So I've been spelling my name incorrectly for about a week now..

apparently it's actually "Khaadi" but who knew? It took creating the Diouf Family Tree to discover that my name has a silent K. I don't blame myself though, esp since I didn't actually know it was my name until the day after it was bestowed on me. It is pronounced "Haadi" though. I guess there are a lot of different letters in Serere that can create the "H" sound.

Heres some pics from around the house since Picasa still won't work...


The kitchen (pots and gas burner) in the forground, water spout in the back, toilet door is the blue one (pic of that will come with picasa...), open door is where the sheep sleep, and I think that the green door is the pantry, but I've never seen it open.
Two of my host sisters, Oumy (21) and Codou (26), and myself. It was the night of Easterd though I dressed up and put on make up in the morning, an afternoon in Africa made me kind of gross looking...
With Moussa, one of my 4 host brothers, though the only one who actually lives in the house.
My room...taken standing a foot and a half out the door. It's small, but mine. Notice the mosquito net...it's the same one frm my room duringtraining.
The courtyard. The kitchen and stuff are around the corner to the left. Babacar, another host bro lives in the room behind the blue door.

My water filter...this gets out the worms and then I bleach it to kill any parasites. I'm pretty sure I overbleach my water though...oh well.
The little box is my window. The screen grating is from the porch/common room where we eat and stuff. I'll try and take a pic of that soon. The sheep are around the corner, past my room.

To explain my frequent posting right now...I just happen to live right by a cyber cafe...ie it's in a building off my courtyard, so I'm taking advantage of frequent internet access while I have it. After mid May, that's another story... I'm trying notto get use to it, but my host fam wasn't around when I got home and I didn't feel like studying Serere right then.

This has been a week of ups and downs, that's for sure. It's comforting to know that most of my fellow trainees are in the same boat with this Peace Corps rollercoaster. Tuesday was rough for most of us after long weekends in our towns/villages with the hostfams, but the Center treated us to a meal of pasta and chicken for lunch on Wednesday. It was likethey knew that was the most welcomed meal ever...who thought when I complained about only being able to cook pasta and chicken a few months ago that I would celebrate having it here. Since Wes was asking, the food here is basically rice, rice, rice, carbs, bread, fish, fish, fish, fish, rice, fish, carrots, sauce, onions (mmm), potatoes, rice, cassava, rice, fish, and sauce, basically. There's also a lot of salt in everything and they load the coffee and tea withtons ofsugar. Milk is a treat that I make with my tea at the center for some calcium or it's given to me in powdered form by the fam with m Nescafe coffee on the weekends (and the barista in me cries...). Buying a small thing ofpasturizd milkand cheese from a supermarche this week made mylife, haha.

Well time is almst up, so I love you all! Esp thanks to Suz, Mom and Dad, Katie,and Kurt and Jodifor all of the mail! M fellow trainees hate that I've recived so much :)

pictures...

The Disco Hut where we lounge when given the opportunity...or meet to discuss scary things like safety and snakes...

The last good cup of coffee before leaving th States...super cute coffee shop that roasts its own beans and bakes its own biscotti. Worth a stop though it took me two days to find...
We waited at JFK for like 8 hours
Africa!
The cats at the Centre after our first lunch. This is the only time I've seen them like this.
My side of the roo at training and my beloved mosquito net.

Since Picasa isn't working for me and my parents want to see some pictures, here some are... I hope

Haadi neem

Diouf simeem.

Thats right friends, my new name is Haadi Diouf, though I was not fully aware when it was bestowed upon me...ie I dont know when it happened, just that my first morning at my homestay my host brother kept saying Haadi and telling me to bring in the towel hanging outside overnight, after flooding my room with my PC waterfilter...haha. While waiting for the bus to the Centre that morning, the girl living in the homestay nextme (the moms were former cowives before the husband died, I believe) asked my Senegalese name and I said I didnt have one. My host bro, waiting with me thought I was silly and kindly re,inded me it was Haadi. It took another day or so while in Serere class to realize that the last name Diouf, that of my fam, was also something I had to take up. I thought it was Boo yaa or something like that, which actually meant "see you tonight." haha Oh learning a new language...

This weekend I will be going with my host sister to buya cell phone; she is going to "marchander" for me so I dont get the prix blanche, ie double a normal cost of a phone, which I appreciate. I'll let ya know my number if ya ask.

More on the great host fam later, probably§.

For Sunday, Happy Easter (since its tech Good Friday right now).

Im stealing words...from an email sent to Suz, I thought others might be interested in, from Monday:

here goes some general info about Thies, Senegal, and life in general…
We are staying at the Centre de la Formation for the Corps de la Paix/Senegal on the outskirts of Thies (pronounced Chiess). My blog mentions some info about it, but it’s a beautiful place with lots of buildings for offices, classrooms, bunks, etc. We’ve really only seen a small portion of Thies, including many places we aren’t allowed to go nearby, like the prison, an area with lots of abandoned buildings, and the train tracks after 7:30pm. Our safety and security guy took us around to show us these things in order to make us more aware of where we are and just to be safe and avoid areas where people are just hanging out and up to no good. Senegal is dusty dusty dusty…lots and lots of sand everywhere: sidewalks, streets, grass, everywhere…hence that whole “Sahel” region I guess. A lot of buildings are either abandoned or under construction and it’s sometimes difficult to tell the difference between the two, as we noticed from our ride through Dakar to Thies. The Centre is very green and lush, which definitely fools us when we step into the hot sun in the afternoon/evening to go into town. It’s hot here, that’s for sure. We are at the start of the dry season, still enjoying the warm Marmottan (sp?) winds blowing in from the Sahara (yesterday was super super windy, today was much hotter with the occasional wind). It’s very strange to feel hot wind. Usually wind is a refreshing thing or blows you cold to the bone and it’s not really the case here, though I think we’re all trying to enjoy wind while we can, before the dry season also reaches peak heat and humidity, starting sometime in April, I believe. I have no idea what the daily temperature is, so feel free to check for me. Someone today had a hand-held thermometer registering around 98 or so, but we weren’t sure how accurate that actually is…
From our cultural intro, the Senegalese are very friendly people who enjoy laughter and teasing each other while also valuing hospitality a lot. In the many languages, there’s a word to mean “please,” but no one uses it because it is expected that you will help out your fellow man, whether by sharing food, inviting them in, etc. Many people from my program have already shared tea with random Senegalese people they meet and start talking to on the street. A lot of value is placed in greeting each other and you are expected (though it doesn’t always happen) to greet anyone you meet on the street with an Arabic peace greeting (Asaala Malekem and Malekem Salaam in response) and sometimes more. Today they briefed us on stuff for our homestays in addition to language info and people kept reminding us to laugh at ourselves and not to worry if people laugh at you for messing up the language, it happens and they understand and it’s all in good fun. For now that sounds reassuring, though I’m sure it will get old at some point. I also look forward to being able to respond to those harassing me about not having a husband, etc, by making fun of them in return (a story shared by a current female Volunteer). It will probably take ages for my Serere to be of that level.
I’m excited and nervous about the homestay, but our meeting today definitely helped. I’ve also realized how incredibly unprepared I was for Senegal, ie my horrible not packing until the night before. I don’t regret staying in DC as long as I did or working, but I wish I had been more focused on thinking about things I would need for 27 months here and yea… I really didn’t worry about much more than shoes and bags and forgot some key things that either my mom will send or I will learn to live without.


As of right now (Good Friday) I am at my homestay in Thies, typing from the cybber right in front of my house, ie the back door connects to my courtyard and i didnt know until now. However its the slowest comp you may ever meet...

Serere ou Seereer

Yep, Im going to be learning one of the more obscure languages spoken in Senegal...Serere. We just ofund that out today so based on estimations of current volunteers and country language breakdoan. I will probably be in the coastal/central/delta regions, which is awesome. Im really hoping for the coast, but we shall see...just have to wait a few weeks or so.

Its hot here, thats for sure. Today it hit us...and its only somewhere in the 90s and its only going up. At least we have the winds, but without airconditioning, its going to be rough in the coming months, but thats all part of adapting to life over here.

Tomorroaw I may move in with my host family, if I wind up living in Thies for the rest of training. If Im one of the two Sereres going to an outside village, it wont be until Thursday due to a big Muslim holiday in the nearest Serere town. We are divided around Thies and nearby villages based on language, whether Wolof, Pulaar du Sud, Pulaar du Nord, Plaar Futa, or Serere. Since my language is so rare, there are only 4 of us and they could only find 2 rural homes for us to stay, 2 are in Thies. Im hoping for the village, though its far away since that will be calmer and more like my final placement.

All for now, B

Asakaa Maalekum

Response: Maalekum Salaam!

Friday and Saturday were full of introductions to the staff here, language and site placement interviews, Survival Wolof classes (Nanga def?), and some crash culture courses, to give us the most basic tools necessary for our homestays, which will start on Tuesday, rumor has it. Saturday we also stepped out of the compound for a bit to walk around and see more of the area of Thies that is directly around us, with Etienne, our master safety and security man. It was definitely toubabs on parade, let me tell you! Senegal has a beautiful and fascinating culture of greeting each other when you go by on the street (I’m sure this will get annoying while trying to actually get things done) and people were definitely surprised when we walked by (a huge group of 40 toubabs, mind you…), with greetings of “Asalaa Maalekum!” and “Nanga def?” It was cool to see little kids excited to see us but extremely weird to know that most of the eyes on the street were on us. There was one little child yesterday who called us toubabs and right away he got a stern lecture from his grandmother, which was kind of funny but also great to know she was trying to teach him respect, etc. Basically, the strategy for us is to greet people on a regular basis so they know us and our faces and can better help or protect us, should the need ever arise. It’s really a cool thing to know that the Senegalese culture is so friendly in general. I mean, it is the “pays de la teranga” (Country of Hospitality). I guess this is how it will be for awhile, though I think it will be better when I actually know more of the language. I’m sure anyone who has studied or traveled in Africa knows what I’m talking about. Today we went to the market and divided up much more, but there were definitely some cute old ladies (and many others, but they had the cutest faces) surprised to hear some Arabic and Wolof come out of ours mouths. During the Culture Fair, we learned things like “douche ettiquette” (bathrooms…), how to light a lantern, pulling water from a well, how to properly eat with one’s right hand and slurp tea, and the proper way to tie a pagne (apparently I’ve been tying my lapa backwards for the past year…)
Oooo, I also forgot that Friday we had a tam-tam celebration which meant DANCING!!!!!!!! Woot woot! It wasn’t quite the same as Mama Marcia’s class, but still rockin’ and hot (Temperature and music) nonetheless. There were just a few drummers and one kid teaching us some dances, though he didn’t teach very well so the main drummer and Aya, our homestay coordinator, and another staff member frequently would step up. It was a lot of fun, esp because most of the people in my stage (training class) danced along. It was also fun because I could definitely hold my own and recognized bits and pieces of other steps, though we weren’t doing any particular dance I had learned before. It definitely energized me and got me super excited for the bigger celebrations that will come our way over the next 2.25 years.

Bonjour de Senegal

Le 16 mars 2008

Greetings from “warm” Senegal. I say warm because it’s probably in the high 80s and mid 90s and we have about 30 degrees more to go before we hit the Dry Season. Yes, that’s right…we are currently at the very end of the wet and “cool” season, which is the windy season. The Marmottan (sp?) Winds are warm desert winds that sweep down from the Sahara (Mauritania, etc), bringing strong winds and kicking up dust but at least it’s not humid…not yet, that will come in April or May.
So after about 36 hours and five or six legs of our journey and tons of airport waiting (our flight from NY was 3.5 hours late leaving and we were forbidden from leaving the Brussels Airport), we arrived in Thies around 12:30 to many excited happy faces at our compound, le Centre de Formation de la Corps de la Paix/Senegal. To our surprise, the training compound is HUGE! There are lots of camp/dorm style rooms, bathrooms (yea squatty potty), classrooms (indoor and outdoor), and other facilities. It turns out that some of our staff members actually live on the premises, so there’s of course a lunch hut, a kitchen, a refectoir (where we eat breakfast and dinner), showers, laundry facilities (ie counter with buckets), and some gardens where the Ag trainees and volunteers practice growing things. The compound is beautiful and actually part of an old military base, so it’s surrounded by old abandoned barracks and such. To say it in another way, we all feel very blessed that the Peace Corps/Senegal program is so established and has some great facilities available to us.
In other news, I’m covered in mosquito bites because apparently if your hand is inside a net but touching it while you sleep, evil mosquitoes will attack your left hand, leaving 8 bites up and down it…boo! Don’t worry, we started our prophylaxis drugs last week and while I remember having had one dream since taking it that was pretty “vivid,” it wasn’t vivid or trippy enough for me to remember it. Give it a few weeks though… Also, soon we will start receiving more shots, such as rabis and a few Hepatitis shots (A and C? Don’t remember), plus more… Apparently we become pin cushions upon entering the country.
Today we received our Peace Corps-issued bikes, helmets, and toolkits for the bikes. My bike is probably one of the oldest, dirties, and rustiest (on the handle and bells, not really where it matters), so I need to clean it up. If anyone wants to send me things like cool bike stickers or those colored things for the spokes to make it look a little prettier (but it is red, so that’s awesome), that would be super fun.
I haven’t yet purchased a cell phone (a current Volunteer is trying to get us a deal though I dont think it will work out), but will hopefully have one in a few days, so I’ll make sure to post it so you can get in touch with me as needed. I will also eventually look into getting a Skype account (heard that you can download your account to a thumb drive), but that will probably depend on what things are like at either my homestay or my final placement (ie vicinity to an internet café with a decent connection) and I need to purchase a headset in that time too. As for general internet-ness, ca depend. The nearest internet café has a terrible connection and we haven’t yet seen the slightly better ones, so I’m hoping for something near my training homestay.
As for the homestay, I’m definitely more nervous than I was for my Belgian or French ones because I at least knew the language. Here I know French, but will most likely be placed in a village outside of Thies (since that’s more like what I will live in during my service, rather than living in Thies), so it will be either Wolof or Pulaar (another West African language) and will make communication VERY DIFFICULT for quite awhile, since it’s not very likely they will speak much/any French. I’ll just have to wait for Tuesday and see. It’s definitely a nervous excited, but I also am really looking forward to seeing what life in a village is like. This city is kind of crazy and overwhelming, that’s for sure.
Anyway, I’m borrowing a fellow trainee’s computer now, so I should probably go now. Ba ci kanom! A la plutard! Please send me letters and stuff, I would really love it and I think all of us are looking forward with eager anticipation for our first pieces of mail from the States.
Vous me manquez!

Thies = Chess

French pronunciations have failed me and I have been mispronouncing "Thies" for a few months now, oops! Anyway, tomorrow I fly out for Thies and will be in the air/waiting at airports for about 2 days straight. We land in Dakar around 9:40 pm, then have customs and a 2 hour ride to the Thies Training Center where we will stay for a few days before being thrown into host families and diving into training.

Backing up...Staging is now over; it was good, quick, and relatively painless, minus the shots and malaria prophylaxis which made my head spin for several hours. It's been great meeting the 39 others headed with me and knowing that we are all basically at the same level of nervousness and excitement about the unknown adventures ahead of us. Everyone seems pretty cool and friendly and we all seem to be in agreement about that, which is even better. Most of us are Health Ed or Environmental Ed with about 5 or 6 doing Urban Agriculture (weird title, but it sounds like a really cool program doing community gardening, etc). Some have French, some don't, but we will all be in the same boat about Wolof and none of us have been to Senegal before.

This may be my last post for awhile, at least until I figure out what the heck is going on at PST in Thies...unless there's an internet cafe in the Brussels Airport that I can take advantage of duringWe land in Dakar around 9:40 pm, then have customs and a 2 hour ride to the Thies Training Center where we will stay for a few days before being thrown into host families and diving into training. our 7hour layover when we can't leave the airport...boo! We leave Philly at 10am, drive to NYC, fly out of JFK at 6:15pm, land in Brussels at 6:45am, fly out at 2pm, and arrive at 9:40pm...it will be an epic and life-changing journey, that's for sure! We land in Dakar around 9:40 pm, then have customs and a 2 hour ride to the Thies Training Center where we will stay for a few days before being thrown into host families and diving into training.

Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers, esp as I start this new crazy journey. I will be thinking of all of you!

Always,
B

26 hours or so...

until I will be leaving my house for the airport to Staging! I have so much to do and while my room and DC belongings are mostly put away, there is now a line of PC things circling my room. I have a long to-do list for tomorrow, in addition to some family time, but will probably spend much of it running around and frantically shoving things into my hiking backpack and duffel. It's crunch time, folks!

And, of course, we lose an hour...

Dakar by way of my favorite city ever, Bruxelles!

Patience and flexibility, combined with a sense of humor, are probably some of the most important qualities necessary for the Peace Corps, or really anything involved with the government or any level of bureaucracy. This experience from the application process to now have definitely tested and developed mine. Yesterday, we (my Staging group, probably around 40 of us...) found out that our Staging (orientation) was moved from Atlanta (Suz and many others know how "fun" that dreaded airport is, right?) to Philly. No biggie, PC is paying for my ticket wherever, so ATL vs Philly makes no difference to me--the flights are roughly the same length and the Philly flight takes off not even 30 min later than my ATL one was supposed to be. Of course, now the ATL-Dakar direct flight won't be happening so I was very excited to discover that we would be making a stopover in Brussels before heading off to Senegal! On Wednesday, March 12, we will ride from Philly to NYC, fly out of JFK on American Airlines overnight to Brussels. We will have a roughly 7 hour layover in Brussels (my longest ever though probably not quite long enough to get to the Grande Place or anywhere outside of the airport, but it will be rockin' to be in a familiar place on my way to a not-so-familiar one). We will then have an afternoon-evening flight to Dakar, getting in around 10pm on Thursday (a week from now), probably insanely exhausted and excited for the unknown. This also doubles the time flying for us from an 8h 15min flight to over 16 hours from NYC to BRU and BRU to Dakar. I think I'm going to be doing a lot of reading the next few years :)

Today was also haircut day (7-8 inches, not quite enough to donate) so I will try and post a pic of the new cut soon (when it's curly rather than the blown-dry Clip Joint style) for inquiring minds (Suz). Also, I must admit, I actually bought boring earrings today in an attempt to be practical pre-PC. By boring, I mean they aren't 2 inches long and crazy colored, but I didn't even let myself look at the fun stuff! Discipline and a phone call with Jen helped, hehe.

1 business day (ie bank and "important" stuff) and the weekend before I head out! Katie is in town, so she'll help set up my iPod as I continue to use her room to pack while working on cleaning and organizing my own room for 2+ years. Crazy!

When you think PC, think AU...it's the same

Thanks to Vicky for that lovely thought, oh bureaucracy!

Staging has apparently been moved to Philly from Atlanta...we are just 5 days out. Oh well, not like it really matters since it's still leaving on the same day, I just find it all funny. :)

The In-Between, one could say

I'm in between life right now, I guess I could say.

I left DC last Thursday early afternoon after filling the Taurus to the brim and Dad drove us straight through...13 hours and only 3 stops! It was much, much harder leaving DC than I had anticipated. Five or six months ago, when I was originally anticipating leaving DC for a November departure (oh, never hearing about my nomination...), I was SO ready to leave. I wanted to get away from my jobs, the city, and the people as well, and was crushed hearing that I wasn't actually leaving until March...it was SO far away. In that time, however, I came to be happy in both jobs, remembered why I liked the city, and developed new friendships with great people, making leaving all the more difficult. Driving away, from P&P, the GB, and then AU, knowing I won't be back, even to visit, for quite some time was just bizarre. And yes, there were tears though I know I'll be back.

Now that I'm back in IL, I'm at an in-between in life. I no longer have DC as my home and while Senegal soon will be home, it's not yet. The college and post-college DC chapter in my life has come to an end, but the PC chapter hasn't quite started either (unless you count submitting my application a year ago when it really started...). However, now that I'm back in CL, my life can be focused on PC prep and things without having the distraction of long work weeks, as much as I may miss my jobs. I guess I'm technically visiting CL because I'm only here for just over a week, but I'm unpacking many of my belongings to find places for them for a few years. Several different strangers asked me today if I live in the area or just visiting and while I went into the "live in DC, from here, joining PC and moving to Africa" with some of them, many others I just nodded my head and said "yep" or "something like that..." I told the dental hygienist today that I'm somewhat nomadic right now, though it's weird to think that by the end of PC 2.25 years down the road, I'll have lived in my house/hut/room at site for 2 years continuously (in theory), which is longer than anywhere I'll have lived since graduating hs several years ago (I guess I lived a somewhat though not really nomadic life in college). Does that make sense? Maybe not, but to me it does, so deal... :)

Anyway, though I'm still unpacking from DC, I've started the PC packing in the sense that I put the things I know I'm bringing that have been gathering in drawers and corners all in one spot (on my sister's bunk bed). That pile seems to be growing faster than things in my room are being put away... I also started the first few of many loads of laundry I need to do this week, which is a plus, but will take several days, probably. Tomorrow I'm hitting the mall and Target to by random travel things and toiletries that I know I need. The shopping list is quite long. I have a lot to do in order to prepare myself and the fact that my room is in such a state of disrepair is overwhelming me, but I trust things that need to get done will, or at least somewhat.
In less than a week I will be at Staging and my ticket for it arrived via email this morning. I can't believe how fast this is coming! It's so scary and exciting at the same time. Encouragement from friends and strangers alike though have definitely been amazing, so thank you. During this pre-departure chaos and anxiety, I need to frequently remind myself that I have amazing people in my life who support me and have confidence that I can do this job and also who remind me how much I want to do this, because it can be easy to forget and I know I will need to remind myself (or be reminded) when I'm actually over there.

Sorry this blog has a slightly depressing tone to it...I guess that's the mood of the night. As I said, most of these pre-departure blog entries are just me being nostalgic and nervous, but I know things will get both more difficult and more amazing the moment I step off that plane, so the blog entries will hopefully be a little more entertaining. :)