So yeah i figured id post things that might be of use if i were to have them here in Senegal that i cant get here.
-Glue-less patches for my bike
-Panniers for my bike
-light for my bike
-I love cliff bars
-Ranch dressing and barbecue sauce, between warthog sandwich's and the bean sandwich's i eat pretty much every day, they make nice condiments
-tuna as i really don't eat meat here, the warthog sandwich is a special occasion, the beans and peanuts i eat constitute my protein intake
-battery powered speakers for an ipod
-seeds, send me and ill plant them
-Ok basically think about what you like about american life and if you can send that, ill prob enjoy it so yeah
ill post a post thanksgiving blog later this week so yeah you'll see what a african thanksgiving is like. It so far has involved slaughtering a turkey a duck and a couple chickens, if you've never plucked a bird before its a interesting experience. Im trying to keep from getting too sick as ive kinda relapsed to my little flu-ie symptoms i had last week. Im feeling ok today i had a nice sleep in so i think that helped out. But i think that thanksgiving and a really nice dinner will help out. I guess the Kédougou region is known throughout the country for having really good cooks, couldn't be in a better place. Ill update in a few days.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Newish
So yeah havent been around a lot but theres not alot of wireless here and ive been kina busy. If anyone feels like shooting me a line id like that as itd tell me if its just my phone thats not letting me call the states. hope everyone has a great thanksgiving, weve gpot a huge turkey named tasty living in the regiponal house with us at the moment whop will soon be dinner. ill try and get another blog up soon though.
11/20 Fungolimbi
So today was fun, i did end up biking out to Kafori/Fungalimbi. I didnt actually make it out to kafori but instead went to Fungalimbi. So i left this morning around 740 and made it down to the river crossing by about 8. I had to ride around the market a little bit till i found the right road that took me down to the river crossing, but i found it once i was able to find the mosque. So i made decent time in getting to Tougé. I did it in about an hour and 15min. I wasn't trying to break any land speed records or anything, and it was a nice ride. When i get there i meet steve and his family as he's eating breakfast with them. His dad, the chief of the village is really nice and i think might have remembered me from when we stayed here on our visit. So its while im talking to steve that i find out that kevin roxy and him are going to Fungolimbi that day for the luma, which is the larger weekly market in the region. I say what the hell i was just going to go hang out with kevin and do whatever anyway. Of course Fungolimbi is on top of a 'mt', (Senegalese Mt) but whatever. So steve and I take of for Dimbli to meet up with Roxy and kevin, and run into kevin on the way. Roxy is teaching an english class or something so he was the only one coming. We still need to go to Dimbli to get the rd to Fungo and to talk to Roxy, so shoot off back the way kevin had been coming. We get there and get to see Roxy teaching her english class, i guess steve needed to get some paperwork from her for a scholarship they were giving to a girl in Fungo, as that was another reason they were going. After this we take off on a road that shoots past the post de santé in Dimbli where we had planted trees during our visit. The first mile i guess was a little rough going as it was pretty much sand. Im not really a big fan of sand for biking.But after thats its the normal crapy road im used to. About half a mile of this takes us to the start of the climb, and thats where we start walking. Now seeing as id just biked out from Kédougou and it was pretty damn steep on shitty rocky road i didn't feel like being a hard ass and since steve stopped first i was more then willing to follow his lead.
When we get to the top you can really see a lot of the surrounding country side. You can also see all around the ash from where the fires had been burning. Kevin had been saying that during the night you can look up at the mt side and see these fires burning on them. But once we get to the top we still have a ways to go, kinda along the ridge with some ups and downs. Its a great ride and great scenery. At one pt a troop of monkeys ran out in front of us which was pretty cool to see. But we eventually get to Fungo. I guess its about 1500ft. So its not really that high but for someone who's out of shape it was more then enough as the roads leave quite a lot to be desired. The school where we gave the scholarship was at the high pt of the town and must have been 1600ft or so and you could really see all around. I guess its right next to Guinea also. The hills we were looking at around us were probably Guinea and we saw some 'border patrol guards' chilling under a tree. It didn't look all that official or too particularly bothered, although they did stop one guy on a bike and ask where he was coming from while we were talking to them. I guess Steve knew them. We also got to talk to the Eaux et Foret agent for the region also which was cool. Eaux et Foret is the government agency in charge of trees and water resources. I guess they've really been promoting the controlled burns that have been going on around the country, and steve was talking to him about that and some other stuff.
The market was pretty neat as lots of the stuff was from Guinea and for the region was pretty big. I got a great corn onion and hot pepper sandwich there for my lunch as well as some bissap juice. While we were there we ran meet a couple of important people in the community, we hung out at the dr.'s house for a while and were treated/subjected to prison break. Now ive never watched that in the US and don't ever plan to but it seems really really bad. But they love it here i guess, as i had watched at a friend of my brothers house a couple days ago also. After watching that for a while i decided to head on back as ive got a ways to go and my heads throbbing a little bit telling me im not 100% better. We go back to the market to get some water and steve points out the other road the shoots you down to the Kafori road but cuts off about 10k and drops you out at Velingarra. Before i take off Kevin gives me his Site locator form to give to andy to take to Dakar when he goes this weekend.
So i take off on that road, its a nice ride for a little while, maybe 20min or so and then it starts to get really steep and really rocky. Well the ride was nice the whole way. The view was even better then coming up because there wasn't as much vegetation to block you line of site and it was even prettier. But holy shit was that road something else. If kevin hadn't told me hed come up it in the PC car during his install to meet and greet important notables in his region, i wouldn't have believed that anything short of a tank could get up it. Needless to say i was walking my bike down this section of the road as well. Ive never felt like id wanted my helmet more, i mean i was really glad i was wearing my helmet the whole time. But one i was passed the worst part of the descent i hopped back on my bike and finished the rest of the road peddling. Id have to say that this road was twice as pretty as the other road. Now that i think about it we could have been at the highest point in senegal, which would be kinda neat.
Once back on the road back to Kédougou, it was smooth sailing. I was pretty much able to cruise the rest of the way back. I felt great on the way back to Kédougou though. I was cranking along for quite a bit of the ride. The ride back in is a lot more friendly as there is more downhills to enjoy. But like i said i was in good spirits and was really enjoying my ride. I think if i can do this once a week or so ill be content, just so long as my lang comes along. But i make it to the ferry crossing which is kinda neat, its a one car ferry basically, that is attached to a wire that keeps it from floating down stream and a rope that is used to pull it across. So its man power that takes it across the river. Once back in the city proper i stop to get a coke and to buy some kola nuts and fruit for my host family. They really are not very nice but have caffeine in them or something so they give you a little buzz. I tried one and they really are pretty gross, but they are kinda status/respectful thing to give people.
So when i show up at my host families compound, and they cant believe that i went to Fungolimbi and came back in one day. To most people here in Gou, Fungo is like the top of everest is what steve told me. After seeing both the roads that lead up to it i can kinda understand why they think that. My host dad is working on my door and loves the kola nuts i gave him. They bring out my lunch from that day which they had saved for me and i wolf it down, which prob wasn't the best idea as i kinda felt comatose after that. But since my feet and legs were red/brown to the extreme and i was kinda pooped i felt a shower and a nap were in order.
So i listened to the radio a little bit after my nap and shower, so i guess the price of oil has dropped a shit ton and a list of BNP members got leaked. Good times. I have the Economist and Time from the day after the election which is cool, reading about that was pretty cool seeing the breakdown of how the election was won. When i went back to my host families compound for dinner everyone was hanging out like usual. After i had made the rounds saying hello to people, one of my little brothers came up to me with a badly made paper airplane. So i decided id make a nice one for him. Well that went over really well. I had every kid in the compound thrusting sheets of used paper at me wanting paper airplanes. It was really funny. I guess theyd never seen one before and everyone wanted one. So i spent the rest of the evening making them and then eating dinner which i wasnt really too hungry for as id stuffed myself at lunch when id gotten back.
So a recurring event that happens every night during the week here at the Diallo household is Au Coeur du Pêche. Its this Brazilian soap opera that is dubbed into french and played every weeknight. I highly recommend that you have a look at it, its possibly one of the worst things ive ever seen. I mean its really funny but only because its soooo bad. While it is pretty bad, the dubbed french i think is helping with my french comprehension which is good. And its french french which is nice cause its easier to understand then senegalese french. So like i said this is a big event, I counted 25 people around the TV last night. Its truly amazing. So once this was over i leave to go get some sleep.
When we get to the top you can really see a lot of the surrounding country side. You can also see all around the ash from where the fires had been burning. Kevin had been saying that during the night you can look up at the mt side and see these fires burning on them. But once we get to the top we still have a ways to go, kinda along the ridge with some ups and downs. Its a great ride and great scenery. At one pt a troop of monkeys ran out in front of us which was pretty cool to see. But we eventually get to Fungo. I guess its about 1500ft. So its not really that high but for someone who's out of shape it was more then enough as the roads leave quite a lot to be desired. The school where we gave the scholarship was at the high pt of the town and must have been 1600ft or so and you could really see all around. I guess its right next to Guinea also. The hills we were looking at around us were probably Guinea and we saw some 'border patrol guards' chilling under a tree. It didn't look all that official or too particularly bothered, although they did stop one guy on a bike and ask where he was coming from while we were talking to them. I guess Steve knew them. We also got to talk to the Eaux et Foret agent for the region also which was cool. Eaux et Foret is the government agency in charge of trees and water resources. I guess they've really been promoting the controlled burns that have been going on around the country, and steve was talking to him about that and some other stuff.
The market was pretty neat as lots of the stuff was from Guinea and for the region was pretty big. I got a great corn onion and hot pepper sandwich there for my lunch as well as some bissap juice. While we were there we ran meet a couple of important people in the community, we hung out at the dr.'s house for a while and were treated/subjected to prison break. Now ive never watched that in the US and don't ever plan to but it seems really really bad. But they love it here i guess, as i had watched at a friend of my brothers house a couple days ago also. After watching that for a while i decided to head on back as ive got a ways to go and my heads throbbing a little bit telling me im not 100% better. We go back to the market to get some water and steve points out the other road the shoots you down to the Kafori road but cuts off about 10k and drops you out at Velingarra. Before i take off Kevin gives me his Site locator form to give to andy to take to Dakar when he goes this weekend.
So i take off on that road, its a nice ride for a little while, maybe 20min or so and then it starts to get really steep and really rocky. Well the ride was nice the whole way. The view was even better then coming up because there wasn't as much vegetation to block you line of site and it was even prettier. But holy shit was that road something else. If kevin hadn't told me hed come up it in the PC car during his install to meet and greet important notables in his region, i wouldn't have believed that anything short of a tank could get up it. Needless to say i was walking my bike down this section of the road as well. Ive never felt like id wanted my helmet more, i mean i was really glad i was wearing my helmet the whole time. But one i was passed the worst part of the descent i hopped back on my bike and finished the rest of the road peddling. Id have to say that this road was twice as pretty as the other road. Now that i think about it we could have been at the highest point in senegal, which would be kinda neat.
Once back on the road back to Kédougou, it was smooth sailing. I was pretty much able to cruise the rest of the way back. I felt great on the way back to Kédougou though. I was cranking along for quite a bit of the ride. The ride back in is a lot more friendly as there is more downhills to enjoy. But like i said i was in good spirits and was really enjoying my ride. I think if i can do this once a week or so ill be content, just so long as my lang comes along. But i make it to the ferry crossing which is kinda neat, its a one car ferry basically, that is attached to a wire that keeps it from floating down stream and a rope that is used to pull it across. So its man power that takes it across the river. Once back in the city proper i stop to get a coke and to buy some kola nuts and fruit for my host family. They really are not very nice but have caffeine in them or something so they give you a little buzz. I tried one and they really are pretty gross, but they are kinda status/respectful thing to give people.
So when i show up at my host families compound, and they cant believe that i went to Fungolimbi and came back in one day. To most people here in Gou, Fungo is like the top of everest is what steve told me. After seeing both the roads that lead up to it i can kinda understand why they think that. My host dad is working on my door and loves the kola nuts i gave him. They bring out my lunch from that day which they had saved for me and i wolf it down, which prob wasn't the best idea as i kinda felt comatose after that. But since my feet and legs were red/brown to the extreme and i was kinda pooped i felt a shower and a nap were in order.
So i listened to the radio a little bit after my nap and shower, so i guess the price of oil has dropped a shit ton and a list of BNP members got leaked. Good times. I have the Economist and Time from the day after the election which is cool, reading about that was pretty cool seeing the breakdown of how the election was won. When i went back to my host families compound for dinner everyone was hanging out like usual. After i had made the rounds saying hello to people, one of my little brothers came up to me with a badly made paper airplane. So i decided id make a nice one for him. Well that went over really well. I had every kid in the compound thrusting sheets of used paper at me wanting paper airplanes. It was really funny. I guess theyd never seen one before and everyone wanted one. So i spent the rest of the evening making them and then eating dinner which i wasnt really too hungry for as id stuffed myself at lunch when id gotten back.
So a recurring event that happens every night during the week here at the Diallo household is Au Coeur du Pêche. Its this Brazilian soap opera that is dubbed into french and played every weeknight. I highly recommend that you have a look at it, its possibly one of the worst things ive ever seen. I mean its really funny but only because its soooo bad. While it is pretty bad, the dubbed french i think is helping with my french comprehension which is good. And its french french which is nice cause its easier to understand then senegalese french. So like i said this is a big event, I counted 25 people around the TV last night. Its truly amazing. So once this was over i leave to go get some sleep.
11/15 Tjibedji
So here i am in Kédougou regional house, my home for the time being. So i was installed on the 10th after arriving in Gou on the evening of the 8th. It was a very uneventful trip down thankfully as we were in Sept places the whole time. We thought that we were going to spend the night in Tamba and go down to Kédougou the morning of the 9th but the drivers had other ideas. Luckily we were able to stop in Tamba to pull our money for instal. Not that it really mattered to me in the long run. But ill get to that. So we get down to the regional house about 7/8ish and get warthog sandwiches with pretty much the entire 'Gou Crew' as they are all in town for our install and a few meetings. It was a fun evening and we get to meet everyone. While we made it to Gou the night of the 8th, the girls in of our stage who were coming down had finageled their way into the PC car with Chris Hendrick. They didnt have to get up at 530 for a 6am leave time but a 11am leave time. While i was a little bitter about this, i dont really feel so bad anymore as it sounded like they had a miserable time on the way down. The car was completely full with too many people, too much stuff and they got a flat on the way to Tamba. They didnt get into tamba till late. So whatever but we all got there in the end so its all good, they just got there the morning of the 9th.
The next day was when we were supposed to get there and thats when we were expected and the current volunteers had ordered a whole pig for the occasion. It showed up around midday on the back of matts bike. the carcass of a pig sans head. Very interesting. Lets just say ive eaten some strange parts of pig now, fear factor doesnt bother me as much as it used to. But it was a great time, beer and barbecued pig. We got to meet the adopted son of the country director which was cool, he grew up in the states and is a badass basketball player i hear and just recently has moved back to Kédougou, so he'll be around which is cool. The country director was a volunteer here in Gou 20 odd years ago in dindéfella and thats where chris hendrick adopted him from.
So that night was really fun but i was being installed the next day so i crashed a little early so as to be ready. Lets just say everyone didnt follow my lead and i missed a bonfire and more drinking. This was a good thing as the car ride around Gou the next day was a bit rough for about half our group. We got to meet the governor and a few other notables in the town. After this we went back to the regional house and i got ready to get 'installed'. I put quotations around this cause it really wasnt a instillation as i didnt have a hut. Like at all. So basically i went and hung out with the fam all day and then went back to the regional house which is literally right down the street to hang out and go to bed. So basically i eat and spend the day at the house trying to pick up the lang and sleep and shower at the regional house which is cool as its kinda like im getting gently eased into my sight. Im not saying i wouldnt like to have a hut and be able to unpack. Id love that as im still living out of suitcase which sucks, and i can escape to the Regional house if im feeling like i need a break. i do get to watch my hut get built though which is pretty badass though. The other thing about my fam here in Gou is that its the same family that the country director had in dindéfella 20 odd yrs ago. Well its part of the family anyway and they all knew him when he rolled up and he knew them! He didnt know that i was going to be living with them so it was a surprise for him as well. So it was pretty cool that thats my family here. They are really nice and i think we'll get along very well, il just have to bust my ass to learn the lang, cause i really suck at that.
Well im not the only one who doesnt have a hut. here in Gou, Thomas Whitaker doesnt have one either. His was a little further along then mine, his had half walls when he was installed i think whereas mine was a trench where the walls were going to be. I just found this out yesterday as well, that kevin wilkins didnt even have a hut started when he was installed in kafori which really sucks for him. I guess he was moved into another family or something, ill have to ask him about it when we all come back for thanksgiving. Minus kevin and Aaron, everyone was around or came back for a meeting with Wulla Naffa on Thursday. Wulla Naffa is a NGO here in senegal that is funded by US AID and is working rather closly with the gold mining that is going on in the region. Their goal is to sustainably utilize the regions resources. Cause i was here at the regional house on Wednesday, i got to go to the actual meeting the day before, as the meeting on thursday was really just between peace corps and wulla naffa, kinda a meet greet and compare goals. Thomas and I went with another volunteer named daniel. While we were there we got to meet the main guy from Dakar for wulla naffa, and while we were talking, he mentioned that they were going to be bringing in a GIS system to help get some reliable maps down here. Knowing what it was and understanding/showing interest in what he was talking about might have landed me a side project working with their team on that.
So thursday morning, Hayes and Shelia biked back into Gou from bandafassi and Thjibedji respectfully. The meeting was a little bit of a recap for me but was neat as it really laid out in english what had been said the day before in french. So that was interesting, but it was cool to hang out with everyone for another day. Im definitely now a lover of the bean sandwiches. They have them all over down here and they have this great french bead thats like baguettes but about half the size. Its really good. I think ive had that every morning since ive been here and i dont see it ending anytime soon. So after that meeting we go to the market and get bean sandwiches and do a little shopping. Ive still yet to buy anything as ive no hut, but since shelia had already moved in and unpacked se had a few things on her list to get so we basically just took care of that. After that i took a nap back at the regional house and then went back to the family compound for the rest of the day. I got to play soccer with the army of little kids who live in my compound and the surrounding ones. It was fun as right next to where we were playing i got to watch the bricks for my hut being made out of the dirt from a big hole. There had o have been some concrete in there or something, but who knows. It was still pretty cool to watch what is going to be my hut be built. After dinner, i head back to the regional house for a shower and sleep. Talking to shelia i decide to ride out to Thjibedji with her and Hayes.
So we head out the next morning, the 14th. It was a great ride. hayes lives in bandafassi and thats only about 15k away. We make it there in about an hour. This arent you regular american roads were talking about here, but like mining roads, is the best comparison i can think off. It reminded me alot of the bike ride i went on in California in the Bristlecone forest and the sequoia national forest only wider. In Bandafassi we stop and check out Hayes hut, its badass as the volunteer she replaced had cement counters put in and its just really cool. While there shelia sees a chair being made and remembers she needs one at her hut. After inquiring and finding out its only 3mil cfa and that it can be attached to her bike no problem she buys it and has hayes counterpart strap it onto the back of her bike. This isnt a small chair, its like small dinning room chair i guess. It was hilarious looking but it was sturdy and made it the entire way to her site. A picture would have been priceless, but i wont soon forget that.
In Thjibedji we spend the day sitting with her host sister learning pullar and watching her cook. It really was helpful, and i think that with that shelia will have no problem picking up pullar. we walk around her village after lunch and meet and greet a bunch of people. it was really cool and me really jealous of the smaller village life that doesn't exist in Kédougou. Around 4 i head out so as to make it back to Gou before dark. Im kinda drained at this point as ive spent all day in the sun and had a 35k ride out there. Not a lot by my american standards, but im about 2 months out of shape and the african suns a little different. but i take off anyway and make it to bandafassi by 5, a god 20k so not bad, and hang out with hayes for a little but there. The site in Bandaffasi is really beautiful. Hayes basically lives under the face of a small mountain. The ride there you just keep getting closer to the mountain until you roll up on her village sitting there underneath these big cliffs. After resting for a bit her counterpart gets up and says that were going into the bush to get something for hayes hut so i tag along thinking we cant be gone that long. We'll we are and they end up chopping down 1 and a half trees for two posts with V's in them. Very expertly done, but we hiked a ways into the bush to get them and it took a while so i dont hit the road till about 615 and its getting dark. Basically about half my ride is in the dark/pitch black without my headlamp. Didnt think to bring it as i thought id be back way before dark. It was fun though and i got to pass some bush fires that were pretty cool to see in the dark.
The ride was badass and now im ready to explore some more. I even had a conversation with a local while we were both pushing our bikes up a particularly steep hill that i totally understood every word of. Baby steps with the language, baby steps. Im thinking that ill run out to kafori and check out kevins site for another little adventure. Tomorrow im going to the fields with my family to observe a little and to maybe get ideas for projects, as well as to try and pick up some vocab.
for' those of you with google earth and feel like checking out my site, N 12 33.477', WO 12 11.568' there you go. Not really sure what the WO is for west something, but you get the point.
The next day was when we were supposed to get there and thats when we were expected and the current volunteers had ordered a whole pig for the occasion. It showed up around midday on the back of matts bike. the carcass of a pig sans head. Very interesting. Lets just say ive eaten some strange parts of pig now, fear factor doesnt bother me as much as it used to. But it was a great time, beer and barbecued pig. We got to meet the adopted son of the country director which was cool, he grew up in the states and is a badass basketball player i hear and just recently has moved back to Kédougou, so he'll be around which is cool. The country director was a volunteer here in Gou 20 odd years ago in dindéfella and thats where chris hendrick adopted him from.
So that night was really fun but i was being installed the next day so i crashed a little early so as to be ready. Lets just say everyone didnt follow my lead and i missed a bonfire and more drinking. This was a good thing as the car ride around Gou the next day was a bit rough for about half our group. We got to meet the governor and a few other notables in the town. After this we went back to the regional house and i got ready to get 'installed'. I put quotations around this cause it really wasnt a instillation as i didnt have a hut. Like at all. So basically i went and hung out with the fam all day and then went back to the regional house which is literally right down the street to hang out and go to bed. So basically i eat and spend the day at the house trying to pick up the lang and sleep and shower at the regional house which is cool as its kinda like im getting gently eased into my sight. Im not saying i wouldnt like to have a hut and be able to unpack. Id love that as im still living out of suitcase which sucks, and i can escape to the Regional house if im feeling like i need a break. i do get to watch my hut get built though which is pretty badass though. The other thing about my fam here in Gou is that its the same family that the country director had in dindéfella 20 odd yrs ago. Well its part of the family anyway and they all knew him when he rolled up and he knew them! He didnt know that i was going to be living with them so it was a surprise for him as well. So it was pretty cool that thats my family here. They are really nice and i think we'll get along very well, il just have to bust my ass to learn the lang, cause i really suck at that.
Well im not the only one who doesnt have a hut. here in Gou, Thomas Whitaker doesnt have one either. His was a little further along then mine, his had half walls when he was installed i think whereas mine was a trench where the walls were going to be. I just found this out yesterday as well, that kevin wilkins didnt even have a hut started when he was installed in kafori which really sucks for him. I guess he was moved into another family or something, ill have to ask him about it when we all come back for thanksgiving. Minus kevin and Aaron, everyone was around or came back for a meeting with Wulla Naffa on Thursday. Wulla Naffa is a NGO here in senegal that is funded by US AID and is working rather closly with the gold mining that is going on in the region. Their goal is to sustainably utilize the regions resources. Cause i was here at the regional house on Wednesday, i got to go to the actual meeting the day before, as the meeting on thursday was really just between peace corps and wulla naffa, kinda a meet greet and compare goals. Thomas and I went with another volunteer named daniel. While we were there we got to meet the main guy from Dakar for wulla naffa, and while we were talking, he mentioned that they were going to be bringing in a GIS system to help get some reliable maps down here. Knowing what it was and understanding/showing interest in what he was talking about might have landed me a side project working with their team on that.
So thursday morning, Hayes and Shelia biked back into Gou from bandafassi and Thjibedji respectfully. The meeting was a little bit of a recap for me but was neat as it really laid out in english what had been said the day before in french. So that was interesting, but it was cool to hang out with everyone for another day. Im definitely now a lover of the bean sandwiches. They have them all over down here and they have this great french bead thats like baguettes but about half the size. Its really good. I think ive had that every morning since ive been here and i dont see it ending anytime soon. So after that meeting we go to the market and get bean sandwiches and do a little shopping. Ive still yet to buy anything as ive no hut, but since shelia had already moved in and unpacked se had a few things on her list to get so we basically just took care of that. After that i took a nap back at the regional house and then went back to the family compound for the rest of the day. I got to play soccer with the army of little kids who live in my compound and the surrounding ones. It was fun as right next to where we were playing i got to watch the bricks for my hut being made out of the dirt from a big hole. There had o have been some concrete in there or something, but who knows. It was still pretty cool to watch what is going to be my hut be built. After dinner, i head back to the regional house for a shower and sleep. Talking to shelia i decide to ride out to Thjibedji with her and Hayes.
So we head out the next morning, the 14th. It was a great ride. hayes lives in bandafassi and thats only about 15k away. We make it there in about an hour. This arent you regular american roads were talking about here, but like mining roads, is the best comparison i can think off. It reminded me alot of the bike ride i went on in California in the Bristlecone forest and the sequoia national forest only wider. In Bandafassi we stop and check out Hayes hut, its badass as the volunteer she replaced had cement counters put in and its just really cool. While there shelia sees a chair being made and remembers she needs one at her hut. After inquiring and finding out its only 3mil cfa and that it can be attached to her bike no problem she buys it and has hayes counterpart strap it onto the back of her bike. This isnt a small chair, its like small dinning room chair i guess. It was hilarious looking but it was sturdy and made it the entire way to her site. A picture would have been priceless, but i wont soon forget that.
In Thjibedji we spend the day sitting with her host sister learning pullar and watching her cook. It really was helpful, and i think that with that shelia will have no problem picking up pullar. we walk around her village after lunch and meet and greet a bunch of people. it was really cool and me really jealous of the smaller village life that doesn't exist in Kédougou. Around 4 i head out so as to make it back to Gou before dark. Im kinda drained at this point as ive spent all day in the sun and had a 35k ride out there. Not a lot by my american standards, but im about 2 months out of shape and the african suns a little different. but i take off anyway and make it to bandafassi by 5, a god 20k so not bad, and hang out with hayes for a little but there. The site in Bandaffasi is really beautiful. Hayes basically lives under the face of a small mountain. The ride there you just keep getting closer to the mountain until you roll up on her village sitting there underneath these big cliffs. After resting for a bit her counterpart gets up and says that were going into the bush to get something for hayes hut so i tag along thinking we cant be gone that long. We'll we are and they end up chopping down 1 and a half trees for two posts with V's in them. Very expertly done, but we hiked a ways into the bush to get them and it took a while so i dont hit the road till about 615 and its getting dark. Basically about half my ride is in the dark/pitch black without my headlamp. Didnt think to bring it as i thought id be back way before dark. It was fun though and i got to pass some bush fires that were pretty cool to see in the dark.
The ride was badass and now im ready to explore some more. I even had a conversation with a local while we were both pushing our bikes up a particularly steep hill that i totally understood every word of. Baby steps with the language, baby steps. Im thinking that ill run out to kafori and check out kevins site for another little adventure. Tomorrow im going to the fields with my family to observe a little and to maybe get ideas for projects, as well as to try and pick up some vocab.
for' those of you with google earth and feel like checking out my site, N 12 33.477', WO 12 11.568' there you go. Not really sure what the WO is for west something, but you get the point.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
swearing in 11/7
So were officially sworn in as a peace corps volunteer. We went to Dakar yesterday morning for the ceremony at the ambassadors residence. The drive there was interesting, as all driving in senegal is. We actually got a police escort on the way there which consisted of a single motorcycle cop running the gauntlet ahead of us. Traffic got bad as we got closer to Dakar and the cop took us up the opposite side of the highway. That was definitely a experience, thought we were going to hit more then once to say the least.
Well we get to the ambassadors house on time and there was some local tv cameras outside for the occasion. The ambassadors residence was all decked out in american flags and leftovers from the election, so it looked like it had been all done up for us. The ceremony itself was nice, we got to hear the country director, the ambassador and the chief of staff for the president or something of senegal speak, as well as three people from our stage in their languages. It was nice. the little reception that we had afterward was nice and they gave us nice food which was very good. After we were all done there we headed off to the PC headquarters for some last paper work and to sign a doc saying that we had officially taken the oath, that all government employees take. kinda neat and more importantly they gave us our bank information for our living allowances. This was all done pretty quickly and afterward we headed off to the american club for a hour or two of relaxing. We got to swim and play a little volleyball which was fun. We really didnt have a whole lot of time there as we had to get back to the center in Thies for a little party thing to thank the home stay families.
That was interesting as the family member that came from my family was my sister who doesnt really speak pulla futa, and with my bad french there wasnt a whole lot to converse about. So overall it was fun to see the families one more time from Pout. Once they had all been thanked and given a certificate saying they had been home stay families, they were all driven back to their respective villages. After that our little celebration began, it was fun, everyone was happy we all made it through training and were heading off to our villages. I decided to try adn break the 'course time trial record' for racing around the compound on my bike at this point. Its two laps in under 2min basically. i think that i was pretty close, i wasnt really hauling ass cause it was dark and falling the day before we have to head off would have been silly. I ran into shelia doing somethign similar as she had heard me zipping by her room and was curious as to who was biking by. Id imagine she prob could have done the course in a faster time as well.
Well we didnt get a whole lot of sleep that night as everyone was coming in at all hours and it stayed fairly noisy in my room till 5ish. Not very cool when i wanted to go running at 6 and do my laundry but it was the last day not a big deal. So that brings us to today. Everyone is getting ready for their respective trips tomorrow and getting laundry and packing out of the way. So tomorrow we all head off at different times, but ill be heading off to Kédougou tomorrow rather early as its so far away and we have to take public transport to get there. Because of this we have to spend the night in Tambacounda and finish the trip monday morning. Some of the group is lucky and gets to ride down to tamba with the country director in his land cruiser. We switch it up in Tamba but thats the journey you want to be in the land cruiser for, to Kédougou its not bad. ah well, i need to head back and go for a run and pack up. So ill next post from Kédougou!
Well we get to the ambassadors house on time and there was some local tv cameras outside for the occasion. The ambassadors residence was all decked out in american flags and leftovers from the election, so it looked like it had been all done up for us. The ceremony itself was nice, we got to hear the country director, the ambassador and the chief of staff for the president or something of senegal speak, as well as three people from our stage in their languages. It was nice. the little reception that we had afterward was nice and they gave us nice food which was very good. After we were all done there we headed off to the PC headquarters for some last paper work and to sign a doc saying that we had officially taken the oath, that all government employees take. kinda neat and more importantly they gave us our bank information for our living allowances. This was all done pretty quickly and afterward we headed off to the american club for a hour or two of relaxing. We got to swim and play a little volleyball which was fun. We really didnt have a whole lot of time there as we had to get back to the center in Thies for a little party thing to thank the home stay families.
That was interesting as the family member that came from my family was my sister who doesnt really speak pulla futa, and with my bad french there wasnt a whole lot to converse about. So overall it was fun to see the families one more time from Pout. Once they had all been thanked and given a certificate saying they had been home stay families, they were all driven back to their respective villages. After that our little celebration began, it was fun, everyone was happy we all made it through training and were heading off to our villages. I decided to try adn break the 'course time trial record' for racing around the compound on my bike at this point. Its two laps in under 2min basically. i think that i was pretty close, i wasnt really hauling ass cause it was dark and falling the day before we have to head off would have been silly. I ran into shelia doing somethign similar as she had heard me zipping by her room and was curious as to who was biking by. Id imagine she prob could have done the course in a faster time as well.
Well we didnt get a whole lot of sleep that night as everyone was coming in at all hours and it stayed fairly noisy in my room till 5ish. Not very cool when i wanted to go running at 6 and do my laundry but it was the last day not a big deal. So that brings us to today. Everyone is getting ready for their respective trips tomorrow and getting laundry and packing out of the way. So tomorrow we all head off at different times, but ill be heading off to Kédougou tomorrow rather early as its so far away and we have to take public transport to get there. Because of this we have to spend the night in Tambacounda and finish the trip monday morning. Some of the group is lucky and gets to ride down to tamba with the country director in his land cruiser. We switch it up in Tamba but thats the journey you want to be in the land cruiser for, to Kédougou its not bad. ah well, i need to head back and go for a run and pack up. So ill next post from Kédougou!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
chaotic scatterbrain recap of a week
so its election day and ive not updated for a while. We got back from pout monday afternoon, after 8 days in pout. It was a interesting week, as it was language intensive for the whole week. we looked after our garden a bit during the evenings but mostly just went over a few new language subjects and reviewed for our Language placement interview on tuesday, today. Sunday in Pout we went to the city football final. My brother Palomine is the keeper for the reserve team from quartier mbayen. It was quite a different scene then the last game that i was out. In that sense, considerably less excitement. The reserve game was ok, it was nil nil and went to penalties, and Palomine was substituted. The guy they put in was badass though, he saved three of them and they won the game. Palomine was very happy about it. We stuck around for the first half of the senior game and went back to our home stay's to pack up our stuff so it could be picked up the next morning. The senior team from Mbayen won that game as well, so it was a clean sweep for quartier mbayen. they paraded the trophy through the quatrier that night and everyone was having a good old fashioned street party basically.
So we came back to thies on monday afternoon after saying goodbye to our homestay families. We ate lunch with them and then waited around for the peace corps car. My family and lots of their friends were all curious about the election and wether or not i was voting for Obama. They all were very happy that i was voting for Obama even though when i asked them why they like him, some of them just pointed to their skin. i mean theyre not going to know the different policies and ins and outs of the american political system just like we dont know theirs. Hence we had a class on it on the 5th after the election. But we get back to thies and relax and get ready for the LPI the next day. I was rather worried about it as i felt like i was kinda at the same level as before maybe a little more advanced in the sense of knowing a few more verbs and how to build a sentence. Shelia and i go into thies to check email and the internet in general. So i study that night and still feel this kinda impending doom kinda feeling with the election, LPI, and other things going on in my life in Senegal. Writing this now on the 5th, one has turned out well in the shape of the election, yay ohio, way to step up to the plate. LPI is still unknown at the moment. We have the rematch of the staff trainee soccer game at 6, so thatll be fun, ill prob go into town after dinner for some interneting and beers.
So i had a crzy dream about 2 things, kinda seperate incidents. The first one was kinda neat/hectic, kinda a travel related one. We were going to Dakar for swearing in and we get to the Dakar HQ office and its got a huge rather american style parking garage underneith the building. So were pulling in and its really really long with support beams holding up the roof, and momadoud, from previous entries, is driving and for some reason were backing up and were late or something so hes just hauling ass down the length of the parking garage at top speed in the PC bus. Im sitting there think oh shit were going to hit one of the support pillars and wrap round it. we dont cause mama-dukes is the shit and we get to the door just a little late and make it to swear in. The second part that i remember was about the election and i thought it rather foreboding. Obama won by a tiny bit and everyone was all happy and celebrating but in 2000 fashion recount and he loses. Considering i had this the night before the election and my LPI i was a little nervous going into said day.
I just found out that our entire stage passed their language proficiency tests. Which is great as no one has early terminated from our stage also. The country director who was here to talk to us said that is the first time in a long while that no ones done that. I also just got my package from my parents, it had a really cool football jersey from croatia, as well as my obama pin, which im wearing now. After our last safety and security session we got our soccer game under way. It was supposed to be kicking off at 6 but the staff pulled the old switch-a-roo and moved the time up for some reason, some nonsense about daylight not being there or something. well due to some shady substitutions and some sub par defending on my part we were down 2-0 in the first half. In the second half i started on the bench and the rest of the trainees who wanted to play showed up by this point and subbed in. I tried to organize the team a little bit, but im not very good at that, and were not all soccer players. The second half was alot better then the first as we more then held our own and had more then 4 chances to put away, our last touch was just off. When i got back in i played up on right wing or attack. I think im better there as i can run more and expose tried defenders a little more. we had a few good runs up the wings once we started using the wings more. so the second half was good. But we ended up losing 3-0. Ah well what can you do, we'll catch shit from teh trainers now, but im pretty good at slinging it back.
So i suppose thats a really brief summary of what went down, really really brief. But ill be swearing in on friday at the ambassadors place or something and then off to Kédougou on sunday hopefully. So my new address there is as follows
PCV Alan Edwards
B.P. 37 Kédougou
Senegal
West Africa
so for those of you who feel inclined to send me things thats the spot to send them to.
So we came back to thies on monday afternoon after saying goodbye to our homestay families. We ate lunch with them and then waited around for the peace corps car. My family and lots of their friends were all curious about the election and wether or not i was voting for Obama. They all were very happy that i was voting for Obama even though when i asked them why they like him, some of them just pointed to their skin. i mean theyre not going to know the different policies and ins and outs of the american political system just like we dont know theirs. Hence we had a class on it on the 5th after the election. But we get back to thies and relax and get ready for the LPI the next day. I was rather worried about it as i felt like i was kinda at the same level as before maybe a little more advanced in the sense of knowing a few more verbs and how to build a sentence. Shelia and i go into thies to check email and the internet in general. So i study that night and still feel this kinda impending doom kinda feeling with the election, LPI, and other things going on in my life in Senegal. Writing this now on the 5th, one has turned out well in the shape of the election, yay ohio, way to step up to the plate. LPI is still unknown at the moment. We have the rematch of the staff trainee soccer game at 6, so thatll be fun, ill prob go into town after dinner for some interneting and beers.
So i had a crzy dream about 2 things, kinda seperate incidents. The first one was kinda neat/hectic, kinda a travel related one. We were going to Dakar for swearing in and we get to the Dakar HQ office and its got a huge rather american style parking garage underneith the building. So were pulling in and its really really long with support beams holding up the roof, and momadoud, from previous entries, is driving and for some reason were backing up and were late or something so hes just hauling ass down the length of the parking garage at top speed in the PC bus. Im sitting there think oh shit were going to hit one of the support pillars and wrap round it. we dont cause mama-dukes is the shit and we get to the door just a little late and make it to swear in. The second part that i remember was about the election and i thought it rather foreboding. Obama won by a tiny bit and everyone was all happy and celebrating but in 2000 fashion recount and he loses. Considering i had this the night before the election and my LPI i was a little nervous going into said day.
I just found out that our entire stage passed their language proficiency tests. Which is great as no one has early terminated from our stage also. The country director who was here to talk to us said that is the first time in a long while that no ones done that. I also just got my package from my parents, it had a really cool football jersey from croatia, as well as my obama pin, which im wearing now. After our last safety and security session we got our soccer game under way. It was supposed to be kicking off at 6 but the staff pulled the old switch-a-roo and moved the time up for some reason, some nonsense about daylight not being there or something. well due to some shady substitutions and some sub par defending on my part we were down 2-0 in the first half. In the second half i started on the bench and the rest of the trainees who wanted to play showed up by this point and subbed in. I tried to organize the team a little bit, but im not very good at that, and were not all soccer players. The second half was alot better then the first as we more then held our own and had more then 4 chances to put away, our last touch was just off. When i got back in i played up on right wing or attack. I think im better there as i can run more and expose tried defenders a little more. we had a few good runs up the wings once we started using the wings more. so the second half was good. But we ended up losing 3-0. Ah well what can you do, we'll catch shit from teh trainers now, but im pretty good at slinging it back.
So i suppose thats a really brief summary of what went down, really really brief. But ill be swearing in on friday at the ambassadors place or something and then off to Kédougou on sunday hopefully. So my new address there is as follows
PCV Alan Edwards
B.P. 37 Kédougou
Senegal
West Africa
so for those of you who feel inclined to send me things thats the spot to send them to.
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