Dakar and CounterPart Workshops

Dakar and CounterPart Workshops

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

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

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

Ci yonnu u Bongo!

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

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

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

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

Popenguine Weekend

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

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

Tivaouane

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

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

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

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

Ngaye Mekhe!

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

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

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