COS Conference Day 3, New Volunteers!

The last day of my COS conference started at 4:45am when I left the hotel, along with our Country Director who's also the acting APCD and 5 other volunteers to meet the new trainees at the airport! We waited around for about an hour until they got through customs and found us in the lobby. We escorted them to the bus and chased off people asking for money.

We went back to the hotel just in time for a quick shower, breakfast, and the morning session. During the morning we learned what we need to do medically to get out of Senegal and then in the afternoon just wrapped up with a really good ending game/discussion. Tara, the conference leader (who was a PCV in Cameroon), wrote a question for each of us and we took turns answering. The questions were all about our service like: Who was the first PCV you met? What was the first thing you bought with CFA? What's the worst thing you've eaten? If you were going to open a Senegalese restaurant what would you call it? Just things to get us reflecting light-heartedly.

Chris invited us all over to his house for a little reception and celebration of our service. A few volunteers had written short bios of us all at the very beginning of our service so we re-read those and then watched a slideshow of pictures from the past two years.

After the reception we hung out as a stage a little more before going to bed. Everyone was pretty tired (especially those who got up at 4:45am) so the last night wasn't too crazy.

This morning I left with 4 other volunteers to do a round of presentation at the training center. We presented on some of the major project areas SED volunteers are working in (Alyssa and I talked about artisan work, other topics were: junior achievement classes, trash projects, cross-sector/agricultural econ, and eco-tourism). There was, magically, a Peace Corps car going from the training center to Bambey (to pick up seeds at the agricultural research facility outside of Bambey) so Alyssa and I presented first which let me leave immediately after the presentation.

I would have really loved to hang out with the new volunteers but I'm in my last stretch at site and this is just where I would rather be. During the entire COS conference I didn't feel like the end was really near - it was only today, standing in front of the new volunteers and talking about the possibilities for their work when it felt like the end. I still remember some of the presentations I saw at my PST almost two years ago and it's a little absurd to think that I am now one of those volunteers.

Though I am a little sad to be leaving, more than anything I am so excited for the new volunteers. When I was in training I was scared more than anything - I don't actually know a time in my service that "excited" was my dominant emotion except for now. I wish I could give them all of my knowledge, and I'll do my best to impart it in my COS report, but I can see their potential. I know they're going to be huge successes because I feel like my group really built some solid foundation and these volunteers will be able to really hit the ground running. Overall, they speak better French than my group so they'll learn Wolof sooner. They have more collective experience pre-Peace Corps than us as well. I am just so excited for the amazing possibilities they have in front of them. Looking back on my service, these really were two outstanding years that brought all types of new experiences I would not have had any other way. I think I've learned more and had more personal growth than I originally expected. And, not to sound selfish, but I really believe that I could take on almost anything after doing this for two years.

It's all of these prospects - the successful projects and the development that comes with failed projects and challenges - that make me excited and enthusiastic about the two year adventure they're all starting on.

I have a month left in Senegal which will be spent on and off at site, in Dakar closing out my service, and at training. My major projects are finished, I just have some camp preparations to make before I leave.

To part, here's a picture of almost everyone in my stage... at least it's everyone that was at COS conference. We started with 56, 6 people ET'ed, 2 people had "interrupted service," 4 people were "refugees" from Mauritania that already COS'ed, and 1 person couldn't be at the COS conference because his sister was getting married. So! The first picture is of all of the business volunteers (with Chris who's our acting program director) and the second is everyone that made it to COS conference... Congrats Fall '09!

New kids on the block... and ants

I spent the weekend at the training center helping with the PST for the newest group of trainees. It's bizarre to be the one with the answers to questions and to be the "expert" on things that were completely new to me just a year ago. I helped with a few sessions on Senegalese culture and then answered a million questions on everything else. I would spend all day if I could answering questions because I had a ton last year and I remember what it's like to be completely clueless. On Sunday we gave tours of Thies and showed the trainees where to buy fabric and presents for their homestay language families. Afterwards Jackie, Alyssa, and I went to a nice dinner to celebrate our one year in country. Today I answered any last minute questions and wished everyone luck as they left for the village the first time for a week of language training. I'm back at site now and enjoying a quiet evening (without all of the mosquitoes the training center has).

I got back to Bambey around 5pm and found my room in pretty normal shape - no flooding, not too many paint chips on the ground, that sort of thing. I had finished showering when I noticed there were about 5 large ants (about half an inch each) near one of my windows. I stepped on them and kept unpacking. Then I realized that there were a few more ants coming out of the 4 inch crack in my wall so I sprayed some bug spray on the wall and went back to straightening things. A minute or so later I noticed that the ants weren't really dying but stumbling around like they were drunk I decided to attack them with bug spray (which has GOT to be highly toxic and not ok for use in the US). I sprayed the wall a little then started spraying the 4 inch crack.... which opened the flood gates. Ants started POURING out of the crack and I sprayed for probably a minute straight. By the time the ants stopped coming I had killed at least a couple hundred. I swept them up and duct taped the hole but I'll be patching it with cement tomorrow (my walls are cement).

The fumes have aired out of my room and the duct tapes seems to be holding up for now so I feel comfortable going to bed and not waking up with giant ants all over.

Ba suba,
KO

<3 Wireless Internet

Sorry for the multitude of posts but we have a far amount of spare time each day and I keep forgetting to say things so I'm trying to play catch-up. Today we had a "cross-cultural fair" where we went around to different stations and learned about a number of things from pulling well water to how to drink tea properly. Because today was a cultural-themed day, I'll got through a little bit of what I've experienced so far.

Food:

Breakfast starts each morning with about half a loaf of bread a person and a variety of spreads (chocolate, peanut butter, jame, butter) as well as instant coffee or tea.

Lunch is rice cooked in a palm oil sauce or a spicier sauce with some veggies and then a meat (yesterday was goat, today was fish). We each lunch by sitting on a mat with a big bowl in the center (about 5 people a bowl). You don't drink with lunch but you drink water after you're done. Traditionally, you don't talk while you eat and when you're done you stand up and leave.

Dinner, I'm not so sure about... yesterday was chicken and potatoes, but they told us that it's usually very similar to lunch.

The bleached water doesn't taste that bad and I'm saving my crystal light packets. Oh, we eat with spoons for lunch (which is typical in most of the country) but we were taught how to make rice balls in case our site doesn't eat with spoons.

Today's cultural lessons also included tasting juices as well as tea. The best juice was made with a hybiscus flower that you boil or let sit in cool water overnight then strain the flower head and add sugar to the mix. It was REALLY good. The other good juice was made from the type of fruit that grows on those huge trees that Rafiki (sp?) from Lion King lived in. That one is also sweet and is kind of milky. They supposedly freeze it to make kind of an ice cream which I imagine would be amazing. We also tasted traditional tea which was SO GOOD. It's kind of like the tea version of espresso if you were to sweeten it times a million. They told us the tea is served 3 times to mimick life. The first time it is more bitter (such is life with strangers and people you don't know) then the second is slightly sweeter (mimicking the relationship with friends) and finally, the last version, is very sweet (to resemble family).

Finally, we got to learn how to tie a pagne (kind of a wrap skirt for women) as well as saw different types of clothing. Even though all of my clothes go below the knee, I still think I'll be slightly inappropriately dressed and was talking with some of the other girls about getting outfits made very soon. I also need to get my fancy outfit made for swearing in (Oct. 16th pending I pass my tests).

Everything I've learned about Senegalese culture I love and I'm so happy that I was placed here. Like I said earlier, everyone is so nice and welcoming (it's considered rude if you don't greet someone, even if they're involved in a conversation you're supposed to interrupt). I can't wait to continue to learn and experience even more.

A bientot,

KO