Bismillah 2011!

Wow! Another year came and went--Au revoir 2010; you were a good but hectic year. It's hard to believe that we are saying good-bye to a year that feels like it barely just begun.  As the new year approaches I would like to dedicate this blog post as a reflection on all the events that occured in my life during 2010:

I went back to working full-time on the NPIC contract at my job at the time (which was amazing because we all dropped down to 32 hours with the bad economy during slow times); therefore allowing me to pay off my visa credit card balance from my travels abroad during 2008.  I also obtained two other amazing part-time jobs teaching as a dance workout instructor at 24 Hour Fitness and Pure Fitness.  Teaching dance has been one of the BEST jobs I've ever had...i miss it terribly.  I met some AMAZING people in my classes!  I loved going to work, and I was in the best shape of my life so far (which I can honestly say, I am no longer in the same shape because I live off white rice and oily sauces here). I've gained an estimated, unwanted 6 pounds....In two years I hope to go back to teaching--inchallah. :)
In addition, I sold my beloved car Scarlett to my awesome uncle, I sold my furniture to my co-worker before his marriage, and I gave my father my cellphone literally 15 minutes before boarding a plane to Washington DC for staging, which he does not use.  I packed up my entire life and everything I own and crammed it into a small closet in my parents spare bedroom to sit and collect dust for the next two years. I had a month and a half during the summer to wrap up life and tie up loose ends in the United States and get ready for a new one in Senegal.  I spent some time with friends, family, Mike, Tiffany, and of course Mael. I moved to another continent, relocated to Thies, then Mbour and finally Kounkane. I learned a new language in 4 months (it's still pretty rough, but I can get around).  I learned how to use a squat toilet/douche and take bucket baths. I've been sick on and off since I've arrived in country, but love every minute of this experience. I celebrated a series of my first Muslim holidays including: Korite, Tabaski, Ramadan, etc. I've tried new dishes, traveled around most of Senegal, learned how to use public transportation and get around in a third world country. I've learned how to kill cockroaches instead of screaming and running in the opposite direction, which is what I used to do in the USA. I've gained two new sets of families: the Diallos and the Baldes. I drank more Attaya that anyone should in a lifetime.  I've met some really amazing people who I serve with in the Peace Corps including my bffs in country: Ali and Pam! I said good-bye to my family and boyfriend knowing I probably won't return to the USA in the next two years.  And I worked my butt off for 8 months trying to save enough money to pay my private loans while I'm gone, and was only successful in saving enough for 15 months (not bad, considering my short window of time). I also read lots of books including: The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo, The Girl who played with Fire, The Other Boelyn Girl, On Love, The Girl with the Pearl Earring, The Kite Runner, Eat. Pray. Love, and The Hours.
Wow! There's so much more too, but I figured I'd just highlight the more interesting stuff.  Yes, 2010 was a good year: a transition year.  But here I am now in Senegal until October 2012, and I'm so very happy to be here.  I hope I can accomplish a lot in 2011!  I wish everyone has an amazing New Year's celebration! I toast to a happy year and good health for everyone! May it be a prosperous year! Best wishes for 2011! Bismillah! :)

Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone had an amazing Christmas!!! :) Can't believe it has already past!  My Christmas was good! I spent a week in Dakar with some amazing people! We spent some time on the beach, eating great food, and passing the time with Peace Corps friends and family :)  It was such and expensive week, but it was definetly worth it :) We even went to the French cultural center to watch a film. We saw "A Nightmare Before Christmas" in French--it almost felt like Christmas with the movie and the xmas lights! Good times!  Towards the end of the week, Ali, Jes, and I left the PC regional house and stayed at the third year apartment that our friend Darren let us use while he went home to America for the holidays.  Thanks Darren!  :)  We spent Christmas eve eating cheese and crackers by candlelight and enjoying the beautiful view of the dark city and ocean from the window of the apartment.  We even made "dirt"--Ali's recipe: chocolate pudding, crushed Oreos, and gummy worms. Yes, very nutritional :) hahahaha! It was fun! 
Christmas day was great, even though we were so far away from our families.  We served appetizers of cheese and crackers, chips and dip, fresh veggies, and wine.  For the main course, Ali and I cooked a giant dinner of pesto pasta with mushrooms and artichoke hearts and l'emmental cheese, a fresh green bean salad with tomatos, carrots, green bell pepers, and other veggies drizzled in balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  Ali used some fresh olive bread and made a buttery garlic sauce to garnish it. :) For dessert we baked a chocolate cake (from a bag) and put out a box of assorted xmas cookies to accompany our vin chaud (mulled wine).  We ate so much, but it really was a nice dinner!  We really wanted to bake some Christmas cookies but we couldn't find chocolate chips, baking powder, graham crackers (or anything remotely similar), and the shredded coconut was too expensive for our "village pay" But we still had a pleasant enjoyable Christmas at Darren's borrowed apartment.  It just six of us celebrating together: Me, Ali, Jess, Mohammed (Ali's friend from Niger), my host brother Djiby, and a random Senegalese man that Mohammed invited and I forgot his name (We share everything in Africa--it's part of the culture, so it wasn't really a big deal that we had a stranger at our Chrismas dinner). 


Random Senegalese man, Jes, Mohammed, Ali, and Djiby on Xmas dinner

After the big dinner, Jess and I found some Talibe (children that beg for money on the streets in the name of their Maribou, or Islamic leader).  We brought down a few bowls of food to feed the Talibe.  They seemed to enjoy it :)  The kids are so cute and they all speak pulaar.They were given away by their parents for various reasons (oftentimes because they can't afford to take care of them) and sent to Islamic school to study the Koran. Part of their "learning" is to go on the streets and ask for monetary contribution for their Maribou. Some of it is legitamate and the kids are well taken care of, and sometimes, like most things, corruption plays a big part.  It breaks my heart sometimes to see the Talibe, but I know it's culturally acceptable and it's something I have to respect and realize it's just different from my culture....

The Talibe eating some Christmas dinner

Well, Merry Christmas to all of you! I miss you a lot!  I'm currently in Tambacounda for 2 days and then I'll be heading to Velingara tomorrow to check for care packages! :) yea!  Next stop is Kolda for New Years then back to site!  Wishing everyone a beautiful Christmas season full of love and happiness!  xoxoxo :)

In-Service Training....

En jaraama from Thies!  Yes, I'm still here....I'm almost done with my in-service training.  It's like being in school again.  I have 4 two hour sessions a day: two in the morning and two after lunch.  We have been learning various things.  I've had learning sessions on food transformation (yea!!! definetly a potential project for me), sector collaboration, creating GIEs, teaching business consulting, accounting for the illiterate, and much much more.  My mind is on overload; I've been learning so much!  Tomorrow me and two others in my program have to do a presentation in French over calculating costs.  It should be interesting....But I'm almost done with training--saturday is the last day.  It's been a little hectic, but I really have enjoyed some of the sessions.  I feel like I'm learning quite a bit, and I'm starting to get some ideas of projects I can do at my site. :)
Last weekend we had a field trip to Dakar for the Artisinal Expo!  I had so much fun there and bought way tooo much!  There were various pieces of art made by local artisans in Senegal.  I bought some jewlery and greeting cards!  I couldn't help myself; the artisans created some beautiful things!  There were also various art works including: Basaari masks, hand-crafted wooden chairs, Senegalese style clothes, and and assortment of home-made jams and juice concentrates in local fruits like bissap, tamarind, etc. I saw a lot of wood carved figurines and paintings too!  There was a large selection of beaded, hand-made jewlery like bracelets, earrings, and necklaces also. Check out some of the goods I bought!  It was a fun way to pass a saturday afternoon, and it was amazing to see what some of the local artists create.

 

Some of the bracelets I bought at the expo



Artisan Expo

So what's left on the agenda??  Well, today is technically New Year's Day for the Muslim calendar. I missed the party last night because I'm away from my family.  There's always next year right?  I am done with training on saturday, and then I'll be heading up to Dakar for a week to celebrate Christmas with my Peace Corps family!  Stayed tuned for a more interesting blog--inchallah! Bisous! xxx










Left site for the month...

Happy December!!!
Can you believe this year is almost over? I can't.  So it is December and I'm approaching my fourth month of service (including training).  What have I been up to since my Thanksgiving feast you ask?? Well, I went back to site and my family showed up with a beautiful puppy!  They named him Chocolat (pronounced the french way) and he is the typical Senegalese dog that you see everywhere: white with brown spots.  He is adorable, and by default he officially became my puppy.  I will probably be the only one who will take care of him. But he is so cute; I just couldn't resist. He better be a good dog--inchallah. 

I spent a few days at site, left for Tamba, and spent the night there.  We had to head up to Thies for the All volunteer conference, and because I live so far away in Kolda, I spent two days getting up there.  The All Vol conference was a two-day conference where all the volunteers in Senegal and a few from the Gambia, Togo, and Burkina Faso congregated for learning and sharing information.  I learned a lot of new things, and the conference made me eager to start working.  I even went on a bee keeping field trip. Nice.  When the conference ended, my stage stayed in Thies because we have our in-service training for the next two weeks.  I've been learning lots of interesting SED stuff.  I really can't wait to start working. 

Well, I am missing site.  I really love it down south.  Now I"m in Wolof country and I don't speak the language.  Sometimes I can find a few random pulaar speakers scattered throughout the city, but I usually have to switch to French.  One positive thing I have discovered is that my Pulaar has improved tremendously!  This past sunday, I went back to Mbour with Ali and Pam to visit our PST family (when I was still a Diallo).  I was able to hold on a conversation with them for a long time; I have indeed improved in the last 5 weeks! Yea!!! I still have a lot to learn, but it is always refreshing and encouraging to know that I have made improvements.  :)

I hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas season!  I am missing that--it is seriously non-existent here...maybe in Dakar I can find some Christmas-y things?? I'll keep y'all updated!

Sending love from Senegal! xxx



Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving from Senegal!!!
Today was an awesome day! I feel incredibly sick as I'm writing this blog entry.  I haven't felt this full since I left the USA! I had two rounds of dinner and I'm waiting to devour dessert, after some waiting time of course.  There's no way I can eat anything else right now.  So I'm here in Kolda for Thanksgiving, and I'm celebrating with the other volunteers in the region! We spent the day cooking and baking.  For the actual dinner we had stuffing, candied sweet potatos, garlic mashed potatos (vegetarian and non-vegetarian), green bean casserole, cranberry sauce (shipped from the USA), salad, corn, watermelon, garlic breadsticks, roasted chicken, and turkey. YES! We actually had a turkey for the holiday, thanks to me and my girl Ali!  It's a little ironic too because I'm a vegetarian, and she is semi-vegetarian, but we were the ones who went out of our way to get a turkey.


Geoff getting ready to cut the turkey.  Check out all our food!

 



Geoff and Meg cutting the turkey



The story is incredible! On monday, Ali came to Kounkane and told me that she needed to go to a nearby village to check out a turkey for Thanksgiving.  Yes, a live turkey.  I decided to accompany her and in the late afternoon, we set off to buy a turkey for the Kolda region.  We biked to her village Goundaga to get some directions, and then we set off by bike.  We biked about 15k using a bush path full of rocks, trees, cows, and sand.  It was a rough road but we eventually got to our destination of Saare YeroBa, a small village in the backlands of Senegal, West Africa.  The village itself probably housed like 30 people or so.  We arrived and found the house of a Samba Balde who apparently owned the turkey.  We talked with his family in Pulaar and told him how we biked all the way out there to buy his turkey for our American holiday this upcoming thursday.  We argued and negotiated with the price and we were finally able to agree on 15,000cfa or 30 dollars for a live turkey--under the condition that they package him up tight and put him on Ali's bike.  The family gave us a broken bucket and a tattered pair of pant to transport the turkey.  They tied his legs, put him on the pants, and then placed him in the bucket, which they tied with elastic to the back of Ali's bike.  We started to go back to Ali's village, but the road was rough and bouncy.  The turkey fell of the back and I was following Ali, so I had to serve and throw myself into the bushes so that I didn't kill our future dinner.  Ali and I re-fastened him to her bike and continued on.  Not 10 minutes later, the turkey fell of the bike for a second time. It was horrible!  We re-tied the elastic and put him back on the bike.  We then walked to the next village, and begged the people there for assistance.  They were amazing and tied some wood onto Ali's bike to stablize the turkey.  They also gave us a basket to switch out the broken bucket and gave us extra elastic to secure the animal.  It worked!  We made it back to Goundaga in the evening, and I was forced to bike back to Kounkane in the dark, but I did make it home safetly.  :)  It was quite an adventure and something I never thought I would ever do in my entire life?? Bike out by bush path to the middle of nowhere Senegal to buy a live turkey?? Really?  Yes, I did do that, and it's a pretty bad ass story!  Plus all the volunteers here were very happy we did--apparently he was delicious! We named him Hirande (which means dinner in Pulaar) and we enjoyed his company for a few days until this morning when my site mate, Geoff killed him and deep-fried him.  It was an enjoyable Thanksgiving though, just done Senegalese style :) 



Hirande (dinner) that Ali road with on the back of her bike



Hirande getting deep fried



I can't wait for dessert!  We have pumpkin pie, apple crisp, carrot cake, and egg nog! Pam and I made the carrot cake and egg nog.  For the dinner, I made a giant salad with homemade dressing and I bought a watermelon for some fruit!  

The carrot cake that Pam and I made!

I hope you all have an amazing Thanksgiving and that you enjoyed my little Thanksgiving tale! Eat lots of food and give thanks for all the many blessings God has given us!

Sending love from Senegal!!! :) xoxox

Tabaski!

Hono Wai de Senegal! So Tabaski, probably the biggest Muslim holiday was a week ago on Nov. 17th.  It's basically a two day holiday, and my host family in Kounkane was so excited!  I spent the day before Tabaski preparing.  My host sister Ndiole apparently is the best person in Kounkane to do your hair, so I had her braid mine.  Something that you see often for holidays here is Senegal is Henna tatoos, or what we call Fudon in pulaar.  I bought some at my host mom's boutique and my sister put it on for me.  It takes seriously 5 hours to get the henna the perfect tint.  I sat in a chair the whole day waiting for it to dry.  My sister put it on the bottom of my feet and on my left hand, but not on the right because we use our right hand to eat.  So I literally sat in a chair under the mango tree with plastic bags around my feet and my left hand.  It was a long day....but I think the braids and henna came out beautifully :) Check out my pics on fb.  I will probably never do henna in Senegal again, takes too long.



So Tabaski finally arrived.  I woke up early with my family.  We ate a pre-breakfast, which was mooney!  I love mooney.  It's like a millet pouridge.  My family added a little sugar, sour-milk, and lime juice.  I love love love it.  After the pre-breakfast, the boys got all dressed up in their new clothes and went to the mosque to pray.  I hung out with the women and peeled potatos and onions.  When the men came back it was time to slaughter the two sheep my family had bought the day before--both sheep were tied outside of my hut still alive :(  poor sheep.  My brothers dug two holes to drain the blood, and they all participated in holding down the sheep while my uncle cut their throats.  They let the blood drain into the holes until the sheeps' lifeless bodies were still. It was terrifying to watch, but I took pictures for you all to see. 

After the sheep were killed the men hung the carcass from the tree and began to skin and disect it for cooking and eating.  For breakfast we ate bbqed sheep parts with french fries and a delicious onion-y sauce.  For lunch we ate more sheep with the same delicious sauce and potatos.  We ate everything with our hands and slices of bread.  For dinner, we had left over lunch.  There was so much food (meat really), it was like a Senegalese Thanksgiving day.  I spent most of the day watching my family pull apart the sheep carcasses.  It was a rough day for a vegetarian....I did actually have to eat some sheep.  :(

After lunch, we cleaned up and got dressed up in our new clothes that we had made at a local tailor.  I went around with my brothers and sisters greeting the neighbors and showing off our new clothes.  I looked very Senegalese! :)  The children in the neighborhood went around asking for Salybo, which is technically suppossed to be money.  I opted for handing out candy.  The kids seemed to enjoy that. :)  We took lots of pics so check them out on fb :)


The second day of Tabaski was kinda like the first.  The kids got dressed up in the early afternoon again and went throughout the neighborhood asking for Salybo.  At this time I was out of candy though and had to turn them away.  We ate more sheep, but this time it was the left over body parts.  Lunch was white rice and a leaf sauce served with the heart. liver, and other vital organs.  Dinner was the worst.  Couscous (yum), but the sauce was a bloody red color and contained the intestines, stomach, and the head which still had the brains in it.  I couldn't eat it.  It's been like 7 years since I had meat and going straight for brains and intestines was just something I couldn't handle.  I ate straight couscous and sauce.  Maybe next year I will be brave enough to tackle the different parts of the sheep, but this year I couldn't do it.  Overall, my first Tabaski was pretty awesome!  My henna will last about a month and the braids, well, I'll probably take 'em out today!  :)
'Til the next post! :) xxx

Care Packages!!! :)

Hey loves!
Salut from Senegal! :) I am still hanging out in Velingara for a fulakunda language seminar!  I'm taking advantage of the wifi at the hotel and the cheap beer!  The wifi is fast and I can upload photos fairly quickly.  So with the holidays coming up, I've been hoping for some care packages.  If you send them, use a flat rate box via USPS, it's cheaper, but at the same time sending anything to Senegal is super expensive.  I think the cheapest/smallest box runs like 35 to 40 dollars depending on from where you send it. Boo! But if you choose to send them I have included a wish list on this blog posting along with my address for the next two years.  If you don't send a package, letters are always appreciated. I'd love to hear from you guys!
Please send any mail for me to:

B.P. 157
Velingara
Senegal
West Africa

Thanks!  My wish list includes but is not limited to:
-fruit snacks
-gummy bears or worms
- Life savers
-Peanut m&ms
-Goldfish crackers (whole grain plz)
-wheat thins reduced fat (if they fit in the box. If not it doesn't matter)
-Luna bars and/or Cliff Bars
-Triscuits
-itunes gift card (my music is getting old and I can redeem them online)
-Vegan cookies (from Trader Joes)
-Trader Joe's Trail mix
-Miso soup packets and asian soup mixes
-Peppermint patties (xmas addition)
-Any Xmas candy
-Red vines
-Cheezits
-Chocolate Muesli
-Rice Krispy Treats!!!

Thanks guys! Next post will be about Tabaski! :) It'll be more interesting than this post.  Missing the USA like crazy, especially American snack food! hahaha!
Gros bisous! xxx

Home for the next two years!

Greetings from Senegal!!
Well I'm technically all settled in my new site Kounkane!  I'm loving it here.  I've been here for almost three weeks, and my new host family is great! My new name is Salimatu Balde....they call me Saly for short :)  I have one mom and she is the head of the house hold (She has the exact same name as me). I have about 15 people that live in the compound with me.  I have my own hut in the compound. It's super cute!  The walls are blue and it's almost all set up.  I still have some more things to buy for the room like a mirror, and I want to hang a shelf over my table.  It's not completely finished but it's slowly coming along.  My amazing ancien planted some trees in my back yard and she was able to create a beautiful shade structure.  I sit out in the back yard every morning under this shade structure and have breakfast out on my cot!  It's so beautiful out there!  Thanks Dorothy! :)  Check out my pics!

I was having an issue with finding rat poop on my mosquito net every morning so I hung up some material over my bed to prevent it from landing on me during my sleep.  No need for that. :(  Kounkane is great.  The language is slowly coming, but my family is great to help out with teaching and correcting.  My aunt Fatimata is probably the greatest cook in Kounkane!  I eat really well here.  I'm actually worried about gaining weight here...crazy right? 
I have two and a half more weeks here at site to complete our five week challenge.  I think I can make it.  Kounkane is great and I've enjoyed the last two weeks here so far.  Right now I'm in Velingara for a 4 day language seminar.  I really need to improve my Fullakunda.  It's nice to be in a bigger city for a few days. I have a post office, bank, hotel with wifi, and a pastry shop!!!  It's nice to have access to those things for a few days.  Oh and on a high note, the electricity is finally back on all the time in Kounkane!  It was officially fixed last night!  And I have internet at my site!  Let me know if you guys want to schedule a skype chat! :)  Tabaski is next week and Thanksgiving is the week after! Can't wait!  Oh and it's getting much cooler here in the evenings and early mornings.  I was actually cold last night and it woke me up from a dead sleep!  Crazy! I should have a new posting soon! 

Sending love! xoxoxo

Isn’t it Ironic??

We made it down to Kolda!!! Yea! My new home for the next two years!  I love it down here.  We got here on Saturday the 16^th and stayed at the regional house for about 3 days.  We had to get situated and buy a bunch of stuff to move into our new homes. My ancien Dorothy is seriously the most amazing person in PC Senegal.  She left me so much stuff so I really didn’t have to purchase very much.  Here is a very big THANK YOU to my girl Dorothy!  She did some amazing work here, and it’s an honor to be your replacement! J Thanks to her I already had a bed frame, table, bookshelf, a trunk to store all my crap, and a gas tank that still had gas!! Wow! There were even a ton of goodies inside the trunk! Thank you! Jaraama buy!

I ended up buying a ton of buckets, a really good mattress, a cot, and some material to hang over the doors of my room.  There are still lots of things I want to buy, but I’ll update that on another blog. J  We left Kolda même on Tuesday and spent the night in Velingara (the closest city to me).  Ali, Curtis, and I had to stay at a hotel, which for Africa, was incredibly nice.  It was quite ironic though because when we got here we saw the sign that said air conditioning and wifi!  We were so excited! Unfortunately for us, the one night we would actually be able to spend in a hotel was like living in the village (Pretty much every night I’ve had since I’ve been to Senegal, not including the training center in Thiès).  Apparently the Velingara area was having trouble with electricity; it had been out for 2 whole days by the time we got there.  So we were unable to use the air conditioning L  Ali and I spent the evening talking by candlelight; we joked about how romantic it was. 





The best part about our hotel stay was that they had an English toilet with the option of a seat—check out the seat behind the toilet.  For the record: I made Ali pose for this picture with the toilet J haha! Love you Ali!  Oh and the Velingara area is still having issues with the electricity, I’m writing in the dark right now!  Haha!  Well I’m settling in here in Kounkané, I’ll put up a post about that soon!  I’m trying to get internet; my ancien Dorothy left me her internet device (Thanks again!) Unfortunately I can’t get it to work (hence the simultaneous blog posts).  Inchallah, I get this working soon!  Miss you guys!  Sending love from Senegal! Xoxoxo



Ko mi Wolunteer Corps de la Paix!

 Hey guys! So I’m officially a PCV!  Yea!  Training is finally over!  I seriously felt like this day was taking forever to get here.  But we swore in—on October 15^th.  We all had to dress up nice in our traditional clothing: that meant complètes for the women and bubus for the men.  Check out the photos!  We had such a great time in our Senegalese clothes (oh and BTW, my outfit was the same one I used for Korité).  So all of us volunteers went to Dakar and sore in at the US ambassador’s house.  The ceremony was about two hours and it consisted of numerous speeches including 4 from volunteers in the local languages: Wolof, Pulaar, Seerer, and Mandinka.  It was pretty cool to see some of our own present; they did such a great job.  After the ceremony we all had food.  It was primarily “finger food” because it was small individual sizes, but it was delicious.  I pigged out on desserts!  There were BROWNIES! (more of a cake-like consistency…I prefer the fudgy ones, but it definitely satisfied the craving!)  I seriously ate like 4 of them in addition to the apple tarts and what looked like a lemon tart but tasted coconut-y and a little like cheesecake dessert (not sure what it was).  So worth it!  When it officially ended we headed to the main office for paperwork and followed that with an hour or so of swimming at the pool in Dakar!  We eventually made it back to Thiès for a late dinner (I ate pizza), and most of us “new” volunteers spent the rest of the night dancing at a Senegalese discothèque—which was super fun!  I stayed out ‘til four am dancing then came back to the training center to shower and finish packing. My group left for Kolda 2 hours later…..it was an amazing day! J

Me and my Fulakunda group.  We've been learning the language with our two LCF for the last two months!

Me and my roomies at the Thies training center: Kelsey, Me, Meagan, and Liz

Thank you luncheon for host families!

So today in Thies we hosted a thank you lunch for one member from each of the host families who opened their home for us future PC volunteers.  My host mom Maryama came and she brought baby Binta :)
The lunch was delicious! It was by far the best meal I've had since I got to Senegal!! There was rice, chicken and beef, and a ton of VEGETABLES!!! They are rare here in dishes (of course I didn't eat the yucky meat, but I was so excited about the variety of things in the bowl) There were tomatos, carrots, bell peppers, onions, olives, the little baby pickles, and corn among other things.  The rice had raisins in it too! So delicious!  I ate til I had a food baby :( haha! But it was totally worth it!  After lunch we listened to a group that sang Fulakunda music.  My host mom is Pulaar and she loved it. Check out the video! :)
 

We also drank tea, gave out a thank you certificate to the families, and just spent one last day with our family member.  I'm glad it was my host mom; she was my favorite!  Tomorrow we are going to Dakar to swear in!!! Check back for an update! :)   xoxox

Hirande Americain pur Beyngu am Senegalnajo

Jaraama Yimbe fof!!! Hello Everybody!
So I'm back to the training center in Thies, and I just finished my last week of homestay with my host family.  The last week went by so fast :(  Today I said good-bye to my host family, packed up my room, and thanked my family for their support and assistance in learning Pulaar.  They have been amazing!  I do admit I've had my frustrations with them like I do my own real family, but the experience they gave me was unforgetable.  I was truly blessed with the best Fulbe family in Mbour; I was sad to say good-bye.  I even teared up when I gave my two moms a hug, and kissed baby Binta good-bye while getting on the Peace Corps bus.  It was hard :( I hope to see them again soon--maybe when my real mom in America comes out to see me.  They would love to meet her and I think she would like to meet them too!
Because it was my last week with my host family, my friends Pam & Ali and I decided to cook dinner for my family.  In prior weeks we cooked dinner for their host families too, but my family was last on the list.  We decided to make them an "American" dinner but it technically was Italien.  For Ali's family we made Chili, for Pam's it was fried rice--haha! not quite American either--and for my family it was Pasta!! :)  We went to the supermarche and I bought 2 bags of shelled noodles that looked kinda like gnocchi, a can of tomato sauce, onions, garlic, and fresh basil.  Also, because there is a gas shortage in all of Senegal I had to buy fire wood to cook dinner over.  Since we were cooking over a fire, Ali had the brilliant idea of making dessert for my family too.  We made SMORES!  The girls and I had fun cooking over a fire in the middle of my compound.  Once it got dark we had to use the light from the fire and flashlights because my family has no electricity.  The dinner was delicious!  My family seemed to enjoy it, even though they thought the fresh basil was weird and didn't belong in pasta.  Here in Senegal, people often put basil in their tea.  I know, I think it's weird too :) hahaha! Well, I know that the girls and I enjoyed the dinner too!  Any bit of "American" food makes us so happy here.  Just to have pasta for the night was amazing.  Something so simple back home means so much more here.  My family liked it and were happy that the Americans were going to cook for them. 

The best part of the night was definetly dessert.  We melted the marshmellows (which were Haribo brand and had weird flavors like strawberry and lime but still worked very well) in the fire and then used a "graham cracker--like" cookie and French milk chocolate to complete our dessert.  The dessert was a hit! The family loved them!  They had a difficult time saying the word "smores", but were fascinated with the combination.  It was pretty funny too because they had never eaten marshmellows before.  We let them try it for the first time, and they really enjoyed them.  I'm surprised we were even able to find marshmellows here in Senegal; I'm glad we did though! The smores were delicious! :)

So dinner and dessert was a success, and I'm happy I was able to do something to show my family that I appreciate them opening up their home to a crazy american and helping me become Senegalese!  Living in Mbour with the Djallo family was great!  I learned so much and I can't wait until next week when I move down to Kounkane to be with my new host family for the next two years. I hope they are as wonderful as my family in Mbour! 

Check out my FB page for more fun photos!  I finally got a chance to upload the remaining photos.  We are swearing in on this upcoming friday--like 3 days from now.  So check back for a new blog post about the ceremony! Love you guys and miss you tons! Hope you all are doing well! Sending love and kisses! :)

Popenguine: A little taste of Amerik

So this weekend was AMAZING!  All the volunteers from my stage rented a beach house in Popenguine for an overnight beach trip!  We had such a fabulous time.  Popenguine is not too far away from Thies, so we rented 2 big white buses that held like 30 people each and headed to the beach!  The beach house was so beautiful and it was literally right on the beach with a lovely view of the ocean.  We swam, tanned, drank, made some delicious food that was American and just got to relax for one day.  It was well deserved in my opinion.  We have been doing so much the last few months and it was great to just hang out for one day at the beach with great company! 

It was a little tight at the beach house, even though we had 2 of them.  But we all squeezed in for sleeping—sharing beds and sleeping out side.  I slept on the patio on a mattress with my amazing friend Rachel, and we were eaten alive by mosquitoes!  Moyyani L  Despite the tight living quarters and sleeping arrangements, I had such a fabulous time.  It felt like I was back in the States again for just one day.  Beach house, great view, American food, English speakers—what more can a girl ask for in a one day vacation??  Oh and in addition to such a great weekend, tomorrow we are going to Dakar for the day, and tonight I’m skyping with mi madre!  It’s been way to long since I’ve talked with the family L  Also, thanks to Mike for the package!!! I got it, and I already ate all the gummy lifesavers!  Sending love from Senegal! xoxox

I have braids and a side pony tail!

Check out my amazing hair!!! My host mom braided it and put it in a side ponytail! :) I love it!

So I forgot to mention that me and the Pulaar girls (Pam and Aly) got some pretty awesome pants made!  We went to the Grand Marche about 2 weeks ago and bought some material, and a few days later Pam's host uncle, who is a tailor, made us some pants!  They look like pajamas, but my family loves them.  They told me I now look Senegalese with my pants and braids!  My pants have elephants on them!  They are pretty bad ass, I'm not gonna lie :)  I love sportin' the side ponytail too! Enjoy the photos!

PST is almost over!!!

What's up guys?? So I'm so excited! Tomorrow is officially October 1st and we are swearing in on October 15th.  I'm almost there!  I'm back in Thies at the training center, we are doing our Counterpart workshop this week.  I've been super busy with that.  Tomorrow is the American cultural fair and my group is working on American Pop culture.  We are going to educate all of the small enterprise development (SED) counterparts on American culture; it should be interesting.  Like I said, my group has pop culture and I am specifically working on Fitness and Health in the USA.  Anyone of my Zumba students probably could have guessed that was the topic I was most passionate about :)  No free dance class though.  I'm going to educate the Senegalese counterparts on how health and fitness is important to a lot of Americans, and how eating a balanced diet is very important.  It's contrary to the white rice and oil I eat here everyday---ahhh!  Marro et lili (fish and rice) I'm so over eating everyday! haha!  Don't worry though, I will also talk about how many Americans are unhealthy and inactive.  I gotta cover all my bases: We have people who follow both types of lifestyles in the US.  It should be interesting :)
So the last week in Mbour was fun!  I"m getting slowly better at Pulaar.  We had a test last friday and I acheived intermediate low.  I need intermediate mid to pass out of training.  The next test is next week and I hope I get the level I need too.  I just want to go to my site: Kounkane!!! :)  Training is tiring and I'm tired of living between two cities.  Soon enough: 15 days! Oh and saturday we will be going to one of the Eco-tourism sites for a petite vacation: Popinguine--I think?  It's absolutely beautiful; right on the beach.  We are leaving saturday afternoon after language class and then returning on sunday evening!  I can't wait for the nice little break!  I'll post pictures soon! Also Monday we are going to Dakar!  That should be amazing.  We have to learn where all the important buildings are so it's more of an educational day, nonetheless, it's something new! I can't wait.

I posted some new pics on facebook about my homestay compound, you guys should definetly check it out!  The goats are in the album haha! I have so many more pics to post and will do shortly after PST (preservice training).  Oh and I have a great story to tell: So here we all have to have Senegalese names.  My name is Adama Djallo (currently, it will change when I move to Kounkane).  And the Senegalese have these jokes that they always say every time they see a friend or neighbor; they love to joke around with the last names.  With my Senegalese last name being Djallo I get to hear often the phrase: Djallo ko goodjo, which translates to Djallos are thieves.  Well last monday, my two little brothers, Buba Caar and Baille Cherno lived up to their last names.  I was just hanging out in the compound with my family studying some Pulaar when all of a sudden like 30 people just entered the compound yelling and screaming.  I not even kidding it was the entire neighborhood (Quartier Liberte).  I didn't understand a word of what was going on because it was all in Wolof.  There was one man in particular who was yelling and screaming and he was telling my host father the story of what happened.  He kept saying my brothers' names so I knew they did something....  Shortly after the man said what he had too, he left with the entire neighborhood following him.  My family started discussing amongst themselves in Pulaar and finally I was able to understand bits and pieces.  Apparently my two little brothers were corn thieves.  They stole from our neighbor two ears of corn, and it caused a giant fiasco in the neighborhood.  It was pretty funny, mostly because people are always calling me and my host family thieves due to the last name, and this time it was actually true.  My host brothers are goodjo tobaano aka corn thieves.  My family thinks it's hilarious that I was able to understand what happened.  They talked about it the entire week: "Adama asked if the boys were corn thieves! She understands!!!!"  :)  Yes! The Pulaar is slowly coming along :) Moyyi!  haha! Hope you guys are all well! I'm missing the US a lot this week!
Sending love from Senegal! Til the next time!
xoxox

Korité

So korité or the end of Ramadan was last friday.  My host family braided my hair, check out the pic on fb!  haha! Its great and im loving them.  My family killed two of our chickens for dinner and I got to watch as they killed them.  It was really hard to watch, but the chickens are always running around our compound and bothering me so I didnt feel too bad.  The baby chicks get into my room sometimes and poop in the corner, its really annoying haha!  My brothers and sisters chase them out because they know I dont like the chickens there.  Arond the time the sunsets all the kids chase our chickens and goats around the compound trying to force them into the coup. They tie the goats to the tree so they are not roaming at night.  Ill try to get a photo!  Its so funny to watch.

So yea, Korité is basically a day where the women spend the morning cooking a gigantic lunch and where the men relax all day. The families eat a huge lunch, like thanksgiving and then they eat the leftovers hours later for dinner.  During the evening its like Halloween.  Everyone gets into their nicest clothes that they had specifically made for the occassion and walk around to their neighbors houses dressed up and ready to greet.  A lot of people go to these little photo shops to get their photos taken, and that part of Korité reminds me of Prom.  It was fun!

So im back in Mbour with my homestay family until Sept. 28.  I just got back from volunteer visits; which was amazing!  I will be living in the Kolda region in an overgrown village called Kounkané.  Check it out!  Oh and im currently obsessed with my favorite form of street food: bean sandwhiches.  Ill probably blog about those a little later when i have more internet time. 
Miss you guys!
Gros bisous!
xxx

First post!

Hey y'all!
So I started a blog :) I'm going to try my best to keep it updated but I'm really bad about sticking to stuff like this, and also my internet is really sporadic.  So we will   try to see how it goes.....

So Senegal is fabulous! I've been living here for one month to today!!! I'm currently living in between Mbour and Thies.  The Peace Corps training center is in Thies.  We come here for training sessions as a group.  It's where I usually access the internet.  It works sometimes :) hahaha!   My host family post is in Mbour.  I'm living there and I absolutely love it.  We are close to the beach and my host family is amazing!  I'm learning a language called Fulakunda Pulaar.  It is incredibly difficult ;(  But I feel like my language skills are coming along alright.  In my host family I have one dad and two moms.  Polygamy is legal.  My older or first mom is Maryama. She is great! Such a beautiful person! She makes me laugh!  My second mom is Ruby.  She is younger about 20 years old!  I'm older than she, but she is great! She is always laughing at me because I mispronounce things all the time :( haha!  Between my two moms I have about 10 brothers and sisters! My Senegalese family is sooooo big! But I love every single one of them! They are truly a great family.

So in my compound, where I live, I have no electricity or running water.  My host moms make two trips every day to the well to pull water.   I helped them once.  It was difficult.  They carry the water back in large buckets on their heads.  They don't spill one drop.  It's amazing!! I got to try to carry a little bucket on my head.  I spilled most of it down the left side of my body.  My family laughed and then took it away from me.  It was quite the experience.  In the evening, we usually eat by candle light or flashlight.  It took some getting used to, but now I really don't mind.  :) You can see all the stars very clearly! It's beautiful!
I'll try to post some things more often but at least this gives my family and friends a little insight into what's going on in Senegal.  I have so many more stories to share!
Write me!!
Love you!
<3 Sam :) xxx