12.25.2007

Merry Christmas!!

My first Christmas abroad, and its really quite strange. Kira and I caught a ride up north to Richard Toll to hang out with three other volunteers for the holidays. Its really good to be with Americans, since it certainly doesnt feel like Christmas. Kira and Bryn went sunbathing this afternoon. On Christmas! What?! Also, Josh is a jew. But he showed up anyways, bless him. He played Santa this morning and distributed presents. First time for everything, right?

Spent last night at the French missionaries house here. We had a nice christmas dinner and had brownies and cookies and ate brownies and watched movies. Perhaps not exactly what I had hoped for, but they were really nice and even gave us christmas presents. Also, sazt up on the roof looking into Mauritania and listening to Christmas music. Bryn made us all stockings full of pens, chocolate and drink mix, all of which are excellent gifts for a current PCV. This evening we are going to dinner at the nieghbors house and watching the Nightmare Before Christmas. Im just happy its Christmas.

So I wish you all a merry Christmas!

12.19.2007

Yearning for the Silence of the Lambs

So Tabaski is just around the corner folks and Senegal has gone mad. Today on my way into town I caught a sept place, which is a statino wagon and there was a sheep crammed in the back. There are sheep in cars, on top of cars, being herded alongside the road and most recently tied up outside of my bedroom. Went with my host mom last week to what I call a sheep patch, its pretty much like a pumpkin patch, but with sheep instead of pumpkins. Theyve sprung up everywhere because every muslim family that can afford to will buy a sheep to sacrifice for Tabaski in commemoration of Abraham and Isaac on the mountain. Our sheep is really cute but I cant look it in the eye knowing that I will be eating it in two days time. Everyone thinks Im insane. Maybe I am...

My Tabaski outfit is ready and it is yellow and, well, I cant quite describe it so I will try to post pictures one of these days when I get a camera again. Other than that not so much news. Just killing time until Tabaski and then getting the heck out of dodge and taking a vacation up north.

12.14.2007

I Have Work!

This may not seem like a big deal to you readers, most of whom think that I have in fact been working these entire three months in Senegal, but au contraire mes amis. I do a lot of sitting around now that Im at site. Technically Im supposed to be "culturally integrating" myself into the community, which I suppose I am doing, but it leaves an awful lot of time on my hands. I read a lot.

Yesterday I went to the mayors office where my supervisor introduced me to a woman who owns a local preschool and is interested in computer literacy classes. The preschool has a computer, she just wants to know how to use it. So starting next week I will be teaching her how to use Microsoft Office . Super exciting. This may not sound like a big deal, but it is. It gives me something to look forward to, it will let me meet people, and loads of super cute little kids who love to stare at the whitey, I can practice my wolof and it will be the first class Ive ever given in French. Huge. So this is somewhere to start.

I also met with the PAPES people this week and they are interested in working with the Peace Corps, but I kinda get the feeling they dont know exactly what to do with me. And in all honesty I dont exactly know what to do with myself these days, but we have plenty of time to find a good fit for me. I will go see them next week as well to further discuss potential work. Man it feels good to have something to do!!!

In other news, my Wolof is surely but slowly improving. When I meet people these days, they seem torn between telling me "You've only been here three months? You speak Wolof really well!" and "You've been here three months and thats all the Wolof you can speak? Why can't you understand me?" But its coming along nicely. Someday I just may understand the people I live and work with.

12.09.2007

Dakar Fun

Back in Dakar for another weekend of softball, movie marathons and all around madness. I know, my life is rough, huh? Played catcher in the two games yesterday and am limping around today regretting it. I def dont work out here. Not much has really happened thats eventful these last two days, but I feel like I should post because I have time and access to the internet at the moment before I head back to site.

This week I am planning on meeting with several NGOs in the area to talk about what they do and get a feel for the work thats being done in my community already and hopefully find out if they are interested in a little help. PAPES, which works with small business development, has an office in Pout and I am meeting with them tomorrow afternoon and will head into Thiès on Wednesday to meet with Tostan, which was started by a former PCV and does development work. Also hoping to hit up one of these literacy courses finally, but well see. Still trying to find out where I fit into this whole development picture, who I can work with and what I can do for them that will be helpful. Luckily I have nothing but time to think about this. By the next time I post, I may have a potential work partner. Im starting to get cabin fever and really need to step up my game here. Talking about work that is, not softball. So yeah, thats my life.

12.04.2007

Its Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

A Senegalese Christmas, that is. Sand, sand and more sand. Im not holding my breath for a white christmas this year. Maybe next? Its official, Kira and I are spending Christmas with two other volunteers in Richard Toll, up north. Bryn asked me to make sure I pack my swimsuit. How weird is it that my christmas plans involve sitting by a pool? This will be a first.

In other news, everything is good. For those of you curious about what to send for Christmas: junk food. Any American snack food is warmly accepted by us PCVS. Cant afford to send anything big? No problem. Cards are also enthusiastically accepted. And they only cost 90 cents to mail. Dont feel like popping anything in the mail? Give it away. Arkansas Literacy Councils and Friends of Senegal and The Gambia are both great organizations that could benefit from donations, so check em out. They need Christmas presents too, you know.

So Im in Thiès for the day to check my mail, use the internet and meet up with other volunteers for lunch, then back to site. My goals for this week are to finish up my place and then meet at least 2 of the 4 NGOs that I hear currently work in Pout. Im really starting to feel worthless as I do nothing all day long and am still exhausted by it so I have decided to be productive. I will let you know when and if that happens. Its really hard, ok?

11.30.2007

I Have Cornrows

Yes, you read that correctly, it was only a matter of time. All of my friends have had their hair done and I finally caved and spent two hours with my head in a womans lap and at the end, I have cornrows. I look like an idiot, but the Senegalese freaking love it and I cant go anywhere in Pout without someone yelling "Aby Diallo, rafeet na!!" which is "Aby Diallo (my name here), youre so pretty!!!"Its not true but bless them. Moments like this make me thankful my camera is broken. On the positive side, its incredibally easy to take care of, so perhaps I will do this more often.

In regards to my painting situation, naive American Mandi picked out paint colors for her house not realizing that in Senegal there are no shades. When you say you want a red kitchen, they buy the red paint, mix it in the big bucket of base and whatever color that turns out is what goes on the walls. Oh Jesus. This would explain my now yellow and beige halls, electric blue guest room and seafoam green (if you can in fact call it green) bedroom. Oh Jesus. The worst part is, as much of a mess as it is, it still looks better than when I found the place. So thats good. So much for bringing interior design to Senegal, huh? My place is bright, lets leave it at that.

In other news, site is going well although it is an uphill battle. Yesterday I went to an english class at the high school. It was on Englishes: the difference between American and British English. Super cute to listen in on. One person explained that the difference was that in America people say yeah, where in England people say yes. Also, apparantly the reason that Americans spell things differently is that in America time is money and we dont have enough time to spell things out so weve shortened our words. So cute.

After school however, my walk home sucked. The high schoolers were making fun of my Wolof, two women offered me their children, an old woman asked me to buy her medecine and I got really irritated so when two teenagers started laughing at my attempted Wolof I totally lost it and snapped at them. When I saw the looks on their faces I felt so horrible for being the big, scary toubab and ran back to my house and hid out in my room with a pack of biskrem and crunchy peanut butter. Rough day. My host mom eventually got me to come out, but it took persuasion.

So my life continues. Kiras coming over tonight for a slumber party and it will be nice to have an escape!!! God bless Peace Corps Volunteers.

11.25.2007

So today painting started on my maison, not really sure how it is just yet but will see when I head back to site tonight. In theory, my kitchen will be red, my room will be green, the guest room will be blue and my hallway and bathroom will be beige so we will see how this works. It blows the Senegalese mind that I want to paint each room a different color as they paint all of the rooms in their houses.

So everything is really good here, Im really happy. Its hard but this week I am going to start taking tours of Pout and meeting with people so I can start making contacts to work with. I will let you know how it goes. In other devastating news: my nars blush dropped on the floor today and broke. If you know me, you can imagine the sense of loss I am going through. Kali, I know you know. Man it was rough.

11.22.2007

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

So the title really says it all. This is my first thanksgiving abroad and its kinda weird, but im really lucky to be able to celebrate with other Americans. Took a sept place (french for a beat up renaut station wagon that is still moving in spite of all odds) to Kaolack to have a nice dinner with other volunteers. There should be about 40 of us in town for the night and then tomorrow Im headed back to site to meet with the painters about painting my house. It will cost much more than I anticipated but it should be worth it as my place looks like hell. So should be painted by Tuesday and my furniture gets in Wednesday and then my house will be a home. And it only took two weeks. Next step: Mastering Wolof so I can communicate with people when and if I decide to leave my lovely home....

11.18.2007

The Only White Person In Town

So the word on the street is that I am the only white person in Pout. Thats right, 29,999 Senegalese and me. Its fun to say but really kind of weird and scary to think of. That would definately explain the staring. I have never been stared at like this in my life. Every time I leave my house its just all eyes on me. I tell myself its because Im just really pretty that day. Every day. I havent bought a mirror for my house yet because Im afraid that if I do I will look in it and realize that is not in fact why they are staring.

So yeah, Im moved in. My ancien definately lived in a bachelor pad and there is loads of work to be done before my place is not a complete hellhole, but its slowly coming along. I have big plans. Im in Dakar at the moment. I arrived Monday and left again on Friday for a weekend away, but its already so needed!!! Ive only been at site four days and I left to come into Dakar this weekend to play on a softball league that I am now in. It was really fun and we play on this field that overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and the concession stand sells hot dogs and diet coke and m&ms (which you can hardly find anywhere here) so its a really big deal. This weekend we played two games, both against high school teams. We won the first game, which was a hollow victory, and then lsot the second, which was a blow to the self esteem. But in the meantime we ate loads of hot dogs!

Today I head back to site to culturally integrate myself. That and clean. I used an entire can of insecticide on my house before I left to so it could air out during the weekend, so I should have lots of sweeping to do, if you know what I mean. Ill let you know how it goes. I plan on actually leaving my house this week as I hid out in my room most of my first four days at site, but it is hard. It is freaking hard to leave my building and the safety of my bed. Ive promised myself to get out and explore Pout more this week, at least until I leave for Thanksgiving in Kaolack....

11.11.2007

Im A Peace Corps Volunteer!!!

Its official, as of last Friday when I swore in, I am no longer a trainee, but a fullblown PCV, which is quite possibly the best feeling in the world. I have wanted this for so long as most of you reading this blog know. Swear in was freaking awesome. It was on national television and I got to narrate the skit so I got to get up on the podium and greet the whole country and feel important. I looked a bit like a goober, but no biggy. After the ceremony we had a lunch party with amazing food including caviar. Who thought that my first taste of caviar would be in Africa? Not I.

Have spent all weekend celebrating with my fellow volunteers who I love so much and am really sad to leave. Last night I went to a soirée in the catholic neighborhood, which is just a big dance party and had soooooo much fun!! I even got to do the twist, which would never happen in the states. Most of my stage has already left, but a few of us leave tomorrow. Yes, thats right. I move to Pout tomorrow, which is terrifying. What am I going to do with myself. Im dealing with a lot of anxiety at the moment. I havent even started packing as Im kinda scared to. I feel like having my belongings spread all over my room is comforting. Perhaps I am going insane? My next entry will be from my site, so you can hear all about it. Eek!

11.08.2007

My Last Entry As A Trainee

So to answer Katies question, Muus is pronounced moose, but it doesnt matter anymore as Muus died today. He was too young to be away from his mother and he just died. Yes it was sad but this is Africa and no one cries over cats here. So, when I get a second muus you will know.

In other super exciting news, I swear in tomorrow. Supposedly I passed my Wolof test, which Im pretty sure is not true as I told them my mother and father were both fifty and then proceeded to tell them Marti, my older sister was 57 as well and is living in Seattle with her wife. I really need to study my vocabulary, but they are letting me move to site anyways. Hurrah!!!

I leave tomorrow at 7:00 am to go to Dakar for the ceremony, which should be fun. Its very formal, so I will be wearing my Korite outfit, which is the only Senegalese outfit I have. Also, it will be televised, and every city and village that is getting a volunteer will be watching, which means that my town will be watching. I am the narrarator in our skit, so wish me luck!!! Im really very happy with everything right now. The trainees have all been hanging out together a lot since we wont see each other for three months and everything has been lovely and life is good.

I was thinking today that tomorrow I will become what I have wanted to be for three years. What an excellent feeling!!!

11.03.2007

I Have A Muus

Muus is Wolof for cat. Someone found this poor little kitten on the side of the road and brought it to the center. It cant be more than a few weeks old and it looked awful so we started giving it milk and its doing better and its mine. I had thought about getting a cat at site, but wasnt sure since I am leaving in two years anyway and dont really want to abandon it, but all logic went to the wind as Muus is the cutest thing ever and I love him. My camera is broken and so no photos just yet, but hopefully someone else can send me photos of my kitty.

Lots of volunteers get animals, but in Senegal cats are seen as really dirty. Theyre like squirrels. Theyre everywhere and people hate them. In a village setting, I think it could seriously affect a volunteers status, but since I have my own building and my cat wont ever have to be near the family and I live in a bigger site, Im hoping it wont be a problem. Plus Im in love. The things I do for love, I tell you....

11.01.2007

Today Was A Good Day

There arent enough of them in my life these days so I have to write about it!! Today was the first of two days in our CounterPart Workshop. All Peace Corps Volunteers in Senegal are given counterparts to work with who are essentially responsible for looking after us our first three months at site while we work on our language skills and attempt to integrate into the communities. Mine are freaking awesome and I had such a good time talking to them. My female counterpart works with most of Pouts many womens groups, so she will introduce me to them and I can hopefully help them out and she also works with adult literacy!!!! For those of you who dont know, I have spent the last three years volunteering for the Arkansas Literacy Councils, and could not be more excited about working to help Senegalese women learn to read and write!!!! I cannot wait to meet these people and see if I can be of some help!!!

After work went out with some other trainees to chill before heading home. I suppose that was really the highlight of my day but Im just in a really good mood right now. I am glowing actually.

In other news, I got felt up by a child on my way into the cybercafe. I stopped to chat to the owners and the little kids ran over to touch me, which Im getting used to, they are fascinated by me, and one little boy stood on his tiptoes and just grabbed lefty. Awkward.

10.30.2007

The End of Training Is Near

Spent last weekend in Dakar, which was nothing short of amazing. Its a big, exciting city and I cant wait to spend more time there. We spent the weekend exploring, went out dancing at night and then spent all day chilling. Went to an American Club that had a really nice swimming pool and a volleyball court, played loads of volleyball and definately had a large part in the other team winning. Daniel was not excited to be on my team, but I think I was most improved. I am crazy sore afterwards. Ill have to do that more often. Also, I get in free because Im an American, so thats good.

Spent all day Monday in Dakar taking a tour of the Peace Corps office and the American Embassy, which was good. While in Dakar,tried to buy some mugs for my home in Pout, which I will move into in two weeks, and whenI went to buy them, they didnt have a price tag on them, so the women told meI couldnt buy them.That really blew my mind.Never would that happen in the states. I dont know how much it costs so I cant sell it to you. When I got outside I couldnt believe that had just happened. Perhaps it is not a big deal, but I was just really frustrated by it.

More news to come.

10.22.2007

Popenguine Is My Favorite Place on Earth

Due to popular demand and the fact that I am not studying Mandinka but Wolof, I have changed the name of my blog. Doesnt have quite the same sound, but what can you do, huh?

So this weekend my stage went to Popenguine, which is on the Atlantic Ocean just south of Thiès where we work. 40 or so of us went to a beach house to get away from it all and its easily the most fun Ive had since coming to Senegal. It is the most beautiful place I have ever been hands down. If my camera hadnt already broken I would post pictures for you all, but you can probably just google it. Spent 36 hours sitting in a chair on the porch doing absolutely nothing and having the best tiome of my life. I wish I could put it into words. But like all good things, my beach house experience came to an end and I am back in Thiès at work.

Nothing too exciting to report except that in 3 weeks I will be moving to site to start my life there and am a bit anxious about it. I will be all by myself. I found out today that my new address will be:

PCV Mandi Kimberly
B.P. 360
Thiès, Senegal
West Africa

Not too different from the old address, but then again Im only moving 11 km down the road, so what do you expect? Please send packages. I am dying here. Any American food is appreciated. M&Ms, granola bars, cliff bars, raspberrry flavoring for bottled water, mac & cheese. This is only what Ive been craving today. I have my own kitchen at site and plan on cooking for myself, so any American food I can cook up would be great.

10.16.2007

So This Is Life

The Honeymoon is officially over. Nothing so exciting to report on these days, so instead I will tell you a bit more about my daily routine.

I get up around 6:3o every day to take my bucket bath, which is surprisingly refreshing and yet I always kinda worry that I missed something. I leave my house at 7:20 to bike to work with Maria, another trainee in my neighborhood. After 10 minutes of being yelled at and mocked by small children, I arrive at work to eat breakfast, normally bread and jam.

Work normally consists of four hours of Wolof language training, then three hours of techinical training; which is the business aspect of my training. Sometimes they spice things up by thorwing in some medical or cross cultural training instead. Medical is always a bit nerve rackig realizing how many things could go wrong.

Work ends at 6:oo and I bike to the internet cafe near my house to email and sometimes use Skype. It works pretty well. Then I go home and talk to my host family theoretically, although sometimes I just end up reading in my room. Eat dinner with my family then more socializing, sometimes an episode of Prison Break dubbed in French, and then off to bed to repeat the entire process all over again.

This is my life. Any questions?

10.12.2007

I Pout'd

So its been awhile since Ive posted largely due to a four day stay in the sick bay at the Training Center with a bout of the Senegalese flu folowed by dehydration. Sounds fun, right? Worst four days of my adult life so far.

While I was in sick bay, a Peace Corps employee was killed in a car accident, so everyone was mourning and its the first time Peace Corps Senegal has had to deal with that. Terrible. Because of the funeral, everything got pushed back a day, including site announcements. If you are not familiar with the Peace Corps, they have a day where they tell all of the trainees where we will be going for the next two years. Kind of a big deal. Basically, its like moving Christmas back a day. You may laugh and think Im overexaggerating, but I havent been that dissapointed in a long time.

At any rate, today was site announcement!!! I am going to Pout (yes its said just like it spelled, which will take some maturity on my part because Ive been giggling about it all day). Its a sweet site. Im 10 km from Thiès, heading towards Dakar and super near the beach. Feel free to look it up. Off to dinner to celebrate, like I said this is a big deal. More news to come.

10.05.2007

Sometimes I Lie

I am studying Wolof as a language, and its coming slowly but surely even though I still speak like a three year old. For todays language class, our teachers dropped us off in downtown Thiès and told us to talk to people. No joke. As if I can communicate with people. There were many unsuccesful attempts to communicate and sometimes when it didnt work I just walked away. Here are two excerpts from conversations that I had in Wolof with strangers today.

Creepy old man 1: Do you have a husband?
Me: I dont understand.
COM: Husband? You?
M: Oh! No, no, no! But I have a boyfriend who lives in England.
COM: A boyfriend? So he is not your husband?
M: (sensing trouble) Not yet, no.
COM: How would you like to be my wife?
M: No.
COM: But you need a Senegalese husband....
M: Im sorry sir, but you dont want me. I cant cook fish and rice. I dont even know how.
COM: You cant cook fish and rice?! (looks me up and down suspiciously and leaves)

Creepy Old Man 2: Do you have a husband?
Me: Yes I do. Five. Four live in England and now I have one in Senegal. I like them very much.
COM2 Exit scene

Lesson learned: Never answer men honestly when they ask about marital status.

10.03.2007

My Korite Prom Dress

So Ramadan is half over and at the end of Ramadan is a huge festival to celebrate the fact that it is once again socially acceptable to eat and drink during the day. To commemorate this event, my host sister decided that I should have a traditional Senegalese outfit made for the celebration, which loads of people do. So one day after work we went to the market to buy fabric. She doesnt even ask what I want but picks out fuschia and powder blue material and asks me for money. I tell her I dont do powder blue and pointed to a brighter, electric blue that I preferred. We argued for awhile and finally she accepts that I want the other blue but wont budge on the fuschia. Since I had already mistakenly given her my money, she paid and we left. Yes thats right, fuschia and electric blue.

On the way home we stop at the tailor. He points out that the colors dont go together, and my sister blames me. So the tailor tells me I should have listened to my sister and gone with the other blue. She describes this entire outfit to him, none of which she has asked me about, including long sleeves. I tell the tailor I dont want long sleeves as its 90 degrees in Senegal these days, and she tells him I dont understand what theyre talking about and to ignore me. I tell her I dont want the outfit and wont pay for it and she says she doesnt care. When we get home, my sister tells my host mom, who in turn tells me I should have listened to my sister and gone with the other blue.

Basically, my 22 year old host sister is designing her dream Korite outfit and having me buy and wear it. She thinks we are going to the market next week to pick out a necklace and high heels, but I have to draw the line somewhere. I have these horrible visions of an 80s prom dress dancing around in my head and am actually dreading picking it up this weekend. The positive: instant halloween costume if I just throw on a sash and tiara.

Pictures to follow.

9.27.2007

Q&A

So in response to a few questions I have been asked:

I cant eat with my left hand because when the Senegalese who dont use toilet paper wipe, thats the hand they use. Its generally seen as the unclean hand. Lame, right?

I am 5 hours ahead of CST, so 7 hours ahead of Seattle, and one hour behind Terry in England (for half of the year at least)

Care package ideas include, but are not limited too:
Magazines, gummy candies, life saver mints, cliff bars of any type, granola bars, any American snacks really

Feel free to ask any questions via e-mail. Part of this whole experience is the cultural exchange. I would write more, but I am off to break the fast with my host family and butcher the wolof language, possibly at the same time. More on Ramadan as I figure it out.

Congratulations to Terry, Mom & Savannah, all of whom have written me letters. I live for mail here. If your name was not mentioned, my address is posted on here somewhere. Note: Some cards have arrived open, so no money. I know you wont send me any, but just so you know.

Cultural lesson for the day: When I showed up at the internet café today, there was really loud chanting coming from the direction of the mosque, which isnt unusual for ramadan, but it was louder than normal. I asked the employee and he put a fist to his nose and turned it. I thought he was calling me drunk, which is what that sign means in France, but in Senegalese he was telling me that someone died. He explained it to me and the sign is literally turning the oxygen in ones nose off. So now you know. I just thought that was really interesting.

9.23.2007

I Hate Taxi-Men

They say that in the Peace Corps there will be ups and downs, and today was a downer. On the way back from lunch at Le Pamanda, Stephen and I caught a taxi. We live in two seperate quartiers, but theyre pretty close, so split the cost of a taxi. So when we get to Mbour 3, where Stephen lives, the taximan kicks me out of the car too because he doesnt feel like driving over to Mbour 1 as well and just leaves me on the side of the road. I am so pissed off, but Stephen just hails another taxi and sends me on my way.

So we get to Mbour 1 and the guy asks for 500 CFA, which is more than I pay to go all the way downtown so I offer 300 CFA. He just keeps demanding 500 and I explain that I only have 300 since other taxi drivers have also decided to rip me off today. After a few mintues, he wont even accept my money so I just get out of the car. He then proceeds to follow me all the way to my host familys house, gets out fo the car and is just following me which is creepy as well as scary. I get home and hes yelling and peering over my fence and my host mom has to go pay him the 200 CFA to get him to go away. Im pissed as hell and about to cry and she just laughs and goes "oh Taximen" and then walks away.

For awhile I was convinced that I hate all Senegalese, but Ive since narrowed it down to those two taximen. Assholes.

Other than that, everything is good.

9.21.2007

PS: I HAVE A CELL PHONE!!!

The number is 2525470. What you have to dial before that is beyond me but feel free to give me a call or text and when I figure that out I will post it.

For now I am out of time at the internet café.

Une Sandwiche Foie and More

To begin with the title of this, yesterday we arrived back in Thiès at around noon and went into town to buy lunch at a sandwich shop. The guy listed the options and one of them was a sandwiche foie, which I understand as a sandwiche froid. French speakers will already see where I went wrong. For the rest of you, apparantly liver sandwich and cold sandwich sound almost identical in French and I had never noticed. So I ordered a cold sandwich and then paid 500CFA for a liver one on accident. I am poor, so I ate it all. Everyone else had really good sandwiches too. I have shit luck with senegalese food, come to find out.

In other news, today we had training all day and then my host family picked me up and showed me to their house. I have a 30 minute bike ride to work everyday, which sucks in African heat but PC cars will take me the first couple days utnil I can find my own way. And it will be good exercise tocompliment my African diet, which is actually fattening mu up. I will have to give names and details of my family later as I am still confused on all of that. My 19 year old host brother, whose name I dont understand yet and feel rude asking for again is listening to Akon and 50 cent next to me. They seem nice so I am happy and i definately have a tv. Hurrah!! I am alive and for the most part well.

We had our first ET today, which basically is PC terms for someone quit. We kinda saw it coming because she complained all the time, but still sad because now we are only 43.

9.18.2007

Richard Toll

I am currently on demystification up in the north of Senegal visiting a current volunteer to figure out what she does and if were up to the challenge these next two years. Its such a great experience. Ive read so much about what I am supposed to be doing here but anyone who knows about the Peace Corps knows that our job descriptions are pretty vague and its frustrating trying to figure everything out at times. Watching this volunteer work in her community and interact with them makes me believe in the Peace Corps as an agent for change and I am so happy to be a part of this!

Not that I only think positive thoughts because in this heat its hard to remain optmistic. I hate life most of the day. Yesterday however it rained and at night we sat on the rooftop looking across the Senegal River into Mauritania and talking and it was so amazing and relaxing. I almost forgot about the allergic reaction that my face has had to something that I cant identify and how horribly ugly I look at the moment. Almost.

Amusing/horribly embarrassing story of the week: last night for dinner we ate with a local family who cooked us this awesome meal called cheb? I dont actually know how to spell it. I was eating out of the family bowl and picked something up and ate it and immediately regretted that decision. It tasted like feet. I told the volunteer that I just ate something horrible and didnt know what it was. The host father then told me I had eaten a snail. Yep, they had thrown one in. Not only had I eaten a snail, I had eaten the one snail they had put in for the whole family by myself which meant that no one else got any. I felt so horribly embarrassed. We had a good laugh but it was definately at my expense.

More tales to come as I further embarrass myself.

9.15.2007

Looy def Sénégal?

Looy def Sénégal is wolof for what are you doing in Senegal? And so I thought it would make good title and let me show off my wolof, which is completey unimpressive just yet. Oh well, all uphill from here right? I am in Africa right now and Im actually not sure that it has sunk in yet. Ive mostly stayed in the PC training center with the other trainees attempting to settle in. There will be no comfort anytime soon as it is hot as hell. The ice cold showers are what keep me going. And internet cafés where they play American music like Akon.

I havent gotten any mail so far except the letter i sent myself, so the rest of you have some work to do. See post below with my address. Everything is going well. Had a cultural fair today where we learned about Senegalese religion, food, dress and whatnot. It was very informative but I am overwhelmed with what I have left to learn. One thing that I have definately learned the hard way is that it is not allowed to eat with your left hand, which is pretty much the worst thing ever. I picked up my spoon with my left hand the first meal and before I had a chance to do anything, two women told me right. I am learning but I have been dropping a lot of food on the floor....

The food is awesome by the way. More on everything later, right now I am heading back to the training center for dinner. This is just to let everyone know that I am alive and well.

9.12.2007

Staging

So staging is awesome. There are around 45 people in my group, which is divided between Small Enterprise Development (what I'll be doing) and Agriculture volunteers. The staging part kinda sucks because we just sit in a hotel conference room going over policies and procedures, but after work has been so much fun because we all just go out to dinner and get to know one another. We are all recent college graduates so everyone gets along really well as we are all in the same place in life and obviously have something in common. We all want to work for the Peace Corps. I could not be more excited about this job. We leave tomorrow morning at 6:30am to go get shots (hurrah!!) and then off to the Atlanta airport where we leave for Dakar, the capital of Senegal. Looking forward to it and my next post should be from Senegal!!!

9.10.2007

9.5 hours and counting....

So it's crazy early in the morning and I have just finished packing. My luggage weighs 60 pounds, which is well under the 80 lb maximum that we are given and yet I can't think of anything else I would even want to pack and am positive that I will throw my back out tomorrow on the way to work. God have mercy on the poor souls who went for 80.

It has recently occured to me that tomorrow morning I report to my first full-time job. I tend to forget that the Peace Corps is a job (probably because I haven't started yet and I don't absolutely dread the thought of it). It will be so great to meet everyone else that has taken the plunge. It will be nice to meet some people going through the same things that I am at the moment (i.e. panic). While packing up my life I've realized just how great I have it and just how sad I am to leave. I love my family, I love my friends, I love my boyfriend, I love Target, I love Sephora, I love caramel frappucinos......there will be many sacrifices made. All for the greater good they say. I don't really want to cry anymore so I think I will go pass out from exhaustion.

Next you hear of me will be from Atlanta during staging.

9.01.2007

My Address

For those of you who want to send me things (hopefully anyone reading this) my address for my two months of training in Senegal is:

PCT Mandi Kimberly
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 299
Thiès, Senegal
West Africa

Please send me mail! I'm not too proud to beg.

Peace Corps Timeline

Greetings! This will be my blogging outlet for my twenty-seven months of working with the United States Peace Corps. First thing I'd like to post is an overview of my journey with the Peace Corps application process:

August 29, 2006: Submitted online application
September 4: Received packet asking for addtl information
September 5: Sent packet back to Peace Corps
September 8: Recruiter called to set up an interview
October 2: Interview. Nominated for Small Business Development in French Speaking Africa leaving September 2007
October 9: Medical packet arrives in mail
November 27: Mailed medical packet back to PC
December 6: PC gets medical packet/receive dental clearance
March 14, 2007: Medically cleared
June 7: Placement Officer calls for second interview
June 13: Receive invitation to serve in Senegal as a Small Enterprise Development Volunteer leaving September 10, 2007
June 14: Called to accept my invitation

So there it is. A long, grueling application process, but its over and I can wait to leave in 9 days (!!!). For those of you who know me, you know that this is the only thing I want to do/can see myself doing after graduating from university this summer. I am so excited I can barely stand it! Check here for more news as it happens.

Mandi