In an effort to encourage people to stay at site for the first little while after installing so that you will take the time necessary to really get to know your family and your site, our country director Chris Hedrick instituted the 5 week challenge. The rules are that you are not allowed to stay at any regional house overnight and if possible spend as little time as possible away from site for that first bit. Now this had to be modified slightly because my stage had Thanksgiving smack dab in the middle of that challenge. So we were allowed 2 days at the regional house and they tacked on an extra week to the challenge. I definitely went and enjoyed Thanksgiving with other Americans at the regional house but I have done well not staying anywhere else since install. I took a few day trips to visit some villages near me, but I was always home in time for dinner.
Now that I have completed this, I'm going to spend about a week away for Christmas. Though I think I'll be spending New Years in Kaffrine to save money for All Volunteer conference and WAIST next month. Plus I have friends willing to come to me to celebrate the new year! What is WAIST you ask? (I know you are oh so curious... :P) WAIST is the West African Invitational Softball Tournament. So all of the Peace Corps volunteers in West Africa are going to make their way to Dakar and we are going to have a grand ole time dressing up and playing ball. The theme my region (Kaolack) has chosen for our costumes is boy scout/girl scout. So I'm of course perusing every fukkijaay (second hand clothing vendors) I can find in search of the perfect costume! Oh how I love a good costume party! Apparently there will also be a masquerade the first night, so I need search hard for something appropriate for the occasion. If I had realized how much costuming and dressing up I would be doing here, I think I would have brought an extra suitcase just full of random costume stuff. Oh well. Hidesight is 20/20. Plus it is an entertaining time searching through all the stuff secondhand stores across America and Europe didn't want.
Now what on Earth have I been up to the past few weeks? Well, I've been trying to workout everyday. Usually I get up and do yoga and then go running. For those who don't know, I've decided to run a half marathon in March. This decision was made by a group of us here in the Kaffrine sub region. We will be the Kaff Half Team! I've never been a big runner, but it has been a goal of mine for a really long time and there happens to be a great cause to support so I'm going to make it happen. It will be part of Senegal's Race for Education. All donations (which you can make on pcsenegal.org) will go toward a scholarship to keep girls in school and for other GAD -gender and development- activities.
Also, I have been developing my farming callouses. By hauling 150-300 gallons of water everyday, I am getting some real working hands. My garden is 22m x 30m so wandering through it with 2 11L watering cans can get pretty tiring. But I feel like I'm getting the hang of it and have definitely gotten faster. It used to take me over 2-3 hours on the veggie days but now that only takes me 1 ½ hours. Maybe I'm still slow but I am methodical and it has become relaxing to focus on the garden and taking care of the plants. Plus who doesn't love wandering barefoot among beautiful plants? Sometimes the plants the bite though if step on a burr or get caught on the Zisiphus or Acacia Melodica (both are varieties of thorny bushes to act as live fencing) that lines my entire garden. I can deal with that though. It has been a while since I have been able to easily wander barefoot anywhere. I certainly wasn't going to do that while I was working in downtown Los Angeles... Also, I have been learning how to harvest casava and sweet potato. I'm just going to say for the record that while there are many ways to do this, the coolest by far that I have seen and practiced is with the use of a machete. Right now I have an awful rat problem where they dig and destroy all of my root crops. I've laid traps and poison but so far it doesn't seem to be doing any good. I don't really like killing things (I still struggle to squish the beetles that eat my veggies) so it is a tough battle to figure out the best way to deal with them so they stop eating my crops.
On the note of rodents, I also have mice that have moved in behind my shelf. At first I thought it was roaches moving up and down the back of it because the giant ones that had been living in my bathroom disappeared after the shelf was brought in. Now it is entirely possible that they are also living behind there, but I definitely saw a mouse today when I shined my cell phone flashlight back today because there was so much raucous going on. Strangely, I hate them less now that I know it is mice making all the noise rather than roaches, but it still doesn't solve my problem. And just for the record, banging on the shelf and telling them to be quiet and that you don't like them doesn't do dara (ambiguous word meaning something or nothing or anything).
By the by, it is kidding season here in Senegal. This means that I have an attack of cuteness at least twice a day when I see adorable baby goats frolicking about. For those who are curious (though for the life of me I can't fathom why) it is also lambing season but they are definitely not as cute. I know there has been some debate at whether or not certain photos I have posted are goats or sheep. This can seem confusing because there is a breed of goat called Nubians (because they are of East African origin) which have long floppy ears and a roman nose. To clarify, the animals in those photos are actually sheep. All sheep here have floppy ears, roman noses, a long tail, and are some variation of white in color. And all goats are much more delicate in features with either erect ears or airplane ears, a short tail, and numerous possible colors. Don't worry, I'll post pictures. Also, sheep here are still as mindless and unimaginative as they are in America, while goats seem to always be having an adventure. If you didn't already know, I'm slightly biased towards goats. My bad.
We just celebrated the Muslim New Year called Tamharit a couple of weeks ago. The best way to celebrate this is by making a big dinner of couscous {called cere (pronounced chair-ey)} steamed with nuts and raisins with a delightful sauce that was full of boiled veggies and yapp (some undefined meat). When the meal was almost over they poured fresh milk, from the Pulaar home down the street who keep cows, on top. Quite delightful really. Then the fun began. All the kids ran and changed into each other's, or their parent's, clothing so they could appropriately cross dress and then run around town with drums, pots, and pans to dance and sing for treats. Sound somewhat familiar to anyone? It was great to watch everyone let loose a bit and fully embrace the spirit of the new year. The dressing up is only for the kids, but I still managed to dance a bit in the streets with a bunch of Senegalese staring at me. How could I avoid a perfect opportunity to dance?
For those of you curious for a breakdown of my host family/those who live in my family compound:
Maam (Grandmother): Anta
Dad: Saloly Sylla
Mom: Alima Fall
Siblings:
Anta ~11*
Awa ~9
Bamba ~7
Mymuna ~3
Uncle: Ass
Aunt: Adama
Their kids:
Pap (never met him. He is older and lives in another ville)
Baas ~10
Adama ~8 (baby Ada as she is fondly called)
Fatu Ndiaye ~6
Lammine ~2
Adama ~16 (She is sort of adopted. Related in some way but she claims Adama as the mom who raised her. I met her real mom once. She is divorced and has a child named Souleye who is ~18 months.)
Uncle: Demba
Aunt: Keiwei
Kids:
Lat ~4
Kattime ~1
Souleye ~14 (He is a student who lives with my family. I don't actually know his relation, where he is from, or why he is living with us. I should probably find these things out.)
*People in Senegal don't really keep track of ages or birthdays. When I ask I get conficting results. Also, because so many people don't pass the yearly exams to move to the next grade in school, many people fudge their ages so it doesn't look so much like they had to repeat any classes. Never believe someone when they tell you their age here. The first time I asked my host mom in Bayakh what her age was, she told me 25. I have since met 2 of her younger sisters, and at least one was over 25 and I know there are siblings between her and my host mom in age. So obviously this is not terribly accurate. Yet it is a popular question to ask people when you first meet them. Don't ask me why.
Overall, I'm settling in pretty well. I have a tutor now named Khodia. We meet 3 times a week for 2 hours each time. I may cut this down after the holidays are over. I have found that when I go I don't really have questions to fill the 2 hours. So I either need to make the classes shorter or have fewer each week. I'm not really sure how much better my Wolof is after a month and a half at site, but I guess it is coming along. I've met some cool people. Did you know that you can basically go anywhere and expect to be hosted. One day my friend Christi (Otherwise known as Maamjara) and I rode our bikes to a ceeb shack which was not currently serving food. We were ushered into the backyard courthouse, offered water and a concoction of yogurt, millet, and bananas before we actually found out that the person we were looking for was not there. Then they invited us to stay for attaaya so of course we sat for another hour or 2 drinking attaaya and meeting these strangers who opened their home to us. Now we go back regularly and chat with them. This is the most common way I have met people actually. Just go somewhere random, sit and chat, drink tea or crack peanuts, and practice Wolof.
People here are always willing to share whatever they have. It is expected that you will offer whatever you have to those around you. I have heard some say that this is why everyone in Senegal is poor. This may or may not be the case. I certainly see a lot people offering everything they have to others, even if they don't have much. I enjoy this spirit of giving but I can see where some problems may arise. But I also think that the issues have more to do with wanting instant gratification rather than taking the time to plan for the future. You can see an example of this in the daily lunch bowl. At the beginning of the month there are typically a lot of veggies and fish but it definitely pieters off by the end of the month. This is something that I feel I will be working against a lot when doing work projects and helping people realize that if you plant live fences and other such things now, they will pay off in the future.
And on a random side note, all of the teachers in the Kaffrine area went on strike last week. Everyone comes to school for 1 hour from 8 to 9 AM and then they all leave. According to my host dad who is a school teacher, the government has not paid the teachers for administering the end of year testing in June. So they are striking now in hopes that they will be paid for that past labor. Apparently this has been happening every year at various times. I feel bad for the kids who have to suffer because of this. And the gardens we are helping them start which probably will be neglected until this is resolved. Oh broken system. When will you be fixed?
On that note, presidential elections are in February. There is a big hubbub about that because Abdoulaye Wade, the current president, wants to run for a third term, which goes against the constitution of Senegal. So he has submitted an amendment to allow for this and the Congress will rule sometime next month on whether or not he will be allowed to run. If he does there will most likely be rioting and a bit of chaos. So if you were thinking of traveling to Senegal any time between January 15th and March, I would suggest against it. Don't worry, I will be safe and away from major cities during that time. If something big does happen, we have a very good Emergency Action Plan in place. No need to be concerned, but I figured I would let you know what's up.
And in conclusion, I like Senegal! No really, I enjoy being here and meeting all of these people. I'm definitely learning and growing a great deal. I do love you all and miss you terribly, so please send me letters so I can actually keep up individual correspondences.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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