Kaolack

Here is a picture of the Sustainable Agriculture group, with Youssoupha our tech trainer. He is awesome - he bought us ice cream to celebrate the end of training! I am writing this from an internet cafe in Kaolack city. As you may have surmised by now, I made it safely here with all my things. So far I am loving it! I feel very lucky to have ended up in the Kaolack region. There is a real sense of community among the Volonteers here, and there are a lot of us, so it is hard to feel too nervous or lonely. Our regional house is small but still there's plenty of room for us to relax, which is a high priority for everyone now that we are done with training. Now, we make our own schedules. At the moment, the house is cluttered with people's stuff - suitcases, water filters, stoves, mattresses, all tossed into semi-orderly piles around the place. These will gradually diminish as people are installed, one by one, in their sites. I will be among the last; the Peace Corps car is picking me up on Friday to take me to my new home. I haven't had much time to mull over this, thankfully, since we have kept busy since our arrival yesterday. Kaolack's claim to fame (among its other charms, which I'm sure I will learn during my stay in this region) is that it can boast the second-largest covered market in West Africa. It is truly an experience unlike any other. The market spills out into the streets, with garish items for sale on every corner. There is some organization. It seems like the used clothes are sold in one area, fish in another, and vegetables in a third. There is even a "gris-gris" market. Gris-gris are a popular fashion statement among Volonteers. They come in many varieties, from what I can tell mostly involving a string or leather thong with beads or something hanging off, and they can be enchanted (I don't know if that's the right word...blessed, maybe?) to provide protection. I think you can request them for specific situations, too. Somebody mentioned once that a Volonteer ordered one specifically to get a good grade on the LSAT. Every little baby I've seen has one around their fat bellies, and sometimes in necklace form as well. I haven't bought one for myself yet, but if I'm anything like the rest of my Peace Corps coworkers I too will soon be walking around with gris-gris hanging off all my limbs. We new Volonteers are in the midst of our installation shopping spree, buying all the things we think we might need. As I know next to nothing about my site, I'm trying to cover all my bases. So far, I bought a few buckets, some plastic bowls and plates, a couple chairs, cooking pots and utensils, mugs and cups, a village broom (dry grass stalks bound together at one end; they work so much better than plastic brooms!), a woven mat, a mattress with foam pad, a gas stove, a strainer, sheets...and the rest slips my mind. I have a lot of new things, but I think now most of it has been bought, as the rest will need to wait until I actually see my hut and know definitively what I need. One of the cultural aspects I dreaded most before coming here was bargaining. Not being a naturally pushy person, I didn't like the idea of having to battle down a price, especially not knowing what the proper price should be. But - surprise! - I like it! Probably I still end up paying more than I should for some things, but bargaining is easier and much more fun than I ever imagined. You just greet the seller as you would anyone else, then ask them how much it costs. If you don't like the price (and I've heard some outrageous ones in just two days. Two-thousand cfa for that second-hand tee-shirt? You must be joking. Four hundred, maximum.) you tell them another one, and they'll drop a few cfa that way, but often you have to pretend to lose interest and walk away. Then, if they've decided they want your business after all, they'll hiss to call you back and you start bargaining again until you finally get the price you want. I feel so grateful to have learned Wolof, too. Everybody speaks Wolof and they are usually so surprised (I'm not good enough with the language yet to say they are impressed) that I can communicate, it makes talking the price down easier. I wish I could describe the bustle of the market. The narrow alleys, people crowded on all sides selling and buying, some carrying spectacular things on their heads, and everywhere loud colors jostling for supremacy. It's a sensory adventure, both good and bad, the bad mostly having to do with smells I'd rather not mention. But there is a spice section of the market, too, and walking into that fragrant street made me realize how exotic and wonderful this place is. There is a lot still to learn about Kaolack, but this is my regional capital so I will come here fairly often. Breakfast today was a bag of millet beignets and a chilled sack of bissap juice from a street vendor - so delicious! My plan this afternoon is to curl up with a book or maybe watch a movie, and basically gather myself for more excitement that will inevitably come when I venture back into the vibrant marche tomorrow.