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.