Papa Idi + Fas + Charette + Tisi + 3 Toubabs = Amazing

Cora, Teresa, and I took an amazing trip into Thiès last Saturday afternoon. Cora’s dad (Papa Idi) owns a horse (fas) and buggy (charette) and he told us he wanted to take us on a ride to Thies, and when we found that out, we quickly realized that would be a great time to buy cloth (tisi) to make nice Senegalese clothes for Korite (the holiday to celebrate the end of Ramadan, which is in just over a week). And when we were making the plans, her family then told her that Kumba, her oldest sister, can make the clothes for us and will meet us in Thiès to help us barter and buy the right cloth and trim. It couldn’t have worked out better – we had a great time feeling like 3 queens (aka toubabs) riding through Thiès on the charette, plus we got great tisi (Rafet na! [It’s beautiful!]) and we’ll will have true Senegalese clothes to wear for Korite. Probably our arrival back into our village was the best though – riding through the center of the village, around the well, and back to Cora’s house, with cloth in our hands and watermelons (for our families when we break the fast) between our knees. And what was even more fun was that our families were just as excited to see our cloth as we were to show it to them! The experience truly was priceless. :)

The Falls

My family at my homestay is amazing. Here are some pics of them – I don’t have time to write more now (have to pack for my visit to my final placement site) but I will sooner rather than later hopefully!

My dad (who really did want his picture taken) and mom (who really didn't want her picture taken), holding my youngest niece (who probably had no idea what was going on).

My youngest sister is in front here taking a short break from washing clothes, which is what another one of my sisters and my sister-in-law are doing (in the rain).

Learning to help

That is perhaps the biggest lesson we’ll learn hear as PCVs. And my guess is that it will involve the following:
Love yourself
Love your neighbors
Love your work
LOVE

Part of this, as we’re beginning to realize, is that we need to take care of ourselves in order to be able to help others. That seems simple and obvious, but it becomes challenging with you buy healthy food for yourself but can’t for others; or when it involves hiding in your room to snack on something with extra vitamins and protein since your diet is often lacking in certain nutrients. I’m sure, with time, we’ll all find a healthy balance of ways to maintain our health while helping others improve theirs – as we do the same for loving our work while taking care of ourselves, too.

Learning Learning Learning

Here is a list of things I’ve learned (more or less) to do here in Senegal:

Cook – ceebu jen (rice and fish) with veggies over an open fire

Wash clothes – can’t make the squishing noise women make here, so they don’t really think I’m washing my clothes, but I am, I swear! :)

Draw water from the well and carry it on my head – yeah, that’s hard, really hard, especially when you do it for an hour straight (which I didn’t do but my sisters do every day)

Speak Wolof - Duh

Dance – ummm….yeah, working on that one the most…mainly because I want to be able to dance in my Senegalese outfit for Korite (more on that in a bit) in a week

Make tea – I’ve “learned” how to make tea, but can’t do the whole pouring tea from one glass to another thing; my bro is a pro at it and he tried to teach me, but it really takes practice to get the right flip of the wrist so you don’t spill lots of tea…that’s something I’m going to put on the back burner right now but would love to be able to go back to my family in a year or 2 and make tea for them; I think that would really blow my brother’s socks off (if he were to ever wear socks) :)

Make Neem water – best organic way of repelling pests here in Senegal and it’s so easy: just leave a bunch of Neem leaves in a watering can over night and water your crops the next day!

Fall asleep under a mango tree – yeah, that isn’t really something one has to learn, more so just do, but it sure is amazing

Sallu

That’s my nephew. And he is so cute. For the first week I was in my village, he was scared of me – wouldn’t intentionally come near me and when he realized he was near me, he would run away quickly. He slowly started to get used to me after I was back in the village for another several days. But the thing that broke the ice completely was football. I had bought a football (or soccer ball as we Americans call it) in the market before going back to my village but it lost a little air quickly so it wasn’t pumped up fully the day after I got to my village, so I just left it in my room. But I soon learned that Sallu could care less if the ball is pumped up or not – he just loves running around kicking it and picking it up and giving it to me to play with. Now Sallu loves playing with me – playing with the football, clapping hands, running around, dancing, being picked up and thrown in the air or twirled around…anything. And I love playing with him – it’s not only incredibly fun to act like a kid, it’s also been a great way for me to feel more comfortable with my family and get integrated into the family.

Sallu with his beloved soccer ball playing in the rain.

Sallu's amazing smile. :)

Degg naa Wolof tuuti.

I understand a little Wolof! (Literally it means “To hear/understand - I - Wolof - a little.”) I can formulate complete sentences now and talk in past, present, and future tenses. Now it is more a matter of learning vocab, practicing a ton so I can speak more quickly and fluidly, and working on my listening skills because some people talk really quickly and slur stuff together (just like in the States) so they’re a lot harder to understand than some people (like Bamba, our language and culture facilitator, who talks really slowly and clearly for us). At times, I felt really proud and excited when I could understand parts of a conversation, but at other times I would become frustrated – I just want to know Wolof now. :) Practice, patience, persistence – the three P’s for learning anything new, and especially a new language in a culture where it is quite acceptable to keep saying “Wolof is so easy, but you really don’t understand it – what’s wrong with you?” My reaction has to be to smile and say I’m trying. That’s the best way to stay positive, minimize frustration, and keep the mood light so others are encouraged to help. And I really do need their help – without the help of my family and friends in the village, I would never really learn Wolof, and that is an incredibly important – no, utterly essential – aspect of my pre-service training.

My Final Placement Site!

We returned to Thiès yesterday after 2 weeks at our home-stay. I will write more on that later, but for now I want to report that we were told our final placement sites today. Mid-afternoon we were all blind-folded on the outdoor basketball court with a large map of Senegal painted on it and led to our approximate final placement sites. It was quite exciting – especially sticking my elbows out before we were allowed to take off our blindfolds to feel who was next to me. There is a fantastic group of PCTs (future PCVs) in my region; but I’m getting ahead of myself. :) Drum roll please…

I will be in the village of Kaymor (spelled several different ways – oh Senegal; population of about 1800) in the Kaolack region in central Senegal about 35 km from the northern border of The Gambia. There was a sustainable ag volunteer like me there who just COSed (Close of Service), but will be in Kaolack until next March working for a girls ag NGO, so she’ll be a great resource for me. From her 22 page COS report I can tell I have large shoes to fill – both incredibly exciting and intimidating at the same time. I wouldn’t want it any other way, though. :) I am heading off Saturday morning to meet Kate (the previous PCV there) and to spend 5 days in the village with her. Can’t wait to see where I’ll call home for the next 2 years and meet my new new family (juggling three families could be tricky…). Again, wouldn’t want it any other way. :)