Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who follow my blog. I am now in Kaolack. The volunteers are having a two day party at the regional house. We even have turkey!!! Everyone is coming in today and cooking. I am having a great holiday so far. I just want to give a shout out to Bri because i heard she was very sick.... So bri- hope you get feeling better. I am thinking about you!
Also, i will try and call a few family members within the next few hrs to give confirmation that i am still alive! Also, i forgot to mention in my last email of photos, THAT IS MY NEW HOME. i included pics of my hut and my family compound. The kids are my siblings... i have A LOT!
Happy thanksgiving and enjoy your turkey... i will be enjoying mine!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Diagle
I am finally all settled into my village and everything is going good. Right now I am in Dakar. There is an Artisan Exposition this weekend that I wanted to go to. The village is good but it is always nice to go to the city. Most of the volunteers from my group are coming into town so hopefully it’s a good weekend. So about the village… I currently have 15 siblings and one more on the way. I have two mothers- Amie and Binta. They are both great but obviously have their hands full with all of the kids. My father – Diokel- is a farmer. He and my counterpart are really hard workers and are always out in the garden. I cannot understand why Peace Corps sends an Agriculture volunteer here. They know wayyy more about gardening than I ever will. There gardens are amazing. They do not have running water but they have created a water system using gravity. It’s pretty cool. They have water bins set up randomly throughout their gardens and they all connect through underground pipes. The bins fill up from the well. If they can o all of that with a shovel, I really don’t think they need much help in the ag field. I think most f my work will be done in the school here and in the village hospital. My family is really nice but I cannot figure out if they are super poor or if the dad is just a cheap ass and doesn’t feed his family. My family does not eat very good. I don’t eat breakfast with them so I don’t know what they eat but for lunch everyday we eat rice and fish… two fish in a bowl on top of white rice. There are two bowls…one for the women and children and one for the men. Usually there are 9 people eating out of the bowl with me. The men use spoons …the women don’t… I DO! I bought my on spoons so I could eat with one. For dinner everyday, we eat millet. Millet is a grain that is pounded down into a powdery substance…something like cornbread mix. It is mixed with water…and YUM!!! Ok…. not exactly…. Its actually pretty nasty but I am getting used to it. Sometimes if we are lucky, we get fish sauce…and when I say fish sauce, I don’t mean real fish. I mean fish flavored water… sometimes we get that on top the rice. In Senegal, eating together is a big deal so I haven’t cooked for myself yet. I wanted to get to know the family more before I cook. I don’t know why eating together is a big deal anyway; it’s very segregated.
I have my own little hut. It’s cute but small. It is 4mx4m. I have a thatch roof that the mice LOVE. There are two permanently living up there. Under the grass on the roof, there is a layer of clear plastic. Everyday I can look up and see the mice up there… shout out to my big sis Crystal! They replace all of the roofs and fencing around our compound every year. They dry out and fall apart. Right now my roof is on its last leg. Two of the corners are non-existent. My roof will be replaced in January probably. Right now the grass that they use to make the roof is not ready. It is the dry season so it really doesn’t matter that there are wholes all over the roof….my hut is definitely not sealed anyway. I also am slightly invaded by termites but I’m not even going to complain about them. They at least don’t poop on my stuff like the mice! Outside of my hut I have my own fenced in backyard. Its also about 4mx4m. I have a douche back there (aka whole in the ground) for a bathroom. At first it was awkward because the “bathroom” is right at the corner of the backyard with no walls around it or anything. I take a bath and go to the bathroom out in the open air. I have the fence around my yard so no one can see in….still a little weird.
My village has about 900 people. It is actually two villages together. One side of the village speaks Sereer and the other speaks Wolof. There are several boutiques here that have everyday supplies like snacks and soap, toothpaste, etc. Also, everyone here eats bean sandwiches. Usually there are ladies around the village in the morning selling their sandwiches. Some taste really good actually…. Others, not so good. I have taken a liking to the onion sandwiches the guy across the street sells. I live about 2 miles outside of Sokone. Sokone is a small town. You can buy pretty much everything there.… everything within reason. There is a market that always has veggies and fish. There are also little shops and boutiques that sell things that a gas station in America would sell. There is not a big selection though. To other volunteers live in Sokone. They are both girls and are pretty cool. They both live wayyy better than I do. Jessica has her own house…with electricity and running water. Laura has her own section of a house…also with running water and electricity. Laura’s family is so nice. I have been there a lot in the last week. Her sister has a salon and did my hair for me. I now have really long hair J
The village is separated by a major international highway. It is really convenient to travel. My family lives right along the road. I can walk outside the my family compound and wait for a bus to come…don’t get confused though. It is definitely not like a city here. The bus only comes one time a day and it is anywhere from 5 am and 7am… so if I want to go somewhere, I wake up early and wait by the road for a loooong time.
I am in the process of looking for a tutor. Things here take FOREVER to do. I know someone who knows someone that can find me a tutor. I am hoping that after Thanksgiving I will be able to start meting with whoever this person is and start learning some French. I studied French for 4 years but haven’t ad it since high school and don’t remember a lot. I am hoping that most of it will come back to me quickly. My Sereer is pretty good but only about 2% of the population speaks Sereer. Everyone speaks Wolof and French. It is crazy because mot people here can speak 3 languages fluently. It seems weird but to them it’s so normal. Its actually not normal hat people in America can only speak one language. I am hoping that by the time I am finished with PC, I ill be able to speak French, Sereer, and Wolof pretty fluently. I have nothing but time here so I definitely think I can do it. I probably can do it in one year…let’s just wait and see how motivated I get! Peace Corps pays for us to have a tutor so I definitely plan to take advantage of it.
Next week, I plan to go to Kaolack for Thanksgiving. I live about 25 miles from their; however, there is no road so it usually takes a car about 2 hrs to get to Sokone from Kaolack. Travelling here is always such a hassle. The other volunteers are throwing a party for Thanksgiving. Usually every region hosts a given holiday during the year. Christmas is the onl holiday that is not hosted by anyone because most volunteers go home for the holidays. I think my stage is going to Popenguine again (the beach). We had a really good time last time and I can’t imagine waking up Christmas morning in my hut, hanging out with my Christmas mice.
I will email some photos of my hut and my new family. If you are not on my email list and would like to be, send me your address at candicewhittaker@gmail.com. Hope everyone is ok and getting ready for the holiday season…. This will be m first year without a Christmas treeL… shout out to Becca Donaldson… I know she would be very happy about that!! Lol
I have my own little hut. It’s cute but small. It is 4mx4m. I have a thatch roof that the mice LOVE. There are two permanently living up there. Under the grass on the roof, there is a layer of clear plastic. Everyday I can look up and see the mice up there… shout out to my big sis Crystal! They replace all of the roofs and fencing around our compound every year. They dry out and fall apart. Right now my roof is on its last leg. Two of the corners are non-existent. My roof will be replaced in January probably. Right now the grass that they use to make the roof is not ready. It is the dry season so it really doesn’t matter that there are wholes all over the roof….my hut is definitely not sealed anyway. I also am slightly invaded by termites but I’m not even going to complain about them. They at least don’t poop on my stuff like the mice! Outside of my hut I have my own fenced in backyard. Its also about 4mx4m. I have a douche back there (aka whole in the ground) for a bathroom. At first it was awkward because the “bathroom” is right at the corner of the backyard with no walls around it or anything. I take a bath and go to the bathroom out in the open air. I have the fence around my yard so no one can see in….still a little weird.
My village has about 900 people. It is actually two villages together. One side of the village speaks Sereer and the other speaks Wolof. There are several boutiques here that have everyday supplies like snacks and soap, toothpaste, etc. Also, everyone here eats bean sandwiches. Usually there are ladies around the village in the morning selling their sandwiches. Some taste really good actually…. Others, not so good. I have taken a liking to the onion sandwiches the guy across the street sells. I live about 2 miles outside of Sokone. Sokone is a small town. You can buy pretty much everything there.… everything within reason. There is a market that always has veggies and fish. There are also little shops and boutiques that sell things that a gas station in America would sell. There is not a big selection though. To other volunteers live in Sokone. They are both girls and are pretty cool. They both live wayyy better than I do. Jessica has her own house…with electricity and running water. Laura has her own section of a house…also with running water and electricity. Laura’s family is so nice. I have been there a lot in the last week. Her sister has a salon and did my hair for me. I now have really long hair J
The village is separated by a major international highway. It is really convenient to travel. My family lives right along the road. I can walk outside the my family compound and wait for a bus to come…don’t get confused though. It is definitely not like a city here. The bus only comes one time a day and it is anywhere from 5 am and 7am… so if I want to go somewhere, I wake up early and wait by the road for a loooong time.
I am in the process of looking for a tutor. Things here take FOREVER to do. I know someone who knows someone that can find me a tutor. I am hoping that after Thanksgiving I will be able to start meting with whoever this person is and start learning some French. I studied French for 4 years but haven’t ad it since high school and don’t remember a lot. I am hoping that most of it will come back to me quickly. My Sereer is pretty good but only about 2% of the population speaks Sereer. Everyone speaks Wolof and French. It is crazy because mot people here can speak 3 languages fluently. It seems weird but to them it’s so normal. Its actually not normal hat people in America can only speak one language. I am hoping that by the time I am finished with PC, I ill be able to speak French, Sereer, and Wolof pretty fluently. I have nothing but time here so I definitely think I can do it. I probably can do it in one year…let’s just wait and see how motivated I get! Peace Corps pays for us to have a tutor so I definitely plan to take advantage of it.
Next week, I plan to go to Kaolack for Thanksgiving. I live about 25 miles from their; however, there is no road so it usually takes a car about 2 hrs to get to Sokone from Kaolack. Travelling here is always such a hassle. The other volunteers are throwing a party for Thanksgiving. Usually every region hosts a given holiday during the year. Christmas is the onl holiday that is not hosted by anyone because most volunteers go home for the holidays. I think my stage is going to Popenguine again (the beach). We had a really good time last time and I can’t imagine waking up Christmas morning in my hut, hanging out with my Christmas mice.
I will email some photos of my hut and my new family. If you are not on my email list and would like to be, send me your address at candicewhittaker@gmail.com. Hope everyone is ok and getting ready for the holiday season…. This will be m first year without a Christmas treeL… shout out to Becca Donaldson… I know she would be very happy about that!! Lol
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Installment tomorrow... FINALLY
I am still in Kaolack. I have been here since Sunday and am bored out of my mind. I will be leaving tomorrow. We all have set times to leave this week because we have to be taken to our villages by the security guy to be sure our homes are all safe and secure. I will be leaving for Diagle sometime tomorrow afternoon. I am at the regional house now with many other volunteers. Each region of Senegal has a house where volunteers can go to escape the village if they need a break. Most people come here about every two weeks or so… some more often, some less. It’s like a small frat house. I think back to my days at good ole Indiana University and try to drown out the times I had to enter into a disgusting fraternity house… now I have one to call my own home J …. Along with several new critter friends as well. I live about 40 KM from here so I am planning to ride my bike here sometimes. I have noticed that many of the volunteers ride here from FAR distances (up to 100 KM). The road from the regional house to Diagle is really bad so I think I will have to get in better shape before I can try to make the ride. It is really difficult to ride a bike in sand!!!)
I have spent the last three days spending lots money at the market in Kaolack. It has been kind of fun but also very hectic. Kaolack has the second largest covered market in Africa. It is really easy to get in there and get lost or hassled or pick-pocketed. Luckily, everything has gone smoothly for me and I think I am finished shopping. I bought lots of things for my new home in Diagle….. just the usual move in things like furniture, cleaning supplies, decorations, etc. Its really hard to buy big things here because there is nowhere to store anything and you can’t trust anyone. We had to pay a taxi to come pick us up the market several times because we couldn’t carry our new stuff around all day. I have the rest of the day to hang out and get my stuff ready for tomorrow. I think tomorrow will be a long day but I am looking forward to finally having a place of my own and being able to unpack. I am planning to go to Dakar next weekend for an Artesian Expo. I am going with a few other volunteers. I think it will be a good way for us to get some ideas of other projects we can start (other than agriculture). I should be back at the internet next weekend sometime. Hope all is well in the States!
I have spent the last three days spending lots money at the market in Kaolack. It has been kind of fun but also very hectic. Kaolack has the second largest covered market in Africa. It is really easy to get in there and get lost or hassled or pick-pocketed. Luckily, everything has gone smoothly for me and I think I am finished shopping. I bought lots of things for my new home in Diagle….. just the usual move in things like furniture, cleaning supplies, decorations, etc. Its really hard to buy big things here because there is nowhere to store anything and you can’t trust anyone. We had to pay a taxi to come pick us up the market several times because we couldn’t carry our new stuff around all day. I have the rest of the day to hang out and get my stuff ready for tomorrow. I think tomorrow will be a long day but I am looking forward to finally having a place of my own and being able to unpack. I am planning to go to Dakar next weekend for an Artesian Expo. I am going with a few other volunteers. I think it will be a good way for us to get some ideas of other projects we can start (other than agriculture). I should be back at the internet next weekend sometime. Hope all is well in the States!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Swear-In
As of yesterday, iI am an official Peace Corps volunteer. We had swear in yesterday in Dakar at the Smerican Embassador's house.. it was fun actually. After we had the BEST food ever for lunch and then wet to the American club and had a pool party. We had a big reception in Thies lst night for our host families. It finished and then we ad a rather looong after-party that went well into the night.. all-in-all...great day. Tomorrow i will be leaving Thies a 6 am (not my choice to be leaving so early) and heading to Kaolack for two days. I am moving into my permanent village on Tuesday. I am hoping to settle in and start learning more Sereer with a tutor asap. I dont really know what to expect with my new host family so maybe i will have some interesteing stories in about a week... more soon!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Barack Obama!!
Ok..so i dont know if thats how you spell the name of the future president of the United States; however, i am prety pumped that today is election day... People in Senegal are going crazy today because of the election... its everywhere here. Just thought i would take a moment and give a shout out to my man BO...
Anyway....I came back to the city yesterday and everything is going fine. I had my last language test this morning and am very happy with the way things have ended with my language classes. Im surprised that I have done so well so far. I am officially finished with language as of today. I can communicate with pretty much anyone in Sereer now. I realize my language is still broken and definitely not fluent but I can communicate and have conversations now….pretty great really. I spent the last week in the village doing language and hanging out with my family and friends there. Everything has gotten so much better in the village in the last week because my language got wayyy better. It sucks that when I finally could communicate and have fun with people, it was time to leave. I am happy with the way things ended for the most part. If I could change one thing, I would go back and put my foot down with my family a few times. I think they started to take advantage of me a little too much by the end of my stay there… c’est la vie African!!
I left my village yesterday for the last time. It was really awkward leaving because my mom and sister were crying all day. It as nice but I can’t decide if they were really sad that I was leaving or if they were just sad that they wont have a paycheck anymore…that’s a whole other story though. Last week, I realized that my mom is about months pregnant and I had no idea! Some may think I am crazy but in Senegal is a complete faux paux to talk about pregnancy. I have had many discussions with Senegalese people including my father here about pregnancy and no one can explain to me why they don’t talk about t. My mother is obviously pregnant but she hasn’t even told my sisters or anyone in the family. I think I will go visit my family sometime in the next few months and I am hoping to see a baby!
We have swear-in on Friday in Dakar. I will be an official volunteer after that. This week we will be in Thies just having technique class. I am really excited to get this week over with because the technique classes are really boring and I want to get to my new village. I think I will leave here on Monday and stay in Kaolack until Tuesday. The security guy is coming Tuesday to help me move in.
I received my first package in mail last week…lets just say it felt like Christmas morning!!! Really!! I don’t think I can communicate what it feels like to be cut off from the world and then open up a box with fresh magazines and American candy… each little skittle was screaming to be thrown into my mouth!!
Random Facts:
Number of times I have been pooped on by a baby: 3
Number of shirts ruined because my sister spilled bleach on my laundry- 8
Number of scorpions I have seen: too many to count
Number of mice living in my room right now- 1
Number of times my 6 year old brother ripped the head off a bird last week- 2 (they eat them :X)
Number of cards/letters I have received in the mail- 4
Number of trainees that have gone back to the states-0
Number of full days I have spent having my hair braided since my arrival in Senegal- 4 (I have really long hair now!)
Number of times a Senegalese person has asked me if i personaly know Celine Dion- too many to count ( Africans LOVE her)
Number of times a woman has tried to give me her husband- 1 ( my friend Fatou had full intentions of giving me her husband to take back to he States so he could make money.... then we could come back and all live together)
ok... enough for now... more to come soon. Hope all is well at home and everyone is alive and healthy... Lets go Obama (one more time for the road ;-) )
Anyway....I came back to the city yesterday and everything is going fine. I had my last language test this morning and am very happy with the way things have ended with my language classes. Im surprised that I have done so well so far. I am officially finished with language as of today. I can communicate with pretty much anyone in Sereer now. I realize my language is still broken and definitely not fluent but I can communicate and have conversations now….pretty great really. I spent the last week in the village doing language and hanging out with my family and friends there. Everything has gotten so much better in the village in the last week because my language got wayyy better. It sucks that when I finally could communicate and have fun with people, it was time to leave. I am happy with the way things ended for the most part. If I could change one thing, I would go back and put my foot down with my family a few times. I think they started to take advantage of me a little too much by the end of my stay there… c’est la vie African!!
I left my village yesterday for the last time. It was really awkward leaving because my mom and sister were crying all day. It as nice but I can’t decide if they were really sad that I was leaving or if they were just sad that they wont have a paycheck anymore…that’s a whole other story though. Last week, I realized that my mom is about months pregnant and I had no idea! Some may think I am crazy but in Senegal is a complete faux paux to talk about pregnancy. I have had many discussions with Senegalese people including my father here about pregnancy and no one can explain to me why they don’t talk about t. My mother is obviously pregnant but she hasn’t even told my sisters or anyone in the family. I think I will go visit my family sometime in the next few months and I am hoping to see a baby!
We have swear-in on Friday in Dakar. I will be an official volunteer after that. This week we will be in Thies just having technique class. I am really excited to get this week over with because the technique classes are really boring and I want to get to my new village. I think I will leave here on Monday and stay in Kaolack until Tuesday. The security guy is coming Tuesday to help me move in.
I received my first package in mail last week…lets just say it felt like Christmas morning!!! Really!! I don’t think I can communicate what it feels like to be cut off from the world and then open up a box with fresh magazines and American candy… each little skittle was screaming to be thrown into my mouth!!
Random Facts:
Number of times I have been pooped on by a baby: 3
Number of shirts ruined because my sister spilled bleach on my laundry- 8
Number of scorpions I have seen: too many to count
Number of mice living in my room right now- 1
Number of times my 6 year old brother ripped the head off a bird last week- 2 (they eat them :X)
Number of cards/letters I have received in the mail- 4
Number of trainees that have gone back to the states-0
Number of full days I have spent having my hair braided since my arrival in Senegal- 4 (I have really long hair now!)
Number of times a Senegalese person has asked me if i personaly know Celine Dion- too many to count ( Africans LOVE her)
Number of times a woman has tried to give me her husband- 1 ( my friend Fatou had full intentions of giving me her husband to take back to he States so he could make money.... then we could come back and all live together)
ok... enough for now... more to come soon. Hope all is well at home and everyone is alive and healthy... Lets go Obama (one more time for the road ;-) )
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