it takes a minute

I usually don't do this, so know that it's important.  Today, a fellow volunteer stumbled upon a White House petition asking the Obama administration to provide better financial assistance for RPCVs (Returned Peace Corps Volunteers) with educational debt.  We know how the continually rising cost of higher education can be a burden on a lot of individuals.  Joining the Peace Corps is a huge commitment and an even larger one for those who graduate with debt.  We aren't called Peace Corps Volunteers for no reason and our living stipend, which allows us to live comfortably in our host countries, doesn't translate into savings that can be allocated towards paying off loans.

I am one of the lucky ones who graduated without debt thanks to the Gates Millennium Scholarship Program.  But for the sake of all my friends and fellow PCVs who do have loans to pay off, please sign the petition.  It is quick and painless and can lead to change.  We are at 1,300 signatures and we need to reach 25,000 by December 19!    So, click here and sign away!  It requires you to create a whitehouse.gov account, but all you have to do is tell them your email and name.  And then you have an account on whitehouse,gov- doesn't that sounds awesome?  It's like you're talking directly to President Obama! (Ok...not really, but it's still cool).

That's it!  Thanks!! Pass it on

Peace

P.S. Life update to come

On y Go!

Where do I begin with transportation.... Transportation is my arch nemesis in Senegal. I love to travel, but just thinking about traveling in Senegal makes me want to retreat to my apartment and never leave. Why you may ask? There are a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to: conditions of transport, poor roads, frustrating people who work in transport, distance and time. Every time I travel when it's not in a World Vision or Peace Corps car, I have to resign myself to the experience and prepare myself mentally for what's to come. Don't get me wrong, I have some spectacular travel experiences, but there are times where I really wish I could apparate.

Lets talk about the different forms of transportation available...

My legs: Walking is great, but it's not a practical means of transportation. There was a period where I didn't have my bike in Velingara and I had to walk everywhere. It was a great way to see the town, but walking around in the heat is not an enjoyable pass time.

My bike: My bike= my life. I would be lost without my bike and it would've been a long two years if I didn't have it. As a friend once described it, a bike is to a Peace Corps Volunteer as Samson's hair was to Samson. When I went home to America last year, I went through bike withdrawals and couldn't wait to be reunited with this amazing piece of machinery. It's great to have a bike here in Velingara, but I miss my bike rides in the bush. A bike ride to a neighboring village is the perfect cure for village restlessness. I can't count the number of times I put on a podcast, jumped on my bike, and went.

In my opinion, biking is one of the more reliable forms of transportation and safer. There were numerous times where I would arrive at my destination before any other form of transportation passed me on the road. It's a relaxing way to travel in the sense that you don't have to deal with annoying transport people. In addition, some of my favorite in country memories are associated with bike trips (including the time I was attacked by bamboo).     

 Charette: A charette is a cart drawn by a donkey or by a horse. I have never taken a donkey charette and I hope I never will. Here in Velingara, there are no conventional taxis, so I've taken a horse drawn cart. Imagine the horse drawn buggies in New York City and scale the fance level down...a lot. It's a slightly rocky form of transportation, but it gets you from point A to point B.

Moto: Riding on motorcycles is against Peace Corps Senegal policy. So why am I bothering to include it in this post?? I'm the one volunteer authorized to ride on motos! Why? I work with an NGO that works in villages throughout the region. The majority of site visits are on motorcycles, so I petitioned Peace Corps to allow me to ride on motos as a part of my job. I prefer the air conditioned cars and motos scare me (especially on bad roads), but it's all part of the job. I wouldn't be happy stuck in an office all the time, so I don my sweet motorcycle helmet, cross my fingers, and off we go.

Alham: This is what PCVs dub the mini buses due to ever present “Alhamdoulilah” painted on the vehicle. There is another name for it, but I have no idea how to spell it (that's why I'm omitting it). These are the vehicles who's routes are along highly trafficked roads and are one of the most terrifying forms of transportation. Packed to the brim and loaded with bikes, goats, sacks of rice, and even a monkey or two, these cars lean precariously to one side as they barrel through pot hole ridden roads. In addition to these conditions, there are the apprenti, young men who signal stops to the driver and who collect money. The apprenti are the most frustrating people I have to deal with. They always try to rip you off and often give us the “white person price”. I argue with them relentlessly in order to get the fair price and usually they give in. However, there was this one time my friend and I were kidnapped by an alham...  

  

It was a beautiful day in Kolda, days after Christmas and my friend and I had just spent a relaxing day in my village. We were returning to Kolda and were waiting patiently on the side of the road at my father's boutique. In the distance, we see an Alham approach and we flag it down, only to argue with the apprenti. A NGO car comes up behind and we flag them down, hoping to avoid further arguments with the stubborn apprentis. The NGO car is friendly and as we are talking to them, the apprenti interferes and starts to berate the driver, saying that we are his clients and they can't drive us. Understandably, the NGO car sends us an apologetic look and drives off (they had more important things to do than argue with people). My friend and I look on as our comfortable potential ride drives off and turn our attention back to the car idling on the side of the road. While all of this was happening, they had placed my bike on top of the alham. As PCVs who sometimes do things for the principle of the matter, we refused to pay the increased price and asked them to remove my bike. They refused and the car started to move. What were we to do? They had my bike... Fueled by adrenaline, anger, and righteousness, we jump on the car. The apprenti think they've won, but the smug smiles on their faces makes us livid and we start yelling at them in a myriad of languages: Wolof, Pulaar, French, and some English thrown in for ourselves. At this point, we have the attention of the entire car: eyes trained toward us, gazes unwavering, the anticipation of what will happen next tangible (ok... I may be exaggerating this part, but it sounds cool, doesn't it?). We demand that they let us off the car and that they kidnapped us (actually, we said that they stole us because we didn't know the word for kidnap in our local language). They ignore us, but we keep trying; we say things like, “we forgot something, we need to go back!” or “we're going to this village, this is our stop.” It doesn't work. Finally, 5 kilometers down the road, another passagener, with a bike disembarks. We snag this chance. “Take my bike off too. This is my stop.” Nope. It doesn't work. We go and appeal to the driver, maybe he's more reasonable than his apprenti and will take our side. Unfortunately, this isn't the case.

At the time, we thought the smartest way to get what we wanted was to stand in front of the alham. They wouldn't run us over, would they? And if we disrupt them enough, they'll give in to our wishes. Wrong again. The driver tries to physically remove us from in front of the car and we scream. The passengers look horrified. Then, he gets back into his seat and goes forward, just a bit, hoping to scare us. We were determined and not to be deterred. At this point, the passengers are outraged. “You can't do that!” “Just give them their bike and let's go!” “Are you crazy!?” In addition to the passengers, half the village next to the road has shown up. A kind passenger offers to pay for our ticket, but it's not about the money. It's the principle of the matter. After a few more minutes of arguing, the driver tells his guys to take my bike down. We won! The villagers (who knew me) sympathized with us and when they heard the entire story couldn't believe that the apprenti and driver sank to such lows.

In retrospect, this was dumb and it could have gone a lot differently. But, when you get PCVs and transportation issues together, we often do things for the principle of the matter.

Oh alhams. If I never have to take one again, I'll be a very happy girl.

Sept place: 7 places, in french, these cars are old station wagons modified to seat seven people in addition to the driver. Usually highly uncomfortable, this is the primary form of transportation when going further than 100 kilometers. The front seat is the most spacious and the most comfortable. The middle seats aren't bad, but there isn't a lot of leg room. The back, however, is cramped and is torture if you have to travel for more than three hours. But as with most travel vehicles, the quality of sept places vary. I've been in sept places where the back row is roomy and comfortable, and I've been in sept places where metal poles prevent you from getting into a comfortable position. It's luck of the draw and you never know what you'll get.    

Bus: There are buses that travel between Kolda and Dakar. It is a slow form of transportation, but it's cheap. These buses range from run down buses from the 80's, where they've installed additional seats in the aisle (definitely not a fire hazard...) to last generation greyhound quality buses. There are buses that travel overnight and arrive in Dakar around 6am, but Peace Corps highly discourages us from taking it. It is dangerous to travel at night due to the poor quality of the roads and the potential for a driver to fall asleep. However, it's nice not having to waste an additional day on travel.

NGO car: The crème de la crème. These nice quality, often air conditioned vehicles make travel almost enjoyable. There are still horrible roads to contend with, but it's a lot easier when you aren't overloaded with baggage and tilting to one side. There are CD players and MP3 attachments, where we can play fun music and just go. This is definitely my preferred way of travel, but it's rare and needs to be appreciated. I always feel like I win the lottery every time I get an NGO ride.   

That's the overview of travel here. It's the luck of the draw and always an adventure! And sometimes, you just have to ride a camel!

Peace

Rain Rain Go Away

It's the tail end of rainy season, but instead of tapering off, it still rains consistently. I'm so tired of the rains, especially when it hampers my commute to the office. I loved rainy season in village because the rains meant that I could hide in my hut with a book and a cup of tea- a glorious way to spend a few hours. I shouldn't complain too much about the rains because adequate rain fall is essential for the crops and due to lack of rain last growing season, the yield was less that sufficient. At the same time, I'm so over rainy days and trekking through streams and mud (thank goodness I brought my rain boots here: at least I won't get creeping eruption).

Now that I've moved north east, I can't predict the rains as accurately as I used to. In village, I was able to see a storm brewing and being swept in from the southeast. Here, we're at a weird point, where air currents aren't the same and storms seem to appear out of nowhere or telltale signs yield no rain. I get so confused and can't plan accordingly. Sigh.

As a result of the rain, streams and rivers appear all over Velingara. The rain erodes the roads to the point that I've been calf deep in water. I love being in Velingara, but rainy season makes it difficult to navigate and it makes me want to stay in the comfort of my apartment. However, on the plus side, rain packs down the sand, which makes biking a lot easier. There are fewer pockets of deep sand (remember my old enemy) to hinder my progress.

Rainy season is also the season of mildew, mosquitoes, and skin infections. The damp environment is ideal for things to grow (disgusting). When I came back to Velingara from home leave, I found a certain mildew-y smell permeating my entire apartment. It took me a week to wash all my clothes and to rid my apartment of the unpleasant scent. I also discovered that a mouse had made it's residence in my apartment as did a million mosquitoes. I'm not a super squeamish girl, but having to set up mouse traps and eventually getting rid of said traps was not a pleasant task. As for the mosquitoes, I arm myself with mosquito coils, bug spray, and my mosquito net. I think I'm fighting a losing battle, but I won't stop trying.

As much as I'm waiting for the rains to stop, I'm dreading the onset of the second hot season that squeezes itself in between the rainy season and the cold season. It's a short period, lasting three to five weeks, but it's miserably hot and humid. I can handle dry heat perfectly well, but the stickiness that accompanies humidity makes me highly uncomfortable. I can't wait for cold season to come, where I can lounge in my sweats and enjoy a cup of hot chocolate before bed. Only two months away....

Sorry for the rambling post and disjointed thoughts, but it's been a long week and my mind is elsewhere. I'll try to sound like a more coherent person in my next post!

Peace Out  

Home, Home in the city...where the heels click as you walk

I'm sitting at JFK, waiting for my flight back to Senegal. Despite having constant internet access, I've failed to update my blog since being at home. About two weeks in, I began a blog entry, but I was distracted and didn't get a chance to add on to my four sentences. Now that I have some time between flights, I've decided to update you on my whirlwind of a trip.

Let's start at the beginning, leaving Velingara... I luckily was able to catch a ride with a World Vision car that was going up to Dakar. It saved me time, money, and prevented me from having to lug my baggage all around Senegal. I then spent two days in Dakar completing some work at the office, and before I knew it, it was time to head to the airport and catch my plane for home leave. I had a quick flight to Paris and then was in for the long haul when I boarded a direct flight between Paris and San Francisco. Despite being a gruelingly long flight, it wasn't as painful as I expected (although, I had difficult seat mate who at one point wanted to steal my coveted window seat). Then I was home. There's a funny story involved with my pick up from SFO. The itinerary that I had was slightly confusing. It was an overnight flight, but it didn't state the date that I was to arrive. As a result, my family had gone to the airport a day earlier, thinking that I was arriving that day. I love my family; they're the best and will brave the airport two days in a row in order to pick me up =). Alas I was home.

It was a fun filled five days at home, where I ate grandma's home cooking and had my sister play hooky from work to watch a Giants game among other things. Then I was whisked off to LA on another airplane, just in time to attend an amazing friend's bachelorette party. We went to Santa Barbara for wine tasting, where we surprised her with a limo (such a change from Senegal, where I'm ecstatic with a Peace Corps or World Vision ride). We visited four wineries before it was off the a beach house for more bachelorette party games (including a pirate ship pinata). On Sunday, we had a leisurely trip back to LA except for the part where we were hit by a firetruck... We were stuck in traffic in the left most lane and a firetruck, passing on the left hand side, clipped the driver side mirror. OOPS! So we exited and filed a report with a police officer, but we had to wait for CSI to show up in order to take pictures, which brought the ordeal to two hours. Two hours where five girls dressed in tie dyed shirts sat on the side of the road with a firetruck and a police cruiser. We drew a lot of interesting stares and who knows what other people thought we were doing. Back in the States for less than a week and I'm already hanging out with firefighters and policemen. The adventures don't stop.

After that began the week in LA. And what a week it was. The thing is, when I was there for school, all my friends were also in school, so seeing people was much easier (that and I had a car). This time around, there was a little thing called work that got in the way of hanging out. Fortunately, I'm a pro at entertaining myself and I had no trouble keeping myself busy. Evenings were completely the opposite. My evenings were filled with drinks and dinners and seeing old friends whom I used to see on a weekly basis. It was so much fun to chat and catch up. Even though there's email and facebook, it's not the same talking to friends over a delicious cup of coffee or a nice glass of Cabernet.

Before I knew it, it was the day before the wedding. Luckily, my friends had an awesome tailor who was able to alter my dress in time. We had mani-pedis and went down to the site of the wedding for the rehearsal. It was hot! I know what you're all thinking, the girl lives in Senegal where it reaches over 120 degrees Fahrenheit and she's complaining about California heat? Well, in Senegal, I wouldn't be wearing makeup or care if I'm dripping sweat, because everyone else is. America is different... sweating profusely in a pretty dress is not attractive ( no matter how pretty the dress- well, unless you count a tennis dress and are a professional tennis player). The rehearsal went off without a hitch and I finally met the groom's parents and was able to put faces to the email addresses. The groomsmen were great and even though we had just met, we were getting along as if we've been friends forever. The rehearsal dinner was at an adorable Mexican restaurant, where the tables were decorated with noisemakers including mini tambourines, maracas, and bells (which may have been a bad idea, because even though we are all in our mid twenties, we have a childlike streak that loves toys). It was so much fun and I got to catch up with great friends.

Wedding day. Bridesmaids up early to get hair and makeup done. The trusting bride left it up to us how we wanted to do our hair, which was great because we were able to have our own style. It was great being done up, if only I had hair and makeup teams follow me around, it would make my life easier. We had snacks and a lunch of finger sandwiches (you can't have the bride and her girls fainting from hunger) and champagne! Then, game time. Dresses on, shoes worn, final spritzes of hairspray, last swipes of lip gloss and GO! The ceremony was beautiful and the bride was stunning in her strapless gown and veil. I had to try so hard not to cry ( I mean, I couldn't ruin my makeup) during the ceremony. The bridesmaids had tissues conveniently stowed away in various places, just in case. So, I can gush for pages on all the details of the reception and party and guests and so on and so forth, but I will probably bore those of you who've made it this far (that and my flight is boarding soon and if I don't finish this before that point, I never will). So, if you want to hear more, I will write you a really long email.

After the wedding, I went down to San Clemente for two nights to see my friend who's wedding I'm missing in October (sad face). Then it was up to Santa Ana to see my friend from Peace Corps. It was so fun and slightly surreal to see her in the states. In Peace Corps, we are in such a insulated environment it was so fun to see people outside of it. After a nice brunch, I was off to Irvine. My awesome friend made time in her busy med school life to hang out with me. She's coming to visit me in Senegal!! I'm so excited to have my first visitor!! And then home. Whew. I'm tired just recounting it.

I'm going to recount my last two weeks really really fast... Sorry, I'm tired. Lots of great food with the family, Sonoma wine tasting (I know, I already went wine tasting on this trip), Brunches, lunches, seeing old friends, fancy french dinner with the little sister, chinatown, dim sum, trip to Sacramento to see my cousin's baby and to see family, ice cream, shopping at target, movies, beach, playing hooky with the sister (again) to eat fresh oysters, in & out, and done. I know that a lot of those involve food and it's no where near comprehensive. But, it's a new post after a month and I gotta go. America was great, but I can't wait to go back to work. That's it for now!

Peace