In the Groove

The month of February was my birthday, WAIST and a spontaneous trip to Kolda. March was an unhappy month of (host) family feuds. April has been 50% vacation, 50% work and I am back in the game! I am no longer noos-ing (PCV phrase: noos in Wolof means to have fun/spend money) with Nick and have been plenty busy! I am settled in my room, have been promised internet installation soon and my only every day complaint is the heat!

I spent all week greeting everyone. Most people in my old neighborhood feel betrayed that I left. I spent all week proving to them I can walk the 10 minutes to greet them, eat lunch and drink attaaya with them. Matar, my tailor friend, just finished his first toubab order of 60 bags so with his profits, he re-cemented and re-painted his shop. He’s so high class now! And preparing for not one, but two artisan expos the end of May and the beginning of June. He is going to be a busy guy. I hope he has time to sew me a few pair of pants. I have worn out all the jeans that I brought to country so need some replacements to get me through the hot season.

I biked to Ndem this week with another new-ish volunteer, Oliver. (Still getting used to the fact that the new group is, as of the 24, not the newest group anymore – newbies install on Monday meaning I am the next group to be replaced!) We got some good work done in the day that we were in the village. Hoping to find some American clients for Ndem before I leave but if not, I am prepping Oliver to know Ndem well enough to show around my replacement.

Besides artisan work, my composting is still there, getting collected but in order to reduce some of the stress in my life, I am waiting for other people to do something about it. I got burnt out trying to do it all so if on the 5th I have enough money to go and buy more garbage cans, wonderful. If not, I won’t lose any sleep.
My pépinière (tree nursery) is starting to show signs of life! Thanks to another volunteer, Caitrin, and Nick, we may just be responsible for creating some shade in the schools hopefully by 2015! My main goal of out-planting the trees may not be as important as installing the motivation of the school kids to continue a garden of trees at the school. The location is perfect and I hope to get more seeds available for the kids.
I also have a biodigestor side project that some other volunteers interested me in. Another sector heard about Antione, this expert who makes biodigestors and he happens to live in Bambey. I just passed through today, and sure enough, manure produces flammable gas that can be used for cooking! Impressive!

So I am glad to be back in the groove of things around here and it feels good. It’s hot and miserable during the day but exactly what I signed up for right? I am trying my best not to countdown the days ‘til fall when I’ll be sitting around a campfire cuddled under blankets, freezing since my body is used to 100 degrees. But who’s to say I can’t countdown the days left of my TB meds – a cold beer is possible in 166 days!