Sama Willas

Today we were finally given our site announcements! I am headed to a village of about 700 people called Keur Ali Gueye, in the Kaolack region. As far as I can tell, I will be 7km from the nearest sizeable town (one you can find on a map of Senegal) called Nioro du Rip. I am very excited! It feels so good to finally know where I will be living for the next two years. Life in a small village will take some adjusting - even less privacy, no electricity, long walks to the market - but I am prepared to figure those things out they come. Needless to say, there will be fewer blog postings once I'm at site! That won't be for another month, though. In the meantime, we are still training hard in Thies. Tonight most people are going out to a restaurant to celebrate our new sites. I'll be there!

Business as usual

It is just business as usual here at the training center. Class, culture, health, more class, technical, and lanuage class again. I have Wolof coming out my ears, though unfortunately not out of my mouth. Hehehe, I'm a genius - that is such an amazing sentance! Akon is currently playing in the background at the Internet cafe. The Senegalese-American (verdicts are mixed here as to his true naitonality) is ever-present; I hear Akon ALL the time. Luckily his music, from what I've heard, is pretty good. Though I wish I could listen to some Sugarland or something country once in a while. Really, though, Wolof is going well; slowly, but it's coming along. We finally did something agriculture-related this week: we tilled a little plot in the training center and sowed some crops to care for and observe for our next month here. We have millet, sorgum, corn, cowpea, and peanut, of which the millet and sorgum have already sprouted. They are just tiny green shoots at the moment, but pretty soon we wil have to weed and water them. Traditionaly, things are planted at the beginning of the rainy season, and whatever rain falls during those few months is all the water they get for the year, so it is important to have varieties that will finish their life cycle before it gets too dry for them. We visited a very neat, clean little village earlier this week to look at the ields in production. It was humbling, for me, to see how the farmers here have learned to grow food in, essentially, sand, or occasdionally clay. There is no rich, black soil here like we have back home. It is reddish, grainy and poor-looking, but nevertheless fertile. I have a lot to learn about farming here, that's for sure. Nothing is quite like the greeting we recievedin these villages. As our bus pulled up and we sweaty Americans spilled out, we were surrounded by children grinning and greeting us - I could respond to that, in part, with my clumsy Wolof - and then the women greeted us also, with huge smiles and excitement all round. It's something that just doesn't happen in the US, really, to have strangers welcome you and help you learn their lanuage, and really truly want you there. It is a good feeling. Today, walking with a fellow Trainee to the Internet cafe, an adorable little boy was goiing our way, so we started chatting (in French and Wolof) about little things - school, his family, our names. We just strolled off together, talking when we felt like it, and laughing a lot. That's the kind of thing that happens here fairly frequently. Some of the kids in my neighborhood know who I am now, and they'll call to me - "Fatou Diallo!" as I walk home. I regret that I don't have more time to spend with my host family. They are really great, but by the time I get home from training it is almost time for "ndogu" - breaking fast - and then I do homework usually, maybe sit with them for half an hour before dinner, and then it's off to bed. The weekends are my time with them, but also for myself, so it is tough to find the balance. Last week, I helped my sisters with the laundry. It's a grueling chore - they wash everything by hand, and scrub so hard the water makes a squelching noise through their fingers. I tried, but couldn't do it, so I rinsed and wrung out the clothes instead. They dry quickly in the sun, and then are ironed. I'm not sure exactly why they do this, but apparantly there are some flies that will lay eggs on damp clothing, which could hatch into larvae that burrow under the skin, but ironing kills them, which is enough to make me buy an ironing board! It's an old-style iron, though. They fill the iron shell with hot coals from the brazier, which they use also for heating water and other things. I'll have to try it sometime. Meanwhile, things are going well here. I am very busy! This Thursday our sites will be announced. It is exciting! I can't wait to find out where I will be for the next two years...

Training

(Drying laundry at the training center....scenic, isn't it?)

We finally finished our first week of training, and it is a grueling schedule. We start classes at 8a.m., but I try to be there by 7:30 to eat breakfast (which is tea/nescafe/hot chocolate, and bread. WAY too much rahter nasty white bread.) and settle in before we get into the grind. Wolof lessons are tough - it's been forever since I learned the basics of a language, and I'd forgotten how much I disliked it. But, all things considered, it is going well. I can now greet people on the street: "Naga def? Naka waa ker nga? Alhamdullilah!" and that's about the extent of my language skills. We are learning to make basic sentances now, which I try to practice with the family, but that is slow going. However, I am optimistic that I will meet the minimum language requirement for the Peace Corps. Meanwhile, we are also learning come useful cross-cultural tidbits, which we are trying to apply in daily life. This is easier said than done, I find, but I am determined to try! Eating etiquette is fairly straightforward: don't take all the vegetebles, don't reach across the bowl into someone else's area, don't sprawl so nobody else can fit, and don't ever use your left hand! Right hand only. For pretty much everything. Which at least is consistant! I need to work on paying more attention to which hand people are using, though, and really concentrate on which one I offer; at home, whichever hand is convenient is fine, but here using your left hand could be considered very rude. I have more trouble with the rules governing people's interactions. They all still feel awkard to me, and I'm never quite sure when I should wander away from people I've greeted, or whether they are still including me in the mostly-unintelligable conversation...my family is great about this, and they help me a lot, but on the street it gets confusing. Speaking of streets, the Peace Corps gave us our bikes this week. I never liked biking at home, especially not on the street, and here I enjoy it even less! I always feel like I'm risking my life whenever I swing onto that bike, and especially when riding down the road, and unsure of what the many other vehicles are planning to do. It really is the most practical way to get from my home to the training center, though, so I will figure it out. This afternoon I walked home instead, though, and that was nice. A lot hotter, and it took awhile longer, but I felt signifigantly less terrified. So I may walk a few days a week from now on. This first week we focused on learning the basics of Wolof (many different pronouns to keep straight!) as well as some general information about Senegal's government and ecology, and a basic overview of what we Sustainable Agriculture volonteers will be doing. Nothing very hands-on yet, but hopefully soon we will get to start our own garden plots and learn some other useful activities to prepare us for work in the field. And in two weeks, we'll finally have our site assignments! It will feel good to know where I'll be going, and I am impatient to find out, as is everyone else. But there is plenty to occupy us in the meantime! No cell phone yet, though I will try to get one soon. But I have loved both letters I got - thank you Heather and Arwen!! People should write me more letters. This was kind of a boring blog post; there is lots to say, but as to my activities I spend ten hours a day in training, which leaves time only really for geting home, breaking the fast, relaxing for a bit, watching T.V., eating dinner, and then turning in while everybody else stays up until I-don't-know-how-late. So that's my life for now. In a nutshell, it's good.

Wolof chez les Diallo

I am now settled into my new host family for the next two months. There are eighteen of them! Which, large as it seems, is not too unusual around here. They thought it was pretty funny when I told them I come from a family of six, and that's considered unusually huge in the U.S.A. I was only "Binta Faye" for those few days in my demystification village, and now I am "Fatou Diallo", until I end up with another (and this one I will finally get to keep!) Senegalese name in whatever place I end up. We break the fast now slightly differently: bread with butter, dates, and nescafé. The evenings thus far have been taken up with relaxing in the cooling air, chatting (or, in my case, listening to the still-incomprehensible conversation...in a few weeks hopefully I will be able to join in!) and greeting neighbors. At the moment, the womens basketball championship is on, so we have been watching that on T.V. in the heat of the afternoon. This morning I woke up at 5a.m. to eat a little, intending to try and fast today just to see what it is like. We ate a bowl-full of what is called "fundé". It is like a tapioca pudding made with balls of millet. I had some during demystification, but it was not quite as good as this, because it did not have the secret ingredient: lime juice! When you add lime juice it becomes irresisteable, and it is easy to understand how overindulgence could lead to a "jaay fundé" - big butt, which as I understand it is a positive attribute here, but still not something I aspire to! Incidentally, I didn't end up fasting today. They kept giving me food! I don't like to turn that down. As another side note, please excuse my spelling; we haven't started Wolof yet and so I have no real idea how to write it all out...plus this is a French keyboard and that further complicates things. Tomorrow, though, I start Wolof class! Already we learned a few key phrases and basic greetings in "survival Wolof", but now I'm in for the real thing. Not everyone is learning this language; there are several local ones being taught as well as French. Learning Wolof gives me no clue as to where I may be placed, since it is the most commonly spoken language in Senegal, so the suspense in mounting. While knowing French is very handy, and means I can converse with my host family pretty easily, as all the older members studied French in school, I am hoping it won't end up being a crutch I use when struggling with Wolof. Almost everyone here uses French to some extent, though Wolof is preferable; I'll just have to force myself outside of that comfort zone. From looking at my grueling schedule, I don't think I will have much free time during the next few weeks. We have something like six hours of language training a day! Still, I will try to write a few things when I have the chance. Also, I need to go shopping and especially have some shirts made! The ones I brought are just not suitable for this hot weather, and they tend to get dirtier than they would at home. Hopefully I can do all that this week, while studying, spending time with the family, and trying to stay sane in this new and very communal culture. There are so many wonderful things about Senegal, but none of them are really appreciable unless you get out of the American mindset. My host family is wonderful, and I hope I settle in and make some real friends among them soon. Only one thing annoys me about being here so far, and that is the word "toubab". Rough translation: "toubab" = "white person" = "person with money". Which I suppose is true (please refer to title of my blog) however HERE I don't want to be thought of as just another tourist. The adults don't say anything, they just occasionally stare, which I don't mind; it's the little kids who get very excited and will call out "Toubab! Toubab!" You can't get mad, really, because they are doing it out of innocence and interest in something new and unusual, and the word is not even an insult. It just gets old really fast. My new resolution, as of this afternoon, is to try and make a joke out of it. When a couple of kids called to me earlier today, I put a startled look on my face and said, "Toubab? Ou? Where? Je ne le voit pas!", while looking around in mock bewilderment. That got a giggle out of a couple of them, but only confused the others. Well, more on all that to come. I am headed home to the comparative luxury of my home for the next couple of months, to mentally prepare myself for tomorrow's Wolof lesson. Wish me bonne chance et bon courage!

Demystified

I am back in Thies for awhile now, having survived (I'd like to say thrived) my demystification experience! My past four days consisted of me and another trainee staying in the hut of a Volunteer who is currently working with sustainable agriculture, which is to be my project also. It was really nice to finally SEE what we had been imagining for so long, and to recieve some concrete information! Everything thus far has been so vague, it felt good to experience something real for once. I really enjoyed the demyst, not only because now I feel more prepared for my next two years here, but also because it offered a long-awaited opportunity to actually relax and talk to other people one-on-one, which is hard to do in the bustle of the training center. My Volunteer host lives in a small village somewhat to the south, near a delta thich with mangroves. We took an evening boat ride through the swamp to birdwatch and admire the odd mangrove plants as they rose out of salt water. For the most part, though, we just hung out at her family's compound. As it is Ramadan, people don't do much during the day besides relax in the shade of trees, which we did along with them. Unfortunately, my "survival Wolof" didn't come in very useful, as I went to a village that spoke Sereer instead. So... "Salaam alekum" was as far as I got! But people are amazingly friendly, even if all you can do is smile and nod in response to their questions. Greetings take a long time here, and everyone was curious about us, which transformed a ten-minute walk into a half-hour confusing meet-and-greet of neighbors and friends. The last name "Faye" is apparantly Sereer, so people were delighted to hear that is it my last name as well. The moment we set foot in thr family's compound we were given village names. Mine was "Binta Faye", which at least kept part of my real name in it! There were probably a dozen kids running around all the time, from full-grown men to a tiny five-month old baby (who was absolutely the most adorable, chubby baby! He loved splashing around in a bucket of water, and had necklaces - gris-gris - around his neck and hips. Protective amulets, I believe they are, if my memory of the cultural air is any good...) and the two mothers seemed to always have their hands full. In the daytime we went to te fields and gardens to observe the crops (millet, rice, corn, and cowpea) and also garden plots though these were not too impressive yet. We were told gardening is more common during the dry season, when the harvest is over. One morning, decked out in farming gear of long pants, full-sleeved blouse and sun hat, we headed for a rice plot to weed. The dirt smelled amazing that day! It rained a lot while we were there, and the water in the soil brought all those good, earthy aromas to the surface to perfume us as we weeded. Around seven thirty in the evening the family broke their day's fast, and we with them. Though I didn't fast this year, the Volunteer I stayed with did, and I think this would be fun to do once I am settled into my own hut and my own family. I can see how it would really bring people together, to wait all day in anticipation of the meal. We broke our fast with a piece of village bread and a cup of coffee or kinkileba tea, and lots of water. This particular family has a well on their compound, from which they draw their water. Ours was filtered of course. After breaking the fast, the family prayed all together; except the littlest ones. Finally, around eight or eight-thirty, dinner was served. The food here is very tasty but mostly variations of the same basic dish: rice and sauce. We had fish atop the rice, and some small bits of vegetable too such as cabbage, manioc or sweet potato. Our host family gave us three Americans our own bowl, which we tried to eat out of in the traditional way with our hands. Mostly I made a mess, but maybe that's the idea! You have to kind of smear a glob of food onto your fingertips, then smash it into ball in your palm, and kind of roll it into your mouth...sometimes I succeeded at this, but usually I just licked it off my fingers without trying to make a ball, because it was way too difficult. It was so hot there that I sweated all day, and three showers would not have been too many! No shower heads for me, though; instead, a bucket and a scoop with which to slosh cool well water over my body. It is very refreshing to rinse off like this during the day, and especially at night. The water is a cold shock at first, but soon it just feels luxurious. And there is someting special about washing under the stars. I think it is finally beginning to hit me that I am in Senegal; it's taken long enough! The whole thing was just surreal at first. But there is nothing like an outdoor "douche" - a.k.a. hole in the ground - to bring you back to reality. This is not as odious as it might sound; though definitely something that will take some serious getting used-to. I am glad to be back in Thies, where I can settle in for a little while. What I really look forward to, however, is having my own space, my own hut where I can really make myself at home. That's still several months coming, but it's something to look forward to! I will try to write again later this week with more news. Gotta take advantage of this Internet access while I can, before they throw me out in the bush for good!

Senegal

Well, I am here in Senegal! Things are good so far. I am at an Internet cafe in Thies, not far from our training center. We had a two-day staging in Atlanta, where I visted with family and had a truly amazing dinner, provided by my restauranteur cousin. Then, an intermineably long flight (it wa only 9 hours, but it felt much longer) and then a drive over bumpy roads from Dakar to Thies (pronounced "Chess") in the rising dawn. I was exhausted, but we got right to work with training and meeting people. However, I went to bed at 5:30 and I don't regret it! Twelve hours of sleep can be really refreshing, so today I think I'll try to make a normal schedule. Many things are different here, but oddly I don't feel grossly out of place. It's not what I'm used to, true, but nor is it totally alien. I think I'll be able to fit in here eventually, in my own way. The training center is very comfortable, and it's nice to have class and other opportunities to get to talk with the other trainees. It is a very diverse group, which I appreciate! We eat lunch sitting around a huge bowl that accomodates about five people at a time. We all dig in with a spoon, and so far the food has been delicious: a base of rice with meat and vegetable sauce. No doubt all these things will change when we start service, but for the moment this is enough to get used to! The sun sets early here, around seven in the evening, which is therefore "nightttime" and we have to be back at the Center. So, a short post for now. But I am feeling very happy to be here! This was the right decision to make, I think. Write me letters!

Ugly bags

These are my bags. Not pretty, are they? I took this picture with my digital camera, which will come with me to Senegal. Need to practice with it, though, but so far so good, right? As it turns out, I think my bags are going to way something pretty darn close to 80 pounds alltogether, so that should be fun to watch me try to manuever them around!