Confessions of a Hungry PCV

Ramadan has ended, ALHUMDULILLAIH! I can now eat and drink while the sun is out. My attempt to stay in village throughout Ramadan was fairly successful with only one night spent in Kolda. It was an interesting project to undertake and I'm glad that I did it. I had a conversation with my host Dad about it and he said that he really appreciated that I was open to embracing this part of their culture. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this blog, I am horrible at keeping diaries and journals. My "Peace Corps Journal" had 10 entries in it before Ramadan started. As a Ramadan project, I decided that I would do my best to keep a journal and I did a pretty good job. So, here is a look into my thoughts and my Ramadan Diary, with commentary in parentheses...

Day 1: The beginning of Ramadan and the nerves of returning to village after a month was absolutely terrifying. But, I reached my dad's boutique and had kids yelling my name and my dad came over and gave me a hug (half handshake/ hug combo- Senegalese people don't really hug).... 19:30 roles around and its time to break fast with Tapilapa (village bread, delicious!) and "cafe"- a tea made with mango leave, powdered milk, and sugar. We then had candied dates!

Day 2: I am woken up at 5am by my mom for breakfast. I eat with my dad and uncle (I usually eat with my brother, but he's working in the Gambia and my other brother is in Dakar), but I don't have much of an appetite. My dad says to stop fasting, but I'm determined to try this. I attempt to go back to bed, but I lie there listening to the call to prayer. I get out of bed at 8:30 (much later than usual) and greet my family. I then week my forest of a backyard with help from Binta (my sister-in-law) and Mama (a neighbor).

Day 4: We broke fast in the usual manner, but my mom gave me extra bread- they don't think I'm eating enough. She has also started to call me bobo (baby in Pulaar) which is really sweet.

Day 5: I woke up this morning slightly panicked from a dream, darn Mefloquin (malaria prophylaxis). In my dream, I'm back at the Galen Center and am working for the basketball team again. It's the first game of the season and we're playing Oregon because I see Kai and welcome her back to the Galen Center. I'm apparently the only one working and am rushing to get everything done. I yell at the men's team to vacate the court (typical) and I go to fill water bottles, only to find that they haven't been made yet (aka numbers and names written on them). I go to Sandy (our athletic trainer) to get the water bottles and she's gives me a "I'm disappointed, you know better than this" look. I begin to make the bottles, only to realize I don't know who is on the team and what numbers to use. Then I wake up. Strange (According to a lot of volunteers, it isn't unusual to experience very vivid dreams- still, I'm not used to them).

I literally saw a storm roll into my village. It was so cool to see and hear the rain coming in from the distance.

Day 9: The kids were running around tonight, pumped full of sugar, when Jubiru (my uncle)organized a game that resembled "Steal the Bacon". It was great! Some of the boys came over to chat while we were watching the kids play. They thought it was hilarious when I told them that we played a version of that game in America. It was so nice to chat with them in the evening again. This hasn't happened since I got back from IST. The kids then played a version of Duck Duck Goose. So much fun!

Day 10: I walked Dave to the road this morning (he's a volunteer in Kolda and came to visit my village for 2 days) and then talked to Spence (a volunteer in Tamba)- I love free calling (Peace Corps has made it possible to call other volunteers without having to buy phone credit)! I'm hanging out with some of the kids outside my hut when I get a call from Dave- Kelly got her phone stolen at lummo (a market that occurs once a week) and wanted to know if she could spend the night in my village before heading to Kolda- Of Course!
It was so nice to have Kelly in my village. We had girl talk and updated each other on the last 9 days, even though it felt like it's been much longer. It's so nice to have girl talk; it's the one thing I really miss in village, having a close girlfriend.

Day 11: My brother started to bake bread today in village. I was coming home from a neighbors house when I passed the large brick oven and saw that he was baking bread. I sat there watching them bake bread and it looked so delicious coming out of the oven; too bad we can't eat it fresh.

There was a funeral in my village today. I was really uncomfortable because I don't know how to act. In America, there are certain rituals and mannerisms surrounding a funeral, and unfortunately we weren't taught the Senegalese way in our cross cultural sessions. I don't want to accidentally break a social norm and act inappropriately. Someone here for the funeral called me Toubab-in MY village, NOT OK! I kept walking and pretended not to hear him. The boys told him that it wasn't ok and to not call me Toubab. He then came to greet me and called me volontaire and asked my name, much better.

Day 14: I made a list of places I wanted to eat when I go home. UGH, I miss variety in my food.... I hung out with Adele today, she's currently the closest thing I have to a girlfriend in village (oh, and she's only 15). All the other young, unmarried girls are elsewhere: Swadu is in Dakar, Ustu is in Kolda, and Kadja is in Zig.

Mamadou came back from the Gambia today! It's good to have him back

Day 15: I had cucumbers today and was ecstatic! I miss veggies. I hung out for a bit and watched the full moon move across the sky. Veggies and a full moon, what a great night.

Day 16: Meg (a Kolda volunteer) came today!! It was fun, she chatted with everyone in Pulaar and everyone was saying how much Pulaar she knew. One day, I will be at that level. I'm determined!

Day 20: Today was an adventure. We [Meg and I] went to St. John Cortiba (a new site) and Fascahone (a potential new site). The 20K bike ride on bush trail and car path wasn't so bad despite patches on deep sand and a swamp. It was really cool to see a new site and to talk to a potential village about getting a volunteer. The meeting was in Pulaar and I understood the majority of what was being said-Yay! I didn't have much to contribute, but it was good to see the process of setting up a new site. We had lunch (first day of not fasting) and then it started to rain, so we set off for Meg's site. The bike ride back was so difficult! It rained the whole time and the road was ridiculously muddy. We basically biked through a river for 20K. I have scars and bruises from this ride. I then caught a ride with Peace Corps into Kolda, yay comfy transportation!

Day 22: I woke up sore from the bike ride to Fascahone and the bike ride back to village from Kolda. Boo. Despite just returning from Kolda, I had to fight the desire to go right back to get score updates from the USC- Hawaii game. Good thing people have access to internet and can send me the score tomorrow morning. This is going to be a long football season. I can't believe I can't watch my Trojans.

Day 23: I need to keep my back door closed at night. When I was sweeping my room today, I shooed about 10 frogs from my room-gross. I then finished my Ramadan project book- Atlas Shrugged! Sweet- gotta tell Kate.

There was drama at home today. My brother didn't leave any bread to break fast. I was kinda sad not having bread, but my dad came home from a prayer circle and apologized for the lack of bread. He asked if I wanted him to get bread and we could break fast over again, and obviously I told him no. Then Mamadou (not the bread baking brother) gives me bread with beans that he had gotten and made me vitalait (powdered milk with sugar). My mom then gives me rice from the prayer circle. Then they expected me to eat dinner too! Ugh- so full, too much food.

Day 24: Today I had a headache while hanging out with Adele, so I went home to lay down. On the way home, passing the oven, my brother decides to play the name game and they said something I didn't understand. When I said I didn't understand, they started laughing and didn't explain. I already had a headache and it's difficult enough speaking Pulaar when I'm feeling well that I became really upset and had tears in my eyes. I quickly said that I needed to go and went to my room to cry. I'm trying so hard, don't they get it? I just want someone in village to understand me.

Tonight after dinner, I found a chicken hiding out in my room. So that brings types of animals in the past month to a chicken, frogs, a bat, and the various insects.

Day 26: I am so bored of the rain. I can't believe its raining AGAIN. So, you know how two days ago, I was really upset and felt like no one understood me in village? Well, I think that Tidiane does. Tonight he came over to see how I was doing. We talked about why I was upset and I explained that I wasn't feeling well and that it takes a lot for me to understand and speak Pulaar. He told me that they were just kidding around and then said that if he were in my shoes in a foreign country, he would feel the same way. I don't know if he really gets it, but at least he's trying. Yay friends!

Apparently on the 26th night of Ramadan, they don't sleep and stay up all night for a prayer circle. So, Mamadou baked bread tonight. I attempt to go to bed, but the sound of singing keeps me up. Also, Sarah texted me tonight saying that the weather report for Kolda said it was 80 degrees. At the time, I was wearing pants and a long sleeve shirt because I was cold. I guess my body is adjusted to the temperature.

Day 27: Last night, I was woken up at 3:45am to eat. I guess when they don't sleep they eat when hungry. This time it was rice, follere, and chicken with pasta!!! Would you like some carbs with your carbs? Anyways, this is the first time I've had meat in village!! (I've had fish a couple of times, but never meat)

Day 28: All the females in the village are getting their hair braided in preparation of Korite! I love watching them get their hair braided, it's so much fun to watch. I told Binta that she can braid my hair too because I know she likes to play with my hair and it makes her happy.

I went over to see the newborn baby today! He is so small and light skinned. They said that his body and my body looked alike. I love babies!

Day 29: I dreamt that I was in Costco. Thank goodness Ramadan is almost over!
They saw the moon tonight!! Ramadan has officially ended! Let Korite begin.

Korite: We had breakfast when the sun was out! We had bread and coffee, then an hour later, a second breakfast of Cheeb (rice with oil) and macaroni. Off to pray! I have now prayed with three different religions: Buddhism, Christianity, and now Islam. After prayer time, it was off to greet people in every compound and the children go around asking for change. It reminds me of Chinese New Year. Then we had lunch with beef and off to the soccer pitch! It unfortunately started to pour, so we all went home. Korite is so much fun!

Village wide prayer time

Ramadan Stats:
Days:29
Days I fasted: 27
Nights in the regional house: 1
Books read: 3
Loaves of Tapilapa eaten: 13
Visitors: 3
Days it rained:22
Money spent: 4 mille (8 dollars)
Mefloquin Dreams: 14
Braids in my hair:12

That's it for Ramadan!

--Peace Out!

p.s. I've been in country for 6 months! Time flies...

Am I still in Africa?

Last time I left off with leaving my village for an extended amount of time. Well, I am headed back to village tomorrow, just in time for the start of Ramadan. I am attempting to stay in village for the entirety of Ramadan and not come to Kolda until the new stage's demyst (I'm going to be a sophomore!). So, here are my adventures after leaving village...

**Note: I'm really in Africa, I wasn't able to post this a month ago due to unreliable internet

**Note #2: HAPPY BIRTHDAY VIVI! I hope you have a splendid 27th B-day (haha!) Miss you big sis.

Kelly's Birthday
I came into Kolda the morning of the 14th to celebrate Kelly's 23rd birthday! How do you celebrate a birthday Africa style? Chinese food and Jello Shots....Obvi! I made fried rice and chicken spring rolls with what we could find in the Kolda market. It worked our surprisingly well and turned out fantastic! Amanda made two delicious peanut sauces (one sweet, one spicy) from scratch and it turned out really well, considering that we didn't have hoisin sauce.

It turned out to be only 5 of us in the house that night, so we ate until we were all stuffed. We were in mini food comas for the rest of the night. It was great to celebrate a birthday and have a mini girls night rolled into one.

Road to IST
After our Chinese food binge, Kelly and I headed out to Jenae's village for the night. It was so nice to see her and to see her village. It's funny how much things vary from village to village. Jenae's village is super patron compared to mine- they were watching TV when we arrived. As a pre- dinner snack, we made popcorn with Cinnamon and sugar- yum! Then we had a potato and fish dish with bread for dipping. Delicious! Then we had couscous with milk- It was strange, but good. Jenae told us about how her family has a bunch of cows and how she has milk every day (jealous!), while I'm convinced that I'm calcium deficient.

The next morning, it was off to Sarah's site, near Mbour. Six of us crammed into a sept place (actually, it was quite comfortable, since it usually seats 7), and off we went. We passed through Tamba and Kaolack and I was reminded how lucky I am to be in Kolda. Kolda is small and clean compared to the other regional capitals and everything is within walking distance. We arrived at Sarah's site around 5pm and proceeded to not be able to greet anyone. Sarah lives in a Serre village and all the Kolda residents speak Fulakunda. Getting to Sarah's awesomely painted hut, we found a trio of Tambaites lounging around- mini stage reunion! That night we had yassa poulet prepped by Sarah's family and followed it up with baked potatoes and banana boats around a camp fire. Seriously, am I still in Africa?

We woke up for beach weekend (at this point, I'm not sure if it was actually the weekend, but who cares...)!!! The 11 of us Toubabs went to Mbour, to campement Ndalli. Ndalli is owned by the counterpart of a eco-tourism volunteer and a campement that we frequented during PST. This was the first time we saw the huts and they were amazing! There was hot water in the shower- HOT WATER. I haven't taken a hot water shower since DC. The simple pleasures in life. It was a glorious two days of lounging at the beach, good food (pizza!), and great company.

IST
IST was a flurry of information ranging from permaculture to chicken raising to grant writing. Originally, everyone was staying with their PST host families except for the the two furthest sites, Mbour included. So, we were assigned new host families within Thies. It was strange having a new host family, with yet another new name (I'm at 5). My host family spoke no Pulaar and I had to communicate via French. It was very difficult for me (although, I remember more french than I gave myself credit for), and I wasn't the only one. We asked our Country Director if we could stay at the center for the duration of IST, and he agreed! It was nice to be able to stay at the center and I was able to explore Thies.

There was one night where it poured and the streets of Thies literally became rivers (I'm NOT exaggerating). Oh adventures of Senegal... I returned to the center and bathed in Hibiclense, convinced that if I didn't, I would get creeping eruption (google it). Speaking of diseases, the leprolis came back =(. The dermatologist said that it is microbial eczema and to prevent it, I should wear pants, long sleeve shirts, and shoes (HA! not going to happen). Anyways, it's gone now and hopefully it never comes back.

English Camp
After IST, we had English camps! The US Embassy sponsors a number of English camps in Dakar, Thies, and Fattick. I was assigned Thies and it was a blast! Mika and I had a group of 15 kids that are in the equivalent of 8th grade. Basically we played icebreakers all week and had Olympics. It was summer camp where the goal is to practice English. The most difficult part was getting the kids to not speak Wolof. They understood most of what we said, but they refused to speak. Frustrating! Other than that, we danced and sang, and had a good time.

Dakar
"Dakar is a magical land." - Meera. This is not an exaggeration when you've been living in village for two months. Friday night, we went to the American club for Trivia night! My team won the tequila round and continued to win that night (yay!). This means we get the honor of hosting next month. The next day, the girls went to breakfast in preparation of shopping day! I had a cappuccino and was reminded how much I miss real coffee (sigh). Shopping in Dakar was highly amusing. I bought Gucci Flora perfume from a street vendor for $3 USD (probably fake, but it smells like the real thing). The best part is bargaining with people. It's expected and fun to see what outrageous price they throw at you. At every vendor, I asked them if they spoke Pulaar. Dakar sees so many tourists that people really responded when you spoke to them in one of the local languages. Even if the vendor himself didn't speak Pulaar, he would summon one of his friends to talk to us. Thanks to this tactic, I was able to successfully talk down the price of a belt from 6 mille to 1 mille (victory!).

We then continued on to the Fukigai, an open air thrift market. If you are patient and willing to shift through mountains of clothes, you can find some real treasures. I found a French Connection Dress in my size, which I purchased for $2 USD (among other items). I love this city! That night, after a delicious dinner of pesto gnocchi and veggies, we (as in half of PC Senegal) went to Kreul Graoul, a dance party that occurs once a month. I miss going dancing and this was a perfect remedy.

The next day we lounged by the pool followed by dinner at a chinese restaurant! I miss Chinese food, and they had some of my favorites. It was hilarious- the owners were Chinese and spoke mainly Mandarin, so my friend Maddy and I ordered for the group. We forgot so much of our Chinese. We stumbled through and had difficulty remembering words for certain foods. It all worked out in the end and we went home happy.

I had my follow up dermatologist appointment (which is why I was in Dakar) and then I had to say goodbye to my site mate who is returning to America. It was sad, but I'm excited for her!

Phew...I really am in Africa, even though it didn't feel like it these past three weeks. I'm definitely ready to get back to village though, I miss them lots!

--Peace Out

P.S. Ramadan post coming soon

10,000 fireflies

Rainy season has officially begun. The rain storms provide me with a great excuse to retreat into my room for some personal time. In addition to all the bugs and mosquitoes that appear in rainy season, Fireflies have begun to come out of hiding. As a city girl for the past 22 years of my life, I never experienced so many fireflies on a consistent basis. I know I keep touching on the beauty of nature and lack of electricity, but it's a truly unique and refreshing experience. Speaking of nature and lack of electricity, I am currently back in Thies for IST (In-Service Training). I am going to back track and cover what I've been doing up til IST and inshallah post pictures.

Deliveries from Dakar
In my last entry, I posted about attending a Senegalese meeting regarding Universal Coverage of mosquito nets. This is the first time that the Senegalese government has decided to take control of mosquito net distributions. They are working with USAID, PMI, and other partnering NGOs to cover the regions of Kedougou, Kolda, and Tambacounda this year. Peace Corps volunteers have spearheaded mosquito net distributions before in select villages, but many of the Relais and other health workers haven't been directly involved in the process. However, the health officials know that PCVs have been involved in distributions and acknowledged that fact in the meetings (which gave me some legitimacy in the eyes of my ICP: Infermier Chef du Poste).Due to PCVs doing numerous distributions in the past, they (as a whole) have accumulated much knowledge and had written a training manual for Relais along with amazing visual aids. The training manuals were provided by Peace Corps to all the health posts in the Kolda region, but the path from Dakar to the Chef du Medecin regional was an adventure... It began one rainy morning in the region of Kolda and my family thought that it was ridiculous that I was going out in the pouring rain. I wasn't ecstatic about having to deal with Senegal transportation in the rain, but the package of training materials was already en route from Dakar. As I leave the edge of my village, I slip and fall and get gray mud all over my left leg, and I'm just far enough from my village that I don't want to turn back to change. So, I decided to continue into Kolda and change into clean clothes at the regional house. I successfully evaded (kinda) judgment of my mud covered leg and make it safely into Kolda. I then realize that I have no idea when or where I am to meet the bus driver to pick up the package. Great..... Thankfully I have his name and number, so I give him a call. WELL, he spoke only French and Woloof, which was definitely a problem. I was able to understand that he wasn't arriving in Kolda until 1 in the afternoon and at this point it was 10am. What to do for three hours? First step: go to regional house and get out of muddy pants. I then watched an episode of True Blood, made lunch, and worried about where I was to meet Mr. bus driver for the package. I finally met up with the bus driver at 2pm at some random side street off of the market and it was such a relief seeing this big bus parked in the middle of the road. Last step of Mission: Relais training material was to get it to the Chef du Medecin du region. After a successful drop off and explanation, it was back to village. Adventure Complete.

Relais Training
Now that all the training materials were in the region, it was just a matter of conducting the trainings. I dropped the materials off with my ICP and was told that the dates of the trainings were July 2nd and 3rd. She told me that she would love it if I would attend the trainings and I promised her that I would be there for the 2nd, but I was going to Kedougou the 3rd. I show up bright and early on the morning of the 2nd (even though I knew that the actual training session probably wouldn't start for a good hour after the designated time) and it felt like I was the new kid on the first day of school. It was awkward and fun at the same time because I was obviously the new Peace Corps volunteer in the area. The trainings allowed me to meet a lot of the relais and the ASCs (Agent sante communitaire) who work out of the Bagadagi Poste de Sante. It was a long day filled with high points (training manuals being used and free swag!) and low points( aka the big storm at the very end of training that trapped me in the room with 35 health care workers for an hour). Then it was off to Kedougou the next morning for America time...

Training materials!

Fourth of July
Every year, the volunteers in the region of Kedougou throw a big bash in honor of America's birthday. It was a nice break from village life (although horrible timing for my mosquito net distribution project) and it was a chance to see people from my stage. I had a great time talking to my fellow stage mates about life in village and integrating into Senegalese society. It was awesome to hear all the fun success stories and it was comforting to hear the difficulties people were facing because it's something we all experienced.

Happy Birthday America!

It's funny how the themes of high school continue to permeate life. Going to the 4th in Kedougou was so much fun, but I felt like a freshman entering high school for the first time. The older volunteers are great, but walking in and not knowing a lot of people was slightly intimidating. I have obviously grown into myself and the insecurities that I had in high school have all but disappeared, but the lingering feeling of being the newbie(s) still remains. Anyways, after i got over my initial nerves, we had a nice summertime cookout complete with roasted warthog and baked beans! The night concluded with fireworks (of course) and a dance party and then it was back to village!

Mosquito Net Distributions
Right after the 4th of July, the region of Kolda began the distribution phase of Universal Coverage. The planning meeting occurred on the 7th and distributions were to begin on the 9th and continue for 5 days. The Poste de Sante at Bagadadgi covers 35-40 villages within a 10K (ish) radius. This includes the villages of 5 PCVs. The day of the first distribution roles around and it's off to Bagadadgi. Ideally, the distributions would begin with opening all the mosquito nets and having an assembly line process. There are fiches des recessments where the family names are written with how many nets were needed. In a perfect distribution, one person with the list of names would partner up with an individual who would write the familial name on the net itself and the year (this is to prevent people from taking the nets over the border and selling them). Then, they would count out the correct number of nets and place them in a neat pile. Another person would then come along and write the same name on the pile of nets below. While all this is occurring, a team of Relais would be conducting a causerie about malaria and malaria prevention. Lastly, once the sensibilization is complete, we can just hand out the nets and everyone goes home happy.

Unfortunately this is Africa and nothing happens in the most efficient way. During the census period, families were given coupons to be redeemed for mosquito nets the day of their distribution. The day of the distributions, when we (the health care workers and I) showed up to the distribution site, the family representatives mobbed us with their coupons. We then had to go through each one and cross check it with the fiche de recessment. After that, we would write the names on the nets and explain how to use them to each family. This process took forever and it was frustrating for me because I could point out at least 5 more efficient steps.

My Sweet Shirt!

That first day, I went to two separate distributions. The first went went relatively smoothly because it was at the health post, so no major issues came up. The second distribution of the day sent me home in tears. The first problem was transportation...the ICP didn't plan accordingly to get all the nets to the distribution points. As a result, we ended up strapping 4 bales of 50 nets each to the back of 4 bikes and going 3K into the bush. This would've been a difficult task if we were biking on the paved national road, but we were on an unpaved road that was actually "under construction"(not fun). We finally arrive at the village (2 hours later than planned) and start the distribution. My job at this location was to cross check the coupons with the fiche de recessment (funnnn.....not). This particular location had numerous individuals with coupons, who weren't on the fiche, which meant that we weren't allowed to give them nets at that moment in time. This lead to angry people and a very stressful situation. The slow step of the operation is the writing of names on the nets. I was getting more and more agitated as the sun started to set, so I grabbed a marker and started to write names on the nets myself. I perplexed my Senegalese counterparts at first, but they soon realized that I was a really fast writer. Thankfully that distribution ended before sundown, however the drama didn't. My village is 1K away from the site of the second distribution, but no one informed my village of that fact. The need in my village was only 8 nets (not actually accurate), so my ICP decided that I could just deliver the nets to my village. WORST IDEA EVER! I show up to my village with 8 nets and suddenly everyone is asking for a net. I wasn't there when the relais came to my village for the recessment, so I couldn't make sure that it was done correctly. I knew that the need in my village would be low (I mean, I only have 150 people living there and my site mate did a distribution there the year before), but 8 was unusually low. At this point, it's past my shower time, I'm tired, and upset, so I tell everyone that I need to shower and run into my room. I sit in my backyard for a good 5 minutes crying and then call my site mate and cried to her for another 10 minutes. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't the worst day I had in village, but it was so overwhelming at that one point. Everything just hit me at once and it was too much to handle (cue crying). After crying and my bucket bath, I felt a million times better. Onto day 2 of distributions.

Day two of distributions occurred at 4 simultaneous sites. I was sent to Salimata, where we have an Ag(riculture) volunteer. I left home at 8am to bike the 10K to Salimata in order to get there by the 9am start time. The nets didn't arrive at the site until noon. Fortunately, I had three other PCVs come to the distributions. Having other PCVs made a frustrating situation entertaining. The distributions ended with slight nausea from constant contact with the insecticide impregnated nets.

Day three had 6 concurrent distributions and I was told that it was the last day (SURPRISE- something occurred ahead of schedule...woohoo). This was the most efficient distribution of the 4 that I participated in and the only one that started and ended on schedule. There were no problems with the coupons or the fiche de recessments and the team I was working with was efficient. After three long days of distributions and countless hours of sitting (in meetings and at distributions), mosquito net project in Bagadadgi complete (for the most part).

Farewell village

Right after net distributions, it was off to Kolda and then up to Thies for IST. In total, I'll be away from village for a total of three weeks (sad face).

Thank you to everyone for the emails/letters/packages. Loves you!!

--Peace Out

Shooting Stars and Thunderstorms

It's funny how quickly a place can become a home. I now refer to my village and my hut as home. There's something about a place that serves as your home base and where you have a family. When I'm in village, I'm Rouby and everyone knows my name. When I venture out of the safe confines of my village, I am hit with a barage of little children yelling "Tubako" (white person), not acceptable. When sitting under the stars one night, I explained to my group of friends in Pulaar why I get mad when people refer to me as a Tubako (not that they believed that I can get mad...much like some of my friends in the states). I told them that I am a member of a community- I have a Senegalese name, a village, and a family. I'm a resident of the region and am not just a white person. Surprisingly, I was able to communicate this in my limited Pulaar because one of them said, If someone called me "Baleejo" (Black in Pulaar), I wouldn't be happy either.


A Day in the Life of Rouby
Now that I've been in village for a little over a month, I have some semblance of a routine. A typical day in village goes like this...

6:30am- I wake up to the sounds of birds chirping, roosters crowing, and women pounding grain. I lie in bed reading for a bit before I actually get up.

7:30am- I leave my hut after my morning routine and greet everyone in my compound. I sit down with my family and have a simple breakfast of leftover Couscous and Jambo.

** These days, planting/farming season has started, so the men have left the compound to go to the fields and many women go to the rice paddys.

9:00am- I try to get out of my coupound for a few hours at this point. I've walked around my village and started my baseline survey questions. Or I bike to Bagadadgi to greet my counterpart at the health post. Or I bike to my site mate's village to say hi. If I don't do any of the above, I just follow the pack of little children around.

12:00pm- My family returns from the fields and I sit with them. Usually, a couple people from the village will pop over to hang out.

1:30pm- Lunch time!!

2:00pm- Post lunch lounge time. My brother will make tea and the family lies under the shade of our mango tree

3:30pm- I "afternoon" in one of the compounds or people come to mine. I hang out with the kids of my village and I tickle attack them. At this point, I sneak in questions from my Baseline survey.

6:30pm- I waddat esport at this time aka I go for a run (yes...the girl who hates to run has started doing it every day). My village thinks that this is hilarious, but if I go for a run, I don't get harassed about going to the rice paddys.

7:15pm- As the sun starts to set, I take my bucket bath. I also take this time to regroup and to spend some quality time with Wilma =)

8:00pm- I lay on the outside shade structure with my brother, his wife, and their son. A couple of people will come and we'll talk about a variety of things ranging from geography (continent vs. country), to sports (world cup!), to why I'm not married (because I don't want a husband right now....duh!), to whether the Euro or the Dollar is stronger (euro). Other times, it'll be teach Rouby Pulaar time, where they'll point at random things and ask me what it is.

10:30pm- Bedtime. I usually don't actually go to sleep til 11:30 or 12, but I try!


Shooting Stars and Thunderstorms
A year ago, a group of friends and I spent the night on a rock under the stars in Joshua Tree. That night, we saw over a dozen shooting stars and it was a gorgeous site. Here in Senegal, I lie under the stars on a nightly basis and see shooting stars every other night. As much as not having electricity is a slight inconvenience, I don't really miss it that much. I'm reminded on a nightly basis how gorgeous the world is and how electricity takes away from that.

Along those same lines, I'm reminded how scary mother nature can be. The rainstorms here come with a side of thunder and lightening. The flashes of lightening across the sky are like a free light show in a planetarium. However, the claps of thunder penetrate my cement walls and grass roof and terrify me. In the States, where thunderstorms aren't a common occurrence, I loved the flashes of light followed by the low rumbling of thunder. Here, it sounds like the thunderstorm is inside my hut and I'm forced to hide inside my mosquito net with my covers over my head and my ipod on loud. My village finds this absolutely hilarious. I say that the thunder scares me and they laugh at my silliness. This is only the beginning...hopefully I survive the rainy season!


Senegalese meeting
Last week, I was in Kolda for meetings regarding the Universal Coverage Project where the government of Senegal is attempting to provide every sleeping structure with a mosquito net. These three days of meetings were an adventure. First of all, the meetings were slated to begin at 9am all three days- they didn't begin til 11am. I can't say that I was entirely surprised seeing as nothing goes according to schedule in this country. Secondly, the meetings were conducted in French. I can confidently say at this point that my Pulaar is better than my French. Thank goodness that the presentations were in powerpoint format because I can read French better than I can hear/comprehend it. Thirdly, the meetings went on for 7 hours with an hour lunch break in the middle. Seriously!? It was so difficult to concentrate and I was exhausted by the end of it all. I had to focus and then translate the information into English so that I could understand it all.

Good thing though, I know my years of French didn't go to waste. Also, I now am well versed in the goals of the project and am excited to be involved in this endeavor. It's nice to know that I will be doing something more than just sitting around drinking tea. Yay!


Language Seminar
This past week, a language teacher from Peace Corps was assigned to give us a brush up lesson on Pulaar. Three of us newbies convened in Dabo for three days. It was validating to have a teacher here to tell me that my Pulaar has improved. Obviously I can communicated better than a month ago, however, without someone there to assess your language, it's difficult to tell how much improvement has been made. I know for me, confidence is a big hurdle in speaking a new language. When I was learning French, I was great at learning grammar and vocabulary, but so hesitant to speak it. I like to be grammatically correct when I speak, so I would take forever to get a sentence out. Now, I am forced to speak Pulaar if I want to get anything across. I am a lot less worried about being correct than getting my point across. It's amazing that people can understand me. The group I hang out with and children understand me perfectly. If needed, they translate my broken Pulaar into something understandable.


Gender/Age Gap
I find that my friends in village consist of children and boys between the ages of 20-25. Girls in this country often get married at 15 or 16 and have their first child soon after that. As a 22 year old who is a single woman (not even counting the fact that I look different), puts me in a totally different category. I can't relate to any of the women my age. I don't have children and I don't work like they do. I don't mind pounding millet for 10 minutes, but I can't do it for hours at a time. It's a strange dynamic for me because I have solid groups of female friends and have never had trouble making girlfriends.

I've always loved children and I love nothing more than sitting around playing with kids. Also, they don't expect me to know Pulaar instantly or ask me for anything. As for the group of boys that I hang out with, they are the same age group as me and they aren't married and don't have kids yet. They also have the patience to sit around and teach me Pulaar. We'll see whats going to happen in the next two years...hopefully I find my group of girls soon. As much as I like having guy friends, there's nothing like having girl talk.


My mini- America
While I'm in Kolda, I stay at the Peace Corps Regional House- my mini America. Here, I watched the second half of Season 1 of Glee, the US vs. England World Cup Match, and where I can speak English without looking like a crazy person. It's so nice to have a place where the volunteers can go and hang out with each other (the internet is pretty cool too). Village life (as awesome as it is), is really tiring at times, so it's really important that we have this oasis where we can relax and escape a little.


Home isn't frozen in time
As much as I hoped that nothing at home would change while I was gone, so much has happened in the lives of my friends in the three short months that I've been gone. There have been birthdays, graduations, trips, proposals, pregnancies, and life changing decisions. All this has happened in 1/9th of the time I'm away...what's going to happen in the remaining 8/9th of my service?? Only time will tell...

At the same time, I think back to where I was a year ago, at it seems like a lifetime ago. Those were the days when I would take road trips to Vegas with the girls, where my job was to watch a 5 year old, and where I took electricity for granted. Crazy!!

Miss you like crazy and thanks for everything!

--Peace Out