Celebrations, Counterparts and Crying

First of all, a very happy birthday to my friend Jen C! I'm glad that I was back from Dakar in time to help her celebrate. To add to the festivities (although I'm 99% sure this was due to it being counterpart workshop and not Jen's birthday), we had bissap juice and beignets as a mid-afternoon snack. The Peace Corps has been holding out on us, because everything was delicious. I most certainly ate more fried food then I should have, but I really can't feel bad about it. For those of you who aren't familiar, a beignet is a french pastry. Here, it is pretty much the Senegalese version of a donut. In other words, scrumptious. 


Speaking of counterpart workshop, it was... awkward. And I was only here for part of it. I arrived back at the training center at about 10:00am and counterpart workshop started yesterday morning. It was nice to meet my counterparts (Sadjio Ba and Moussa Jaillo); however, I exhausted my knowledge of the Pulaar language in approximately 15 minutes. This leads me to the last part of the title of this blog entry, crying. I pretty much lost it this afternoon and sobbed for about an hour over the fact that I know NO Pulaar and in 2ish weeks I will be dropped off in a village of 500 people that speak no English. Oh, they do speak other languages. French, Mandinka, the occasional Wolof. Unfortunately, none of that really helps me. The region of the country that I am going to is apparently famous for the plethora of languages spoken there. Many of which, I had never heard of until a few weeks ago (Malinka? Jaxanke?), and none of which, are English. 


As I sat on a bench, crying hysterically to my friend Emma, my language instructor wandered over. I'd like to point out that I had almost stopped crying at this point. He took one look at me and said, "you have been crying." This, of course, caused me to lose it again, and I broke into the loud, ugly kind of sobs that make it sound almost like you're dry-heaving (my apologies for the graphic nature of this description). I was horribly embarrassed and didn't know what to do, neither apparently did Sidy (my instructor). Thank god Emma was there to try and smooth things over. I'm pretty sure the entire training center heard my sobs, as such was the loud volume of my hysterics. Luckily for me, I have another 2 weeks (yikes!) to get a handle on this thing. 


Tomorrow, all 46 Peace Corps Trainees leave for a weekend at the beach. Another cause for celebration. We are headed to Popenguine, where all of us will cram into a house for 24 hours of fun in the sun. Caution: debauchery may ensue. It should be nice to finally have a day in which we can all just relax together and have some fun. PST really does run you ragged. I'll attribute my fragile emotional state to my level of exhaustion if that's alright with everyone. Just remember, words of encouragement are always appreciated, in any form (phone calls, texts, e-mails, letters. You get the idea). 


Asalaa maalekum,
Rachel

Radiology, Senegal Style

Good news everyone, my ankle is not broken nor does it seem that there is any ligament damage. Yes! I have been at the Med Hut in Dakar since about 3pm yesterday and was given an all-clear by the radiologist and PC doctor this morning. On the downside, my ankle/foot does still hurt, but the PC doctor and I have adopted a "wait and see" attitude. If there is no improvement in a week, we will re-evaluate and possibly make an appointment with an orthopedist in Dakar for further evaluation. I'm banking on some serious improvement in the near future, so hopefully, that will not need to happen. In the meantime, I've got a big, black, ugly brace on my leg, but I'll make it work. Maybe this new trend will catch on. If so, I hope the Senegalese nationals name the trend after me. I'm thinking maybe "toubab couture." 

As I type, Peace Corps is trying to figure out when someone can drive me back to the training center. I hope it's today, as I am currently missing our CPW (counter-part workshop). All of our in-country counterparts are at the training center in Thies getting to know us as well as what it is that we will actually be trying to accomplish in the next 2 years. As I did not have a chance to meet either one of my counterparts while I was visiting my site, I am doubly anxious to get back into the swing of things. Keep your fingers crossed that my transportation will be figured out quickly. 

In the meantime, I will take advantage of the air-conditioning and (relatively) fast internet connection. Currently, I have season 1 of Bones downloading on itunes. I'm very excited about that. I have also been able to get my shopping fix, I'm pretty sure I was going through withdrawal. What can I say, everyone has vices and it appears that mine is shopping. Could be worse. Don't worry Mom, I didn't order anything (at least today. That being said, you might want to expect some packages in the mail. All practical items for Africa, if I do say so myself). I was more "window shopping" on the internet. Really, this little sojourn couldn't have come at a better time, as I have also been able to update myself on all things related to the royal wedding. People.com is currently promoting an article entitled, "Kate Middleton: Sneak Peak at Possible Wedding Hairstyle." I would be lying if I said that I wasn't hanging on every word. Tomorrow I will do everything in my power to get online and find a picture of the wedding dress, as I have been waiting for the dramatic reveal for months now. Everyone is saying that there is way less hype surrounding this wedding than there was for Prince Charles and Diana. I can't really comment on that as it is outside of my realm of memory. 

Back to my current situation, if today has taught me anything, it is that I must learn French ASAP. I barely understand anything that the radiology technicians were saying to me. I don't like being in the dark, especially when it comes to personal injury. I was lucky that everyone at the facility was so nice, otherwise I might still be sitting there, trying to figure out if I was done or not. Any suggestions as to how I might speed up the learning process? I feel a little overwhelmed trying to learn French and Pulaar at the same time, but it is becoming increasingly apparent that it is necessary. I'll keep everyone posted on my progress, whether you like it or not. 

Asalaa maalekum,

Rachel

The face of my attacker

Insert blood-curdling scream here, here and here! This is the face of my attacker! Ugly, huh? You would run too if this were chasing after you. Readers, please, no judgement. This is a terrifying creature. 

On the more positive side of this tragedy (just kidding, I'm not such a drama queen and I am acutely aware of the war in the middle east. I would never equate these two instances), my fellow trainees have vowed to avenge my injury. There has even been some talk of taking pitchforks and torches to lead a cat-rat hunt tonight. Honestly, I think most people here just get really bored at night and this gives everyone some sort of activity to focus on. However, I will continue to lie to myself that this is a quest of vengeance, not merely for entertainment purposes. 

The PC Doctor will be here tomorrow and hopefully she will just reinforce that this is only a sprain and the only cure is rest, ice and ibuprofen. Honestly, I find it oddly comforting and reassuring that my clumsiness translates directly from New York City to Senegal. 


Asalaa maalekum,
Rachel

Fight or Flight?

I think that I have officially become a part of my Senegalese homestay family. On Thursday night, there was a knock on my door and my Neene called, "A daanoto?" In english that means, are you sleeping? To which I replied, "no." In came my Neene and 3 of my sisters (Binta, Ami and Aggi). And why did they need me, you might be wondering. Well, because they wanted to give me the awesome complet (traditional Senegalese outfit) that they had made for me! I was so moved and so overwhelmed that I almost started crying. They made me put it on right away and my whole family was so excited to see me wearing it. It's a long skirt (known as a pagne), with a long tunic-like short-sleeve shirt to wear on top, complete with a head wrap. The head wrap is definitely my favorite part. There is a strong possibility that I will be wearing one every day for the next 2 years of my service. What's even more adorable about this situation/gift, is that one of my little sisters has a matching outfit to mine. I will make sure to get a picture of the 2 of us together before I leave. 

Do you like my head wrap?

Aminata (my aunt), me, baby Fatimah, Aggi (my sister), Binta (my sister) and my Neene

On a slightly less happy note, last night I fell and twisted my ankle. Apparently I am just as much of a klutz in Senegal as I am in New York. In my defense, I was fleeing from a direct threat. The human mind must decide between fight or flight, and last night my decision was clearly flight. You see, at the training center we have an animal known as a "bush-weasel." We more commonly refer to it as the "cat-rat." It has the head of a rat, the body of a cat but is low to the ground, and the tail of a rat. It is also the size of a cat. In short, while most likely not dangerous, it is terrifying. 

After my very satisfying skype conversations with SWK and Natasha last night, I was on my way to meet my friends where they were watching "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" on a big projector screen. As I was walking, I couldn't but help get the disturbing feeling that someone or something was following me. I could hear the creature getting closer and closer and once I looked back to investigate and saw the cat-rat, I began to run. I ran past the med hut (while I heard the cat-rat increase its pace behind me) and through the garden beds, and that is where my downfall occurred. I tripped over a cactus and caught my right ankle in one the trenches that we had dug to protect our garden and down I went. I know have a scraped up left knee, some cuts on my right palm and a bandaged and swollen right ankle that hurts when I try to bear weight on it. I think I may see a call to the Peace Corps Medical Officer (PCMO) in my future. 

This morning, Chelsea, Emily, Meredith, Larocha, Emma, Hailey and I all went for Sunday morning brunch to one of the restaurants in downtown Thies. While not quite as satisfying as a four flower mimosa and the lemon ricotta pancakes from Sarabeth's on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, it certainly did the trick for what we were looking for. Also, the cappuccino was excellent. The first decent cup of coffee I've had since I've been here. After that we did a little shopping in the marse (market), where I picked up some pink elephant fabric that I plan on turning into some short of tank top. I think tonight we will see if we can finagle use of the kitchen to cook some sort of a healthy and cheap dinner for ourselves. I'm hoping for pasta with a tomato sauce that has lots of veggies in it. 

In the meantime, I will nap and ice and elevate that darn ankle. I will also do my best to stay away from strange African rodents. 

Asalaa maalekum,

Rachel

The Paris of Western Africa

Today I got my first glimpse of Dakar (and no, driving through it from the airport at 6am does not count). Known to some as "the Paris of Western Africa," it is definitely someplace that I'm going to have to get to know better. If only because of all of the reminders of America. First we went to see PC Senegal headquarters along with our medical unit, known to us PCVs as the "med hut." The med hut is beautiful. It is air-conditioned with a television (that you can watch "Beverly Hills 90210" on) and a library full of trashy romance novels. But that's not even the best part. The best part is that there is a "magic phone" that let's you call America for free! And you can talk for as long as your little heart desires! If I ever do wind up in med, at least I'll have plenty of entertainment. 


I do have to comment a little bit on the lack of organization with today's agenda. We had 2 buses as our method of transportation today and I feel like we should have been doing more head counts. On 2 separate occasions, we left people behind. Once in downtown Dakar. So yeah, that was pretty bad. I would have been fuming if it had been me. 


Downtown Dakar kind of reminds me of Chinatown in New York only on a larger scale. There are a ton of street vendors selling watches, shoes, clothes, etc. And a lot of fresh food markets that smell overwhelmingly of fish and have weird cuts of meat hanging from the ceilings. People also sell interesting things in the streets (literally, in the middle of the street. People come up to your car/bus and bang on the windows). There was one man walking around trying to sell lamps and another who had gigantic lighters. They were almost the size of a newborn baby, which leads me to wonder, who would need such a thing? Isn't portability one of the major benefits of a lighter?


After our exploration of downtown Dakar (which included a stop for the best ice cream I've had since I've been here. Also the only ice cream I've had since I've been here), we headed to the Atlantic Club. This may turn out to be my favorite part of Dakar. The Atlantic Club is for ex-pats and PCVs get in for free! Amazing, right? All you do is show your PC I.D. and the gate opens for you. There is a beautiful pool and a grill that serves American food, not to mention tennis courts, a volleyball court, and a bar. If only I had brought my bathing suit I could have done some laps. I really do miss my swimming. I wonder if there are any pools in Tamba.


We met with a woman from the U.S. Embassy who essentially told us to watch out for people who are trying to use us to get American visas. And then a very nice man from the State Department told us that Senegal is only at the moderate level for terrorist threats, so we shouldn't worry. After that it was off to the police station for finger-printing. So all in all, a very uplifting afternoon. Almost 2 hours later we were back at the training center for dinner. I think we're all pretty exhausted. Tomorrow we go back to homestay for 5 nights. Hopefully I'll be able to get to an internet cafe at some point in there, but if not, I'll make sure to update everyone when I get back on Monday. 


Happy Passover! I'm sorry that I'm not there to share it with family and friends. I miss you all. 

New mailing address

I have a new mailing address, just in case you want to send me something. Hint, hint, hint...

PCV Rachel Lazar

B.P. 320

Tambacounda, Senegal

West Africa

A chicken walked in on me in the shower and other tales from demystification

Emma, Hailey and Me at the regional house

As evidenced from the title of this post, my first story for the past 5 days is fairly self-explanatory. A chicken walked in on me in the shower. When I told the volunteer that I was staying with (Mika) what had happened, he asked me if I felt violated. My response, "not as much as I would have thought." I'm just glad that all it really did was stand there. A few weeks ago when I was on my way to language class at my homestay site, a rooster ran at me and tried to attack. Luckily, I'm faster then I look (at least when being chased by wild animals). 

I've decided that I'm just going to let Africa happen. I'm going to let it wash over me like the waves in the ocean. Very zen isn't it. That was my attitude for my "demystification" experience. That's what the Peace Corps used to call our first visit to site. Now they call it "volunteer visit" but I think demystification sounds a lot better so that's what I'm sticking to. 


I left the training center on Tuesday morning at the ungodly hour of 5am. It was miserable. Luckily, the people that I rode out east with were a lot of fun and not annoying at all (a very hard combination at 5am). The bus first dropped 10 of us off in Tamba and then continued on to the Kolda region (located below the Gambia) to drop everyone else off. We arrived at the regional house in Tamba around 1pm and the party was already in full swing. Almost all of the current Tamba PCVs were there to welcome us. They showed us around the house and took us to get lunch in the city (I'm playing fast and loose with the term "city" since Tamba has about 30,000 people) and after that we all hung out and just had a good time. It was a little bit like the house parties that I remember from senior year of college. 


The regional house in Tamba is pretty cool. It's a little bit what I imagine a hippie commune would look like. A lot of beds, people walking around barefoot, communal cooking space. You get the idea. The roof of the house is also pretty sweet. It's where everyone sleeps during the hot season. We just drag up foam mattress pads from the downstairs of the house and rig up mosquito netting wherever we can. The only down side is that sleeping late is impossible. When the sun is up, you're up. From what I've been told there are about 20-25 PCVs stationed in the Tambacounda region of Senegal. I think that's a pretty good number if you ask me. The Kaolack region is huge. They have over 50 volunteers. I'm not sure that I would be able to handle that. 


On Wednesday, Mika took me back to his site. He lives about 40k from Tamba (30k on a paved road and then 7-8k on a path made of sand via bicycle). It was my first public transportation experience in country and boy was it interesting. Not only would this vehicle (called an "Alhum") not have passed inspection in the states (we could see the road through the floor), but they also crammed way more people in there then was comfortable (both space-wise and heat-wise). I guess I'll just have to get used to that. After we departed the vehicle it was time for the biking. Ugh. But I made it. And I'm sure that 6 months from now, 7k will seem like nothing. 

Mika's village

Mika with one of his sisters

This is where I slept while in village

Mika's village is pretty cool. 150ish people, no electricity, no running water. I didn't mind the no electricity thing as much as I thought I would. When it gets dark, everyone just goes to sleep. Not a bad plan if you ask me. The village has one well and it's really deep so donkeys are used to pull the water. Very interesting when you're seeing it for the first time. Just as we rolled in, Mika's host family had finished his shade structure. What does that mean you ask? It means that we were able to sleep outside in the cool night air as opposed to in an oppressively hot hut. I'm going to have to request a similar set-up in my own village. 

Speaking of my own village, I finally got to see it! Very exciting. It's about 8k on a paved road from the regional house in Tamba and then an additional 2k bike ride off the road. It's a mixed ethnicity site (Pulaar and Mandinka), so this means that I might need to start learning another language. Oh boy. My hut is not yet built, but they did show me all of the concrete blocks that they will be using to assemble my hut. I just hope it's done by the time I have to move it. The section of the compound designated for my hut is in a little corner, so hopefully that will lend itself to increased privacy. Lack of privacy is something that a lot of PC Senegal volunteers struggle with. I did not get to meet the chief/my host father but I did get to meet my host brother who seemed really nice. He showed us all around the village, including the beautiful school bathrooms (it's interesting what excites me here in Senegal...) and the 4-room health hut. 


Yesterday we met up with a bunch of other PCVs and biked to Wassadu, which is on the bank of the Gambia River. Supposedly there are hippos (and sometimes monkeys) that hang out there, but we weren't fortunate enough to see any this time. It sounds like going to Wassadu is a fairly frequent occurrence so better luck next time. 

Marie, Me and Anne at the Gambia River

At Wassadu

Oh the life of a Peace Corps Volunteer

I'll leave you all with another chicken story. On Thursday, Mika and I ate lunch at Shannon's village (she will be the closest volunteer to me at just about 2k). Guess what we were served. A chicken head...stuffed with chicken feet. We gave it back. I'm not quite that integrated yet. 

I make small children cry

Yes ladies and gentlemen, you heard read that correctly. Here in Senegal, I make children cry. Most notably, yesterday, I made 5 children cry. They are terrified of me. In particular, the little boy who was visiting at my homestay, he couldn't have been more than 18 months, and every time he caught site of me, he literally became paralyzed with fear. He would stop mid-bit of food and in one case, in the middle of going to the bathroom. Forget about when they tried to give him to me to hold. You'd think I had been poking him with needles and broken glass bottles. And all the adults think that this is hysterical. The kids are screaming and crying and the adults just can't stop laughing. I'm just going to take it all in stride. I figure I don't really have to worry until I need 2 hands to count up the daily count of crying children. Here's a fun fact for everyone, there is a Senegal urban legend that talks about a witch coming out late at night. If you meet the witch, you either go crazy or die. Guess what color skin the witch has in the story... that would be white. At least this year for Halloween I can just go as myself. 


I had the best watermelon of my entire life the other night. It's funny, in the U.S. I don't even like watermelon, but here I'll take any sort of fruit or vegetable I can get. By the time I was finished eating, I had watermelon all over my. I think my host family thought I was crazy. I don't think they've ever seen me eat so much at one time. It also happened to be the same night that we had salad for dinner (here in Senegal, salad consists of lettuce, caramelized onions, fish, and french fries. Sometimes red pepper if I'm really lucky), so I had already eaten more then my usual 8 bites of food. I hope they forget this instance quickly because otherwise I'll be expected to eat a lot more. They already tell me to "niyam, niyam" ("eat, eat") whenever I put my spoon down. My 5 year-old sister thinks its especially funny to tell me that. She also tries to put more food into my section of the bowl. Here, it's considered rude to reach into someone else's section, so you have to wait until someone tosses some fish or vegetable your way. Now I tease her right back though. Sometimes we go back and forth with the same piece of fish, just throwing it back and forth to one another until my grandmother scoops it up and just eats it herself. 


I went to a Pulaar wedding this weekend. I hope it will be the first of many. It was pretty crazy, but a lot of fun. Everyone was decked out in their Senegalese finest (I felt a little under-dressed in my skirt from old navy and t-shirt. I think it's high time for me to have some Senegalese garb made for myself) and they spared no expense on the food. I think that at least 2 goats were slaughtered, probably even more since it seemed like every Pulaar person within a 30k radius was invited.  There was a ton of dancing and a lot of friendly people that wanted to speak Pulaar to us. I felt bad that my language skills are still not up to par. I'm going to have to work on that. 


Tomorrow, at 5am, I leave for the region Tambacounda. It is located in eastern Senegal, starting north above the Gambia. I plan on taking a lot of pictures so you can expect some visuals sometime soon. I will get to meet my fellow Tamba PCVs and most importantly, get to see my site! I'm super excited and also a little bit nervous. I will also get to meet my in-country counterpart (each PCV has 1-3 in-country counterparts). One of the senior PCVs told me today that my counterpart is really excited and really motivated, so I'm hoping that we'll be able to do a lot of good work together. I'll be back at the training center sometime on Sunday. Wish me luck and send me some love while I'm gone! I'll be thinking of you!


Asalaa maalekum,
Rachel

Kod mi ko Saare Aladji

In English, that directly translates to, my town is Saare Aladji. That's right ladies and gentlemen, we found out our site placements today. In a most dramatic fashion if I do say so myself. After lunch we were all brought out to the basketball court in the training center which has a map of Senegal painted on it. We were given blindfolds and told to put them on and forbidden from talking or making any noises. One by one, we were led by the hand to a place on the map that corresponded to our site placement. Once everyone was at their spot, they told us to take off our blindfolds. The screaming that ensued was ear-shattering, but in a good way. I am in the same regions as several of my good friends; Hailey, Emma (who by the way is psyched because she just found out that the Japanese Peace Corps has a site 18k away from her. She wants to find her Japanese soulmate.), Cady and Hilary. I am also close to several other people that I am very much looking forward to getting to know a lot better (Marie, Nicky, and Anne). 


I will be the first ever PCV in my village. "Oh brave new world that has such people in it!" (that's Shakespeare in case you were wondering. The Tempest) The village of Saare Aladji is located in the Tambacounda region of Senegal. Since I am learning Pulaar, I was actually expecting to be placed up north, in the Linguere region, as I was under the impression that that is where most of the Futa (Pulaar) people live. But instead I will be located in the south central part of the country, above the eastern most part of the Gambia. I will be about 8 hours away from Dakar, but my site is only about 10k away from the regional capital which is where the PC transit house for the region is. I could not be happier about this. Even though my direct site will not have electricity or running water, I will only be about a bike ride away from civilization. I've been told that in the city you can even find cheese. Yay!


According to the information I have, my village has approximately 500 people living it in. I will be living in the compound of the village chief, and supposedly my hut should be ready for me by the time I swear in as a PCV (they're just wanted for Peace Corps to bring them the necessary supplies). I will have a thatched roof and a cement floor, as well as locks on my door and a fenced in backyard. Pretty swanky for Senegalese village standards if you ask me. I've also been told that it is a village with many animals, so there may be a horse in my future.


I'm thrilled to report that my closest PCV will only be 1k away from me! There are also 3 other PCVs that are about 10k away. Each in a different direction of course. But I figure I could bike 10k in about an hour. Ok, maybe 2 until I get the hang of biking on roads made of sand. I hope to have some killer leg muscles by the end of my 2 years of service. 


On Tuesday I will leave for a 5-day "volunteer visit" with a current PCV that lives close to my village. I talked to him on the phone today and I'm really excited for next week. He said that we'll get to see the Gambia River, my site and possibly even some cool wildlife (lions and tigers and bears, oh my!). I mean, this is Africa after all.


Asalaa maalekum,
Rachel

The best RPCV ever is...

...Kate Daignault!!! For the amazing care package that she sent me, which I received today. I've never been so excited to see a Cosmopolitan magazine in my entire life, not to mention the candy that came with it and the amazing letter! I'm going to save the magazine for when we go back to homestay on Friday or possibly to take with me next week when we go on our 5-day volunteer visits. Another thing that I received in the mail today, a "save the date" card for Jackie and Seth's wedding in September. I'm so thrilled for them that I can't even express it in words, but I'm also sad because I'm not sure if I'll be able to share the special day with them. I'll have to wait and see. 


I'm so excited to be here and have this amazing opportunity, but I can't help but feel sometimes like I'm missing out on things back home. Don't forget about me guys! I miss you all so much! 


We had our first language exam this morning and I think it went as well as it could have gone. Hailey let me switch time slots with her so I was able to go first thing in the morning so I could get it over with. I get the tenses (past, future and present) and the sentence structures, now I just need to cram as much vocab into my head as humanly possible. I did mix up the verbs for "to dance" and "to come." I was trying to say that I like to dance alone in my room in the morning, but that's not how it came out. I did do a dance motion while I was saying it though, so hopefully I got my point across. Here's an interesting little fact for all of you; in Pulaar, the future tense and the present tense are exactly the same. You have to make sure you use a time marker (today, tomorrow, next year, tonight) so that people know what context you are trying to get across. 


One of our sessions today dealt with emotional health and yoga. I wish I had thought about yoga as a form of exercise before I came over here. It's obviously something that's very easy to do alone in your hut or with another PCV. If anyone wants to send me a yoga mat, it would be greatly appreciated. I might even repay you with an authentic Senegalese postcard. Ooh la la. Anyway, picture 45 PCVs all trying to do yoga at one time on the hard, dirty tile floor in one of our tech rooms. It was interesting. I definitely kicked someone in the face. BY ACCIDENT! Just to make that clear. Who knows, by the end of this 2 year stint I might be a hard core yogi guru. I hope I can do that thing where you start sitting cross-legged on the ground and wind up in a full on handstand. Hey, a girl can dream can't she?


Tomorrow are our site announcements. To say that I'm nervous would be an understatement. I am full-on terrified! I have a feeling that sleep is not so much in the equation tonight. Keep your fingers crossed for me that I get a good site. I'll let you all know how it shapes up. 


Asalaa maalekum,
Rachel

Fuki Jay, Everybody Dance!

Can you believe that I've been in Senegal for 1 month? Sometimes I can't that's for sure.

I've made it back from the longest stint at our PST homestay. I think that bodes well for me. I keep hearing that the two week stretch is the hardest to deal with and adjust too. I think I've finally nailed down most of my family, including names and how everyone is related to me. I say mostly, because we've had some turn over in the past few days. A few days ago, I had two little sisters and then all of a sudden a few days ago, they were gone and now I have two little brothers. I hope this change isn't permenant, because my sister Ami (she's 10ish) is totally awesome and very patient with me and my lack of language skills. This leads me to answer a question that I've gotten several e-mails on over the past two weeks, I know this may come as a shock to you but no, I am not yet fluent in Pulaar (please see previous post for clarification). Shocking I know. Especially with my amazing ability to learn languages in the blink of an eye (just in case it wasn't clear, that was a joke). We have our first language exam on Wednesday morning and I am super nervous. By the end of PST we need to be at an Intermediate-Mid level, hopefully I can make it.

There were some high points and low points of the last two weeks (as their usually are in life) but I'm happy to say that I made it through none the worse for wear, just a little dirtier than my usual NYC self. I've received some e-mails over the past several weeks asking me what the hardest part of this whole experience is and I will now address said question. Dirty feet. I know that sounds ridiculous, but i'm only being honest. The dirty feet are a low point. As I'm sure many of you know, I'm not a fan of clean feet (and that is putting mildly) adding on sand and dirt and lack of showers just exacerbates the entire thing. It will definitely take some getting used to. 

Now for a high point. Sidy (my LCF) and Sahir (the LCF for the other language group in my CBT site) finally gave in and took us to the beach. Man, being so close and yet so far was such a tease, but we finally wore them down. I will preface the rest of this story with a warning.  Do NOT take Doxycycline on an empty stomach. You will get nauseous and you will vomit. I won't give any more details on that particular subject. But I digress. After a harrowing sept-place ride (we almost hit a goat) we had lunch at a restaurant near the beach. It was unfortunate for me that I was not able enjoy what I ate. However, I perked up once we saw the ocean. I love the waves! It was fantastic! The beach was not crowded and very clean. I've come to appreciate clean so much since I've gotten to Senegal because there is trash almost everywhere here. Apparently Senegal does not have any sort of trash collection system. The beach was followed by pizza and soda, so pretty much just your average day in LBI. Sort of.

Here's a cultural note for everyone reading. Most of the markets here in Senegal have what is called a "fuki jay." I'm pretty sure the literal translation is, "dead white man's clothes." It's essentially Senegal's version of the salvation army. Let me tell you, there are some amazing finds here (just make sure you wash before wearing, no one wants scabies) for about 500 CFA or $1. The t-shirts specifically are fantastic! Some really amazing finds. I also like to think of "fuki jay" as a kind of awesome Senegalese dance. They do this one dance here called "Youssa," I'm going to try and film my two little sisters doing it. They are too cute. 

I'm trying to upload some pictures, but the internet connection here is pretty bad. I'll keep working on adding more.

The house I live in inside my family compound

The door to my homestay compound

One of the mango trees

We eat breakfast in here

My room!

The toilet

The shower

The well

My little sister, Fatou

Asalaa maalekum,
Rachel