So today was definitely an interesting day. we woke up in Pout as all our counterparts are sleeping in our rooms in Thies. We roll into Thies to a late breakfast thats almost all gone and probably double the number of people that are usually there. I know from yesterday that at least one of my counterparts is coming as he had been in contact with andy from Kédougou who was helping with the Counterpart Workshop. The other guy who works for the forestry agency is the one that he didn't know about. But i get to meet Karumba when we get there and he seems like a real nice guy. He's got a bit of a crazy lazy eye but he knows literally 6 languages. So hes really smart. We get to sit through a days worth of orientation basically. Great fun but it was for the benefit of Karumba as we had already heard all of this information. In talking to him, i learned alot about him, he works for trees for the future and helps missionaries with language learning so e picked up english. he likes volleyball as well which is cool, so all round he seems like a cool guy.
The trainees all have to introduce a different session in the language that they are learning and i get to introduce the interview session in pulla futa. Im still not very good at all that but i get on with it. Its during this session that i find out about Karumba and his family and the like. I think i can honestly say ive never been so happy to hear that someone speaks french. Never thought that would happen! But seeing as he speaks all these languages, I think he'll be a great counterpart, especially working with trees for the future. After this session, during the break,i also found out a little bit about my homestay. Evidently im getting a brand new hut. Being built as we were talking i was informed. Good times.
The rest of the sessions were more of the same, lunch was interesting as there was so many people. THey opened up the dinner room for people as well because there were so many people. I think i heard that if everyone showed there would have been 80 people plus volunteers staff and trainees. Thats a lot of people in the small center. I just relaxed after lunch and read the rest of my Flashman book. Great book by the way, check it out, great fun. Very Sharp-esq but with alot more funny. But that reading basically put me to sleep and i have a hard time staying awake in the next session. Luckily for me i kinda wake up before the guy talking calls out someone else for nodding off. kinda funny really. The rest of this session after lunch is on the project plan for Ag/Fo in Senegal, again something we already had a class on. Oh yea all these sessions are in French or Wollof so weve really only a small idea of whats going on. They stop and recap for us in english every now and then, but its tough going.
After this session instead of taking a nap like i should i go with Shelia up to the main road and to a boutique to get some cookies. delicious little chocolate filled cookies, hit the spot they did. Something about sugar these days, just that much better. We get back and hang out in the sitting room area just chilling a bit till we realize theres no one else around and that the next session has prob already started. luckily it had only just started so we really didnt miss a lot. This session was on the counterparts role in our objectives and what was to be expected form them. The cross-cultural teacher made them close their eyes and pretend they had been taken to Japan and then ask the what they needed and how they would have liked to be helped in that situation. This session runs a little long so by the time were done, we have to all scurry over to where the cars are waiting for us so we can be taken back to our villages. The wollof speaker and us pulla futa folk were all in the same car. The head agriculture teacher snags a ride with us as well. Hes a nice guy, Yussefa. Kevin from our group taught him chillaxing after he dropped chilling like a villain one day while he was inspecting our garden and our tree nursery in POut. The funny part is he evidently uses it alot now! Its kinda funny cause hes this older african guy, kinda goofy but ubber nice, and he drops chillaxing and chilling like a villain, too funny.
The wollof village that the wollof group is staying in is about 4-600 people, and i feel like it would have been alot better had we been in something like that instead of a 30,000 person town. Ah well, what can you do, under a month left now. Oh yeah our LPI's were graded. I ended up bumping up another level to novice high, just one more level to go, intermediate low. I think if i bust my ass this next 8 days we spend in Pout ill be ok, but ill have to really work hard.
So when we get back to Pout we find out that were being picked up at 615, so we have to get up nice and early, which sucks. But we'll at least get breakfast at the center with everyone else. I was actually able to convey this to my host mother in pullar tonight which was cool. I just have to keep trying i guess. But speaking of my host family, its been a little odd here the fast couple of days as my host familys uncle who lived across the street died. I had meet him a couple of times and new his family. I remember them telling us us training that we'd prob all end up knowing someone who would die while we are here, but i didnt think itd be in pre service training. One other trainee had a death in the family, his dad died in his homestay family, so thats a little different. But i didnt understand the funeral procedures here, and when i was told a couple days ago at the center that he died and the funeral was the next day i figured it would last one day. No try 8. So i just figured that id not have to do anything, and didnt get why they kept bringing it up and talking about the funeral. I finally asked my brother about it and he said it lasts 8 days. This is the one that speaks a little english. I felt kinda bad about this as i hadnt made any kind of move to go and give my condolences to the family, outside of my immediate host family. So thats what i did tonight.
So if you really didnt know someone that well and they die, its a little awkward, now imagine youve only meet the person a few times and dont really speak the language. that intensifies the awkwardness ten fold. I was able to get out je suis tres desolie and condolences. My Aunt seemed happy with this, im stil not sure if i was supposed to give her money or something as there was a basket with a bunch of change in it next to her when i came over. Ill have to ask the LCF's about that. Her son is real nice and hangs out with my brother a lot so thats kinda how i knew the family. So that was my night basically, since i have to get up early im hitting the hay early. En jango bimmbi law
Saturday, October 25, 2008
10/23
So today was definitely an interesting day. we woke up in Pout as all our counterparts are sleeping in our rooms in Thies. We roll into Thies to a late breakfast thats almost all gone and probably double the number of people that are usually there. I know from yesterday that at least one of my counterparts is coming as he had been in contact with andy from Kédougou who was helping with the Counterpart Workshop. The other guy who works for the forestry agency is the one that he didn't know about. But i get to meet Karumba when we get there and he seems like a real nice guy. He's got a bit of a crazy lazy eye but he knows literally 6 languages. So hes really smart. We get to sit through a days worth of orientation basically. Great fun but it was for the benefit of Karumba as we had already heard all of this information. In talking to him, i learned alot about him, he works for trees for the future and helps missionaries with language learning so e picked up english. he likes volleyball as well which is cool, so all round he seems like a cool guy.
The trainees all have to introduce a different session in the language that they are learning and i get to introduce the interview session in pulla futa. Im still not very good at all that but i get on with it. Its during this session that i find out about Karumba and his family and the like. I think i can honestly say ive never been so happy to hear that someone speaks french. Never thought that would happen! But seeing as he speaks all these languages, I think he'll be a great counterpart, especially working with trees for the future. After this session, during the break,i also found out a little bit about my homestay. Evidently im getting a brand new hut. Being built as we were talking i was informed. Good times.
The rest of the sessions were more of the same, lunch was interesting as there was so many people. THey opened up the dinner room for people as well because there were so many people. I think i heard that if everyone showed there would have been 80 people plus volunteers staff and trainees. Thats a lot of people in the small center. I just relaxed after lunch and read the rest of my Flashman book. Great book by the way, check it out, great fun. Very Sharp-esq but with alot more funny. But that reading basically put me to sleep and i have a hard time staying awake in the next session. Luckily for me i kinda wake up before the guy talking calls out someone else for nodding off. kinda funny really. The rest of this session after lunch is on the project plan for Ag/Fo in Senegal, again something we already had a class on. Oh yea all these sessions are in French or Wollof so weve really only a small idea of whats going on. They stop and recap for us in english every now and then, but its tough going.
After this session instead of taking a nap like i should i go with Shelia up to the main road and to a boutique to get some cookies. delicious little chocolate filled cookies, hit the spot they did. Something about sugar these days, just that much better. We get back and hang out in the sitting room area just chilling a bit till we realize theres no one else around and that the next session has prob already started. luckily it had only just started so we really didnt miss a lot. This session was on the counterparts role in our objectives and what was to be expected form them. The cross-cultural teacher made them close their eyes and pretend they had been taken to Japan and then ask the what they needed and how they would have liked to be helped in that situation. This session runs a little long so by the time were done, we have to all scurry over to where the cars are waiting for us so we can be taken back to our villages. The wollof speaker and us pulla futa folk were all in the same car. The head agriculture teacher snags a ride with us as well. Hes a nice guy, Yussefa. Kevin from our group taught him chillaxing after he dropped chilling like a villain one day while he was inspecting our garden and our tree nursery in POut. The funny part is he evidently uses it alot now! Its kinda funny cause hes this older african guy, kinda goofy but ubber nice, and he drops chillaxing and chilling like a villain, too funny.
The wollof village that the wollof group is staying in is about 4-600 people, and i feel like it would have been alot better had we been in something like that instead of a 30,000 person town. Ah well, what can you do, under a month left now. Oh yeah our LPI's were graded. I ended up bumping up another level to novice high, just one more level to go, intermediate low. I think if i bust my ass this next 8 days we spend in Pout ill be ok, but ill have to really work hard.
So when we get back to Pout we find out that were being picked up at 615, so we have to get up nice and early, which sucks. But we'll at least get breakfast at the center with everyone else. I was actually able to convey this to my host mother in pullar tonight which was cool. I just have to keep trying i guess. But speaking of my host family, its been a little odd here the fast couple of days as my host familys uncle who lived across the street died. I had meet him a couple of times and new his family. I remember them telling us us training that we'd prob all end up knowing someone who would die while we are here, but i didnt think itd be in pre service training. One other trainee had a death in the family, his dad died in his homestay family, so thats a little different. But i didnt understand the funeral procedures here, and when i was told a couple days ago at the center that he died and the funeral was the next day i figured it would last one day. No try 8. So i just figured that id not have to do anything, and didnt get why they kept bringing it up and talking about the funeral. I finally asked my brother about it and he said it lasts 8 days. This is the one that speaks a little english. I felt kinda bad about this as i hadnt made any kind of move to go and give my condolences to the family, outside of my immediate host family. So thats what i did tonight.
So if you really didnt know someone that well and they die, its a little awkward, now imagine youve only meet the person a few times and dont really speak the language. that intensifies the awkwardness ten fold. I was able to get out je suis tres desolie and condolences. My Aunt seemed happy with this, im stil not sure if i was supposed to give her money or something as there was a basket with a bunch of change in it next to her when i came over. Ill have to ask the LCF's about that. Her son is real nice and hangs out with my brother a lot so thats kinda how i knew the family. So that was my night basically, since i have to get up early im hitting the hay early. En jango bimmbi law
The trainees all have to introduce a different session in the language that they are learning and i get to introduce the interview session in pulla futa. Im still not very good at all that but i get on with it. Its during this session that i find out about Karumba and his family and the like. I think i can honestly say ive never been so happy to hear that someone speaks french. Never thought that would happen! But seeing as he speaks all these languages, I think he'll be a great counterpart, especially working with trees for the future. After this session, during the break,i also found out a little bit about my homestay. Evidently im getting a brand new hut. Being built as we were talking i was informed. Good times.
The rest of the sessions were more of the same, lunch was interesting as there was so many people. THey opened up the dinner room for people as well because there were so many people. I think i heard that if everyone showed there would have been 80 people plus volunteers staff and trainees. Thats a lot of people in the small center. I just relaxed after lunch and read the rest of my Flashman book. Great book by the way, check it out, great fun. Very Sharp-esq but with alot more funny. But that reading basically put me to sleep and i have a hard time staying awake in the next session. Luckily for me i kinda wake up before the guy talking calls out someone else for nodding off. kinda funny really. The rest of this session after lunch is on the project plan for Ag/Fo in Senegal, again something we already had a class on. Oh yea all these sessions are in French or Wollof so weve really only a small idea of whats going on. They stop and recap for us in english every now and then, but its tough going.
After this session instead of taking a nap like i should i go with Shelia up to the main road and to a boutique to get some cookies. delicious little chocolate filled cookies, hit the spot they did. Something about sugar these days, just that much better. We get back and hang out in the sitting room area just chilling a bit till we realize theres no one else around and that the next session has prob already started. luckily it had only just started so we really didnt miss a lot. This session was on the counterparts role in our objectives and what was to be expected form them. The cross-cultural teacher made them close their eyes and pretend they had been taken to Japan and then ask the what they needed and how they would have liked to be helped in that situation. This session runs a little long so by the time were done, we have to all scurry over to where the cars are waiting for us so we can be taken back to our villages. The wollof speaker and us pulla futa folk were all in the same car. The head agriculture teacher snags a ride with us as well. Hes a nice guy, Yussefa. Kevin from our group taught him chillaxing after he dropped chilling like a villain one day while he was inspecting our garden and our tree nursery in POut. The funny part is he evidently uses it alot now! Its kinda funny cause hes this older african guy, kinda goofy but ubber nice, and he drops chillaxing and chilling like a villain, too funny.
The wollof village that the wollof group is staying in is about 4-600 people, and i feel like it would have been alot better had we been in something like that instead of a 30,000 person town. Ah well, what can you do, under a month left now. Oh yeah our LPI's were graded. I ended up bumping up another level to novice high, just one more level to go, intermediate low. I think if i bust my ass this next 8 days we spend in Pout ill be ok, but ill have to really work hard.
So when we get back to Pout we find out that were being picked up at 615, so we have to get up nice and early, which sucks. But we'll at least get breakfast at the center with everyone else. I was actually able to convey this to my host mother in pullar tonight which was cool. I just have to keep trying i guess. But speaking of my host family, its been a little odd here the fast couple of days as my host familys uncle who lived across the street died. I had meet him a couple of times and new his family. I remember them telling us us training that we'd prob all end up knowing someone who would die while we are here, but i didnt think itd be in pre service training. One other trainee had a death in the family, his dad died in his homestay family, so thats a little different. But i didnt understand the funeral procedures here, and when i was told a couple days ago at the center that he died and the funeral was the next day i figured it would last one day. No try 8. So i just figured that id not have to do anything, and didnt get why they kept bringing it up and talking about the funeral. I finally asked my brother about it and he said it lasts 8 days. This is the one that speaks a little english. I felt kinda bad about this as i hadnt made any kind of move to go and give my condolences to the family, outside of my immediate host family. So thats what i did tonight.
So if you really didnt know someone that well and they die, its a little awkward, now imagine youve only meet the person a few times and dont really speak the language. that intensifies the awkwardness ten fold. I was able to get out je suis tres desolie and condolences. My Aunt seemed happy with this, im stil not sure if i was supposed to give her money or something as there was a basket with a bunch of change in it next to her when i came over. Ill have to ask the LCF's about that. Her son is real nice and hangs out with my brother a lot so thats kinda how i knew the family. So that was my night basically, since i have to get up early im hitting the hay early. En jango bimmbi law
10/21
so today we spent at the training center doing our LPI's and some cross cultural things in the afternoon. I was going to wake up early and study for my LPI but ended up just getting up at around 7, which was still early really as my test wasnt till 920. So i get my usual breakfast of baguette and chocolate spread/butter and jam. I usually end up eating about a whole baguette of the mix. Not everyone else is up yet, but a good number are up doing the same thing. everyone wants to hit intermediate low to get it out of the way. One girl had already hit it on her first LPI, must have just clicked for her or something. Im thinking that mine will result in me getting novice high more for pity's/my confidences sake. It went ok i was able to describe activities i did in the past ok and the ones i was going to do in the future. I didnt know one of hte questions she asked and still cant ask questions. I just blank cause im staring a language teacher and cant think of what to ask them in these silly little scenarios they give you to prompt you. Ah well ive got one more shot after this to hit intermediate low, and if i dont then i get 'held back' so to speak till i do. If i dont get it in two weeks though, im doneski. So there is definitely incentive to make sure you get there.
After the LPI;s we have break with more baguette and coffee/tea, during which my roommates and I chill in our room listening to music. very nice. We have a session on the counter part workshop that we have this week where demba goes over the logistics of the week. Sounds like itll be interesting, theres close to 80 counterparts coming, 2 for every trainee. No wonder were staying in Pout during the CPW. After this we break up into our different sectors to go over the specifics that each group has to do to get ready. Basically every trainee has to introduce a session in the language that they are learning. should be interesting to see anyway. We also get assignments for different committees for different activities that are going on during. For me im on the welcoming committee from 3-5 tomorrow. I have to show the counterparts to their room and where the essentials are. If they dont speak french or Pullar, im thinking its going to be pretty difficult. I wanted to be on the tea committee as they just had to deliver charcoal and the little grill-esq things that they use to boil the water every day to the counterparts. But since no one was volunteering for the welcoming committee and it was getting to the point where someone was going to be volunteered regardless, i decided to take the fall for the team.
After this is lunch break and before lunch starts, as weve about 1/2 an hour, i decide to get my translation of the intro to my session out of the way. Its rather long, but its done now and lamine, my lang prof, looked it over and made the changes needed to make it make sense. We had a decent lunch today as well. some old rice and veggies, but the meat was a little curry-ie which was a nice change. We are informed about the ideas that are on the table for our stages tee-shirt, i guess every stage gets one. The ideas are ok, im not sure what one i like really. ones a picture of toilet paper with a big crossed out circle around it, with ive converted on the front. The second is PC senegal with the start of our stage on it and on the back is africa fun with three heads on it. the heads would have been demba, chris hendrick and someone else. The last idea was kinda vague, but would incorporate a phrase from each language that we thought was funny.
After lunch, Oliver, Jess, and I go into town to get money. Unfortunately all the banks are closed so i cant go to western Union and pick up the money id been sent. Oliver and Jess were just going to the ATM so it wasnt a problem for them. We end up hoofing it around town eventually ending up at the post office which is also on lunch break till 230 when our next class session started, and then promptly gave up. I make the decision to come back during the next culture session and get it taken care of as we had the staff trainee soccer game right after class in the afternoon. so basically i get back to the center just in time to turn right back round and head off back to the post office. I make it there in about 20min and theres about 4 other people in line ahead of me. Here in Senegal there isnt really line etiquette so to speak, people just bust a move to the front and try to get their business taken care of first. very hard to get used to for americans used to order and the like. SO i get shafted by 2 folk before i get pushy and get to the cashier. It was mildly confusing at first, but once i figured out what the numer-o was she was asking for, everything went smoothly... and it was all in french!! I was so proud of myself for that as im ubber paranoid about how bad my french is. I guess i can get by with the basic interactions at different basic shops/locations.
So i get back to the center in time to hear the end of the lecture on islam in daily life at the disco hut. THe guy talking was definitely english educated, very interesting to hear as most of the trainers are very clearly american trained. We have a break after that and the next session was on senegad or something. It was about Senegalese gender and development. The volunteer from Pout who is good friends with my family. She was told to keep the session short as we had the game directly after it. Thats really what i was looking forward too.
So we all troop over to the stade for the game. Well most everyone does, a few people who weren't interested in playing went into town for the internet. We had to play on the demi-all weather pitch i wrote about earlier which kinda sucked but the game was really fun. I think we got everyone who wanted to play involved in the game. that was the important part in my book really, and i think all the trainers and trainees all had a great time. The game ended up in a 3-3 draw which was totally unexpected as we figured the trainers would steam roll us. It looked like that was on the cards for the first 2/3rds of the game as it wa s2-1 going in to the half and 3-1 afterwards. We got our game together and caught them with the offsides trap a few times and strung some good passes together and got back in it with a fortunate goal and then with some great footwork chris leveled it with 10 min left! This kinda kicked the trainers up the back side a bit and they poured forward. IT kinda reminded me of the england argentina game a few world cup games age when Becks scored a penalty and then they sat on the goal and withstood the storm that rained down on them in the last 20 min. We had some outstanding performances though. In the first half our goalie totally kept us in the game, Tate was a badass and didn't take shit from anyone. The two goals weren't really his fault one was a absolute cracker of a goal upper ninety in the top left from about 20 yards out. Meg Thompson was also kinda a surprise, she played like a pro and totally took the trainers by surprise. So basically it was a great time and i think everyone would be totally down to play again like the trainers were saying after the game.
We all head back to the center in a good mood and have dinner which was great. Fries, salad, and fish. Everyone is kinda itching to go out and head up to pamandas(bar uptown) for drinks. I decide to head up to big faim for a beer and some interneting. Shelia and i go and chill for a bit, get my interneting done and have a beer. We end up chatting for a little bit. We head back to the center and some of the folk who didnt go up to pamandas were watching life aquatic on the projector the SEDers use for their tech training. great movie and i watch it for a bit before heading back to pack up all my stuff so some counterpart can use my armoire and room. Big pain in the ass but what ever.
After the LPI;s we have break with more baguette and coffee/tea, during which my roommates and I chill in our room listening to music. very nice. We have a session on the counter part workshop that we have this week where demba goes over the logistics of the week. Sounds like itll be interesting, theres close to 80 counterparts coming, 2 for every trainee. No wonder were staying in Pout during the CPW. After this we break up into our different sectors to go over the specifics that each group has to do to get ready. Basically every trainee has to introduce a session in the language that they are learning. should be interesting to see anyway. We also get assignments for different committees for different activities that are going on during. For me im on the welcoming committee from 3-5 tomorrow. I have to show the counterparts to their room and where the essentials are. If they dont speak french or Pullar, im thinking its going to be pretty difficult. I wanted to be on the tea committee as they just had to deliver charcoal and the little grill-esq things that they use to boil the water every day to the counterparts. But since no one was volunteering for the welcoming committee and it was getting to the point where someone was going to be volunteered regardless, i decided to take the fall for the team.
After this is lunch break and before lunch starts, as weve about 1/2 an hour, i decide to get my translation of the intro to my session out of the way. Its rather long, but its done now and lamine, my lang prof, looked it over and made the changes needed to make it make sense. We had a decent lunch today as well. some old rice and veggies, but the meat was a little curry-ie which was a nice change. We are informed about the ideas that are on the table for our stages tee-shirt, i guess every stage gets one. The ideas are ok, im not sure what one i like really. ones a picture of toilet paper with a big crossed out circle around it, with ive converted on the front. The second is PC senegal with the start of our stage on it and on the back is africa fun with three heads on it. the heads would have been demba, chris hendrick and someone else. The last idea was kinda vague, but would incorporate a phrase from each language that we thought was funny.
After lunch, Oliver, Jess, and I go into town to get money. Unfortunately all the banks are closed so i cant go to western Union and pick up the money id been sent. Oliver and Jess were just going to the ATM so it wasnt a problem for them. We end up hoofing it around town eventually ending up at the post office which is also on lunch break till 230 when our next class session started, and then promptly gave up. I make the decision to come back during the next culture session and get it taken care of as we had the staff trainee soccer game right after class in the afternoon. so basically i get back to the center just in time to turn right back round and head off back to the post office. I make it there in about 20min and theres about 4 other people in line ahead of me. Here in Senegal there isnt really line etiquette so to speak, people just bust a move to the front and try to get their business taken care of first. very hard to get used to for americans used to order and the like. SO i get shafted by 2 folk before i get pushy and get to the cashier. It was mildly confusing at first, but once i figured out what the numer-o was she was asking for, everything went smoothly... and it was all in french!! I was so proud of myself for that as im ubber paranoid about how bad my french is. I guess i can get by with the basic interactions at different basic shops/locations.
So i get back to the center in time to hear the end of the lecture on islam in daily life at the disco hut. THe guy talking was definitely english educated, very interesting to hear as most of the trainers are very clearly american trained. We have a break after that and the next session was on senegad or something. It was about Senegalese gender and development. The volunteer from Pout who is good friends with my family. She was told to keep the session short as we had the game directly after it. Thats really what i was looking forward too.
So we all troop over to the stade for the game. Well most everyone does, a few people who weren't interested in playing went into town for the internet. We had to play on the demi-all weather pitch i wrote about earlier which kinda sucked but the game was really fun. I think we got everyone who wanted to play involved in the game. that was the important part in my book really, and i think all the trainers and trainees all had a great time. The game ended up in a 3-3 draw which was totally unexpected as we figured the trainers would steam roll us. It looked like that was on the cards for the first 2/3rds of the game as it wa s2-1 going in to the half and 3-1 afterwards. We got our game together and caught them with the offsides trap a few times and strung some good passes together and got back in it with a fortunate goal and then with some great footwork chris leveled it with 10 min left! This kinda kicked the trainers up the back side a bit and they poured forward. IT kinda reminded me of the england argentina game a few world cup games age when Becks scored a penalty and then they sat on the goal and withstood the storm that rained down on them in the last 20 min. We had some outstanding performances though. In the first half our goalie totally kept us in the game, Tate was a badass and didn't take shit from anyone. The two goals weren't really his fault one was a absolute cracker of a goal upper ninety in the top left from about 20 yards out. Meg Thompson was also kinda a surprise, she played like a pro and totally took the trainers by surprise. So basically it was a great time and i think everyone would be totally down to play again like the trainers were saying after the game.
We all head back to the center in a good mood and have dinner which was great. Fries, salad, and fish. Everyone is kinda itching to go out and head up to pamandas(bar uptown) for drinks. I decide to head up to big faim for a beer and some interneting. Shelia and i go and chill for a bit, get my interneting done and have a beer. We end up chatting for a little bit. We head back to the center and some of the folk who didnt go up to pamandas were watching life aquatic on the projector the SEDers use for their tech training. great movie and i watch it for a bit before heading back to pack up all my stuff so some counterpart can use my armoire and room. Big pain in the ass but what ever.
Monday, October 20, 2008
10/20 Dakar
So the next day we have to be @ PC HQ at 9. So everyone has to be up and at em by 730ish. Im feeling ok at this point as its a new day and i dont feel that awful. There were definetly people who were feeling the chinese booze so i though i was doing ok. We head out by 830 and make it to the HQ by 9, good for us as the rest of the trainees weren't going to get there till 930 as they were coming from Thies. So we get to hang out in the HQ til they get there. I guess the building is pretty brand spanking new as it just opened in january. The doors to get into the building could probably withstand some minor artillery fire which was interesting to see and heavy as all hell to open. So the rest of the group gets there and we meet a woman from the embassy who gave us some paperwork to fill out. She also took anybodies absentee ballot to send back in the states as a plane was heading back state side this evening. So my ballot is in transit as we speak which is good as itll get there with plenty of time. (hopefully)
We have to sit through a couple speakers from members of the HQ's staff. Kinda boring but important none the less. Its about this point that i really start to feel like shit. Not like sick as i was the previous day, but just headache and body ache. SO i sit through this and then have to wander around the HQ getting different members of the staffs signatures in a demi scavenger hunt. At this point im just lookin forward to getting out of there and getting my police report filed so as to get my money reimbursed and back to Thies to sleep and recoup. So once this little hunt for signatures is over, during which i find out that some of the SEDers in our group are using the info everyone gave them to make a list of everyones name number and location to sell to everybody. How nice right, makes me hate capitalism some times, everyone trying to make a buck. had i know that thats what they were using the info for, and had told me i wouldnt have given them it. Really pissed my off as i was already in a shitty mood. I mean come on selling us our own info back wtf? Whatever im not buying it.
Anyway we finish up the hunt and are getting ready to leave when i find out that no ones really that interested in going to file a police report to get our money reimbursed from PC. So im broke, sick, and pissed off for a 'fun' day out in Dakar. Great. The group i end up with ends up getting Indian food for lunch which sucks as thats the last thing im putting into my system to mess things up even further. It did look good for what it was worth, Jenn and Jared are good at finding good things to do. We head to the downtown area after that for the rest of the afternoon. the first stop was n-ice cream ice cream store. Again no money so no ice cream, i think thats the most upset ive been in country, toping even my language frustration. So we wonder round downtown and visit the french cultural center after that and the agricultural store that is one of the best in the country. Thats right across the street from the large toubab super market which was next on the list of things to do. It was really weird to go into as it was like a supermarket youd find in a european country. We mozy round that in awa at the contrast to what weve been seeing in our villages and the like. People end up buying a few things and the other groups end up visiting it as well, kinda funny really.
ONce everyone had had their fill of normalcy, we headed back up the street to the place de independence to wait for the cars to come and get us. Now in downtown Dakar, 40+ toubabs is a beacon to ever peddler and sales hawk to come running and try to get us to buy stupid shit. we were all sitting around the edge of this fountain that was drained, and theyd just walk around the edge of of it trying to get everyone to buy their stuff. Im pretty sure no one did. I suppose youve got to work right, i just dont think i could deal with that rejection really. The cars eventually get there and we all pile in adn head off back to Thies. I crash on the way back and wake up as were leaving Dakar, thats about an hour into the ride! After that i read for the rest of the ride, Flashman, great series.
So yeah were back now, dinner was good and Kevin and I are at Big Faim interneting it up before we study for our Language Proficiency Interview LPI tomorrow morning. I feel like my lang has come along even if it would prob be better if i could practice it more regularly then just in class. We do have alot of class mind you. Ah well i suppose i should study some and im out of beer so back to the center i go.
oh yeah so this week was supposed to be back in thies, but the counterpart workshop is this week. We get to meet the people we will be working with at our sites, which is cool, but because our homestay is close by we get to be bused into thies everyday and bused back every night. I was really looking forward to getting away from Pout for a little, kinda rubbing me the wrong way this past week really. whatever ill just be bitter i guess, anyhoo study study study
We have to sit through a couple speakers from members of the HQ's staff. Kinda boring but important none the less. Its about this point that i really start to feel like shit. Not like sick as i was the previous day, but just headache and body ache. SO i sit through this and then have to wander around the HQ getting different members of the staffs signatures in a demi scavenger hunt. At this point im just lookin forward to getting out of there and getting my police report filed so as to get my money reimbursed and back to Thies to sleep and recoup. So once this little hunt for signatures is over, during which i find out that some of the SEDers in our group are using the info everyone gave them to make a list of everyones name number and location to sell to everybody. How nice right, makes me hate capitalism some times, everyone trying to make a buck. had i know that thats what they were using the info for, and had told me i wouldnt have given them it. Really pissed my off as i was already in a shitty mood. I mean come on selling us our own info back wtf? Whatever im not buying it.
Anyway we finish up the hunt and are getting ready to leave when i find out that no ones really that interested in going to file a police report to get our money reimbursed from PC. So im broke, sick, and pissed off for a 'fun' day out in Dakar. Great. The group i end up with ends up getting Indian food for lunch which sucks as thats the last thing im putting into my system to mess things up even further. It did look good for what it was worth, Jenn and Jared are good at finding good things to do. We head to the downtown area after that for the rest of the afternoon. the first stop was n-ice cream ice cream store. Again no money so no ice cream, i think thats the most upset ive been in country, toping even my language frustration. So we wonder round downtown and visit the french cultural center after that and the agricultural store that is one of the best in the country. Thats right across the street from the large toubab super market which was next on the list of things to do. It was really weird to go into as it was like a supermarket youd find in a european country. We mozy round that in awa at the contrast to what weve been seeing in our villages and the like. People end up buying a few things and the other groups end up visiting it as well, kinda funny really.
ONce everyone had had their fill of normalcy, we headed back up the street to the place de independence to wait for the cars to come and get us. Now in downtown Dakar, 40+ toubabs is a beacon to ever peddler and sales hawk to come running and try to get us to buy stupid shit. we were all sitting around the edge of this fountain that was drained, and theyd just walk around the edge of of it trying to get everyone to buy their stuff. Im pretty sure no one did. I suppose youve got to work right, i just dont think i could deal with that rejection really. The cars eventually get there and we all pile in adn head off back to Thies. I crash on the way back and wake up as were leaving Dakar, thats about an hour into the ride! After that i read for the rest of the ride, Flashman, great series.
So yeah were back now, dinner was good and Kevin and I are at Big Faim interneting it up before we study for our Language Proficiency Interview LPI tomorrow morning. I feel like my lang has come along even if it would prob be better if i could practice it more regularly then just in class. We do have alot of class mind you. Ah well i suppose i should study some and im out of beer so back to the center i go.
oh yeah so this week was supposed to be back in thies, but the counterpart workshop is this week. We get to meet the people we will be working with at our sites, which is cool, but because our homestay is close by we get to be bused into thies everyday and bused back every night. I was really looking forward to getting away from Pout for a little, kinda rubbing me the wrong way this past week really. whatever ill just be bitter i guess, anyhoo study study study
10/18 Dakar
So back in Big Faim i sit again, back from Dakar and another kinda shitty time, a liter and a half of besap juice is not the best way to start off a stint in The capital. So about half of our training stage decided to roll into Dakar a day early to experience it early and take in the sights and sounds. When leaving kevin, aaron, ben, darren and I were taking a bit longer then the rest so were left behind. We had to make our own way to Dakar so we had to go to the gare and rent alhum's or sept places. Well by the time we get there we figure the group that had left before us would have already been on their way and long gone, but they're sitting there in an Al hum waiting for it to fill up which had to be fun as it was rather hot out. We decide a sept place is the best way to roll and promptly tell the people who are trying to get us into the Al hum that were not doing that and that we want to take a sept place. This basically saves us having to take a Taxi from the gare in Dakar to the regional house as with the sept place we can go straight to the door. So we basically end up geting there about 20min before them and claim beds in the packed regional house. I guess theres a lot of PCV's who were in their last few week/days in country and were 'close of servicing' and were in the capital. So it was lucky we took the sept place and beat out the other 15 people vying for the beds and space.
Once the rest of the group get there and settled, we decide on the american club as a starting point for everything. We swim and play a little sand volleyball, which was really fun, and have lunch which was also really good. Thats where i have my mishap with the besap juice, which is delicious by the way, just not in a liter and a half increments in short periods of time. i think the fact that it wasnt treated water the used to make it might have factored into the equation as well. Ah well live and learn. After this and lunch i group with the folks who are looking to head back to liberty 6 as im feeling a little off color and want to chill for a while. So we spend the afternoon back at the regional house relaxing. So about happy hour time we decide to go to a bar that a bunch of the PCV's know for cheap drinks. I go along, but am really not feeling all that happy so to speak but they had french soccer on the TV's there so i just milked my two beers and watched that. Entertaining in its own right as Marseille were playing and were playing a decent game. I end up talking ot oliver and daniel for a little bit as well, both nice guys. Oliver lived in France for a while and is a bad ass french speaker, and daniel lived in mexico for a while. They had interesting opinions on people studying abroad which i broadly agreed with as it really doesnt change your perspective on the world going to australia for a semester and partying it up with other americans. Theres some dissenting points which i dont fully agree with with, but for the most part i agree. Oliver likes soccer as well and we ended up talking about the soccer game against the staff we have on tuesday afternoon. should be good fun even if we do get beat up.
When everyone was good and watered, we head off to the Chinese restaurant that one of the PCV's knew and liked. That was really the plan form the beginning so everyone was game from the git-go. Kinda a hole in the wall place, but very good food, even if my stomach was in full revolt at this point. Theres about 3 full circle tables of us and another group of marines roll in so it was a full on american afair by the time we were done. A good time for sure minus my predicament. A bottle of some really awful chinese booze ends up on our table and after everyone tries it ends up staying there for the rest of the night. Really potent, and not really the best cure for a pissed off stomach i dont think. Anyway, after about 5 plates of food had been brought out and everyone was full up, we have to manage the bill which was fun, as there was so many of us all drinking different things, but it get sorted in the end.We all pile into cabs and head back to liberty 6 for the rest of the night. I just kinda curl up into a ball on the couch and try to read for the rest of the night before bed and then crash to hopefully feel better the next day at PC HQ.
Once the rest of the group get there and settled, we decide on the american club as a starting point for everything. We swim and play a little sand volleyball, which was really fun, and have lunch which was also really good. Thats where i have my mishap with the besap juice, which is delicious by the way, just not in a liter and a half increments in short periods of time. i think the fact that it wasnt treated water the used to make it might have factored into the equation as well. Ah well live and learn. After this and lunch i group with the folks who are looking to head back to liberty 6 as im feeling a little off color and want to chill for a while. So we spend the afternoon back at the regional house relaxing. So about happy hour time we decide to go to a bar that a bunch of the PCV's know for cheap drinks. I go along, but am really not feeling all that happy so to speak but they had french soccer on the TV's there so i just milked my two beers and watched that. Entertaining in its own right as Marseille were playing and were playing a decent game. I end up talking ot oliver and daniel for a little bit as well, both nice guys. Oliver lived in France for a while and is a bad ass french speaker, and daniel lived in mexico for a while. They had interesting opinions on people studying abroad which i broadly agreed with as it really doesnt change your perspective on the world going to australia for a semester and partying it up with other americans. Theres some dissenting points which i dont fully agree with with, but for the most part i agree. Oliver likes soccer as well and we ended up talking about the soccer game against the staff we have on tuesday afternoon. should be good fun even if we do get beat up.
When everyone was good and watered, we head off to the Chinese restaurant that one of the PCV's knew and liked. That was really the plan form the beginning so everyone was game from the git-go. Kinda a hole in the wall place, but very good food, even if my stomach was in full revolt at this point. Theres about 3 full circle tables of us and another group of marines roll in so it was a full on american afair by the time we were done. A good time for sure minus my predicament. A bottle of some really awful chinese booze ends up on our table and after everyone tries it ends up staying there for the rest of the night. Really potent, and not really the best cure for a pissed off stomach i dont think. Anyway, after about 5 plates of food had been brought out and everyone was full up, we have to manage the bill which was fun, as there was so many of us all drinking different things, but it get sorted in the end.We all pile into cabs and head back to liberty 6 for the rest of the night. I just kinda curl up into a ball on the couch and try to read for the rest of the night before bed and then crash to hopefully feel better the next day at PC HQ.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
10/12
So today was quite a bit less interesting htne yesterday as no riots or international soccer games. We wake up around 8/9 and chill in the regional house for most of the morning. Jenn and Aaron go and get everyone bean sandwiches. As bad as that sounds its actually a great meal. jared shows up while we are waiting for jenn and Aaron to get back. I talk to him for a bit and relive the events of the previous night. Evidently another PCv got jumped while trying to leave the stadium and got roughed up pretty good. As the story was told it seemed like they thought that he was a gambia supporter and as they were trying to take his shirt realized he had a senegal jersey on underneath, and apologized for beating the crap out of him and stealing all his shit. But he lost about what i did and was significantly less off then i was. I guess i could have relied on that happening had i put up a fight and i feel a little less guilty for not putting up a bigger fight.
So Jenn and Aaron get back and we dig in as everyone else has gotten up as well. Everyone was really nice about the whole being skint bit and we were all taken care of for the rest of the day. We decided that we would go to the beach or the american club so as to change our interpretations of Dakar around. Jared had to go back to his house to get some things and seeing as he lived right next to where everything happened the previous night i decided i wanted to go with him to put to rest some demons about that area.
We caught a jeginjy(local bus type thing) from liberty 6, the are where the regional house is in Dakar over to the stadium side of town. We had to walk from there to Jared's house. We literally walked right past where we had been cowering from rocks the previous day. Not only that but Jared lives like 2 secs away from where we were. We could have gone straight there and been fine. Good to know now right! But i was glad i got to go back and walk around as it was life as usual, it was like nothing had happened the night before, minus the busted ass Senelac building and the remnants of burnt up tires in the roads. Everyone had lives to get on with so life went on. Jared and I hung out at his house for a while and headed out when Jenn txted jared to say they were going to the American Club.
So we started our journey back across Dakar to the american club, which PCV's get into free incidentally. It took us a while to get across town and two jeginjy rides. We had to take the firs one from the Stadium, basically right where everything was all crazy the night before with tire on fire and tear gas flying around. It was neat to see the north side of the peninsula though. We got to drive past a monument that president wade is having built kinda as a monument to be remembered by. Its pissed alot of people off as he cant do a lot of other things but is blowing all this money on a huge monument. Evidently it'll be as big as the jesus in Rio.
We eventually get over the Atlantic Club, which is really the American Club. A little slice of america in Dakar. A nice pool, tennis courts, volleyball court, and lots of americans and other ex-pats. When jared and I got there everyone else was there as well as the country director and his family. They were all hanging out by the pool in their swim trunks. Luckily for me i was ready for the beach the other day with my trunks on under my jeans. Chris Hendrick was chilling with us and just going over the events of the previous night. He was calm about it and didnt regret anything about it. It was a cultural event and we were going with experienced PCV's, shit just hit the fan. Nothing could have been done too differently so its was all good all things considered. We all hang out there for the rest of the afternoon, swimming and playing ping pong, evidently Chris is a competitor! We got to meet his kids and wife which was neat as both his wife and him were volunteers in Kedougou region. He breaks the news to us that we have to head back to Thies that night as we have class the next day. The security officer had told us to stay in Dakar till monday to get our police paperwork sorted out, but since we'll be going to Dakar next weekend, we can just do it then. Since about 2/3rds of us had all our money stolen he spotted us 10,000Cfa to get back to Thies which was really nice.
But we head back to liberty 6 to get our stuff and get ready to head back to thies. We take a sept place, which we were all really excited to be getting back into. After about 20min though we were all pretty much asleep as i think the events of the two days took their tole. We get back after getting the sept place driver to take us to the peace corps building instead of the gare for an extra mil. When we get back the story telling begins again, both form the beach party, which sounded like it was rather fun and us retelling our little adventure. After a while Kevin and I decide to go into town to do some internet-ing, and he wanted to get money, as his credit cards were very intelligently left here in Thies. We have a couple of beers and i typed up our adventure and check up on the world. All in all a much tamer day!
So Jenn and Aaron get back and we dig in as everyone else has gotten up as well. Everyone was really nice about the whole being skint bit and we were all taken care of for the rest of the day. We decided that we would go to the beach or the american club so as to change our interpretations of Dakar around. Jared had to go back to his house to get some things and seeing as he lived right next to where everything happened the previous night i decided i wanted to go with him to put to rest some demons about that area.
We caught a jeginjy(local bus type thing) from liberty 6, the are where the regional house is in Dakar over to the stadium side of town. We had to walk from there to Jared's house. We literally walked right past where we had been cowering from rocks the previous day. Not only that but Jared lives like 2 secs away from where we were. We could have gone straight there and been fine. Good to know now right! But i was glad i got to go back and walk around as it was life as usual, it was like nothing had happened the night before, minus the busted ass Senelac building and the remnants of burnt up tires in the roads. Everyone had lives to get on with so life went on. Jared and I hung out at his house for a while and headed out when Jenn txted jared to say they were going to the American Club.
So we started our journey back across Dakar to the american club, which PCV's get into free incidentally. It took us a while to get across town and two jeginjy rides. We had to take the firs one from the Stadium, basically right where everything was all crazy the night before with tire on fire and tear gas flying around. It was neat to see the north side of the peninsula though. We got to drive past a monument that president wade is having built kinda as a monument to be remembered by. Its pissed alot of people off as he cant do a lot of other things but is blowing all this money on a huge monument. Evidently it'll be as big as the jesus in Rio.
We eventually get over the Atlantic Club, which is really the American Club. A little slice of america in Dakar. A nice pool, tennis courts, volleyball court, and lots of americans and other ex-pats. When jared and I got there everyone else was there as well as the country director and his family. They were all hanging out by the pool in their swim trunks. Luckily for me i was ready for the beach the other day with my trunks on under my jeans. Chris Hendrick was chilling with us and just going over the events of the previous night. He was calm about it and didnt regret anything about it. It was a cultural event and we were going with experienced PCV's, shit just hit the fan. Nothing could have been done too differently so its was all good all things considered. We all hang out there for the rest of the afternoon, swimming and playing ping pong, evidently Chris is a competitor! We got to meet his kids and wife which was neat as both his wife and him were volunteers in Kedougou region. He breaks the news to us that we have to head back to Thies that night as we have class the next day. The security officer had told us to stay in Dakar till monday to get our police paperwork sorted out, but since we'll be going to Dakar next weekend, we can just do it then. Since about 2/3rds of us had all our money stolen he spotted us 10,000Cfa to get back to Thies which was really nice.
But we head back to liberty 6 to get our stuff and get ready to head back to thies. We take a sept place, which we were all really excited to be getting back into. After about 20min though we were all pretty much asleep as i think the events of the two days took their tole. We get back after getting the sept place driver to take us to the peace corps building instead of the gare for an extra mil. When we get back the story telling begins again, both form the beach party, which sounded like it was rather fun and us retelling our little adventure. After a while Kevin and I decide to go into town to do some internet-ing, and he wanted to get money, as his credit cards were very intelligently left here in Thies. We have a couple of beers and i typed up our adventure and check up on the world. All in all a much tamer day!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Senegal vs. The Gambia
Oh my god, what a weekend. So like i said we went to go see the game in Dakar on saturday after class was over. It was kevin, Ian, Aaron, Thomas, Grant, and my self who all went to the game from the training center. A COSing PCV, Brin, kinda got us in touch with Jared who was getting tickets and they were really cheap so we decided to go. We all pile into the Sept Place that we had rented out for the trip and took off for Dakar at around one for a 4oclock kick off. Everyone else was going to go to a beach house for the weekend kinda as a way of chilling and getting away from Peace Corps for a while. We were planning on leaving the game and heading there. We got the sept place driver to agree to meet us where he was going to drop us off after the game and take us. The Drive there was rather busy as there was lots of people going to Dakar and it was rush hour as well. We make it there by about 4 and meet up with the other PCV's who are going all in all were going with a group of about 10 other americans. The line to get into the stadium is huge and we have to wait for about 20min to get in but it was an experience, with everyone all excited for the game and selling senegal shirts and headbands it was really cool. The bay before we go though we get a text message from our security officer telling people to be careful in Dakar as there have been riots there about the power outages that Dakar has been suffering. We didnt think too much of it but we were kinda joking around in the sept place if senegal didnt win, because they had too in order to qualify for the next round of world cup qualifiers as well as the africa cup of nations, that there was going ot be hooligans and a riot. Little did we know.
So we get there and finally get into the stadium after a bum rush of the gate. The group of trainees stay together with an american who is working in Dakar as well as a third year PCV. We all get into the stadium but not into the seating area as its packed and people are rushing the entrance ways to get into the seating sections. Theres no assigned seating so its a free for all once you get in. We passed two gates that led in to the stadium proper that were being closed up by police. They were billy clubbing the shit out of people to get them to get out of the doorway. It was crazy and the game hadn't even started! We keep walking around the inside of the stadium looking for a way in when a bunch of people all rush one doorway and we all jump for it. Japanese subway, wall to wall people. Just pushing everyone along trying to get in and get a seat. While this is going on pick pockets are going to town on us. luckily most of us have all our stuff in our bags or in pocket you cant get into. Kevin and Thomas both lose wallets and money, while someone was trying to get into my pocket for my phone. He didnt get it and i felt proud of myself for that, silly me that wouldnt last. So we get to some seats and sit down to watch the game.
The atmosphere was great, such a great experience, nothing bad had happened minus the wallets and we were all having a good time. No one scores in the first half and i got some great pics of the stadium and the game as well as a nice video of it. The second half starts off with a little more passion and by the 60th min senegal had scored a goal. The place blew up when they scored. It was sooo awesome. there had been drumming and chanting the whole game giving it a truly african atmosphere, but after that it got louder and some flares went off. Really a hell of a time. So that atmosphere changed from ubber jovial to deathly silent when the gambia equalized. Absolutely quiet. there was something like 3 min left in regulation plus about 7 min of stoppage time, but the mood had changed drastically. So the game ends in a draw and shit hits the fan.
The Gambians go nuts cause they think theve qualified for the next round and the senegalese are pissed. The Senegalese players eventually try to head off the pitch down the tunnel and are just bombarded with garbage and bricks. The riot police have to escort the players off with shields up to protect them. once the players had left and a good portion of the fans had left, the remaining fans decided to vent their frustration with their team by dismantling the stadium. They started small with the advertisements by pulling them down and setting them on fire. once they were all gone the started moving towards where we were. Luckily, or so we thought, there was a metal guard in the way of them and us. This was promptly dismantled and used to start breaking up the cement stairs to trow at the police. At this point we decided it was time to beat it. We get out of the seats and in to the inside of the stadium and the mood is completely normal. People selling food and cooking, walking no panic at all. As were leaving though we see aline of riot police running into the seating section we had just left to deal with the rioters. Problem over we thought. we start walking back to where we had been dropped off to meet the ride we were going to take to the beach. Off in the distance we were heading we can see tear gas going off and then people start running in our direction so pete decides its best to head off into the surrounding neighborhoods to try and get around the problem to get to the car. Great idea, everything is fine in the surrounding neighborhoods, life as normal. People cooking dinner and just being chill. So at this point we think everything is fine we'll get to the car and just leave. We get to where the car is and things are getting a little hairy but nothing really bad. As were getting into the car though we can see tear gas going off where we had just been walking and that starts a rush of the rioters our way. We hop in the car to get out of there but its too late really. Were crammed full of toubabs and everyone around us is trying to get into the car to get out of the area. Once they see that were full and not letting them in and that were all white they get pissed and start hitting the car and trying to take our stuff. So unfortunately were heading back against the flow of people running from the tear gas so were going up stream and end up hitting two people and we stop in the midst of chaos. After that we all get out of the car and bolt. The back of the sept place opens and someone says get out the back and i hop out and am in the think of it. All sept places are station wagons and i was in the far back. as soon as im out people are grabbing me and trying to take my bag with all my stuff in it. I try as long as i could to hang on to it but with so many people trying to take it and not wanting to fall to the ground fighting for my stuff i just let go and bolt. My stuff is replaceable, im not. Getting my ass kicked over a camera, phone, wallet and money didnt seem like a good idea. So i dart and get about 100yards away and realize im all alone and theres no one from my group around me. Quite possible one of the scariest moments in my life. Middle of a riot in a foreign city, oh yeah this was our first trip to Dakar, with absolutely no money or means to get in touch with anyone. Right as im about to really start to panic grant is running towards me in the exact same situation. ew make eye contact and relief spreads across our face. were kinda being ushered away from the center of the riot by locals who are actually trying to help. Some of these guys were trying to get Grant and I to take cover in a tent to get out of sight. Luckily Grant spots some of the others from our group heading off in another direction and we take off trying to catch up with them. It was a lucky spot had he not seen them we would have been completely cut off from our group with no way to get in touch with anyone.
Everyone around us is telling us not to run and to calm down so as to not make the situation worse. All in french of course so im guessing at most of that but hand gestures are fairly easily read.we Catch up with our friend who are taking shelter in a tin roofed shack right in front of the Senelec building.
Senelec is the power company in senegal and the recipient of most of the rioting the previous couple of days. Needless to say in front of their building, rocks were pouring down on the tin roof liek rain. As i said people were helping us and id say more people were trying to help us then hurt us it was just crazy. One of group got hit in the head with a rock but was fine, just bandaged up. We realize at this point were down three people from the car, Thomas, Ian, and the americans(jenny) roommate. This is when we start trying to get in touch with etienne and chris hendrick, the security officer and country director. While pete is doing that we are calling thomas and Ian and luckily get in touch with them. The same thing happened to them as they were in someones compound right by where the spet place hit the people. They were fine and safe so the only person missing is jenny's roommate a Italian who name escapes me now. He was fine but had booked it to the embassy after helping get the car off he guy we had hit. We didnt hear from him till later in the night though.
So eventually the rocks abate a bit and 4 stern looking riot cops roll up on us and our protectors. We tell them that were short 3 members of our group but 2 are in a compound down the road towards where we had come from. We head out of our shack and back into the scene. It was right next to a divided highway and there was tires burning in the road pretty close to us. Right after we emerged, a big truck full of riot cops flys by us rolling over the burning tires and the only thing i could think of was how scared the riot cops looked.
One of the original cops who found us walks with us back towards the sept place to find Ian and Thomas and luckily they come out and meet up with us. We head back the way we had come from our hideout and start taking some rocks again and the cop tells us to get back into the residential area behind where the senelec building was. we duly oblige him go that way. Behind the building was a residential street where a bunch of people were taking refuge. THere was some americans and fernch girls who were back there as well and we all got ushered into a nice looking house with a big iron gate. We end up staying here for a good couple hours as we regroup and count our losses. Grant and I were really the only people who had stuff taken from us out of the sept place thankfully. Jenny had her bag taken and her phone, money and keys were gone. She had no way of getting in touch with her roommate so was a little worried about him.
We basically chill and recap what had just happened. It all went by really quick and was kinda mind blowing. a.) we hit two people b.)we were in a fucken riot c.)all stuff got stolen d.)thankfully all the Peace Corps people were ok. After a while in the living room of this house we go up an their roof to get some air and check everything out. it cooler up there and night has started to descend. Luckily the game was played during the afternoon and not at night time. had it been at night i feel it would have been 10x worse. as were hanging out up there we here some pop/explosions and everyones eyes and sinuses start burning. Tear gas is floating our way so we all retreat back downstairs for a while. That was really the last of it though i think the tear gas was to clear up the last of the rioters.
Pete who is kinda in charge at this point tells us that we should move and the were going to Chris Hendricks house. were all cool with this, as we joke about living it up with the director and drinking scotch and smoking cigars with him. we originally were going to grab cabs and head over there but the cabbies dont want to drive yet so the powers that be send over a land cruiser for us. At this point id take any driver just to get to somewhere vaguely secure. The car rolls up and we all pile in but end up going to the regional house in Dakar instead.
Its a pretty cool place, no one was there when we got there but we got some food and relaxed a bit. Brin and sandy show up after a while at which point we decide we should find some liquid therapy. We end up killing 2 bottles of whiskey between us and just reliving the events of the day. Wasnt quite a day at the beach but quite a experience. We end up staying up till 3 going over stuff adn joking around.
So we get there and finally get into the stadium after a bum rush of the gate. The group of trainees stay together with an american who is working in Dakar as well as a third year PCV. We all get into the stadium but not into the seating area as its packed and people are rushing the entrance ways to get into the seating sections. Theres no assigned seating so its a free for all once you get in. We passed two gates that led in to the stadium proper that were being closed up by police. They were billy clubbing the shit out of people to get them to get out of the doorway. It was crazy and the game hadn't even started! We keep walking around the inside of the stadium looking for a way in when a bunch of people all rush one doorway and we all jump for it. Japanese subway, wall to wall people. Just pushing everyone along trying to get in and get a seat. While this is going on pick pockets are going to town on us. luckily most of us have all our stuff in our bags or in pocket you cant get into. Kevin and Thomas both lose wallets and money, while someone was trying to get into my pocket for my phone. He didnt get it and i felt proud of myself for that, silly me that wouldnt last. So we get to some seats and sit down to watch the game.
The atmosphere was great, such a great experience, nothing bad had happened minus the wallets and we were all having a good time. No one scores in the first half and i got some great pics of the stadium and the game as well as a nice video of it. The second half starts off with a little more passion and by the 60th min senegal had scored a goal. The place blew up when they scored. It was sooo awesome. there had been drumming and chanting the whole game giving it a truly african atmosphere, but after that it got louder and some flares went off. Really a hell of a time. So that atmosphere changed from ubber jovial to deathly silent when the gambia equalized. Absolutely quiet. there was something like 3 min left in regulation plus about 7 min of stoppage time, but the mood had changed drastically. So the game ends in a draw and shit hits the fan.
The Gambians go nuts cause they think theve qualified for the next round and the senegalese are pissed. The Senegalese players eventually try to head off the pitch down the tunnel and are just bombarded with garbage and bricks. The riot police have to escort the players off with shields up to protect them. once the players had left and a good portion of the fans had left, the remaining fans decided to vent their frustration with their team by dismantling the stadium. They started small with the advertisements by pulling them down and setting them on fire. once they were all gone the started moving towards where we were. Luckily, or so we thought, there was a metal guard in the way of them and us. This was promptly dismantled and used to start breaking up the cement stairs to trow at the police. At this point we decided it was time to beat it. We get out of the seats and in to the inside of the stadium and the mood is completely normal. People selling food and cooking, walking no panic at all. As were leaving though we see aline of riot police running into the seating section we had just left to deal with the rioters. Problem over we thought. we start walking back to where we had been dropped off to meet the ride we were going to take to the beach. Off in the distance we were heading we can see tear gas going off and then people start running in our direction so pete decides its best to head off into the surrounding neighborhoods to try and get around the problem to get to the car. Great idea, everything is fine in the surrounding neighborhoods, life as normal. People cooking dinner and just being chill. So at this point we think everything is fine we'll get to the car and just leave. We get to where the car is and things are getting a little hairy but nothing really bad. As were getting into the car though we can see tear gas going off where we had just been walking and that starts a rush of the rioters our way. We hop in the car to get out of there but its too late really. Were crammed full of toubabs and everyone around us is trying to get into the car to get out of the area. Once they see that were full and not letting them in and that were all white they get pissed and start hitting the car and trying to take our stuff. So unfortunately were heading back against the flow of people running from the tear gas so were going up stream and end up hitting two people and we stop in the midst of chaos. After that we all get out of the car and bolt. The back of the sept place opens and someone says get out the back and i hop out and am in the think of it. All sept places are station wagons and i was in the far back. as soon as im out people are grabbing me and trying to take my bag with all my stuff in it. I try as long as i could to hang on to it but with so many people trying to take it and not wanting to fall to the ground fighting for my stuff i just let go and bolt. My stuff is replaceable, im not. Getting my ass kicked over a camera, phone, wallet and money didnt seem like a good idea. So i dart and get about 100yards away and realize im all alone and theres no one from my group around me. Quite possible one of the scariest moments in my life. Middle of a riot in a foreign city, oh yeah this was our first trip to Dakar, with absolutely no money or means to get in touch with anyone. Right as im about to really start to panic grant is running towards me in the exact same situation. ew make eye contact and relief spreads across our face. were kinda being ushered away from the center of the riot by locals who are actually trying to help. Some of these guys were trying to get Grant and I to take cover in a tent to get out of sight. Luckily Grant spots some of the others from our group heading off in another direction and we take off trying to catch up with them. It was a lucky spot had he not seen them we would have been completely cut off from our group with no way to get in touch with anyone.
Everyone around us is telling us not to run and to calm down so as to not make the situation worse. All in french of course so im guessing at most of that but hand gestures are fairly easily read.we Catch up with our friend who are taking shelter in a tin roofed shack right in front of the Senelec building.
Senelec is the power company in senegal and the recipient of most of the rioting the previous couple of days. Needless to say in front of their building, rocks were pouring down on the tin roof liek rain. As i said people were helping us and id say more people were trying to help us then hurt us it was just crazy. One of group got hit in the head with a rock but was fine, just bandaged up. We realize at this point were down three people from the car, Thomas, Ian, and the americans(jenny) roommate. This is when we start trying to get in touch with etienne and chris hendrick, the security officer and country director. While pete is doing that we are calling thomas and Ian and luckily get in touch with them. The same thing happened to them as they were in someones compound right by where the spet place hit the people. They were fine and safe so the only person missing is jenny's roommate a Italian who name escapes me now. He was fine but had booked it to the embassy after helping get the car off he guy we had hit. We didnt hear from him till later in the night though.
So eventually the rocks abate a bit and 4 stern looking riot cops roll up on us and our protectors. We tell them that were short 3 members of our group but 2 are in a compound down the road towards where we had come from. We head out of our shack and back into the scene. It was right next to a divided highway and there was tires burning in the road pretty close to us. Right after we emerged, a big truck full of riot cops flys by us rolling over the burning tires and the only thing i could think of was how scared the riot cops looked.
One of the original cops who found us walks with us back towards the sept place to find Ian and Thomas and luckily they come out and meet up with us. We head back the way we had come from our hideout and start taking some rocks again and the cop tells us to get back into the residential area behind where the senelec building was. we duly oblige him go that way. Behind the building was a residential street where a bunch of people were taking refuge. THere was some americans and fernch girls who were back there as well and we all got ushered into a nice looking house with a big iron gate. We end up staying here for a good couple hours as we regroup and count our losses. Grant and I were really the only people who had stuff taken from us out of the sept place thankfully. Jenny had her bag taken and her phone, money and keys were gone. She had no way of getting in touch with her roommate so was a little worried about him.
We basically chill and recap what had just happened. It all went by really quick and was kinda mind blowing. a.) we hit two people b.)we were in a fucken riot c.)all stuff got stolen d.)thankfully all the Peace Corps people were ok. After a while in the living room of this house we go up an their roof to get some air and check everything out. it cooler up there and night has started to descend. Luckily the game was played during the afternoon and not at night time. had it been at night i feel it would have been 10x worse. as were hanging out up there we here some pop/explosions and everyones eyes and sinuses start burning. Tear gas is floating our way so we all retreat back downstairs for a while. That was really the last of it though i think the tear gas was to clear up the last of the rioters.
Pete who is kinda in charge at this point tells us that we should move and the were going to Chris Hendricks house. were all cool with this, as we joke about living it up with the director and drinking scotch and smoking cigars with him. we originally were going to grab cabs and head over there but the cabbies dont want to drive yet so the powers that be send over a land cruiser for us. At this point id take any driver just to get to somewhere vaguely secure. The car rolls up and we all pile in but end up going to the regional house in Dakar instead.
Its a pretty cool place, no one was there when we got there but we got some food and relaxed a bit. Brin and sandy show up after a while at which point we decide we should find some liquid therapy. We end up killing 2 bottles of whiskey between us and just reliving the events of the day. Wasnt quite a day at the beach but quite a experience. We end up staying up till 3 going over stuff adn joking around.
Friday, October 10, 2008
10/10
So i didnt get all the way updated, but i will when ive the time, i wrote it all down in my journal @ the time but havent put it up here yet. Well were off to Dakar tomorrow to watch the Senegal Gambia soccer game, and then form there off to a beech house for a break from PC for the rest of the weekend. It should be a good time, ill try and update more when i get back on sunday.
10/9
So were back in Cees, we got back today at around 6ish after our 12 hour bob Marley filled adventure. We left the Kedougou regional house at around 7am so as to make decent time. Unfortunately as we found out on the ride down, the section between tambacounda and kaoulac is the worst so you have a fairly pleasant ride at the start of the trip and you begin to think it might not be that bad. Well then you hit Tamba and the shit show starts. I dont think ive ever been on roads as bad as this as i said before and have never been so happy to have a land cruiser, even if Mamadou likes to drive rather fast. weve come to the conclusion that hes the head henchman for the peace corps transportation and was the driver for us on our ride out from the airport in Dakar. The honking patterns are roughly the same so were fairly sure hes one and the same. But with Mamadou comes the inevitable bob marley tapes. a great tape i will say, but when played on repeat for 11 hours on the way down it got a little old. So on the way back up it had really worn out its welcome for the rest of the car. Im just glad that i like Marley in the first place. Other then that and the on huge pot hole we nailed, the ride was fairly uneventful.
Since we left so early we stopped at about 8ish at a little village along the road for some bean sandwiches and bread. THats one thing that the french did a damn good job of teaching the Senegalese how to do, was bake bread. I bought 2 kinda half baguettes for 200Cfa and they were delicious. The way it works here, which appears to be fairly universal is you can generally buy bread and they have some kind of sauce to put on it, generally chocolate, butter, mayonnaise-ie stuff, or beans. Its a pretty good deal and is really tasty. I basically have this for breakfast in pout every morning with a cup of Nescafé. I was glad i bought the two and saved half of one for later in the ride because we didn't stop for lunch till late so i was held over by the delicious bread.
In Kaoulac where we stopped for lunch and to drop off a PCV who had hitched a ride with us from the Regional house, we ran into the bus that was coming back from south of the Gambia. I guess their experience crossing into the Gambia on the way down scared them off for the return and they left a day early and went around the Gambia instead. They seemed really happy to have been in that bus for so long. THey did have nice AC which we really didn't have so that was some sort of a trade off. We had burgers again for lunch which sounds good, and was, just not really your normal idea of a burger as i mentioned. I had one for dinner at Big Faim as well. but everywhere i've had them here thats the norm.
So after lunch we took off again and made good progress. We made two stops after this where the driver mamadou bought corn and watermelon for his family just at the side of the road, and then again stopped to buy a bag a charcoal for his wife. It was an interesting experience, all these people shoot up to the cart with everything they're trying to sell and stick it in the car yammering at you in woolof, pullar, or the local lang. Its very very interesting. After they realize were not the ones buying anything and we dont really speak any of their lang, the splotchy french comes out where they want the bikes on the rack or something else we have. I swear between bonjour, @ anytime of the day or night, and toubab, they all know give me your bike in french. Its a riot. we get it a lot in Pout as were biking to class, but i was hearing it today as we were driving through some of the towns we were passing through.
After these little pit stops though the bumpy journey continued and concluded without any further incident. Once we were back the normal catching up with the other volunteers took place. i think we were the second or third group back from our PCV site visits. I had to organize all the dirty laundry i had accumulated over the past week or so so i will be able to do them tomorrow morning. Because i was busy trying to sort out all my stuff, George Carlin is coming to mind when i think about stuff, i missed everyone heading out to get dinner. I guess they weren't sure what time everyone was going to get back so there wasn't dinner for us tonight. So i hoofed it into Cees after the organizing and made it to big fam right as most everyone was getting ready to leave. I chilled with Darren and Chris who were sticking around for a little while and ate my burger Royal 2 cokes and a particularly good piece of chocolate cake. Yea i splurged a bit i never eat that well in Pout. Big Fam is a neat little restaurant, its got Wi Fi and AC so it really was a splurge. Cant get used to that as there's nothing like that in Kadougou!
RIght now im just writing a little bit and downloading all my pics from my trip down south. everyones pretty beat tonight, travel has the tendency to do that and being cooped up for 12 hours in the back of a bumpy land cruiser will defiantly do that. I figure with tomorrow being basically a technical day with no language, i can afford to run in the morning and then do laundry before class starts @ 8. The track and soccer field is a great little work out even if i feel like im losing 10lbs of water running. Ill just have to remember to pound water like its my job this time because i didn't do that last time and felt like crap. Pretty sure that was dehydration kicking my ass.
Since we left so early we stopped at about 8ish at a little village along the road for some bean sandwiches and bread. THats one thing that the french did a damn good job of teaching the Senegalese how to do, was bake bread. I bought 2 kinda half baguettes for 200Cfa and they were delicious. The way it works here, which appears to be fairly universal is you can generally buy bread and they have some kind of sauce to put on it, generally chocolate, butter, mayonnaise-ie stuff, or beans. Its a pretty good deal and is really tasty. I basically have this for breakfast in pout every morning with a cup of Nescafé. I was glad i bought the two and saved half of one for later in the ride because we didn't stop for lunch till late so i was held over by the delicious bread.
In Kaoulac where we stopped for lunch and to drop off a PCV who had hitched a ride with us from the Regional house, we ran into the bus that was coming back from south of the Gambia. I guess their experience crossing into the Gambia on the way down scared them off for the return and they left a day early and went around the Gambia instead. They seemed really happy to have been in that bus for so long. THey did have nice AC which we really didn't have so that was some sort of a trade off. We had burgers again for lunch which sounds good, and was, just not really your normal idea of a burger as i mentioned. I had one for dinner at Big Faim as well. but everywhere i've had them here thats the norm.
So after lunch we took off again and made good progress. We made two stops after this where the driver mamadou bought corn and watermelon for his family just at the side of the road, and then again stopped to buy a bag a charcoal for his wife. It was an interesting experience, all these people shoot up to the cart with everything they're trying to sell and stick it in the car yammering at you in woolof, pullar, or the local lang. Its very very interesting. After they realize were not the ones buying anything and we dont really speak any of their lang, the splotchy french comes out where they want the bikes on the rack or something else we have. I swear between bonjour, @ anytime of the day or night, and toubab, they all know give me your bike in french. Its a riot. we get it a lot in Pout as were biking to class, but i was hearing it today as we were driving through some of the towns we were passing through.
After these little pit stops though the bumpy journey continued and concluded without any further incident. Once we were back the normal catching up with the other volunteers took place. i think we were the second or third group back from our PCV site visits. I had to organize all the dirty laundry i had accumulated over the past week or so so i will be able to do them tomorrow morning. Because i was busy trying to sort out all my stuff, George Carlin is coming to mind when i think about stuff, i missed everyone heading out to get dinner. I guess they weren't sure what time everyone was going to get back so there wasn't dinner for us tonight. So i hoofed it into Cees after the organizing and made it to big fam right as most everyone was getting ready to leave. I chilled with Darren and Chris who were sticking around for a little while and ate my burger Royal 2 cokes and a particularly good piece of chocolate cake. Yea i splurged a bit i never eat that well in Pout. Big Fam is a neat little restaurant, its got Wi Fi and AC so it really was a splurge. Cant get used to that as there's nothing like that in Kadougou!
RIght now im just writing a little bit and downloading all my pics from my trip down south. everyones pretty beat tonight, travel has the tendency to do that and being cooped up for 12 hours in the back of a bumpy land cruiser will defiantly do that. I figure with tomorrow being basically a technical day with no language, i can afford to run in the morning and then do laundry before class starts @ 8. The track and soccer field is a great little work out even if i feel like im losing 10lbs of water running. Ill just have to remember to pound water like its my job this time because i didn't do that last time and felt like crap. Pretty sure that was dehydration kicking my ass.
10/4
So we woke up around 8ish from the regional house and hung out with everyone for a while. We manage to get Mamadou to drive us all out to our sites even though we'll have to bike back in. Before we head out we walk up the street to a boutique to get some breakfast which consisted of bread and chocolate. Kevin and I just got the bread and butter as we were going to put the left overs from the night before into the bread to make a sandwich. It was really tasty, and after wards, Shelia, Steve and Hayes and Lindsey took off for their sites in the cruiser.
Kevin and I were waiting for them to get back and then we'd head out to Steve Woods site @ Togué. While we were waiting, Steve took us into the market to have a look around and show us Kadougou a little bit. It was neat walking around and actually hearing pulla futa spoken. The town was really cool not as big as Pout about half the size but better i think. Being here next to the mts, makes it really cool and it just has a good vibe to it. So after walking around the market a bit we went back to the regional house to wait for the land cruiser to get back. When it did we reloaded the bikes and our bags back on board to head off to Togué. Roxy came with us as she lives right up the road form steve and she was delivering a huge package of mosquito nets to a local health center and wanted to use the car for that.
Because it had rained for the past 4 days before our arrival the normal route that we were supposed to take was un-passable due to the ferry being washed out. So we had to go the long way on a back road that was even worse then the ones we came down on. The only thing i could think of while on this ride was Camel Trophy racing for land rover. We had a video of it when i was little of somewhere in South America and they raced across Brazil or something on just awful roads through huge puddles of mud and steep rock faced grades. I feel like our land cruiser took part in the Camel Trophy lite racing. Still badass though. We drop off Roxy and her mosquito nets in Dimli and then head back to Togué.
Togué is a neat little town of about 100 people who all farm peanuts, corn, or funion (spelling?). Steves host father is the chief of the village and a very funny older man. Steve speaks awesome pula futa. Hes like a local basically. we went over to his counterparts hut and hung out for a little bit to introduce ourselves and then had dinner at the chiefs hut. We had the rice that steve had bought for his family. rice with oil never tasted so good. Hungry dogs eat dirty dinners or something. We really didnt do a whole lot in the village today as we had just gotten there in the evening and we were quite beat. We kinda laid out a plan for the three days we were going to spend in the area and settled on going to a waterfall at the village kevin was going to be placed at tomorrow and then hanging out and checking out the fields of Togué the day after and then heading back on wed morning so as to be back for thrurs morning when we had to head back to cees.
Kevin and I were waiting for them to get back and then we'd head out to Steve Woods site @ Togué. While we were waiting, Steve took us into the market to have a look around and show us Kadougou a little bit. It was neat walking around and actually hearing pulla futa spoken. The town was really cool not as big as Pout about half the size but better i think. Being here next to the mts, makes it really cool and it just has a good vibe to it. So after walking around the market a bit we went back to the regional house to wait for the land cruiser to get back. When it did we reloaded the bikes and our bags back on board to head off to Togué. Roxy came with us as she lives right up the road form steve and she was delivering a huge package of mosquito nets to a local health center and wanted to use the car for that.
Because it had rained for the past 4 days before our arrival the normal route that we were supposed to take was un-passable due to the ferry being washed out. So we had to go the long way on a back road that was even worse then the ones we came down on. The only thing i could think of while on this ride was Camel Trophy racing for land rover. We had a video of it when i was little of somewhere in South America and they raced across Brazil or something on just awful roads through huge puddles of mud and steep rock faced grades. I feel like our land cruiser took part in the Camel Trophy lite racing. Still badass though. We drop off Roxy and her mosquito nets in Dimli and then head back to Togué.
Togué is a neat little town of about 100 people who all farm peanuts, corn, or funion (spelling?). Steves host father is the chief of the village and a very funny older man. Steve speaks awesome pula futa. Hes like a local basically. we went over to his counterparts hut and hung out for a little bit to introduce ourselves and then had dinner at the chiefs hut. We had the rice that steve had bought for his family. rice with oil never tasted so good. Hungry dogs eat dirty dinners or something. We really didnt do a whole lot in the village today as we had just gotten there in the evening and we were quite beat. We kinda laid out a plan for the three days we were going to spend in the area and settled on going to a waterfall at the village kevin was going to be placed at tomorrow and then hanging out and checking out the fields of Togué the day after and then heading back on wed morning so as to be back for thrurs morning when we had to head back to cees.
10/3
So Today we headed off to Kagougou from Cees. We left at 730ish in our PC Land Cruiser. It was crammed full of stuff as we were acting as a pack mule for a couple of the regional houses along the route, like a computer, absentee ballots, med's, and other miscellaneous stuff. All this on top of all our bags and 5 bikes. It was quite a fit! Somehow i missed the memo saying that id need a bike and didnt get one yesterday, and all the other people who did get bikes got new helmets, a pump, patch kit, oil, tool kit, and saddle bag. Luckily the compound manager showed as we were loading up the land cruiser and i was able to get the helmet, and gear as there was a couple bikes we could use at the regional house in kadougou. i was really happy to get all this as i was relying on the one that i brought from home for all this.
So we eventually get everything all loaded up and everyone crammed in. Its all the kadougou volunteers minus aaron who was going somewhere else because of his language. So that makes seven total with the addition of hayes and lindsey who are both learning french. The journey starts off fairly uneventful as everyone is kinda tired and trying to sleep or listen to music. About 20k in a truck has gotten itself stuck almost literally completely across the road. I have no idea how it got to this location if you saw it youd wonder what on earth the driver was thinking positioning himself like that. Ah well welcome to Africa! there was a gap on the far left where we squeezed through and carried on. That should have been a hint for the type of journey it was going to be. We have a driver who blasts along, which makes sense as weve a lot of kilometers to cover but he really zips along.
So at about Kaoloack is where things start to get a little bumpy. At first its kinda a thought that this cant last that long. tsk tsk tsk thinking like an american, this lasts basically till we get to tambacounda. They are working on it its just kinda weird and sporadic the locations that are being worked on. The streatches that are done, like leading into tamba are really nice they just need to get the whole road done. Maybe by the time i leave. But to demonstrate the speed at which our fearless drive was zipping along at, we are all hanging on bouncing around the back of this land cruiser, and its fairly steady all things considered. Kevin is getting ready to drink some water when all of a sudden BAM everyone is air born water all over the roof of the car and shit all upended, we must have hit a huge pot hole or something that no one in the back was ready for. Its not like we were really going that fast by american standards, it was maybe 50mph or so but for the terrain, that sort of thing is the risk. After that everyone is wide awake and paying attention to what is coming next, craning their necks to see the road ahead. After that though nothing that big happens again. I will give momadou his dues cause nothing feel off the roof he really knows how to tie shit down, even if hes using one rope!
Once we get to tamba the road get a lot better as were driving through a national park for most of the rest of the journey. We stopped in Tamba at this place called best burger, no joke. NO one there looks like its closed but a guy comes running out to try to get us to come in. Were all in the mood for burgers or any food so we settle on it. Now the thing that most people are thinking is a burger and some fries sounds good right? yea but were in Senegal, not how they role here. So here in Senegal they put the french fries on the burger and for good measure toss a fried egg on there as well. Its delicious! I guess thats what they consider an american burger. After Lunch the drive was ubber nice in comparison. We got to see chimps and monkeys while driving through the park which was really cool. They were just hanging out on the road and all ran of when we drove by. It was really cool.
We ended up getting to the regional house around 645ish and were greeted by pretty much everyone from the region. They had come down to inspect the replacements. About half of them were getting ready to leave or leave in 6 months or so. All in all there is about 8 or 9 volunteers down there right now and were bringing 8 more so were doubling their numbers if only briefly. They had a great greeting for us, a nice home cooked meal of taco meat, spanish rice, salad and cold beer. It was cool meeting everyone and just chilling after that loverly car ride. We crash in the open air sleeping area after hanging out for a while.
So we eventually get everything all loaded up and everyone crammed in. Its all the kadougou volunteers minus aaron who was going somewhere else because of his language. So that makes seven total with the addition of hayes and lindsey who are both learning french. The journey starts off fairly uneventful as everyone is kinda tired and trying to sleep or listen to music. About 20k in a truck has gotten itself stuck almost literally completely across the road. I have no idea how it got to this location if you saw it youd wonder what on earth the driver was thinking positioning himself like that. Ah well welcome to Africa! there was a gap on the far left where we squeezed through and carried on. That should have been a hint for the type of journey it was going to be. We have a driver who blasts along, which makes sense as weve a lot of kilometers to cover but he really zips along.
So at about Kaoloack is where things start to get a little bumpy. At first its kinda a thought that this cant last that long. tsk tsk tsk thinking like an american, this lasts basically till we get to tambacounda. They are working on it its just kinda weird and sporadic the locations that are being worked on. The streatches that are done, like leading into tamba are really nice they just need to get the whole road done. Maybe by the time i leave. But to demonstrate the speed at which our fearless drive was zipping along at, we are all hanging on bouncing around the back of this land cruiser, and its fairly steady all things considered. Kevin is getting ready to drink some water when all of a sudden BAM everyone is air born water all over the roof of the car and shit all upended, we must have hit a huge pot hole or something that no one in the back was ready for. Its not like we were really going that fast by american standards, it was maybe 50mph or so but for the terrain, that sort of thing is the risk. After that everyone is wide awake and paying attention to what is coming next, craning their necks to see the road ahead. After that though nothing that big happens again. I will give momadou his dues cause nothing feel off the roof he really knows how to tie shit down, even if hes using one rope!
Once we get to tamba the road get a lot better as were driving through a national park for most of the rest of the journey. We stopped in Tamba at this place called best burger, no joke. NO one there looks like its closed but a guy comes running out to try to get us to come in. Were all in the mood for burgers or any food so we settle on it. Now the thing that most people are thinking is a burger and some fries sounds good right? yea but were in Senegal, not how they role here. So here in Senegal they put the french fries on the burger and for good measure toss a fried egg on there as well. Its delicious! I guess thats what they consider an american burger. After Lunch the drive was ubber nice in comparison. We got to see chimps and monkeys while driving through the park which was really cool. They were just hanging out on the road and all ran of when we drove by. It was really cool.
We ended up getting to the regional house around 645ish and were greeted by pretty much everyone from the region. They had come down to inspect the replacements. About half of them were getting ready to leave or leave in 6 months or so. All in all there is about 8 or 9 volunteers down there right now and were bringing 8 more so were doubling their numbers if only briefly. They had a great greeting for us, a nice home cooked meal of taco meat, spanish rice, salad and cold beer. It was cool meeting everyone and just chilling after that loverly car ride. We crash in the open air sleeping area after hanging out for a while.
10/2
So im sitting here in my room in thies listening to the Beatles white album thinking about my trip to kedougu tomorrow. It should be a interesting trip, ill get to see the country at least, literally we drive from almost the north west in dakar to the south east in kedougou. It should be very interesting.I hung out with Dorothy and Erin at the magic croissant tonight as i sorted out some internet things. I got a blog started and a few pictures loaded to facebook. Im still not sure what the deal is with loading pics, i can kinda load on or two at a time but thats about it. The whole blog thing should be a good way to keep updated on things and people informed back home. Ill shoot short emails back saying im back with the internet if im only around it for short periods of time saying ive updated. RIght now im hanging out in the main room of the training center re recording the grey album so that i can listen to it during the ubber long car ride tomorrow. Ive got a good mix of things to listen to right now but this would top it off quite well. Ive put some of the music that matt stein gave me onto it and im kinda into it. some of its really out there though so im not so sure aout the majority of it. Shelia was just in here, i guess ill be spending quite a bit of time with her as shes going to be assigned to the same PCV in Kedougou. So that makes the training and shes down in the same region as well for her placement. Everyone in our pula futa group is down in this region except Dorothy who is in kolda. As well as our group, we have picked up the mandinka folk as well, well some of them anyway. Hayes and Aaron are both down in our area as well.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Actually today!
So here's today's post after all that! I woke up nice and early from my home stay in Pout for our ride back to Thies. Well our 'ride' was supposed to pick us up at 8, but around 9 we were still sitting around waiting. Right when i was going to call Lamine to see what was up, the Peace Corps land cruiser rolled up with Shelia, Dorthy, and Steve on board. We zipped round to pick up kevin and thomas and then went back to Thies for our language class for the day. We only had class for half the day as we found out in the afternoon where we were going to be placed for our two years here in senegal. So me starting this here blog today is kinda fitting as i found out that Kedougou is where ill be going assuming i make it out of training. The language classes are progressing, right before coming back to Thies we had a evaluation which placed me at novice medium. We have to be at intermediate low by the end of training so i think its doable.
Korite was yesterday which was a interesting affair. I got to run around in my boubou for most of the day which was interesting as it was quite a specticle for a toubab to be running around in one, toubab is woolof for foreigner/white person i believe and we get it alot in Pout from the little kids.
Korite for thise playing the home game is the end of rahmadan, so it basically means that everyone can now stop fasting during the day and eat breakfast and lunch again. Oh yeah not alowed drinking either during the day. At about 720 everyday my family would break the fast with bread and coffee which was awsume, even if i wasnt fasting. The korite meal was possible one of the best meals i think ive had. Maybe thats a factor of being in Senegal away from my favourite foods but it was damn good. Chicken marinated in garlic and onions with a bunch of spices. Sooooo good and lots of it! Other than the eating and going to the mosque, which was a interesting experience also, it was alot of sitting around. It was cool, it was like all the other days, lots of sitting around, thats the african way. Everything is ubber laid back which is kinda cool, just takes some time getting used to as i walk really really fast everywhere and try to be on time. so i clash a little bit currently. Ill get used to it as it seems liek the way to be when its sooo hot during the day.
So it was a fun on korite even if we didnt get up to much. But back at the center it was nice to be back with TP and a shower as ive been taking my bucket baths in the turkish toilet since my 'shower' room is clogged up. We had our language class followed by a brief session on peace corps administration. Right after that they took us to the basketball court that happens to have a large map of senegal on it. We were told to close our eyes and we were placed over the area where our site will be, and my site was kedougou. 16,000 people and in the south east of the country. about 15hrs away by car rumor has it. We get to find out tomorrow as were going there for our PCV site visits. should be interesting. well we leave at 7am tomorrow so im gunna go, ill prob write again in about 10 days.
Korite was yesterday which was a interesting affair. I got to run around in my boubou for most of the day which was interesting as it was quite a specticle for a toubab to be running around in one, toubab is woolof for foreigner/white person i believe and we get it alot in Pout from the little kids.
Korite for thise playing the home game is the end of rahmadan, so it basically means that everyone can now stop fasting during the day and eat breakfast and lunch again. Oh yeah not alowed drinking either during the day. At about 720 everyday my family would break the fast with bread and coffee which was awsume, even if i wasnt fasting. The korite meal was possible one of the best meals i think ive had. Maybe thats a factor of being in Senegal away from my favourite foods but it was damn good. Chicken marinated in garlic and onions with a bunch of spices. Sooooo good and lots of it! Other than the eating and going to the mosque, which was a interesting experience also, it was alot of sitting around. It was cool, it was like all the other days, lots of sitting around, thats the african way. Everything is ubber laid back which is kinda cool, just takes some time getting used to as i walk really really fast everywhere and try to be on time. so i clash a little bit currently. Ill get used to it as it seems liek the way to be when its sooo hot during the day.
So it was a fun on korite even if we didnt get up to much. But back at the center it was nice to be back with TP and a shower as ive been taking my bucket baths in the turkish toilet since my 'shower' room is clogged up. We had our language class followed by a brief session on peace corps administration. Right after that they took us to the basketball court that happens to have a large map of senegal on it. We were told to close our eyes and we were placed over the area where our site will be, and my site was kedougou. 16,000 people and in the south east of the country. about 15hrs away by car rumor has it. We get to find out tomorrow as were going there for our PCV site visits. should be interesting. well we leave at 7am tomorrow so im gunna go, ill prob write again in about 10 days.
Late Late Late
9/21
So today was our off day. We basically just hung out for most of the day. I woke up ubber early and went running for the first time of my stay here in Senegal. I went up to the track that we were at yesterday and ran about three miles. It was very muggy and i was drenched by the end of my run. but it was nice. I put on this stick bug repellent which seems to work quite well, but seems to warm up while it son a slight bit. So by the time i was done with my run my legs felt like they were on fire. I think i ran the three in about 19/20min or so and then jogged back to the training center afterwards. There was guys there training for soccer when i got there at about 7am. I think i might do the same today and then do some laundry if ive got the time.
Were heading back to our villages tomorrow for 10 days so im not sure if ill have a lot of time to do stuff tomorrow so ill have to ration my time. I think we'll be learning about planting gardens and that type of thing which will be nice again. We were told to dress for getting dirty. So hopefully we'll be doing something fun!
I pretty much sat around for most of the day trying to sleep. This was after i showered and ate breakfast. I took a few pictures from around the compound which i hadnt done yet. i got a good one of myself and the peace corps sign, yay for tripods! I also got one in the garden where we did our demo the other day. Like i said i tried to sleep for pretty much the whole day so i really didnt end up doing anything till after lunch when i went into thies to try and upload some of my pictures, which ended in complete failure. ah well ill have to try when im back after the homestay.
We got to play a little ultimate frizbee when i got back to the compound, everyone was already over at the stade playing so i changed and ran over there to get in on the action. it was fun, but evidently you need a permit to use the fields there. Not like we'll be using them for a while anyway as were gone for almost three weeks now. After our village visits, were off to the PCV's sites so we'll be able to use our languages legitimately.
So today was our off day. We basically just hung out for most of the day. I woke up ubber early and went running for the first time of my stay here in Senegal. I went up to the track that we were at yesterday and ran about three miles. It was very muggy and i was drenched by the end of my run. but it was nice. I put on this stick bug repellent which seems to work quite well, but seems to warm up while it son a slight bit. So by the time i was done with my run my legs felt like they were on fire. I think i ran the three in about 19/20min or so and then jogged back to the training center afterwards. There was guys there training for soccer when i got there at about 7am. I think i might do the same today and then do some laundry if ive got the time.
Were heading back to our villages tomorrow for 10 days so im not sure if ill have a lot of time to do stuff tomorrow so ill have to ration my time. I think we'll be learning about planting gardens and that type of thing which will be nice again. We were told to dress for getting dirty. So hopefully we'll be doing something fun!
I pretty much sat around for most of the day trying to sleep. This was after i showered and ate breakfast. I took a few pictures from around the compound which i hadnt done yet. i got a good one of myself and the peace corps sign, yay for tripods! I also got one in the garden where we did our demo the other day. Like i said i tried to sleep for pretty much the whole day so i really didnt end up doing anything till after lunch when i went into thies to try and upload some of my pictures, which ended in complete failure. ah well ill have to try when im back after the homestay.
We got to play a little ultimate frizbee when i got back to the compound, everyone was already over at the stade playing so i changed and ran over there to get in on the action. it was fun, but evidently you need a permit to use the fields there. Not like we'll be using them for a while anyway as were gone for almost three weeks now. After our village visits, were off to the PCV's sites so we'll be able to use our languages legitimately.
late again
Again late but here we are
9/20
So ive kinda missed a few days, but thats cool. Its the 20th and and we spent the day doing training for half the day. We learned about the administration of Senegal for the first half of the first session 8-10. We had a test about the purpose, goals and objectives of our agfo project plans at the end of the session which was cake. Hopefully my language will be easy like that at some point. We got bikes after that which was great as im super pumped for being able to role around on my bike and have a little more freedom in some sense. I got a semi nice one which looked like it hadnt seen maybe as much wear and tear as the last one. It actually looked like a proper bike in the sense that it had a straight bar and seemed to handle well. I might fiddle around with it a little more if i have the time which i will most likely have. It was fun actually screwing around with a bike, even if i was dripping the whole time. I think it should work out quite well. We had a session about safety and security after our the bikes were handed out. The safety and security session was kinda depressing as its meant to scare the crap out of you to get you to behave and not do stupid stuff.
After this session we were done for the day and had lunch. I havent mentioned the lunch protocol which is cool. Its traditional Senegalese style with a big bowl of rice and with meat in it in the middle with 4-5 people sitting around it all eating out of it. Its kinda cool. My host family also eats the same way at dinner so it was nice to get used to that before hand. We had fish today which is very senegalese as they put some pesto type stuff in it thats spicy and very nice. overall ive been very happy with the food in general. breakie leaves a little to be desired as its bread and tea only. lunch and dinner are great though and i eat my fill every time. After lunch i reviewed my pula futa with one of the girls whos in our group. Shes called shelia, every time i hear it i think aussies and crack up a little bit inside. I think we'll work well together in sorting out this language stuff. Steve and kevin will also be good for studying while were in pout as well.
We had our first lesson on ag/fo techniques yesterday which was ubber cool. We learned how to plant a nursery and about seeding and things like that. It was very refreshing to get out and actually do something with my hands as we had yet to do that yet. We have to start a nursery when we get back to our home stay families on monday, well tuesday as we get back monday night. Basically our time in pout is spent learning the language which is important and also now doing a little gardening. Our language lessons are in this secondary school thats a little run down, mind you that quite a bit of things around here are that way, its just how stuff is here. Ill have to take pics when i get back its quite a scene. Its kinda a amphitheater style set up and were kinda backstage so to speak, only theres no curtain or raised stage.
While in the training center, weve run into other volunteers who have come back to assist the trainers in their different bits, weather thats health safety or technical stuff. They seem like an interesting bunch of people and all seem to enjoy it even if they really enjoy coming back to the training center to get a decent meal.
After studying with shelia today we both went into the city to do some interneting and pick up my booboo and pants that i had made at the tailor with the wax cloth that my and aaron bought on monday. It was pretty good as we only paid 5000cfa for it and thats about 10$. Its pretty neat ill have to wear it and see how it behaves.
After we picked up my clothes shelia and i went to the magic croissant for the internet.
When we got back people were frizbeeing and kicking a soccer ball around which was cool. Some of the girls were getting ready to go across the street to run around the track so we got a group to go with them and play a little soccer. It was super fun. I really want to get this language stuff down so i studied after dinner as well.
It was fun playing soccer though, they had a ubber nice field to play on and there were organized practices going on so we had to take the all weather pitch first but once they were done with the secondary field we moved over to the nice grass field. we also got some of the local kids in on it as they were watching us. A Iranian guy was there with his dad running so he joined in as well. It was truly an international affair. Truley global sport soccer is! Theres a game at the end of training where we take on the staff, which im really looking forward too. We'll get smoked but we'll put up a fight if ive anything to say about it.
So im sitting in the multi purpose room type area listening to keller williams incident writing this and chilling. ill have to write more later.
9/20
So ive kinda missed a few days, but thats cool. Its the 20th and and we spent the day doing training for half the day. We learned about the administration of Senegal for the first half of the first session 8-10. We had a test about the purpose, goals and objectives of our agfo project plans at the end of the session which was cake. Hopefully my language will be easy like that at some point. We got bikes after that which was great as im super pumped for being able to role around on my bike and have a little more freedom in some sense. I got a semi nice one which looked like it hadnt seen maybe as much wear and tear as the last one. It actually looked like a proper bike in the sense that it had a straight bar and seemed to handle well. I might fiddle around with it a little more if i have the time which i will most likely have. It was fun actually screwing around with a bike, even if i was dripping the whole time. I think it should work out quite well. We had a session about safety and security after our the bikes were handed out. The safety and security session was kinda depressing as its meant to scare the crap out of you to get you to behave and not do stupid stuff.
After this session we were done for the day and had lunch. I havent mentioned the lunch protocol which is cool. Its traditional Senegalese style with a big bowl of rice and with meat in it in the middle with 4-5 people sitting around it all eating out of it. Its kinda cool. My host family also eats the same way at dinner so it was nice to get used to that before hand. We had fish today which is very senegalese as they put some pesto type stuff in it thats spicy and very nice. overall ive been very happy with the food in general. breakie leaves a little to be desired as its bread and tea only. lunch and dinner are great though and i eat my fill every time. After lunch i reviewed my pula futa with one of the girls whos in our group. Shes called shelia, every time i hear it i think aussies and crack up a little bit inside. I think we'll work well together in sorting out this language stuff. Steve and kevin will also be good for studying while were in pout as well.
We had our first lesson on ag/fo techniques yesterday which was ubber cool. We learned how to plant a nursery and about seeding and things like that. It was very refreshing to get out and actually do something with my hands as we had yet to do that yet. We have to start a nursery when we get back to our home stay families on monday, well tuesday as we get back monday night. Basically our time in pout is spent learning the language which is important and also now doing a little gardening. Our language lessons are in this secondary school thats a little run down, mind you that quite a bit of things around here are that way, its just how stuff is here. Ill have to take pics when i get back its quite a scene. Its kinda a amphitheater style set up and were kinda backstage so to speak, only theres no curtain or raised stage.
While in the training center, weve run into other volunteers who have come back to assist the trainers in their different bits, weather thats health safety or technical stuff. They seem like an interesting bunch of people and all seem to enjoy it even if they really enjoy coming back to the training center to get a decent meal.
After studying with shelia today we both went into the city to do some interneting and pick up my booboo and pants that i had made at the tailor with the wax cloth that my and aaron bought on monday. It was pretty good as we only paid 5000cfa for it and thats about 10$. Its pretty neat ill have to wear it and see how it behaves.
After we picked up my clothes shelia and i went to the magic croissant for the internet.
When we got back people were frizbeeing and kicking a soccer ball around which was cool. Some of the girls were getting ready to go across the street to run around the track so we got a group to go with them and play a little soccer. It was super fun. I really want to get this language stuff down so i studied after dinner as well.
It was fun playing soccer though, they had a ubber nice field to play on and there were organized practices going on so we had to take the all weather pitch first but once they were done with the secondary field we moved over to the nice grass field. we also got some of the local kids in on it as they were watching us. A Iranian guy was there with his dad running so he joined in as well. It was truly an international affair. Truley global sport soccer is! Theres a game at the end of training where we take on the staff, which im really looking forward too. We'll get smoked but we'll put up a fight if ive anything to say about it.
So im sitting in the multi purpose room type area listening to keller williams incident writing this and chilling. ill have to write more later.
A little late, but ah well
Well i meant to do this while i was in Philly but never got round to doing it so nows as good a time as ever. Ive a few older posts ill tag in here just cause,
I wrote this on the flight over so its kinda the first one
Well hello everybody, im writing this from a south african airways flight on my way to Dakar. Incidentally if youre looking for an airlines that doesn't charge you for drinks, both alcoholic and food id recommend these guys. Yay for free gin and tonics! Well my orientation stuff in Philadelphia is done, a very nice city, kinda puts cincy to shame. At the same time though its got a lot more people and doesn't have the same type of fell as home. I managed to get a run in while i was there which was cool, totally gives you a different perspective of a city. We were staying in the historic district and so my run took me past alot of some cool sites. While we were in Philly i was able to get in touch with a buddy of mine from HS who lives in Philly and chill with him for my last evening, last night, in the US. Its crazy how people grow up, the last time i saw matt stein was quite some time ago really, but it was cool to catch up. Matt hooked me up and gave me a bunch of music to listen to while on my travels which i owe him big time for. We left Philly this morning after going to some government building to get our yellow fever immunizations and then took off for New York City. Im happy to say this was the first shot ive received in quite some time that ive not tried to pass out on, so im very happy about that. Its weird i was more nervous about getting that then the whole buggering off for two years and now that its out of the way im feeling really good about everything. Im with a group of about 40 other volunteers who are all cool folk. All very like minded, go figure. Senegal should be a very interesting experience though and with the first three months being kinda centered around the learning and integrating aspect, i feel like i should be able to handle it. I was rather surprised about the diversity in the group, in the sense of where everyone came from. It is truly an american group with people from east west and everywhere in between. But the group should be a very encouraging and helpful group to be with. Interestingly enough i had kinda figured that there wouldnt be anyone else from around cincy or ohio, but there was a girl from N.Kentucky and a guy from Toledo. so that surprised me a great deal. Well im looking forwards to getting this 8 hour flight over with, even if we get in at 513am, and im sure ill have more to say when i get there and get all oriented at the training center.
I wrote this on the flight over so its kinda the first one
Well hello everybody, im writing this from a south african airways flight on my way to Dakar. Incidentally if youre looking for an airlines that doesn't charge you for drinks, both alcoholic and food id recommend these guys. Yay for free gin and tonics! Well my orientation stuff in Philadelphia is done, a very nice city, kinda puts cincy to shame. At the same time though its got a lot more people and doesn't have the same type of fell as home. I managed to get a run in while i was there which was cool, totally gives you a different perspective of a city. We were staying in the historic district and so my run took me past alot of some cool sites. While we were in Philly i was able to get in touch with a buddy of mine from HS who lives in Philly and chill with him for my last evening, last night, in the US. Its crazy how people grow up, the last time i saw matt stein was quite some time ago really, but it was cool to catch up. Matt hooked me up and gave me a bunch of music to listen to while on my travels which i owe him big time for. We left Philly this morning after going to some government building to get our yellow fever immunizations and then took off for New York City. Im happy to say this was the first shot ive received in quite some time that ive not tried to pass out on, so im very happy about that. Its weird i was more nervous about getting that then the whole buggering off for two years and now that its out of the way im feeling really good about everything. Im with a group of about 40 other volunteers who are all cool folk. All very like minded, go figure. Senegal should be a very interesting experience though and with the first three months being kinda centered around the learning and integrating aspect, i feel like i should be able to handle it. I was rather surprised about the diversity in the group, in the sense of where everyone came from. It is truly an american group with people from east west and everywhere in between. But the group should be a very encouraging and helpful group to be with. Interestingly enough i had kinda figured that there wouldnt be anyone else from around cincy or ohio, but there was a girl from N.Kentucky and a guy from Toledo. so that surprised me a great deal. Well im looking forwards to getting this 8 hour flight over with, even if we get in at 513am, and im sure ill have more to say when i get there and get all oriented at the training center.
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