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