April Travels.....

So I know it's been a long long time since an update....sorry for that....but I've been busy wrapping up.  I officially have a little under 3 months until my return to the USA, and after my COS conference which took place in the middle of April, I've opted to take the plane ticket home to America vs. cash in-lieu of.  Why?? Well, as much as I'd love to travel some more before heading home, financially I'm not in a position to do so, even with the readjustment allowance I'll receive. So I'm now officially coming home on August 11th, 2012!!!
 But what have I been doing since my last post?? Well, last month I spent about two weeks travelling around Senegal/Gambia. A few of my friends and I went to a village called Lompoul to ride camels in the Sahara desert. There's a great campement there where you spend the night in the desert in tents. We chose to ride camels, which is a service they offer, and we spent a lot of time playing in the sand dunes. It was AMAZING!!! I admit, it was a bit touristy, but I'm so glad we did it! If you are planning a trip to Senegal at anytime in the future, do this. Here's the website: http://www.gite-africain.com/gite-senegal/gite-africain-lompoul.php

Pam, Alex, Me, and Julia riding camels

Pretending to be pro camel riders

Freaking out when the camel stood up

Playing in the sand dunes!

After sleeping overnight in the freezing cold desert (seriously. It was so cold!), I spent some time in Thies working out Close of Service logistics and processes.  Then my friend Alex and I decided to use up the last of our vacation time in The Gambia (the country inside of Senegal). We spent about a week there checking out the beautiful beaches, petting crocodiles, eating delicious food, enjoying the best that Banjul has to offer, and gawking at the beauty of the Gambian river in Georgetown.

Petting a crocodile

A fishing beach in Banjul, The Gambia

Elephant trees!!!!

The Gambian River in Georgetown

After our short but amazing vacation in The Gambia, I returned to site. It's always a great feeling returning to my village after being away for a bit.  I love being reunited with my family and friends and sharing details about my trip with them :)
For the last month, since my return to Kounkane, I've been finishing up my Junior Achievement project.  I completed my last one at Ecole 4 in Kounkane, but this time I had 33 students instead of my usual 20. 
I've officially started the exiting process now that I'm in my final three months.  I only have one project left, which will take place on June 30th of this year (check back for a blog post on it!).  So until next posting.....

The Big Scary Future......

What do I want to do with my life??? I feel like that is the most pondered question anyone has ever asked themselves. As my service is coming to a close I've started thinking about the big, scary future, and I'm not gonna lie....I'm stressing out.  So many possibilities....Grad School? Work? or maybe I'll just eat myself into a taco comma?? Not to mention that I am terrified about going back to life in America, I'm going to be so weird!  I am definitely going to miss my abundance of free time and the slower rhythm of life here. I'm going through that bitter-sweet stage again like I did almost 2 years ago preparing for my Peace Corps journey: sad to be leaving friends and family and familiar culture, but at the same time excited for a new adventure and the unfamiliar.  Here I am again,but now preparing to return to my home country and leaving my second home.  By the time I leave, it'll have been 2 years that I've lived in Senegal; it is my home. I have a family here, a group of friends that I visit frequently, and a daily routine at site. I get a little tear-y eyed just thinking about saying good-bye.  But with the remaining time I have left, I plan on enjoying it :)
Now with about four months to go until my departure I have to start thinking about the future. What do I want to do? Where do I want to live? Besides finishing up the last few projects I have left, I plan on devoting my time to trying to get an idea about my future. Our close of service conference is coming up in mid-April, and then I'll have to start the exit-ing process.  Scary.  But with this conference comes a little fun. I'll get to be reunited with all of my stagemates with whom I've shared this Peace Corps journey, and a few of us are planning to travel around a bit afterwards (I'll do a blog update about that once it occurs).
As far as what has occurred in between this blog post and the last......well, I finished my Junior Achievement at école 2, and started another at école 1; therefore, making a grand total of three  completed trainings at my site (2 more to go!).  Also, two rounds of the Senegalese elections occurred. The first taking place on February 26th, where the number of candidates was reduced to two: Abdoulaye Wade and Macky Sall.  The second round occurred about a month later on March 25th, where Macky Sall won the presidential election. My host family was a little upset because their candidate lost, but in the end it was a very peaceful election. 
In March, the half marathon for girls education took place and lots of volunteers and Senegalese nationals participated to raise money for the scholarship project. Also, I assisted in an HIV/STD education project with several volunteers to talk about safe sex and teen pregnancy in a nearby village a few weeks ago, which was extremely successful in my opinion (great work Velingara volunteers!!!).  And last but certainly not least, I've been meeting with my girls youth group twice a week working on an amazing project that will (hopefully) take place at the end of May or beginning of June.  I'm, however, refusing to disclose any information about our "secret" project because I'm so afraid we will jinx all of our efforts up to this point in time.  Once the project is executed, I'll have a full blog update with photos and video :) I'm sooooo excited about this though! It is one of the most rewarding things I've worked on so far, and the girls are the highlight of my week! So keep your eyes open for any of new posts in the next couple of months :)

So what's planned for the next few weeks???:
-Easter holiday in the Jolla neighborhood (where all the catholics live) I'm going to a rare mass service in my village, which is predominately muslim! I'm really excited about it!
-Journey to Lompoul village to ride Camels in the Sahara desert
-Close of Service Conference
-Travel Shenanigans with my partner in crime
-Economic Development Fair in Kolda

I'll update again soon! :) Bisous to all! xoxoxoxo

Life Lately

So I know it's been awhile since my last post.......but I wanted to do a short recap of all that's been going on since my Mali trip:
It's the New Year! Alhumdililah! 2012 is the year I return to Amerik--I seriously can't believe it! It's crazy to think that by the time I return, I wouldn't have seen anyone in my family in 2 years!!! I miss them sooo much! Anyone want to come and visit me (After elections of course)???
My Peace Corps service has just flown by! But with the new year comes new projects, and I really am trying to finish as much as possible before I take off in August. So after a few weeks up north in the Dakar/Thies region in the beginning of January (mostly for work, summits, and drunken shenanigans), I started my first Junior Achievement at one of the local elementary schools in Kounkane. Junior Achievement is a really great program that introduces kids to basic business and economic concepts.  The level I did is very basics and introduces the kids with whom I work how communities function and how people work together.
  I started at Ecole 3, and we did two and a half weeks, meeting twice a week until the five sessions were over.  I taught 20 kids, about 5th or 6th grade level equivalent, about how a community functions. We also talked about types of production, the role of the governement, how to make decisions/weighing the options, and the cycle of money.  It was actually really really fun! My kids were great, attentive, and very involved! At the end of the fifth session I brought soda and cookies for the kids to celebrate what they've learned and achieved :) I just started my second Junior Achievement at Ecole 2 last week, and that should last me until the end of February. I really want to do one at all of the elementary schools in Kounkane (there are 4) and hopefully one in the neighboring village in Thianfara Koba, but we shall see how it works out.  It's been a bit difficult at some of the schools getting teachers or principles on board to help and organize this......inchallah it works out :)
What else have I been up to??? Well, I was "training" for a 10k race that is taking place in Tambacounda on March 4th to raise money for the Michelle Sylvester Scholarship program that keeps girls educated :) But somehow I messed up my right foot, I think it's a tendon problem because it didn't swell, but I can't really put a lot of pressure on it so I think I'm gonna have to forfeit running in the race.  No worries though, you can still donate, and you should, $5, $10, even $15 goes a really long way here for supporting girls with staying in school! Plus there are still A LOT of volunteers who will be running for the girls, and not just a 10k like i was planning.  There is a 5k, 10k, and a half marathon, all taking place in the beginning of hot/dry season in Senegal in probably one of the hottest regions in the country.  Crazy right?  So if you have a spare $5 or $10, please donate so we can keep this program continuing for the brilliant and beautiful girls of Senegal :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ia8xgXyXBo4 Watch the Promo Video :)

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=685-CFD Click Donate and write "Marathon for Education" in comment section

So that''s about all I've been up to: work, planning, and trying to finish up my Peace Corps service on a strong note, inchallah :) So I'll try to update my blog more this year, but no guarantees, I'm sort of running out of stuff that I find interesting to blog about :)
A la prochaine......

~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!

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