what im up to...

Hellloooo---

Well I have written so many themed blogs over the last months that I never get around to posting. Now today I SWEAR I am going to the cyber and putting this blog up. In challah. (if God wills it- the phrase you end about 50% of sentences with here). Anyways, today I will give you a little overview of current life here.

I have gotten so comfortable here that I do not even think about really reporting about it. Because it is just my life, quoi.

Let’s see—I am finally done with all training and it is now time for me to start my work. The first 3 months here at site in Louga were spent on community integration and language skills. And that was fully a success. My language skills need to come further. But considering I came in not speaking French nor wolof and now I can not only get by, but have conversations with a mesh of both, it is pretty crazy.

So plans for work coming up: Michelle Sylvester scholarship interviews and selection. This involves going to the local middle schools and asking the principal to give me the names and grades of the top twelve girls. Then teachers have to write their recommendations for these girls as well as the girls write essays about what they want to do with their life and why they want to stay in school. Because right around age 11ish girls here tend to drop out of school to do work around the house.

So then I will meet them each individually and talk to them about plans for life and observe their financial situation in their homes.
I choose the top 4 candidates and then a committee within peace corps Senegal will choose the top one or two candidates now for having a year scholarship. Do you want to know how much that costs in American money? 60 bucks, but that is far too much for many here. Especially when women are seen as destined to marry and cook and clean.

So I am thinking about taking the top twelve girls afterwards and do a girls club, a sort of girl scouts. We can meet once a week and talk about life skills, such as decision making, life after school, developing individual personalities. Kids here are not often asked who they are as people, or what they want to be when they grow up. It is foreign, but I ask most kids I spend any amount of time with. Which is about most of my time.

So there is that. And then working with the highschool English clubs. We are putting together a culture night with the centre culturelle here. I am going to teach how to play pictionary. This is good for English practice, a view of American culture, and fun. And they are going to do a play and other things. We start work on that next Monday, in challah. I am doing that in partnership with Adrian, a health volunteer in a nearby village, and Anne Marie, the woman in charge of the “American corner” here at the cultural center in louga. (not to mention she is also my cousin via Thies).

Which reminds me, I need to go visit this one English class again on Saturday that seemed to have promising students.

Then, Jeremiah (urban agriculture volunteer actually in the city with me), Adrian, and I have a meeting with the big radio station here to try to figure out a way to work together and have a radio show run by us. Volunteers in other regions do it and it is a great way to promote important issues and events, ranging from business, health, agriculture, culture,
etc. And also play some music and whatnot. So hopefully that should work out well.


So these are the main current projects I am most excited about here. I really forsee myself working with youth a lot- they have less preconceived notions and are more open to change and formation. And a serious shift in attitude about gender and education is needed. Adults are already kind of stuck in their ways, quoi.

I am becoming more Senegalese every day, it is kind of bizarre. My clothes, my eating habits- they are starting to shift. Well, I mean obviously. But it is kind of interesting that I seem to be one of the few volunteers who kind of prefers being with Senegalese people at this point. Huge toubab events are quite bizarre and we are quite awkward socializers, really. Doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy toubab things too, it is just im instead becoming functional without the things I once required and was once used to.

It is very strange to think about certain things. Last night was an interesting mix of culture moment- me and my two closest peace corps neighbors made dinner together. It was sick- we had fried chicken, salad and mashed potatoes. Insane, right? Well for us. We hadn’t done anything like it since thanksgiving. And haha so we made it all and then made plates out of tin foil (plates- toubab, out of tin foil- not), plopped on the floor (senegalese) and ate it all with our hands, even though there were forks. (not toubab). Using your hand to eat, especially chicken and salad, is so much easier and just better. It is always funny and kind of scary to imagine the reactions of Americans if we were to do some of the African things we now do regularly around them.

The comfort of being here for almost 6 months now is evident. I do things to people in the street, like fake punch people when they don’t know I am not a tourist. And then laugh it off in wolof. And a lot of times when I do stuff and say things in wolof people will know I am American and often guess if I am from the peace corps. We have a good repuation in the country. You don’t see French people speaking wolof. Ok, there is one drunk French guy who does. But I don’t know, tis weird. All I know is living here rocks. I could not imagine dropping by St Louis and Dakar and calling it a day and saying I have seen Senegal. Senegal is awesome. Too awesome for that.

For example, I was just in St Louis a couple of days ago after josh and Liam came to visit me here in Louga. Liam and I went to st louis becase its only an hour from here and my personal fave city in Senegal. So, I meet this security guard when im at the ATM and he says something in wolof and I reply and then he is like woah- come eat. So Liam and I went and ate some lunch with these two guards, no problem. And they actually spoke Mandinka too, which is the language Liam uses. Surprising people with your local language skills is almost always fun, especially is a psychotically touristy city like st. louis. And I can ALWAYS eat at any house, even if I do not know the people. And I get tea all of the time too. From total strangers. This is Senegal. But you woul not know this if you came here and went only to restaurants.

Do I miss good food? Yes. Does the food seem really tasty here now? Yep. Is it even comparable? Nope. Does is matter? Nope. Will I move to another country next? Yes. So I better work on getting turkey sandwiches on wheat bread with cheddar cheese and honey mustard out of my head. Oh and ceasar salad, too. And oreo icecream. Byeeeeeeeeee. Time to eat some rice! And ya know what? I wouldn’t have it any other way.