Visitors, Strep Throat and Other Fun Things

So its been awhile since Ive actually written anything on here and I apologize to both of you who read this regularly (dont think anyone else noticed). As you can see from the title a lot of fun has been going on down here in Senegal. I got back to site last Saturday and everything went really well. Ive been doing a lot of greeting and giving people their suriche (gifts) that I brought them from England. Everyone except for one person has been so excited and grateful and its gone really smoothly entering back into life here. I dont know what I was worried about.

Monday an American student studying abroad in Dakar for the semester showed up for a week long visit so that she could see what life was like elsewhere in Senegal and it went really well. She was super cool and we cooked a lot and I showed her around the town, we went to Thies for a day and to the beach at Popenguine. She had been told that she would be going to a small village with no electricity or running water and was kind of dreading the experience, so imagine her surprise when she shows up in my "village" of 25,000 with running water and electricity, then gets to my house where she gets her own room and I have my own shower. She wasnt prepared for all that Pout had to offer, but I think she had a good time. It was really nice to have a guest, especially one who has been in the country less time than I have, because I got to see just how far Ive come these last seven months. She was really impressed with my Wolof and I was flattered and thought, you know, my wolof really has improved.

Halfway through her visit I woke up with a really sore throat. One thing led to another and I had a full blown case of strep throat. Suck. Its kinda weird getting what I consider normal diseases here. You come prepared to face malaria and parasites, and then when you come down with the common cold youre a little surprised. I guess there are still ways that I myself am unprepared for life in this country. Moral of the story is that Ive spent the last 6 days in bed with my fan blowing on me drinking anything cold I can get my hands on and taking copious amounts of ibuprofen to deal with the pain. Getting sick here sucks. What I would give for a pint of Ben & Jerrys and a Law and Order Marathon. Oh well, at least I dont actually live in a village, right?

And Im Back

My vacation in England was perfect but like all good things, has finally come to an end. I arrived in Dakar at 3am Monday morning and have been hanging out here ever since. Tomorrow I will be attending a SED conference where all business volunteers in the Dakar region will get together to discuss the projects we are currently working on as well as how we can work together on future projects. It will be good to see everyone when they come in. The past few days have been spent watching movies back to back, eating the rest of the chocolate easter eggs Terrys mom sent back with me and trying to convince myself not to just turn around and head back to England. So far so good and I am planning on heading back to site on Friday, which Ive just discovered may be more difficult than I originally thought since tomorrow is the Senegalese Independence Day and everyone has the day off work. I am hoping for an overdedicated driver that will be heading in my direction....

I have ideas of work to be done when I get back to site, but no guarantee that anything will actually get done. I will let you know how things turn out.

Getting The Heck Out of Dodge

Since my previous journal entry Ive found several new projects to start working on, 40 new volunteers have arrived in country to start their service and are now in training and I celebrated my six month anniversary of arriving in Senegal on March 13. I cant believe how fast the time goes by, its been six months since I left the USA. This is the longest I have ever been away from home. Reaching this milemark makes you reflect on the time youve spent in country and Im happy. Im happy to be living in Senegal, I like my job, I like my friends, I like my town, in spite of its goofy name.

Now that Ive been here so long, its time for a vacation. I am the first person of the 38 volunteers I came in with to leave the country and I leave Wednesday to visit the boy in England for two weeks as well as see my parents for their week long vacation. I could not be more excited. In preparation for the trip I had fudin done, which is Senegalese henna, on my hands and feet. You can have orange or black and so now my hands and feet are black with various designs. Pictures to follow when I get my camera back next week. I like it; the Senegalese love it. Yesterday at the garage when I was catching a bus, random strangers kept walking up and grabbing my hands to admire the work. They look at it and clap their hands together and tell me that now I am Senegalese. Apparantly its that easy. A white person with Senegalese henna, its wonderful. I also had two little girls ask me for my henna. I am used to being asked for things here, but this seemed an odd request. I offered them my right hand and they giggled, I guess they were joking? I am still trying to figure the Senegalese sense of humor out. It may take the next eighteen months. Maybe I will never figure it out?

My (Mona's) Big Fat Senegalese Wedding

Maimouna, one of my friends here, is getting married tomorrow. Senegalese weddings all tend to be the same, and so I anticipate sitting around in plastic chairs being served amazing food, drinking tea and listening to music thats been turned up just one notch too loud. Two nights ago Fatou, Maimouna and I went around to lots of houses in the neighborhood inviting people. We walkted into a given compound, greeted everyone , mentioned the wedding on saturday, and then left. This is very un-Senegalese where everyone stays to talk , but I guess the protocol is a little different when weddings are concerned? I couldnt help but think of all the American couples who waste so much time and effort picking the perfect invitations, addressing them and sending them out months in advance and how much simpler this is. As I recall, everyone is coming, inshallah, or godwilling. Tomorrow morning I will get up early, put on my Senegalese complete, or skirt and top, and spend the whole day sitting and talking with my neighbors. Six months into service this task does not seem nearly so daunting as it did when I first got here and couldnt talk to anyone and didnt know what to expect. I am beginning to figure this out.

Back To Work

So Id been away from site for over a month and got back on Thursday night after three weeks of training and a week in Dakar for waist. I was sad to say goodbye to all the other volunteers, especially since I dont know the next time I will see some of them, and it very well may be at the end of our Peace Corps service, but also glad to get back to site where everybody knows my name. Literally. As I rode in my donkey cart back to my house, the children were running behind us yelling Aby Toubab!!! I just smiled and waved pretending I was in a parade. Whens the next time I will get to be in a parade, after all? Spent the weekend resting up and went to my first Catholic mass ever at the Keur Moussa monastery located 11 k from my house, which was really interesting. They dont use any organs, only drums and koras, traditional african instruments. The singing was beautiful and after service I bought some of the best grapefruit Ive ever had and some homemade goat cheese. The monks make so much money selling fruit and cheese that they dont need to take collection.

Monday morning I was up early and ready to work. A month of sitting around thinking up ideas and I was ready to be productive. Made a list of 13 things to do/people to see to look into doing some projects and went to my supervisors office 1st thing only to be told that he was headed to Touba for the Grand Magal de Touba 2008, which is a religious pilgrimage for the Mouride muslims, one of Senegals denominations or brotherhoods, and so were a lot of people. They get back Wednesday but will be tired, so its probably best if I wait until next week to get work done. So much for productivity. Argh. This is an excellent example of one of a Peace Corps Volunteers biggest challenges: Trying to do work in Senegal at an American pace. Things here go much more slowly and religious holidays (for both Christians and Muslims) are strictly observed. No questions asked. Im learning to slow myself down, but its frustrating as hell. Also, On the way home yesterday stopped by the market to pick up some food for dinner and they moved it. I leave Pout for one month and they move the whole freaking market on me. Finally found it, but still. Life is full of surprises these days.

Spent the rest of the day catching up on reading, which is apparantly what I will be doing all this week. Just finished Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and I would highly recommend it to all. Its a bit hoakily written, but such a good, uplifting story of excellent, sustainable development work. Check it out at www.threecupsoftea.com. Next book: King Leopolds Ghost about King Leopold IIs reign of terror in the Congo at the turn of the century. This ones going to be a bit depressing. Btw, if you know of any good books, send them to me. I read a lot and good books are always appreciated here in Peace Corps Senegal.

West African Invitational Softball Tournament

...has been awesome. We had four games, won 3 and lost 1 and didnt make it to playoffs but had so much fun. The team that won was actually a group of Senegalese. Yes thats right, the Americans have been beaten at our own game. There were Peace Corps teams from 6 west African countries (Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Guinea, Benin and the Gambia) and it was so good to meet volunteers from other countries. Were all living the dream, you know. :) Over the weekend we ate a ridiculous amount of hotdogs, m&ms, doritos and other amazing food that none of us ever get any other time of year. Ok, maybe the Dakar regions volunteers do (thats me), but some of these other kids (and countries) are seriously deprived.

During the tournament two other volunteers and I have been staying with a lovely host family that feeds us amazing food, lets us use their laundry machine, their internet and watch American tv so that we even got to watch an episode of this seasons American Idol. That was a hug deal, I am just sad its the only one I will have the opportunity to watch, so keep me posted!!!

All is well in Dakar and I head back to site tomorrow, which I am ready for after almost a month away. I have several projects to look into as I kill the next four weeks until my vacation so I am really looking forward to it. Life is good.

Killing Time Until WAIST

So this is the last week of training here in Thiès. Today we had Wolof all day and now my second round of language training is over, so I guess linguistically speaking, I am trained. Funny, it doesnt feel that way. I am very comfortable speaking basic Wolof with people in the market and whatnot, but it is definately my third language and I have so much left to learn. The rest of this week will be spent doing technical training such as learning how to write grants to apply for funds for our projects and work with AIDS.

The most important part of training for the volunteers is getting to hang out with each other and we went to Mbour, a tourist town on the coast, to hang out last weeked. 24 hours of beach bumming and a sunburn later, headed back to Thiès. Today after work we went to the local artisinal village to see what they had. Personally I wanted to see what my options were for souvenirs for my upco,ing vacation to England. BTW, if you have any requests, please make them.

In other exciting news, I have been asked to work with a local NGO after I finish training working with IT training in the region, which will give me a sense of purpose as I pursue other projects. I am very excited about the work. In still more exciting news, I received care packages from mom and the Bradfords today. Could not be happier with my goodies. The m and ms have been given to other volunteers, the godiva however is being hoarded. Care packages are ALWAYS appreicated, hint hint. Ideas for those of you who need them:

Any magazines
Flavors for drinking water
Hersheys anything
Mac and Cheese
Ramen Noodles
Spices or seasonings
Anything American and good (which is everything)

Hope that helps.