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!
No comments:
Post a Comment