Just for reference, those last two entries were old from a week or two ago, im now back in Kédougou and running around all crazy like! Its great. some guys from Trees for The Future are here right now, former Peace Corps volunteers from kédougou of all places and ive been going round with them checking out fields and figuring out what were going to do this coming year. Weve a meeting with the farmers federation tomorrow morning which will be cool as they seem really eager to work with trees for the future and are on a bit of a high after sorting out some food shipments to the mines. Also went and checked out a garden were going to try and get irrigation for from the Israelis as well as visiting my counterparts field to go through what were going to do there this year. What else what else, first internet trip away from nice fast internet, ive got a douch but no wall around it but also have a mbar(shade structure) in from of my hut as its sooooo fucken hot here now. I believe yesterday it was 105 in the shade good times as its no where near the hottest part of the year yet! Anyway im off to the border with Mali tomorrow so ill be out of touch for a while.
And sarah a few things about the letters, social taboos, men and women dont hold hands, multiple wives are a-ok, left hand = poop hand(dont ask), and a few other things. year of the Ox, slow and steady, i think i can work with that, fits a bunch of shit going on in my life at the moment, lang, work, social stuff, personal stuff, good times. thanks for the letters and packages even if they do get destroyed along the way and things taken out of them, weak sauce senegal, weak sauce. Ah well fun bike ride and then nursery season, great times ahead! stay in touch people!
Oh yea Man U- Inter Milan this evening, lets go you red devils! Special one my ass
Monday, February 23, 2009
Solid Waste Thing in Thies
So im still in Thies today, went to a trash sort to better understand how that works with some RPCV's who had a badass waste removal project going on in a city called joel or something like that. It was the birthplace of the founder of senegal i believe. Anyway they created a solid waste management plan there that turned most of the cities waste into compost, and really good compost at that. It turns out that most of the waste that folk have here is organic, like 70-80%. Turns into real good compost. It was cool to be able to see how it is done and how much organic waste actually comes out of peoples trash. It would have made great compost the stuff we sorted today. Oh yea plastic, the folk in joel managed to find a company in dakar that bought plastic to be recycled and was basically getting rid of all of the waste they were taking in.
So i basically spent most of the day with them doing that, managed to get a run in after that which was much needed. I get really frustrated and kinda pent up when my outlets get taken away, ie biking. Ill be really happy to get back to kédougou and MY bike. hopefully Ill be able to get all the way to Tamba tomorrow by the afternoon, and if i feel up to it maybe all the way to Gou in the evening. Im thinking ill stay in Tamba the night and get my family some gifts as thats the tradition here when you return from a long time away. I was going to do that in Dakar but drinking dancing and goofy softball games got in the way. I dont need to ge t alot or anything but its important none the less.
For dinner tonight i had a great meal at a restaurant called massa massa here in thies, it was a little pricy, but one of the best ive had in quite some time. There are a bunch of health and environmental education volunteers here at the moment for some seminar type thing and i went with a bunch of them. Its nice to meet some of the other stages and these folks all seeded nice, even the one who supports arsenal. Id say that that guy prob. knows about as much if not more than me about soccer, love it when i find people like that! Speaking of people i like talking to, its my good friend Sheila's birthday tomorrow so ill have to shoot out there this week to wish her a happy birthday. If you know who she is wish her a happy birthday! Well thats about the long and short of it for today, not that exciting but kinda fun. In a much better mood since i got back from massa massa, food comma/running/misc others are all to blame. Gotta love the other volunteers!
So i basically spent most of the day with them doing that, managed to get a run in after that which was much needed. I get really frustrated and kinda pent up when my outlets get taken away, ie biking. Ill be really happy to get back to kédougou and MY bike. hopefully Ill be able to get all the way to Tamba tomorrow by the afternoon, and if i feel up to it maybe all the way to Gou in the evening. Im thinking ill stay in Tamba the night and get my family some gifts as thats the tradition here when you return from a long time away. I was going to do that in Dakar but drinking dancing and goofy softball games got in the way. I dont need to ge t alot or anything but its important none the less.
For dinner tonight i had a great meal at a restaurant called massa massa here in thies, it was a little pricy, but one of the best ive had in quite some time. There are a bunch of health and environmental education volunteers here at the moment for some seminar type thing and i went with a bunch of them. Its nice to meet some of the other stages and these folks all seeded nice, even the one who supports arsenal. Id say that that guy prob. knows about as much if not more than me about soccer, love it when i find people like that! Speaking of people i like talking to, its my good friend Sheila's birthday tomorrow so ill have to shoot out there this week to wish her a happy birthday. If you know who she is wish her a happy birthday! Well thats about the long and short of it for today, not that exciting but kinda fun. In a much better mood since i got back from massa massa, food comma/running/misc others are all to blame. Gotta love the other volunteers!
Brief description of WASIT, how many days till next year?
Wow, what a couple of days. Im getting ready to leave Dakar today and head to thies for a irrigation meeting and really understand Dakar a little better now. Im just finishing up a good 4 day stint in the capital of West Africa and man does it make you want to go home! So basically i was here in Dakar for two things, there was the West African Invitational Softball Tournament (WAIST) which was the majority of the time here and then the All Volunteer Conference (AVC) which was the day after WAIST. WAIST has been going on for a rather long time and every year pretty much all the volunteers from around senegal and the other west African nations all show up to play some softball and just generally get waisted for 3 days straight. Its neat as there was volunteers from Mali, Mauritania, Guinea, The Gambia, and i believe i heard that there might have been a team from Togo but im not sure about that one. We all play in the recreational league and have a good time really. My team never tries and have a perfect record of never winning. We also have the best reputation of having the best time out there. not only do we play we have themes which is fairly commonplace for all teams, with ours generally consisting of short shorts of some variety. Oh yea the teams are broken up roughly along the regional lines of the country. The only thing we set out to do was to uphold the name of Tamba-Gou's ridiculousness.
We upheld that name, lost every game and had the best crowds and fans all throughout the tourny. Beer being available at everygame was kinda a factor in the crzyness considering we stared at 8am for a game or two. The games were fun, have a look at the pics i posted, great time. All throughout the tourny, I have been staying with a major in the US army who works with the embassy. Hes a really cool guy his name is Rob Atienza, hes from San Diego. Hes living here in dakar by himself in a badass apt. He basically told us that were more then welcome to stop by and stay when we are in Dakar whenever we want. Thats pretty cool even though i really dont ever go through Dakar that much. Either way its a nice offer and ill be more then happy to take it up when in the situation.
So throughout the tourny of WAIST the evening time has been filled with outings to such establishments as the viking bar, marine parties, or the Oceanium club in dakar. It was a great time even if it was just like college/america in so many words. Shit ton of white folk all letting lose as its one of the only times we have the opportunity to do so. And because of that people generally end up acting kinda ridiculous or making rather quick decisions. I have to say that even with all of that, WASIT has been one of the best weekend/couple of days ive had in a very long time for that very reason. specific incidents aside it was great hanging out with all the people from my stage and in general just dancing the night away. anyone who knows me would probably say that that this kind of behavior is very much out of character as i never dance but when you're dragged out to the dance floor you'll have a decent time!
So now in Thies with WAIST over and only a day or two left up north im write this blog. It was a good time, i learned how to graft mango and citrus trees as well as witnessing a bunch of other ag/fo technologies in action. Went to a meeting put on by the Israeli embassy about irrigation which was neat as we got to see a example of it in action here in thies and gave me some good ideas for potential projects down south. WAIST was great and i wish i had more time to spend with some people in particular up here, ah well ive 2 years. Ill be heading to a solid waste management trash sorting tomorrow to observe for a similar project down in Kédougou which has great potential. I'll then be making my way back down to the Gou to meet up with some work partners for a meeting as soon as i get back basically. Either way ill be really busy when i get back as ive got to start working on some projects when i get back as the nursery season is fast approaching and im rather excited to get started on actually planting some trees. I've a few plans for such projects and we'll see how they pan out. Either way as bummed as i am to leave Dakar and all that was there, im excited to get back to Gou and get to work.
Any questions shoot me a line as its not entirely well written this time and kinda short!
We upheld that name, lost every game and had the best crowds and fans all throughout the tourny. Beer being available at everygame was kinda a factor in the crzyness considering we stared at 8am for a game or two. The games were fun, have a look at the pics i posted, great time. All throughout the tourny, I have been staying with a major in the US army who works with the embassy. Hes a really cool guy his name is Rob Atienza, hes from San Diego. Hes living here in dakar by himself in a badass apt. He basically told us that were more then welcome to stop by and stay when we are in Dakar whenever we want. Thats pretty cool even though i really dont ever go through Dakar that much. Either way its a nice offer and ill be more then happy to take it up when in the situation.
So throughout the tourny of WAIST the evening time has been filled with outings to such establishments as the viking bar, marine parties, or the Oceanium club in dakar. It was a great time even if it was just like college/america in so many words. Shit ton of white folk all letting lose as its one of the only times we have the opportunity to do so. And because of that people generally end up acting kinda ridiculous or making rather quick decisions. I have to say that even with all of that, WASIT has been one of the best weekend/couple of days ive had in a very long time for that very reason. specific incidents aside it was great hanging out with all the people from my stage and in general just dancing the night away. anyone who knows me would probably say that that this kind of behavior is very much out of character as i never dance but when you're dragged out to the dance floor you'll have a decent time!
So now in Thies with WAIST over and only a day or two left up north im write this blog. It was a good time, i learned how to graft mango and citrus trees as well as witnessing a bunch of other ag/fo technologies in action. Went to a meeting put on by the Israeli embassy about irrigation which was neat as we got to see a example of it in action here in thies and gave me some good ideas for potential projects down south. WAIST was great and i wish i had more time to spend with some people in particular up here, ah well ive 2 years. Ill be heading to a solid waste management trash sorting tomorrow to observe for a similar project down in Kédougou which has great potential. I'll then be making my way back down to the Gou to meet up with some work partners for a meeting as soon as i get back basically. Either way ill be really busy when i get back as ive got to start working on some projects when i get back as the nursery season is fast approaching and im rather excited to get started on actually planting some trees. I've a few plans for such projects and we'll see how they pan out. Either way as bummed as i am to leave Dakar and all that was there, im excited to get back to Gou and get to work.
Any questions shoot me a line as its not entirely well written this time and kinda short!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
1st Part of In Service Training
Well i havent written in a while and im here in the north where the internet is in ample supply. Im up here for my in service training where i basically get to learn about all sorts of neat agro forestry techniques. Basically i got into Thies on the 31st after spending the night , in Koalack on the way up to Thies as its a hell of a long way for on eday of traveling. its very doable if you feel like sitting in a car literally all day. I mean thats fun and all but unless there is something very serious going on i plan on not doing that. So we stayed in Kaolack for the night with the other volunteers there. There was quite a few volunteers there as most of the volunteers form my stage were making their way back north for our IST(In Service Training). It was a nice night, the regional house in Koalack is pretty nice and they have wifi so that was nice. We didnt get in till after dark which kinda limited our actions in Kaolack but we basically went straight to the bar where the other volunteers were already hanging out. It was really good to see a bunch of people form our stage again as i hadnt seen them since we had been at Pre Service Training. It was me Kevin, Steve, and Shelia who made the trip from Kédougou to Tamba and from Tamba to Kaolack that day.
So we got up early the the next day to beginning our trip to Thies as we wanted to get there on the 31st before we were supposed to be there. This kinda gave us the chance to chill in Thies a day or have something go wrong on the way. We made decent time getting to thies as we had possibly the best 7place ive ever seen in country. That and the road wasnt that bad on the way to Thies. We only had one problem on the way there as we got a flat as we were about 30/40km out of theis. I guess it was flat as a guy next to the road kinda pointed it out by yelling at the car as we drove by. It was kinda nice to have a break from the ride but we were that close to thies i was kinda ant-sy to get going again. They were really good at fixing it and we were on the road again in no time.
The rest of the trip is pretty easy as the driver again made good time getting to Thies and getting to the center from the station was a non issue as the driver let us off at a taxi stand right next to the main road into town. Getting back to the Training center was interesting as seeing all the Small enterprise and development volunteers, who had been there for a week, was very interesting. Some people have changed and some people are the same as i remembered them from PST.
So our IST didnt start till the monday and we didn't really officially get started till then. We basically hung out, took in the familiar sights of thies and had a good time till monday rolled round. When our IST started on the monday, we had a language exam where our respective local languages were tested to see how far we had come in the first three months. As opposed to the ones that i had taken during PST i actually felt good about this one. And evidently i passed as well. All that required was moving up one level from where you were during your PST training. In all honesty i was a little stressed out about it as i figured it would be a little more difficult, but you really dont even notice the language that you pick up. So it was good to get that result and be able to move on to Frecnh and brush up on that really.
So the format of the IST is basically the same as the format for PST we are supposed to stay in our home stay's at night and get bussed back and forth for the day to thies. We'll i suppose i should clarify, during PST the people learning Peula Futa had their home stay's in a town called Pout about 15km away. So again we Peula Futa's are staying there. Unfortunately that means we have to be bussed back and forth every day to the training center in thies. So while i can understand pretty much all of what the one/two people in my family who speak peula futa say i spend the evenings with them only. kinda lame and really not too helpful in my opinion. What ive heard through the grape vine is that this is to keep us from all going to the bar, where i am at right now, to help us better integrate. While i appreciate that, at IST i'd say were well and truly on the way to being integrated, were not Peace Corps Trainees anymore but PCV's true and proper. whatever im learning important ag/fo information during the sessions here even if i have to be bussed away from my friends who dont speak peula futa every night.
So for the tech training that weve gotten while here is quite helpful, as weve been able to see some good species for live fencing and other useful species for ag/fo work. weve had two field trips into the surrounding countryside to see some techniques in action and the specific species that we should be using. Very helpful and good for kinda catching up on what the other ag/fo volunteers from my stage are doing in their respective sites. Weve also learned how to make mud stoves and some decent shade tree species that thrive here in senegal.
Today was all french and i feel like ive been benefiting from the lessons that ive been having as its a really good reminder of what ive been putting off for the entirety of my service so far. we learned the past and the imparfait as well as the basic greetings which i kinda already know but like i said its good practice for work. Thats about it for the time being i think im sure ill have some more entries to post around the end of waist when the all volunteer conference and our meeting with the Israeli Embassy Staff is. hope all is well everywhere! ill be in touch
So we got up early the the next day to beginning our trip to Thies as we wanted to get there on the 31st before we were supposed to be there. This kinda gave us the chance to chill in Thies a day or have something go wrong on the way. We made decent time getting to thies as we had possibly the best 7place ive ever seen in country. That and the road wasnt that bad on the way to Thies. We only had one problem on the way there as we got a flat as we were about 30/40km out of theis. I guess it was flat as a guy next to the road kinda pointed it out by yelling at the car as we drove by. It was kinda nice to have a break from the ride but we were that close to thies i was kinda ant-sy to get going again. They were really good at fixing it and we were on the road again in no time.
The rest of the trip is pretty easy as the driver again made good time getting to Thies and getting to the center from the station was a non issue as the driver let us off at a taxi stand right next to the main road into town. Getting back to the Training center was interesting as seeing all the Small enterprise and development volunteers, who had been there for a week, was very interesting. Some people have changed and some people are the same as i remembered them from PST.
So our IST didnt start till the monday and we didn't really officially get started till then. We basically hung out, took in the familiar sights of thies and had a good time till monday rolled round. When our IST started on the monday, we had a language exam where our respective local languages were tested to see how far we had come in the first three months. As opposed to the ones that i had taken during PST i actually felt good about this one. And evidently i passed as well. All that required was moving up one level from where you were during your PST training. In all honesty i was a little stressed out about it as i figured it would be a little more difficult, but you really dont even notice the language that you pick up. So it was good to get that result and be able to move on to Frecnh and brush up on that really.
So the format of the IST is basically the same as the format for PST we are supposed to stay in our home stay's at night and get bussed back and forth for the day to thies. We'll i suppose i should clarify, during PST the people learning Peula Futa had their home stay's in a town called Pout about 15km away. So again we Peula Futa's are staying there. Unfortunately that means we have to be bussed back and forth every day to the training center in thies. So while i can understand pretty much all of what the one/two people in my family who speak peula futa say i spend the evenings with them only. kinda lame and really not too helpful in my opinion. What ive heard through the grape vine is that this is to keep us from all going to the bar, where i am at right now, to help us better integrate. While i appreciate that, at IST i'd say were well and truly on the way to being integrated, were not Peace Corps Trainees anymore but PCV's true and proper. whatever im learning important ag/fo information during the sessions here even if i have to be bussed away from my friends who dont speak peula futa every night.
So for the tech training that weve gotten while here is quite helpful, as weve been able to see some good species for live fencing and other useful species for ag/fo work. weve had two field trips into the surrounding countryside to see some techniques in action and the specific species that we should be using. Very helpful and good for kinda catching up on what the other ag/fo volunteers from my stage are doing in their respective sites. Weve also learned how to make mud stoves and some decent shade tree species that thrive here in senegal.
Today was all french and i feel like ive been benefiting from the lessons that ive been having as its a really good reminder of what ive been putting off for the entirety of my service so far. we learned the past and the imparfait as well as the basic greetings which i kinda already know but like i said its good practice for work. Thats about it for the time being i think im sure ill have some more entries to post around the end of waist when the all volunteer conference and our meeting with the Israeli Embassy Staff is. hope all is well everywhere! ill be in touch
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)