Personal Update

So, I feel like it's been FOREVER since I've written a decent update about life here...mainly it's just been projects and photos (not saying that it's a bad thing), but it's been forever since I've submitted a long, rambling, and mostly incoherent post for you, my viewing public, to enjoy--or to wonder how I made it through university with such atrocious grammar and spelling inconsistencies. [To that, I respond that I've been in Senegal almost two full years now and English has become my 4th language and no one here really seems to care if I babble or can't spell anymore.]

Anyways, so as some of my last posts have shared, January was a pretty crazy busy month. In addition to everything I had to do for the peer educator training, I've also been coordinating purchase, delivery, and installation of chainlink fencing for the already-existing (but in severe disrepair) women's garden in my village plus monitoring/maintaining the school garden, and waging a defensive war against goat and donkey attacks on the baby trees at the school (involving chopping/transplanting jatropha trees around the baby trees to form a live fence). I've dealt with a lot of frustration over lack of community involvement in protecting the trees and maintaining the schoolyard and garden, but have refused to sit on my laurels (sp? Clueless reference...) and have become even more of a woman of action than I already am. There's so much to do and I am in a race against a clock (or a visa/flight that says I should be returning to America in May, or sometime around then).

My Stage at COS, otherwise known as Stage E.T. or Stage Bad Attitude. Look how far we've come!

Last week, my Stage (the group of PCVs I first arrived in Senegal with back in March 2008) had what Peace Corps terms the Close of Service (COS) Conference. Over 3 days and 4 nights, they put us up in a hotel, feed us ridiculous amounts of uber-rich food, and talk to us about finishing up things for PC (admin, medical, etc), leaving the village, and returning to America (culture shock and stuff...warning: you will all find that I am much stranger than when I left 2 years ago, even though I've seen many of you at least once since then). It was exciting, empowering, and overwhelming (there are just too many options out there!), and it's already over. By far the best part though was just being with my Stage for several days, and rehearsing a Bollywood style dance which we performed this past weekend for the awe and amazement of a few hundred PCVs.


A lot of my Stage-mates are starting to formulate plans for post-PC service, though several are in my boat as well--waiting to hear from grad school or other organizations. A few are extending for a 3rd year as well. This week, however, has been full of a lot of nostalgia as we start to say goodbye to each other. Some people are leaving as early as the end of March for America, though most are leaving at the end of April or early May, but I probably will not see many of them before they leave Senegal. It's a weird feeling and the nostalgia is catching all of us. Last night, we did a Stage dinner at a nice restaurant in Dakar and much of the evening was spent toasting our 2 years, marveling that we made it this far, talking about the future, and saying goodbye (or, see you later). As another pointed out, we go into PC expecting to form relationships with the people in our villages and our host families because of all of the time we spend with them, but the friendships that happen between PCVs kind of sneak up on a person. Though we may be quite spread out across the country, we are the closest we will ever have to someone understanding what it means to have been a PCV in Senegal. No one else can really understand what these past 2 years have meant, but we have been through many things together (or similar things separately) and that's a bond that won't soon be broken. Man, even with the chaos and stress of Senegal, it will be hard to leave. I'm already dreading it.

Team Kaolack

After COS, I stayed in Dakar for WAIST, the West African Invitational Softball Tournament, which drew PCVs and expats from all across West Africa. This year the Kaolack Region's theme was Lumberjacks (ie flannel and suspenders), which brings in plenty of irony in that PCVs are supposed to (and do!) promote reforestation and try to discourage people from destroying trees, yet we are dressing as a profession which, when not properly monitored, actually does the opposite. The Tamba/Kedegou Regions are cavemen (PC B.C.) and had by far the best costumes of the weekend (animal prints, bones, and messy hair, it's awesome!). Unfortunately, the Kaolack Region did not have as good of a showing as last year (3rd place with a trophy!), but we still had fun and played some good ball (esp superstars Chris P and Danielle S!). Enjoyable and nice not to have quite as many games as last year (4 as opposed to last year's 7), which made for a more relaxed WAIST.


Another aspect of WAIST, which people who know me know is not quite my thing, is the ridiculous party scene. Last year I felt like I had to go out every night and thus barely slept, but this year was much more chill and I only went out when I wanted to and was much friendlier and more rested. One party, however, was especially important to my Stage because for many of us, it was the realization of a lifelong dream: spontaneously breaking out into a choreographed Bollywood-style dance routine. Think Slumdog Millionaire meets Glee (which I just saw for the 1st time and LOVE!). I have always wanted to be at a dance and out of nowhere, everyone around breaks into a choreographed dance routine, and that's what we did! Yes! At midnight, without telling anyone except the DJ what was going on, we managed to clear the dance floor and absolutely rock it! Probably about 18 or so of us participated in the dancing and we just had soooo much fun! (There will be pictures on picasa, though they are kind of dark. I also tried having a video recording of it, but it was too dark, sadness!)

Fancy snapping

Dancing daggers! (that's me in the maroon dress)

Something particularly interesting/enjoyable was the reaction many people had to MY dancing (and not just in our routine). While some people in my Stage know that I like to dance and have seen me do so on occassion, most haven't and were quite surprised. Even more so, a large portion of the Kaolack Region were surprised and made their amazement known (not just during our dance number, but any other time they saw me dancing during the weekend). I guess most of the last year, I've been so stressed with projects and grad school applications, that I haven't been able to have fun and just loosen up and dance before this weekend. Quite fun. :)



Well, I'm headed back to the village the day after tomorrow. I have to regulate some things with the fencing for the women's garden (either there was an error measuring or the hardware store cheated us a few meters of length per roll), as it turns out the 15 rolls was not sufficient (I only calculated needing 14, but bought a 15th just in case...) and we are 22m short, so I have to order/buy some more. I spent an hour today just looking at my planner and kind of freaking out about how fast time is flying here and how much I still want to do, while at the same time realizing I won't be able to do everything or see everywhere that I would like to. Shame. I'll have been gone almost 2 weeks though, so I need to get back. First, however, I need to print TONS of pictures from the peer educator training and buy some stuff for my host family. I'm not sure what the rest of the week will hold apart from a lot of gardening, but I really need to get back to finishing the Serere dictionary and do some follow-up on the training from January. My paperwork pile is growing as my COS date draws near, so that's another thing I need to start working on. I had hoped to get some done this weekend, but alas.



My replacement and her Stage arrive in Senegal in about 3 weeks, weird and exciting!