Hi Everyone! I'm back in Kaolack, but only overnight. I really just came to grab my computer and head back to site again, with barely even a chance to check my email (of the 60 in my inbox, I read maybe 7, all from you guys though!). It was a rough week and a half at site, for many reasons, but that post will have to wait another few weeks. It's mostly written but this connection is too slow for it to be of much use...
Anyways, I'm alive and apart from my itchy pre-Dakar spots returning the moment I returned to my site, and mold taking over almost everything in my hut, I'm doing well and thinking ahead about the last 7 or 8 months I have here in Senegal. The Rainy Season is ending, school is starting in a few weeks (Inchallah), and work is picking up again, so I'm trying to figure out the best use of my time here. Our internet hasn't gotten set up again since moving to a new Kaolack House, but hopefully soon because I have a ton of stuff to take care of (PC work, updates, grad school, etc).
Ok, that's all. More later, I promise! Love and miss you all!
lundi 28 septembre 2009
mardi 8 septembre 2009
quick update
So...
It was really good finally going back to the village after over a month away. My family and friends in the village LOVED their gifts. Of everything, the pictures were the most widely appreciated and shared among everyone. There's still a few more that I'm trying to distribute around. The tshirts were also a big hit. George (93 year old man) LOVES his long-sleeved shirt from Dad--seriously, he has made it known throughout the village that I love him because I brought him back such a nice and beautiful shirt. It's actually quite amusing seeing my brothers and sisters wearing their shirts--including Group Workcamps Red Shirts (I know I wasn't "supposed" to give those away, but I have tons of them), my Cheerleaders Kick shirt from freshman year of high school, and the "Be Kind to Animals and Kiss a Flute Player" shirt. My sisters also liked their gold earrings (yea Claire's!) and their nailpolish (technically a no-no in Islam, especially during Ramadan, so they are waiting until after and will then wear it on their left hands). The kids have put on the nail polish and my dad marked one of his chickens with some bright red polish. Yep... The young girls loved their bracelet making kits I put together from old jewelry kits from when I was young and the boys loved their little sports balls, plus my brothers loved the Chicago Bulls playing cards I picked up last minute at O'Hare Airport. The little babies liked the stuffed animals (or so I hope), but really it was the photos. And the candy! Holy cow, they LOVED the Skittles and the Starbursts! Seriously, American candy ("whoa, it's sweet!") blows their minds. It was really fun sitting around the compound in the evening after having my sister distribute the candy for me and smelling the Skittle breath as they all tried to figure out how to best open the bag, pronounce the name "Skittles" and pointing out the "S" on each little candy, and figure out the flavors. The same happened at Sally's compound when I brought the Starbursts--I ran out the night before Ramadan started to make sure they had their candy before fasting insanity started--and it was fun. I remember when I first became a health PCV I was all "I'm never going to bring my family candy--just fruits and veggies!" Then I realized how disgusting Senegalese village candy (a spicy mint thing... or cherry cough drops) is and how much joy they get from fruity delicious imported stuff. Yea, blame me for rotting their teeth or undermining local industry. Bad health Volunteer I am...:)
Anyways, the gifts went over well. One of my sisters had prepared my hut prior to my arrival, sweeping, making my bed (did not ask her to, but still nice), and evicting a mouse family, plus preparing my backyard for my brothers to weed the massive (6ft+) weeds that had taken over. Unfortunately, my brothers were over-zealous and also weedwacked two of my new trees, but I replanted and am moving on. I was glad I had arranged with my sister Ami to prepare my hut because it was dark by the time I arrived in my village and had I not, it would have been a DISASTER. The first few days back were spent cleaning, washing mold that had grown on just about everything I own, and visiting people in the village. Everyone was glad I was back, said that "America was good to you" (meaning I looked like I had gained a little weight) and was happy I had seen family and friends. And of course they asked when Katie (or anyone) will come and visit (seriously Sissy, come and visit!).
It was a really good, though kind of dull and not super exciting, two and a half weeks in the village. Though I wanted a chance to check my email, I actually wasn't quite ready to leave the village (I was REALLY enjoying reading and doing sudoku puzzles, evidently), even to do a little traveling around Senegal. I'm trying to get to Tamba/Kolda to visit the PCVs in that part of the country, including one of my best friends here, but am instead hanging out in the med hut in Dakar with some fun rash, hoping the A/C (and meds) can clear it up. I'm just delayed on my travels a few days and since not much is going on, it's giving me a chance to catch up on email and computer work, as well as fruit consumption (!) and the most recent season of the Amazing Race which someone had downloaded, yay!
Miss y'all!
Also, pictures from the last few weeks are uploaded and updated on Picasa. Check 'em out!
It was really good finally going back to the village after over a month away. My family and friends in the village LOVED their gifts. Of everything, the pictures were the most widely appreciated and shared among everyone. There's still a few more that I'm trying to distribute around. The tshirts were also a big hit. George (93 year old man) LOVES his long-sleeved shirt from Dad--seriously, he has made it known throughout the village that I love him because I brought him back such a nice and beautiful shirt. It's actually quite amusing seeing my brothers and sisters wearing their shirts--including Group Workcamps Red Shirts (I know I wasn't "supposed" to give those away, but I have tons of them), my Cheerleaders Kick shirt from freshman year of high school, and the "Be Kind to Animals and Kiss a Flute Player" shirt. My sisters also liked their gold earrings (yea Claire's!) and their nailpolish (technically a no-no in Islam, especially during Ramadan, so they are waiting until after and will then wear it on their left hands). The kids have put on the nail polish and my dad marked one of his chickens with some bright red polish. Yep... The young girls loved their bracelet making kits I put together from old jewelry kits from when I was young and the boys loved their little sports balls, plus my brothers loved the Chicago Bulls playing cards I picked up last minute at O'Hare Airport. The little babies liked the stuffed animals (or so I hope), but really it was the photos. And the candy! Holy cow, they LOVED the Skittles and the Starbursts! Seriously, American candy ("whoa, it's sweet!") blows their minds. It was really fun sitting around the compound in the evening after having my sister distribute the candy for me and smelling the Skittle breath as they all tried to figure out how to best open the bag, pronounce the name "Skittles" and pointing out the "S" on each little candy, and figure out the flavors. The same happened at Sally's compound when I brought the Starbursts--I ran out the night before Ramadan started to make sure they had their candy before fasting insanity started--and it was fun. I remember when I first became a health PCV I was all "I'm never going to bring my family candy--just fruits and veggies!" Then I realized how disgusting Senegalese village candy (a spicy mint thing... or cherry cough drops) is and how much joy they get from fruity delicious imported stuff. Yea, blame me for rotting their teeth or undermining local industry. Bad health Volunteer I am...:)
Anyways, the gifts went over well. One of my sisters had prepared my hut prior to my arrival, sweeping, making my bed (did not ask her to, but still nice), and evicting a mouse family, plus preparing my backyard for my brothers to weed the massive (6ft+) weeds that had taken over. Unfortunately, my brothers were over-zealous and also weedwacked two of my new trees, but I replanted and am moving on. I was glad I had arranged with my sister Ami to prepare my hut because it was dark by the time I arrived in my village and had I not, it would have been a DISASTER. The first few days back were spent cleaning, washing mold that had grown on just about everything I own, and visiting people in the village. Everyone was glad I was back, said that "America was good to you" (meaning I looked like I had gained a little weight) and was happy I had seen family and friends. And of course they asked when Katie (or anyone) will come and visit (seriously Sissy, come and visit!).
It was a really good, though kind of dull and not super exciting, two and a half weeks in the village. Though I wanted a chance to check my email, I actually wasn't quite ready to leave the village (I was REALLY enjoying reading and doing sudoku puzzles, evidently), even to do a little traveling around Senegal. I'm trying to get to Tamba/Kolda to visit the PCVs in that part of the country, including one of my best friends here, but am instead hanging out in the med hut in Dakar with some fun rash, hoping the A/C (and meds) can clear it up. I'm just delayed on my travels a few days and since not much is going on, it's giving me a chance to catch up on email and computer work, as well as fruit consumption (!) and the most recent season of the Amazing Race which someone had downloaded, yay!
Miss y'all!
Also, pictures from the last few weeks are uploaded and updated on Picasa. Check 'em out!
If I had Twitter…
(written while I was in the village)
So normally I’m extremely against Twitter (insert comment about its creepiness/voyeuristic/self-indulgent, etc here), but lately (probably because of all of the celebrity gossip magazines Jodi keeps me stocked with) I’ve been thinking of certain aspects of my life as a series of “Twits” (did I really just type that?) or Facebook updates (I know, I know…). I’ve recently found myself at a loss for blog ideas because I’ve basically “gotten over” some of the more minute (or more “interesting”) aspects of my life, which may or may not be of interest to you, my loyal reading public. J
So, over the next week or two, I will fake “Twit” while I have nothing “exciting” planned, to see what interesting things happen in my life.
Thursday, August 20, 5:15pm “What, has no one walked into the garden since I left? My tree nursery is totally overgrown and the weeds are taller than me! (or almost)”
6:50pm “Stupid football (soccer) players destroying my young mango trees. As much as I enjoy tree planting, I could never be an AgFo because I can’t stand knowing not all of my trees will survive.”
Friday, August 21, 11:15am “New addiction: Sudoku puzzles, shoot!” (I was temporarily out of desirable reading material)
3:23pm “Sowe (homemade yogurt—ie spoiled unpasturized milk) destroying me from the inside out…”
Saturday, August 22, 7:45am “First day of Ramadan and woken up at 5am not by the mosque call to prayer, but by an army of frogs in compound croaking away loudly. Happy fasting!”
7:30pm “I think I have bed bugs. Or clothes mites. Or both…so much itching!”
Sunday, August 23, 8:15am “Waiting for breakfast. Bro coming with milk straight from the cow—can’t wait! It's been two months since I’ve had milk and couscous!”
9:30am “I just killed my first scorpion (it was in my hut, behind my med kit) and found an empty condom wrapper outside my front door. My work here is done.”
4:45pm “Bethany’s bad idea of the week” trying to beat a big rainstorm…getting soaked as it starts pouring less than 1km outside of town and having to walk the 3+km barefoot back to my village, fording the river that my dirt road becomes during the rainy season. Umbrella not big enough. Soaked through and through."
5:10pm “Still walking barefoot in the rain. This is becoming comical. I really am the crazy laughing white girl of my area.”
5:35pm “Finally made it home. Brothers think it’s hysterical. ‘You’re wet.’ ‘No, I’m not wet at all, thank you very much.’ (sense sarcasm…)”
Monday, August 24, 8:40pm, “I just carried my dad on my back for the first time ever! Good thing I didn’t drop him!”
August 25 “Though they taste good, Starbursts are not actually real fruit…” (I went 12 days without eating any fruit at all!)
August 26? 8:28am “Why do I keep having a dream about being a new employee carrying around a trashcan at a giant movie theater? Oh mefloquin.”
8:04pm “When you pour fish juice on my foot, dinner’s over.”
August 27 “I hate being woken up at 3:40am by anything—be it mice in my hut or these spots all over my body itching like crazy.”
9:15am “What would I do without (raw) milk and millet during Ramadan?”
10:45am “
4:10pm, “So glad I liver near a river, this is awesome!” (spent the day working, relaxing, and swimming at the river)
8:10pm “Mm chicken here is soooo good! (beans too!)”
August 28, 9:53pm “
10:44pm “When you keep totally screwing up the sudoku with incorrect answers, it’s time to turn off the headlamp and go to bed.”
August 29, 11:23am “Weeding a rice field is what I imagine mowing the lawn is, without a lawnmower.” (see pictures on Picasa)
August 30, 2:57pm “I would kill for a cold drink right now…”
Well, even looking back over these “Twits” and random comments, my past two weeks really have not been very interesting at all, oh well. Work-wise, I’m at a fake temporary work lull as I’ve been calling it. I’ve been outplanting most of the remaining trees from my tree nursery and doing a lot of weeding, but nothing much else. People are in the fields and fasting for Ramadan, so no one is around and when they are, energy is extremely low. School is on summer break for another month and a half. I have some project evaluations to do, as well as grant-writing and event planning for future activities, but I have to talk to some people here in order to totally finish them. I have a village survey to do for PC, but I don’t have the questions and no one is around right now to talk to for the answers, which also means no one has time for health talks, etc. Everything else is computer work, like the Serere dictionary. It’s ok, I’m enjoying this downtime, riding, doing Sudoku, and whatnot. I need to enjoy it while it lasts, I can already tell the next few weeks and months will quickly fill up and I only have 8 months left here!
P.S. Anyone, anyone at all, interesting in coming to visit me here? Come on, ya know you want to J
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