Christmas!

In the middle of a brief stay at site, I though I'd update everyone on Christmas. About 20 of us arrived in Saly (a small touristy town next to Mbour) on the 23rd, where we had 3 apartments. We spent the next 4 days enjoying the beach, mocking the sleazy french tourists (is that redundant?), and eating great food. Ironically, being Peace Corps volunteers, we are usually on a somewhat restricted budget. So while everyone else was eating at beautiful restaurants with oceanside views, we scurried around the back of these establishments to eat at "Ceeb shacks" (Ceeb meaning Rice in Wolof), where the average price of a large meal was about $1.25 when converted.
The highlight of the trip was when we ran into some french people at a Ceeb shack. Talking with the cook in Wolof (and even a little Pulaar), we simply blew these tourists away. They were, to say the least, utterly speechless that a bunch of white kids could converse in such strange and exotic languages. One man told us that he had been coming to Senegal for 18 years and still didn't know a word of Wolof. They were so enamored with us that they even started taking pictures of us ("Les Americains qui parlent le Wolof!" they proclaimed). All in all, it was a lot of fun, especially since the locals there are very appreciative of people speaking their language, since most tourists obviously don't bother to do so.
As for Christmas...well, it was different. At around 5AM Christmas morning, I realized I was very far from home as the call to prayer roused me from a deep sleep. It was nice, however, to be in good company. My friends were able to cook pancakes and make hot cocoa, which was definitely a welcome treat from my typical breakfast here (bread with butter). On Wednesday morning I'll be heading off to St. Louis to enjoy New Years with many of the same people. So Merry belated Christmas to everyone and a Happy New Years in advance! Ba suba ak jamm.

Day 100 in Africa

Today marks the 100th day I've been in Senegal. Time has truly flown by. Everything that has happened here since September 11th has been a complete blur. I keep having to remind myself to slow down and appreciate things out here because I'm sure that before I know it, I'll be flying back home. I went to Dakar last weekend to get my fix of Americana (softball games, volleyball games, and beer by the pool...how difficult a life I lead). Since then, it's been a fairly slow week. I've been going to a local shoemaker and helping them account for the sales they made during an exposition to Dakar a few weeks ago. They'll be going to another artisan exposition in Dakar in January, and they've asked me to tag along, which I will gladly do. Since there's not too much going on in my life here, I figured I'd give everyone a glimpse into my daily activites out here:
8:30AM- Get up, eat breakfast with family (bread with butter and coffee while the 1 year old drools all over me or tries to walk between my legs)
10AM- Go to either Maire's office to study Wolof or shoemaker's workshop to help with accounting.
12:30PM- return to house, relax until lunch
1:45PM- Lunch
2PM- Relax, nap, free time...
3:30/4PM- Go to Maire's office for Wolof lessons... where I am usually stood up (more on this later)
5PM- Usually work out around this time. Running through sand is ridiculously tiring...
8:45PM- Dinner with family.
9-15PM- Hang out with host siblings/Go for walk with host siblings/watch movie with said company (we watched Hotel Rwanda last night and Hitman 47 tonight...)
11:30PM- Retire my room. Use the internet for a bit and then off to bed.

As you can see it's a pretty laid back day overall. Not only is time flying by, but I find myself very happy here. The little work that I've done thus far (more will come soon, which I'm looking forward to) has been very enjoyable and my work partners (the shoemakers) are great. I'll probably start working with the basket weavers in the near future which should also be a great experience since it will have me going out to the villages and trying to coordinate orders for thousands of baskets.
I would say my only truly negative experience here has been with my Wolof tutor. I was assigned to him on the first day I got here, so I had little choice in the matter. Simply put: He's awful. In my 3 lessons thus far, we've spent 1 hour on the days of the week and the months of the year, 1 hour on VOWELS (are you serious?!?), and 1 hour learning that just like in French and English, sentences in Wolof begin with a capital letter! Not only is he a terrible teacher, he is also fairly disrespectful. He's stood me up 75% of the time, and has cut class short the other times. Hence, today, while listening to vowels in Wolof (guess what...vowels in Wolof are: a, e, i, o, and u...strange isn't it?), I had an epiphany. I decided that I'm going to stop trying with this gypsy and get another tutor. There are hundreds of friendlier, more qualified people in this town that would kill to get 15,000 CFA a month to speak Wolof with me. I'm done ranting about this, but once I get back from Christmas and New Years, finding a new tutor will be my 1st priority.
Speaking of Christmas. I will be leaving on Tuesday to go to Saly, a town right next to Mbour. It is on the ocean, and a group of about 20 of us have 3 apartments rented out. We'll be there for 4 days, at which point I will come back to Ngaye. As for New Years, not quite sure yet, although I'm leaning towards going to St. Louis. Anyways, I'm off to bed, but I hope everyone back home is enjoying the cold weather and holiday season. A plus tard!
P.S Picture is of my house from down the street.

Tabaski!

It's Wednesday night around 11:30pm. Yesterday was the gigantic holiday we call "Tabaski" in this part of the world. As I mentioned earlier, during Tabaski, a sheep is slain to honor Abraham's sacrifice. According to the story, when forced to make a sacrifice, he chose a sheep over his son, thus the continuing tradition. However, with my family being quite large (and wealthy), we had two sheep. The volunteer that I replaced (Pete), came for the festivities. Since his new host family in Thies is Catholic, they obviously did not slaughter sheep on this grand day...weird. Thus, at around 10am yesterday morning, the first of two sheep was laid on the ground, facing Mecca. A small hole was dug into the sand for the blood to flow in. Quickly and efficiently, my host father slit its throat, with my host brothers holding it down until the deed was finished. Without any delay, the second sheep was brought in. Once again, a swift slash with the knife led to another dead mammal. Immediately, the family started skinning the sheep, which Pete and I helped with (I had my fancy bubu on, so all I did was hold the legs up in the air while my host brothers did most of the skinning). Within 30 minutes, ribs were cooking on the grill and the only visible remains of the sheep were the skinless heads, with the eyeballs jutting out. I took many pictures of the events, and even recorded one gruesome video, but they will not be shown on this blog.

Having eaten a meal's worth of ribs by noon, we had another lunch made up of potatoes, onions, and yes, sheep meat. Later, around 2, we had another large portion of meat. After an quick nap, another serving was given to us around 4. From 5 or so until 10pm, we walked around to different households, asking for forgiveness (a tradition during Tabaski. You ask others to forgive you in order to start fresh with the new year). At 10, we had dinner. As you can imagine, there was meat, and lots of it. In fact, the meat has been ongoing, as we even ate it for dinner tonight. To sum it all up, Tabaski was absolutely exhausting. Even though my Wolof has been improving, I felt really inadequate at times since every household we went to grilled me in Wolof to see how I measured up to Pete. It really got me motivated to improve my Wolof as quickly as possible so I can actually handle my own when it comes to these events. Other than that, it was a good time and I look froward to next year's Tabaski.

Tonight we went to a pre-wedding dance ritual. During this event, many people gather together to dance and poke fun at the respective families of the bride and the groom. My host sisters asked me if I wanted to go, so i tagged along. It was a pretty big deal, with tons of music and laughing. I was having a great time when suddenly a fairly heavy set man came up to shake my hand. The conversation went something like this:
"Fallou Gallas, why are you here?"
"My name is Fallous Gallas Niang. I am replacing Mustafa here. I am here to watch the dancing" (This is approximately how idiotic I sound in Wolof)
"Something something something...blah blah only women here...blah blah blah men elsewhere"
It was at that moment that I realized that I was the only male figure in the compound over the age of 6. It didn't seem to be a big deal, but there I stood, not having shaved in a month (with my mustache growing like a California wildfire...thus making me look like a creep) amongst a crowd of all women. Nobody else said anything about it, so I just sat and enjoyed the show until my host sisters decided it was time to go home. Now I'm off to get some sleep. Tomorrow I'm going to a shoe workshop to help the owners with their accounting and their order forms. Friday through Sunday I'll be in Dakar. We have a regional meeting on Friday to welcome all the new volunteers to the region, and Saturday we have 2 softball games (I went 3 for 3 in my last game...so watch out!). Until next time, ba ci kanaam!

The Tour de Thies begins...

Well, Thanksgiving came and went. Coming from a severely weird family, I am not all that used to making a big deal out of Thanksgiving. Despite this, I took a trip down to Kaolack for the occasion and got to celebrate it with some fellow volunteers down there. Even with our meager resources, we (myself not included in any cooking activities) were able to cook 2 turkeys and even have mashed potatoes and pie! The dinner was, to say the least, awesome. Before dinner, we even managed to get a small football game in, so it was definitely an all-american day for us. I came back on Friday and have been keeping busy ever since. Tomorrow I will be going to Thies to get an outfit made for Tabaski. Seeing as how 90 to 100% of my recent conversations in Wolof have revolved around the upcoming holiday (Tabaski is the Muslim new year), I feel that I need to look appropriate for the occasion. Essentially, this means that I will be dressing like a donkey in the circus come next Tuesday.

Tabaski itself should be quite interesting. Most families buy a sheep and kill it on this special day. Our family, however (being the "patrons" that we are), will most likely buy two, if not three sheep. The men in the family will help the father cut the sheep's throat, and then it will be eaten in a grand feast. There will most likely be a lot of sitting around all dressed up, and discussing how much food there is and how good it is. It's somewhat strange how quickly I've gotten used to the gender roles here. Granted, my family is about as Wolof as you can get, but the culutral differences are still striking. For instances, the three wives spend the majority of their days cooking meals and cleaning/taking care of the children. During meals, there are two bowls served. One bowl is for women and very small children. Usually, this bowl has around 10-12 people around it. The men's bowl, however, only has 5-6 men around it, and we get to use spoons. Furthermore, when the men are done eating, the women are allowed to come over and eat what's left from our bowl. Just writing that last section made me realize how wildly different gender relations are out here.

I've decided to be somewhat adventursome and bike to Thies tomorrow. It's 45km there (about 28-29 miles), so the trip there should take me somewhere around 3 hours. I'll get to Thies, buy fabric, give it to the tailors with my requests (I'm getting a grand bubu made...aka I will look like a picnic table), and then come back to Ngaye Mekhe after lunch. All in all, it should be about 5-6 hours of biking, so I'll probably be fairly exhausted by the end of the day. So I'm off to get my beauty sleep for now, but hope everyone back home is doing well and enjoying the cold (it still gets really really hot here during the middle of the day...). Ba suba ak jamm!

(Picture is of 3 of my brothers here, Ibrahima, Fallou Gallas, and Ahmet with my A's hat on).

Running on Empty through Senegal

In about an hour I'll be going to Kaolack to celebrate Thanksgiving with my fellow volunteers in that area. I'm getting a ride to Thies with the local missionary here in Ngaye who is lucky enough to have a car. I'll be coming back on Friday, so it's somewhat of a short trip. I do feel a bit bad for moving around so much right after my installation (I came back from Dakar on Monday afternoon), but after Thanksgiving I'll be staying put for awhile. Dakar was a great experience. Along with the artisanal exposition (which went extremely well from what I saw), we all had a great time and got to play volleyball, softball, and go swimming. The weekend was almost ruined when I got into a 7 place station wagons that are literally on the verge of falling apart) on Monday. Forced to put my bag in the "trunk" (open to the public), I decided to sit in the absolute back row, despite the fact that I was essentially sitting on a metal bar. This turned out to be a very wise decision as I ended up warding off several theft attempts on my bag. Street vendors and random bystanders would simply stand by the car waiting for me to look the other way for even half a second. It really frustrated me that every time an attempts on my bag failed, the would be thief would run off laughing histerically. Oh well, life goes on.

I'm a bit of a rush, but I wanted to upload pictures of my room up here. The first is of the view from my window and the other two are of my actual room (it's a bit of a mess at the moment...). I'm off to have a quick breakfast along with Cheikh, Mariba, Nadya, Kineye, Aisha, Mari, Ami, Mami, Ndeeaw, Khadim, Cheikh, Kineye, Gallas, and Amadou (those are the names in my family...and the repeats are not a mistake...). A plus tard!

P.S BIG thank you to Maman and Papa for sending me those boxes of stuff! All of it will either be delicious, or come in handy throughout my time here. Merci encore!

Fallou (Gallas) Niang arrives in Mekhe!

Greetings to everyone back home. I have officially been installed as the new volunteer in Ngaye Mekhe. Everywhere I go, people shout out "Tafa! Tafa!" (short for Mustafa, the volunteer I'm replacing here). Thus, each time, I have to stop and say "Tudduma Mustafa, Gallas la tudd!". Despite that, things could really not be going any better. My family here is another experience in itself. They are not only a massive family, but they are intensely Wolof. We seldom speak french, and they are typically loud and aggressive (if you overhead my household having a conversation, you might think domestic abuse was about to occur), but in a friendly manner. They have been extremely helpful with me so far, and seem genuinely excited to have a new white kid in the house. Not only is the family great, but my living arrangements are superd. My room is on the 2nd floor, and in addition to having the internet, it has a great window with a beautiful view of the landscape. The food here has also been a source of jealousy for my fellow newly made volunteer friends. Simply put, we weat extremely well by Senegalese standards. Last night, we ate french fries with pasta and chunks of cow meat with onion sauce. Needless to say, it was a tad bit better than village sand (or millet couscous as they like to call it...I'm pretty sure it's just sand).
I've also been lucky in that I may get to do some work rather early on here. During this initial three month period, the Peace Corps does not expect much from us in terms of work. The pre-IST (Inter-Service Training, held in early February), period is to be used to integrate into the community and the host family. However, yesterday, the volunteer I'm replacing came by with some other americans to help make a film about local artisans. Thus, we spent yesterday afternoon filming a local shoe shop, and all day today filming the women of a basketweaving village. It was a lot of fun and really got me excited to actually work out here. I made it clear to the current volunteer that I'm perfectly willing and able to work if possible, and so I already have a meeting scheduled on Tuesday with another volunteer and the vice president of a village association to prepare the villages for a potential large order of baskets. Also, I'll be going to Dakar for the weekend to take a look at the artisanal exposition held there each year. It will be a great opportunity to see first hand what some of my future work partners do. Also, it doesn't hurt that some of my best friends from training will be there and that there are two softball games on Saturday as well...
Anyways, it's getting late and I should head off to bed, but I'll post updates when I get back from Dakar. Hope everyone back home is doing well. Ba suba ak jamm!
Pictures are of the village we went to today and of the actual interview of the basketweavers.

Swearing In!

Well, I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer! Friday might have been the busiest day of my life, but it was a fantastic experience and everything went really well. Apparently, it's one of the only times that an entire stage has made it through training without anyone quitting, so we're all pretty full of ourselves right now. My fellow stage members are fantastic, and it was quite sad to see them all leave this morning. Right now, there's 8 of us left here in Thies, and tomorrow night, we will be down to 2 (me being one of them). As for Friday, here is a breakdown of all that happened:
6:00 am- Get up, dress up in Thies
7:30 am- Get on Bus to Dakar
7:31-10:45- Sweat out 50% of body weight on said bus
11:00-12:30- Swearing in!
12:30-2:00- Lunch at ambassadors residence
2:00-3:30- Pool time at the American Club
3:30-6:00- Travel back to Thies on sweaty bus
7:00-11:00- Enjoy dinner/music/dancing with host families in Training Center
11:30-4:00am- Celebrate and get into trouble with fellow volunteers

As you can all see, it was almost a full 24 hour day. In addition to swearing, the party with the host families was also a great time, as one member of each family got to come to the training center and enjoy a great dinner with some wild dancing. I also forgot to mention about our election party. A local hotel let us use their conference room to watch the election, so almost everybody went to watch. While most people left around 2-3 in the morning, some of us toughed it out and watched the entire thing, leaving the hotel at 6:15 in the morning...and having class at 8. Despite being exhausting, it was an amazing experience to be able to watch everything unfold live from Africa. Everyone around town is ecstatic about Obama's win, and everywhere we go people are chanting his name at us. Well, I'm off to enjoy the company of my friends for one last afternoon, so see you all in Ngaye Mekhe! Ba ci kanaam samay xarit ak sama waa ker!

Pictures are of the SED group in our stage (20 out of 40 of us), the dance party, and my friends here in Senegal...
Sorry for the low quality of pictures, but I wanted to get several in this post despite the slow internet. A Google photo album will be availabe shortly as i will have constant access to the internet.

The end of Tassette...

Well, my time in Tassette and with the Diop family has come to an end. Earlier today, we left Tassette for the last time and came back to Thies. Since we're swearing in on Friday, everyone is scrambling to get ready for our final departure from the training center. Many people got traditional local clothing made for Friday, but myself and a few others are opting to simply wear nice western style clothing. I chose so mostly because traditional bubus are so expensive to have made. Thus, the tucked in collared shirt and tie will have to do. It's somewhat of a bittersweet feeling to be almost done. Everyone, myself included, is very excited to move into our permanent sites. But on the same note, we're not looking forward to all being separated. Swearing in will occur Friday morning in Dakar at the ambassador's residence. After an exquisite lunch (or so we've heard), we'll hop on a bus back to Thies. That evening, we'll have a big party where one member from each host family gets to attend. I believe that my host father, Moussa Diop, will be the one attending. The next morning, I'll be in Thies watching my fellow newly sworn in volunteers leave for their sites. Each volunteer will go to their regional house for a few days to buy the required furniture to move into their new residence. Since my site is so close to Thies, I will simply stay at the training center for the weekend, and leave for Ngaye Mekhe on Tuesday. It's amazing how fast this whole period has gone by, and I imagine the next two years will probably fly in similar fashion. I guess time really does fly when you're having fun!

Our last stay in the village was great, despite being exhausting. I started to get realy frustrated with some of the trickier Wolof pronouns early in the week, but the progress is really starting to show. With our final LPI tomorrow, I hope to reach Intermediate Mid. For my last day in the village, my family really wanted to take me hunting again, so I gladly obliged. Along with 3 of my brothers, my uncle, and Natalie (fellow Wolof trainee), we ventured out into the bush once again. However, after 4 long hours and several near kills, we came back empty handed. Despite the lack of game caught, it was still a great time and everyone enjoyed the outing. As always, the village had its usual moments of sheer craziness. This week's trauma came Thursday night at around 1am. Unable to sleep, I was listening to my iPod when I heard a strange noise in my room. Crickets, beetles, and frogs are commonplace in my room, so I ignored it. But the noise persisted, and then a I felt a thump on my bedpost. Grabbing my flashlight, I inspected the situation from the safety of my mosquito net. What I found was a mouse and a frog engaged in a battle to the death right next to my bed. The mouse would grab the frog's head in its jaws, only to be thrown off when the frog jumped against the wall (or my bedpost...). However, when I went to move some of my dirty clothes (which my little gladiators were coming closer and closer to), the pair panicked and split up, with the frog jumping into my pile of clothes, and the mouse scurrying away to its hole in the wall. Climbing back into bed, all I could do was laugh and shake my head at the sillyness of the whole event. I will definitely come back to visit Tassette at some point in the next two years, as my host family here really made an effort to make me feel welcome. Before leaving, my host mother warned me not to change my name when I get to my new family, and to come back for Tabasci (the Muslim new year celebration in December). Unfortunately, I will probably have to change my name, as well as spend Tabasci with my new family. Either way, my stay in here in Tassette was great and I apreciate the warm welcome my host family gave me.

Also, I guess now is a good time to start listing off things that I miss the most (and consequently, hope some of you will be kind enough to send me...). I realize I am being somewhat of a whiner by asking for food items less than 2 months into my time here, but many of my friends have already gotten packages that make me want to mug them. I am aware that sending things from the U.S is not cheap, so anything I get, even a letter, is greatly appreciated. I will post this list as a sidebar on the blog soon, but I figured I'd make it a little more visible this first time. Here it goes:
- Beef Jerky
- Candy (all kinds)
- Cliff Bars/Protein Bars
- Sunflower Seeds
- Gatorade/Crystal Light/Propel powder
- Dried Fruit (all kinds)
- Grip/Strength ball

Also, in case some of you have not noticed my new address, here it is:

B.P 35,
Ngaye Mekhe,
Senegal
Afrique Ouest

I'm off to relax with my fellow trainees, but I hope everyone is enjoying the craziness of tomorrow's election! I actually gave a 15 minute interview (along with 2 other trainees) a few days ago to a local radio station regarding the U.S election. I should have a copy of the recording at some point so I'll try to get it on this blog. I'll make my first post as a PCV this weekend when things slow down a bit. A plus tard!

Pictures are of the weekly market in Tassette, my family, and my house.

Dakar and CounterPart Workshops

Dakar and CounterPart Workshops

After an insanely hectic and tiring week, we finally get an afternoon off. Despite the fact that we are going right back to Tassette tomorrow morning for a lenghty 9 day stay, we are all enjoying the afternoon off. This week started off with a great visit to Dakar. About 15 of us left Thies on Sunday and met up with some current volunteers at the regional house in Dakar. We all went to the American club, which was both a weird yet relaxing experience. Entering the club was like walking into a different country. I was somewhat bewildered at first as I ate my hamburger by the pool in silence. After a few hours at the club, we ventured off to a bar for a happy hour (Am I really in Africa...?), and then to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. The next day was quite a bit less exciting, with several hours of safety and security lectures, as well as a lenghty orientation of the Peace Corps Headquarters in Dakar. For medical reasons, I am very happy to be close to Dakar, as getting there will not be too hard when that fateful day arrives where I am deathly ill in this country. After our orientation, some of the current volunteers took us around town for some tours and a late lunch. I didn't take any pictures simply because of the rampant pickpocketing Dakar is known for (6 of my fellow trainees also got caught in a soccer riot there last week, so I didn't feel like pushing my luck my first time there). Dakar is a remarkable city that truly feels like another world apart from the rest of Senegal (at least the little that I've seen...). Despite being an expensive visit, I had a fantastic time, and am looking forward to spending more time there over the next two years. I will even have the opportunity to enjoy the best surfing in West Africa!

The rest of this week was spent meeting with our site counterparts and supervisors. These are two members of my future community that came to Thies to learn about my job and get to know me. While it was very good to talk to them and learn more about Mekhe, the week as a whole was boring and exhausting. Most of the lectures were meant for the counterparts to understand their roles and responsibilities, so many rounds of hangman were played in the back of the room. At the end of each day, we quickly packed up and made the 45 minute commute to Tassette to crash in the village. As always, the village likes to give a city boy like me the occasional slap in the face. I heard a noise near my backpack last night, so I picked up my flashlight and went to investigate. When I picked up my backpack, the rat lying under it panicked and essentially lunged at me, running over my foot. Reacting in a very calm manner, I yelped and lost my balance, crashing onto my bed and damaging my mosquito net in the process (which meant yet another episode of "Village Home Improvement: Fixing your mosquito net with dental floss"). Despite this, it was as usual a good week and I'm getting very excited to move into my site in 2 weeks. I also found out that I am getting installed on the 11th of November (at exactly 11:30am...which probably means 4pm by Africa/Peace Corps time). My counterpart also informed me that Mekhe is the exact midpoint between Dakar and St. Louis, since the trains that used to run from each town would meet in Mekhe. Well, I have many errands to run, so I should get going. I'll post an update once we get back from the village, wich will be the day before the election. Samay xarit ak man degg nanu Wolof bu bare! ("My friends and I understand Wolof very well"...a blantant lie despite my Intermediate Low level).

P.S Picture is of me during the field trip at Popenguine. Quite a while ago, but I figure a picture is better than no picture...

Ci yonnu u Bongo!

We have just returned from yet another stay in Tassette, and will be going to Dakar tomorrow until Monday evening. Arriving on Tuesday night, we spent Wednesday through Saturday afternoon learning some additional Wolof. Even though we are all still struggling, progress has been steady, and I feel fairly comfortable holding simplistic conversations nowadays. I can even joke around a bit if need be. It is somewhat helpful that many times conversations in Wolof seem to be very simplistic. For instance, coming back from class, I will always be asked "Gallas! Wacc nga?" (pronounced "wacthey inga"), which roughly translates to "You have returned from class?". Other typical "questions" include "Gallas! You are sitting/reading/eating/tired/hungry?" Sometimes I will be asked these questions three or four times over the course of a meal, which is great practice since I'm always repeating the appropriate answer. Combined with the incessant greetings people seem to be fond of (Nanga Def? Ca va? Yangi Noos?...), I can actually fool an innocent bystander into thinking I can hold a 15 minute conversation in Wolof. We have another Wolof LPI (oral interview used to judge your level) on Tuesday morning so I will need to practice some when we get back from Dakar. I tested at Novice High on my last LPI, and the next step is Intermediate Low (which is the minimum required to swear in). Our final LPI will be a few days before we swear in, so reaching Int. Low on Tuesday would be nice, since I can (hopefully) only go up from there.

The highlight of our most recent stay in Tassette came on Wednesday afternoon. A pigeon that had decided to make its nest in the classroom was innocently trying to find its way out of the room. Unfortunately, when 3 children (two of them being my host brothers) came into the room to help move furniture, they immediately spotted the pigeon. While the bird had been somewhatat of a distraction, it had not truly bothered any of us. Yet for these 3 Senegalese youngsters, this intrusion meant war. With loud yelps of excitement, they scurried off and found brooms. Armed and dangerous, they went about chasing the pigeon across the classroom, flailing their plastic death sticks with great vigor. Being adults, my classmates and I essentially huddled up to a different corner of the room in fear of getting hit by the brooms, yet also laughing histerically at the same time. After maybe a full 5 minutes of this Charlie Chaplin-esque pigeon hunt, one of the children was done messing around, and took matters into his own hands. Holding his broom by the end of the handle, he took a quick aim, and launched it through the air (much like a tomahawk should be thrown...except this is a plastic broom...) at the flying bird. To everyone's surprise, he was dead on with his aim, and the bird fell limp on the floor. With all of us laughing even harder than we had previously been, the child ran up to his nemesis and finished the job (by ripping the head off the body, of course...). Soon thereafter, the hunters left and we sweeped up the floor of the room (there had been a huge explosion of feathers upon initial contact with the broom). Needless to say, it took the majority of the afternoon for us to regain our focus after such drama.

Next week we will also be working with our site counterparts. Our counterparts are members of the local community in which we will be working that have volunteered to help us out when we first arrive at site. These counterparts will be a great resource for all of us, as they can show us around town, help us meet important work contacts, and answer the myriad of questions we will most likely have upon arrival. Thursday and Friday will be spent in Thies working with these counterparts. The only downside to this activity is that since the counterparts will be staying in the training center, we will have to commute back and forth from Tassette, each night coming back from the training center, and leaving excruciatingly early the next morning. Other than that, I am excited to be able to hear about the intricacies of Ngaye Mekhe from an actual member of the community. I'm off to enjoy the rest of my Saturday, but I'll check in sometime next week. A plus tard!

P.S Pictures are of my room in Tassette and of our nice Turkish toilet there. Yes, that is where I shower...

Popenguine Weekend

We've just returned from our highly anticipated beach outing to the beautiful Popenguine region. After scrambling around for a few days, we managed rent a large house for fairy cheap. The house was fantastic, as it was on the beach and provided us with some rare toubab amenities, such as a fridge, working showers, etc... Since we got to Popenguine at around 4pm, we were able to go to the local general store and buy beverages appropriate for a massive group (40) of recent college graduates, which included some disconcertingly cheaply priced alcohols (a $3 large bottle of whiskey...?). Once stocked up for the night, we paraded out to the beach and had a blast, enjoying warm Gazelles, frisbee games, and even chicken fights (I was 1-0) in the warm ocean water. For dinner a few of my fellow trainees cooked up massive heapings of spaghetti, and then the party began. Dancing, flip-cup, and other festive activities continued into the wee hours of the morning. Waking up on the tile floor at 8 in the morning, I went out for a swim, and spent the majority of the day between swimming and lying on the beach until we had to pack up. After a hectic cleanup, we were off to Thies, very tired and even more sunburnt. Everyone seems to have had a great time, and some people even got the chances to make fools of themselves, which always makes for good comedy.
Tomorrow, we'll have another full day of classes, and then on Tuesday afternoon we'll head back to our homestay villages for a short stay. After a few more days of Wolof Total Immersion (sounds somewhat intense doesn't it?), we'll once again come back to Thies. A trip to Dakar will follow, and well as more days in Thies. As you can all obviously tell, I'm still living out of my duffel bag/backpack, with some of my clothing resting in a dusty room in the village, some here in Thies, and some in a state of total filth. Thus far, this experience has been even better than I could have imagined, and I can't wait to see what the next two years have in store for me. The only negative on finishing training is that I will be seperated from some good friends here at the center, as many of them are going to remote village in the south of the country, making it difficult to see them a lot. Despite that, I'm still very excited to get to my site and get going with the "real deal", if you will. I'm off to the center to enjoy a somewhat quiet evening after last nights craziness, and get ready for the week ahead (which will include the "Olivers largest laundry load of all time" challenge starting tomorrow). I will also update my permanent address on here in a week or two, so all of you adoring fans dying to send me packages (insert sarcasm) will know where to send them soon enough. A wish list for a few useful items and foods will accompany the address. Hope everything is all well back home, and that Texas is enjoying having defeated Oklahoma yesterday (sorry James...). Mangiy Noos bu bare! (I'm having tons of fun).

P.S Internet is being retarded slow again, thus no pictures this time...

Tivaouane

Greetings from Tivaouane!
Along with another trainee from my group (Thomas Wheat), I am staying in Tivaouane with a current volunteer named Daniel. We've been staying with his host family, who has been very friendly to us, and has also fed us incredibly well. Tivaouane is only about 20-25 km away from my future site (Ngaye Mekhe) and is the departmental capital of the region. As I indicated in my earlier post, Ngaye Mekhe (or Mekhe for short) is a town very focused on artisanal products. The leather sandals made there are fairly well known, and there are also several other types of artisans that use the town as a base. Our host volunteer, Daniel, has been working alongside the Mekhe volunteer (whom I will replace after training) in helping the surrounding villages in this region export their hand woven baskets. Much of their work involves going to the villages and assessing the capabilities each village has in terms basket production. They have already received some orders from the U.S and hope to increase production. This type of work is very interesting to me, and I am excited at the potential opportunity to jump into it. For now, I need to focus on improving my Wolof and finishing training. We spent our first 3 days here walking around town and checking out the local businesses and institutions. People are generally very friendly and seem to be quite well educated in this part of the country (I obviously speak from my experience of 3 weeks in country so please don't take what I say as fact). We went to a youth soccer game on Saturday evening, which was pretty fun (soccer on sand looks quite difficult/tiring...)

On Monday we went and visited my site and its current volunteer (Pete). It was great to see my town, even if it resembles most other towns I've seen here. Pete, whom I will replace in Mekhe, had a lot of good things to say about the site and my host family. The four of us spent most of the afternoon sitting in a small restaurant and discussing the site, their work, and the trouble Dakar region volunteers get themselves into. Needless to say, I'm very excited to be part of this region and spend the next two years hanging out with this crowd. Tuesday we traveled once again, this time to the villages surrounding the area. The first village was called Diama Thiendou, and was about a 1 kilometer walk off the national highway (which would be a country road in the U.S). The main supervisor of the basket weaving operations (funny how I graduated from college and will soon be working in the Senegalese basket weaving industry...) was ill and had gone to Thies, so we sat around for awhile until lunch arrived. After a typically Senegalese lunch (and the obligatory post-lunchtime nap on mats under the big tree), we ventured out to another similar village where some of the women were actually weaving baskets. It was a little bit overwhelming, as my Wolof is still not advanced enough to discuss work opportunities with the women in the village. Nonetheless, it was a good time and I enjoyed to chance to get to meet some of my future work partners (who were quick to inform me that I have big shoes to fill in replacing Pete).

Tomorrow the three of us are going into Thies to meet up with some other Dakar region volunteers and have a small cookout, which should be awesome. Thursday will have us back in Thies for the weekend, and then back to the villages for more language classes. This weekend promises to be entertaining as it is our beach trip. While in the village today, I called in and reserved a large house on the beach in Popenguine (the beach site we visited last week). The schedule suggests that Saturday, once classes are finished, all 40 of us will load up into an Alhum (Massive minivans that can fit an unholy amount of souls onboard) and drive off to the beach to spend the night there. It sounds as though only 12-15 people will have some sort of bedding, so there will most likely be a lot of people crashing on stairwells, hallways, or even the beach itself. We still have to finish the preparations, but everyone is very excited to go, myself included. Well, I'm off for now, but the three of us will be staying up to watch the Presidential debate on TV (Daniel, the PCV here, has internet in his room). Hope everyone is doing well back home in spite of the floundering economy. Ba beneen yoon!

P.S A funnny side note ==> I have to be careful when saying "I am going to Mekhe (my town)" in Wolof because that exact sentence also means that I am in the process of having sex... thus I will more often than not say "I am going to Ngaye".

Ngaye Mekhe!

Hello to everyone back home! Today was a very important day for us, as we discovered where everyone will be working for the next two years. My site is called Ngaye Mekhe. It is about 45 kilometers north of Thies, meaning I will not be going very far from my current location. Mekhe is a city of about 25,000 people, speaking primarily Wolof, but a lot of French as well. The town is widely known through Senegal for the leather sandals that are made there (apparently they are even sold in Europe and in the U.S). I am very pleased with this site, as I will be relatively close to a lot of my friends and can easily get to Dakar and Thies. I don't know much else about the site at the moment, but I'm sure I will learn much more about it starting tomorrow. As for tomorrow itself, myself and another trainee will be going to Tivaouane to visit another current volunteer and see what kind of work they are up to. We'll be there for about 6 days, and then will come back to Thies for a few days.

Our time in Tassette was filled with experiences I won't soon forget. While the 8 hours a day classes in Wolof got tiring, the time spent with my fellow volunteers and our host families was priceless. This past Sunday, I was lucky enough to go lizard hunting with my host father. Having previously lived in the 3rd world, I have seen my share of lizards. But it was not until I was face to face with one of these monsters that I realized it wasn't really lizards we were hunting. These animals resemble small komodo dragons more than anything, and the "small one" we caught must have weighed about 5-6 pounds. The hunt was incredibly fun, as my host father and I ventured deep into the bush, and even walked through some streams/swamp areas. Oviously, hunting these animals means we later consumed them. The following day, my host mother served me a big bowl of macaroni and lizard meat. To be honest, it was actually quite good, with the lizard reminding me of chicken wings. I'm sure there will be more food adventures to come, but the lizard was definitely an interesting experience (the attached pictures is of me discussing the details of the kill to my host mother). I have come to realize that bugs are simply bigger and more intimidating here. Every night as I prepare to sleep, crickets large enough to be sold as puppies in Asia, as well as beetles that sound like Luftwaffe fighter planes fill the damp air in my room. There are also blister beetles, which my fellow town mate Daniel has had the privilege of being bitten by (As the name suggests, they leave a big nasty blister that spreads if you pop it). I have been lucky so far in terms of all kinds of bug bites, but I feel that my time is coming.

This past Wednesday was also the Korite celebration, signaling the end of Rammadan. On the morning of Korite, the men get up, have breakfast, and then go to the mosque and pray. Being male, I was "strongly encouraged" (yelled at until i submitted) to go to the mosque and pray with the men. So off I went with my two little brothers to the mosque (my host father didn't go because he had a burn on his leg from the family motorcycle...). A few minutes later, there I was, standing in a crowd of 300 or so Senegalese men (a few women were present as well), praying towards Mecca. I felt very awkward about the experience while it was going on, since I am obviously not of the same faith, and have never even attempted a true prayer. But once prayer was finished, tons of people came up and thanked me for coming and seemed to love the fact that the local toobab (white person) had made such an effort to integrate. Once we returned, I chatted with my family for a few hours until a massive lunch was served that was comprised of green beans, potatoes, and meat. It was by far one of the best meals I've had while in Tassete, and I ate until I was about to burst. Once full, we enjoyed tea (very tasty) and some soda. Later in the evening, we all took some pictures with my fellow volunteers and our respective families (see pictures). Finally, at around 11pm, we left to go to "la soiree de dance", which was a party for the young people. This event was widely the most anticipated by many of the villagers, and everyone was excited that we would be attending. The dance was on the whole extremely fun, and we all crashed at around 2am... only to be woken up by the Peace Corps van at 6:45am (nobody had told us when we would be going back to Thies, so this morning was quite a scramble). For now, I'm off to go enjoy the local bar with all the other volunteers (as well as normal food...hence a large pizza to myself). I may or may not be in contact when in Tivaouane, but I will update everyone on my progress at the next opportunity. Ba ci kanam!

Popenguine and back to Tassette

Hey all,

It's Sunday afternoon and I'm enjoying the luxury of the internet before we got out of contact for 9-10 days. Most of us have spent the weekend drinking Gazelles/Flags at local bars and telling stories of our home stay families and villages. Tomorrow morning the SED volunteers in our group (myself included) will take a field trip to Popenguine beach to see what Eco-Tourism is like here in Senegal. The area is supposed to be quite beautiful so I will be sure to take some pictures. Upon returning to Thies in the early afternoon, we'll load up and drive off to our home stays again. Once in Tassette, we'll be going full speed with the Wolof and cultural integration. Thus, I will clearly not have internet for the next 10 days so contact me by phone if you want to hear from me. I'll post pictures of my family and village when I get back, but here is a picture of Thies for you all. Pictures take a REALLY long time to upload here so I may notbe able to add more than one or two images at a time for a while. A plus tard!

Gallas Diop!

First off, I wanted to let everyone back home know that the language I will learn in PST (Pre-Service Training for you normal people) will be Wolof. Wolof is the most widely spoken of all the regional languages, and just about everyone can understand it, which is nice. Unlike other languages that are very regionally specific (such as Mandinka and Pulaar du Nord), Wolof is used throughout the country so I still have no clue as to where I will be placed. We were informed of our languages on Monday, and then quickly transported to communities around Thies that are committed to that language. Thus, at around 5 p.m Monday afternoon, I was dropped off at a compound in the village of Tassette (South-Southwest of Thies I believe). Immediately, I was informed that my new Senegalese name would be Gallas Diop. Obviously, this entails that my time in Tassette will be spent within the Diop household. Moussa Diop, whom is my host father, is a local mason who is very friendly. My host mother seems to be the most educated woman in town as she is the head of a women's group and routinely gives lectures of hygiene and child education. As for siblings, there are currently two boys in the house (I have been informed that there are other brothers and sisters but that they are on vacation). The two boys are Alassa (around 14-15 years old by my assumptions), and Gallas (a 10 year old whom I was named after). While Gallas has been somewhat shy thus far, Alassa is extremely excited to have me around and plans on showing me everything in town.

While in Tassette, we spend our days learning Wolof in a small building that is normally used as an elementary school. Our teacher Assaitou gives us lessons from 9-1, and then from 3-6. In just two days, I have learned enough Wolof to essentially construct just about any type of question. Luckily for us, Wolof is a very simply structured language where one can discuss the past, present, and future by simply chaning one letter in an entire sentence. When not in class, we spend time with our families, trying to continually improve our language skills. The only problem I have run into is that my entire host family is very well educated, and therefore speaks perfect french. It's extremely difficult to try to force myself to converse in a foreign language when I can so easily revert back to French and have no trouble at all. When we all return to Tassete, I will try my best to avoid French and focus on learning Wolof.

Living in the village, even for 2 days, was a remarkable experience. Granted, taking bucket baths in the same real estate as the Turkish toilet will take some getting used to, but I loved my initial "real" introduction to African life. My group and I (there are 5 of us placed in Tassete) quickly noticed how friendly the people in the village are. In Thies, some people will say hello, while others ignore you and go on about their day. In the village, however, EVERYONE wants to talk to you. When we first arrived, anyone who noticed the awkward toubab (white person) sitting in the yard (a.k.a sand) would rush in and greet them. Just about everyone makes an effort to say something to me in Wolof and have me learn the meaning of it. The villagers seem to have a deep respect of the Peace Corps and are all very excited to have us around. It is customary in Senegalese culture to give a guest everything possible to make him/her comfortable. Thus, whenever I walk into a room, I am immediately offered a plastic chair (one of 3 in my household...a prized commodity). My family always serves me first and insists I keep eating, even when full. In the evenings, up to 30 neighbors will come and watch the TV my family owns. Despite essentially being a complete stranger, I routinely get a a front row seat to the action (either UEFA soccer games or Brazilian soap operas translated into French...). While I sometimes feel a bit awkward around them (Peace Corps requires us to lock our room door, which often means I have to ask several people to move out of the way so the white kid can lock his door), their genuine desire to please me is very endearing.

At dinner time, my family of 5 will gather around the bowl and eat Ceebu jen (the traditional Senegalese meal of Rice and Fish) or another variant of rice. While I actually find the food quite good, they continually insist I eat more, no matter how much I've already consumed. This leads to my constant defense of "Suur na! Suur na!" (meaning "I am full!). In my two days, I have found that the coffee and ginger juice are exceedingly tasty, and I look forward to more servings of both (even if both contain untreated Senegalese water, which has not harmed me... yet). I also look forward to improving my Wolof, as everyone speaks too fast to yet understand clearly. On Monday I will return to Tassette, and will be there for around 8 days, which means I will not be in contact during that period. I'll be sure to post a picture or two of Thies before I head out again. Hope everyone is doing well and I'll be in touch!

P.S We got our phones a few days ago. My new number is (221) 77-187-8791. Calling is expensive but sending text messages costs about the same as the U.S so send me some updates from back home!

First Days in Senegal!

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Well, we’ve been in country for 4 days now and things are fantastic, if not unbelievably hectic. Wednesday morning (aka my last day in the U.S), we woke up early and received yellow fever shots, as well as our first malaria pills. We then drove to New York and departed for Senegal right at 5:20pm. Some people slept on the flight, but I just watched movies on the awesome South African Airways TV system. Upon arrival (around 5 a.m local time), we were greeted in Dakar by some staff members and immediately driven to Thies, where we were given some breakfast and a few hours to sleep and relax. From that moment on, we have had about 8 hours of classes a day in addition to language and technical interviews to assess our skills in those areas. Thus far, the topics covered have ranged from Senegalese culture to diarrhea prevention/treatment/horror stories (an entire 3 hour session was devoted to the latter…).

Since we have not been allowed to leave the training center, we have spent most evenings as a group relaxing and playing children’s games in the biggest hut available (known as the “disco hut”). Ironically, we have spent the last two evenings playing a game called “Mafia”, which is a kid’s game that I played this summer at the tennis camps I taught. Our whole group is very cohesive and I really like everyone here. Unfortunately, a lot of us will lose touch as we get assigned to different parts of the country that may be very distant from each other. Today (Saturday), the training staff took us on a walk around the training center, and showed us how to get to different places in Thies. Our center is right next to a “red zone”, which we are never allowed to travel. Thus, after a brief lecture tomorrow, we will have the opportunity to go into Thies and buy necessities and maybe even use the internet.

On Monday I will find out what language I will learn, which will not only give me a strong hint as to where I will be posted (languages are very regional here), but also determine the language my host family will speak. I’m about 99% sure I’ll be learning one of the local language (instead of French like many SED volunteers will be doing), but we’ll have to see which one. The food here has been amazing so far. Lunches have been a large community bowl filled with rice, vegetables, and some type of meat. To eat, you take your shoes off, sit on the floor, grab a big spoon, and chow down as a group. It’s definitely an interesting (yet somewhat uncomfortable) way to eat. I’ve eaten more fish in my 4 days here than I have in my whole life and I’m actually very pleased. All the fish I’ve had has been very mild and goes very well with the rest of the food. Dinners have been even more impressive. We’ve had spaghetti, meat with French fries, and other fantastic meals. However, all of the current volunteers that stop by are quick to remind us that this is by far the best food we will have for the next two years, and that things will get MUCH worse very soon. By very soon, I mean Tuesday, when I move in with my host family for the next two months. So I’m definitely enjoying the luxuries we have here while I can. Despite that, I cannot wait to move into my family and start learning the new culture and language. All of the current volunteers seem to love this place and have great stories to tell. I have to head out, but this may be the only entry for a week or so as my host family will definitely not have internet (I may have to pull my water from a well starting Tuesday, so I feel pretty safe in making the assumption that their house lacks Wi-fi capabilities). We do get to come back to Thies here and there (mostly on the weekends) and so I will post then. Just wanted to say hi to everyone back home, and hope you are all doing well in the midst of hurricane season. A plus tard!

PS Sorry for the low quality of the picture, but that is right outside my room at the training center...

The day before I left for Africa.

Well, it is late Tuesday afternoon and we are essentially finished with staging. Tomorrow morning we will check out at 7:30am and get our yellow fever shots, along with our malaria medicine (lariam, for those who care, is somewhat well known in that users sometimes experiences psychotic nightmares). From there we will be getting on a bus and driving to JFK International Airport. Finally, at 5:20pm, our group of 40 or so Peace Corps Trainees will leave for Senegal!

Staging did a very good job of getting us excited and ready for the trip ahead, yet also eased the fears of many. We did a lot of ice breakers and small group projects in order to get to know everyone a little better. My main worry coming in was what kind of people were going to be in my group. So far, everyone has been great and I'm looking forward to have these people be my co-workers and friends for the next two years. I've also never been so thankful for my experiences in the French Lycee systems. Obviously I don't know what's going to happen, but the fact that I have so much experience in French reassures me quite a bit since I will have a much easier time communicating with people when I get there. Packed and ready to go, I'm off to enjoy my last night on American soil before the adventure begins. Obviously, the next entry will be from across the world, so see you in Senegal!

T-minus twelve days...

As my departure date rapidly sneaks up on me, I guess now is as good a time as any to start posting on this blog. In thirteen days, I will leave Austin and fly to Philadelphia for my staging event. From what I understand, staging is essentially not unlike college orientation, except jam packed into two days. Lectures, ice breakers, and going out at night seem to be the norm during staging. After two busy days, my group and I will leave for Dakar on the evening of the 10th, thus arriving on the morning of the 11th (I'm pretty sure we'll be parachuting in...hence the picture). From there on, I can only imagine what adventures await.

After a fairly wild summer, things have really started to slow down and I'm finally feeling as though I am in the home stretch of my time here. After flying off to California and Dallas to see friends and family, I will take one or two more trips to San Antonio to make my last round of goodbyes. It really is surprising how quickly time has flown. I remember sitting in my programming logic class last October, casually browsing the Peace Corps website and deciding to start an application for the hell of it. Almost eleven months later, here I am starting a blog about my upcoming Peace Corps service. My hope for this blog is to keep everyone in the loop as to what is going on in my life while I'm in Senegal. Since my family is very "nomadic", I feel that it will be easier to keep in touch using this blog rather than send a bevy of emails every few days. I hope you all enjoy reading this over the next two years. A plus tard!

P.S For anyone who might have taken me seriously... we won't be parachuting into Senegal...