Enough said right? What a smelly little guy! I was fencing off a small compost site in the "backyard" of my family's compound, hanging out with Eeyore, our donkey. Well, that's what I call him at least. And he farted when he said HEEE HAAAAW! How rude!
Anyways. So I have a compost site at home but stray cats have been eating the fish. We hope to invite the neighbors around to add to the pile as well. Should be cool. My compost site in the neighborhood hasn't started yet, which kinda bums me out. I hope to get it fenced off soon but am plenty busy with everything else!
In Ndem I am working on a new order in America. It is such a great opportunity for the artisans! But in the mean time I am working on translating every document, brochure and flyer that they have since everything is in French. Lots to do and not enough time to do it all!
Besides that, I will be working with my middle school girls. The looks on the girls' faces when they find out they won 30,000cfa (about $65) is priceless. I will have 2 friends come and help me with the certificat ceremony! I am splurging on these girls and am going to buy donuts and cans of soda, not something I can afford to do too often.
So life is good. Busy is better than uneventful I guess! Take care! Send more love in envelopes, my walls need more cards and photos of your pretty faces! :-)
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
She's Senegalese Now
So my week of training a “newbie” is finished. She arrived on Friday morning and left this evening. Her name is Ellen and she will soon be my closest neighbor, about 20k down the road. We got along very well and I think she will be a great volunteer. She is learning French right now since she hasn’t had any classes since high school but is doing so well for only being here 3 weeks! I wasn’t that confident with my language after just a few weeks, that’s for sure. Like I said, she will be great. I am very excited for her to move to Diourbel in November.
It was rather interesting being responsible to answer all the questions of a trainee. I brought in reinforcement! My best friend in Peace Corps came to spend the weekend with us. We made soup for dinner sent from America and talked about PC and gossiped about everything else. It was rather refreshing to be able to answer all the questions she asked, that I was asking last September. I even got to scold her for handing someone money with her left hand! I showed her how casual my work meetings are and a bit about public transport (like waiting over 2 hours at noon…). I was more exhausted than her in the heat as I introduced her to some past and many current work partners. We went to Diourbel for the day and I showed her the stores that sell ice cream, ate at the best restaurant in town and even introduced her to a future work partner. We biked to Ndem and she seems interested in working with artisans. She bought fabric in the market and my tailor made her look real good in 2 different Senegalese boubous.
I spent quite a bit of the time translating for her and telling the Senegalese that even though I speak Wolof, French is just as important to learn, since they just assume all whites speak it. (It was good practice for my translating duties when my parents arrive!) The Senegalese tend to compare us to each other quite often which is rather stressful at times. They told Ellen that I am now Senegalese and she soon will need to be as well. Me? Senegalese? I guess it’s a compliment. I have officially been told I am an integrated member of this culture. It’s a good feeling.
As for the next few weeks? I am going to be very busy. This weekend, I am getting part of my roof repaired (much needed since the tin has separated from the cement wall). I need to fence off my compost site and build a small compost area here in my family’s house protected from our goats. I need to go to all 3 middle schools to invite all my girls to a Soirée to celebrate my winners. All of this needs to get done before going to training for a few days, and before my parents get here on the 25th! I’m only kinda excited… NOT! Their 9 (daddy) and 15 (mom) days are going to go by too fast but I just can’t wait to be there at the airport to introduce them to their Senegalese daughter!
It was rather interesting being responsible to answer all the questions of a trainee. I brought in reinforcement! My best friend in Peace Corps came to spend the weekend with us. We made soup for dinner sent from America and talked about PC and gossiped about everything else. It was rather refreshing to be able to answer all the questions she asked, that I was asking last September. I even got to scold her for handing someone money with her left hand! I showed her how casual my work meetings are and a bit about public transport (like waiting over 2 hours at noon…). I was more exhausted than her in the heat as I introduced her to some past and many current work partners. We went to Diourbel for the day and I showed her the stores that sell ice cream, ate at the best restaurant in town and even introduced her to a future work partner. We biked to Ndem and she seems interested in working with artisans. She bought fabric in the market and my tailor made her look real good in 2 different Senegalese boubous.
I spent quite a bit of the time translating for her and telling the Senegalese that even though I speak Wolof, French is just as important to learn, since they just assume all whites speak it. (It was good practice for my translating duties when my parents arrive!) The Senegalese tend to compare us to each other quite often which is rather stressful at times. They told Ellen that I am now Senegalese and she soon will need to be as well. Me? Senegalese? I guess it’s a compliment. I have officially been told I am an integrated member of this culture. It’s a good feeling.
As for the next few weeks? I am going to be very busy. This weekend, I am getting part of my roof repaired (much needed since the tin has separated from the cement wall). I need to fence off my compost site and build a small compost area here in my family’s house protected from our goats. I need to go to all 3 middle schools to invite all my girls to a Soirée to celebrate my winners. All of this needs to get done before going to training for a few days, and before my parents get here on the 25th! I’m only kinda excited… NOT! Their 9 (daddy) and 15 (mom) days are going to go by too fast but I just can’t wait to be there at the airport to introduce them to their Senegalese daughter!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Liver on Korite, again
It’s that time of year again, when we buy a sheep and murder it to become out breakfast, lunch and dinner! Ramadan is officially over so I can try and get back into a normal routine of actually working with hydrated, happier people who are not constantly thinking about food. This year’s Korite is a bit different than last year’s. The big reason being I am no longer in training, the others being that I understand more what is going on and am no longer freaked out by the fact that the sheep was hanging out, eating grass one minute and on the grill the next! And what made it even more exciting is that I was reading the book Alive, about the survivors of a plane crash where they survived 70 days in the Andes eating the crash victims. Eating liver of a sheep and reading how they ate human liver… Not a good combo!
I am celebrating Korite with my host mom’s sister’s family. You know the little 3 year old, Khali, that was staying at our house? We are with his (very pregnant) mom and dad in Mbour for 3 nights. I have to admit, I was dreading this since I didn’t really know what the situation would be. Being a guest at someone’s house, when sometimes, I feel like I am still a guest at my own home. So we got here on Monday evening and I was surprised to how beautiful this house is, that was built not quite 2 years ago. It has a nice roof to sit out on, tile rooms and hallways and cement ceilings! On Tuesday, myself and a volunteer that lives about 45 minutes south met for lunch. Mbour is a beach city, populated with Senegalese and Saly, it’s neighbor is a city that is more like a foreigner’s paradise with restaurants, chic hotels and night clubs. Well my friend and I wandered around Mbour the day before Korite when everyone was still fasting, and to our surprise, there were no restaurants open! So we went and spoiled ourselves in Saly at a restaurant where I had a seafood pizza and bailey’s ice cream for dessert. Amazing.
So that way my day yesterday until around 10pm when the women (mom, sister and aunt) decided it was a good time to go to the market. WHAT?! I was in the market earlier that day and it was crowded with far too many people, way too many cars and a lot of mud and pools of water from the rain that morning. This didn’t stop us! The market was bustling with people all last minute shopping, but like a thousand times worse than the day before Christmas since they are all yelling, pushing and shoving and one wrong step could cause you to fall in a puddle of mud. We got back after midnight and I was exhausted.
This morning, I woke up and got ready to come downstairs and see that the cooking had begun. I was assigned to pealing and cutting potatoes into fries. I have a small blister on my hand from too many potatoes and the dull knife only cut me once. I didn’t have to witness the killing of the sheep today, which was nice, since I was in the kitchen. “Breakfast” was ready around 2 consisting of liver, ribs and onions. “Lunch” was only a few hours later, with more meat, onions, french fries and raw veggies. Who knows when “dinner” will be but I know that it will involve more sheep! After the second meal, at 6 I wandered around greeting friends of Khali’s dad. Honestly, I hate doing this. I am like this token to show off to their friends who can speak Wolof. After a few houses, when he was ready to take a taxi into town to continue this, I said it was time for me to return home. Ha! I wasn’t able to express myself in that way last Korite! Life is good. I got some work done on my computer and am able to relax in front of the fan and type to you.
Tomorrow we are getting picked up by the same chauffer that brought us out here to bring us back home to Bambey. My host mom hates transport during the holidays so paid a bit more to reserve us a comfortable ride. Then on Friday I will have a demyster (a brand new volunteer who just arrived in September) coming to stay with me for a week. Hopefully she will be the replacement for my closest neighbor! It’s kind of hard to believe that now it is my turn to host rather than be the one to get de-mystified! I have been here a while huh?
Make sure to enjoy the turning colors of the leaves! I miss fall just thinking about it. Here everything is just going to die but there are no maples to appreciate. Take pictures for me!
I am celebrating Korite with my host mom’s sister’s family. You know the little 3 year old, Khali, that was staying at our house? We are with his (very pregnant) mom and dad in Mbour for 3 nights. I have to admit, I was dreading this since I didn’t really know what the situation would be. Being a guest at someone’s house, when sometimes, I feel like I am still a guest at my own home. So we got here on Monday evening and I was surprised to how beautiful this house is, that was built not quite 2 years ago. It has a nice roof to sit out on, tile rooms and hallways and cement ceilings! On Tuesday, myself and a volunteer that lives about 45 minutes south met for lunch. Mbour is a beach city, populated with Senegalese and Saly, it’s neighbor is a city that is more like a foreigner’s paradise with restaurants, chic hotels and night clubs. Well my friend and I wandered around Mbour the day before Korite when everyone was still fasting, and to our surprise, there were no restaurants open! So we went and spoiled ourselves in Saly at a restaurant where I had a seafood pizza and bailey’s ice cream for dessert. Amazing.
So that way my day yesterday until around 10pm when the women (mom, sister and aunt) decided it was a good time to go to the market. WHAT?! I was in the market earlier that day and it was crowded with far too many people, way too many cars and a lot of mud and pools of water from the rain that morning. This didn’t stop us! The market was bustling with people all last minute shopping, but like a thousand times worse than the day before Christmas since they are all yelling, pushing and shoving and one wrong step could cause you to fall in a puddle of mud. We got back after midnight and I was exhausted.
This morning, I woke up and got ready to come downstairs and see that the cooking had begun. I was assigned to pealing and cutting potatoes into fries. I have a small blister on my hand from too many potatoes and the dull knife only cut me once. I didn’t have to witness the killing of the sheep today, which was nice, since I was in the kitchen. “Breakfast” was ready around 2 consisting of liver, ribs and onions. “Lunch” was only a few hours later, with more meat, onions, french fries and raw veggies. Who knows when “dinner” will be but I know that it will involve more sheep! After the second meal, at 6 I wandered around greeting friends of Khali’s dad. Honestly, I hate doing this. I am like this token to show off to their friends who can speak Wolof. After a few houses, when he was ready to take a taxi into town to continue this, I said it was time for me to return home. Ha! I wasn’t able to express myself in that way last Korite! Life is good. I got some work done on my computer and am able to relax in front of the fan and type to you.
Tomorrow we are getting picked up by the same chauffer that brought us out here to bring us back home to Bambey. My host mom hates transport during the holidays so paid a bit more to reserve us a comfortable ride. Then on Friday I will have a demyster (a brand new volunteer who just arrived in September) coming to stay with me for a week. Hopefully she will be the replacement for my closest neighbor! It’s kind of hard to believe that now it is my turn to host rather than be the one to get de-mystified! I have been here a while huh?
Make sure to enjoy the turning colors of the leaves! I miss fall just thinking about it. Here everything is just going to die but there are no maples to appreciate. Take pictures for me!
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