One week and counting!

One week. That is all I have left in Kaffrine, the community I've served for the past 2 years. With that realization is the fact that I must say my final goodbyes to people who are very dear to my heart. I hope it won't be the last time I see them, but as of yet I cannot yet offer a date for when I will return. I keep mentioning a return to soften the blow of my departure, and I absolutely intend to come back here within the next 5 years, but maybe teasing them with an uncertain return is worse. I am constantly asked to just marry someone here so that I have to stay, or at least come back quite soon. Usually it is an old man who is offering to take me as a second or third wife so that I will stay. Sweet? Sometimes it does makes me laugh. A few of them seem so genuine about it. But alas, I am not marrying anyone in order to stay, nor am I just adding another 6 months or 5 years, as the requests go. I am leaving. It will be tearful and it will hurt my heart to leave so many people I love without knowing when I will see them again. But the time is close at hand.

I have been cleaning out my room and giving away a lot of things. My host siblings think it is a grand time. I try not to get frustrated when they start asking for things. I like giving gifts, but I hate feeling asked to give someone something, or feeling obligated to give things. It takes all the fun out of it. I've gotten better at that here because the culture has built in a system of asking for things, and a system of obligated gift giving when returning from a trip. I suppose there is some of that in the States as well with souvenirs. But still. It is a lesson I continue to learn. I'm not taking much with me, so it is pretty easy to give away most things. I am holding onto a few things though so I can give them to people individually as special gifts right before I leave.

One of my PCV friends is bringing a duffel back to the States for me, so I really only have a single backpack to prep. It is basically all set, so now I am just spending as much time as possible with individuals in my community who I consider friends or family. The emotions of leaving have strongly affected me; it seems that every emotion I feel right now is more heightened. We'll see if I can keep it together. My host dad told me he wants to leave Kaffrine before I leave so he doesn't have to say goodbye. I don't know if he is serious, but I understand his feeling. Part of me wants to sneak out. I doubt I can though. I need goodbyes, even though I hate completing them.

Things aren't all sad. The past few months have been really great actually. I feel accomplished. We had Girls Camp, which was phenomenal. The girls have transformed my hopes for the future of Senegal. We transplanted all the trees at my Women's Group's gardens. There are now over 1000 trees in the ground, ready to protect their gardens. We had a great Open Field Day at my Master Farmer's field. He even incorporated a nutrition training into it. We held a 3 day health and soccer camp with 35 girls in Kaffrine, teaching them about puberty, sex, STIs, HIV, nutrition, and healthy relationships while making it fun with soccer. It was one of the highlights of my service. I'm really going to miss my camp girls. And I've led a lot of informal trainings with women on organic pest control, planting, trees, etc. I am an Ag volunteer afterall. 

On top of all of that I managed to attend the Mangrove Reforestation project where we planted over 100,000 mangrove seedlings in one morning! I led the first team that brought many of the seeds to the spot, carried on our heads up the channel because the tide was so low the boat couldn't get there. I personally think my crew trumped all the other teams who planted, but that may only be because we were there longest (and because we were more bad-ass since no one else had to carry their own seeds like that since they arrived after the tide had started coming in). Also, I visited Touba again, the Senegalese mecca for the main Muslim brotherhood here. It was far less crazy than last time when I went during the annual pilgrimage. And my friends and I got a personal tour through many of the religious buildings, which was awesome (until one of my friends told someone that he wasn't Muslim. Then we weren't allowed in anymore...) We also just celebrated Tabaski, or in the rest of the Muslim world, Eid al-Adha.  It is the festival of the sacrifice and we honored that by sacrificing 3 male sheep.  I may have gotten blood splatter all over my face and clothes when I was too close trying to get a photo of the first slaughter... But after all of that we ate far too much meat for the next 4 days, and in dressed up in new, fancy clothing to walk around and greet people, asking for forgiveness for past wrongdoings and giving blessings for the coming year.  Don't worry, I got dolled up too!

 

Also, today some of the Kaffrine volunteers got together to dig a 2m x 3m x 2m hole in the ground in a small village, to be made into toilets for the brand new school that my good friend Christi erected in honor of her host sister who tragically passed away in May.  Right now there are 140 children ready to start learning in this two-room school.  All that is left are the desks, which are being built as we speak, and then for the teachers to come. It was hard labor in the hot sun, but I think it is a very worthwhile endeavor. Yay for douches! (Yes, that is what toilets are called here. I realize the irony in this statement.)

Needless to say, it has been a whirlwind of activity topped by emotional departure preparation. I leave Kaffrine in a week, Senegal in a week and a half. I'm not ready for that. But I am eager to see what lies ahead. Europe is calling! I get 6 weeks to backpack around Western Europe before I need to get back to the States and figure out my life. Barcelona is my first stop on November 1st! England is my last. And Germany for Thanksgiving with my little brother David. Now to fill in the gaps... Suggestions?

The End Is In Sight

     I have less than 3 months left until my service as an Urban Agriculture Extension Agent for Peace Corps Senegal is over. That is exciting and terrifying at the same time. At the end of this month I will have been living in Senegal for 2 years. In real time that seems like quite awhile, where careers are started, families created, and technology advances at a mind-spinning pace. I suppose in some way, I too have experienced all of those things in my little town in West Africa. Peace Corps will be a experience that I will continue to draw on as I search out where my career may lead, with increased knowledge, patience, and flexibility, along with an entire network of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCV's) that I can tap into for assistance. I certainly have made a family here, not only by being adopted into the Sylla household in Kaffrine, but also my Peace Corps family, full of fellow volunteers who have shared my highs and lows of service (only a fellow PCV can understand why we would call pooping one's pants a gold star). My exit from this country will be full of emotion. I have had to start some of my goodbyes already, and they haven't exactly been dry-eyed. It will probably only get worse the closer I am to leaving. As for technological advances, I have seen children learn to use electronics that I don't even know yet, and then watch them teach those around them. Villages are beginning to use solar energy to power well pumps, boutiques, and much more. People here have created ingenious ways to recycle everything. I wish more people in the western world were willing to do that. So yes, I guess 2 years really have gone by, and all around the world people are living it as fully as possible. It seems to have gone by far too quickly though.

     I find myself feeling that the Becca of America, pre-Peace Corps, no longer exists, and that the Becca of Senegal won't fit in very well when she tries to fit into her old roles. How do you explain that you are still yourself, but very different at the same time? Perhaps saying my former self no longer exists is not quite true, but I do feel like my experiences the past 2 years have shaped me into a stronger, more resilient individual. It may have been the most difficult 2 years of my life for many varied reasons, and I think that if I were the same person I was before I came, I wouldn't still be here. But I am, and now the next step is to go on and find a new place for myself, full of more experiences that will mold me into a better person. I haven't quite figured out in all of the ways I have changed yet, and I don't think I will until I am confronted with moments that question that. Our minds and wills are malleable, our souls are eager for inspiration. I decided that the only way I could shape my life into what I want it to be is by pursuing those experiences that will force me into a disequilibrium, the optimal place for learning.

     So the next step is to wrap up my service here, slowly make my way back home, and then when I'm in a calm, quiet place, I can begin to digest my experiences and use what I learn to choose my next direction. I know it will take awhile after returning to find that lull, I have many people and places I want to visit upon my return, but it will come, and it will be good. Everyone needs some time to just sit and ponder life. It is one of the things I love about life here: people are willing to just sit with nowhere to go, and nothing to do for that brief bit of time beyond loving that moment of tranquility. I find it best when I sit in my garden, balancing on the edge of the cement water basin, feet splashing in the cool water as I enjoy the light breeze that rustles the leaves of the neem tree above my head. A blissful moment.

     The blessing and curse of my service is that now I am in the height of my abilities, my language is decent, people have come to accept and trust my knowledge, the rains are active and helping everything to grow and flourish, my projects are going well, and inchallah, the harvest will be good. And so I will leave on a high note, but at the same time, two years just isn't enough time to be really effective. If I were here longer, there is so much more I could do, more people I could work with, more communities I could serve. But two years is all I can offer right now. My family back home needs me and I need them. So two years will have to be enough. Perhaps later I can do more.

     With all of that in mind, I intend to make these last few months as memorable as possible. This month I was able to spend a fair amount of time visiting some of my favorite places, including going to Kedougou and cycling out about 50 km each way to reach the breathtakingly beautiful Ingeley waterfall for my birthday. I also went to an Training to teach English and have been holding informal lessons at my house with the children in the neighborhood. Ramadan, the month of fasting is almost over and we will celebrate by killing and eating a goat. This weekend we will begin transplanting the 2000 trees we seeded and cared for the last couple of months. We are preparing for our annual girls camp, which starts August 18^th. I just met with the families of all of the girls I chose from Kaffrine to make sure they will be ready, and I'm working on lessons I will be teaching. And in a month I will join volunteers from around the country for the Mangrove Reforestation project. In the midst of all of those things, I am finishing the paperwork to complete grants, working in my garden, advising my master farmer, and managing the affairs at our regional office. Soon I will will be phasing out of my roles and working to install others to fill the positions, or find a way for projects to sustain themselves through the work of community members.

     A lot to do and to think about over the next couple of months. As of October 31, 2013, I will get my “R” and join the ranks of RPCVs around the world. Then, we'll see what life has in store next.

Where has the time gone?

How could June already be almost over? I'm on the fast track to finishing my service in Senegal and it makes me really uncomfortable when I think about it too much. I will announce my official Close of Service (COS) date in my next update but it will most likely be around the 1^st of November. That means I have a little more than 4 months to get all of my projects to a point where I can comfortably leave them or find someone who can take them over. That also means I have a lot of paperwork to do, grants to complete, PC bucket list items to accomplish, items to give away, items to accumulate, and too many goodbyes. I'm sure I'm missing a lot of things in that list but I don't want to get into everything quite yet.

A couple of weeks ago we had our COS conference, which brought together all of the people who arrived in Senegal with me almost 2 years ago, some of whom I haven't seen since our In-Service Training in February 2012. It was great to see everyone and a few new faces who had transferred here from Mali when it was evacuated last April. This conference was set up to discuss exactly what we need to do before leaving and how to prepare for life post-Peace Corps. The administration offered some really great tools to make the adjustment easier, including resumés, job searches, and graduate school options. I'm glad it forced me to think about some of these things, which I might have procrastinated too long, but at the same time it felt a bit early to jump into thoughts of leaving. Now I can't get my mind off of it. I want to make my last 4 months really worthwhile, but that may prove difficult if I struggle to focus on being in the present. So that being said, we're going to skip to real life updates:

Gardens! I basically live in my garden right now. The rains are right around the corner; we had a decent rain 2 weeks ago which got everyone's hopes up and now the skies are just teasing us. So while we anxiously await the nectar of the gods I'm helping as many women as I can to get tree and vegetable nurseries growing so that soon after the rains become frequent we can transplant into their respective gardens. My two groups of women filled and seeded 1200 tree sacks each and after a few re-seedings we have most sacks growing with little thorny trees that will hopefully become a live fence around their 1 hectare gardens. This is a techniques we promote in Peace Corps Senegal because it offers a cheaper and more long-lasting protection option than a chain-link fence or a fence made of old sticks or millet stalks. I'm eager to see the trees get established and hopefully my replacement can help fill in any gaps next rainy season. We also planted beds of eggplant, bitter tomato (actually a type of eggplant), hot pepper, green pepper, and tomatoes, which will be divided up and transplanted in each woman's plot. Beyond those they will probably grow okra, tropical hibiscus, squash, beans, and whatever other seeds they can find the space to plant. In the dry season they haven't used their garden space because it is on the edge of town and far for everyone, plus trying to pull water from a 35-meter well every day to maintain their crops in this heat was a little absurd. Because of that I'm offering a portion of my garden for them to use for their nurseries, which is more centrally located and has easy access to water (I have a faucet and hose that fill up a large cement water basin in my garden).

Beyond laboring in my garden and helping the women's groups, the school year just ended so I'm wrapping up this year's school gardening project and figuring out how best to get that running again when school reopens in October so that it can survive until my replacement is ready to take it over. I'm also working with a Master Farmer about 10 km away from Kaffrine where we are preparing improved farming experiments and demonstrations for this rainy season. Last week I was out there measuring the the demo plots and discussing which techniques he wants to focus on this season. At the end of the rainy season we will have a big Open Field Day where farmers from all over the region are invited to come out and learn what was done and how well it worked, with the eventual aim that more farmers will adopt some of the techniques he is using.

We raised all the money we needed for this year's Girls Camp! I'm really excited that we can now make this project a reality. I have chosen 7 girls from Kaffrine and we will have a total of 40 girls from all over the tri-region area who will take part in a week of educational and inspirational experiences they would never have had the opportunity for otherwise. It will be held in late August and I'm still working on dance routine to teach (I might have put that on the back burner for a bit with some of my other work...). I'm also going to help with a geography activity, crafts, and overall energy. It's going to be phenomenal.

So right now is a lot of prep work. Most of my projects are either in the labor-intensive preparatory stage or in the wrap-up stage. And yet I still manage to make time for some minor projects as well. I'm helping to host a training about Moringa this weekend, I check up with other notable farmers and help them when needed, I'm still active in the Peer Support Network, I manage the local PC office in Kaffrine, and I'm constantly on the lookout for ridiculous adventures. All together I feel like I'm living a pretty decent life and I am not quite ready to give it up in order to return to whatever America has in store for me. All in due time.

P.S. In my efforts to combat the heat and because I think this is the best time in my life to experiment, I shaved my head.  It was one of the best decisions I've made in awhile!

Getting back on my feet

First and foremost, I want to thank the countless people who have reached out to me over the past few months to offer love and support in my time of need. Your thoughts and words have really touched me. I honestly didn't realize how many people keep up with what is happening in my world. I know there are a lot of expectations for my work in Senegal, and I'm not sure if I always live up to them, but I am striving to fulfill my own aspirations to create an environment of mutual learning and growth.

This past month I have worked really hard to get back on my feet and to renew my energy for the projects that I have currently. It hasn't always been easy, and sometimes I have to take a moment to just let my emotions have some time. Right now I am working with 6 elementary schools in Kaffrine that are establishing gardens as a teaching tool for their students. I check up with each school every week to make sure their gardens are on track and to teach gardening techniques that they can then teach to their students. This month I also started to work with the local high school to set up a school garden and they have cleared a space, put up a fence, and are in the process of getting access to water from one of the buildings. I'm excited to see how that will turn out because the students are much older and only those who are interested in gardening will come to the classes we are setting up.

Kaffrine invitees for Girls Camp 2012

This week I interviewed girls from 3 different middle schools to choose the best girls (grades, motivation to continue their education, and willingness to learn new things from another culture) in 5ieme (approximately 8^th grade) for our annual girls camp.Volunteers from the regions of Kaolack, Fatick, and Kaffrine are putting it together in conjuction with Senegalese camp counselors for 40 girls for one week in August. I took part in it last year and it was an incredibly rewarding experience. This year I am the regional coordinator for the selection process and hopefully by this time next month I will know the names all all 14 girls from the region who will be attending. It is a great opportunity for the girls, many of whom have never left their region or seen the ocean, to go to a resort in the mangroves where we will have themed activities each day to teach the girls about their health, environment, identities, gender, and possible future careers. I will be teaching dance again and am currently on the lookout for some fun, yet easy to learn dance steps for the girls. Last year I taught two different types of dance but I think I'm just going to stick with one that they can easily remember and perform at our closing ceremony. If you love helping underprivileged girls, please take a moment to donate to make Girls Camp 2013 happen. The camp is made possibly purely through outside donations. And the best part is that you will receive a hand-written letter from one of the girls! 

Another project that I'm working on right now is to create a live fence of thorny trees for the garden spaces of two women's groups. We had the training last Saturday on how to fill tree sacks, seed them, take care of them, and then how to transplant them in a few months when the rains come. I had 2500 sacks for this so I gave each group 1250 and the next day women showed up to my garden and started sifting sand and manure, mixing it together, and then filling tree sacks. As of today, one group has already done 1000, and the other has done 650. So hopefully by Sunday they will all be done and we can seed them next week before I leave for a conference and then vacation.

Those are my current highlight projects, but I also have small activities that take up my time as well. I currently manage the Peace Corps office in Kaffrine and we just hosted the new trainees who are going to be place in Kaffrine next month. So now I am working on pre-ordering certain items for them so they don't have to worry about picking up everything they need for their new homes in the 2 days they will be given between arriving in the city and being taken to their new homes to be installed. I remember how overwhelming that time was for me, so hopefully getting these things will make the process a little less hectic. This weekend there is also a graffiti project being put together by an Italian non-profit (NGO) who work to get assistance for people with handicaps and their families. The graffiti art is one of the best tools they have found to teach students and communities about important topics like this. I have become good friends with the couple who run this NGO and I'm looking forward to helping out with this project.

So yes, I'm staying busy and working with as many people as possible who are interested in what I have to teach. I enjoy my time here and I know that when I leave it will be really difficult. I love the people I have met here and I continue to learn new things everyday. There are so many things here that I think I take for granted now, and things that don't even phase me that might have before. Like today, as I was locking up my garden one of the women took off her top and asked if she could leave it there so she would have some work clothes for tomorrow. Of course I had no problem with it and didn't even think twice about if she had something else to put on because then she proceeded to walk topless back to the trees where the other women were waiting. Apparently she did have another top and she put it on before we walked across town, but it wouldn't have surprised me if she had just tied her wrap skirt over her chest before making the trek home.

There is always a lot that I can share about my life and service here, and I know I don't ever say enough, but if you have any questions or comments I would love to hear them. Also, if there is some topic here you want me to address, I would be more than happy to share my experiences and opinions relating to it.  

It needs to be said

Dear World,

I know I haven't written in awhile. There is a perfectly good reason for that. In fact, the only reason I'm writing now is because I feel like I need to get some things off my chest. Firstly, thank you to those people who reached out to me and my family in our time of need. It was very kind. I'm sorry I haven't gotten back to most anyone, but I really do appreciate the sentiment. Since my last update in November, I've done some really great work, had delightful adventures, and then watched it all come crashing around me last month when my mom called me to tell me that my oldest brother had committed suicide. Suddenly none of the work I had been doing seemed to matter. My world was shattered with only a few words.

Honestly, I had no intention of going to the States at all during my service. I knew it would be a mentally shaking experience because I've cut a lot of things out of my life that seem so important there. Mostly material things, but also I have been shifting my worldview to try to see things in larger scheme of things. What I'm getting at is that I was in no way prepared for the very sudden decision to go home. (It was less of a decision and more a feeling that there is nowhere else I could imagine myself.) So in a daze I contacted PC admin with the help of a friend because I was still struggling putting coherent sentences together through the tears.

I want to take a moment to say that everyone who helped me in this process, host family, Senegalese and PC friends, and most especially PC Administration in Senegal were absolutely amazing. I was in some of the best hands possible for dealing with this situation. By the time I arrived in Dakar office hours were long over, but there was a dedicated crew still there to make sure that I had emotional support I needed and that I could get on a plane that same night. That alone was enough to make me emotional. I know there is no way possible to ever thank them enough, but hopefully one day I can show them the gratitude I feel.

A grueling 36 hours after my mom called me, I was in Salt Lake City, Utah, in running into the arms of my dear big sister, Missie. All the emotions I tried to repress during the long trek were finally able to gush out in the safest environment possible. There is nothing like sharing your broken soul to someone who understands exactly what you are going through because they are dealing with it too.

Over the next couple of days the rest of my family arrived and we had the first reunion of my very expansive family in many years. Very few things could make that happen. I wish this hadn't been one of those. But at least I was able to see everyone. I think that is one of the few consolations of my trip: I spent time with family and a few close friends. It was an absolutely exhausting and emotionally tumultuous trip. The States is weird. I really didn't know how to handle it. I think I went on autopilot a bit so that I didn't have to deal with too many stimuli at once. Grief trumps all.

I lost my big brother, the one who spoiled me when I was little, who taught me archery and sparked my youngest memories of wanderlust as I heard him describe his various adventures and mishaps. Somehow our paths diverged over the years as he grew up and I did too. I don't think he knew how much I looked up to him and then later how much I wanted to be his equal, his compatriot. He cut my family out of his life a few months ago, and as much as I didn't think it was fair because we had never had a bad relationship, I could do very little from my post in Senegal. And now it's too late to change.

I didn't write this for sympathy. The point of my blog is to let people who care about me know what I'm up to. I came back to Senegal 3 weeks ago because it seemed silly to do anything else. I had two weeks in America and while I had the option to stay longer, I don't think I could have handled it. I'm glad I came back. This is my home right now and I very much want to finish my service here. To be honest though, I'm not back to my old self yet. I know they say that time heals all wounds, but I would sure like it to hurry up. I'm riding this emotional roller coaster, hoping it doesn't have too many more unexpected twists and drops for awhile.

So in the meantime, I'm allowing myself mental health days as needed. I stayed with some friends in Toubacouta shortly after returning because they had visitors from America and I love seeing how people react differently around people who they've had relationships with pre-Peace Corps. I know I acted differently when my sister and her fiancé came to visit. It was really easy to fall into the little sister roll, but at times it did contrast sharply with my PC persona and the personal growth that I have experienced here. When that happened I had to step back and consciously change how I responded. I did that somewhat when I was home too, but to a lesser degree because it wasn't so glaringly obvious when removed from my PC world. But I have changed. I have overcome mental hurdles while adapting to a completely foreign environment. I'm not done growing though. I think when I finally find peace with the death of my brother I will be a more capable, competent person. And who knows what other experiences await over the next 8 months and beyond. So here's to riding the wave until I finally settle on a gentle sun-kissed shore.

"There are some things money can't buy"

Tabaski sheep: 210,000 cfa

Thanksgiving turkey: 16,000 cfa

Witnessing the engagement of your sister: priceless

Master Card had a good idea when they used this memorable slogan for how best to spend your money. Unfortunately they haven't made it to the inner reaches of the Sahel desert so in the meantime I dole out very colorful West African Francs (cfa) for many of my adventures.

The last month of regaling experiences starts with Tabaski, the largest Senegalese and Islamic holiday of the year. It is to celebrate Abraham's sparing of his eldest son and killing a sheep instead. Each head of household is required to slaughter an animal, preferably a sheep but a goat is acceptable and a chicken will do in a pinch. Since my house has 3 families living here, they each bought and killed a sheep, as well as my grandmother (though the only part she played was to give money for the sheep to be bought). So basically we ate a LOT of meat for a few days. However, since we are one of the more fortunate families in our neighborhood, we gave away about 2/3 of the meat. (We did however receive some meat from other families in the spirit of giving, so maybe we really did eat that much meat...) It was quite a festive 3 days where I ate lunch with a different family each day. It's so fun to see how different people choose to celebrate the holiday.

After the festivities were over and people slowly began to go back to work, I left for a pre-vacation to St. Louis, one of the best locales for a tourist in Senegal. It is located in the very northwest of the country, right on the coast. Now my reasoning for this little trip comes down to a couple of things. My good friend Robert was bitten by a venomous snake a few days beforehand in the jungles of Kedougou and was flown to Dakar for treatment. After he was released from the hospital he needed a break from life to really absorb what had just happened to him and that is very difficult to do in the hubbub of the capitol. Since I needed to leave site in a couple of days to pick up Beth and Chris from the airport, and my friend Jessica was flying home for Thanksgiving right before then, we decided this would be an opportune time to relax together in a city known for its chill atmosphere. That one top of the fact that by day 4 of Tabaski, if you still have meat left over, it has begun to go rancid and I didn't want any part of that. So off I went, and after 8 hours of travel, I arrived in the city and spent the next 3 days in total relaxation with some of my dearest friends. We did some site-seeing of the old French colonial quarters, ate delicious food, live music, and hung out with the volunteers there, including spending some time in the demonstration garden of my friend Mike Lieberman. That last part was really great because I've been looking for some inspirations for my own garden and I was able to give some creative sections. Also, the live music was quite wonderful. We met a harmonica musician who has been traveling the world in search of the best ways to express himself with music. His music had a bluegrass feel while also giving me the feel of dancing on a riverboat in the Bayou. He was a delightful character and I hope I run into him again someday.

When we finally left it was with a reluctant heart, but I certainly intend to go back there before I leave. Plus St. Louis hold Jazz Fest in May or June so I can't miss that. We left and headed straight for Dakar since Jessica had to fly out that night and I needed to be back at the airport the next morning. It remained the overly-crowded city that I remembered, so I was eager to leave as quickly as possible. I was up with the morning call to prayer and in a cab to pick them up when I received a call from an airport official informing me that my family had arrived early and were anxiously waiting. I felt so bad that I wasn't there to meet them directly and hoped they were ok. As soon as my cab pulled up and I saw them standing at the arrival exit, I started running and didn't stop until my momentum was stopped by Beth running and leaping into my arms. As soon as I put her down I received an overjoyed and relieved hug from Chris and it sealed the excitement that had been bubbling over. I had been waiting over a year for those embraces and they were perfect.

After that, I knew the next two weeks were going to be great, if only because I at last had my family here to share the world I have come to love and treasure. Once we arrived at the regional house they showed me some wonderful gifts that had brought, including an entire backpack full of food and other supplies that were a communal gift of many family members. As always, I'm amazed my mother's packing job and kept finding treasures days after I had unpacked the bag. One of the most notable gifts though was a burrito from Chipotle. It isn't that I'm a diehard fan or anything, but I have been craving an overstuffed burrito more than any other thing in this country. Of course my dreams tend to be of a veggie burrito from Cedar City's Roberto's, but I knew that was a near impossibility and the Dulles Airport in DC could offer me some semblance of the deliciousness that my mind remembered. And I didn't care that it had been sitting on an airplane for 8 hours. In fact, I busted that baby out for breakfast that morning and then because Chris had left a second one he hadn't finished, I also ate that one on the 4 hour bus ride to Kaolack that I forced them on that same morning.

I didn't give them much time to recuperate from their long travels because I wanted to leave Dakar and get us down to my friends' village on the border of Gambia as quickly as possible. So by the time we arrived at dusk, they had been traveling for over 24 hours. And this was the moment we realized that Chris bag had been broken into sometime between the DC airport and his arrival and baggage collection in Dakar and they took his camera! We were all so angry and upset because that had been his graduation present and he had been looking forward to the photographic opportunities here. Also, it was his carry-on luggage and the airline told him it was too big so they were going to put it under the plane. And that was the point when the thief had access to it! Needless to say, we were upset and Chris was still quite panicked. I sent Beth to splash her face and clean up because we were supposed to meet our friends at the local bar for a birthday party. When she left the room Chris quickly rummaged through the rest of his bag until he found the box that was the real reason for his panic. As soon as I saw it my heart skipped a beat and I held my breath as he opened it and found his grandmother's wedding rings still securely inside it. We both visibly relaxed and he handed me the box for safe keeping on the rest of our journey. When Beth returned, we headed out to the bar and then spent the next 2 days with great company, trying to deal with the issues of the stolen camera while still being secretly relieved that the most valuable items hadn't been taken.

We were back on the road pretty quickly, stopping for a day to go kayaking in the delta and to dine with a baby monkey before finally arriving at my home in Kaffrine. There we hung out with some of my favorite people, visited my garden, biked to my friend Christi's village, and had an election party into the wee hours of the morning. While this was our longest period of time sleeping in the same place, we were still so busy it flew by so quickly that I couldn't fit everything in. One thing I did make sure to do was give Chris his birthday present, a traditional Senegalese boubou. Beth also got a matching complet as well. From the moment he arrived, he asked about the possibility of getting one made, I ended up having to spill the beans early that I had already done that and that the tailor had it ready and waiting.  Good thing my eyeball measurements fit!

The next leg of our journey started very early. We woke up, biked across town, and were on a makeshift van-bus before 6am. It took us 5 hours to get to Tamba, and after a lunch break, another 4 to get to Kedougou. But we arrived safely and ready to enjoy the crazy adventure that Kedougou always holds. Since the bike situation looked a bit haggard and we were all tired from travel, I arranged for a car to pick us up and the next morning we were on our way to the mountain village of Segou, which is on the road to Guinea and home to a beautiful waterfall. This had been prearranged as the ideal site for Chris to pop the question so I wanted to make sure thing went smoothly. My friends Robert and Cameron joined us for the hike and as we meandered on the long path in and out of the mountain stream I was constantly reminded of how great and yet surreal it felt to have my Peace Corps Senegal life merging with my America world for this period of time. I noticed a lot on this trip how much I have changed and continue to change, hopefully for the better.

But on to the part everyone is waiting for... When we arrived at the waterfall we took a little lunch break of peanut butter and apple sandwiches before Beth decided it was time to go splashing in the water. She and I stripped to our bikinis and ventured into the water a bit. After a bit of this Chris handed me the camera (I had put him in charge of mine ever since his was stolen because I wanted him to continue to capture the memories he had hoped to on this trip), and I went up to my bag to grab the ring box I had been stowing away this whole time. While he and Beth spent time holding each other and being cutesy, I slipped the box into his hand without her noticing. I'm a ninja like that. Then in a pretense of taking more photos of the waterfall and them, I started recording them and it took Beth a bit to notice that I was so close, though she didn't catch on that the video was on. After she tried to get him to go under the waterfall with her and he explained they should wait a little bit, he began to explain why he loved her so much and that he wanted to spend his life with her. Then he got down on his knee and asked her to marry him. She responded, “Of course!” He then told her the story of the ring being his grandmother's. It was such a touching moment and I felt honored to be a part of it. They've already chosen a date too: June 13, 2014. Eight years to the day after they started dating. And they are specifically waiting that long so I can be home for it. I have the best siblings!

We basically rode that high all the way back to Kedougou the next day and through the longest haul of the trip, all the way back across the country in less than 24 hours. We arrived in Dakar at 5 am on Chris's birthday and spent the day on a very relaxed meander around parts of the city. We hit the beach, enjoyed chilling on an island, ate ice cream, jumped on trampolines and finally ate Ethiopian food to polish off the day. Their last day we did very little, which was very ok since we were all pretty exhausted from such a packed trip. It was hard to see them go though. My family is very important to me and if it weren't for the distance from them and some of my dear friends, I think I could make Senegal my home for far longer than the allotted 27 months. As it is, I very much look forward to seeing everyone in a year (give or take a few months).

Well that pretty much covers the biggest highlights of the last month. Though I will give a shout-out to some other memorable moments: Christi's birthday picnic in a baobab grove, convincing my friend who hasn't really ridden a bicycle since high school to bike 20km with me to visit on of my work partners, and finally sharing Thanksgiving with some awesome volunteers and introducing it to my dearest Senegalese friends. Also, we just enjoyed Tamkharit here, the celebration of the Islamic New Year. It also happens to be the month I officially became a Peace Corps Volunteer and moved to Kaffrine. I look forward to what awaits for my second year here. It's already shaping up to be quite an experience!

Heat + Rain = Adventure!

I know it has been a ridiculously long time since I last wrote, but that doesn't mean things have stopped being interesting here. I still find a new challenge/adventure everyday. I will try to give a few highlights for you over the last few months though, and then we can try to move forward from there.

My last teaser was to tell you about my epic trip to Cape Verde, which really was phenomenal! Probably one of the best vacations in my life thus far. I traveled with my good friends Cameron and Frank, who are both volunteers in the Kedougou region. They are a bit more accustomed to the type of greenery that we encountered in CV but I was blown away by how alive everything was, even though it was May and the hottest time of the dry season. The volunteers there were quick to inform me that it is normally much more breathtaking. Regardless, I thought it was delightful and fell in love with the topography (mountains, valleys, beaches, rocky cliffs). As much as I love Senegal, my region is incredibly flat, with few trees and nothing close to beaches or cliffs. Needless to say, I was a little jealous, but definitely appreciative of the chance to spend time with volunteers who knew the area and who could show us all the best places.

 We spent a few days on the volcanic island Fogo so of course we had to hike up to the base of the vocano (5+ hrs) and then the next morning hike the volcano (4+ hrs). It was beautiful! The valley by the volcano has been turned into a vineyard of sorts with grapes and pomegranates growing out of the nutrient rich soil. I don't have adequate words to describe how wonderful the wine and cheese were there... We were fortunate to have the lovely Rachel Day, a volunteer on Fogo, host us and show us the hike.

 After our epic time in Fogo we didn't know if Santiago could really compete, but it definitely made a great impression. Black sand beaches, mountain villages, caves full of washed up seashells, old colonial tunnels through the mountain that emerge onto a cliff beach that was crying to be explored, flying a kite on top of a mountain, music festivals, climbing inside of The Big Tree, and of course fantastic volunteers showing us countless adventures along the way. I want to give a big shoutout to all the volunteers in Cape Verde. You know how to live the good life while still making a difference. Sorry that Peace Corps closed your country program. Cape Verde is now very dear in my heart and I hope to go back there someday to see the gems of the other islands as well.

Skip forward to late June... RAIN!!! The rainy season came and brought life everywhere! I didn't realize that Kaffrine could be so beautiful, but I was certainly proven wrong. Not only was everything green, but the people became more active. Everyone was working, fields were plowed with the year's crops, and in general people seemed happy to be more active. One tough part about the rainy season though is that because everyone has invested their time and money into their fields, and the crops haven't been harvested yet, Senegal goes through what is known as the Starvation Season. There isn't a lot of money to buy vegetables or meat, and in some of the poorer families they only eat rice and oil at times. I'm fortunate to have a school teacher for my host dad, so he has a steady income to provide for the family during this time. Sometimes it is hard knowing that I'm still eating well when the people I work with (mostly farmers) are struggling to provide more than what they grow themselves. (Strange that I would feel that way here when I know it is far less than what is spent on food in the U.S.) So the big push is to teach people to at least keep a small vegetable garden during that time. My women's groups seemed to do pretty well with that this season and even had enough left to sell in the markets too.

I ended up traveling a fair amount in July and August due to Independence Day celebration in Kedougou, a training about moringa in another subregion, celebrating birthdays, and my friend Toby coming to visit as his close of service (COS) trip after serving 2 years in Cape Verde. We jumped on trampolines overlooking the ocean in Dakar, went kayaking in the Mangroves in Toubacouta, hung out in Kaffrine, and eventually finished up relaxing in Kedougou. Attempted to go to a waterfall, but we both got sick during the bike ride there, so we hung out a campement in the mountains and then biked back the next day. It was still really fun even though we didn't see the falls. (Consolation was that I trashed him at playing rummy. :D) The best part about Kedougou was lounging in hammocks, listening to guitar music and great conversations.

I had to leave early and send Toby back to Dakar by himself because I was supposed to go to a training for all the Urban Agriculture volunteers in Senegal. The training was held in the far north of the country, so it was quite a trek to get there. And since I caught the free PC ride part of the way, I took part in teaching some farmers up there about erosion control. I felt like the information I imparted was well received, though it definitely helped that I had other volunteers there to help me translate. Also, I pulled a muscle in my back while carrying large rocks to create a dam.... The rest of the training was alright, though I was still dealing with being sick, and then my injured back on top of that meant that a fair amount of the information was lost on me and I was irritated that I had traveled so far, not been able to see Toby off, and then was in a position to receive information well. So that was fun. But on the plus side, I did loop all the way around the country in a month. The only sections I missed out on were the middle of the country between me and the north: Linguere, and then the lower jaw of Senegal (really, the country looks like pac man and it is swallowing The Gambia): Kolda/Casamance. I intend to go to every region before I COS so I'm well on my way!

Next stop: Mangroves! If I haven't mentioned before, the mangroves are a special type of tree the live in salt water and actually acts as a water purification system so the ecosystem surrounding them are crazy cool. I hear rumor if you are lucky you can even see a manatee there. Anyway, they are being deforested at a rapid rate because the wood is so good at repelling salt water and humidity. So in short, the ecosystem is suffering and as Peace Corps volunteers working to improve the environment, we have a few annual mangrove reforestation projects. The one I attended was about 45 volunteers and a local community working in hand with Oceania to plant 40-45,000 seedlings in the sand at low tide. It was an awesome experience and in a few months volunteers will go back out to count how many survived so we can assess what we should do for next year. And as they like to say in wolof, “Ndank ndank mooy jappe golo ci ñaay” : “slowly slowly you catch the monkey in the fields”

Not long after the reforestation project, I was back in that area for Girls Camp! We had 32 motivated and outstanding girls from all over the region come together for a week of activities focused on health, education and gender development. I was there for half of the days and I loved every minute of it. We were constantly busy running around making sure all of the activities were going smoothly and keeping the girls engaged. I was mostly involved in leading dance, yoga, self-defense, and container gardening. Mostly I was on the physical activity team so by the end of camp I was ridiculously exhausted, but in a good way. The girls were wonderful and it was a tearful goodbye. I'm still in contact with the 5 girls I brought from Kaffrine and I hope that continues.

My sitemate Susan also got married around that time to a wonderful Senegalese man named Souleye and I've really enjoyed hanging out with them and watching the newlywed bliss.

Other than that it has been a lot of farming time. I had a beautiful garden for awhile until a fungal disease decided to wreak havoc. I still got a good harvest out of my corn though! So now I'm in a transitional period as the rains end and the cool dry season has yet to begin. So I've pulled out all the diseased plants and am re-amending the soil with happy natural nutrients and prepping for the next season crops.

That pretty sums up my last few months except when I went to Dakar a few weeks ago to get physical therapy for my back that decided it wouldn't heal after that training. So I did that and my back is slowly improving. I wasn't great to it while in Dakar though because there were too many opportunities for me to actually dance, which was hard to refuse. Even in the med hut (a section of the PC headquarters for volunteers to stay who are receiving medical treatment), there was a male volunteer that was evacuated from Guinea and sent there who happened to be a great salsa dancer. Do you know how hard it is to find a good male dance partner around here? Well anyway, it was great to work out my dancing feet (even if they wanted to refuse by giving me a blood blister on the bottom of my foot) and I restrained myself somewhat to preserve my back. So all in all, a great time in Dakar, and I am actively doing my physical therapy exercises. As long as I can remember to take it easy in the garden too, I'll be fine. :P

April Showers?

I was under the impression that I wouldn't see a drop of rain until June, but apparently there are occasionally small storms which are known as mango rains during the hot dry season.  The 2-3 rains we have had in the past 2 months have been absolutely delightful! And mango season is upon us! I can't tell you what pleasure it is to bite into a tree-ripened mango on a hot day.

But enough about that.  Things have been progressing well over the past couple of months.  Went on an amazing trip to Kedougou and swam under waterfalls!  I also visited some of the amazing volunteers down there and completely fell in love with that region.  Don't worry, I will be back there in July for Independence Day celebration!  I have spent an amazing amount of time gardening and getting things ready for the rainy season.  We had a summit for all of the Urban Agriculture volunteers a few weeks ago and in that time went over the various projects that are happening around Senegal.  People here are doing some amazing stuff! From hospital gardens to help the people in the psych ward, teaching people about the awesome properties of moringa, school gardening, working with Talibe, and so much more.

Since then I have been assessing my current projects and am figuring out where to put my energies. I have been at site 6 months now and am beginning to grasp the language and my role here a bit better.  My family is still amazing and they love saying that I'm a girl when I help with cooking and cleaning.  And guys who come to my garden say I work hard like a boy.  Don't worry, I'm quick to respond that I work hard like a girl and then list off all the work girls here do every day while men sit under trees drinking ataaya and talking about how hot it is.  Women here are amazing and very under appreciated.  I hope that can slowly change.  On that note, I'm helping put together a girls camp in June.  It will be a great way for girls who are eager to continue their education to meet likeminded girls from all over the region and take part in awesome activities with the Peace Corps Volunteers in this area. I'm going to teach salsa and help out on other great sessions too. More on that later.

And the final bit of news....I'm going on vacation to Cape Verde! I fly out on Saturday and will be gone about 2 weeks. I'm so excited and nervous! But I will take lots of pictures :)

Ba bennen yoon!

Full Spectrum Experiences

As life continually teaches me, there is never one side to things.  You think things might be down, but soon enough it will jump back up.  I have found over the past month that the pendulum is constantly swinging.  A quick recap of contrasting experiences include:

• ·         I was stung by a scorpion / The next day I avoided a scorpion sting (though my friend’s skirt did catch fire in the process of trying to kill it…)
• ·         I dealt with the sudden death of my counterpart from an asthma attack and experienced my first Senegalese funeral / My Wolof tutor had a baby girl and I went to my first naming ceremony.
• ·         I planted many trees (and will soon plant many more) / A tree toppled over on top of me because termites had eaten and killed the roots.
• ·         I dealt with the sudden onset of the hot season in Kaffrine / I had a short break from the heat by a visit to the delta region.
• ·         My computer crashed / I have an amazing friend who is working on sending me a new one.
• ·         I taught school gardening lessons where the kids made fun on my language and didn’t really care about the lesson / and I taught classes that were engaged and excited about gardening and didn’t mind that I stumbled along with my words.

Other things that I have done this month include taking an 80 km bike ride with Christi to visit the sites of Sarah F and Lorraine PD (In that time we played in various trees, visited the scary acacia forest, saw the megalith stone circles, were nearly stung by the scorpion, and watched Lorraine battle a flaming skirt, and it was all worth to so I could watch Sarah sit in a bucket and open her birthday present), had some great dinner parties with friends, and slowly progressed with my language.

So life has been working hard to keep things fairly balanced in my world this month.  I’m constantly learning and growing, I have amazing site mates who are patient with me and teach me very useful things, and I’m always collecting new stories to tell. 

(If you want to know about any of these specific stories, just let me know.  Sorry I fail at posting regularly and crazy experiences tend to add up quickly here.)

P.S. I'm heading to the land of greenery and waterfalls tomorrow, also known as Kedougou! I'll let you know about that adventure when I return.

IST and upcoming elections

IST has come and gone, and now I feel that I have a wealth of knowledge ready to impart! I had 11 days of intensive technical training where I learned everything from organic (and chemical) pest management to erosion control to seed saving. It was fascinating, yet quite exhausting. My brain definitely hurt by the end. But I did counteract that by hanging out with my amazing friends in the down time. At one point we decided that our cuddle sessions weren't adequate in a small bed, so we pushed two bunk beds together, tied the mosquito nets together, and had a bunk bed fort! This made cuddle time soo much cooler!! Also, at one point we played in a seemingly abandoned old Beetle that was sitting in the middle of a field. When we came back by 10 minutes later, the car was gone! So I may or may not have accidentally broken into someone's car... These are mere samplings of the amazing times we had. After spending 2 months together during PST many of us became very close, only to be placed in various parts of the country that are quite far apart. So we went a little crazy with how much time we spent together.

But now I'm back at site, figuring out how to get involved in projects. It is a little bit difficult because of the upcoming election. Everyone is waiting in anticipation to see what happens. There have been a lot of riots in the major cities as people protest Wade's candidacy. Don't worry, Kaffrine has been very mild. We have had a lot of presidential candidates come through on their campaign tours, but they have remained peaceful. (Though when Wade came through, there were a lot of riot police around in case something happened.) The first round of elections happens on Sunday, February 26^th. The results should be released sometime that night or the next morning. That is when I anticipate things going crazy. Right now we aren't allowed to travel to any regional capitols until after this wave of the elections are over to see how people respond. So I'm putting most everything on hold until then too. I still retreat to my lovely garden everyday and that has been delightful. I love seeing things grow!

Oh, I also had my first sleepover in a hut! The other day I biked to my friend Christi's village, which is about 5km south. We went around and greeted most of the village, danced a little, ate two dinners, and carried a basin of water on my head across the village! (This is a lot harder than you would think...) She doesn't have electricity so we lit some candles and chatted late into the night, while also listening to the birds that have built a nest in the rafters. It was quite romantic! The next day after a lovely breakfast we filled tree sacks and planted some lemon trees. All in all, a successful trip that I will certainly cherish.

I'm heading into the bush again tomorrow to help my friend Sarah celebrate her birthday. Yay for 20+ km bike rides through the bush! I love the adventure!

P.S. I was stung by a scorpion today. It was intensely painful but is getting better slowly. Right now half of my hand is numb... so typing is interesting. But rest assured, it isn't lethal. And I did consult medical staff. So really, all in a day's work. Bismillah!

When push comes to shove

Christmas here was lovely and New Years was entertaining. I went to a beach town with some friends for Christmas and basically spent 3 days laying on the beach reading, splashing in the waves, and enjoying awesome company. It was the best way to escape site after my first 6 weeks. I also had an intensive language seminar at the end of that where my LCF came to Kaffrine for 3 days. So the break was delightful.

Christmas at Toubab Dialaw

I did not end up celebrating the New Year at site. Instead, I traveled to the lovely region of Fatick with some friends where we were to stay at a campement on the edge of the Mangroves. Basically, a gorgeous area full of life (compared to what I experience at site...) To start off this trip I took my first mini bus where 30+ people crammed into this vehicle and we stopped at every village along the way from Kaffrine to Kaolack. Fortunately I sat in the back of the bus so I wasn't overly squished. And I made friends with the guy who hangs out the back door or on the ladder to the roof yelling prices and destinations to people waiting on the side of the road. It seems a bit dangerous because often times the bus will start pulling away and the guy has to run and hop on the back. Oh, and they never wear sturdier shoes than a flip flop. Not sure how often they get injured in this job but they seem to have a good time.

When I arrived in Kaolack I found my friends and we had to argue prices with the next driver to put 8 people in a sept place. It is slightly illegal so whenever we passed a Gendarmerie (the police station) I would duck down. That part wasn't a big deal to me because we did something similar to get back from Christmas vacation. The biggest issue was that we were all set to go and then the people at the garage decided that our car needed to go to Dakar instead. So they put us into this very beat up car. The driver knew his car was struggling and so would take as many bush paths as possible to avoid the awful state of the regular road. Bush paths are nicer because it is packed sand, but not nice because it is a tiny one-lane path with many blind turns. I'm sure you can see where this is heading. We had multiple close calls. The last one both cars had to stop to avoid colliding. There was a patch of deep sand next to us which the other car refused to take so we had to turn into that. This of course entailed being too stuck in the sand to move at all. And then the transmission blew. So there was nothing we could do but push this car along these bush paths in the middle of nowhere. We passed a few villages and kids would occasionally come out in order to the see the spectacle of 8 white people pushing this car. I don't know exactly how far we went but I would estimate it at about 2 km. Fortunately for us my friend Ash had made friends with a driver who lived pretty close to there so she called him and he rescued us when we reached the main road. So that turned out well.

The actual New Years celebration was an interesting one because we ended up getting kicked out of the first place we went. The family of one of the volunteers were visiting and we met with them at their hotel. But the owner of the place decided we were unruly and said we had to leave. It was a ridiculous situation but we ended up going to another hotel that is owned by this awesome Dutch couple and that worked out nicely. There were fireworks on the docks and Senegalese drummers. The owners even danced with us late into the night. And then on my way back the next day I saw a giant troop of baboons!! That was the best way to start out the new year.

It took me a lot longer to get home than I had expected because of a transportation strike. I was stuck at the regional house in Kaolack for a couple of days until that was over. It was weird not seeing any taxis, busses, or sept places on any of the roads for days. This country doesn't function well without the public transit system and things weren't really resolved then. Another transport strike occurred last week for a few days but some sort of agreement was finally made (ie the religious leaders who own most of the vehicles in the public transit system were given something to assuage their discontent).

I was home for less than a week before heading out again to the All Volunteer Conference in Thiès. There were transportation issues again but this time because of a major religious holiday where people were flooding to Maggal Touba (slightly less important than the pilgrimage to Mecca for the Senegalese Mouride Muslim sect which caters to the majority of Senegal). Basically most of the cars in Senegal were heading to Touba, so we couldn't get to Thiès. Peace Corps ended up sending some buses out to consolidated locations for us to get to the conference. My bus ended up arriving 6 hours late so I didn't make it to Thiès until almost 4AM. But I was still up by 7AM to attend the various sessions. It was actually a really fascinating conference because volunteers from all over West Africa came to present various projects that they have been working on. It gave me a lot of ideas for projects here and even things I could do in the States. There is a really cool recycled paper briquette maker that I really want to make and use when I get back. It was also really neat to meet so many other volunteers. I'm still pretty new here so I hadn't met the majority of volunteers in Senegal, and then there were also volunteers from Mali, Guinea, Gambia, and Cape Verde so it was great to network.

After the conference we all headed to Dakar for the West African Invitational Softball Tournament aka WAIST. Basically this is a chance for everyone to relax, play some ball and enjoy the amenities of the largest city in West Africa. I think I mentioned before, each of the teams chose a theme to dress up and make things more interesting. My region did Boy scout/Girl scout and I must say I think I made an awesome Brownie. I ended up not playing for my team though because we had plenty of people. But I did decide to help out the Cape Verde/Guinea/Mali team because they were short players. This included the game against my own team. But that was really the best game of all because we decided to ditch the softball and we played full-contact kick ball! It was a free for all with very few rules and blurred lines on who was playing for whom. There was tackling, intentional fumbling, and at one point the third baseman decided to score a point for the other team by running home! (Thanks Christi!) It was the best kickball game I've had in a really long time. And I became an honorary member of PC Cape Verde! I intend to visit sometime this summer. (Side note: Peace Corps is leaving Cape Verde in September! They have decided the job is done and their presence is no longer needed. The volunteers who aren't leaving before then will be transferred to another country for the rest of their service. So I need to visit soon!)

 

Cape Verde Softball team

Another aspect of WAIST is the PC Talent Show, Prom, and date auction. During Prom/Date Auction I ended up enlisting the help of some friends and we bought our friend Bob, who is a volunteer in Cape Verde. All the proceeds go to a scholarship fund for underprivileged girls, so we figured an afternoon of friends hanging out would be a good way to support that. I'm sure he felt pretty special going out to dinner with 3 lovely ladies. So all in all, I had a great time dancing, hanging out with other volunteers and eating great food in Dakar.

I had one day to recover from WAIST before my next conference, which was training for the PC Senegal Peer Support Network. 2-3 volunteers from each region were selected for this support counsel that any volunteer can turn to when they are struggling or maybe just need someone to talk to. It is also an important thing to have during crisis situations. We had a two-day training with psychologists, medical staff, and the cross cultural coordinator in order to be most effective in this work. Since this is the line of work that I want to pursue, I'm really grateful that I can do this during my service.

Peer Support Network

The rest of my month has been spent reconnecting with people at site, working in my garden and on the school gardening projects, as well as doing a seed collection training where we went into the bush and collected seed pods. Basically I spent a morning climbing trees and running around in as much forest as we have in this part of Senegal with friends. We also had a picnic in a Baobab grove and were eventually chased away by a swarm of bees. So all in all, a great time!

Now I'm off to IST (In Service Training) which marks the completion of my first 3 months as a volunteer. We will have 11 days of intensive agriculture training and preparation to kick start projects. I'm looking forward to this because I'm hoping it will give me the direction I've been lacking thus far.

P.S. If you were wondering, I have now been able to get halfway through my laundry before someone stepped in to help me. Progress! Maybe soon they will trust me to do the whole thing on my own.

5 Week Challenge Completed!

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!