Still here

Real quick plug: it's Malaria Month! Check out STOMP out Malaria facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/STOMPsenegal?fref=ts

Hello, world! I must admit, I have been avoiding writing you for a few months now. Summarizing my experience can feel daunting. So instead, I’ll write a few one-liners.

Passing by compounds, especially within 1 hour of any meal or tea time (so 60% of the day), is comparable to the Candy Mountain skit about Charlie the Unicorn (see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsGYh8AacgY ). Everyone wants to lure you into eating or drinking with them, popping out from behind walls and telling you they got good stuff in the back.  “Kaay añ! Kaay attaya!” So far I have not gotten my kidney stolen, but sometimes I wonder about the damage the sugar and oil are doing to my organs.

I have probably consumed nearly a full cup of sand that has blown into my food and drink.

My most common fantasies are about water hoses, sprinklers, and ice.

At least every other day, a woman congratulates me on my large taat or wan (butt). The larger it is, the more I’ve integrated.

My 2-year-old brother looks more gangster with a large stick and oversized t-shirt than any rapper I've seen, and his name is Bur.

I have been called the “N”-word in Africa. ??

Apparently asking for 40 cows isn’t too high for some marriage proposals.

In terms of agriculture work, my village is starting tree nurseries (mostly for fruit trees but also moringa and some live fencing species which have thorns that keep out some obnoxious animals from destroying everything). Now we’re  “cleaning” the fields (aka slash and burn) and will plant some field crops come June/July, the really hot and scary time of Ramadan...dun dun dunnn! To Be Continued…

Happy New Year! My first month

Alas, I have passed the one-month mark at my permanent site - really, just one month? - and mungi dox (it's going). Currently, I'm in Toubacouta with my AmeriCorps friend Sydney Davis(!) relaxing among the mangroves before she heads off to another volunteer's site tomorrow. She's doing a bit of tournee of PC-Senegal after having done the same thing in Morocco with her PC friend there. So, if you have questions about the Peace Corps, feel free to ask her about her range of impressions!

Happy to report: I have received letters and a few packages! I danced. I ate. I will have an exorbitant amount of nutrition and German baked goods for the next two weeks. Shout out to my mother - you and your lebkuchen are the best!

Sunset behind my compound

Happy New Years! Fatayas (fried dough) with the family, some with onion sauce and some with cinnamon and sugar (I insisted). 

 

 

 

 

 

Highlights:
Riding a horse bare back
Riding a horse charette for an hour at night, dodging some seriously thorny live-fencing species
Spilling less and less water from carrying buckets on my head
Chaff (roasted peanuts and salt my mom makes every week)
Having a bike
Cute kids
Whenever I'm complimented on my language or efforts

Challenges:
Learing Wolof in a Sereer village
Constantly explaining: why I'm learning Wolof, that I'm not the previous volunteer, and why I don't have a husband (which is only a challenge if it's the third time that day)
Dealing with the bank (5-hour wait was my most recent)
Low variety of food, limited fruits and veggies

Charette ride with my family and Sydney to the Louma (weekly market)

Rocking our matching pants

New Wolof word I learned this week: emb. It means pregnant, and it refers to my cat. I thought she was just getting fat, until she seemed unnaturally moody and my host sister says she must have a night-time husband. I also figured out that even if I lock my room, it gets in through the roof. My roof will be raining kitties soon!