Sur La Piste du Bongo

Ba beneen yoon Ngaye...

2010-09-17T05:31:00.002-05:00

I'm on somewhat tight schedule, so I'll keep this short. My bags are all packed up, and I am moving out of Ngaye today for Dakar! Looking around my empty room, it's pretty hard to believe all the time that has gone by. 22 months ago, I came to to this town, nervous about how I would spend my two years here. Now, a new volunteer is ready to replace me, and I'm off for the big city. Things are moving so fast right now that I'm going to wait until I get to Dakar to write something more substantial. I'll try to update this blog a bit more regularly when in Dakar since I've neglected it a tad in the past few months. So, off I go to Dakar! Ba beneen yoon Ngaye...

P.S Picture is from Korite (my 3rd in Senegal!), just a few days ago.

Fallou Niang ponders the end of Ngaye

2010-08-18T17:09:00.003-05:00

After almost two years here in Ngaye, it boggles my mind that my time is coming up. While most people in my group are leaving Senegal within the next month or so, I will be moving to Dakar until next March. I remember moving here in November 2008 and looking at my room, wondering "Is this really where I'm going to live for the next two years?" Having moved dorms every year in college, the idea of spending two years in this small nondescript town was intimidating to say the least. Yet, after 22 months here, my replacement is in Senegal and going through training (no clue as to who it is yet, but they're in Thies going through PST at the moment). Even though my service will go on until March, I feel that my true volunteer experience is ending. Working in the Peace Corps office in Dakar will be so different from my work here in Ngaye that I probably won't feel like a Peace Corps Volunteer at all anymore. I'd be lying if I said there weren't times I wish I could speed up my time here in Ngaye, and there have indeed been some tough moments, both with the family, work partners, and the community. But as my last month flies by, it's hard not to feel somewhat nostalgic already. Even my 8 year old host brother and namesake, Fallou, has started asking me when I will be coming back after my departure. While I'm looking forward to working in Dakar for a few months, when I look back on my Peace Corps service, the memories that will stick are those of riding my bike out to villages to inspect baskets and of the adventures I had with my fellow volunteers.

That brings me to another point, saying goodbye to friends. The morning I showed to staging in Philadelphia, I remember walking into the hotel thinking "This very moment will determine how happy I am as a volunteer". I was skeptical about what my fellow volunteers would be like. Truth be told, I was very nervous that it would be a bunch of rag tag hippies and that I would have a hard time fitting in. I figured I could tough it out in an African village for two years, but if the other volunteers weren't good friends of mine, things would be much harder. Having said that, I don't think I've ever fit into a social group better than I have here. I made numerous friends during my service, many of whom will remain good friends of mine for the rest of my life. Maybe some of it is due to the fact that we all went through this somewhat insane adventure here in Africa together, and maybe some of it is due to similar personalities. Either way, my service would have been so much more difficult if it weren't for the volunteer support network we are so lucky to have. One of the downsides of extending for even a short period of time is that I am slowly having to say goodbye to every one of these close friends. While at times it seemed like Peace Corps would never end, I spent last week wishing I could have another good 6 months to spend with my friends here and wishing they didn't have to leave. I'll definitely see many of them back home when I do finish my service, but it's still sad to see the end of an era.

Right after my group came back from Sierra Leone, we had our COS conference, which was great, mostly because our group had not been together since IST (in January 2009!). We went over all the required paperwork needed to be filled out in order to go home, and strategies for "re-integrating" back into the U.S. We got put up in a fancy hotel that had hot showers and air conditioning, which was glorious to say the least. It was definitely a great way for our group to have a sort of "communal" goodbye, and I'm happy I was able to attend. As for Sierra Leone, it was incredible. Beautiful beaches, wildlife reserves, diamonds, mountains, and a very cool Freetown were highlights of the trip. I won't bore everyone with the itinerary of our trip, but I am posting the 516 pictures I took on a Picasa album with a link here on the blog so everyone can see them. For the next few weeks, I'll be helping out with training in Thies as well as writing a grant proposal for my leather workers (they want a hydraulic press to make shoes faster) and also preparing things for my replacement. I'm off to write some of my COS report right now, but hope all is well back home and that people enjoy the Sierra Leone pictures!. Bunu nosee, temps bi dafa gao! (time flies when you're having fun!)

4th of July and Sierra Leone

2010-07-20T15:19:00.001-05:00

It’s been a little while since my last update, so my apologies. The last month has been a combination of changing work assignments and fun times. With my artisan work slowly coming to an end, I am preparing myself and beginning to take on work for the next step in my life as a volunteer. With my upcoming move to Dakar in mid September, I’ve been getting myself ready for the work I’ll be doing there. Part of this involved redesigning the SeneGAD (SeneGAD is a group within Peace Corps here that focuses on girls advancement and education) website. You can see the new version here at http://www.senegad.org/. All in all I am very excited to more to Dakar, and it seems strange that enough time has gone by that someone will soon be coming to Ngaye to replace me!

Much like last year, I made my way down to Kedougou for the 4th of July party. Just like the last 4th of July, we ran a 4Km run on the morning of the 4th with the city of Kedougou to celebrate Independence Day. The rest of the day was spent enjoying the pool and festivities that the volunteers down there had set up. All in all, it was a great time. We also spent quite some time watching World Cup games down in Kedougou, which was really fun. Even watching games with my host family is a huge relief from the incredibly repetitive (and boring) Senegalese soap operas! A nice bonus was that the road to Kedougou has been vastly rebuilt, so I was actually able to make the entire trip back to Ngaye on the 5th and be home before sundown!

In a few days time, I will be making a long awaited trip to Sierra Leone with some good friends from my stage. We have been planning on doing this trip since Tanksgiving, so needless to say, I am pretty pumped about it. Sierra Leone has been fortunate to make some fairly significant strides in the right direction given its violent path, and has apparently become a beautiful place to visit once again. With incredible beaches, wildlife, islands, and mountains, I am sure that our week in Sierra Leone will be incredible. I am bringing my camera and will be taking a ton of pictures for everyone to see. Coming back on the 3rd, I will briefly stop by Ngaye to pack some things up and head back to Dakar for the much hyped Close of Service Conference. During these 4 days, my stage and I will be attending sessions on how to readjust to the United States after serving in the Peace Corps. Much of the focus during the conference is on getting jobs back home, and even though I won’t be COSing until next March, I’m sure the information will be plenty valuable to all of us. That’s about it for now, but I’ll post a long update when I get back from Sierra Leone with tons of pictures. Hope all is well back home. A plus tard!

Eco-T Expo and more...

2010-06-15T09:55:00.005-05:00

Well, it's still unbearably hot out here. Every day the temperature rises to about 98+ in my room, and at night cools downs to around 90. It's sprinkled a few times here and there, but we're still waiting on our first REAL rain, which will be amazing. Other than that, things are progressing as normal. Just yesterday, our work partner (Abdou Dieye) coordinated everything to have a container full of baskets and other artisanal products from Thies and Dakar to be shipped out. It's really gratifying to see our work partners take the initiative and do this work on their own. They had been hesitant at first, but over my service they have gained confidence and are taking steps towards becoming independent from Peace Corps, which would be a huge success! In the interest of shameless self promotion, a media crew from the Peace Corps came to the villages and filmed our work a few months ago. It was made into a short Youtube video that you can see here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw3p0uhdN7U

In other news, I had been volunteered about a month ago to help set up a large Eco-Tourism training to be held before a large International Tourism Fair in Dakar. We spent 3 days having guest speakers and talking about strategies to revitalize the Eco-Tourism component of Peace Corps Senegal. Even though I'm not an Eco Tourism Volunteer, it was a worthwhile conference/training, and the program seems to heading the right way. Then, we spent the following 3 days at the International Tourism Fair of Dakar, which was MASSIVE. There were thousands of people there, and the president (Abdoulaye Wade) even made an appearance! Just about every tourism agency in Senegal had a stand there, and most countries sent representatives from their respective embassies. One highlight of the weekend was when Senecart Tours (a car rental agency) offered us a free limo ride around the parking lot, which felt like a somewhat silly (yet fun) show of force by the company. It was a great opportunity for the Eco-T volunteers to promote their sites, and some of us also took the chance to display some of our artisanal products!

Not much else to report. The World Cup is making the heat more bearable, and it's exhilirating rooting for the U.S again after last years Federation Cup. In mid August, after my stage has its COS (Close of Service) conference, I will be moving to Dakar to extend my stay here in Senegal for about 6 months. Instead of coming home in September/October-ish, it turns out I will be here until about March of next year. In Dakar, most of my work will be aimed at media production (helping make instructional videos for agricultural volunteers) and adding content to our pcsenegal.org website. Needless to say, I am really looking forward to it, especially since two of my best friends will be rooming with me during the 6 months. For now, I'm off to watch some more World Cup matches with the host family. Go USA!!!

Senegal dafa tang waay!

2010-05-18T15:28:00.003-05:00

For anyone who thought my proximity to the coast gave me a cool ocean breeze, here is a picture of my thermometer that will shatter those illusions. The picture was taken at 4:40 P.M today just outside my room (it was a cool 96 degrees inside the room). Enjoy.

The Trek!

2010-05-13T04:45:00.006-05:00

It only took 10 hours and 15 minutes, but the Trek has been completed. On Saturday the 1st, 5 of my friends (Ian, Thomas, Ankith, Chris, and Emily) and I woke up at 4:15 A.M and were out of the house by 5 A.M. By the time the sun rose, we were already 10 kilometers outside Ngaye Mekhe, following a bearing of 280. We wanted to avoid the factory from last year because it was a lengthy detour and we were trying to make good time. With our cloudy morning keeping us cool, the heat didn't become a factor until the early afternoon. As we skirted north of the factory, we ran into a really cool area that had canyons and even a pretty lake! Crossing through this area, we took a bunch of pictures, and then kept on going. Much like last year, we passed through the occasional village that left everyone dumbfounded. Invariably, each villager would ask us:
- TOUBAB, Fooy dem? (Where are you going?)
- Noungiy dem gej ba (We're going to the beach!)
- ...(insert confused look)...Foo jogge? (Where are you coming from?)
- Ngaye Mekhe lanu jogge! (We came from Ngaye!)
- Jambaar ngeen! (You are all very brave!)

Around 1 P.M, we hit our ending point from last year. Thinking the ocean was at most an hour away, we started getting pretty excited (it was, after all, only 1 inch on Google Map...). This is the only mistake we made on the day. As it turns out, the ocean was still two and a half hours away. As our energy level started to drain, our attitudes shifted and the walk suddenly became less fun. As we got closer and closer, the scenery changed completely and became quite lush. Palm trees, Mango trees, and watering holes were popping up everyone. As the villages became more frequent, each one we passed would tell us that the beach wasn't far, just over the next hill. But each little hill we climbed revealed yet another plain with a small hill in the distance, and no beach. With the sun now in full force, we were getting pretty weary, but there was nowhere to stop even if we had wanted to, so we pressed on. For a brief stretch of time, everyone could faintly hear the ocean but nobody said anything because we all thought we were getting delirious. But sure enough, after a few minutes, we all agreed that we could in fact hear the crashing waves of the Atlantic ocean teasing us on this final stretch. Finally, we passed a villager who assured us that the ocean was literally right behind a small forest in the distance. Exhausted, we kept on going. With the sand becoming as thick as I have ever seen it, walking became more tiring than ever. Every one of us had enough sand in our shoes to fill up a sandbox, and we had eaten nothing but peanuts all day. Walking to the edge of the little forest, the waves were getting incredibly loud, and it was clear that we were only maybe 500 yards out. As we tramped through the forest as quickly as our tired legs would allow, it seemed that there was no end in sight. Finally, Thomas (who was in the lead), let out a scream and started sprinting. A few seconds later, I saw it: the beautiful waves crashing onto an empty beach. We had done it, 36 kilometers through the desert in 10 hours and 15 minutes. Each one of us ripped our shoes off (which aproximately doubled the amount of sand on the beach), and sprinted into the ocean, diving in like little kids. For maybe twenty minutes, all we did was laugh and flop around in the ocean. After a few pictures were taken, we gathered our stuff and gingerly walked to the main beach, where our friends had a house waiting for us.

The rest of the day was spent enjoying beers and eating a mexican feast (thanks to everyone who helped cook and set the house up). Coming back to Ngaye the next day, I was sore and stiff, but very satisfied. Blisters and other ailments had prevented us from reaching the ocean last year, so completing the trek was essential to me. Also, the walk was made much easier by the fact that I had some very good friends with me on it. All in all, it was a great adventure. Now, I'm helping prepare my artisans for a big fair we're having at the end of the month. Abdoulaye Wade (El Presidente) and the minister of TOurism have organized a large fair to promote Senegal as a tourist destination. They also want to display the work of Senegalese artisans, which is where I come in. 5 artisans have been chosen from the Peace Corps Artisanal network to be present at the fair. We only have one table for the artisans, so space will be limited. For now, we are focusing on creating some marketing (brochures, pricing sheets, pictures, etc...) for the artisans to display at the fair. We're also shipping out another container of baskets on the 20th, so I will be pretty busy for the next few weeks. That's about it for now, will update people on the tourism fair later. For easier viewing, I'm putting all the pictures of the Trek at the bottom of this post. Enjoy them! Ba ci kanaam!

Trekking through the morning.

Descending into one of the canyons.

Studs of the Dakar region.

The random (but very pretty) lake we came across.

I am awesome.

Ankith struggling through the last 200 yards.

The final stretch. This part seemed like it would never end.

Victory!

Not of the walk, but my little host toddler with his new "girlfriend".

Jambaar lanu!

2010-04-29T17:03:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow morning I will be meeting 5 of my friends to enjoy one massive lunch at our favorite chicken restaurant before the walk (see last year's post for pictures). I had originally planned on keeping the trek to 3 people, but some of my realy good friends were adamant about going, so I couldn't cut them out. We have a great beach house rented out in M'Boro and should have about 20-25 people for our party there. All in all, I'm very excited. It's going to be hot, really hot (last few days have gotten to about 110 towards midday...), but with 5 good friends, I'm sure the time will pass pretty quickly.

Just wanted to show everyone what I've been working on this past week. On Tuesday, we sent out yet another container of baskets, and will be doing so again in late May. Unlike the last order, we chose to fill the container right on the national highway that leads to the main village, Diama Thiendou. Not much else to say, but wanted to post some pictures of the event. First picture is what counting thousands of baskets looks like, and the second is my nearest neighbor Christine posing in front of the container as it gets filled up. Hope all is well back home, and I will make a post about our walk sometime next week when I get back! Ba ci kanaam!

The trek has been announced...

2010-04-15T06:40:00.002-05:00

After an excruciatingly long stay in Dakar, I am back in Ngaye, but most likely not for long. At some point in the near future, I will have to take a day trip to the big city in order to ship out 450 pairs of shoes my artisans have made. Furthermore, there is a little expo being set up on the 24th to showcase the work of many artisans in Senegal when the company Cost Plus comes here to scout for potential products. For the first time in my service, I have grown tired of Dakar. Our regional house, known to volunteers as Liberty 6 (named after the neighborhood it is in) has served as a second home for me over the past year and a half. But staying there for a full 2 weeks is maddening, and I was extremely content to come back to Ngaye yesterday.

Before the extended stay in Dakar, we were able to go on a great fishing trip in Popenguine (possibly the nicest site for any volunteer in Africa). While our numbers were less than stellar (9 small fish caught by 11 people), it was a ton of a fun and pleasant to get away from the craziness of Senegal for a bit. The ability to go deep sea fishing, have a BBQ, a bonfire, tons of food and drinks and a place to sleep all for $25 is one of the perks of living in the Third World. For those who remember the great trek of 2009 (see entries from May 2009), I am happy to say that the event will occur again in just about 2 weeks. This year the trip will consist of only 3 of us: Myself, Thomas Wheat (from Khombole, see bike trip to Kaolack), and Ankit Patel (from Popenguine). The three of us will leave Ngaye at 5 a.m on the morning of the 1st and proceed to walk the 35 kilometers (around 21 miles) all the way to the ocean, where we will be met by other volunteers. We will have a house rented in M'boro for the night, so we'll be able to rest up and enjoy the party to celebrate both my birtday and the completion of the walk. I've created a Google Map of the trip that can be seen here:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=104393776320816648931.000483d012afe4b95fb3b&ll=15.166584,-16.87603&spn=0.081019,0.110035&t=h&z=13

Along with a bike trip to Kedougou for the 4th of July, this walk has been on my calendar for a long time. Ever since we completed (mostly) the trek last year, I have been talking it up and wanting to go again. Interest was very high this year, with over 10 people wanting to go. Yet, in the end it will only be 3 of us, which makes things easier on me, since I have to host everyone at my house the night before! I'll try to have an uopdate right before the walk and post some other pictures, but until then, ba ci kanaam!

Naj bi dafa tang! (The sun is hot)

2010-03-24T10:01:00.004-05:00

Last year, the hot season was late to arrive, which was a pleasant surprise as a first year volunteer. Into mid April, I was wearing long sleeves shirts at night and enjoying relatively cool days. Unfortunately, this hot season seems to be making up for last years. In short, it's hot, very hot. Last week, Christine (the newest volunteer in Tivaouane and also my nearest neighbor) and I spent all of Thursday visiting villages and doing quality control for the current basket order. After stopping by 5 villages, we took a 30 minute charette ride to the 6th village. Desperate to get out of the sun, we ducked into the first household we could find. It was right then and there that we realized how intense the sun was. From 10 a.m to 4 p.m we spent about 90% of our time under the sun, and by the time we got to the last village, we were exhausted and dehydrated. Sunburned and feeling faint, we examined one last set of baskets and got out of there as fast as possible. I had planned to go for a run after the trip to the villages, but at the days end, all I could do was sit in my chair and dream of cold weather.

All in all, things are going well here. My projects are really in full swing these days, and I find myself busier than I ever imagined I would be. Before coming to Peace Corps, I always heard that volunteers felt as though they accomplished nothing their first year, and got all of their work done the second year. While I definitely wouldn't say my first year was a wash by any means, I do have to agree with the second year philosophy. Maybe it's because I've been given more responsibility in my projects, or maybe because I have a better understanding of the culture, but things are moving much faster nowadays than they were last year around this time. It seems as though my Peace Corps Partnership has been fully funded, which is great news. When I submitted the project proposal to the Peace Corps, I was unsure if the project would get funded before I left Senegal. Yet less than a month after it got posted on the internet, $2,100 have been raised to build our storage facility! I am very excited about this, and my work partner and I hope that construction can be finished before the rainy season begins.

That's about it for now. I'm going fishing this weekend in Popenguine, which should be awesome, and then I will be working in Dakar for about a week (as well as saying goodbye to some volunteers leaving the country). Hope everyone is doing well back home. Mangiy deem gej ba!

P.S I finally took some pictures of Ngaye. Bottom two pictures are of the town and of the old abandoned train station. The first picture...well...it's hot here.

Work work work

2010-03-10T14:36:00.001-06:00

Well, with WAIST being over, things must once again return to normal. I spent all of last week helping out our U.S buyer navigate through Senegal and develop new products. It was a very productive visit and between my leather workers, the baskets, and some other small projects, I am being kept quite busy for the time being. Other than that, some close friends of mine are all in the process of COSing (COS = Close of Service), so I’ll be saying goodbye to them over the next few weeks, which is never fun. Later this month, I’ll be going to Popenguine (where my friend Ankith works) and going on a fishing trip, which I’m really excited about. That’s about it for now, I’m exhausted from having spent 10 hours in the village.

For the first time in a year and a half (has it really been that long?!?), I am going to give advice on here. I won’t go into specifics since this website is increasingly visible to the public, but my advice to current and future PCVs is: DO NOT LET NGOs TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUR FREE LABOR. That is all.

Ba ci kanaam.

W.A.I.S.T

2010-02-18T19:04:00.001-06:00

After 365 days of waiting, Peace Corps volunteers from all over West Africa were once again treated to the festivities of WAIST. The West African Invitational Softball Tournament has been going on in Dakar for 37 years now, and is easily the most anticipated event for just about every volunteer in Senegal. Volunteers from many other countries, including Mali, The Gambia, Benin, and Burkina Faso also make their way for the tournament, making it all that more exciting. Last year, my group had just finished IST, so we were still quite new. This year, however, we had the memories of last years WAIST in our minds, as well as another year in Senegal under belts, so we were even more pumped for the tournament. In a nutshell, WAIST is fun boot camp. Waking up at 8 or 9, we spend the entire day in the sun, playing softball, volleyball, or even Marco Polo in the pool. The nighttime activities usually last until about 5 a.m on average, leaving the PCV looking quite ragged by the third day. The Peace Corps medical staff is on high alert the entire time, and they are often called upon to provide assistance with injuries due to softball and general debauchery.

This year was a bit different in that Peace Corps Senegal was able to field a competitive team. There are two leagues in WAIST, a social one and a competitive one. Since we usually lack any means of fielding a legitimate softball team (also considering the fact that we wear costumes that often impede our movement/visibility), PC teams are usually relegated to the social league. That said, this year, a few of us gathered to field a competitive team, which was a ton of fun, even if we got destroyed in every game but one. Thus, playing on both a social team and a competitive one, I was kept quite busy playing softball until I twisted my ankle sliding into second base. I could say so much more about WAIST, but the ability to see everyone in one place and act like a kid again makes the event one of the most fun I’ve ever experienced, especially the second time around.

Now that I’m back in Ngaye, I’m focusing on managing the order my leather workers received right before the GRE/WAIST, as well as the order for the baskets we are currently processing. I will be taking periodic trips to Thies over the next few weeks to help train newer volunteers for their IST, so this should be a busy few weeks. As for the GRE, I felt that it went pretty well, but will only know for sure in a few weeks when I get my results back.

That’s about it for now. Hope all is well stateside and everyone is getting ready for the baseball season to start (I will be taking a trip to Dakar just for our fantasy league draft so it better be a good season). Ba ci kanaam!

Pictures are 1) The Dakar social league (I am front center in the green mask with matching leggings…boom goes the dynamite), 2) Typical on-field WAIST antics, 3) “Les Nationales” (I am in front with taped ankle), 4) Teammate Cruger smacking a ball, 5) Myself, Peter (who has been in PC since 2005!), and Ankit getting ready to bartend for the biggest party of the year.

Ghetto Fitness

2010-01-31T16:07:00.004-06:00

Well, only a few more days to the GRE. The past few weeks have been spent alternating between studying for the GRE, working with my artisans, and working out at Ghetto Fitness. About 2-3 times a week, myself and a few other volunteers from the region meet up in Thies to work out at the local gym. Sporting the most appropriate name ever, it is called "Ghetto Fitness Club". The inside resembles what I imagine a gym within a federal prison might look like. There are no lights, only the sunshine coming through the wide open doors. Rusty weights, some made with used car parts, are strewn about the floor in the most unorganized fashion imaginable. When we work out, not only do we stand out as toubabs (duh), we are also by far the least athletic people there. Imagine a High School debate team sharing the gym with the Dallas Cowboys, and that's Ghetto Fitness in a nutshell. With all that said, the staff is made up of some of the friendliest people I have met in this country, and they are always ready to greet me with a "FALLOU! Boroom u Ngaay!" (Fallou, the boss of Ngaye!) whenever I walk in.

Tomorrow I'll be heading into Dakar to take care of some things before the GRE. Tuesday through Friday, I'll be sitting by the pool at the American Club doing practice exams until the main event on Saturday. Having finished the GRE, I will help out with preparations for the All Volunteer Conference taking place on the 12-13th. I've been volunteered to give a session entitled "Artisan Best Practices". It feels strange to be preparing this session since I still somehow feel new to all of this. It happened without any of us noticing, but my stage is now considered an experienced group and we are expected to share the knowledge we've gained over the past year to the newer volunteers.

After All Volunteer comes the long awaited West African Invitational Softball Tournament (WAIST, for short). Needless to say, this is the highlight of the year for most volunteers, and is an absolute blast. During WAIST, each region competes in a softball tournament in hopes of gaining no recognition whatsoever. The goal is fun, and I'm pretty sure we all come out winners. Traditionally, each region chooses a theme to dress up as during the tournament, and this aspect of WAIST is taken quite seriously. Meetings are held, tempers flare, and fights erupt over what the theme for WAIST will be. This year, the esteemed members of the Dakar region have chosen "Professional Wrestling" as the theme, and I'm happy to say that costumes are looking splendid so far. I won't say that much more until I can provide evidence, but the pictures should be awesome. Additionally, a few of us have managed to enter an All-Senegal Peace Corps team into the competitive league (which historically has been avoided by Peace Corps, since we play barefoot and are usually a little too "rowdy"). I'm quite excited about this, since we are getting jerseys made (I will be #9, Niang) and will be able to enjoy a higher quality game.

That about sums it up for now. Hopefully my next update can involve sentences such as "I can't believe how easy the GRE was after all that studying!". Until then, ba ci kanaam.

Indi GRE bi

2010-01-08T18:47:00.005-06:00

Happy New Year to everyone!
I returned safely to Senegal a few days ago and then came back to Ngaye shortly thereafter. Coming back was a bit stressful in that traveling with large amounts of luggage in this country is both frustrating and tiring (and I don't even live that far from Dakar). People constantly try to rip you off on baggage prices and you have to watch for thieves. Flying back was also quite a bit more nerve wracking than the first time around for some reason. I suspect that it's probably because I originally came here with my stage and everyone was a bit nervous, which allowed us to take comfort in the fact that everyone was going through something intense. This time around, sitting by myself in seat 63F, I sat and pondered where the next year would take me, and what crazy adventures Senegal and 2010 were going to drag me in. I guess it's somewhat comparable to being in line for a rollercoaster, you know that it's going to be fun, but it still scares you a bit for some reason. But here I am, back in Ngaye, as if nothing had changed.

Coming home to Austin was fantastic. Having the chance to spend the holidays with my family, as well as being able to appreciate the relative ease of life (you've been in Africa too long when the idea of ordering a pizza on the phone sounds like heaven) that America offers was great. So, now that I'm back, life continues as it did before. 2010 should be a good year for my artisans, as a new basket order is about to come in, and my leather workers are close to finally exporting their shoes. Also, our baskets were featured in the "What's Hot" section of Elle Decor magazine in the Nov/Dec issue, so check it out!

Anyways, I will be taking the GRE in exactly 29 days (Feb. 6th), so I am now focusing on kicking butt on it. It's actually incredibly refreshing to have something to study for again! I thought it would be quite miserable to memorize vocab word after vocab word, but I've been enjoying it quite a bit. The GRE is perfectly timed in that it will be directly followed by WAIST, which is essentially Christmas for Peace Corps Volunteers. More will be written about WAIST as it approaches so I will leave you all with my favorite picture from the holidays and the one I will be looking at every time I turn on my computer from now on! For those who have not had the pleasure of meeting him, this is Ruckus, our Pembroke Welsh Corgi, and a most awesome member of our family. Anyways, I hope everyone is doing well back home and thank you to my whole family (especially you Grandma!) for bringing me home for Christmas! Duma raggal ci GRE bi! (I am NOT afraid of the GRE!)

J’ai faim, quoi

2009-12-15T19:38:00.001-06:00

Well, tomorrow afternoon I will be heading off to Dakar in order to start my vacation. The past few weeks have been hectic, and things won’t really slow down until I step onto the plane. This past weekend Peace Corps hosted an artisanal exposition in Dakar (at the American club, specifically). This was my 3rd expo here in Senegal, and it went quite well all things considered. Our basket association sold a solid amount of baskets, and the artisanal network as a whole sold right around $3,000 worth of products (some of which you all might be lucky to get in a few days…).

One big downer on the weekend was that one of my leather workers, Moussa Gueye got in a car accident on his way to the expo. He fared better than the other passengers in the car, but he essentially has a broken hip. I visited him today in Thies (any serious injuries in our area are usually treated in Thies, where they have proper medical care), and the doctor came in to tell him he should get a hip replacement, which is a very expensive solution in this part of the world. I’m not sure how the situation will turn out, but I wish Moussa the best, and hope he’ll be able to get back to work soon. On a side note, I never want to visit a communal emergency room in Africa ever again.

That’s about it for now. I’m scrambling to get things ready for vacation so I don’t have too much time to update people on everything, but I will do so once I get to Texas. For now, here are some pictures of the artisanal expo and of the flyer I made for the expo. The last picture is myself and several of my stage mates doing what we do best: party like rock stars. Ba ci kanaam!

“Don’t you have something for me?”

2009-11-30T13:46:00.003-06:00

Well, a whirlwind of activites not involving work has just come to an end, so I'll provide a summary. The week before Thanksgiving, my friend Thomas and I decided to do a bike trip from Ngaye to Kaloack. The distance is not too far (140km), and we wanted to visit people along the way, so we didn't exhaust ourselves too badly. All in all it was an absolute blast and I definitely want to do another bike trip in the future. Halfway through the 2nd day (going from Bambey to Fatick), we ran into a kid who exemplified the Wolof attitude better than most. As we sat on the side of the road taking a small break, a well dressed teenager came up to us on his own bike (and a decently nice one at that). Once we had exchanged the typical greetings, the kid just stood there quietly. After maybe a minute or two, he grew impatient and blurted out “Don’t you have something for me?!?”, as if as toubabs, we simply carried around a large bag of gifts to give to anyone and everyone. Failing to hide my frustration, I simply told him that we were not going to give him anything, and proceeded to get back in my bike. As we rolled off, he kept repeating the same thing over and over again: “Why not?”. It’s this aspect of the culture that I will simply never understand, and will always get frustrated at. Other than that, the trip went great and I’m glad to have had the time to do it.

After a birthday party in Kaolack, Thomas and I rushed back (by car this time) to our sites to get ready for Thanksgiving. About 25 volunteers were lucky enough to get invited to the Ambassador’s house for Thanksgiving dinner, and it’s safe to say it wasn’t a disappointment. A few of us even cooked sides that turned out quite nicely (my group made green bean casserole). The next morning we were up at 5:30am to get back to our sites, since the following day was Tabaski. Being the biggest holiday of the year, we all wanted to get back in time to get ready for the event. For me, this involved helping my host father carry two struggling sheep into a shack, where they would spend their last night. The next morning, I awoke and had a leisurely breakfast with my mothers and sisters while the men went to the Mosque. With their return, the show was set to begin. To avoid freaking anyone out, I will refrain from posting pictures of the actual slaughtering, but you’re interested, let me know and I can send you some wild ones.

After the slaughter, we went to work cutting up the animals (I helped out by holding a leg here and there in order to give more room for my host brothers to work with). Soon enough, we were eating ribs and liver with mashed potatoes, and needless to say, it was pretty tasty (compared to a usual meal here, of course). Later on we had more meat, and then some more, and then some. In the evening, people went about town visiting friends and family. It’s a tradition to ask for forgiveness from the people you know in order to begin a new year on the right foot. After yet another meat filled dinner, I was pretty tired and called it a night.

Well, that pretty much summarizes the past week or so. For now, I’m working on a few things here and there, and will be working with my leather workers to get them ready for the artisanal expo on December 12th-13th. After that, as you may or may not know, I will be going to TEXAS for the holidays! Anyways, hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving, see you all soon!

P.S – Pictures are of the middle of nowhere between Ngaye and Bambey (1), me looking on in Baba-Garage (2), Thomas adjusting his bike during a break (notice the size of the Baobab!) (3), preparing to slaughter the sheep (4), and Tabaski dinner with my host family (5).

Softball and baskets…again

2009-11-18T16:52:00.001-06:00

It’s been a little while since I’ve written, but all is well here. I had an extra long stay in Dakar that involved my mid-service physical, a visit with a high ranking Peace Corps official, softball, and shipping baskets. Softball has become perhaps my favorite thing about Dakar region. Once every 2 weeks, we get together and play in a recreational league against other expats and some Senegalese teams. Being by far the least advantaged team on the field (we are usually barefoot and more often than not, a few too many beers in…), I’m happy to say that we’re sitting on a 3-1 record so far. I guess talent and youth can prevail over dedication. These games usually go on throughout the winter and culminate the week before WAIST, when we will be in the playoffs, inch Allah . First picture is of my previously nearest neighbor, Daniel, hitting a line drive to center field. Second picture is Cruger (left), congratulating my stage mate Ankith (right) on a run scored.

The work portion of my trip included an 18 hour debacle that was the packing of our container. As stated in my previous post, our baskets were done and ready to be sent to Dakar for packing and shipping. Our U.S buyer had asked that a volunteer be at the location of the packing to oversee the process, which I would have done even if she didn’t ask. Through a combination of miscommunication and ineptitude on the part of the containers supervisor, I found myself in Rufisque (a far out suburb of Dakar, seen here in the first picture) at 6:30AM last Thursday for no good reason. With 3 large trucks full of baskets on the way (or so I thought), one of them made a quick stop to pick me up and take me to where the container actually was. It was then that I realized it was going to be a long day.

To make a long story short, the container HAD to be filled on Thursday, and someone had to stay with it until ALL the baskets were loaded in order to properly lock it once it was full. While the 1st truck came into Dakar on time, the 2nd and 3rd were not so lucky, with delays of 6 and 12 hours, respectively. Thus, after filling the container with 2 trucks worth of baskets (see 2nd picture), we waited until 8:30pm, when the last truck rolled in. Around 10:30pm, we realized we had yet another problem: there wasn’t enough room in the container for all the baskets. With 82 baskets not being able to fit inside the container, we had to find a place to temporarily store them, which resulted in a late night transport of the baskets to an apartment in Dakar where 5 volunteers live. In short, it was a extremely stressful and exhausting experience I hope I don’t have to repeat again. The good news is that the container will be leaving Friday, and consequently our job was successful, if not messy. The even BETTER news is that one month from today, I will be making a 17 hour trek across the Atlantic to go HOME. For 2 weeks, I will be basking in the glory of the U.S.A, enjoying the holidays with my family, and eating myself into a comma. Anyways, for now I’m preparing to take a bike trip to Kaolack with a buddy from my stage. Upon return, I will head off to Dakar, where the Ambassador is kind enough to be throwing a Thanksgiving party. 2 days later will come Tabaski, so I will rush home for that. So I’m off to bed now, hope all is well back home and see you all in one month! Dinaa gis sama waa ker ci ay vacances yi!

Baskets!

2009-10-31T17:27:00.004-05:00

Not too much to update on. I spent the last few weeks managing the latest basket order, and progress is coming along nicely. Within 10 days or so, our order should ship out and we'll be able to focus on making a few changes to streamline further orders. Once it is clear exactly how much th association can contribute, we'll be submitting a Peace Corps Partnership Application to try to get funds to build a storage facility for all the baskets (see attached pictures for why this is needed).
Other than that, life goes on as always. Next weekend will be a typically awesome weekend in Dakar, as we'll enjoy softball, followed by volleyball, followed by even more softball, and topped off with some live college football. Afterwards, I'll stay an extra day or two in Dakar to complete my mid-service physical, which should be loads of fun. Anyways, hope all is well back home. A plus tard!

The Boys Are Back in Town

2009-10-17T17:04:00.005-05:00

As some of you may know, my good friend John came here to visit me in Senegal a few weeks ago. As a volunteer in Lesotho, John is experiencing a wildly different aspect of Africa than I am here. Thus, with a short 2 weeks to show him the country, we made the most of it, seeing quite a few of the major spots in Senegal, including Cap Skirring (nicest beach in Senegal, and also the closest point in Africa to Brazil), Popenguine, Ziguinshore, Kedougou, Ngaye Mekhe, and of course, Dakar. Moving at a breakneck pace, we barely spent more than one or two nights in one place. The most memorable part of our trip (I can guarantee that John will agree with me on this...) came down in Kedougou region, where we took the challenge to visit a beautiful waterfall that was reputed to be a "quick 4 hour bike ride" away.
23 hours later, exhausted, dehydrated and underfed, we arrived at these mystical waterfalls. With a group of 8 people, we had horrible luck in terms of bikes breaking down, and having to ford a 4 foot deep river with all of our stuff didn't help (there was a bridge to cross, but upon seeing this bridge, it was clear that fording this river was BY FAR a better option, since most of us were interested in staying alive). When it got dark around 6:30 p.m the first night, we had to ask a random Pulaar village if we could spend the night, which caused great excitement among the villagers. After a usual nighttime rainstorm from hell that almost blew our tent over, we were eager to get going the next morning. So, having left at noon the previous day, we finally arrived at around 11 a.m. Thankfully, the waterfalls were truly beautiful, or we would have been seriously pissed off. Other than that little overly intense adventure, the trip couldn't have gone any better, and it was a blast to say the least. See bottom for pictures. I am putting up all the pictures from the trip on a Picasa album, so go there for more pictures!

Now I'm back in Ngaye and bearing down with work. Coordinating the latest basket order, as well as filling out funding applications for both my leather workers and the basket association will be taking up most of my time for the next few weeks. Soccer season has started here, so I'll be going to a few games a week with my host family to watch local kids play (see pic at bottom). On November 1st, I will be continuing my tradition of stupidity when I attempt to swim from Dakar to Goree island. As an annual event, this organized swim is one of the top 5 longest open ocean swims on the continent. I've heard about this event ever since coming to this country, and have been determined to complete it when given the chance. Obviously, there are no swimming opportunities here in Ngaye (the country club is closed right now, so no tennis or golf either!), but I am doing my best by running a lot and working out a ton. I'm off to bed now so I can be competent for an early Sunday morning run, but hope all is well back home and that everyone is enjoying playoff baseball as much as I am! I'll try to be more frequent with updates so stay tuned. Ba ci kanaam!

On the boat to Zinguinshore

Popenguine

Night in a Pulaar village

Ready to roll the next morning...spirits still high

Post river crossing...notice how deep the mud is

John, being a badass

Victory! At last!

Kicking it with cows in Cap Skirring

Local soccer game in Ngaye

Korite

2009-09-22T17:07:00.006-05:00

Yesterday was my 2nd Korite in Senegal. While the names and faces were completely different from my previous Korite, the day was spent much in the same way. In the morning, we ate breakfast like we normally do (outside of the month of Ramadan, of course), and then the men went off to the mosque to pray. From around 11am to 6pm, we basically sat around all day, enjoying the shade from trees and eating great food throughout the course of the day. Chicken, beef, lemonade, soda, popsicles, and dates were on the menu, and I can't say that I was complaining too much. In the evening, everyone got dressed up and took pictures, as well as walked around town visiting other families. To be honest, Korite is quite boring. We all sat for 7 hours talking about the same stuff we usually talk about, such as the ever popular question "Gallas, where are your girlfriends? And why aren't they here?" (They still ask me this, even though I've told them many times that I am not hiding a stash of girls in Dakar). That said, it's apparent that this is an important holiday for my family and the community, so I did my best to act like I was having the time of my life. Next on the agenda will be Tabaski, which is an even bigger deal than Korite, and promises to be quite the feast.
That's all I really have to say for now, just wanted to upload some pictures of Korite. My buddy John is flying in Saturday night, and I'm happy to say that I've planned what I deem to be a pretty awesome trip full of danger and adventure. Anyways, hope all is well on the home front. Ba ci kanaam!

Pictures are as follows --> 1)My namesake, Fallou Gallas and I (he is a complete clown, and my nickname for him is Golo, aka monkey)
2)Family members lounging about and making tea during the day
3)Me and my baby brother, Ahmet (notice my awesome Boubou outfit)
4)A light near my room. Yes, we have a lot of bugs...

365 Days later...

2009-09-11T08:43:00.006-05:00

Exactly one year ago, the adventure we've come to call "Peace Corps" began in earnest. On September 11th, 2008, 40 toubabs arrived in Dakar, not knowing in the least what they were in store for. In truth, it's incredibly hard to believe that an entire year has flown by since that fateful morning. But in these past 365 days, my peers and I made new friends, learned new languages, acquired new "family" members, and of course, lowered our hygienic standards by a substantial amount. Together, we've shared some incredible experiences, and some awful ones that I somehow remember fondly, solely because of the company I was in. We've all had our highs and lows in this country, and it's safe to say that other volunteers are the greatest source of support when having a bad day. My greatest concern coming into this experience was what the other volunteers would be like. Having moved around my whole life, I knew how much harder these two years would be if I didn't have some friends to rely on. Thankfully, I've gotten to know some amazing people out here that have defined my service thus far. The good times were made even better due to having friends around, and the bad times were easier to handle with said company present. It's also important to understand that these are the only people in the world that can truly understand where we're coming from on many issues. When someone barges into a regional house saying "I wish this country would sink into the ocean and never be spoken of again!", you understand. When you sit on the beach, eating a mango the size of your head while watching a breathtaking sunset over the Atlantic, those next to you understand when you say "I never want to go home". With one year down, I'm making a mental note to enjoy this next year as much as possible, because all good things come to an end. As expected, this has been the most defining year of my life, and I cannot wait to see what the next 365 days have in store for me.

I spent the last few days in Dakar celebrating a friend's birthday, and just got back to Ngaye today. Combining the birthday with our one year anniversary, we had a blast. After a whole day of enjoying the pool and sun, we went off to a fantastic restaurant (where I had an actual Tex-Mex burrito), We're going to visit my leather workers a few times, as well as take a day trip out to the villages to get a first hand look at the production line. It should a be good experience and I'm looking forward to meeting my new neighbors for the upcoming year. Also, as some of you may know, my buddy John Anhalt will be flying in for 2 weeks on the 26th, which will be awesome to say the least. Well, I'm off to get some work done/clean up my room, but I hope everyone is doing well back home. I should note that today should not be a particularly uplifting day, as it is the 8th year anniversary of 9/11, so take my optimism with a grain of salt. So, for now, ba 11 Septembre bidi new! (until the next 11th of September).

Pictures are from N'Ice Cream (location of the 23 minute all-you-can-eat fest), and of Dakar at dusk from a friends balcony.

A Tale of Two Landscapes

2009-08-21T10:31:00.005-05:00

When I left in early July for vacation, the landscape here was just starting to change. After no rain for about 9 months, the scenery was about as barren as could be, with only some shrubs and the occasional tree providing any color. When the rains finally started, I was just about to leave, so things looked quite the same. Upon my return, I was confused. Had I landed in Central Africa? What was this place with greenery flowing from all ends? Everywhere I looked, everything was green and lush. In fact, when I finally rolled back into Ngaye Mekhe, I had a hard time recognizing the town. Since the dry season is so long, literally the second that rain starts falling, the plants start to grow furiously. Obviously, there is still lots of sand, and for those missing the desert, it's still not too far away. Here are two pictures (the first of which I took during the dry season, the second a few minutes ago) to illustrate the change.

In other news, work is going well. It's looking like we'll have yet another basket order later this fall, which is great. Also, I'm going to start filling out some applications with our work partner in order to get a storage unit built for the village. Currently, our work partner stores ALL of the baskets in his home once they are finished. This last order, having 2600 baskets created quite a few problems for our work partner, as he had to give up a good majority of his compound when the rains started. Having a legitimate place to store baskets is essential for this association, and hopefully we'll be able to start constructing one in the near future. Also, I'll be making a catalog with my leather workers over the next few weeks so we can have all their models presented in an easy to access file that could increase their chances of securing an overseas buyer. That's all for now, I'm off to go run in the 100 degree sun...Ba ci kanaam!

The vacation to end all vacations

2009-08-11T18:28:00.003-05:00

After a lengthy and fantastic vacation, I have successfully returned to Senegal. I wasn't in desperate need for a vacation, but the opportunity to visit Eastern Europe (with someone who knows quite a bit about the area) is one I couldn't pass up. Ever since my brother moved out to Serbia in the fall of 2006, I have been trying to find time to visit him. Three years later, there I was, sitting on an Airbus A320, grinning from ear to ear as the jet rocketed down the runway of Leopold Senghor International Airport. Upon arrival in Serbia, our little trio (my mother, my brother and I) spent a few days walking around Belgrade and eating amazing food. Then, thanks to the support of both our parents, Elliott and I ventured off on a tour of the Balkans. In a 10 day span, we saw various parts of Montenegro (including the beautiful Durmitor National Park, where we camped), Bosnia (including Jahorina, the site of the 1984 Winter Olympics), Sarajevo, and Dubrovnik (Croatia).

Simply put, I could not have asked for a better vacation. Not only did I get to enjoy the thing I miss the most as a volunteer (Western food), but I also got to spend time with my family and have a crazy adventure to top it off. Now, having returned to my "real" life, I'm ready and excited for the upcoming year here in Senegal. Even though the timing of my trip was unfortunate in respect to our basket order, the first container of baskets was sent to Dakar and shipped off with no problems that we know of. We will, however, have to set up a 2nd container to send the remainder of the order. As far as my leather workers, we'll be working on making a full fledged catalog over the next few weeks, as well as hopefully editing their video footage into a movie. In exactly one month, my stage and I will celebrate the one year anniversary since we arrived in Senegal. The fact that we've almost finished one whole year here is very strange indeed, and I will probably spend quite a bit of time over the next few weeks pondering how fast time flies. Anyway, I'm putting up a Picasa album with pictures from the trip so people can see all of them. Hope everyone is doing well and I'm glad to hear you're doing better Grandma! Ba ci kanaam!

PCV Gaines is M.I.A

2009-07-15T06:10:00.001-05:00

No updates in awhile. If you didn't know by now, I am on vacation. I will be in Eastern Europe until early August. Internet is somewhat inconsistent in my current location, so updates will be short. Upon returning to Senegal, I'll write something more substantial. For now, I hope my PCV friends are enjoying the great scenery and weather that Senegal offers, and I'll see you all in August. Mangiy noos REKK!

Goree!

2009-06-24T18:11:00.006-05:00

I've just retired to my room for the night. After watching a stunning (and needless to say, AWESOME) victory for the U.S soccer team over Spain, I decided to be awesome myself by buying some sodas for the family. To my extremely conservative Muslim family, buying 2 big bottles of Sprite is the social equivalent of buying everyone a drink at the bar, and thus it was a small party at my house tonight. Despite having no power for most the night, we sat there drinking soda by cell phone light, laughing about how happy I was that the U.S won ("Gallas kontan na!" they kept on saying). Tomorrow it's back to work, as now my leather workers have been getting interest from foreign buyers. We have to essentially prepare an online catalog and make some spreadsheets outlining all of their product line in order to advance in this process. That will definitely keep us all busy until I head off to Kedougou and then (gasp!) Eastern Europe for vacation. This is in addition to the basket order that continues to progress (they're almost done with production!).

This past weekend was once again spent in Dakar, but this time I actually had some work, meeting with the head of my leather workers about getting the online catalog set up. It was also my last chance to see one of my friends before he went home so we took a trip out to Goree island on Saturday. For those in the dark, Goree was a very popular stop-off point for slave traders back in the day, and thus has some fairly significant historical relevance. The island has kept its colonial charm and preserved the historical buildings that made it famous, and thus is a big attraction for tourists and Senegalese alike (there are often school trips going there). There is a well maintained boat (anything well maintained in this country is worth taking note of) that runs every hour or so to the island and back. Being the cool Peace Corps volunteers that we are, we very slightly impressed the other toubabs there by getting the "resident" price. After walking around for awhile, we took a visit through the museum (which still has its original cannons in place), and also visited the famous "maison des esclaves" (slave house), which was quite sobering. Pictures were not allowed inside the house, so the door sign is all you get (see bottom). All in all it was really a great trip. We spend so much time in this country experiencing the frustrating parts of it (namely local transportation) that we seldom get to appreciate its more attractive features. Goree as one of those times where I was really able to see that Senegal CAN be a incredible place to visit. I also really enjoyed seeing school children out there. I think it's extremely important for kids to have some pride in their country and its history, and Goree is a fantastic place to instill some of those values. In a country where the youth is often forgotten, it was encouraging to see kids running around the island, learning about their country while having the time of their life. Especially when many of these kids are coming from families that may never even have SEEN Dakar, let alone Goree. It's for this exact reason that I was alright with paying $10 (don't laugh, I make $90 a week here...) for my host brother to go on his school trip to Goree back in May. Having now seen it for myself, I'm very pleased he got to have the experience. I'm off to bed, as the next week promises to be pretty busy. Hope people back home are doing well and that everyone will watch the U.S play the final of the Confederation Cup on Sunday! Etats-Unis laa faral!!!

Work Updates

2009-06-10T18:20:00.005-05:00

Earlier today I returned from a productive, yet very fun week-long stay in Dakar. Around 40 volunteers (or more) gathered in Dakar to help out with the 3rd artisanal exposition at the American club. This time, we combined forces with the Eco-Tourism volunteers to make it a joint artisanal/Eco-T expo. In preparation, I had transported some baskets around and also made a nice brochure for my leather workers (see attached PDFs. Can you spot the typo?). The expo itself went pretty well, despite the fact that we didn't sell as much as we did time. Many of the artisans there did, however, gain valuable experience and feedback on their products that will help them improve their ventures. Unfortunately, I left the battery to my camera in its charger here in Ngaye and thus was not able to snap any pictures. Obviously, we did manage to sneak in a few mandatory games of volleyball during the expo, prompting one artisan to comment "So...after lunch is done, all Senegalese people drink tea. Do all Americans play volleyball after lunch?"...

Before the expo, I had taken a few field trips to our basket villages to measure baskets and hand out salaries based on the number of baskets succesfully completed. Even though I'll be going back several times in the coming weeks, I don't particularly like doing it, since the image of a white man strolling into a village with $1,600 in his pocket is not what I like to call development. Obviously, someone has to do it, and it's the end goal of the project (to increase the salaries of the women making the baskets). That said, we're working very hard on making one of our counterparts do this, so that the women don't just start associating the white men with money (since everyone else in this country does that already). The last picture is of one of the villages I visited a few weeks ago (notice how the woman in blue seems very happy...she happens to be holding over $1000 in her hand...). Anyways, for now I'm back to working with the baskets, and am counting down the days until Eastern Europe (Peace Corps offically approved me for my vacation today!) Dafa Neex koi!

Bassari Festival!

2009-05-25T17:40:00.005-05:00

About a week and a half ago I went down to Kedougou with some other volunteers to witness a Bassari initiation festival. The event was located in a village about 80 Kilometers from Kedougou, so we had to take a 2 hour car ride, followed by a 2 hour hike to get to the village. My first impression of the area was how different the landscape is. Instead of dry, desert like plains with nothing but sand in sight for miles, we were greeted by beautiful rolling hills with pretty little villages sprinkled across the area. Arriving at night, there was a pre-initiation party that was a blast to attend, since there probably enough palm wine going around to supply the U.S Army.
The next morning, the true festivities began. Young boys, averaging 12-14 years old, watched as the seasoned warriors paraded around the village, dressed head to toe in their war tunics. It was quite an impressive sight. After a few hours of slow but entertaining parades, a small level of chaos broke out. With no warning whatsoever, everyone started running down the hill. Trying hard not to fall, I sped down the hill in my Chacos, not really understanding what was going on. Once at the bottom, we found that there was a large plain, and immediately we knew why everyone had hurried down. The ritualistic fights were set to begin. Each young boy would be given wooden weapons to test his mettle against one of the warriors. During the combat stage, no women were allowed within 200 yards or so (the girls in our group were promptly forced to leave and back up the hill). Also, photography was strictly prohibited (this rule was fanatically upheld, with perpetrators having their cameras snatched away from them). Thus, one by one, the young men took their turns fighting the older, much stronger men. Usually, after about one or two swings, the combatants dropped their weapons and wrestled until one was taken to the ground. Of about 40 or so fights we saw, only once did the youth come out victorious. It was incredibly fun to watch, since shouting and jeering seemed to be encouraged.

On the road to Kedougou, waiting so that our driver could bribe the police...

Some Bassari warriors

After the fighting was over, we packed up our gear and headed back to Kedougou. Coming into Kedougou had taken us 13 hours, since we had rented out a 7place to leave from Thies at 5am. However, my trip home was not destined to be so quick. Combined, it took me approximately 22 hours to get back to Ngaye. Either way, it was a great trip and I'm happy to have seen some of my friends down there. As for work, our basket order is in full swing, and I will be going to different villages this week to hand out the first round of salaries and do some quality control. Aside from that, I may start working with some women's groups in town that try to sell and advocate solar ovens. Finally, I'm finishing up a fancy little brochure for my leather workers so that they can have something to hand out when they go to the artisanal expo in Dakar early next month. Anyways, I hope everyone is doing well back home. Ba ci kanaam!

P.S I got my supervisor to sign my vacation form today. Serbia here I come!

The Trek

2009-05-10T18:15:00.011-05:00

As the crow flies, I live 18 miles from the ocean. Since this distance seems rather minimal in the grand scale of things, I've always wanted to walk to the ocean from Ngaye. I brought this idea up to a few people, each time garnering some questionable looks. But apparently I've become quite convincing, and managed to sucker 3 friends of mine into this adventure. Thus, Thursday night, 4 of us (Thomas, Daniel, Justin and I) met at a fantastic chicken restaurant in Thies to have a feast (1st picture) before the start of the trek. We then took a cab back to my town, where we made some last minute preparations and got a decent nights sleep.

At precisely 5:30AM the next morning, we charged out of my house with our headlamps and headed west. Our goal was to make it to Mboro (a town 2-3 miles from the ocean) where we would regroup with a volunteer there and then continue onto the ocean. As the sun slowly rose in our backs (2nd picture), we walked briskly, intent of making as much progress as possible while it was still fairly cool out. Soon enough, we were trudging through sandy field after sandy field, still going directly west. While trudging through these fields, we spotted some dunes far in the distance, and wondered what we would find behind them. About 5 hours later, we finally hit the dunes (3rd picture - Myself and Justin), climbing them in a nervous energy to see the view from the top (4th picture). For such a barren territory, we were all shocked at the austere beauty of the view from the top. We also made an interesting discovery from the top of these dunes: between us and the ocean lay a massive posphorous factory stretching several miles of land. To get to Mboro, we would simply have to walk right through the middle of the factorys grounds. Approaching the gargatuan man-made mountains of rock, we silently wondered if this was a good idea. After all, if 4 random hikers walked through the heart of a U.S factory snooping around, they would quickly be dispatched and told never to come back.

Upon arriving at the heart of the factory, we were relieved to see that everyone was incredibly friendly to us. Not only were the employees fine with us being there, they were elated to see toubabs walking around and speaking Wolof to them. So, after a healthy detour at the factory (5th picture), we made our way through the end of it, to find some dry stretches of land. For me, this would be the most tenuous part of the trip. Having thus far avoided any blisters on my feet, I was feeling great and at the front of the pack. Suddenly, the dry earth (6th picture)started getting softer, and then much softer. Before I could make a comment, my right leg sank straight into soft (and seemingly neverending) mud. Blurting out my share of expletives, I was helped out of the trap by Daniel. So yes, I've essentially been a victim of quicksand, as my shoe and leg were caked with enough mud to make any sign of skin invisible. For about another 2 hours, we trudged along, our pace slowing quite a bit due to blisters and the increasingly intense heat of the day. Passing through the fertile (and beatiful) fields near Mboro, we could sense the finish line. Finally, at around 4pm, we were met by Devon (the Mboro volunteer) on the national route going into Mboro. Handing each one of us a cold beer, he commented that the ocean was still probably 2 hours away by foot. Downing our beers, we decided that we were spent and that our trek would end here in Mboro (7th picture...notice the caked mud on my leg).

After spending a few hours at Devon's and in the local bar, we limped into cars and headed to our respective homes. Around 9:30pm, I staggered back into my home. Needless to say, my host family was flaberghasted that I would do such a thing and quickly let me know that I was absolutely insane, yet brave. Strangely enough, I wasn't all that sore today considering we ended up walking around 25 miles (due to our navigational errors). I am elated that we were able to pull this off, because it showed us all that this region of the country does have some really cool areas that need to be explored some more. I don't think the walk will be repeated for quite some time, but the next time it is, I feel confident that I'll be there.

Are you serious?!?

2009-04-29T13:37:00.003-05:00

WARNING: There are gruesome pictures at the bottom of this post. Do not scroll down if you are squeamish!

Just a little while ago, I had attached a basket to my bike and was leaving town on the way to a village. On the busiest street in town, I was happily weaving my way through the human traffic. Suddenly, out of my peripheral vision I saw a small black object coming at me, much like a miniaturised boulder from a catapult. Surely enough, it landed squarely on my left hand. I immediately stopped my bike and got off, seeing two children with terrified looks in their faces. "KAN MOOY SANNI KO?!?!?!" I shouted (Who threw it?), and then each child pointed at the other. As I looked down, my hand started bleeding profusely. Infuriated, I took just one step towards the children before they ran like the wind. Within seconds, a small crowd of people had formed around me. They were incredibly helpful for me, bringing water to wash off the wound and wrapping it in a cloth. After strict instructions to go straight to the hospital,I slowly biked back home, where I cleaned everything off and took some gory pictures (Do not scroll too far down if you are averse to blood). It's perfectly fine now, but I'm just very angry that someone would actually throw a rock the size of an orange at me. Thankfully it only hit my hand, but what if it hit me in the face? As frustrating as something like this is, it was encouraging to see so many people concerned and worried for me. Part of me feels bad because I'm sure those kids will be found and beaten the crap out of, which is pretty unecessary. Other than that, things are going well, our basket order is progressing, and I will be in Dakar for work and some "noosing" (having fun) this weekend. A Plus tard!

The bowl I used to clean my hand out...

The Mangroves of Senegal

2009-04-20T13:26:00.003-05:00

Not having that much going on this past weekend, I jumped at the opportunity to see some of my friends from the Kaolack region. Historically, every region hosts some party or holiday during the course of the year. Some examples the Thanksgiving party in Ndioum, Halloween in Tambacounda, and 4th of July in Kedougou. This past weekend was the Kaolack region party. Instead of hosting the event in Kaolack, a small dockside residence was rented out for us near Sokone, a region of Senegal fairly close to the Gambia and next to some beautiful mangroves. Arriving in the mid afternoon, we immediately started swimming in the salty (yet still pretty clear) water. Soon enough, we were climbing the actual mangroves (despite them bring covered in oysters, crabs, and mud) in order to do canonballs from the top of some branches, with each jump garnering even more cuts and scrapes than the previous one. As the Senegalese sun started setting (see 3rd picture), we enjoyed beer and bean sandwiches as we took turns telling stories of crazy times in Africa (4th picture). The nightime led to the usual rowdiness I have come to expect from fraternizing with this crowd, and as always, it was a blast.

The next morning we lumbered ourselves into a pirogue for a tour of the mangroves. After a relaxing 45 minute ride, we arrived at a so-called "shell island" (Ile de Coquillage). As the name implies, the beachside of this small island was covered in pretty little shells. After a quick hike around the island, we came across a sacred Baobab tree where religious figures used to be buried (2nd picture). All in all, it was an truly beautiful place (1st picture is from the top of the island, a great view), and it reminded us all how lucky we are to be here, since many people would pay great money to see these places. The pictures attached here will not really do justice to the area, but they are good to have nonetheless. Upon returning, we finished off our supply of beans and made our way back to Kaolack. I slowly made my way back to Ngaye yesterday, stopping in Thies to have lunch with some friends. It was a great trip and one of those times you can really appreciate being out here. I'm not sure if I will ever return to the mangroves, but if the opportunity presents itself, sign me up!

An odd day indeed...

2009-04-09T17:17:00.003-05:00

Well, things have really started moving along out here. Without giving out specific details, a couple of days ago a U.S company placed an order for a few thousand baskets. Yes, a "few" thousand. We've already started planning how to distribute the workload amongst the different villages, and the next few months promise to be very busy and entertaining. However, this also means that my teaching will most likely come to an end for the time being. For the past few weeks, I have been giving classes in "informatique" to girls who have dropped out of school and middle aged women. The only problem with these classes is that about 5% of my students know how to read or write, and even fewer speak anything but Wolof. At this point, I can work around the language barrier pretty effectively. However, teaching computer classes to a group that cannot read or write has been an exercise in futility. What am I supposed to do when my students can't even type their names into Microsoft Word? Thus, it may be a good thing that I won't be teaching much in the near future, since these students need to learn how to read before they can operate a computer...
Today my closest neighbor and I went to the main village to hammer out some details with our counterpart regarding the order. I brought in 2 baskets that my leatherworkers had altered and we spent the entire morning and part of the afternoon discussing these baskets. Upon returning to Ngaye, I ran into a situation that finally made me lose my cool in this country. Whenever I ride my bike anywhere, I'm constantly assaulted by the typical "TOUBAB!" cry. Other variants include "PSSSSST.....PSSSST......PSSSSSSSSSSSST (repetitive hissing), or "HEY! HEY! HEY! HEY!" or the more wordly "TOUBAB DONNE MOI LE CADEAUX!!!". I've learned to accept these calls, and they really don't bother me. There is one expression, however, that really gets to me. It's "Honk Nop", which translates to "Red Ears" and is usually the most racist term for a white person in this country. I've heard a few times here and there, and it's pretty infuriating when you overheard a banana seller say t her friend "Hurry! Some Red Ears just arrived, let's sell them stuff!". Thus, as I biked through Ngaye this afternoon, a charette driver shouted "HONK NOP" at me while we crossed paths. Livid, I turned around and shouted back "#$&* YOU!", which he seemed to understand. I knew he was simply dropping someone off at the end of the road and would be coming back in a minute, so I stopped my bike and waited. After dropping off his passengers, he turned his charette around and came back in my direction. As he slowly passed me, I shouted at him in both Wolof and English which caught him off guard. When he realized that I considered "Honk Nop" to be incredibly rude, he sheepishly replied "It's not rude...honk nop". At that point I decided to leave and cool off since nothing good would come of this encounter. I don't regret shouting at this person because any sensible Senegalese person I've met knows damn well that it's a racist term, and would never use it in front of me. That said, I probably should have just biked off.
Other than that, things are going well. I've been staying up far too late the past few nights watching live baseball (merci grandma!) on my computer, which has been an incredible treat. Saddly, last night a young picthed named Nick Adenhart faced off against my Oakland A's. A few hours after the game he was killed in a hit-and-run car accident. It's a bit eery since I saw him pitch live just a few hours before his death, and also that he was the exact same age as I am...
Anyways, hope everyone back home is doing well. I'll post some updated on the basket order as we get rolling! A plus tard!

P.S For some reason Blogger wouldn't load my pictures tonight...will have to wait until next post.

Les Faux Lions (The Fake Lions)

2009-03-25T09:26:00.005-05:00

All week long there is an event that I can best compare to a western circus going on. Each night, there is a gathering of people at a different school, where a performance entitled "Les Faux Lions" takes place. Entrance to the event was steep. At 200 CFA (50 cents) a person, not everyone can afford to go (last night I paid for several host siblings to go). During the event, 4 costumed characters make their appearance and put on a show of dancing for the crowd. Often time the characters picked out children from the crowd and had them dance for everyone as well. The list of characters was quite interesting, it included a "Lion bu ndaw" (small lion), a "Lion bu mag" (big lion), some ungodly 12 foot tall jester on stilts that i didn't get the name of, and of course the crowd pleaser, the "goor-jigeen" (man-woman, which means homosexual in Wolof). The "goor-jigeen" was a man with tons of makeup, fake breasts, and was sporting a simple dress... From a western point of view, it struck as quite odd that an event made for kids would parade around a character who was simply called man-woman, but a lot of things strike me as odd out here, so life goes on.
At the start of the event, the manager of the event spotted me taking pictures. He quickly ran up to me and said that I would need to pay money for the right to take pictures, since I was obviously going to sell the pictures and video in Europe for tons of money (I don't know where they get these ideas...). Before I could explain myself, my host sister jumped in, calling the man and idiot and telling him he had no right to ask me for money. The man, obviously quite taken aback that a local was defending a toubab from getting ripped off, sulked off and pouted at a table nearby, eyeing me during the whole event. As he walked away, my host sister proclaimed "Moom, dafa begg xaalis rekk!" (All he wants is money!), to which I replied "Waaw..." (Yes).
So thanks to my host sister I am able to bring you pictures and even a short video of the event. I hope you enjoy them. A plus tard!

The "Lion bu ndaw"

The "Lion bu mag" and the strange jester make their way to the show

The "Lion bu mag" and "goor-jigeen" dancing away

Quick Updates

2009-03-21T19:08:00.002-05:00

Not too much going on, but just wanted to update people on stuff out here. Work is really picking up now, as I've accepted a teaching gig. Less than a month ago, a massive building was finished on the outskirts of town. I had seen this structure before, but never knew its purpose. It turns out the government built it to educate young girls who have dropped out of school. The manager of this new school invited me to her home and asked me if I would be willing to teach computer classes at the center. I agreed, and I think it will be a great opportunity. I'll post some pictures of the facility next week, but it is easily the nicest building in the entire town. My classroom is equipped with 11 brand new HP computers, and the rest of the building is just as nicely furnished. I wanted to make sure that I didn't take too many hours since I do have my commitments to the artisans in this area.
As for my leather workers, we have been steadily filling out application after application in order to try to get funding so they can build a new workshop and thus increase their production capacity. We're turning another application in on Monday, so we'll see how it goes. In addition, we're having a artisan seminar next weekend at the Thies training center for all the artisans that volunteers work with. It should be a good experience and I'll definitely have some pictures of the event.
Tomorrow is the day of local elections, so we'll be having a new mayor in a few hours. Over the past few weeks, there have been almost nightly "meetings", where candidates talk about their platform in front of supportive crowds. There is usually a lot of dancing and it's far more social than Western political gatherings. There are also many security measures in place right now. I'm actually not allowed to be on the streets right now, as there was a 10pm curfew in the town. Also, all traffic coming in or leaving Dakar has been stopped from midnight to 6am. The government is very concerned about violence during this period and has therefore taken quite a few precautions...
Anyways, I'm off to bed, but I'll have some more substantial updates next week. Pictured is my little brother (and namesake) Fallou Gallas, who has become quite attached to me. He wanted to see how my camera's timer worked, hence the odd picture. A plus tard!

Weddings and Gamou

2009-03-09T19:11:00.008-05:00

It's just past midnight. About a half hour ago, several of my siblings and I got back from Gamou, the religious pilgrimage to Tivaouane. During this event, approximately 1 million people converge on a city that normally houses 70,000 souls. The result is sheer pandemonium. Trying to visit family after family, we were often caught in mobs and simply could not go from one part of town to the other. Things got frustrating when people starting pushing their way through the most, causing others to fall down, and fights to break out. Consequently, my toes got stepped on enough times that I started retaliating with my bony elbows, thrusting them out at those who dared stomp my feet. I also had numerous people try to pickpocket me, but was lucky enough to fend them off. Otherwise, it was fairly enjoyable event, with lots of food, soda, and of course, "attaya" (green tea with obscene amounts of sugar) included. The famous "Teranga" (hospitality) that Senegal is known for really showed itself today, as anyone could walk into any compound and eat, drink, and converse to their hearts content. Food was plentiful, and it was obvious that these families spent a lot of money and time getting these meals together. As tiring as it was, it was a good bonding experience with the family and I'll probably go next year as well (only with actual shoes and not sandals next time...)

Tivaouane during Gamou
(This was the quietest street in the entire city...)

My host brothers and I before attending the first wedding

Yesterday was also a big day in my community as 2 families from my "quartier" (neighborhood) had weddings. Both of these weddings had some very strange and distressing aspects to them. The first wedding involved 2 cousins. Complete, outright first cousins. Besides that, the girl was around 17 and in the 11th grade, while the husband is a college graduate and a school teacher... Looking past these issues, it was a very jovial event with once again, lots of food and drinks. I got many compliments on my stylish attire (see above picture), with most people claiming "You! You are a REAL American!" (As opposed to the phony Americans roaming the streets of Senegal...). The second wedding I found to be even more awkward, as the husband to be wasn't even on the same continent! Rumor has it, he is a taxi driver in Spain. Essentially, over the phone he agreed on a date for the wedding, and thus it occured yesterday...without him there. So here was this young bride, standing all by herself, having her picture taken over and over. I found this bewildering to say the least, and even stranger was the fact that my host family considered it weird that in American weddings, both parties HAVE to be there...
Well, I'm off to bed for now. I'll be around over the next few weeks so I'll make some updates sooner than later. Ba ci kanaam!

In gold with ludicrous amounts of makeup is the bride to be.

Also, last week during a bike ride, I decided to try to get some footage of the scenery here. Thus, I climbed a tree and took a video, so here it is. Turn the sound down if you're not interested in hearing roaring wind. Enjoy!

JOX MA XAALIS!

2009-02-27T18:42:00.005-06:00

Not too much to report, other than the fact that tomorrow morning, all 40 members of my stage will no longer be the newest volunteers in country! Tomorrow morning the newest stage is arriving, making my group the "sophomores" of the Peace Corps community here. The past week has been relatively quiet. I've been helping my leather workers learn how to use Excel, which has been enjoyable. Every time they come across a new feature in the program, they are absolutely stunned, so it's been fairly entertaining. I've also taken pictures of some of their products so that I can add more photos to their website (www.pcsenegal.org/artisan). Currently, we're also working on getting a set of sample baskets and leather bracelets sent to our U.S wholesaler so that a full order can be made in the near future. It's been nice to finally get down and do something concrete, as opposed to whimsically discussing work opportunities.

A briefcase made by my work partners

I've also started riding my bike quite a bit. Essentially, I need to leave my community (too much sand) to be able to ride anywhere, but I've found some dirt trails that lead into the bush that are a blast to ride down. I particularly enjoy the scenery when I get far enough away from the national road. With nobody around, and no trash in sight, this landscape can truly show off its natural beauty. Those moments are short lasted, however, as often someone will walk down the road and attempt a typical conversation with me, usually going something like this:

Me: Nanga def? (How are you)
Random Senegalese: May ma sa velo! (Offer me your bike!)
Me: Menuma def loolu, amuma beneen velo (I can't do that, I don't have another bike)
Random Senegalese: May ma sa montre! (Offer me your watch!)
Me: Yalla Yalla, bay sa tool (Go farm your own fields, essentially telling him/her to stop begging)
Random Senegalese (As I ride off on my bike): JOX MA XAALIS! (Give me money!)

The next Lance Armstrong? (My little brother and namesake, Fallou Gallas)

As you can imagine, those types of requests can get frustrating. Even today, 2 adolescents, each wielding a machete, ran after me yelling for money. I'm sure they were harmless, but if there are 2 people (regardless of age) running after me with machetes, I usually don't stick around for too long. Other than that, things are going great here and I'm still loving it. I'm eagerly anticipating the baseball season as spring training is in full swing! Hope everyone back home is doing well. Ba ci kanaam!

W-A-I-S-T

2009-02-19T16:29:00.004-06:00

Firstly, I want to apologize for the lack of recent updates. I have been moving a ton and really have not had time to say anything worthwhile here. However, I have officially completed my training and have also survived WAIST. The end of IST was very helpful, and it provided me with tons of project ideas should I run out of work. The highlight of the 3 weeks was when the CEO of a import company (who had done business with my local basket makers in the past) came by to visit Ngaye and talk to me (as well as the 2 other volunteers working on these projects) about coordinating a large order for baskets soon. Thus, starting in the beginning of March, my closest neighboor and I will be going back and forth to the villages trying to get around 2000 baskets sent to the U.S. I'm really excited about this work, since it affects over 100 women in 9 different villages. When these orders are made, the women weaving the baskets earn on average 3-4 times their normal wage, so they are quite eager to get going as well. In addition, as some of you may remember, a few volunteers took some footage of local artisans in Ngaye and the basket villages when I first moved here. I have been asked to help my closest neighboor edit the footage in order to make it into a short documentary. I've always enjoyed working on movies, so that's another project I'm eager to get started on.
As for WAIST...it was probably one of the funnest experiences of my life. For 4 straight days, volunteers from Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, Guinea, Gambia, and other countries played softball and partied the night away. It was especially nice being able to stay with embassy families since they fed us american breakfasts for 4 straight days (and also didn't mind that we came back at 5am most nights). Our Dakar region team made the playoffs but lost in a really tight game to Kaolack region (who got 3 place in the whole tournament, so props to them). It was a ton of fun and I'll definitely be looking forward to attending next year. A few highlights from the weekend include bartending for 250+ people, stealing Chinese flags from palm trees at 3AM, and (sorry for this next one grandma) getting licked on the arm by a crippled prostitute ("EW!" translates into all languages I found out). All in all, a great time, but I am happy to have returned to Ngaye and have some work set up for me. I'll post some updates about my work in the following week or so so stay tuned. A bientot!

1st picture is of my friend Darren on the ride to Dakar with a Senegalese youth engaging in the traditional ritual of picking your nose for 30 minutes in a public location.
2nd picture is one of the many softball games played during WAIST.

The rigors of IST

2009-01-31T10:21:00.002-06:00

The first week of IST is over! Since only the SED volunteers were at the center this week, all lessons were devoted to actual SED related material. We spent Monday through Friday learning about teaching business seminars, working with artisans, and working with farmers on marketing. In the evenings, we've been commuting back and forth from Tassette, where the Diop family was happy to see me, and also quite impressed with my Wolof. The only issue is that going back and forth from the village is absolutely exhausting, and that several of us have gotten pretty sick during this period. Despite that, being regrouped with all my friends has been great fun, and we've had a good time thus far. We've also learned quite a bit and have come up with a few project ideas for when we return to site.
We took a field trip this morning to see a farily well known monastary that makes goat cheese and bissap wine. After touring the facilities, getting free samples of fruit at the orchard, and discussing the technical processes involved, we were able to buy some cheese and wine. We have the rest of the day off, as well as tomorrow. Tomorrow night we'll be convening in the same hotel we saw the election, but this time to enjoy the Super Bowl. As for this coming week, it will probably be just as exhausting since the AG/AGFO volunteers will be coming and and we'll be starting language classes as well. I'm off to enjoy some wine and cheese, but hope everyone back home is doing well and still currently employed! A plus tard!

The return of Galass Diop

2009-01-23T16:52:00.002-06:00

Well, IST (In Service Training) is right around the corner. I have orders to report to the Thies Training Center by Sunday. After Sunday night, we will all be commuting back and forth from our original homestay villages. For those able to add two and two, that means I will be returning to the Diop family for a few weeks. I'm actually very excited to start IST, not only because I get to see my stage friends, but also because I want to show off my improved Wolof to the Diops. It will surely be an exhausting period, but it should be fun and interesting nonetheless. I will also be bringing a bunch of sample products (shoes and belts) from the local shoemakers to sell to my fellow volunteers (a traveling shoe salesman well versed in the business of basket weaving...that's me...).
Otherwise, it's been a fairly slow period. I essentially got strong armed into continuing my Wolof classes, which were excruciating. In 3 additional lessons, I learned incredibly useful Wolof words to describe "digging dirt out of your fingernails", "a deadly blow to the ear", and my favorite "A special way to tie up donkeys during the dry season". At least these sessions are over and I never have to deal with "Useless Gypsy" (His name in my phone book) again. I told him that if I pass my language test during IST, the Peace Corps will no longer pay for tutoring. Obviously, I will pass. In terms of work, the shoemakers and I did some more accounting, and I'm currently helping them apply for a grant. In a sense, the timing of IST is a bit unfortunate, as I'm really starting to connect with my host family. The household toddler, Ahmet, even showed his affection for me by peeing on me the other day. But in all seriousness, they are a great host family, and I'm happy to have their company here. I'm off to pack my things up, but I'll give updates from the Diop family in Tassette next time I get on the internet. Mangi dem Thies pur gis samay xaarit!

Dude looks like a lady...

2009-01-07T17:15:00.006-06:00

Well, I can officially eliminate cross-dressing from the "things I need to do before I die" list. Tamkharit rolled around today, and overall it was a very subdued celebration, except for the evening. The day came and went like any other, and the only real difference was what we ate for dinner. The local missionary, Roy, came over for dinner (he doesn't have a host family and thus often comes over for local celebrations), and we all ate "Ceere", which is millet based couscous. Once dinner was done, things got interesting. Tradition has it that once dinner is done, the children cross dress and go around to the different households asking for candy and money (kind of like Halloween, but with only one costume...). The women in my family had asked me if I wanted to partake in the event. Severely disappointing the men of the family, I accepted the challenge. With most of us gathered in the living room, my host sister, Kine (she is on my left in the group picture), brought the clothing out. All of a sudden, I was a full fledged Senegalese woman in heels. My appearance caused such riotous bouts of laughter that taking pictures was only an option after about 2o minutes or so. Time and time again, "GALASS BU JIGEEN" (Galass the woman) was shouted out, each time garnering a fresh round of laughter. The pictures were taken solely for the amusement of my western family and friends, and even my host family admitted that. So I hope everyone enjoys the pictures, because I'm not really sure when I'll get to play the part of a Senegalese woman again.

As for New Years, it was a wild time. About 40 of us went to the touristy city of St. Louis. Little did we know, about 100 Peace Corps volunteers from Mauritania had the same idea. The end result was that Peace Corps took over the town. In our little section of the city, no street corner was devoid of a volunteer. In fact, the night of the 31st felt much like any other wild Friday night in the U.S, since I was surrounded by westerners the entire time. Despite the fact that I got a high fever the next day, it was a great time and I would not be opposed to returning there for New Years 2010. In other news, I'm still working with local shoemakers. I'm trying to get them to improve their accounting practices so that they stand a better chance at securing loans to increase their workspace and manpower. I'm having to come to terms with the fact that things really do take quite a bit longer out here. For instance, it took me 3 days to make 4 photocopies because the machines were broken for several days. But my work partners are great and eager to get work going, so that's very refreshing. When I'm not working with the shoemakers, I'll usually go to the Maire's office and study Wolof or talk to the employees for an hour or two. Other than that, I'll be at site for the next week and a half and then head off to Dakar where I'll once again flex my muscles (or lack thereof) on the softball field. Then, on the 26th, I'll go back to Thies for 3 weeks to complete my training with IST (Inter-Service Training). During that period, I'm fairly sure that my friends and I will be commuting from our homestay villages, which means that I will make a glorious return to Tassette. That about sums it up for now, so I hope everyone back home had a good New Year and enjoys my feminine side. A plus tard!

P.S The one picture of the water is in St.Louis.

Christmas!

2008-12-29T16:51:00.004-06:00

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

2008-12-19T17:37:00.006-06:00

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!

2008-12-10T17:22:00.005-06:00

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...

2008-12-02T16:45:00.004-06:00

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

2008-11-26T04:52:00.006-06:00

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!

2008-11-16T17:13:00.003-06:00

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!

2008-11-09T06:58:00.003-06:00

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...

2008-11-03T14:21:00.003-06:00

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

2008-10-25T08:41:00.003-05:00

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!

2008-10-18T13:34:00.002-05:00

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

2008-10-12T15:21:00.002-05:00

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

2008-10-07T15:42:00.003-05:00

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!

2008-10-02T12:51:00.004-05:00

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

2008-09-21T10:15:00.004-05:00

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!

2008-09-19T14:14:00.002-05:00

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!

2008-09-14T07:00:00.005-05:00

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.

2008-09-09T16:46:00.003-05:00

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...

2008-08-26T03:08:00.007-05:00

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...