Wishing For Cell Phones!

Today we had sessions all day, language, medical, shots, tech, and a basic expectations to get sworn in session. I also went out to dinner with some of my friends which was great to get out of the compound and to be able to talk to people about everything they're thinking. We have one more full day here, but then we go back to the village on Wednesday and we're all PRAYING we get cell phone before then. I swear I'll put up pictures tomorrow. But back to the cell phone thing... the main reason I want one is because I'm in a very different place (mentally/emotionally) about training and the Peace Corps than the other 2 kids at my training site, but I think I'm in a relatively similar place with a few of my friends... if I was able to just text them and tell them about what was going on or hear from them, it wouldn't make staring at the ground for hours as bad. Hopefully we'll get phones.... fingers crossed... more tomorrow!

A Bientot!
KO

More Thoughts On The Homestay (Part 1)

So now that I've had some time to decompress as well as talk to my friends here about all of our experiences (we were all in different towns), I feel like I have a little more to add. Overall, it seems like most of my friends here had the same experience I had which was that at times it was great and at times it was just really hard. We all agree that once we have cellphones (and free texting to over PCT's) it'll be a lot easier. Also, I want to explain a little bit more about my hf (host family). My hf dad is a "farmer" which means he goes to the fields from 9-11 and from about 3-5 for farming millet and corn. He told me that during Seche (the dry season) he'll have a garden in the compound courtyard for growing veggies. His brothers are farmers, a teacher, and a driver (from Thies to their village). The women spend all day: doing laundry, watching the kids, yelling at the kids, cooking (each meal takes 4 hours to prepare), and sweeping/generally cleaning. The kids that are currently there range from 24 years - 5months old. When there aren't tasks to be done, everyone is sitting under the mango tree in chairs or on mats. Originally they all just sat there, but I brought some UNO cards for the family and now they play UNO all day (I'm really good at my numbers, colors, saying "change directions", "you can't play", and "it's your turn" in French now). Sometimes they switch trees when the sun starts to move around and come through.
I have 2 female hfcousins who are 24 and 22 who go to university in Dakar. They're REALLY nice and super patient with me. Also, they've realized that while my French isn't that of a 21 year old, I'm actually a decently intelligent person and can talk about more than the weather. We were able to talk about Senegalese and American politics, climate change, plans for after school, and other just general girl topics. They said they're going to go with me to the tailor to get my clothes made, so I'm really thankful I have them in my hffamily (even though they're leaving for Dakar at the end of September).

There's also a very interesting connection between Senegal and Canada that I'm just starting to figure out. For the first few days, I noticed that everyone in university seemed to want to go to Canada to visit or to maybe live one day and I just couldn't figure out why... until I realized that Canada is like the French speaking America! One of the cousins wants to live there and one of my professors wants to visit.

Overall, I feel like my French is REALLY improving and I'm looking forward to learning a local language. Tomorrow we have a Med session (which means more shots too! I think Hep A and maybe Rabis part 2?) as well as some Tech sessions. Afterwards, I think my friends and I are going out for dinner.

I think that's all for now! A Bientot!

KO

1st Homestay

I’m back to Thies for 3 days! I’ll give a basic rundown of my daily life (at the home stay):

Wake up at 5am to the rooster crowing outside, lay in bed for 2 hours.

Get out of bed and shower above the toilet (which is not so much a toilet and more of a hole in the ground).

3 hours of class (for French which I feel like I speak at a pretty competent level)

Sit in the compound and eat lunch, back to class, back to the compound for dinner and watch TV, then go to bed, and start all over again. I can never sit in my room because it’s rude to not be outside with everyone. For the most part everyone speaks Seerer (the local language) and only speaks French to me. I do free like my French is improving and in 50 more days I’ll be pretty much fluent.

I live in a family compound made of 3 houses. I have a 10ft by 6ft cement room with a door and not much airflow. Class is in the compound next to mine under a mango tree. The first day all of the kids were scared of us but by the second day they LOVED us and followed us everywhere we went. At one point, I saw some girls squat around a tree and all pee. Another day I saw kids chewing on a wire (not hooked up to anything). I also got to go to church (it was a catholic village) which was really awesome. It was probably the coolest thing, the farthest from the Vatican I’ve ever seen. There was a drum and clapping and singing. Everyone was dressed in beautiful clothes, and EVERYONE stared when I went up to get communion (makes sense, I was the only white person in there). Overall things are going well, but I’m sure I’ll have more to update once I start remembering things from the past week.

Best,
KO

Spelling Doesn't Matter...

I’ve decided the best way to be keeping up with my blog (while I have LOTS of internet) is to update on my own during the day and post each night… but I lose internet access tomorrow so that’ll really only apply today and in 10 days when I’m back in Thies.

10:30am:

So far it’s been an exciting, eventful day! After breakfast this morning I did my laundry along with 3 other SED girls. The Senegalese women helped us but I think they also enjoyed our questions and general incapability. It really isn’t that hard, but it’s kind of hard to keep things clean. You get 2 buckets and some soap, soapy water in one, clean water in the other. Then you dunk your clothes and start scrubbing them against each other. Eventually when you think they’re clean, you put them in the clean water. I wasn’t sure how well I actually cleaned my clothes, but judging by the amount of dirt in the water, I think I did it pretty well. Next, you hang them up to dry and you SERIOUSLY have to let them dry all the way.. Unless you want mango fly larva in your clothes and then in your skin (so the pcv’s have warned us). After that, our first session was on how to learn a language. We learned that most of the local languages don’t have a specific spelling, everything is phonetic… a language where spelling doesn’t matter… this is my kind of place! Then we had the moment of truth… we found out the language we’re learning!……. So… over the next 9 weeks I’ll be learning… FRENCH!

I have mixed feelings about this but overall am happy, the pro-con column breaks down as such:

I’ll go to my site without knowing the local language which will make integration harder and I’ll only be fluently bi-ligual. BUT I know a decent amount of French so I’ll be able to communicate with my homestay family, I’ll be able to communicate with a lot of people (almost everyone speaks some French in addition to the regional dialect), passing the language level at the end shouldn’t be too hard (you have to show basic conversational skills which, minus some vocab, I think I’m almost there), and I’ll be able to speak French fluently for the rest of my life all around the world! Yay! Back to Language Class!

Lunch was AMAZING today, so far my favorite meal. It was some sort of noodle that looks like cut up angel hair along with the typical meat and vegetables.. But this also included raisons in the sauce! Other than I, it’s important to mention that the “mef” aka mefloquine… weekly malaria pills did NOT give me crazy dreams or insomnia (yet) and I actually slept really well last night. Not only is sleeping well just generally a nice thing, but typical morning greeting is “Bonjour! Qu’est-ce que tu a dormi?” “Hi, how did you sleep?” Also, I’ve found that, so far, crystal light raspberry lemonade is REALLY good with the water and seems to have some stomach calming powers! Off to tech classes (in the air conditioning.. Thank goodness because it’s getting to be the hot part of the day).

After afternoon sessions, I went to the market with a few friends. We were looking for cloth to have pagne’s made (a sort of wrap skirt) as well as some tea and sugar as a gift to our homestay families. We were only successful with the sugar and tea because the cloth seller was way too expensive (he was asking for twice the price that it should be). We walked back and talked with one of the Mauritanian volunteers. After dinner I’m going to pack for the next 7 days in my homestay. I won’t have internet until the 23rd, so don’t expect any updates until then.

We’re all pretty excited to get traditional clothes and another volunteer had the idea, and I’m definitely following to get an underskirt… unlike american “slips” it isn’t plain colored, it’s a bright colored, flashy (sequined or fring-y) that you show when you’re dancing (by holding up your pagne). Quite sexy… I know.

Time to get back to packing! Off to my homestay tomorrow, back on the internet in a week!

Best,

KO

Tobab! Tobab!

Today was another day with 2 classes in the morning and afternoon each. Our morning sessions were an intro to the SED program followed by an intro to the homestay program. Lunch followed with a long session on security in Thies and then a walking tour of the area we’re not supposed to go into. After that we had a quick session on bikes (luckily my dad taught me how to change a tire before so I wasn’t totally lost!). Then we got to actually leave the compound!!! For the first time in 3 days we were let out and led by a current volunteer. My group stopped in “Bon Marche” the western grocery store and bought some food. A few of us decided to go back tomorrow during one of our breaks to go out for lunch and get some fabric to get clothes made. We all agreed, we feel so under dressed here. Everyone is dressed up in completely matching outfits and, in comparison, we all look kind of messy. While we were walking through the market (more photos to come later) in a group of about 6, I got called a “tobab” for the first time. It basically means “stranger” but typically means “white person” and little kids just yell it when they see you. It doesn’t really bother me much yet, but from what other volunteers are saying, it starts to get annoying REALLY fast. I’m really trying just to ignore everything going on around me and everyone calling out to me. Once I get to my site that might be more hard as you’re expected to greet EVERYEONE you know, every time you see them (“hello how are you, how’s your family… etc”).

I think I’m going to start my weekly malaria pills tonight (be on the lookout for posts about crazy dreams as that’s one of the side effects). Other than that, I’m pretty tired from not getting the best sleep last night (it was HOT). Hopefully tonight will be cooler because it rained during the day and dropped to a really pleasant temperature. We also all stayed up last night putting on a little talent show (mostly a kid tap danced and another kid played his guitar).

K, the drums being hit for dinner!
KO

PS, I forgot to mention it but we're having 3 Mauritania volunteers join us. 2 came today and 1's coming tomorrow.

<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

Always keep your smile!

Senegal prides itself on its hospitality and, so far, I have found the Senegalese to be all wonderful people. Everyone at the training center is so nice and the staff really seems to be here to support us all in our service. We had an intro this morning and are now moving on to our first culture session. After that we'll have lunch then more culture and language, I think. I'm not sure what language I'll be learning but hopefully I'll pick it up fast (we go to live in homestays Monday afternoon). The next 9 weeks are pretty much split between the training center and our homestay so we pick up the culture and language. I started my anti-malaria pills yesterday... I'll be on the weekly ones for the next 2 years (every Sunday!) and the daily ones for the next 2 weeks just to build up my resistance. Shots start today with Hep A, Typhoid, Rabis, and probably other things.

So before I left my mom and I were talking about "just in time" and "just in case" people... allof PC training is focused on "just in time" which I'm pretty excited about because it seems to be a good way. Okay! training's about to start! Time for more water too.

It's hot and humid but the breeze is nice.

Best,

KO