Ladies and Gentlemen...Meet My Baby Dinosaurs!

Spoiler Alert: Here's the end of my story before it even begins, I have my camera back, I have a healthy kitten in my hut, and I have two lovely Guinea Fowl safely in a coop in my backyard. But all of that was in doubt this week.

First of all, I returned from WAIST with no hope for the camera or my ID, when another volunteer called and said the bartender at the party found it. No idea what happened, but consider my faith in humanity officially restored.

After getting back to site, I decided to finally get some Guinea Fowl, which I have been meaning to do for about a year now. Im planning on staying at site for a good chunk of time, and so figured this was a good opportunity. I could have gotten chickens, but, well, Guinea Fowl make cooler noises, and they look like dinosaurs. Some people think theyre ugly...but I find them charming. Amanda came to visit during all of this, and we named them Priscilla and Quincey. See what I mean about the dinosaur thing?



So, I went into Mbour and spent an hour or so with a random guy who translated everything to Serere for me while I negotiated prices and navigated the bird market which is an overwhelming place to say the least. They have everything from lovebirds to ducks, to, well, Guinea Fowl. I finally settled on two, a male and female, and was handed them tied together by the feet. I walked down the street with my upside down birds on a string when I came across a guy pushing a cart covered in giant clippings of a plant Ive been meaning to collect for the school garden. He was doing trimmings for a hotel, and very nicely offered to cut up a bunch for me to plant. He even took all of the thorns off! I also had to buy groceries, so by the time I took a taxi to the garage, I was juggling two flapping birds, an armfull of wet clippings, two bags of groceries, and was covered in dirt from all of this.

I got home to find that my kitten was missing. Totally disappeared. I felt so bad!! Everyone kept saying he would come back, but my mind was teeming with horrible scenarios, so acting on Amanda's brilliant idea, I offered the kids two hundred cfa, like fifty cents, to anyone who found him. We ran all over the village, flushing out under people's beds, asking about cats, and I barely escaped being beaten with a stick by an old blind woman who thought I was a little kid looking under her bed. Eventually I went home and left the kids to it. I was brought random kittens all day, and turned them all down which was heartbreaking, but finally a terrified child showed up holding a squirming Pippin upside down by the tail at arm's length. Kids are terrified of cats here. I gave him the 200cfa, and sent him on his way. Im the worst pet owner ever, but Pippin seems to be recovering just fine...

I later clipped the guinea fowl's wings, and no I dont have any idea how this should be done, but did it anyways and it seems to be working. I also rigged up the most jankety chicken coop ever, which also seems to be working out fine.

However! Last night I went on a long walk and came back to find that the guineas has gone MIA. My entire family mobilized in a parade of flashlights to search my yard, hut, village... they were literally jumping over fences to get into locked fields, including my mom who was wearing a wrap skirt and a baby tied to her back. We couldnt find them anywhere. We went back for dinner and everyone was making fun of me, as people are wont to do here, about not being able to keep track of anything. I was sitting there explaining that I should never be allowed to have children because I would just lose them, when pippin chose that exact moment to wander away right under my nose. I didnt even notice. Finally someone was like...hey...Yama...your cat's escaping. Oops.

I decided to just call it a day and went into my room, sat down on my bed, and was scared half to death by a flurry of wings and squawking. The guinea fowl were on my bed, blended in with all the various crap I keep on there. I sleep outside so its just my storage space. Nobody in my family even noticed them! Needless to say, I started giggling uncontrollably before putting them back in their coop. Which, btw, is made out of a trunk covered in advertisements for canned tuna, and held together with duct tape..

Today I woke up with three healthy happy pets. I will write about work stuff later, because a LOT of exciting things are happening and deserve their own post. Also, Im at a cyber cafe and cant believe electricity hasnt cut out yet. Im writing stream of consciousness, so ignore the typos I dont have time to edit!

So. In summation:

1. Everything is going wonderfully and I have three lovely pets.
2. Guinea fowl look like both dinosaurs and random bed objects.
3. I must never, ever, be allowed to have children.
4. If I do ever have children, they will all have to be tattooed with an, "if found, please return to..." message.

Dakar is trying to destroy me.

I am pretty much constantly walking a tightrope of tolerance for Senegal. Sometimes I find myself strolling happily along, downright loving this country. But other times I fall off into "what the eff am I doing here?" territory.

I will write a more thorough post later, but for now, here's a quick WAIST recap! All volunteers were set up with homestays, ie people nice enough to take us in for a few days, and I hit the jackpot along with three other volunteers. We are staying with a USAID worker named Meg who is amazing. She has her own apartment, a pool, a wii, nice tv, wireless, and an amazing kitchen. I woke up this morning to chocolate chip french toast with whipped cream, and a hot cup of freshly french pressed coffee : )

WAIST was an amazing couple days of wearing my enormous tutu, playing softball, seeing friends, going out at night, and just generally having the best weekend imaginable. Here is a Kaolack team photo : ) We were ballerinas.



However, when it comes to being in Dakar, its like being in an entirely different world. Not always in a good way. Far from my comfort zone and "safe place" in the village, I am just another white person as far as all Senegalese people here are concerned. So, in the span of three days, I managed to be subjected to all of the following things:

1. Guys doing maintenance on a telephone pole who decided to lift up a cable right as I walked past. I wiped out completely and it really hurt.

2. After wiping out I was solicited for sex no less than 10 times, and was shouted at by every senegalese guy for the next 100 yards. By the time we got to the bar where everyone was going out...I was pretty much in tears and convinced the girls I am staying with to just go home with me.

3. During a mid day swim in the ocean, I forgot my lessons learned living in Hawaii, and didn't pay enough attention to the rocks. I stepped on a sea urchin, and brushed a couple with my legs. The spines come right off and are currently, painfully, still stuck in my body. I got the accessible ones out, but the rest are too far in there. The guy I was swimming with got a thousand times more than I did. It looked like the most painful thing ever.

4. Last night was the biggest party of the year for peace corps senegal. I was being responsible and had my money/ID/camera all in one pocket. There was basically nobody there but other volunteers (like...200 of us) and when I went to take a picture, I realized that it had all disappeared. My brand new camera. Sometimes it can be so disheartening to live and work here, and realize that no matter how much you become a part of your own community, the minute you leave, you still have things stolen, you still get marriage proposals, and nobody takes you seriously. As a woman at least. Im really really sad that all of my pictures are gone. From home, and all weekend. I cant imagine another volunteer took it, so I assume it was someone on staff at the venue. From now on, I wont even bother owning nice things in Africa.

5. If stepping on a sea urchin wasn't enough, I was in turn stepped on by one of my friends (accidentally) and have a nasty gash on my toe from it. There is also a crater of skin missing from my pinkie toe where I slipped down the most uneven narrow dirt stairwell to ever exist. But, it wasn't just me. Everyone is sore and injured from 3 days of softball and partying. We were a rough looking crew sitting around the pool today. I think bedraggled is a good adjective for...everyone here at the moment. There are multiple pairs of crutches being passed around. Luckily Im not at that point yet...

OK, but, good news should be shared as well. I am currently wearing a fleece, comfy stretchy pants, and drinking a cup of mint tea. Instead of going out to yet another party tonight, I had dinner with some friends at a restaurant which overlooked the ocean. We watched the sun set, drank white wine, and had fresh mussels, clams, and shrimp. Best seafood ever. It was really nice : ) Dakar has been fun and exciting, and great to see everyone, but I cant wait to just get back to my family in Louly, sleep in my backyard, hang out with the kitten, and do some good hard work gardening every day. ahh, village life. Plus, I have a lot of books Im excited to start reading.

Goodnight! And thank you for reading, as always. Its my family and friends at home (as well as here) that really keep me going/happy with what Im doing. I know life is hard wherever, and mostly I just feel lucky that even though this experience comes with a lot of random frustrations...its still a life changing, amazing, fulfilling, opportunity : )

Compost, Yassa, Gardens, and a Kitten.

Random news:

1. I caught the French tourists in action with my new camera! This is a picture of how they save the world by giving the kindergarteners candy. It has become an almost daily occurrence.



2. On beach day a couple of weeks ago, Steve showed up with a kitten for me in his backpack. I named him Pippin, and he's SO cute. Here he is in Jen's lap.



3. School directors in other villages around Louly heard about the gardening project Im starting, and have begun calling/randomly showing up in my compound (totally socially acceptable behavior here)to get me to work with their schools. They don't even need funding, they just want me to help train/organize : ) Here's a picture of a garden we laid out, and the one bed I taught them how to "double dig," which is a soil improvement technique. If all goes to plan, the beds will all be dug by the time I get back to village, they will have put up a millet-stalk fence, and we'll be ready to plant veggies!




4. Steve and Jen (my two closest neighbors) came to spend the night on Friday. We did a composting lesson at the school, and then ate a TON of Yassa Poulet for dinner. And 6 bags of cookies for dessert! The kitten attacked the bowl after we finished.






5. Somebody bought the twins overalls. Its pretty much the cutest thing ever.



6. Yet another example of why Senegalese males are perhaps the most annoying species on the planet: I was walking to the market, and a 20 something year old guy was running around like a sheep dog simultaneously trying to herd a hysteric full grown bull to the market (im terrified of cows here) while hitting on me at the top of his lungs. I couldn't get away from either of them! Totally harmless, just obnoxious. Jeez.

Thats about all for now. Things are going really well, and I am working on a more entertaining blog post for later when I have better internet : )

I found internet! Read my blog.

Hi Everyone! Exciting news all around. This is a long post, but probably the only one for a while, so read at your leisure. First of all, I made it safely back to Senegal and suffered only the mildest of cultural traumatization while transitioning back to village life. Ive been spending pretty much every afternoon wandering around and listening to episodes of “This American Life,” which is actually really fun.

While on one of my walks, two random guys around my age decided that I needed to pay attention to them and started walking with me, being obnoxious, telling me to “be at peace, we don’t want to interrupt, how are you enjoying your walk, do you have a husband? Really we don’t want to interrupt, but how are you, do you love me? etc,” the usual. Not being in the mood to deal with it I stopped, shot them the most disdainful look that I could muster, turned around, and walked purposefully into the closest building...a school compound that I’ve never visited before. I’ve been meaning to, really, but have just been lazy. Turns out, that moment may have changed my entire service! I have been trying to set up a school garden in my village, but we don’t have a wall, or a convenient water source, or motivated teachers... but the new school (1k away from me) is a magical wonderland just waiting for me to start a garden and Environmental Club. They have a fenced in area, a school wall, a robinet, a basin to hold water, motivated and french speaking teachers, and even a cement chicken coop. All they need is someone to organize it! I cant wait.

In other news, I wrote a couple of articles for our volunteer newsletter. Ill put in the first one on here. I also decided to run for a coordinating position for SeneGAD, which is the country wide gender and development program. Elections are in a couple of weeks, I’ll let you know what happens! And speaking of things coming up soon, it is time to tell you about WAIST. The West African Invitational Softball Tournament. It is basically a huge get together for all volunteers in Senegal and neighboring countries. We are split up into softball teams based on region, and each team has a theme complete with costumes. This year the Kaolack team (mine) will be ballerinas. I will be sure to put up pictures afterward. There is also a talent show, photo contest, huge all night party, and we are all really excited! It’s an excuse to see people who live far away, other volunteers I only see every 3 or 4 months. I cant wait!

In other plans, I have Star Wars valentines that I will be handing out in a couple weeks, and am doing a radio show along with some of the other Sereer speakers on the 14th. Morgan and I will be having fancy sunset dinner and wine on the Kaolack house roof to celebrate our total lack of viable romance options here in Peace Corps Senegal. I think its going to be really fun, actually : )

OK, here some pictures from village, as well as the newsletter article I wrote. I hope youre all doing well, and am already getting excited for a family Mediterranean cruise this summer. Happy February, and since I wont talk to many of you until then, Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Random Photos:

Laundry Time


Steve's Birthday Burger


Sheep


Dakar Traffic Jam


Mantis of some kind


Flower of some kind


Kids at the Yekini parade, wearing Yekini crowns





Sabaar (article) and photos:

Out of Site, Out of Mind.

A phenomenon known as "Site Guilt," generally follows us PCV's around when we leave our villages to partake in the regional house or Dakar high life. It usually manifests itself as a nagging in the back of our hungover minds as we turn on a 5th consecutive episode of Glee, pop open a cold Flag, and thank Allah for elastic waistbands while starting in on that second bean/egg/mayonnaise/sauce soble/french fry sandwich. We tell ourselves, "Hey, I'll go back to site tomorrow, this time with the best sariche ever," right before we re enter the sloth cycle until the entire regional house clears itself out in a collective surge of motivation. We show up at our sites a week later toting a 150cfa bag of beignets, compliments of that guy shouting at our alham window.

However, I've been out of site for a few weeks now, and am happy to report that site guilt does NOT follow you to America. It doesn't have a passport and probably gets cut off somewhere around Bermuda as you down that second bottle of free champagne. Sorry, sparkling wine. However, some vestiges of Peace Corps life have definitely crossed the pond with me over this holiday vacation. A total lack of self restraint, for example. It's hard to convince yourself that you don’t, in fact, need that gigantic piece of cake because, hey, you won’t have the option of cake for the next year and a half. Better to eat it now while you can. I want two years of America concentrated into a one month span, and I'd say it's going quite well so far. Embracing gluttony is a lovely thing, but is definitely best reserved for the holiday season. It would be hard to maintain as a lifelong thing (financially and physically) and really....what other choice do you have when surrounded by Christmas buffets? I know we've been out of the US for a while, but it was still shocking when I came home to find out that cookies have, in fact, learned to talk! I look at them and all I hear is, "you live in Africa...eeeeat meeeee..."

So, in a few weeks when they roll me onto that plane and heft me back to Senegal...sure it will be hard to say goodbye again, so I’m doing my best to enjoy every possible moment of US time while I can, which, let's face it, isn't difficult. Because really, when will we ever have the chance to just sit around all day, cook whatever we want, hang out with our favorite people, and enjoy a total lack of responsibility ever again? Unless you count being unemployed. I would tell myself that when I get back I'll do more work, be a better volunteer, and make up for all of this time at home. But, again, there is no site guilt in the US of A. Unjustified vacation can truly be a wonderful thing. So, enjoy that time at home, love your vacations for all they’re worth, and trust that you will be just as good of a volunteer when you get back…maybe just slightly more rotund. Which will only make you that much more popular in the village.

Oh, and you can't forget Goal Three of Peace Corps. Fine wine and the joy that comes from a plate loaded down with holiday goodies can really improve your conversational skills. People actually want to hear about Peace Corps, and the longer you tell them about Senegal, the longer they keep serving you food. I rest my case. Happy Holidays.

Break's Over.

Well my vacation is ending in about 45 minutes. After that it's back to the grind...sitting on the beach, swimming at the American Club, planting gardens, painting murals, and playing with kids. Such a hard life. Anyways, I am terrified of flying over the ocean (for no real reason, I guess it's no different than flying over land) but after Im done with Peace Corps Im moving back to North America and staying put. Maybe there will be some good movies at least...

Anyways, here's a Christmas morning picture to say goodbye! I'll talk to you all in Senegal, when I have a chance to get online. ttfn.

Alright Senegal. Im coming back.

Once again, it's time to leave the land of luxury, and go back to showering out of a bucket and eating with my hand.

A couple random things, I am all packed and trying to sleep, but it's not happening. I decided to watch Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa to prepare for my journey tomorrow. I also watched Sound of Music before studying abroad in Switzerland. Typical : ) Im wondering, though, why they felt the need to call it Escape to Africa, when Madagascar is in Africa already. Escape to Continental Africa just doesnt have the same ring I guess.

Anyways, I find myself in exactly the same position I was in 10 months ago, thinking: What in the world shall I pack to leave for Senegal?

Luckily, this time it’s not as big of a deal since most of my stuff is already over there. However, there is limited bag space and Im determined to make the most of it. When I first left for Peace Corps, I threw whatever seemed useful into my bag, not very intentionally. The result? I showed up without a single skirt or tanktop, and a lot of useless crap, basically. So, I thought Id share my lessons with the new people who are preparing to leave in a couple months, as well as give the rest of you a glimpse into my suitcase. You know, in case you ever decide to spend two years in a West African village...
Useful/wonderful things:
*Extra money. Like one hundred dolla billzzz. You aren’t used to living at village standards yet, and will probably have forgotten a lot of stuff. You absolutely don’t need extra money, but having some was awesome. That way you can buy things in Thies to bring to your site.

*Craft supplies. Lots of them. They will come in handy. At some point.

*A French press if you like coffee. I have a cheap glass one from target, but I think REI makes unbreakable ones for camping. Which is pretty much what you’ll be doing for the next two years.

*A netbook and a hard drive.

*A digital camera. Duh.

*Good Liquor. Even if you don’t like drinking that much, its not available in Senegal, and is nice to have at the regional house. Over two years, somebody will surely appreciate it.

*A pocketknife and duct tape.

*Toiletries! Like, nice smelling body lotion and shower stuff for when you want to feel like a real person.

*A sewing kit. Just a little one.

*A light saber. Anyone could be a sith lord in disguise. Especially the Wolofs.

*A heavy blanket or sleeping bag. It does get cold at night. Sometimes.

*A bathing suit, or two.

*A quick dry towel. They are lovely.

*Costumes. ALL costumes. Wigs, petticoats, sparkly jumpsuits, whatever.

*Entertainment. For example, paint by number kits, crosswords, puzzles, books, etc.

*Settlers of Catan. I would really like you to bring that. With an extension pack. And then make sure you're placed in the Kaolack region.



Things you really don’t need:
*Too many clothes. You will acquire a ton of them here, and you can get pretty much anything made.

*Instant coffee, a la nescafe. There is plenty of it here, trust me.

*Vitamins. Med will give you enough Prenatals to grow a baby the wholesome way.

*A blowdryer. Africa is a blowdryer.

*Socks. Unless you are Chris Peterson.

*Enough pens for an army. I came laden with enough pens to last me two years. I don’t know why I thought Senegal wouldn’t have pens. They do, they most certainly do.

*Candy for kids. Just don’t do it...all they eat is sugar anyways.

*You can leave your palm oil, your dried fish, and your plain white rice at home.

*Peanuts.

*Toilet Paper. I mean...come on.


Ok thats all I can think of right now! Im not sure Im a good person to take advice from, though, since I am heading back with half my backpack taken up by a gigantic pink petticoat (WAIST here I come!) which my sister decided to buy for me in lieu of depositing the money into my bank account a few years ago, thank you, lindsey...and a piece of Zingerman's Hummingbird Cake for my site mate. mmmmm. That may not survive. I might eat it en route.

Ohh, Im going to miss you America!! Goodbye! See you in 2012.

Happy New Year!

Tonight, my grandma and I are getting dressed to the nines, drinking mimosas, and watching movies to ring in the New Year. Its not the exciting going out dancing all night of last year, but I really can't imagine a better way to spend the evening : )

I am heading back to Senegal in a few days. Im not exactly ready, but a day or two at the American Club is probably all I need to get back into Peace Corps mode.

Being back in AMERIK for a month has helped me realize what it is exactly that I miss the most about home. I thought it would be the food, the weather, my family, etc. But, the result was something I didnt expect. While I do miss all of that, the thing I miss the most, and what I look forward to the most when I get back here (you know, in 2012) is having a life. Seriously. In Senegal, work is life. Im not saying I have a ton of work to do, but I live and work in the same place. My personal and professional life are one and the same. I am ON 24/7. Sarah time vs. job time literally does not exist. I am my alias, Yama, pretty much day in and day out. It's like being in a play...all the time. Where no one speaks english. Bienvenue.

I loved living in Victoria because I could take yoga classes, play ultimate frisbee, go to salsa lessons, volunteer at a gorgeous ocean discovery center, go to midnight swims at the community center, and just generally have a good time. Even work was pretty fun.

Baltimore was exciting because I could take yoga, contra dancing, sing sea shanties at a pub on Thursdays, play boggle with people from work every Tuesday, take a rigging workshop, go to trivia night, and take long walks on the water.

In Peace Corps, though, it's like being transported back to middle school in terms of freedom and options of things to do. Except...in Africa with a bunch of random Senegalese people. I spend my time with the family, eat when they do, eat whatever they're eating, always tell them where Im going and when I'll be back, have limited internet and TV time(ie. none) and never leave the compound after dark. My alone time these days is a long walk to a baobab tree where I sit and do crosswords.

I dont mean to complain, compared to all of the issues available to worry about in real life, like paying bills, worrying about health care, not living on the beach, schedules, supervision, etc. It's not so bad ; ) Peace Corps is a whole new world of costs and benefits. I like my work in Senegal and knew it would be like this before leaving. We have regional houses to take breaks when we need it, and get non-village work done. It's just a much slower and different pace of life. I am enjoying it for the time I have, but when I get back to the US...Im going to boycott sitting and reading. Im going to do as much as humanly possible. Pottery classes, a computer programming class, ultimate frisbee, a fun job, long walks, yoga, swing dancing, hiking on weekends. Hopefully in Boston. For Summer of Fun! After summer of fun...Im thinking graduate school. Or a job. We'll see. Anything could happen in the next 15 months. Who knows, I might even become fluent in Serere. And I know that makes you jealous.