Farewells and Swearing-in

Sangalkam crew posing for a picture before our families come for our final lunch!

Hanging out with my host parents for the last time

A picture of all of the families eating an amazing lunch. I just thought you'd like to see some more traditional garb

The Sangalkam group with our host families at our good-bye lunch

My outfit was a gift from my previous host family, not something that I would pick out, but it was nice of them to give it to me. I am receiving my letter saying I am a volunteer!!


My official letter and ID stating that I am a Peace Corps volunteer!!!!

The US ambassador to Senegal and I


The Sangalkam group all dressed up with our language teacher.

Is this a glimpse into the future???

Finally an official volunteer!!!

Well I would first like to start by apologizing for my long absence but I have been quite busy. I officially became a Peace Corps volunteer on Friday, Oct. 15th, before then I was only known as a trainee. We had a great swear-in ceremony at the American ambassador’s house. After speeches from the country director, the ambassador, four new volunteers who did speeches in four different local languages, and then a final word from our training coordinator, we were treated to a delicious reception in the ambassador’s garden when we had pizza, sliders, and sandwiches (which are an awesome treat after eating village food for two months). After the ambassador’s house we went to the American Club for some swimming and beers. After we returned to Thies we treated ourselves to a celebratory dinner at the best restaurant in town, I had escargots and a croque monsieur (the French version of a ham and cheese sandwich). We also split a couple bottles of wine before deciding to go out and kick up our heels. We ended up coming home at 3am, it was a great time!!!

The next day I had to pack up all my stuff in preparation for the long trip to Kedougou on Sunday. We took three sept-places (station wagons from the 70’s that probably haven’t been fixed since then either) down. Luckily, we didn’t have any major mechanical problems except for once where our car started making a funny sound so our driver pulled over, took out a handful of wires from his glove compartment and proceeded to attach them to something in hopes that the car would start again and the problem would be fixed. Alhumduillah (thank God) it worked!!! The other car coming down wasn’t so lucky, they got stranded for a hour on the side of the road with a flat tire that couldn’t be changed because the lugnut was sheared off and a driver who was suffering from dehydration because he decided not to drink any water during an 11 hour car ride in 100 degree weather and no A/C. Once getting to the regional house we had a wonderful reception and dinner prepared by the current volunteers. After getting to know each other for a while, all of us (the new volunteers) decided that it was a long enough day and went to bed. The next day we woke up to go shopping for essentials!!! I proceeded to buy a mattress (they’re not too expensive because they’re just foam), a fan, and a bucket – that’s all my money allowed me to get. After helping others shop it was time for me to install at my home. I packed up a Peace Corps vehicle and went the whole half a mile down the road to my new house.

When I arrived I was introduced to my family, which is not nearly as big as my previous family, I have 3 brothers, a little sister, and a mother. I was given a new Senegalese name, Ania, which is Ann in Polish, so I thought it was quite apropos, it also happens to be my little sister’s name. I found out that one of my brothers is an English teacher so hopefully that will help me learning Pulaar quicker. After introductions I was shown to my room which ended up having its own bathroom!!!(even though it wasn’t done at the time). I then proceeded to settle in and unpack and try to remember what the heck I packed.

The next day my brother informed me that the plumber would come by to finish the bathroom, this would be told to me every day for the next week and a half. While trying to get my bathroom in order I was privileged to witness Senegalese work ethic, which translates to the plumber coming and telling my brothers what needed to be done, him watching them do it, and then after an hour of watching them saying that he was tired and had to go home. One day he just moved my toilet from the hallway into the bathroom, but never hooked it up!! Every time he would leave I would ask my brother if he was coming back later that day to finish and he would say, “He said he would, but we’ll see.” Let’s just say that he never returned after his “exhausting” hour of work. After a week and a half of this though I can proudly say I have a bathroom, that is tiled, has running water (some of the time) and a western toilet!!!

Other than trying to deal with the plumber and the tiler, because that was also a pain, I haven’t done much because one week after installing into the family (this Monday) my host father died (he was a sick, old man) and my family went to the village he is from and has stayed there for the week. They should return this Sunday, but I’m not sure. Luckily I live close enough to the regional house so I go there to cook my meals and talk to people. I have also kept myself busy by buying odds and ends for my place. I am hoping that maybe next month I will have enough money to get some furniture and some paint so I can paint my room and bathroom.

Kedougou is a nice town that is biker friendly so I can get some great exercise while running my daily errands. It’s big enough so that most of my needs are met but small enough where it’s not intimidating. As far as work goes I have been approached by other volunteers with projects they want me to help with, but I was told by the Peace Corps, and I understand why, to take the first 2 months and focus and just getting to know your community and work on practicing the local language. So I am just going to take the first two months to get my bearings and see what opportunities there are in the city.

So the pretty much sums up the past couple of weeks, I will post pictures soon or try to get a Flicker or Picasso account and link it to my page so that I can post more than 5 pictures at a time. Hope all is well with you!!!

Things I have learned over the past two months

So I realized that even though I have only been here for two months I have already learned so much. While I was thinking of how to sun all of it up my girlfriend wrote a great blog posting and I felt that it summed up my experience thus far so well that I was going to copy it and post it.

Here is what I learned:

1) Senegalese Terranga - There is always room for you at the dinner bowl, and your visit to anyone's home if treated with the upmost hospitality
2) Time is relationships not money.Make sure to take the time to say hello
3) I can now take a bucket bath by using only 3/4ths of a standard bucket filled with water!!
4) A lime squeezed onto any dish makes the meal taste so much nicer.
5) How to successfully turn down marriage proposals (saying that you have 4 husbands in the states, or that I will need four houses minimum usually gets the point across!!)
6) Sitting under a mango tree makes any weather 10 degrees cooler
7) When using a Turkish toilet ala latrine, women should use it facing backwards. It's much easier to hit the target
8) Ramadan - a month of reflection, personal growth, and abstinence from our natural attachment to possessions that are meaningless in the grand scheme of life - pretty good idea
9) Communication is 97% nonverbal. The heart speals louder than words
10) Any business can be handled over three cups of tea - the more foam the better

Good-byes and a Senegalese wedding!!

My host parents and I on my last night in Sangalkam

Saying good-bye to my host family. Here is almost my whole compund, there were 30+ people living at my house!!!

My fellow Americans having our last meal at our favorite spot in Sangalkam. May I say it was our favorite place because it was the ONLY place to eat. However, they had amazing fatayas which is dough filled with meat, eggs, french fries, and onions. YUM!!!

Here are the women chilling during my host cousin's wedding.

And here is the lovely bride!!

I am finally done with my Pre-Service training and I will officailly become a volunteer this friday!! I must say I had a tearful good-bye with my host family. They are great people and it was a wonderful welcome into Senegal. This Sunday I will move to my permanent home in Kedougou!

During my last week with my host family I found out that I was going to my host cousin's wedding in Dakar. I was told that we would be leaving at 8am, so I got up at 7am to shower and get ready. Thankfully my host mom lent me some traditional clothing so I wouldn't stick out too much. So at 8am I was ready to hit the road, however, the Senegalese had a different idea of what leaving at 8am means. We sat around until 11:30am when the busses came to pick us up for Dakar. When we got there at 2:30pm (normally it takes an hour but traffic was terrible getting into Dakar) lucnh was served and then I sat around and watched everyone sit around or nap. Around 4pm they told me to go outside and sit under a tarp they had there. I sat there and waited, for what, I wasn't sure yet. Around 4:30 the drums started and the women proceeded to "dance" (pretty much that meant jumping around). They continued for about a half hour and then all the women went to change their clothes. I got to sit around some more and wait for everyone to get ready. We were then given some couscous with a milk sauce to snack on while we waited, again I didn't know for what. At 6:30 the bluching bride FINALLY showed up. I have realized that the Senegalese don't believe that mak-up should look natural and they feel that the more they paint their faces the better they look. When she showed up everyone started taking pitcures with her while I sat around some more. Around 7:30pm wo were served dinner and by 8 I was hurried onto a bus with my family telling me we were going to leave. I still don't know why I was hurried on the bus when I sat on it for a half hour waiting for others to arrive. Finally and 8:30pm we hit the road and by 10:30 I was back home.

I realized that at a Senegalese wedding one sits around a lot and no one ever really knows what is going on.

Update

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am leaving for my last stint with my host family, so I will be MIA for about a week. After that week we will have our swearing in ceremony (if I pass the language test!!!) and then we move into our permanent sites. I wanted to give you all a heads up that if I don't update this blog for a while, I am alive, I just don't have access to the internet right away or I am busy. Hope everyone is doing well and I'll update once I have finally become a Peace Corp volunteer!!!