Blog number two.

 

SOO found out my Peace Corps SITE OF SERVICE yesterday afternoon!  Officially will be working and living in a village called Thiawando in the Kaolack region.  Smack dab in the center of Senegal... right outside of the city of Kaolack.  I recently heard there is a lot of cool scenery and some animal reserves since there are rivers and nice fertile land in the area.  I really like the fact that I am located in the middle of Senegal because it means I will be able to do a lot of traveling all over the country in a shorter amount of time.   This is also god since we have officially been told we are not allowed to go to all surrounding countries except the Gambia.  I am also not far from the Gambia which would be a great little vay kay when the time comes.  CBT this past stay was good.  It was our longest bout but had some fun adventures and got much more adjusted to being surrounded by a language different than my own.  We got our first language assessment out of the way which was wonderful because that means only one more left and hopefully I can expect nothing but improvement from here on out.  Some bad news from two weeks ago is I sprained my ankle.  Thought it was severe but then it turns out it wasn’t.  However, it gave me the nickname limpy and I became handicapped for the rest of the week.  I still can’t run which is sad cause I am dying to run.  I don’t know what it is about being here but I have intense motivation to run most mornings and or evenings.  Maybe because the weather has been cool and breezy and it gives me a chance to think and get out of my head when I am feeling inadequate from speaking Wolof at a three year old level. 

Easter was a fun experience.  We went to thexdsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssscccc   (ß that business was courtesy of Sir Paws Café… one of the Training Center cats.  He is extremely people loving, for a nearly stray cat)  anyways where was I?  Easter.  We went to the Monastere Ker Moussa near our CBT site in Bayakh. It was neat because it was a pretty and neat compound, for its location, and there were fun African paintings.  It was a comforting experience because it reminded me of my big old extended family back home and going to church with them at various points of my life.  Even though the songs were in French, Latin and Wolof it was fun to try and sing along.  We talked with a girl from France who was volunteering in Thies with her cousin for a health program.  It was neat to practice my French a tad.  Funny story,  I actually later saw her (yesterday) in a fabric store at the Thies market near the training center!  Anywho after Masse we weren’t  sure what to do so we started walking.  Eventually a car picked us up…cause that’s how you travel in Senegal. You either go to the nearest “garage” where cars are waiting to fight for your business to take you places or you just hitchhike.  But its normal.  Traveling in Senegal is a whole set of novels on its own.  I cannot possibly describe to you the vehicles used here in this country.  In America when people say their car is dead, or “on its last legs”, they just have NO IDEA.  All cars or buses for public transport look like they belong in a demolition derby and the doors don’t shut quite right and the windows don’t go down or up in some cases and the dashboard controls/odometer/other dials don’t work and the windshields are severely cracked and the trunks are gutted and the car rattles so loud you can’t have a normal conversation.  Seriously the list goes on.  Its amazing and surreal cause I never thought my life would involve experiences such as this. Driving in cars that I would have normally thought should not at all even be used for parts….  I hope to take pictures to illustrate this phenomenon.   Anyways. Back to Easter. I keep getting sidetracked.  So we ended up spending Easter with our LCF (Wolof teacher).  Quite a fun day with bunnies and painted Easter eggs and great food!  Got back to my CBT site after my curfew (woops) but my host mom was in Dakar so no biggie.  That night my host sister showed me pictures of her wedding day which was soo great cause she had a zillion and I was able to get a better idea of who is who in the whole family and who lives in Dakar and who lives elsewhere.  Additionally, if there’s one thing you must know about Senegal, its that they go all out when pictures are being taken.  Dress suuper fancy and put on crazy makeup.  Also they include these fancy borders or add-ons on the corners and edges of the photo, I guess to snaz them up a bit.  Appearance is EVERYTHING in Senegal.  One of those important cultural things we’ve come to learn well.

PS this reminds me.  I will start to make a small list of small things that are typical and staple symbols/isms about Senegal because there are definitely quite a bunch and I believe these would be the things I would enjoy reading most several years down the line after I have ended my service.  Senegalese photos would be one of these “isms” but I think I would need to provide an example or a picture in order to really remember this inexplicable Senegalese tradition.

 

SO now I can talk about today.  Today was Senegalese Independence Day and we had the day off from all Peace Corps requirements and engagements.  I went with a group of lovely peeps to this Animal Reserve in Mbour called Reserve de Bandia, which is only about an hour away.  It was like a little mini Safari and my only complaint was that it was a 45 minute long tour.  That being said.  We saw giraffes and zebras, a ton of monkeys, horse antelope, impalas, other antelopes, kudoo looking antelope, a lot of ostriches, and a handful of rhinos!  Oh and a good bit of funny little Pumbas (warthogs.as if I need to explain) and a hyena by his lonesome. It was awesome to drive around in a safari vehicle and the scenery was divine!  No trash and plenty of cool neato trees!  Afterwards we were driven back to this pretty ritzy looking area with a nice restaurant by a really peaceful looking lake.  However, in and around the lake, there were a BAJILLION crocs!  Seriously MY FAVORITE PART! And what I have been wanting to see since I found out I was going to Senegal!  So “check!” one thing off the Senegalese bucket list!  Another thing I want to make J

SO I shall wrap this up soon because I think this is a long rambling post.  I think I’m forgetting some things but I’m sure it’s bound to happen no matter what.  The rest of Senegalese Independence Day was followed by a lovely and relaxing pizza lunch at the restaurant and we came back to the center, after some difficulty with the transportation.  We got to all sit down and exchange hard drive movies, music and TV shows which is SO EXCITING!!!!  Especially after finding out our site and knowing we will very much enjoy some movies and entertainment in the nearer than ever before future! And then we had a bonfire! (shredded my toe with some thorns) and had s’mores with roasted marshmallows  (not like American S’mores but whatevs)  Then we had an Easter Egg hunt (delayed from Easter) the eggs were so cutely decorated with pictures of Africa and batman and dinosaurs and flowers and Eastery designs!  I didn’t find any cause I was busy hunting for my cell phone instead of the eggs (big surprise)  but still really cool.  Now some fireworks are going off!!   Took some videos.  Apparently neighborhood kids were scared… but Yeeeaaahh theyre pretttty fun.  We have our volunteer visits starting on Saturday which is when we go to our region where we will be staying and get shown around by the volunteer who we are replacing.  My volunteer seems pretty damn awesome and gave me pictures of my family and compound to give me a sneak preview!  I am pretty excited that I get to be shown all the cool stuff in the area and meet everyone I will be working with just about!  Also I was told to bring a watermelon, cheap rose wine and a pillow.  I mean really doesn’t that sound like just the greatest possible time?!  So yeah more logistics next time.  Its just so much more fun to talk about the mundane silly little things.  Like I bought some beautiful bracelets and earrings from an artisan women who set up shop at the training center yesterday!  I love them all!  Also love the bracelets my host sisters gave me!  Definitely need to get them a gift in return.

 

So again sorry for this long update but I guess since I’ve only done two in a month, you all will have to deal!  Oooo just remembered I got a skirt that I need to pick up from the tailor tomorrow! Pumped J  I need to start making moves with my decision and purchases for a swearing in fancy pantsy outfit!  Any suggestions???  I’ll be waiting J

 

Enjoy! And I miss you all bunches!!  Mwuah Mwuah!