that is Chicken Dibi (try as I have and will) but what was even better about today's Dibi was that it was open for lunch! (They usually open around 6pm which is too late for those of us who have to travel back to site.) Alyssa and Emily had asked them to open special for Alyssa's birthday and they were more than happy to (not to mention we consumed almost 5 whole chickens). After sticking some birthday candles into Alyssa's chicken, the meal itself was a blur of amazing food (and probably more protein than I've eaten the rest of the month combined). But that wasn't the end of it! Alyssa, Emily, and a USAID worker in Thies had made a cake! But, this is Senegal and it isn't that easy to bake a cake (to perfection) when there aren't ovens, instead these ladies created a double boil on a stove and then cooked it in that. The cake was perfectly moist and taught us all that you don't need an oven to make a cake!

The trip back to Bambey was a little long, but I was full and thus happy. I'm back to the pre-school tomorrow!

KO

Getting from one place to another

Traveling in Senegal something I have a feeling I will try many times during my time here to explain but never really succeed at doing it justice. To wax philosophic for a minute, traveling seems to represent so much of Senegal: sticking to traditions, using "Western methods" (with a Senegalese touch),being in no hurry at all, and a little bit of luck or "God wishing" things to happen.

To get to Thies today for Erin's birthday lunch I took an Alham from Bambey. The garage in Bambey is relatively quiet with Alhams mostly going to Dakar and very rarely heading to Diourbel in the other direction. When I got to the garage I walked through the crowds for men around my age asking me where I was going until I got to the back of the Mitsubishi bus everyone was loading into. Finally, when I was in line to get on the bus I told the group of men who looked like they worked there in some connection that I was going to Thies. For the first time I was quoted the right price (usually I pay 200CFA more) and the guy was very nice and quickly ushered me on the bus and directed me to a seat. The insides of Alhams are usually about 7-10 rows of 5 seats across (two benches that seat 2 people with a fold down seat in the middle). The back has seats going sideways that often fit 4 people on each seat but today I was lucky and the sideways seat (give to me) was just for 1 person. Whether there is room or not Senegalese women use their djufunday's (a marker of beauty in Senegal aka large rear-ends) to cram themselves into the seat. Though I have kind of a white-girl-djufunday, I usually end up like Senegalese men do - squashed against the side wall or between two women. Today, however, I had the whole seat to myself and there was even a window. The buses sometimes even decorated - today's had purple fabric hanging from the ceiling and speakers in the back blasting Senegalese music that, over the engine you could barely make out the drumming.

I was the last one on and we were off, about 35 of us crammed into a bus. On the back of the bus, through the door we all got in, there are a few appretices, or guys who ride on and who are responsible for the passengers. They usually hang off the back, occasionally coming inside if there are seats, but at the beginning of the ride one appretice steps in the car and begins saying "pass! pass!" and each person hands their money to him. If he doesn't know where you're going he asks and then gives you your change. I find this part to be another amazing part of travel: because the bus is so crowded and no aisle exists he just keeps going from person to person, everyone knows when he's getting to them, and everyone passes their money back - no one tries to cheat the system. Bills get handed back to him and change gets handed forward usually without people even turning around.

Another thing about travel that amazes me is how everyone looks. I usually travel looking crappy, cars are hot, you're sitting cramped, and you can only guess at how long it will take - for these reasons I almost always wear capris and a tank top or cotton t-shirt. Everyone else, however, is usually dressed up to the nines. All of the women are in full traditional Senegalese wear with headwraps and make-up. The men are always in full basin bou-bous with the younger men and women in nice Western clothes or Senegalese clothes. Even the kids are dressed up with their hair done and everyone sits patiently just waiting for their stop.

Sometimes an appretice will stick his head in the bus and yell what town we're approaching other times he'll just bang on the side of the car and the driver will pull over to the side of the road to let people off or on without asking. As people get off someone crawls to the top of the car and bags are handed down then handed back up as more people load on. Unlike in the US where people would (or so I believe) try to sit closer to doors as their stop gets closer, everyone stays seated until it's their stop then we all patiently wait while half the bus re-shifts position for one person to get out.

Usually by the time we're getting close to Thies an appretice sticks there head in and asks where I'm getting out (when there's only one white person in the car it's easy to remember where they're going, so I'm guessing). Eventually the car stops (if I'm sitting far in the crowd) or just slows down (like today) and I jump out the back and am on my way.

Traveling back to Bambey from Thies is always a little bit crazier, I like to think because people are tired and just want to get home. No matter, though, everyone (except me) still maintains their appearance and looks great. (Part of this must have to do with the fact it's the "cold" season now - though I don't feel it) The Thies garage is no where near as calm as the Bambey garage with people hassling the entire way to the Bambey section - each route has their own section so it's easy to ignore people until I'm in the right place. This evening when I got on the bus there were about 8 open seats which filled pretty quickly and we were off again. This time, however, I was crammed between two Senegalese women for most of the ride.

About halfway between Thies and Bambey the car stopped and almost everyone got off - those of us going to Bambey were told to stay. Then there was a change of plans and we were all told to get off and get on another bus (this happens regularly). Luckily the second bus was an actual bus (like the kind I take to Dakar) and I got 2 seats to myself. Coming with me to the new bus were a mother and her daughter, a guy in his 20s, and two kids that were going to Bambey for the first time and had no idea what was going on (it was amazing not to be the least-knowledgeable person in the room/bus). While we waited for the second bus to get moving (the appretices of the different buses had to work out who had come over and what they owed them) the mother and guy asked what I was doing and we had a nice conversation in Wolof. When they asked my name and I gave them, like normal, my Senegalese name, the mother even asked my real name (and they both knew Peace Corps so it was great). Finally we were off and I got back to Bambey and home just before dark.

I'm sure when I have to go longer distances it will be miserable and I won't see the beauty in travel that I see now. But, when it's just for small trips and I can amuse myself with the situation. The daydreamer in me even likes to imagine a movie zoom-out from the top of the bus - all of the women with headdresses and weaves and me, the one white person squashed between two djufundays*.


Ba Suba,
KO

*Don't think I'm being rude about djufunday's, Senegalese women pride themselves on them. My hfmom often tells me that if I don't eat more I won't get a djufunday (because here, not having one, is a bad thing).

Happy Halloween (Senegal Style)!

Happy Halloween everyone! Never fear, the holiday is alive and well in Senegal (at least with the PCVs).
The seven volunteers from my stage who all live around Thies (I'm the furthest out) had created a lunch group before we all went to site. We plan on meeting for lunch at least every month and today was the first luncheon. We were going to meet in Thies at 1pm so I left my house at 10:15am. The night before I'd asked my host family for directions on getting to Thies, Kira had told me about how to get to Dakar (you get up before the garage opens and you hail a big bus going from Touba to Dakar, you a pay 1,000 CFA and a few hours later you're in Dakar!). She's also told me that these buses don't stop in town while the garage is open... briefly on garages before I continue. A "garage" is, in it's simplest form, a place where cars and mini-buses going to places wait for people. Garages come in different sizes depending on the city (Bambey's is kind of small, Thies' is HUGE, I hear Dakar's is a madhouse) but garages are generally loud places where people are shouting at you and trying to get you in their car. Back to the story... my host family had given me a range of answers from "get on the bus" to "get in a car" but overall it seemed like I was going to get in a moving vehicle and pay, at most, 1,000CFA.
When I showed up at the garage I immediately attracted attention (not surprising) and had a million people askign "fo dem?" (where are you going). The first mini-bus driver I talked to (for a description and pictures of mini-buses aka Alhams look at the beach entry) told me it would be 800 CFA and to get in his bus, which I saw was empty. The buses don't leave until they're full and you can fit over 30 people in those... I thought I would give him a chance and ask "when are you leave?" (in French) to which I got the response "Monday." and promptly walked away. A bean sandwich vendor must have noticed my despair because I was called over and asked where I was going (I usually don't respond when I get called by people but I'm glad I did this time). She then made her pre-teen son hail the bus for me. I tried to get on but the attendant people (basically guys who ride on the back of the bus, take the money, and tell the driver when to stop by hitting the sides and/or top) weren't giving me a straight answer about whether I could get on that bus or not and the bus drove away. Frustrated with those people I walked away to an Alham, was told it would be 1,000CFA (too expensive but I'm a Toubab and I pay for it literally), got on, and squeezed into a seat. Over the next two hours (to go 50km) we would drive for a little then the guys on the back would signal to stop and someone would either get out or get in and we would continue. About 15km from Thies we stopped, the guys announced something in Wolof to the bus and everyone stood up to leave. I sat there looking HORRIBLY confused until some woman (about my age) turned to me and said I should stay, the people going to Dakar are just getting on another Alham. Then people from the second Alham got on our car... apparently we had a friend Alham out there somewhere and we consolidated (amazing... seriously). I ended up making it to the Thies garage in time to catch a cab to the restaurant and sit down for lunch.

My lunch, in case anyone's wondering was a beer, a salad, a cheese pizza, and some Skittles that Jackie brought. I ate way too much and it was amazing (I didn't eat breakfast to make room!) After lunch I had to buy a voltage regulator (when power cuts it tends to spike a lot and that can fry your electronics - lots of PCVs have lost computers). I, again, paid the Toubab price but whatever, it's worth it if it saves my computer for 2 years.

Afterwards, Jackie, Alyssa, and I went to the bank and a grocery store where I stocked up on ridiculous things (insect repellent for the ants in my bathroom, soap, granola that's so cheap it can be eaten like cereal, popcorn kernels, and CocoPops - Egyptian cereal). I also bought yogurt (made from real milk) and a bottle of cold water. We then continued to the "halloween party" Alyssa had invited us too. All we knew was that there was a Halloween party at one of the high schools and the other PCV in Thies had invited us to. When we showed up he told us that the US Embassy sponsors "American Clubs" in high schools across Senegal (and presumably the world) where they meet after school, speak English, learn about America, and the stop students in the country get to go to the US for a summer. Within three minutes there were desks set up at the front of the room and we were a panel on Halloween. We were told to explain what Halloween experiences we've had and if we'd played any tricks on people who didn't give us treats (that aspect to Halloween was really focused on). After we all told stories about Halloween (mine where that it was often too cold to wear a costume "below zero degrees Celsius!" and that my parents used to buy my Halloween candy from me the day after "for less than 5CFA!" In retrospect they seem like bad stories but it's really hard to explain Halloween to people who have no idea what it is at all... it sounds like a WEIRD holiday.) Then the students were given 5 minutes to write a paragraph on what Halloween is and some of were read aloud. After that I had to head out (it was already 5 and I needed to get back to Bambey) so Jackie and I left for the garage.

I'd never been to the Thies garage before but Jackie explained it to my perfectly, you basically walk through saying (in Wolof) "don't touch me. I'm going to Bambey." Sure enough, I was directed onto an Alham (that was almost full and ready to leave). Still a little nervous (it's not liked anything's marked) I asked the guy next to me and I was told I was going to the right place. I was charged 700CFA (the real price!) and the mini bus with 35 people and 4 riding on the back took off!... then we were stopped by the police who do random road stops to check for ID from the drivers... then we were off!... until people needed to start getting off. About an hour of stopping and starting later we made it to Khumbolt (the mid-point between Thies and Bambey). I was staring out the window because there isn't much else to do when I noticed goats being loaded on top of the car. Yep. Live goats. Between 5-7 of them being passed from someone on the ground to someone on top of the car and (I guess) being strapped down because I only heard them walking when they first got passed up. Then the guy who bought the goats got on and we were off again! Then the guy next to me had to get off and they unloaded his motorbike (a small motorcycle) from the top of the Alham. Then we were off... until we stopped and everyone going to Bambey was told to get off and get on ANOTHER Alham (friend Alham!)and we were off... until we finally got to Bambey and I made it home pretty much just in time for a quick shower and dinner.

Here I am now, eating cereal and downloading the first episode of this season's Gossip Girl... true if I was in the US this would be an epic fail of a Halloween but here in Senegal, I feel like I've had a pretty successful holiday!

I'll be posting pictures of the class soon, and Alyssa took pictures so check her blog. And thanks to my mom for making me take pumpkin hats that I thought were useless but came in handy today.

Happy Halloween! Eat some candy corn for me!
KO

We're Here!

We've arrived at the training center! After a short delay at Dullas and an 8 hour flight (I was able to sleep most of the way), we landed in Dakar just as the sun rose. After nervously going through customs (no reason to be nervous just the whole adventure of it all) we collected our bags. My first bag (the bigger one) came right away... after a while of waiting and starting to think that it wasn't going to come... my 2nd bag came and I was able to leave the airport. As the parade of people with luggage carts started leaving, people kept coming up to us and trying to take our luggage carts in exchange for money. Once we all got settled on the bus we started the trek through Dakar (and lots of rush hour traffic) to Thies. In Thies we were introduced to the training staff and shown our rooms (4 beds in each room, girls in one long set of rooms, guys in another across the way).

If you've ever romanticized about sleeping under a mosquito net, then this is the pace for you. I'm currently sitting on my bed under my net with beautiful printed sheets on the bed. Breakfast was a piece of bread and some instant coffee. We were given a nap time (right now) and later are meeting for lunch and, I'm guessing, the start of training.

I'm really excited about everything going on, all of the volunteers who met us seem to really love being here. So far I've heard that basil is a really good thing to grow because it grows well and adds flavor. There are 2 kids in my group that are looking to get goats (they're both SED- pronounced “said”- so we'll see how well that goes). I saw a few stray dogs in Dakar... who knows... maybe I'll come home with a new friend for Nikki and Sacchi!!

Best!

We've arrived at the training center! After a short delay at Dullas and an 8 hour flight (I was able to sleep most of the way), we landed in Dakar just as the sun rose. After nervously going through customs (no reason to be nervous just the whole adventure of it all) we collected our bags. My first bag (the bigger one) came right away... after a while of waiting and starting to think that it wasn't going to come... my 2nd bag came and I was able to leave the airport. As the parade of people with luggage carts started leaving, people kept coming up to us and trying to take our luggage carts in exchange for money. Once we all got settled on the bus we started the trek through Dakar (and lots of rush hour traffic) to Thies. In Thies we were introduced to the training staff and shown our rooms (4 beds in each room, girls in one long set of rooms, guys in another across the way).

If you've ever romanticized about sleeping under a mosquito net, then this is the pace for you. I'm currently sitting on my bed under my net with beautiful printed sheets on the bed. Breakfast was a piece of bread and some instant coffee. We were given a nap time (right now) and later are meeting for lunch and, I'm guessing, the start of training.

I'm really excited about everything going on, all of the volunteers who met us seem to really love being here. So far I've heard that basil is a really good thing to grow because it grows well and adds flavor. There are 2 kids in my group that are looking to get goats (they're both SED- pronounced “said”- so we'll see how well that goes). I saw a few stray dogs in Dakar... who knows... maybe I'll come home with a new friend for Nikki and Sacchi!!

Best!

KO