I had another great weekend out of town. We need to fit them in while we can, because I will be going off to my site in less than two weeks! I'll be sending out some sort of mass email with more info about my site, but they recommend we don't post that in public places for fear of identity theft.
That said, I spent this weekend in Dakar, which is the capital city of Senegal and probably the biggest in West Africa. I hadn't really seen it before because we flew in at 4:30 a.m. and left quickly on a bus for Thies. I had been to African "cities" before and so had my doubts about how big Dakar would actually be, but it is every bit a big, urban, modern city as most cities I've been to in Europe or the States. Or at least close.
Now a short break away... a name I've been hearing as a walk or bike down the street since I arrived is 'Toubab' (too-bob). It's actually a nickname for anyone who's French, but it's generally applied to any white face and the kids love to shout it out as you go by. It's not necessarily derogatory, the Senegalese just love to point out their physical differences (it's not taboo hear to point out and laugh about the fact that someone is a different weight or race than you - and noone takes it personally).
Anyway, for everything in Senegal, especially in Dakar where they have more white tourists there is a 'Toubab price). So when I arrived via public transportation in Dakar and had to find a cab to our hotel, the cabs were offered to us at 3000 cfa each (about 6 dollars). This may seem cheap but by Senegalese standards it's outlandish. After some arguing in French and some dramatic storming off I managed to talk them down to 700 each, which is a more appropriate price. The entire weekend pretty much went like this, having to negotiate prices.
My favorite part of the weekend was a meal we ate at 'Point des Almadies) which is the Western most tip of Africa. We ate at a restaurant right on the beach, so last Sunday night I was about as close to you all as I could possibly be while in Senegal. The food was incredibly fresh. You order family style, so we had a platter (we're talking heaped up lunch tray style) of clams come out first, then a platter of raw sea urchins that were still moving - you just have to scoop the goop out of the middle. Then a platter of the biggest muscles I had ever seen. Then, came the skewers of grilled seafood: tuna, lotte (a white fish), huuuuge pieces of calamari, and king prawns. All of this food cost a total of 26 dollars, split among 7 people. So we each paid less than four dollars for the whole thing. Not bad.
Anyway, I have a busy week ahead of me, two men that i'll be working with in my village are in town for a three day workshop, so i'm really excited.
More letters emails and posts!
Love Boubs (another nickname for Boubacar)
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
The Beach and Fritz
First, to answer Dan's questions: I rode my Peace Corps-issued mountain bike. Not all of the gears really work, but it does the job fine. And to be fair, it was 25 miles each way, so 50 total, not 44.
Also, a lot of people seem to want pics. I just found this internet cafe that has comps with usb ports (no Tom Friedman, the world is not flat) so hopefully I'll be able to get some up soon.
Ok, so this weekendall of the people I'm training with went to the beach. For 15 dollars each, I rented a huge 5-bedroom house directly on the beach, had round trip transportation from the training center, and bought enough food to make a spagetti dinner, and to have coffee, tea and bread in the morning, plus snacks. Not a bad deal.
So we took off Sturday right after our morning classes and piled into an "alhum" which is a minibus type of thing that they cram 35 people into and a sept place, which is a station wagon that they put 7 people plus driver into. All luggage obviously goes on the roof. And often the assistant of the alhum driver hangs off the back.
We had a great day of swimming in the atlantic, which is a perfect temp here, and thena fun dinner and a night full of dancing and more swimming. People crammed into beds, slept on couches, and one group even through a couple mattresses on the beach and slept out there.
Sunday was followed by more swimming and small groups making their way to local restaurants for lunch. The local vendors heard we were there and so stoppe by the house with fresh fruit and fatayas, which are little pastrythings stuffed with a little fish and stopped with some sauteed onions. Delicious.
At 5:00 we all had to pack up and go home, although I'm sure i'll make it back there at some point. It was a nice little slice of heaven.
My best friend of the trip was Fritz. Sitting on the beach on saturday a stray dog approached the group I was with. He was light brown and had scars all over his body from countless fights. I obviously started to pet him and he became the trip mascott (although some people refused to touch him). I named him Fritz and he sat down behind me. A couple minutes later I started singing whatever song was in my head and Fritz started singing along with a great howl. I was in love.
He followed us back up to the house and hungout onthe balcony all night, and then he slept ne"xt to the group on the beach and growled and barked at any stranger that walked by. Then on Sunday he followed us all the way to the restaurant and sat under the table while we ate, thenfollowed us back to the house to hang out until we left. He came running every time i whistled. I sadly had to leave him behind, but he will be missed. Good ol' Fritz.
Joxonke lesson of the day: The word for "bike" - nege suwo - directly translated, is "metal horse."
Love you all, and love your comments, don't be shy,
Love Bouba
Also, a lot of people seem to want pics. I just found this internet cafe that has comps with usb ports (no Tom Friedman, the world is not flat) so hopefully I'll be able to get some up soon.
Ok, so this weekendall of the people I'm training with went to the beach. For 15 dollars each, I rented a huge 5-bedroom house directly on the beach, had round trip transportation from the training center, and bought enough food to make a spagetti dinner, and to have coffee, tea and bread in the morning, plus snacks. Not a bad deal.
So we took off Sturday right after our morning classes and piled into an "alhum" which is a minibus type of thing that they cram 35 people into and a sept place, which is a station wagon that they put 7 people plus driver into. All luggage obviously goes on the roof. And often the assistant of the alhum driver hangs off the back.
We had a great day of swimming in the atlantic, which is a perfect temp here, and thena fun dinner and a night full of dancing and more swimming. People crammed into beds, slept on couches, and one group even through a couple mattresses on the beach and slept out there.
Sunday was followed by more swimming and small groups making their way to local restaurants for lunch. The local vendors heard we were there and so stoppe by the house with fresh fruit and fatayas, which are little pastrythings stuffed with a little fish and stopped with some sauteed onions. Delicious.
At 5:00 we all had to pack up and go home, although I'm sure i'll make it back there at some point. It was a nice little slice of heaven.
My best friend of the trip was Fritz. Sitting on the beach on saturday a stray dog approached the group I was with. He was light brown and had scars all over his body from countless fights. I obviously started to pet him and he became the trip mascott (although some people refused to touch him). I named him Fritz and he sat down behind me. A couple minutes later I started singing whatever song was in my head and Fritz started singing along with a great howl. I was in love.
He followed us back up to the house and hungout onthe balcony all night, and then he slept ne"xt to the group on the beach and growled and barked at any stranger that walked by. Then on Sunday he followed us all the way to the restaurant and sat under the table while we ate, thenfollowed us back to the house to hang out until we left. He came running every time i whistled. I sadly had to leave him behind, but he will be missed. Good ol' Fritz.
Joxonke lesson of the day: The word for "bike" - nege suwo - directly translated, is "metal horse."
Love you all, and love your comments, don't be shy,
Love Bouba
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Adventures and Korite
First a couple of clarifications:
1) The man who passed away was not my language trainer. There were two trainers at the site named Lamine. Lamine the Safety and Security Trainer was the one involved in the accident. Lamine the language trainer is the one I spend every waking moment with.
2) The crazy beach weekend is this coming weekend, not the past.
That said, I did take a bike ride to the coast to check out our beach site last weekend. The beach is 25 miles from Dakar, and on Sunday two other guys and I decided to do the round trip in a day. So we packed a couple backpacks full of water and cliff bars and set out at 7 a.m. to beat the sun. The ride there was pretty easy, mostly downhill cause we were going toward the ocean. Got there around 9 - no prob Bob. We spent the day on the beach, got some good lunch of fresh seafood and rice. Had a beer, devoured a watermelon, talked to a few locals and left around 3:00 to be sure we'd be home by dusk.
The ride home was not so easy. Mostly uphill, into a headwind, and after already biking 25 miles and a day in the sun. Ouch. It took us about 3 and a half hours, almost double the trip there. Uncle Dan, if you're reading this, I hope you're proud. It's about 44 miles farther than I had ever biked in a day (the second farthest being the 6-mile loop at French park that I did when I was 7).
Last weekend was also Korite on Saturday. Korite is the holiday marking the end of the month of fasting in Islam, known as Ramadan.
African hospitality continues to impress me:
One of the customs for Korite is to buy new fabric and have a tailor make you new clothes for the day. Then you spend the day with your family eating well, going to the mosque to pray, and visitng other familes to apologize for any wrong-doing you may have done to them and to generally wish them peace.
A friend of mine, whose family I had met once, heard that the majority of my family had gone out of town for the holiday to visit their extended family and so immediately invited me to spend it with them (it turned out that at least 10 people were still at my house, because my family is larger than I can keep track of). Anyway, my friend's family had also heard that I hadn't had the chance to have any clothes made for Korite. When I walked her home on Saturday night they handed me some clothes and I gathered that they were lending them to me to wear the next day.
So on the next afternoon I put on the outfit. It is called a Grand Boubou and is the fanciest of Senegalese outfits. A pair of pants and large shirt that reaches almost to the ground made of the same fabric. I visited my friend's family but brought a change of clothes so I could leave the outfit with them. But as I left they chased me to the door and insisted that I take the clothes as a gift.
Basically, a family I had only met once gave me the Senegalese version of a nice suit, just to be nice.
Sorry if this anecdote was too long, let me know if I should be more brief. I'll try to post again soon about thiiiis weekend's Beach Trip with everyone.
Leave comments galore,
Love Andy
1) The man who passed away was not my language trainer. There were two trainers at the site named Lamine. Lamine the Safety and Security Trainer was the one involved in the accident. Lamine the language trainer is the one I spend every waking moment with.
2) The crazy beach weekend is this coming weekend, not the past.
That said, I did take a bike ride to the coast to check out our beach site last weekend. The beach is 25 miles from Dakar, and on Sunday two other guys and I decided to do the round trip in a day. So we packed a couple backpacks full of water and cliff bars and set out at 7 a.m. to beat the sun. The ride there was pretty easy, mostly downhill cause we were going toward the ocean. Got there around 9 - no prob Bob. We spent the day on the beach, got some good lunch of fresh seafood and rice. Had a beer, devoured a watermelon, talked to a few locals and left around 3:00 to be sure we'd be home by dusk.
The ride home was not so easy. Mostly uphill, into a headwind, and after already biking 25 miles and a day in the sun. Ouch. It took us about 3 and a half hours, almost double the trip there. Uncle Dan, if you're reading this, I hope you're proud. It's about 44 miles farther than I had ever biked in a day (the second farthest being the 6-mile loop at French park that I did when I was 7).
Last weekend was also Korite on Saturday. Korite is the holiday marking the end of the month of fasting in Islam, known as Ramadan.
African hospitality continues to impress me:
One of the customs for Korite is to buy new fabric and have a tailor make you new clothes for the day. Then you spend the day with your family eating well, going to the mosque to pray, and visitng other familes to apologize for any wrong-doing you may have done to them and to generally wish them peace.
A friend of mine, whose family I had met once, heard that the majority of my family had gone out of town for the holiday to visit their extended family and so immediately invited me to spend it with them (it turned out that at least 10 people were still at my house, because my family is larger than I can keep track of). Anyway, my friend's family had also heard that I hadn't had the chance to have any clothes made for Korite. When I walked her home on Saturday night they handed me some clothes and I gathered that they were lending them to me to wear the next day.
So on the next afternoon I put on the outfit. It is called a Grand Boubou and is the fanciest of Senegalese outfits. A pair of pants and large shirt that reaches almost to the ground made of the same fabric. I visited my friend's family but brought a change of clothes so I could leave the outfit with them. But as I left they chased me to the door and insisted that I take the clothes as a gift.
Basically, a family I had only met once gave me the Senegalese version of a nice suit, just to be nice.
Sorry if this anecdote was too long, let me know if I should be more brief. I'll try to post again soon about thiiiis weekend's Beach Trip with everyone.
Leave comments galore,
Love Andy
Monday, October 8, 2007
Some bad news
Today is a sad day at the Peace Corps Training Center.
Last night, our Safety and Security trainer Lamine was killed in a car accident. He left behind a wife, five children, and dreams of one day working for the United Nations. Classes have been suspended for the day and a memorial service planned for this evening.
We will miss Lamine and keep his family in our thoughts and prayers.
Last night, our Safety and Security trainer Lamine was killed in a car accident. He left behind a wife, five children, and dreams of one day working for the United Nations. Classes have been suspended for the day and a memorial service planned for this evening.
We will miss Lamine and keep his family in our thoughts and prayers.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
A Brief History of Senegal (as it concerns me)
I thought I'd fill people in with a little timeline of what's been going on lately.
On September 10th I arrived in Atlanta with 43 other new Peace Corps Trainees (PCTs). We spent two nights at the Sheraton there, doing activites during the day to prepare us for culture shock and to fill us in on the logistics of the flight and our arrival. It was also just a good time to get to know the other kids in the program. In addition to Agroforestry, I am also with kids in programs of Sustainable Agriculture, Small Enterprise Development, and Eco Tourism.
On Sept 12 we flew directly from Atlanta to Dakar, arriving at 4:00 AM and boarding a bus to Thies (pronounced "chess") where i currently live.
The Peace Corps training center, an old French Army barracks, is in Thies. During my first few days at the center we splept there and had some cross-cultural courses and survival wolof classes (wolof is the dominant language, along with french, in senegal).
After 4 days at the center we were sent off in pairs (i ended up alone) to stay with current Peace Corps Volunteers in their villages to get a taste of what our lives would be like and what type of work we'd be doing. I spent 4 days with a guy named Ken in a village of 500 people without power or running water. Vilage life really isn't that bad, but I'm going to have to find a way to supplement the protein in my diet, cuz they're not big meat eaters here.
Then we returned to Thies (pop. about 500,000) and were sent off to live with host families. I live with a huge family of about 20 people who also speak the language I'm learning, which is Jaxonke (you can say Juh Hon Kay). The last name of my family is Cissé, which means chicken, and they have given me a Seneglese name of "Boubacar." In fact, they never even asked what my real name was. As far as they're concerned, I am Boubacar Cissé. They call me Bouba for short, or Bouffs.
I have been living with them for the last couple of weeks, taking classes from 8AM to 6PM M-F at the center and 8am to 1pm on saturdays. Classes are mostly in Jaxonke and Agroforestry, with some cross-cultural, security, and medical training thrown in as well. We started with 44 people in my training "stage" as they call us, but we've already lost 5 who decided they just couldn't hack it.
I'm the only one learning my language, because it's not very common, so all of my language classes (either 4 or 6 hours a day) are one-on-one with my langauge instructor Lamine. Jaxonke is is first language, but he also speaks French, Wolof, Pulaar and Mandinka fluently. He doesn't really speak English, so our classes are conducted in French, which gives me good practice there too.
We are in the month of Ramadan right now, in which Muslims fast from Sunup to Sundown every day. Senegal is 90 percent Muslim, as is my family. On Sundays I do it with them, as I am right now. It should be my last time though, it ends next weekend with a holiday called "Korite," should be pretty fun.
Anyway, I should get going now, running out of internet time. I'm happy here. Going through a little social withdrawal because we're expected to spend most of our free time with our families. But we're allowed to leave Thies on the weekends after Korite, so I took it upon myself to organize a beach vacation. I have rented a huge house directly on the beach for us and all 39 of us are gonna get the heck outta Dodge.
Post your comments, I love to hear from you. And email or me send me letters, I hate the walk of shame from the letter box!
Miss you all,
Love Andy
On September 10th I arrived in Atlanta with 43 other new Peace Corps Trainees (PCTs). We spent two nights at the Sheraton there, doing activites during the day to prepare us for culture shock and to fill us in on the logistics of the flight and our arrival. It was also just a good time to get to know the other kids in the program. In addition to Agroforestry, I am also with kids in programs of Sustainable Agriculture, Small Enterprise Development, and Eco Tourism.
On Sept 12 we flew directly from Atlanta to Dakar, arriving at 4:00 AM and boarding a bus to Thies (pronounced "chess") where i currently live.
The Peace Corps training center, an old French Army barracks, is in Thies. During my first few days at the center we splept there and had some cross-cultural courses and survival wolof classes (wolof is the dominant language, along with french, in senegal).
After 4 days at the center we were sent off in pairs (i ended up alone) to stay with current Peace Corps Volunteers in their villages to get a taste of what our lives would be like and what type of work we'd be doing. I spent 4 days with a guy named Ken in a village of 500 people without power or running water. Vilage life really isn't that bad, but I'm going to have to find a way to supplement the protein in my diet, cuz they're not big meat eaters here.
Then we returned to Thies (pop. about 500,000) and were sent off to live with host families. I live with a huge family of about 20 people who also speak the language I'm learning, which is Jaxonke (you can say Juh Hon Kay). The last name of my family is Cissé, which means chicken, and they have given me a Seneglese name of "Boubacar." In fact, they never even asked what my real name was. As far as they're concerned, I am Boubacar Cissé. They call me Bouba for short, or Bouffs.
I have been living with them for the last couple of weeks, taking classes from 8AM to 6PM M-F at the center and 8am to 1pm on saturdays. Classes are mostly in Jaxonke and Agroforestry, with some cross-cultural, security, and medical training thrown in as well. We started with 44 people in my training "stage" as they call us, but we've already lost 5 who decided they just couldn't hack it.
I'm the only one learning my language, because it's not very common, so all of my language classes (either 4 or 6 hours a day) are one-on-one with my langauge instructor Lamine. Jaxonke is is first language, but he also speaks French, Wolof, Pulaar and Mandinka fluently. He doesn't really speak English, so our classes are conducted in French, which gives me good practice there too.
We are in the month of Ramadan right now, in which Muslims fast from Sunup to Sundown every day. Senegal is 90 percent Muslim, as is my family. On Sundays I do it with them, as I am right now. It should be my last time though, it ends next weekend with a holiday called "Korite," should be pretty fun.
Anyway, I should get going now, running out of internet time. I'm happy here. Going through a little social withdrawal because we're expected to spend most of our free time with our families. But we're allowed to leave Thies on the weekends after Korite, so I took it upon myself to organize a beach vacation. I have rented a huge house directly on the beach for us and all 39 of us are gonna get the heck outta Dodge.
Post your comments, I love to hear from you. And email or me send me letters, I hate the walk of shame from the letter box!
Miss you all,
Love Andy
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