Today was one of my better days in Senegal… it’s funny, keeping a blog like this is making me realize even more that my life here is an emotional roller-coaster! I woke up feeling somewhat down, so I went for a 5 mile run… exercise always seems to perk me up. I go jogging almost always on a dirt road behind my house… it’s quite pretty, but it’s the “bush” so there isn’t much there besides mango and cashew trees, some random fields, and a few small villages (the villages are awesome to see in the early morning!!! Some are off in the distance, and all I see are little huts and a few smoke stacks shooting up into the air…but it’s quite beautiful, a real “Africa moment” if I could say so myself). Upon returning into Sokone, I bought a loaf of village bread (so yummy and doughy, compared to the “factory” bread, which is somewhat like what is found in the states), and I went back into my ‘apartment’ and made myself the best scrambled eggs with tomatoes and basil (fresh from my garden!!), and I put it on the bread, with a little Laughing Cow cheese spread. Yummy! And for a drink, I made myself a nice cup of Earl Grey tea. Afterwards, I took a bucket bath and then headed to the Catholic Church in my neighborhood. I don’t really understand much that goes on in church, they speak a mixture of French and Wolof, but I try to go every Sunday if I remember. My family likes that I go; I get the impression that the 2 previous volunteers that lived here never attended church. Church here is SO beautiful! Instead of an organ or piano, there is a beautiful chorus and they play the African drums…
Then later in the afternoon, my friend Liam (another PCV, who happens to be from New York State as well) came over for lunch. He brought tea and a small bag of sugar with him as a gift for my family, and my sister’s husband, another Senegalese man, Liam and I relaxed in my room and drank 3 rounds of tea (this is a traditional amount). Then Liam went back to his village, and I went for a little walk and chatted with some of the people that live in Sokone… around 6pm, the sun began to cast it’s beautiful setting rays on the freshly rained on palm trees, and the sky was a dark, deep gray (from rain clouds)… it was such a beautiful contrast… I think it was the first time that I realized exactly how beautiful Sokone is. Upon returning home, there was the brightest rainbow I think I have ever seen in my life… Africa……is…. Amazing.
Then, before dinner, me and the men in my house (I don’t think the women are very much interested), watched the final soccer match of the European Cup - it was Germany against Spain, and Spain won (I haphazardly chose Spain as “my team” after France became disqualified). It was a lovely day indeed.
So, in about 2 days I will begin my trip down south to Kedegou…and I’m super excited about going! I think I’m going to start out the trip with a bike ride to my regional house (we have to take bikes to Kedegou; there is really no other option for transportation once we get there). And seeing that the trip will take 12 hours, I think a little exercise beforehand will do me some good. To go from Sokone to my regional house (which is in Kaolack), I will have to bike 47 Kilometers (give or take), which amounts to about 30 miles!!) I’ve never taken such a trip on my bike, let alone by myself; but people before me have done it, so I know it is doable. I’d love to go with other people, but everyone that lives near me has different travel plans than me. I will leave Sokone probably around 6:00am, and according to other people, it will take me a little over 3 hours to get to my regional house. Wish me luck! Once at the regional house, I will meet up with all my friends, and we will make the long journey together!
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Wow…I can’t believe it’s almost July already! Time sure does seem to fly here sometimes! So, yesterday was not a great day for me… it all started when I was digging a flower bed (all by myself!!!) at my demonstration garden, and I ended up hitting a water pipe, and water squirted out everywhere. Luckily, one of my gardeners was there with me (but for some reason or another he talked his way out of helping me dig the flower bed), and he knew who to contact to get the pipe repaired… . Then I went home and had to wash my clothes by hand. It is MUCH harder than I would have ever expected… My family offers to wash it for me if I pay them about $5, but I feel wrong giving them money to do my work for me… so I’m trying to do it on my own. I had help from my little sisters, but I was tired, and people who decided to come into my yard and watch the white girl try to wash clothes kept telling me that I didn’t know how to do it, that my garden wasn’t getting enough water (which I know, but I got tired of hearing how expensive water is every time I got a bucket of it from the water faucet) and that I don’t know Wolof (SO annoying when you hear it 20 times a day), so my anger was starting to build up. Then everyone decided to camp out in my ‘yard’… they actually brought a BED into my yard so my sisters husband could take a nap under the shade of my tree, and then we ate lunch in my yard (I suppose because it was really pretty from my hard work in the garden…it was the first time we ate in my yard), but this annoyed me too because they threw fish bones all over the ground, and there was rice strewn about everywhere…and the door to my yard wasn’t closed so chickens came in and started eating my garden!!! I got quite upset (I think it was a combination of the 10 people in my tiny yard, my tiredness from dealing with the busted water pipe and the discouraging comments directed at me), so my attitude showed itself a little bit… I was so annoyed; I wanted to leave Senegal for good!! LUCKILY, my good friend and one of my closest neighbors, Elizabeth, came over with her friend Caitrin…and they cheered me up with banana’s, bissap juice, cookies (we ate an entire box of Keebler Elf cookies that were sent to Elizabeth from the USA), chocolate covered coffee beans, wassabi peas, dried fruit and fruit roll-ups. We totally pigged out!!! Then I ended up spending the night at Elizabeth’s… I had a lovely bucket bath under the stars at her place (she lives in a tiny village close to Sokone…she does not have electricity or running water, and she lives in a hut. It was SO nice, I felt like I was on vacation!!! And today I felt so refreshed and much better (I ended up apologizing to my family for my poor attitude).
But today, (luckily it wasn’t yesterday!) construction workers were putting cement on the walls in my yard, and they totally RUINED my garden!! There was cement everywhere, and my plants were trampled… (I’ve been working on my garden every day for the past 3 weeks). They even cut down the beautiful tree in my yard (which I was fine with them trimming it a little bit…the branches would brush on my tin roof at night and keep me awake..) but they totally demolished the tree…it’s so ugly now. I’m just happy that I’m in good spirits today and in a positive state of mind, otherwise I probably would have been very upset. But, there was actually revenge for my messed up garden… my father ended up putting cement on the floor of the ‘porch’ of our house, and right after the construction workers left, our donkeys decided to walk around on the porch, and they ended up totally destroying the porch!! I felt bad for my family, but at the same time I had a mild satisfaction in knowing that they might be experiencing what I experienced when I saw my garden totally ruined. (Does that make me a bad person?).
After dinner I had a long conversation with my sister’s husband, and he was trying to explain to me why it’s good for men to be able to have more than one wife. He believes that men are weak, and that if they weren’t able to have more than one wife, then they would end up cheating on their wives… and because they are ‘devout’ Muslims, adultery is strictly forbidden and out of the question. Therefore, men should be able to have more than one wife so that they can continue to follow God’s laws. I am not satisfied with his answer!!! But that seems to be the rational for having multiple wives for many of the men in this country.
For the 4th of July I will be going down to a southern town in Senegal called Kedegou (also known as the ‘Gou). I can’t wait; it should be a really good time. We’re going to have a wild boar roast I think, and plenty to drink. Apparently Kedegou is really pretty with waterfalls and lots of trees. I debated going down south at first… it’s a long trip (about 12 hours) and it’s somewhat expensive. But my friends talked me into going. The 12 hour car ride is going to be an experience in-and-of itself… the road is apparently terrible, and we will be off-roading for the most part (there are pot-holes everywhere, and driving off the road is actually nicer than driving on the actual road).
But today, (luckily it wasn’t yesterday!) construction workers were putting cement on the walls in my yard, and they totally RUINED my garden!! There was cement everywhere, and my plants were trampled… (I’ve been working on my garden every day for the past 3 weeks). They even cut down the beautiful tree in my yard (which I was fine with them trimming it a little bit…the branches would brush on my tin roof at night and keep me awake..) but they totally demolished the tree…it’s so ugly now. I’m just happy that I’m in good spirits today and in a positive state of mind, otherwise I probably would have been very upset. But, there was actually revenge for my messed up garden… my father ended up putting cement on the floor of the ‘porch’ of our house, and right after the construction workers left, our donkeys decided to walk around on the porch, and they ended up totally destroying the porch!! I felt bad for my family, but at the same time I had a mild satisfaction in knowing that they might be experiencing what I experienced when I saw my garden totally ruined. (Does that make me a bad person?).
After dinner I had a long conversation with my sister’s husband, and he was trying to explain to me why it’s good for men to be able to have more than one wife. He believes that men are weak, and that if they weren’t able to have more than one wife, then they would end up cheating on their wives… and because they are ‘devout’ Muslims, adultery is strictly forbidden and out of the question. Therefore, men should be able to have more than one wife so that they can continue to follow God’s laws. I am not satisfied with his answer!!! But that seems to be the rational for having multiple wives for many of the men in this country.
For the 4th of July I will be going down to a southern town in Senegal called Kedegou (also known as the ‘Gou). I can’t wait; it should be a really good time. We’re going to have a wild boar roast I think, and plenty to drink. Apparently Kedegou is really pretty with waterfalls and lots of trees. I debated going down south at first… it’s a long trip (about 12 hours) and it’s somewhat expensive. But my friends talked me into going. The 12 hour car ride is going to be an experience in-and-of itself… the road is apparently terrible, and we will be off-roading for the most part (there are pot-holes everywhere, and driving off the road is actually nicer than driving on the actual road).
Thursday, June 26, 2008
My experience thus far as a Peace Corps volunteer has been an emotional roller coaster. One minute can be the best minute of my life, the next minute I ask myself why I ever came to this country (notice how I stress the word minute… I purposefully did not write week, day or even hour). Luckily, feeling lonely, scared, bored and misunderstood are emotions that are not new to me… and I am grateful that my experiences in India, France, NYC and even Delhi/Bovina helped me to prepare for this. Without having had such experiences in my life, I highly doubt that I would have the courage to continue with what I am doing here.
Today I went to an anniversary party for a women’s circle here in Sokone. There are about 25 women, and they meet twice a week to do projects that will increase their health, wealth and well-being. For example, they do mosquito net dipping (in an insect repellent), they make anti-mosquito lotions, sew clothes, make dolls, syrups, jams and juice. Anyways, the ‘party’ was supposed to start around 10am sharp (I was told), so I get there at 10am, and I sit and wait…and wait…and wait…. It wasn’t until about 1:00pm when the ‘party’ actually started. Typical. But still as frustrating as ever!
Tonight I had a mini-dance party with my younger sisters…it was fun (but not quite like the dance parties in the previous village that I lived in called Keur Sadaro). I love the Senegalese for the very simple reason that they will burst out in song and dance at any given moment…and WOW can they move!!! Young and old alike can move their bodies in ways that I never before imagined was possible! But what was funny about the dance party was that my two 19 year old ‘sisters’ decided to ‘go for a walk’ instead of partaking in the dance party. Normally, they dress fairly conservatively around the house, but as they were leaving to go for their walk, they ripped off their long skirts and snuck out of the house with little short skirts on and tight tops! Even in Africa, 19 year old girls are just like girls of that age in the USA.
Just the other week, I was bored one afternoon and decided to put dreadlocks in my hair! When I was doing it I thought that it looked great, so I put glue on the ends and in the middle of the strands to keep them in place… But when I woke up the next morning, I looked in the morning and realized that I am quite possibly the most ridiculous girl in the world. They looked HORRIBLE!!! I was going to leave that morning to go to a beach with some friends, but I didn’t want to leave the house looking like I did, so I asked two of my friends to take them out for me. It took a whole morning for them to do so (and some cutting of the pieces that I GLUED), and I missed my trip to the beach, but I no longer have dreads, thankfully!
As for my work here…it’s coming together slowly. I think. I go to a ‘demonstration garden’ every morning to plant new things and to water the garden. The purpose of this garden is to ‘experiment’ with different micro-gardening techniques, and in turn we will show this garden to people with the hopes that it will give them some ideas that they could try on their own. I actually find the gardening aspect quite interesting… I like working there… but the two men that I work with go there from 8:30am and they leave at about 10:00am! They themselves are somewhat volunteer workers there, so they don’t put a ton of work into it, they have other priorities. So sometimes I am there working by myself… but in cases like that I bring my ipod, and the music keeps me company (and so do the cute little girls that live next to the garden and call my name and stare at me all morning). There are other aspects that my work will entail in the future, but for right now I am merely getting to know the people of Sokone and the language, and I am even learning how to garden (something I honestly didn’t know much about before I came here!!). In August I will go back to the training center in Thies for 3 weeks of further training, and after that I assume that my real work will begin. I’ll delve into that a little later when I myself have a firmer grasp on what I will be doing.
I even started planting a garden outside of my ‘apartment’, and I am super excited about it!!! It’s going to be really pretty!! I have flowers, okra, hot peppers, green beans, a pumpkin, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and a banana tree! (The okra and hot peppers are used often in Senegalese cooking). Sometimes I have a problem with chickens and our sheep (named Matilda), they like to come into my fenced-in area and eat what I’ve worked on. And my two year old host brother likes to pick my flowers and hit my plants with a shovel until they are beyond redemption. But my brother is so cute that I can’t get upset with him.
Today I went to an anniversary party for a women’s circle here in Sokone. There are about 25 women, and they meet twice a week to do projects that will increase their health, wealth and well-being. For example, they do mosquito net dipping (in an insect repellent), they make anti-mosquito lotions, sew clothes, make dolls, syrups, jams and juice. Anyways, the ‘party’ was supposed to start around 10am sharp (I was told), so I get there at 10am, and I sit and wait…and wait…and wait…. It wasn’t until about 1:00pm when the ‘party’ actually started. Typical. But still as frustrating as ever!
Tonight I had a mini-dance party with my younger sisters…it was fun (but not quite like the dance parties in the previous village that I lived in called Keur Sadaro). I love the Senegalese for the very simple reason that they will burst out in song and dance at any given moment…and WOW can they move!!! Young and old alike can move their bodies in ways that I never before imagined was possible! But what was funny about the dance party was that my two 19 year old ‘sisters’ decided to ‘go for a walk’ instead of partaking in the dance party. Normally, they dress fairly conservatively around the house, but as they were leaving to go for their walk, they ripped off their long skirts and snuck out of the house with little short skirts on and tight tops! Even in Africa, 19 year old girls are just like girls of that age in the USA.
Just the other week, I was bored one afternoon and decided to put dreadlocks in my hair! When I was doing it I thought that it looked great, so I put glue on the ends and in the middle of the strands to keep them in place… But when I woke up the next morning, I looked in the morning and realized that I am quite possibly the most ridiculous girl in the world. They looked HORRIBLE!!! I was going to leave that morning to go to a beach with some friends, but I didn’t want to leave the house looking like I did, so I asked two of my friends to take them out for me. It took a whole morning for them to do so (and some cutting of the pieces that I GLUED), and I missed my trip to the beach, but I no longer have dreads, thankfully!
As for my work here…it’s coming together slowly. I think. I go to a ‘demonstration garden’ every morning to plant new things and to water the garden. The purpose of this garden is to ‘experiment’ with different micro-gardening techniques, and in turn we will show this garden to people with the hopes that it will give them some ideas that they could try on their own. I actually find the gardening aspect quite interesting… I like working there… but the two men that I work with go there from 8:30am and they leave at about 10:00am! They themselves are somewhat volunteer workers there, so they don’t put a ton of work into it, they have other priorities. So sometimes I am there working by myself… but in cases like that I bring my ipod, and the music keeps me company (and so do the cute little girls that live next to the garden and call my name and stare at me all morning). There are other aspects that my work will entail in the future, but for right now I am merely getting to know the people of Sokone and the language, and I am even learning how to garden (something I honestly didn’t know much about before I came here!!). In August I will go back to the training center in Thies for 3 weeks of further training, and after that I assume that my real work will begin. I’ll delve into that a little later when I myself have a firmer grasp on what I will be doing.
I even started planting a garden outside of my ‘apartment’, and I am super excited about it!!! It’s going to be really pretty!! I have flowers, okra, hot peppers, green beans, a pumpkin, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and a banana tree! (The okra and hot peppers are used often in Senegalese cooking). Sometimes I have a problem with chickens and our sheep (named Matilda), they like to come into my fenced-in area and eat what I’ve worked on. And my two year old host brother likes to pick my flowers and hit my plants with a shovel until they are beyond redemption. But my brother is so cute that I can’t get upset with him.
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