My typical service

I made it through another Muslim holiday and was so classic Senegalese I even scare myself! I bought expensive fabric and had it tailored and embroidered, bought matching sandals, and got my hair braided. After my hair was done, 2 days before the holiday, my sister even mentioned I was ready before her. The night before Tabaski, I went to the market – kinda like the mall Christmas Eve, but at midnight, where you can get run over by horses rather than pushy moms. I then was invited to have tea and was in bed rather late, giving me full permission to sleep in and avoid festivities until late morning…

That didn’t really happen though, since I was assigned to peeling and slicing the 3 dozen onions immediately after getting out of the shower. They made fun of me for how I cut potatoes so I was demoted to peeling garlic. All this is done, by the way, without a cutting board, but after all these holidays, I managed to get by with only one cut! The sheep wasn’t so lucky. Find pictures in the album called At Home in Senegal. We ate “breakfast” at 1 consisting of liver and onions and some ribs. I can’t say that I love or hate it: I don’t mind it. But it’s the liver after-taste that killed my appetite for the rest of the day. Besides a few polite bites while visiting a work partner, it was my only meal, unless you count a package of cookies at 10pm.

2 days following Tabaski, I was on my way to Dakar. A friend and I pretended we were rich for the afternoon and did something I have never done before: got my legs waxed! Ouch! But about a quarter what it would cost in America, so why not! After that, we bought food to make an incredible dinner and a Bordeaux Red Wine. Typical PCV day right?

Friday we had a regional meeting, welcoming the 6 new volunteers to the region who installed in November. Saturday we lost our first softball game of the season, but won our second so we are 7-1. Not too bad. Except when you consider this is an American sport and the only team we lost to is Senegalese…

I am still hanging out in Dakar for my medical mid-service. No cavities Dr. Don! Peace Corps takes pretty good care of us and I doubt I will ever again have full, free health care! I hope to meet with people who sold Joal garbage cans at a discount for their compost project while I am waiting for my TB results on Wednesday. Gives me something to do I guess. Since you would not believe how COLD it is here! I cannot simply layout at the pool, and wouldn’t even think of swimming in it! It’s so windy and chilly and… ok it’s not below zero and we don’t have snow but geez! I guess I am used to the Senegalese heat that I used to complain so much about. Yesterday I spent the whole day in the hammock wearing jeans and a hooded sweatshirt with a blanket, reading. Perfect lazy Sunday!

Honestly, if you are looking for the blog of a typical PCV, I guess you need to go elsewhere. Life is good.