~Mali~

So I recently got back from a trip to Mali. It was AMAZING! If you are considering going there, you should, trust me, even with all the drama of kidnappings and Al Quaida. It's safe to travel as long as you stay out of Restricted Travel Zones (we checked with our security guy :)).  We spent time in Kéniéba, Bamako, and Dogon Country.  Unfortunately Timbuktu was off limits, thanks to Al Quaida....seriously why do they have to ruin everything? But Mali truly was one of the coolest trips I've ever taken. I would put it in my top 5 places I've ever travelled too! There were lots of surprises throughout our stay in Mali, some I will post on my blog, others will remain secrets in Mali ;)
Our trip started after we took a car from Kedougou to the Senegal/Mali border.  We went through customs, got our passports stamped and walked across the bridge into Mali.  From there, we were 30k from the next biggest city and we don't speak Malinke or Bambara so it was a little difficult to figure out how we could get there. Fortunately, a Senegalese friend of Alex (my friend who travelled to Mali with me) gave us a number to her Malian friend who came to the border, picked us up in his car and took us to Kéniéba .  There were no cars/buses leaving to the capital, Bamako until the following day; therefore, requiring us to stay the night in Kéniéba.  One of the best things about West Africa, is the hospitality.  Seriously! We had just met these people and they let us stay with them that night until we could catch the 5:00am bus the next morning to Bamako.  We crashed at a woman's house named Djemé. She was amazing! Alex and I hit it off with her from the beginning.  She was a 27 year old female police officer, the only one in the entire city of Kéniéba! She wasn't married and didnt have kids, and she drove a motto! She was independent and confident and so welcoming. She was truly a rare gem, seriously career women are hard to find in West Africa, it's just not a huge part of the culture--yet.
So we crashed there for the night, and took the first bus to Bamako. It took about 6 hours to get there, but it seriously was one of the craziest rides I've ever had. The floor of the bus lifted up and all this dirt entered the bus covering Alex and I in a layer of filth. By the time we reached the hotel we looked super tan, but really it was just dirt.  We got checked into our hotel, the Sleeping Camel, and went to the toubab-y restaurant for lunch. I ate my first pizza in I don't know how long! Amazing! We spent 4 days in Bamako. It's a nice capital city, fairly calm compared to Dakar.  But after living in West Africa for over 2 years, we felt a little bored, I mean it's not all that different from Senegal. We filled our time by wandering around the city, checking out the markets (which were very similar to Senegalese markets) except that Bamako has an area in its major market that contains fetish stalls. What is that you ask? Fetish? Well, it's an area that contains all the voodoo and magical ingredients you need to make potions, cast spells, or make powerful amulets.  There are a lot of animists in Mali.  The fetish stalls were really cool! You can find animal heads like monkeys, dogs, other bush animals, birds, etc. There was animal skin, dried horse penises, and other random stuff. I paid 500cfa (about $1 to take some photos like these:)

Alex hangin out in the fetish stalls

For all your fetish needs

 It was really fun! We also spent time in Bamako eating not-African-food. Bamako is a huge city! You can find lots of different types of food! We splurged one night on thai food! It was amazing! :)  But the craziest thing that happened during our time in Bamako was probably when we decided to casually wander into the only swanky hotel (where we were not guests) to see if we could use the pool.  (Like I mentioned earlier, we were having trouble findig things to do in Bamako) So we show up at the hotel, make our way to the pool, only to find out that you have to pay 6 mille (like $12) to use it. No thanks! We are on village pay, so instead we just decide, after pleading with the towel employee (who spoke pulaar), to just lay out and sunbathe while looking at the pool while enjoying some cold beers.  It was a lovely, relaxing way to spend our afternoon, even if we couldn't go in the water.  When we were getting ready to leave we were approached by some business men who were very polite and generous. Two of them were leaving that night for Beirut, but the other one was staying one more night so he invited Alex and I out to dinner. We accepted. It was AMAZING! We went to a lebanese restaurant where we were wined and dined--literally. There was a huge selection of food including falafel, hummus, babaganoush, fetoosh, etc. I already love lebanese food, so this was a delicious treat! :) We have a pic to prove it!

Most amazing dinner!

After dinner, the three of us went downstairs to the nightclub part of the restaurant, where we drank champagne and Belvedere. We got drunk and danced the night away! It was a truly fun night; definetly a highlight of the Bamako portion of the trip.
After our 4 days in the capital, Alex and I took a 10 hour bus ride to Mopti, but we got off in Sevare.  That is where we met our tour guide, Hassimi, who took us through a 5 day, 4 night tour through Dogon Country.  It was truly an amazing time. Our tour guide was knowledgable and fun! We spent our days hiking on a combination of flat terrain, plateau, and cliffs. We explored Dogon villages, saw mud mosques, catholique villages, and animist villages! We learned a little of the Dogon culture, saw mud huts, and villages camouflaged into the sides of cliffs.  It was one of the most amazing trips I've ever taken.  Even though a lot of Dogon looks like my home state AZ (must be the desert setting) it was still magical! I really connected to the Dogon area! It inspired me in many ways..... I loved it sooooo much! I would highly, HIGHLY, recommend it!  Check out some of our pics:

hiking down to the Dogon area

Me and our tour guide Hassimi

Cliff village

Alex exploring one of the villages we hiked through

Alex and I sittin in a Baobab tree :)

Sunset in Dogon Country

Awesome jumpin pic!

I loved Dogon!

After our Amazing Dogon tour, Alex and I headed to Djenne. It was a crazy adventure. We had to get off the bus at Djenne junction, where we took a taxi to the river crossing. From there a very large canoe took us to the other side of the river but there were no cars to take us the remaining 6k into Djenne (our taxi guy ripped us off). Fortunately we met a very nice man on the boat who invited us to stay at his house. He said we could sleep on his roof, and he would feed us and let us take a bucket bath all for the price of 2500cfa per person (about $5) so we said yes. He was very nice and his family was very hospitable. We ate fish and rice for dinner, took a hot bucket bath, and slept on the roof.  However, we now find ourselves in cold season, and it really does get cold in Africa! Alex and I had to snuggle together all night to stay warm. But the next day, our host gave us a tour (he was a tour guide) of Djenne.  We learned about the different architecture (Moroccan, Sudan, and the more traditional Malian mud style). We saw some local artisan stuff including indigo and jewlery making, and of course, we saw the gem of Djenne: the mud mosque. Apparently it's the largest mud mosque in the world! You should check out the show Human Planet, the desert addition one. :) But here is a cool photo of it:

The Mud Mosque! It was amazing!

Me and the mud mosque :)

After our tour, we made our way back to Djenne junction, where we caught a bus to Bamako.  It was a long long way back. What made it worse was that we sat right behind the driver so we could see the way he was driving (very dangerous), and we watch how the apprentis (driver assistants) made tea while driving.  It was an experience, but fun, despite being terrified for almost the entire ride. We spent a full day in Bamako after arriving where we just rested and relaxed. We went out our last night before catching a 4:00am bus back to Senegal, which probably wasn't the best idea. We drank and danced all night until the bus left. It made for a very unpleasant, 19 hour ride back, hung over, dehydrated, and restless.
Overall, this was an amazing trip! I had such a fun time! Bamako was fun, Dogon was beautiful and inspiring, and Djenne was culturally satisfying! Mali is truly a beautiful country full of surprises and amazing people. Great place to travel too (as long as you stay away from Al Quaida areas). Check out Alex and Sam's Picasa album for more fun pics:
https://picasaweb.google.com/118140034248189202572/Mali?authkey=Gv1sRgCMHPmfDy_beXrwE#


*** If you need a great guide for Dogon, contact me. I'd be more than happy to connect you to our guy Hassimi. He is amazing!

I left my heart in Mali......Until the next posting......

Tabaski---round two

November 7th 2011 marked this year's Tabaski, a.k.a. Eid al-Adha, and I'm just now getting around to blogging about it :) This would mark the second Tabaski I've ever celebrated.  This year seemed to be much easier for me than last year.  For some reason I felt like last year it was important for me to watch the slaughtering of the sheep, like it was some cultural exchange I would be missing out on if I didn't.  This year, I told my family I've seen enough sheep throat slitting last year to last me a life time.  Instead, I settled for sitting with the women and cutting millions of onions and potatos.  I found that much more enjoyable than witnessing two sheep deaths and dismemberments---it's not really my thing. 

Preparing the meat for the meal

My sister and Aunt cutting onions and potatos

My family killed two sheep this year. It was a really special day for them :) I helped with cooking preparations most of the day.  For a pre-breakfast we ate mooney, a hearty and delicious millet porridge, which was followed by the Tabaski breakfast of sheep heart, liver, and ribs bbqed and sauteed with a delicious onion/mustard/vinegar/Spice sauce----I lack the words to describe how delicious this sauce is--seriously--it sounds weird but it is delicious! We ate that with our hands and bread.  I didn't actually eat any of the meat this year being a vegetarian and all.  Last year, I was new and afraid of offending my family, but they seemed to understand this year.

My brothers preparing the second sheep

This is how you cut meat here

After breakfast, we spent most of the afternoon preparing the lunch. It consisted of green peas (not from a can), sheep meat, boiled potatos, and the same delicious onion sauce.  We ate that with our hands and bread as well. Check out the pic:

After lunch, my family and I drank cold and refreshing ginger juice that I purchased for the occaision.  Around the evening, my brothers and sisters and I got all dressed up in our nicest clothes (I had some made but don't have a photo to show y'all), and we walked around to our friend's and neighbor's houses to greet them and ask for Salybo (gifts or money). I didn't ask for any gifts, in fact, this year (like last year) I handed out gifts to the kids and my family.  I bought a huge container of 100 lollipops and gave them to the children. :) Tabaski is the biggest holiday here (kind of like Christmas in Amerik) so buying a ton of candy for my favorite kids in the neighborhood was the least I could do :)  It was actually a really lovely day.  I spent all day with my family, I ate delicious food (no sheep meat!), and I was able to let my friends and family here know how important they are to me.

Drinking refreshments

My brother sharing the sheep meat with neighbors

I even got all dolled up for the greeting portion of the holiday! I had my hair braided like last year, and I had henna tatoos done on my feet.  I didn't put any on my hand like I did last year.  Henna here take a long time of sitting with the henna on your feet and plastic bags over them, unable to move. I wanted to have my hands free if my feet were to be bound by beauty preparations. Check out my henna:

If you're muslim, I hope your Tabaski was as nice as mine.  I'm glad I was able to spend two Tabaski holidays with my family.  It was a new experience, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to learn about it!

KoNkOrOnS!!!

So with the end of rainy season here in Senegal comes the Konkorans.....what's that you ask??  It's probably one of the scariest things you'll ever see face to face, if you're ever so lucky.  These things come out when the boys of the village go off to the forest for circumcision. When the Konkorans do come out they are followed by an entourage of young men and boys, oftentimes shouting and yelling and playing drums.  The Konkorans usually have giant machetes that they carry high in their hands ready to attack.  Covered in tree bark, the Konkorans wander around pulaar and mandinka villages chasing women and children. 

Dancing Konkoran at one of the end of the season ceremonies

The Konkoran I chased down

Dancing Konkoran

The first time I saw one of these was last year after being in Senegal for about one month.  We went to visit our permanent sites, and me along with 7 other Kolda region volunteers encountered our first Konkoran on the main road leaving Velingara and on the way to Kounkane (my site).  We had no idea what this creepy creature with 2 machetes was, that emerged from the forest with his group of dancing men. Later we learned that konkorans are a tradition and a very important part of the pulaar culture (at least in the Kolda region).  Last year I vowed to get a photo, but by the time we installed the Konkoran/circumcision season was over.  This year, I got lots of pictures.  It's a little difficult to do because the Konkoran doesn't want you to take its photo. Sometimes they will hit you or chase after you if you try.  I chased down a Konkoran and his boys one day and paid him 500cfa (about 1USD equivalent) to take his pic.

At the ceremony...dancing Konkoran

The last day of the Konkorans for this year was at the end of October right before school started.  That day there were 11 Konkorans in Kounkane. Eleven! I went to about 3 different Konkoran spottings, and I watched them dance.  It was really awesome. I even paid another Konkoran to get pics of it with me! My host brothers told me that if the Konkoran or one of his men asks me where my children are, I have to tell them that my brothers were my children.  If I didn't, I was warned that the Konkoran would hit me because he likes to hit women who haven't bore children. Luckily, I was never asked......

Last day of the Konkorans this year

Me and the Konkorans!!! :)

Spanish vacation!

So like I've mentioned in my earlier blog posts, I'm back at site after spending some of my vacation time.  I spent 2 weeks in the beautiful country of Spain.  It was AMAZING! I met up with my American lover in the airport after not seeing him for over 1 year!  I wore the clothes that were in the best shape after being in Senegal for one year (well that I could fit into, this country had not been good to my body in multiple ways).  I looked like a crazy bag lady compared to all the chic people of Madrid. But thanks to my mom, who sent out a suitcase full of American awesomeness including some clothes, and also to my Peace Corps friends who let me borrow stuff, I only looked like a bag lady on the first day. 
My vacation was lovely! Everything that I needed to recouperate and get re-motivated again.  I was sort of slumping there right before I left.  I spent the first week in Alicante. It was sort of an accident how we ended up there, mostly due to a lack of research, but it was a nice surprise once we got situated in our hotel :) The first day was a bit hard for me. I seriously just left grass roof huts and village life and about 10 hours later I was in the land of suntans, paella, and sangria.  Alicante was beautiful! I spent hours under the sun, evening out my bad Senegalese tan lines.  I ate sooooo well! So many different types of fruit that I havent eaten in a year! Nectarines. Strawberries. Grapes. Peaches. Apples. I was in heaven! I went to buy fruit every day. Seriously. Every day.  Don't get me wrong, I love the mangos, lamude,cashew apples, and citrus fruits that i can get in Senegal but I miss other kinds.  I ate paella only twice, mostly because I have an aversion towards rice now that I eat it every day.  I ate fresh seafood: calamari, shrimp, fish, etc! I also drank a lot.  Not to the point of intoxication, but it was nice to have a glass of red wine, sit on the patio, and have thought provoking conversations. There were a few days during our stay in Alicante where we took day trips to nearby cities.  We went to Torrevieja one day to see the lagoons, and Benidorm to check out more beaches.  It was so nice!  After our week in Alicante, we headed north to Barcelona to spend the last week.  Barcelona was beautiful, but had way more tourists than Alicante.  We stayed in the suburb, Premia de Mar, alternating between days on the beach and sight-seeing days in Barcelona.  We did the big stuff, Casa Batilo, Gaudi Palace, Gaudi Park....pretty much all the architectural sites.  I loved all of the art nouveau and just the atmosphere of the city.  I also enjoyed lots of great food (including thai) and wine in Barcelona! It was just what I needed. I also got my fill of America there too. I forced Mike to go to Starbucks with me, and Subway so I could eat a sub sandwich.  So good! Spain was AMAZING! I can't wait until the next time I go back, because there will definetly be a next time :)
But like all good things do, our lovely two weeks came to an end. I had a tearful good-bye in the airport, and made it back to Dakar safely. I spent about 5 days in Dakar before heading back to site. One: I needed to readjust to Senegal, and Two: I needed to do mid-service health stuff.  I met with the doctors, got tested for TB (I don't have it despite all of the sketchy yogurt I've eaten the past year, Alhumdililah!).  I've gained an embarrassing and shameful amount of weight that I refuse to mention on my blog....I still don't understand the reasons for it either. All carb diet? Lack of fruits and vegetables? Not being as active as in the states? I work out here regularly.  I'm afraid I'll leave Senegal with an eating disorder...... But despite that, I haven't had any serious parasitic episodes now that all of my worms have passed.  Although, I hadn't been back at site for a week before the diarrhea came back. Thanks Senegal for such a lovely welcome home gift :)
 But in all seriousness, it's nice to be back. It was great seeing all my Amazing Peace Corps peeps and my Senegalese family and friends. Now that I'm back, I've been keeping myself busy finishing up Michelle Sylvester scholarship work (we are still lacking a little on the fundin so if you can, Donate. The girls are really going to benefit from such an awesome program!
Check out my Spain photos if you want! The links are at the bottom of the post :) Hay gongal!

Having fun on the Playa de San Juan, Alicante

Enjoying my strawberrie!

Facebook Album #1
Facebook album #2

I can Transform ya.....

So I'm back from vacation, I'll blog about that in my next posting of course. :) It was a lovely 2 week break, but I'm back in the Fouladou now. As promised, I'd like to update you all on my last project that was completed right before I left for vacation: The Fruits and Vegetables Transformation Training. It took place in Pam's site, Velingara (about 30K from Kounkane) on September 5th through the 9th. The five day training educated 30 women, 20 from Velingara, 10 from Kounkane on various and highly important topics. The women were all from different womens groups as well because we are trying to stress cooperation and knowledge sharing amongst the several different women's groups in the area. Pam and I collaborated on this project together, with the help of a Senegalese trainer and his assistant as the lead educators. The project was overall extremely stressful to execute, but a great success in my opinion.

On day one, the women learned how to make three different kinds of juice concentrates using local ingredients that are widely available in this area: bissap (hibiscus flower), tamarind, and ginger. The women learned about proper hygene techniques, the recipes and the cooking process for each concentrate, and how to properly package the juice to avoid contamination and leaking.

The women making bissap juice

 Day two, the women continued a little further with juice making, but instead of concentrates they made boisson, or individual juice bags that can be sold anywhere. As oppossed to the concentrates, the boissons sachets are already diluted and ready to drink.

Jonasse (our trainer) helping the women seal the juice sachets

 On day three the women learned how to make jams: two kinds were made including sweet potato marmalade and monkey bread fruit (the highly nutritious fruit that grows on the baobab trees) and mango jam.

Making sweet potato marmalade with baobab fruit

Makin mango jam

Day four was veggie day! The women made tomato concentrate, hot pepper concentrate (which was delicious!), and they also pickled veggies. Also because day four was a little less labor intensive than the prior days, Pam and I held a session on nutrition where we held a group discussion on the importance of fruits and vegetables, why conservation is important, and eating a balanced diet. We talked about how the training was important, not only because they were learning skills that could potentially earn them an income, but also because they and their families can have access to nutritious food products year round. Especially now when the mangos and most other local fruits are virtually nonexistant in this area, and corn is primarily dominating the food markets--for now.

Hot chile pepper concentrate

The last day, day five, the women learned about packaging, labeling their products, and most importantly, my counterpart came and talked about the 4 P's of marketing as well as a brief introduction to direct and indirect costs and how to ensure they are making a profit on things they sell. At the end of the training, the sous-prefet of Velingara made an appearence, and he and his entourage helped hand out certificates to all of our participants.

Learning about marketing with our awesome trainer!

The group (except for my lovely Pam who took the pic)

Like I said, this project was stressful, and we encountered a few problems, but for the most part, things ran pretty smoothly. We definelty had some women who didn't seem to care about the training and viewed it as a chance to socialize, but at the same time we had some extremely motivated women who worked hard and asked questions. Pam and I will be doing follow-ups with our women's groups to see who is continuing work with transforming fruits and vegetables. We plan on helping the women further grow and manage (inchallah) the business side by going more in depth in other business concepts that will help these groups better manage their income generating activities. I'll keep you updated on how that process is going :) Until next posting!

Our women and their certificates

Team Kounkane!

Update: Parasites = Evil

Greetings and Salutations from Senegal!
I know it's been awhile since an update, and I'm sorry.  It's been so busy for me the last couple weeks.  Just to give y'all an update, the entire month of August was miserable for me! Miserable. I was on 4 different antibiotics in 4 weeks! Words cannont express how fed up with parasites I am.  I litterally was sick the whole month! I even had to leave site for a week, come up to Dakar in a horrible and cramped overnight bus to see the Peace corps doctors.  They tested me, tried to figure out what's wrong and according to the results, there was nothing wrong.  Fortunately, I was persistant, and explained that despite what the tests say, I still have diarrhea, get nausiated after eating, and still endure a horrific stomach cramp ever time I eat.  The doctor gave me some parasite meds, which I took immediately, then I headed back to site to spend Korite (the end of Ramadan) with my family.  I travelled all day, got stuck in Velingara for the night, then I was forced to take a taxi back to my site (30K away) which was expensive, all because there was no transport on the holiday.  Boo! But I made it home, and my family was happy.  They had some meat and couscous with a very delicious onion sauce for the big meal.  I ate a little, because I still wasn't fully healed.  This Korite was much different from the one last year that's for sure--more low-key. I guess Tabaski is really the bigger, more important holiday.
 Oh and the worst part about my return back to site, was that the meds kicked in.....because later that day I was passing the parasites. Yep, you guessed it: worms. Gross, I know.  It was definetly the most disgusting moment of my life thus far.  There were so many of them! Long. White. String-y. (Think Ramen noodles).  So I'm not sure what kind they were?? Tape worm? Round worm? God only knows. I'm just happy they are gone, and I hope they never, ever come back, but that's probably just wishful thinkin. Guess I can cross pass intestinal parasites off the bucket list....
So I'm feeling pretty healthy :) Last week my foot got infected and the infection turned red and started spreading to my leg.  Fortunately that's been taken care of too! What else? Oh Pam and I just finished a Fruit and Veggie transformation last week...I'll post about that tomorrow or something, and I've officially left site because after a little over a year in Senegal, I'm finally going on vacation!!!! So ready! I leave tonight, heading for Valencia, Spain--si Allah jaabi :) I am so looking forward to not Senegalese food and just a little bit of time to relax.  After last month's reoccurent illnesses, I'm so ready for vacation....
Hay Gongol....

~Donate to Help Girls Stay in School~

Hey Everyone!
Peace Corps Senegal volunteers are asking you for help :) Many of us here participated in a country-wide project known as the Michelle Sylvester Scholarship. The program is to help out girls in the middle-school equivalent levels continue with their education.  Like I've mentioned before in other blog posts, the girls here in Senegal have many obstacles that they encounter that hinders, minimizes, and oftentimes eradicates their opportunites to continue with school.  One of the biggest contributors to this unfortunate event is the lack of means most families have to pay for their daughters inscription fees and school supplies.  This scholarship will help assist so many girls across Senegal continue with the education for another school year by covering school related costs.  The girls that have been chosen exemplify outstanding academics, a desire to learn and go to school, and most importantly a financial need.  I have worked with many of these girls, interviewing them, proctoring essay writing, and meeting with their families, and they are amazing!!! Please donate to our cause.  All the little bit helps! 
The following link gives a little background information as well as instructions for donating. Merci mille fois! :)


https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=685-181


Here are just a few of the girls that will benefit :)

What's in your water??? Mine is full of parasites and magic potions.....

So, it's Ramadan.  This time last year was my first real introduction to what Ramadan actually entails.  In the USA I had a brief encounter with it when I used to teach English to Somalian refugees.  I remember being completely puzzled because practically the entire month none of my students showed up! When it was finally over, my students told me they didn't come because it was Ramadan--I was like, "What's the big deal. You should still come to class!" hahaha! Now I know that pretty much nothing happens during the month of Ramadan because no one is eating or drinking from sun up to sun down.  I attempted to fast this year (definetly didn't do it last year) and I made it four days.  But if you count all of the cheating I did, I actually only did 2. The first day I ate Peanut M&Ms in Pam's room, hiding my dishonesty from the world :) The "last" day of my actual fasting, I was drinking water and eating a power bar like 5 hours into my day.  But I'm not really muslim, so I don't feel guilty. 
By the 5th day, I had intentions of fasting for real and continuing until the end of the month, but I started to feel ill, and my host family told me to stop.  So I did, but because I really was sick with parasite poisoning (again), I actually ended up fasting for real (not on purpose) because if I ate or drank anything it made me throw up or it would pass instantly through my blood clot infested, liquid diarrhea. (Sorry for being so graphic).
 I spent 3 days doing nothing but sleeping and running to the latrine, all food made me nausiated, and I got 2 awesome care packages from my mom and I didn't even eat anything from them until I could actually ingest food.  PC doctors put me on Cipro, which made me feel decent for like 2 days, but this morning I woke up and guess what came back??? Liquid diarrhea + nausea + stomach cramps upon food digestion... .Yup, still sick.  I'm gonna call the med office on monday to get further medical counseling.  My guess is amoebas.  I've had this on-again-off again bout of whatever it is since December. Usually it's only a few couple days ever 2-3 weeks, then it passes, but this month, it seems to be lasting longer.  I'm guessing it was the fasting that pissed the parasites off.
 My host family seems to think I"m sick from eating in the "villages"---aka not at home. I asked them to elaborate, and they told me that other people in the area will put magic potions and such in my food and drink that will make me sick and cast spells on me.  My uncle said, "If another white person doesn't live there, then you shouldn't eat or drink what they offer you."  Um....What??? This is like the 3rd time my host family has brought up the "issues" of eating outside the compound and the enchanting world of witch doctors and magic spells that accompany them.  When it comes to my response to these proposed notions, I'm still at a loss for words.....

1 Year!

Today marks my one year anniversairy since my stage (August 2010) left the USA and embarked on our journey to Senegal.  I can't believe how fast time has flown by! I have a feeling the second year will go by much faster.  My first year here has been amazing! I've learned a new language, which I never believed the other volunteers when they told me that you'd start to feel comfortable after a year.  Well, my skeptisism has proved me wrong, I'm a year in, and I am very proud of the level of pulaar I've achieved :) My village tells me now all the time that I can speak pulaar; it's such a reassuring moment when that happens. I also feel comfortable traveling around by myself, bargaining for things in the marches, and busting out into spontaneous dance moves at the sound of repeated clapping. 
So much has happened in this past year that I never would have imagined I would ever do.  For instance, last week, I spent four hours in the Thies garage waiting for our car to fill up to go to Tamba, and while I waited I sat in the back of a station wagon (Sept Place) with the luggage (because it was the only part that was shaded) and hung out with the Talibe (children beggars who typically speak pulaar).  I even danced Yuzza (senegalese dance) with them because they didn't think I could do it.  It was a proud moment. A year ago, I would not have done that. Nope. You couldn't have paid me to do that.  Another thing I've learned about myself a year in, is my ability to just be.  In Amerik, we are always on the go. Time is slow in Senegal.  I remember last year being with our first home stay family, I found myself sitting on a mat under the mango tree for like four hours doing nothing but watching women braid hair.  It used to drive me crazy! Now, I can sit and hang out in the shade drinking tea--no problems. It's so normal for me :) hahaha! I'm gonna be so weird when I go home.
My first year of Peace Corps has been Amazing! I have made so many new friends: Senegalese and other volunteers, and I've already had such a life changing experience thus far.  I couldn't imagine doing anything more rewarding than spending this past year here, and I wouldn't change anything about my service up until this point.  I love my site. I love everyone in PC Senegal. I love the Senegalese culture. I love Senegal. I admit, I do have my down days, especially the past week because I was sick again. However, I found that the good days far outweigh the bad days. :) Senegal: Mi yidee ma buy, wona seeda.  Here's to an even better second year!!!

One year ago: My stage leaving the Dulles airport in DC heading to Senegal! Photo taken by fellow volunteer April Muñiz (Thanks April!)

Acquiring a Green Thumb

By joining Peace Corps, I knew I would be gaining an invaluable experience and learning new things over my service time. Those were some of my main reasons why I joined.  Never did I actually imagine that I would discover my inner green thumb just waiting to come out and garden.  As a small enterprise development volunteer, I didn't actually think that I would be doing anything with agriculture, or even small scale gardening.  I thought my work would be business related rek. But after being here for about a year, I realize that quite a bit of my work revolves around agriculture, especially living in the Kolda region: that's all we really got going on down here :)

So about a week and a half ago, I helped participate in another volunteers palm reforestation project in a few villages just outside of the city of Kolda.  I'm not an agroforestry volunteer, but I was more than excited about helping out! We helped superivse the planting of 2 different species of palm trees, and we helped ensure that proper protection measures were taken to avoid them being devoured by rampant goats, sheep, cows, etc. The project was a lot of fun, and it was nice to mix up my work by helping other volunteers in their projects.



Ally helping plant a palm tree



Some of the palm trees that we helped distribute out








I've also expressed my newly acquired green thumb by starting a small garden in my compound, next to my room.  Ally, my agroforestry volunteer gave me some trees: Papaya, Guava, Citrus, and an African Mahogany. My family and I planted the fruit trees in my garden along with a ton of moringa and the beautiful panté seeds I collected back in April (see former blog posts).  My brother Diouldé added some cucumbers (which get gigantic here!) and some onions.  Eventually we want to add some tomatos, and when the season is right we have lettuce and cabbage.  I love having a garden.  Before Peace Corps I never really had a desire to plant anything or maintain a garden.  The last time I actually tried growing stuff back in America was probably when I was 5 years old and I planted a peach pit in my backyard because I wanted a peach tree.  Of course it didn't grow in Arizona, probably from the fact that I only watered it on the day I planted it, then never again.  Peace Corps has brought out my inner green thumb! I love watching the seeds I planted grow, and now our yard is beautiful! No longer just a burnt garbage pile.  I've decided that when I return after my service I will always have a garden. I also want to continue to plant trees.  Trees are amazing! It'll probably be a little easier having a garden in America too because we don't have to worry about it being eaten by wandering animals, which is often the case here.
 I take comfort in the fact that my host family will benefit from this small garden, even after I leave. I love that they actively help in taking care of the garden and are excited about it :)

The beginnings of our compound garden...

Mutant Cockroaches!

What is brown, has 2 sets of antenneas, 12 legs, a shiny outer shell, 2 heads, and lives in my douche???? 

Yea, that's right, a teenage mutant ninja cockroach. Check out the pic below:

SICK! SICK! SICK!

I saw this thing the other night when I went to bucket bath before bed.  It was super creepy! At first I thought maybe it was weird cockroach sex (?), but when they didn't separate and scurry along when I flashed my flashlight at them, I began to worry. I texted my friend who knows everything about everything when it comes to insects (and other critters) to let her know that I have mutant roaches living in my douche that want to eat me.  I was hoping for some insight to this disgusting phenomenan: Over exposure to shampoo?  Radio-active garbage in my douche? Too many mango peels? What would cause such a scary insect monster?

The answer: siamese twin cockroach. A fusion in which a fertilized egg completely separates, but stem-cells conjoin the cockroach twins together creating a creepy insect monster living in my douche!

Siamese twin roach living in my Senegalese toilet

So what does this mean for me? I guess I'll let the nasty mutant live as long as it steers clear of my room.  The minute it so chooses to enter (like other bugs), I will douse it in pesticide and smack it repeatedly with my fly swatter. Freak of nature. Cool Phenomenan. Whatever. I'm completely terrified of it!

Lamude

Qu'est-ce que c'est??? : An extremely tart fruit of Western Africa, found abundantely in the south of Senegal.  In Pulaar it's called Lamude (litterally means sour thing). The word for sour is lami.  When I first tried this exotic fruit I found myself saying, Lamude no lami buy! which basically translated to...the sour fruit is really sour--go figure! God, I love pulaar :)

So here it is: A yellow exterior which nobody eats, you have to squeeze the sides of it together to pop it open at the top. Inside you will find the yellow, pulpy fruit that surrounds the seeds.  There are usually many inside depending on how big it is.  Here in the market you can get a small one for 25cfa (like 5 cents in America) or a larger one for 50 cfa (10 cents).

I've seen various methods for eating this deliciously sour fruit.  My host family likes to crack it open and put salt and Magi cubes (bouillon cube equivalent) on top.  That version is ok. I like to put chili pepper powder with mine (We call it American chile pepper at my compound because I brought the chile powder from Amerik) The kids like it that way too!

Me and the kids eatin Lamude!


A lot of the local women's groups around here use the fruit to make juice (really really good!) and jams.  If you add lots of sugar to it, it curbs some of that biting sourness.  I really enjoy eating it raw, but I am also a lover of sour fruit (I used to eat lemons raw on my breaks while working at PF Changs a few years ago).  I love all the cool and exotic fruits widely available here! 

Me and Aminatta sharing a lamude