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!