Josh's Adventures in Senegal

Here is my final reading list

2009-07-20T06:17:00.000-07:00

The average Peace Corps volunteer is a avid reader. on the low end of the spectrum you may have a few volunteers who, read 2 books. On the higher end, over 100. Me I made it to 42 books, in my service. Here is the list and ones I liked will have a *. Ones that i didn't like will have a x.

Order read
2007

"Orphans of the Sky" Heinlein *

"A coffin for Dimirius" x

"The Count of Monte Cristo" Dumass *

"Captain Courageous" x

"The Chosen" Potok *

"A Million little Pieces" Fraye *

"The Book of Guys" Keillor

"The Discomfort Zone" Franzen x

"The Fountainhead" Rand **

2008

"Puppet Masters" Heinlein *

"Into the Wild" Krakauer *

"The Metamorphosis" Kafka

"The Agony and the Ecstasy" Irvingstone *

"A Confederacy of Dunces" Tode *

"Life of Pi" Martel*

"Exodus" Uris *

"A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" Twain **

"A Farewell to Arms" Hemingway **

"The Three Musketeers" Dumass **

"The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" Chabon **

"Fahrenheit 451" Bradburry

"Blood Meridian" McCarthy*

"Catch 22" Heller *

"Grapes of Wrath" Steinbeck *

"East of Eden" Steinbeck

"Rant" Palahniuk x

"Naked" Sedaris **

"Kite Runner" Hosseini

"Barrel Fever" Sedaris

"Motherless Brooklyn" Lothem

"The Last of the Just" Schwatz-Bart *

"The Mysteries of Pittsburg" Chabon

2009

"The Final Solution" Chabon *

"Deep Survival" Gonzales

"Old Man and the Sea" Hemingway *

"The Devil in a White City" Larson **

"His Excellency" Ellis *

"The Alchemist" Coelho

"A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" Smith x

"Dress your Family in Quadaroy" Sedaris

"American Pastoral" Roth *

"The Things they carried" Obrien *

"Everyman" Roth

I am currently reading "Shogun' and I wont be done any time soon.

Good Versus Evil

2009-07-11T01:45:00.000-07:00

Here is my question too you. What makes a person good as opposed to evil, or not good? Is it a clear straightforward answer, a set of guidelines that we all need to follow in order to be considered good people? For instance, should we all be people who live peacefully and not fight? Should we love our entire family unconditionally? Should we love our spouse and none other? I guess what I am saying is this has been a question for me the last two years. What makes a good person?

In the eyes of my community people are very religious and follow the five pillars of faith. Along with doing this they pray daily (for the most part) and they also give charity everyday. Does this all make them good people, or does the fact that the men can have multiple wives and as many girlfriends as they want contradict that point? What is the difference between culture and deviance? I try to help people every day, I try to treat everyone with respect, but i don't pray, so I am a sinner. I am a good person, but bad at the same time.

I guess what I think is that it is cultural and all we have is our morals and our beliefs. I know a man in my community that has helped countless people in the xommunity. He gives money, time, and food to all who needs it. Recently he was deffected to another town to be a schools principle and several of the town citizens petitioned him leaving, saying it would be a hardship for the community. Is he a good person, even though he only does these things to raise his status in the community? He uses people with more money to get his status up. So on one hand he is a hero in the community but he tries to manipulate people to get more than he needs. Where does he fall? To the poor he is a good person and to the rich he is a pain who sleeps with 14 year old girls.

If i'm not being clear, I am going to lay it on the line. For you, who believe in Heaven, what makes you a good person to get into heaven? Is it your personal values or is there a higher rule of values and morals. Second, if you don't believe in Heaven, what qualifies a good person, is it a set of cultural standards, or is it a set of Universal standards we can on live by?

Don't worry about me, I know what I, but what are you?

Ohhh no

2009-07-08T02:02:00.000-07:00

I was returning home, after my sunset run when I noticed three of my Talibe friends wearing a special outfit. They were all wearing a white robe with a pointed hood. As Americans, we know what this looks like to us, but to the Senegalese it means something completely different. These three boys are going to be circumcised within the next week. I went over to speak to the boys and asked what they were up too. The smallest of the group made a hand gesture, that they were about to cut his penis off. After the hand gesture I covered my mouth and made a gasping sound. All the boys were laughing, including the children in the white robes. Well, in about a week, they wont be laughing anymore. By the way, the children in the robes were from 4 years of age to 10. I would imagine, if you are 10, this will probably stick with you the rest of your life and make you want to have your children cut at a much younger age.
Djiby over and out.

Education

2009-05-21T05:40:00.000-07:00

Today I was speaking with my good friend, Elhadj Samb. I asked him how far did he go in school. He told me how he took the baccalaureate test twice and failed both times, so he was unable to go to University. Even though he didn't go to University that hasn't stopped him from becoming proficient in English, French, and math. What is even more interesting is that Samb's best friend in the community is the Principal of one of the Elementary schools in my town. Every day the principal comes over and Samb explains to him how he needs to do the grading and what to look for in the papers. I just thought it was interesting, how a guy who didn't finish high school is helping run a school and the guy who runs the school and went to University is unable to do the work. What does it say about the system? On the other hand, maybe it says something about Samb as a human and maturing. I don't know, it just was interesting to me.

Education

2009-05-18T07:37:00.000-07:00

I will start this long overdue blog with a quick update. Early is still alive and well. His wounds have healed and he is now obsessed with me more than ever. He comes by the house everyday at 7 to see what I am doing and makes sure to stop by after lunch. It has been a little tiring now, but it does make me happy to see him. He also has been giving me several hugs everyday.

I am officially registered for classes at the University of Maryland and I have an orientation starting on the 26th of August, which puts a heavy restriction on my time line to leave Senegal, since the first date possible is the 12th of August. Overall I am very excited to have classes and look forward to the next challenge.

I wanted to spend this blog talking about education and some of the problems that is being faced. The other day, two students came up to me and asked I could give them some help with their math homework. I accepted and that night we sat down to solve a few problems. To start with, this kids didn't show up with pens, or paper, so I had to give them some supplies to borrow. The first question reads as follows. A man buys 7 meters of fabric at 5,000cfa and he sells one meter at 1200cfa. What will be his profit he sells all seven meters?

I start by just telling the kid to do the problem. He isn't sure how to do it and I can understand for a 13 year old, word problems in your 3rd language can be difficult. We go step by step and I ask him to do the division to find out how much one meter of fabric cost. They are unable to do the math so I help them out then ask them to subtract the cost of one meter and the amount sold for. This is the part I start to get really concerned. He is trying to do the math, but is having problems, with carrying the one. I explain how to do the subtraction and they still can't get it. So I just set up a simple subtraction problem and 7-2 and they gave me the wrong answer. I just begin to look at the kid and I have no idea how I am able to help these kids with their homework. I had to turn the kid away and say I am unable to help. I felt as if I would just be doing the homework and he would learn nothing.

Here there seems to be a cycle of kids not getting help with school so they fail. Once they fail, they feel as if they aren't any good and act out. An advantage we have in the United States is that we help our children learn, and if we don't sometimes there are other places for them to go to. That is not an option for these children. The other main problem is the kids in my area speak a different language than most of their teachers. So when they are learning they aren't able to pick up routine lessons at a young age and they fall back.

Hospital

2009-04-07T09:45:00.000-07:00

Hey, I hope everyone is doing well and the weather isn't getting anyone down. The heat has started here and we are now getting days in the 100s. I am not a fan of the extreme heat so I have decided to take a vacation to Belgium to stay cool.

Any who, I wanted to tell you guys about how the health system works here and how treat medical problems. I know my intro is a little vague but I will try to go in depth about the situation I found myself in.

About three days ago, Early walks up to me and is limping bad. I ask him what has happened and he pulls up his left pant leg to show me. That morning he had fallen into a fire and lost about a hamburger buns amount of skin. It was blistered all around and was in very bad shape. I asked him, if his mom was going to take him to the doctor? He naturally said no. I took the initiative and tried to get some supplies to fix his burn up, until he could get to the doctor. Unfortunately he had a fit and ran away. I decided it wasn't for me to chase him down and force him to go to the hospital. I found the house he was hiding in and told the three women standing there what happened. They all freaked out when they saw what had happened, but they decided to let him leave and take care of it on his own.

Three days later, today, Early walks up to me wants to talk. I ask to see his leg, by this time it is turning white, green, and yellow, around the burn. I decided action had to be taken because obviously his mom wasn't going to handle this. I tried at first to bribe him with soda so we could get to the doctor. He said yes he would take a soda then go to the doctor. I went inside to get dressed and when I came out he was gone. I acted fast and found the house he was hiding in, I told the first lady I saw that, he had to go to the doctor and I would pay. With money as no option she grabbed Early by the arm and dragged him a few feet before he decided to go in silence.

Hospitals in Senegal aren't as bad as one may think, they are just very inefficient. To get in I payed the guard 100 cfa. After that we waited in a two hour line to see the only doctor available. When we walked into the room, the doctor asked several questions.
Q: How old is the kid?
A: 5 years old. (This was clearly wrong so I had to explain to the doctor that he is 8 and isn't in any school.)
Q: When did this happen?
A: Just this morning. (Once again the doctor saw through the lie and said that the leg wouldn't look like this if it happened this morning.)
Q: Are you the mother?
A: NO

By look at these questions and answers we can tell two things. One it was important for this lady to save the Early's mother from the embarrassment of being a bad mother. She claimed she was the big sister and was taking care of him. None of which is true. Second, culturally people are willing to say anything about important things such as age, in order to just have an answer. There is a difference in the amount of medicine you give to a 5 year old and an 8 year old. The girl who came was willing to say anything so she would look like the sister.

After our two minuets in the office, we get a prescription and have to go to the secretary. She writes out a receipt and I pay for the medicine. After I pay I go to the pharmacy, get the medicine and head back to the secretary so she can mark down all the info. Next we walk into the nurses office so he can bandage Early's leg up. We walk in and he says, "You have to go into town and get these other medicines so I can treat him." I leave, get my bike, ride the two K. Get the medicine, come back and see the nurse again.

The nurse bandages Early up, and we go home. On the way back we stop and get a soda. Unfortunately, they didn't give me instructions on the medicine and so I had to look in my book to find the prescription doses. After all of this, Early's mom walks in and says, sorry, she hadn't been at the house, which was a lie. Because the day before she sent a 7 year old to find me to come to the house and clean the wound. Either way I didn't care, I told here when he needs to take the medicine and I was Happy.

Afterwards, Early thanked me and that is all I wanted. He even got a soda out of it, so in the end, we all were happy.

The value of saving

2009-03-25T12:07:00.000-07:00

Saving is a principal some of us learn as a youth, others wish we had learned it as a youth, because now we are broke. A few days ago I was with Early and Adama, two 7 year old in my neighborhood. I was heading on out to meet my counterpart when Early reached in his pocket and showed me his 25cfa he just received. As soon as he held the piece up he demanded that I take him to the Maison Communal to play video games. Each game cost only 25cfa, which would alot him 3 minuets of fun. I explained I had to work first, but after we could go and play a game. On the long walk to my counterpart's house, Early pulled my hand and told me to stop. "I want to buy a candy Djiby." I tried to explain to him that if he bought candy now, he wouldn't have any money to play video games with. He looked at me and started chanting the word for video game. We continued until we got to another corner with a different store. Once again, "Djiby, stop, I want a candy." We went over the reason he should save his money once again and we continued on. After the fourth time, we finally go to the house, I had my meet and greet and my counterpart walked me out of her house. The first thing she said too me was, "Where are their shoes?" On the walk back all Early could talk about was playing video games and the different ones he would play. On the way back he ran into a store and to my surprise he came out not with candy, but another 25 piece. Early was working his young entrepreneurial skills to make some money for the video games. We finally got to the video game room and Early chose to play a Tekken fighting game. The only button on the machine that worked was the kick. Early quickly lost out to the computer, which had the capability to duck under the kick. After the two minuets Early looked a little sad and moved on to use his second 25cfa. It was a shooting game, with two pistols. M. Zeff let the other boy play also even without paying. The boys took the guns out of the holsters and started shooting at the targets. None of the boys hit one target and the game ended within a minuet. The kids just looked at each other in pure disappointment, but then I yelled shoot, shoot. The demo had come on and every single target got shot and then the next demo came on and so on. I watched the kids shoot at the demo for a good 10 minuets. They had the time of their lives and just wanted to keep on playing. Even though they weren't actually playing they had a great time and afterward all they would do was talk about who won the match.

So to get to the point, teach the value of saving, because in the end they will realize that they can eat candy for a second or they can parle that money to do something they have never done before. None of these kids have ever played video games, because they always spend their money right away. Also maybe these kids will grow up and have children, when they do they might even save enough money to but their kids shoes, instead of spending it right away on useless stuff.

Politics

2009-03-18T05:46:00.000-07:00

Politics can be a very tricky thing to understand here in Senegal. I have lived here for almost two years now and I am having a very hard time grasping the the way people think about who they will vote for. For instance the guy who is running for re eliection in my town will get voted back into office because no one is going to run against him. It wasn't always this way, for the past year and a half my host mom has been leading the campaign for a man who was planning to run against the current mayor. The held several meetings and even had a few parties. As the elections are begging to get closer and closer they began to organize more and more. Durring one of these events I asked my brother why he wanted to change the mayor. He explained that the current mayor just throws money at people, but doesn't actually solve any of the problems. My response was, but in Dagana we have new roads, street lights, a new high school, new sugar factory, new stadium, new garage, and a historic district. We are in better shape than 95% of the country. He still disagred with me and said it wasn't the mayor who did all of this it was just chance that we got all of those things since we are a departmental capitol. (I have no opinion of the mayor and the work he has done, I just wanted to argue to see what his response would be.)

About a week ago the mayor came to town to campaign, he put up speakers and gave out free shirts to everyone n the crowd. People went crazy, except for a few people who prefer the other candidate. My brother attached red flags to our house to protest and didn't go to the rally. About two days ago, my brother runs into my room and throws me a tee shirt of the current mayor. He is running around blowing a whistle and is holding a sign giving the mayor and President (Who he hates by they way) support for the upcoming elections. To say the least I was confused and had to ask what was going on. Turns out that his candidate is running with the mayor now and has switched parties. If you can't beat them then join them. At the drop of the hat, everyone in this other party switched over and wanted to be part of the winning side. Morals and beliefs failed to the feeling of victory. Imagine if politics was like this in America. We would have a one party system with each President. Everyone would join the President's party.

Any who, I thought that it was funny to see how politics work here. People become political not because they believe in something, they do it to be part of something. If the guy my brother supported lost the elections, he would not be part of anything, by switching over he can say he helped campaign and is part of the socialist party. The candidate who witched over, gets power and recognition and his views really didn't matter any ways.

Happy B-Day Elana.

changes

2009-03-14T04:20:00.000-07:00

So, many changes have occurred the last few weeks of my life. Such as 5 min ago, the Mosque only 30 feet from my room decided to add electricity and loud speakers. I knew the day was coming when I would have the call to prayer coming through my window, but I was hoping it would hold out for at least another 6 months. Speaking of only haveing six months left, I decided to add internet to my room so I could communicate alot better with the people back home and look for work back in America. So far the communication has been great, I have gotten to speak to my parents, my sister Lea, and my friend Gina. If your name wasn't listed, come on people, it is free to call skype to skype. No excuses any more. As far as the job search is concerned, i put in two applications to get my pre med credentials. One at Towson University and the other at The University of Maryland. So in for weeks or so, we shall see what happens. Wish me luck. Other than that, I have been working here at my site and spending a lot of time with the host family. My big project now is restoring the historic fort. We are turning it into a museum or sorts and opening 5 artisinal boutiques in it. This is for when the tourist boat comes once a week with 50 people or so. Hopeful we have success and are able to find our way into guides like "Lonely Planet" and other books.

Any who talk to you all soon.

Internet

2009-03-10T07:45:00.000-07:00

Hey, I am back and in a new way. I just got the internet at my house so I will be updating my blog more and more. I have been a little lazy in the past with it, but will now try to make an effort to blog every few days. My new blogs wont be as epic as past ones, but more frequent. So I just wanted to say hello and I am now on skype. So talk to me for free if you want.

Back

2009-01-21T10:39:00.001-08:00

Book: “Deep Survival” by Laurence Gonzales
Album: “For Emma, Forever Ago” Bon Iver

I hope that every one had great holidays, and a happy New Year. I am back at site and getting some projects started. I have begun to work with a boutiquiere on improving his inventory and keeping better books. He currently has a wide selection of more expensive food that would cater to tourist, but he is also lacking in some of the essentials; ie toilet paper. My other big project is with an elementary school teacher who is starting to open a museum in the historic fort and several boutiques along the way. I haven’t quite gotten out to meet with him, but we plan to meet soon.

As many of you know, I recently took a trip back to the states for the holidays. I had a great time and was happy to see so many people, I hadn’t seen in over a year. I got to see my best friends and my nieces and nephews. Since I have been back in Senegal every one has said that I look fat and where is my gift. My answer is yes, I ate America, and it’s in America.

I was worried at first about going back to Senegal, but as I have slowly worked my way backing, my fears have gone away. People are happy to see me, and the things I like the most about Senegal remain the same. In short, it is good to be home and I miss you all, and I will be back.

Josh

Long Time

2008-11-15T02:58:00.000-08:00

Sorry that it has been so long since I last wrote. I have been really busy working, which is always good and have neglected to update my blog. As most of you know I spent a good two weeks down in the southern region working in a village and hanging out. I am happy to say that my main project has been meet with sucess so far. I helped install a new accounting system in the health post in a small village. Befor, there was money missing every week and it was becoming a real problem. Now There hasn't been any money or product taken in the last month. It was really good for me to have a succesful project that people got excited for. I can't take all of the credit however. Kirsten did all of the translating and teaching since I am not able to speak the Mandinka language. She also had a similar accounting system, but it was done more in her head then on paper, which causes conffusion on the behalf of the health hut workers. So I just tweeked it a little to show all of the individual steps.

In about three weeks I will be coming home and visiting for a few weeks. I am very excited and can't wait to se some familiar faces. I will be coming home mid december and I wont have a cell phone. SO if anyone wants to get in contact with me call my parents phone number or send me an wmail with your phone number. Any who, See you all real soon

Josh. PS I am currently reading "Last of the Just"

RAMADAN IS OVER

2008-10-08T04:50:00.000-07:00

So Ramadan is here only and work has slowed down a considerable amount. I was supposed to start an information class and then do a gestion class. It was 5 days at three hours a day for each subject. I figured it was a bad idea to teach such an ambitious class during Ramadan, but the head of the youth group insisted. E said people would be willing to come and do these classes. So on Saturday I go to the community center at 8:30 for a 9:00 start in my computer class. The had of the group approaches me and says the classes will start at 11 cause it is to early since people wake up at 5 to eat then pray. So he figured the start of the hottest part of the day would be best for people who aren’t drinking water or eating to have a 3 hour class. I figure what ever since only one person out of 25 showed up. I return to the computer lab at 10:30 and check out the computers. Guess what, none of them had Word or Excel. The one thing I asked the guy to do for me, find computers with the software needed. He acted shocked when he found out. O we decided to do a gestion class on Sunday starting at 10 in the morning. SO I prepare a class over the next two hours show it to him and he says he doesn’t want a class that teaches people how to come up with an idea for an enterprise. He wants a class to do marketing, accounting, feasibility, and a few other subjects. One none of these people have businesses so those classes’ wont help, and secondly marketing alone takes a long time to teach, it isn’t a 3 hour course. But that is what he wanted so I took the next 4 hours preparing for the next class. The next day I get to the school half an hour early, prepare my classroom. The head of the group arrives and we wait till about 11:30 before he starts complaining and saying how we will just do the class in October. Then he told me how a French group came in and gave him all this money to do other formations and he wanted to know why my organization didn’t give money. At that point I snapped, I just told him that I am hear to teach not give money and that I am fasting along with the rest of them and the fact that everything was so poorly organized makes me mad. It didn’t make the difference, but now I get to hang out and do nothing until Korite.
So I have a quick question, please feel free to respond on my blog. I am curious to se what other people think. For Ramadan people fast and don’t drink water, to learn about suffering among other things. Is it still valid if you sleep and don’t work all day? In general people eat at 5 and pray then will go to sleep until 4 or 5pm and wait until 7:15 to eat bread. I feel like if you sleep the entire day and don’t work you are loosing perspective on what Ramadan is. I am not saying that it is everyone, but it is a majority. I do see men mixing cement in the morning until 11. I see women walking 2 k to the market in the heat of the day. Another thing is that you should be generous and giving during Ramadan, but my family doesn’t give food to the Talibé during Ramadan. I have unfortunately seen 5 year olds who haven’t eaten in over 24 hours because no one is willing to feed them. Ramadan has been interesting from the perspective that people complain about having to fast and how tired they are, but they don’t do anything all day. I am fasting and every day I am going to peoples houses and I work out. Any who, until next time.
Josh

Ramadan

2008-09-04T03:45:00.000-07:00

Book “Grapes of Wrath”
Song “Consoler of the Lonely” The Racontuers It reminds me of Ramadan

So as you may of guessed, Ramadan will be starting on Sep 2. I plan to fast with my family and try to make it for most of the month. It will be hard to do it everyday since I will have to travel on a few of the weekends. But in general I should be able to adapt to the schedule.
Recently I took a little vacation with my host family to St. Louis. We celebrated the 15th of August (Assumption). We stayed at my host uncle’s house and spent the days at the beach or in town running errands. To celebrate people will stay up until the 5 am call to prayer. The marabou comes and will chant all night until in is time to pray. Then everyone goes home. The ceremony takes about 5 hours and consists or a meal of millet and beef. A cool thing that happened was that the same night we had a lunar eclipse. All the kids around the neighborhood freak out because they think it is the end of the world. The mosque will chant Allah over and over again until the eclipse is over, this is a tradition that has gone on for a long time and I was lucky to be able to see it happen. The last day I was there I received a call asking me to head to Thies to help with an auction. The auction is for gender development in Senegal. So I spent the next week in Thies working on that and watching some of the Olympics. After that we went to the beach for the day and night to relax a little. The following day we headed to Dakar where I had two meetings at the office. I had a pretty good trip and accomplished a lot along the way so I don’t feel as bad about being out of site for so long.

I wanted to also bring up the subject of development. I know many of you donate money to organizations, but to make a real difference volunteer. When you donate your money, you have no clue where your money is going. In some cases your money may not reach it’s intended targets. Or the money may just be wasted. At my site we have a new school for women. There are over 30 new computers that haven’t been taken out of boxes and rooms that aren’t ever going to be used. That is an example of receiving money and not receiving help from their organization. Take some time on your weekends and help out. People can really use it.

Work work work

2008-08-02T09:55:00.000-07:00

Book: “Catch 22”
Song: “Love” John Lennon I am also on a Muddy Waters kick. Smokestack lightning’ has inspired me…. Artistically that is

10 Ways my life has changed since summer time in Senegal

1: It rains every week or two weeks, where I am.
2: I have seen grass now for the first time in 10 months. It is beautiful
3: More siblings have moved back home from University
4: No school so kids have time to bang on my shutters 24/7
5: Neighborhood kids have increased their skills in Football American
6: Moths, Beetles, Roaches, and Grasshoppers
7: Melons are back in season. Woooohooooooooooooooooooooooo
8: Ramadan is around the corner so I get to stair at a wall for long periods of time while everyone sleeps the day away.
9: The River has turned brown
10: I now consider myself a professional fisherman. I have a homemade poll. It is made with recycled materials. (Wine corks, rocks, stick, fishing line, hook, and rusty metal wire.

Any who, I have had quite a few changes in my life as of late. To start off I will be taking a vacation to America December 11th to January 7. I will be in Washington DC area from the 11th to the 19th. Then I will be in Ann Arbor from the 19th to the 5th. So when I am DC, I expect to see all my friends in the east. You know who you are! I am very excited to take a vacation and see my new nephew and spend some time with the fam. It will be good for the soul and sanity. As far as work goes, it has been a real rollercoaster. To start, I went to the health center and they told me that they didn’t currently need help. So I went to a second smaller health post, only to discover that it is a faith healer. That was slightly awkward. But I made a quick recovery and went to another health post and spoke to the head nurse and offered my services. She said I should come back on Monday and then I could start to volunteer. I came back Monday and she said ”Yeah, about helping here, yeah, can you come back next week?” That was the first disappointment. Then I met up with my Artisan that I found an order in Dakar for. He comes up to me and asks me for more time and if I could give him money to buy supplies. That was a little disappointing since he made so much money during the tourist season. I went to his house 5 days later to check to see if he was able to get the materials, and I noticed on his roof three new satellites. Really, there goes the money to buy new supplies. Not only that, he had to close his shop down, because he couldn’t pay the rent. Teaching how to budget is part of my work, but in my defense, when I asked him where he got the shop, he said, “Oh it’s been in the family for years.” Then I asked “Well why have you been selling your art out of your house?” He just looked at me. It makes sense now because he didn’t have it in the family he rented it and was paying rent. People lie about weird stuff. But what can you do. That was a blow to my work load. The last thing that kind of was a disappointment, was my classes with the Handicapped association. As of now the president of the group is very unmotivated and it has started to cause problems in the planning of the classes. He wants to still have the classes, but he doesn’t want to help me translate from French to Wolof. So, I can do the class in French and bad Wolof, but No one would get anything out of it, except for a cool Peace Corps diploma at the end. All of this happened to me in the last two weeks. All of my projects for the last 7 months have fallen through within a two week period. Don’t feel to bad for me, because, as quickly as my luck went downhill it turned around in my favor. This past week I showed up to the health post again. The nurse was very shocked to see me show back up. She grabbed me a chair, put it next to her desk, and now I am spending 8 hours a week at the health post. As of now, I really don’t do to much. I mostly fill out some of the paperwork. I am going to start doing temperature and baby weighing soon. I also will start to do blood pressure, in a few days. Also I just started walking into random Talibe houses and talking to the Marabous. I now am associated with two houses and spend time talking to the kids and drinking tea. I really want to get to know these kids, cause as it is, no one gives them attention, and they really have nothing. I also went to the SDEP’s, which is the center for youth organizations in the region of St. Louis. There is a new director who is very laid back. I just walked in, greeted him and he gave me a list of every youth group in Dagana. The old director, refused to give me the list. He wanted me to come back and talk to him a bunch to make sure that I was serious. So I got the list and took down the name of three different groups. The first group I meet with is the Reseau D’Action Pour L’Enviorment et La Sante. They go by their acronym, which is Rapes. I thought it was funny that a youth group is called that, but no one else understood what I was explaining to them. So I meet with the president, and the first thing he says, is “I have been waiting for you.” Apparently he has worked with every volunteer that has come through Dagana. The three volunteers before me have all done formations with him. He wants me to teach English to a group with the tourism ministry. I am excited to do it, because, I can speak English. No problem! In exchange, he is going to help me find funding for my program, lend me 5 people or so for a formation. My grand idea is to have a youth group go to Talibe houses and teach basic health, like hand washing and nutrition. The talibe don’t necessarily have the ability to control what they eat and washing their hands, but there are no programs as of yet in Dagana or in the peace corps that works with the Talibe. Also giving the youth in the community an opportunity to teach classes to the Talibe is a valuable experience. The Talibe could also use some more attention and have a day for dedicated to them. So as you can see my luck was down for a little, but it is starting to turn around and things are looking a lot better. I will keep you guys updated on how my projects go. Talk to ya soon
Josh

Look at a map

2008-07-13T03:22:00.000-07:00

Book; “Blood Meridian”
Music; “Rehab” Amy Winehouse
Get a map of Senegal up on your screen.
Hey, I have had a big adventure the last few days so let me tell you all about it. I started on my adventure on the 28th of June. I had a nice back seat middle car ride to Daniel site in Tivauane. I stopped for a few hours and we watched the documentary “The Devil and Daniel Johnston” (Cory and Aaron I think you will like this documentary. After that we headed on to a city a little south of Thies where we have a regional house. The plan was to go on down to Kolda and hang out with our friend who lives in a small village south of the Gambia. The problem is that once we called him the day before we were about to head to his site, we discovered that he was in Dakar with a bacterial infection, and possibly gout. I thought it was a dirty sailor disease gout, but apparently it’s a disease still around. Since we ran into this little problem, we decided we would just head onto Tamba and spend a few days down in the south before we headed to Kedagou. So it takes us 8 hours to go 200 k because the road is so bad. We still make it and are happy to just go to bed and call it a night. We wake up in the morning and decide to take it easy and watch movies then head down to Kedagou with a few other people the next day. We wake up ready to go but Daniel wasn’t moving. He caught some sort of bug and we ended up being grounded in Tamba for another two days. Everyone else went on ahead, but I figured I would stick around Tamba so Daniel wouldn’t get to lonely. Two days pass and we take the “4 hour” car ride down south. I use quote because 30 k out of Tamba our car hits a cow dead center then runs off into the tree. At this point everyone in the car is laughing and making fun of the driver. It seemed like he was aiming for the cow. We had to get out of the car and push it out of the ditch, then push start the car to get it going again. We finally get the car going again and the driver stops at the next village and sends for a new car for us. He says it is to dangerous to continue on in our car. So we are in a tiny village sitting next the town well for two hours till the replacement car comes. It is already 2 at this point and we hadn’t eaten. We load up the new car and get ready to go when the mechanic that came in the new car says, “Nothing is wrong with this car. Why didn’t you keep going?” So we unload the new car and reload the old car and continue on the way. The funny thing is that we stopped a k befor a small town with places to eat. Our driver was a dick. We were stuck in a village waiting for two hours when we could of went on or just gone another K to a decent town and eaten lunch. We continue on the road and go through the national park in the south. It was really neat, you have to go through this park to get to Kedagou. We saw wild boars, fawns, and a bunch of different monkeys. We finally get to the regional house in Kedagou and take it easy for the night. He next day we went on a 30 K bike ride to go to the waterfalls. It was awesome, the ride was off road over rocks, through water. At one point I had to carry my bike over my head, as I was armpit deep in water. We also go to bike through forest; jungle and we saw a bunch of chimps barking at us. We finally get to the river and go on an hour hike through the water to get to the waterfalls. On the hike we had to climb rocks go down a few vine ropes. We also go to swim in small pools in the river. After the long hike we get to this big waterfall. It is surrounded by rock walls. So you are in a cave almost with tree canopies covering the sky with vines hanging down. We climbed the rock wall and were jumping in 20 feet high down to the water below. It was neat, then the same day I rode my bike back 30 K and hung out the rest of the day. The next day was the 4th of July party. There was a piñata, fireworks, and music. A good time was had by all. We even had a water balloon fight which worked out nicely. We hung out for a few more days after then we went on back to Tamba to start the trek back home. When I got to Tamba I was starting to feel a little tired and figured it was normal with all of the festivities. But then I started to have some GI issues about every 30 min for 24 hours. I got pretty dehydrated, but I made sure I drank a lot of water and rested. So I was stuck in Tamba another few days until I was well enough to get out on the road again. When I was well enough to get back on the road, I ended up taking the back way home rather then going back through Thies. I took a six hour car ride back seat middle to Orassogi, then waited in that garage for 5 hours to get another car to Richard Toll. We finally left and the driver was terrible. HE drove so slow that it took him 6 hours to go a 4 hour distance. We had to stop so he could pray, then he changed a headlight in the car. Well, after 30 min, I decided to take over and do it. But After I didn’t it he took the light out and redid it himself. We continued on and it was dark, the driver was pulling off the road whenever a car passed us so I decided to get out of the in Ndioum and continue on the next day. The next day I got a car that took me two hours to get home, but it was safe, so I can’t complain. So yeah, I had an exciting few days. I hope Dagana can compete with all of my adventure. I know it will. Untill next time.

Been a while

2008-06-26T04:42:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been so long since I last wrote. Katie has left and is now getting ready to make her move to Boston. Since she left I have been a little lonley but I feel like I am starting to get some work done. Yesterday I had a meeting where I got to present my project plan for my work with the handicapped association. It was a little nerveracking since I was sitting at the big table and there were people in from Dakar and all of the presidents of the Handdicaped association. Since my language containes a half French and half Wolof tounge I kind of bombed the presentation. All of the French people couldn't understand my Wolof and the people in the Handdicaped association didn't understand the technical terms I used that were in French. In alot of cases people with disabilities arnt able to get a good education, because if a parent has to make a choice to send one kid to school, it will be the healthy male child. Many of the disabled don't speak French. Also the fact, that I was so nervouse I started to stutter over my name didn't help. I was really emabressed, but after the 6 hour meeting all in Wolof, people came up to me and asked about my program. So no matter how bad I felt about my presentation, people still really respected my attempt to speak their language and are interested in working with me. Now it all comes down to actually getting my classes underway. Also they just opened up Liberia as a peace corps site. So alot of people are thinking of extending 9 months there after their service is through in Senegal. Talk to you soon. By the way I just read, "Kavalier and Clay", "Farenhite 451", and "Stranger in a Strange Land"

Sugar Sugar

2008-05-21T04:27:00.000-07:00

So to start off with a true story, I was sitting down watching the TV when my brother sits down next to me. He is holding a package in his hands, so I ask what do you have? He opens the small package and pulls out underwear. He hands me a small pair of whity tighties. I say nice and try to hand them back. He refused them back and now I am the owner of blue puma undies. I am the luckiest man alive!!!!!

So yesterday we went to Richard Toll for a tour of the sugar factory with Bryn and Casey (PCVs in Toll)! It was very neat... it was hot and there was sugar covering everything, so we got pretty dirty, but it was neat getting a personal tour and seeing all of the huge machinery! It was interesting b/c there were not really any safety regulations- no hard hats... My favorite part was the packaging part at the end... it definitely looked like something that would be on the show 'How Things Are Made'... they make different sized packages and sugar cubes- it was neat!

Jazz Fest

2008-05-14T02:58:00.000-07:00

Books: Josh – “The Three Musketeers” Dumas, “Things Fall Apart”
Katie- “Things Fall Apart”, The Ecstasy and the Agony”, “Into The Wild”

Music: “Let it Be” The Beatles

Joke: Did you know diarrhea is hereditary?
No I didn’t!
Yeah it runs in the jeans!
Any who life has been treating Katie and I well. We have had a few busy weeks and I will let Katie tell you all about them. Just to summarize, we did an English class at the high school, went to Jazz fest, and my classes have been put off for a week or two because of time restrictions. I did however find a website that donates art supplies to children in Africa. Talk to you soon. Josh
So, yes, Josh and I were invited to an English class so they could ask us questions. Many of them really want to come to America and become rappers…. The first question was ‘do rappers really live like they do in their videos?’ They also asked about JFK, terrorism, and the weak American economy… Will America still be the most powerful country in 20 years, or do you think China will become more powerful? Also, why are there more black people in professional sports in the US? Some of the questions were kind of difficult to answer, but we did the best we could… Josh did a good job of trying to relate things back to Senegal and overall it went well and we had fun! At the end they asked me if I could cook rice and fish, if I ate with my hands, and they asked me to do the bulacaste dance, which I did… haha!
Last Tuesday we left for St. Louis because there was a Jazz Festival there! The festival started on Thursday night, but some Peace Corps Volunteers were there early celebrating a birthday and such…. We stayed in this flat for free the first 2 nights- a Peace Corps Volunteer who stays for a 3rd year gets the flat and it is a very nice flat with a view of the water and 3 balconies… someone is moving in next month or something…
On Wed. Josh and I went to a bird park nearby and it was great! We were the only people visiting the park, so we had a private boat and tour guide (in French, so I understood only a quarter of it)… we saw pelicans, herons, cormorants, flamingoes, and some others! There was this island that was completely covered with birds and it was so neat… I liked these seagull-like birds (called Red Beaked Royals, I think?) that were coming up and “yelling” at us to stay away.. they were being protective of their babies.. Josh’s favorite birds were these dark blue herons that had a feather coming out of their head…I like cormorants a lot!
The next day we left the flat and stayed at a house with a bunch of Volunteers… it was located on the Longue de Barbarie- so on one side is the ocean (which was right outside our house) and on the other side is the river… it’s so pretty! The ocean was really rough, partly because there is a sand bar so there’s no way to get past the breaking waves like I’m used to doing in the Atlantic- breaking waves just constantly surround you… so the ocean beat us up, but it was a lot of fun! In general St. Louis was cold especially after being in 120 degree heat! The days were comfortable, but I was freezing outside at night!
So Jazz Fest occurs on The Island… there were a bunch of Artisan tents and live music in a lot of the bars! I think everyone was a little disappointed in the amount of Jazz they heard, but the stuff we did hear was pretty good! Overall, it was a very relaxing trip and I loved being right on the ocean and not sweating for almost a week! We ate very good food too… we ate burgers at ‘Nice Burger’, Wild Boar with salad, meat sandwiches they sell on the street, and even ice cream! I think I’ve eaten more meat here than the total amount of meat I’ve eaten in my life… although when we’re in Dagana we just eat fish, so maybe not…
We got back to Dagana yesterday and it’s hot, but nice to be back!
I love and miss you all! Xoxo
Happy Mother’s Day to our moms, sisters, grandmas…

it's really hot!

2008-04-27T04:41:00.000-07:00

Book: Josh “A Farewell to Arms” Ernest Hemingway, “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” Mark Twain
Katie “The Agony and the Ecstasy”

Quote: Josh “The coward dies a thousand deaths, the hero just one” Ernest Hemingway
Katie “If you want to be a citizen of the world, you must speak English.” “America is the most powerful country in the world, so English is the most powerful language.” Dagana’s high school English Club

5 new things that have happened to me this week that has never happened before
5: My host mom left 3 weeks ago and hasn’t come back.

4: The baby in my house drank the juice out of a tuna can.

3: I’ve watched 3 movies within this week.

2: Went to speak with and English teacher about helping his class, but he didn’t greet me or talk to me. After about five minuets talking to Katie he asked what she did in Dagana and she told him that she was just visiting and I was the volunteer. There was a short silence.

1: Woke up at 2am with a stray cat inside my mosquito net. Luckily for us we didn’t freak out and get rabies.

So any who, Katie’s visit has been going good. We have spent most of our time in Dagana, but we have made a trip or two to Richard Toll, and Ndioum (my regional house in the desert). We also have spent a little time in St. Louis and Dakar. In two weeks we will also be going back to St. Louis for the Jazz festival and the Conference that I have put together. Before Katie leaves we are also planning a little trip down south near the Gambian border, which will be a very different setting then what we are used to. That is a travel update.
It has started to get really hot in Senegal. I don’t have a way to get the exact temperature, but I know that St. Louis is 90 degrees and Podor is 111 degrees, so that puts Dagana at about 105 degrees. Boy I can’t wait for the hot season to really get started. At least the humidity hasn’t started yet. The nights are also cold so we are able to sleep on the roof and enjoy that. The big problem is that all the houses are concrete and hold the heat in. So at 10 at night it is still close to a ninety in the rooms and you have to be outside just so you don’t die of heat stroke.
Even though it sounds like a lot of fire and brimstone, the season has brought many good things along with it. For instance for 250 CFA I can get 4 mangos. Also for 100 CFA I can get these potato things(4 of them), called Potat in French and Potase in Wolof. They are a mix of regular potato, with sweet potato. They are the greatest vegetable in the world. Tomatoes, 15 for 100CFA. I decided that I can take the heat, as long as the good produce keeps on coming. In other news we rescued a small kitten that was starving and in bad shape. Unfortunately Katie has gotten really attached and the cat has really gotten attached to her as well. It will be a hard separation, and I’m not quite sure what I will do with the cat. Her name is Salte (Dirty in Wolof). Other than that life is good and Katie has adapted well and has become part of the family. Her name is Awa Fall, which is funny because my mom’s name is Awa, and I have a sister who lives in the house, named Awa. I guess the third time is a charm. Any who Till next time. Look at my pics.

Katie came to Senegal

2008-04-10T02:38:00.000-07:00

Book: Exodus
Album: The Cool Lupe Fiasco

So after my adventurous car ride I reached the Peace Corps house and relaxed for a few days. I took care of some business at the office and then headed over to Ngor Village to Chez Dou Dou (Doo Doo). Dou Dou is a good guy so I didn’t bust his chops too much. Can any one name that movie. Any who I got to the house and walked around the village for a while and ate some dinner at a sandwich stand. By the way mom and dad, the sandwich lady decided we are now boyfriend and girlfriend. I don’t remember her name, but she is very nice and makes a good beef pasta sandwich. Anyone who comes and visits will eat a sandwich there. On another note I went to bed at 8:30 so I could get to the airport by 5:30 to pick Katie up. Dou Dou was real cool and gave me a ride to pick up Katie. For any one who doesn’t know much about Senegal, As soon as she stepped outside a brawl started over her bags because people saw dollar signs. It was really nice to see Katie, after six months you really start to forget the little things about a person and it was really refreshing to be reminded of those things.
We had a good time in Dakar. We walked around the Village ate at some nice restaurants, swam at the dirty beach, went downtown and ate. By the way there is a beer called the Maximator, which is an 11.6 percent alcohol. Living the dream.
After a brief stint in Dakar we went over to St. Louie for two days. Our car broke down twice on the way. I think that Katie might be bad luck when it comes to travel. We stayed on the Lang de Barbrie where our hotel was on the beach looking out to the Ocean. We spent some time on the island and main land as well. It was a big food day for Katie also because she tried Yassa and fish, Thiou, and Wild Boar. From Sst. Louie we went to Richard Toll and hung out with Bryn for the night. Nothing like watching European Football and rice to make a night.
We now have just gotten back to Dagana and have been hanging out with the family. A few of the people are a little upset that she isn’t fluent in Wolof but she will eventually get it. I give her two weeks to get it down. Since being in Dagana we have been having some fun. We went to a parade for the Senegalese Independence day. April 4th, 48 years of freedom. We some how wondered up onto the stage with the mayor of the surrounding towns and a few of the president’s advisors. Either way we had a good seat and Bryn even came into watch the parade. After the parade we relaxed for a fe hours until it was time for the dinner party. And what a party it was, juices, donuts, just for an appetizer. Ohh and for the main course, I have never see seen a look like the one on Katie’s face when they brought it out. For every six people, a leg of goat with some ribs. Yes just a large platter in the middle of the table. As soon as they set it down everyone’s hands went straight to it and started ripping it apart. Katie had said earlier she wanted to eat with her hands. She got her wish and we tore a goat apart. It was yummy but Katie didn’t eat to much. It was hard for her to cut the meat using only her right hand. There is a technique to it actually. Have your neighbor hold the base of the leg while you pinch and pull at the meat. Any who we had a nice meal waiting for her when we got back to the house.

It has been nice to have Katie around and I am looking forward to the next few weeks and to see what adventures we have in front of us. This wed we will be on the radio. (Actually the radio thing didnt work out.)
Until next time.

Nice car ride

2008-03-28T02:37:00.000-07:00

It was time for me to come to Dakar to get a shot and to pick up Katie at the airport. I had heard that there is a bus that will takke me from site to Dakar in one shot. I figure oh how easy, and it only cost ,3,500 where normally it is 6,500. To good to be true. And it was, it took me 12 hours to get to teh transit house. Normally it should of only taken me 5 to 6 hours. The bus was moving so slow and every single city we got to, the driver or one of his helpers had to smk=oke a cigarete. On top of that the car broke down twice. Once we got to teh outside of Dakar where all of the traffic is, the driver made every one get out of the bus and find another way into the city. I ended up getting into a large van that was going to Liberty six (A neighborhood). I had the help of a man i met on the bus. So we are cruising into Dakar and he ays, ok we are here at liberty six. I get out with him, he walks me to the bus stop and says, it is just up the street. So i get into a taxi and ask to goto a certain road. No problems, went rather smoothly, until I got out of the car and walked a little and realized I was in the wrong neighborhood all together. Luckily I found a guy on the street who led me to another bus and I was able to make it to teh house and watch Gladiator and Temple of Doom. Now that I have time to relax and take a hot shower, I feel alright and have learned a valuable lesson about traveling. The best deals arnt always as they seem. I also want to give a shout out to my freind Nilan, whose village I got to stay in. It was my first time without ellectricity and running water. It was alot of fun and I got to eat wild boar woth the one Christian family in the village. By the way, wild boar is the best meat ever. It taste like steak, but is not as chewy, and is mostly meat. I took a tooth and now have a sweet necklace. Any who, i will catch up with you guys later when i have more time to write. I also was on a radio show. We did it live, and now I am some what of a celebraty.

Trees

2008-03-15T02:59:00.000-07:00

Book: “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel
Song: “Gloria” Jimmi Hendrix
Quote: “All living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in strange, sometimes inexplicable ways. This madness can be saving; it is part and parcel of the ability to adapt. Without it no species would survive.” Yann Martel

Cool things the president can do
1: Calls national holidays when he has a meeting in Dakar.
2: Buy a village a machine for separating rice from its shell, but doesn’t realize the village has no electricity.
3: Defy the evil European union.
4: Close the gap between the dollar and CFA. When I came the CFA was 500 to one Dollar. Now it is 430CFA to a dollar.
5: Hold an Islamic conference with thousands of people coming into Dakar.

Not to much has been going on as of late. I started to watch the first season of hero at my regional house. I have become obsessed and now think of my self with super powers. For instance what would I do if I could stop time? Any who. St. Patties day is coming up and I am having a little party in Richard Toll. I bought Bryn’s house a BBQ and I also got some shorts made for the occasion. I’m sure you will eventually see pictures when I get around to putting them up. My English club has learned hello and good-bye so we are progressing along. I can now play redemption song on the guitar, which is a nice advancement. My tree nursery has been coming in nicely. I have about five trees growing right now. They are healthy and green. I have two or three sacs that haven’t started to grow yet. So that is a little disappointing. If I had to make a suggestion to every one, grow a tree or a plant. You feel like you have accomplished something and also you are sustaining life, which is cool. I feel almost like a father when I go to water my trees. It is something that you have created and become attached to. Don’t worry I haven’t gone crazy yet. A lot of the other volunteers feel the same way about their plants. I have gone a little crazy

March Is Hear

2008-03-06T02:30:00.000-08:00

Book: “Confederacy for Dunces” By John Kennedy Toole (I was laughing so much that my host family was just starring at me. I am only 58 pages in)
Song: Want You by Bob Dylan
Quote: “The free exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world.” East of Eden John Steinbeck

5 Things that will happen to you if you have a beard in Senegal
1: People ask me if I am a Moore (Mauritanian) or a Naar (Arab)
2: I get asked if I am a member of a terrorist organization.
3: Every Senegalese Women tells me to shave it off.
4: At the end of the day I find food in my beard or pieces of string. Not knowing how long it has remained in my beard.
5: I have been told at least three times that if I were in America, George Bush’s father would shoot me dead. (My favorite)

Any who, life is going well. I am really starting to get some work done and reading some good books. I first want to congratulate my sister on being pregnant with her first child. If you even mention that someone is pregnant in Senegal they will freak out because it is considered bad luck to talk about pregnancy. Also don’t mention a kid is cute or that will turn them ugly. Just a quick suggestion for all of you who come to Senegal in the near future. My family loved the chicken calendar, they laughed for a long time. The books you sent me are great. I am really enjoying the “Confederacy of Dunces.”

The artist I am working with seems to be really motivated and making some good progress. He has opened up his new boutique and repainted, made a sign for the outside, and put up new shelves. He is probably my first work partner that really wants to listen to what I have to say so it is rewarding to see the progress we are making. Hopefully we will be up on the Internet in a few short months and selling to Europe and America. The kids I am tutoring are making some progress but it is hard to help them since they get sick a lot and have other duties in the house. It is really hard to get some people moving in general also just because I went to go pay my electric bill at 9 in the morning and I could barley go outside because it was so hot. C’est pas bon.
So now that I am back at site my English club has restarted. I had a little trouble getting restarted because the kids only come outside at sunset. So I don’t have as much time with my kids like I did before. Also the first time I saw them, they ran from me and hid because they didn’t recognize me with my beard. They hid behind a wall of cinderblocks and it took one of them a few seconds to come out and shake my hand. Although I must say I was walking around when I first got back and Papa one of the smaller children yelled “How are you?” I turned around responded, then he said “Thank You.” After that he went into “What time is it? Time to get Ill.” Then we went into the song I taught them, Starts high and ends low “Djiby’s English Club.” I was so proud of Papa I almost felt like he was my own son and I have been teaching him everything he will need to know when he learns English if he gets to go to school.

Any who I really have no good stories as of lately. Stuff has become so normal to me and routine I feel like the stories I had earlier are just now routine and it is harder for me to pick something out of the ordinary. I do shower four to five times a day because of the heat. Ohh I know, I started my tree nursery. Nothing has grown yet but I’m hopping. The dirt is a little to clay like. I rode out a few K down the riverbank and dug under some grass to get dirt. But I just think it won’t sustain the life I want to create. My next test is two parts manure, one part sand. I think I will pay kids to collect the manure for me. I already get strange stairs from people for collecting garbage to use pots for my garden. Actually I got a really nice pot brought it home and my second mom yelled at me. Dafa Salty, It’s dirty! Apparently I brought home a Childs toilet and the dry dirt in the bottom of it was poop. Opps. Any who Until next time.

Where have I been

2008-02-26T08:57:00.000-08:00

Book: “East of Eden” Steinbeck, and “Taoist Tales”
Song: “You aint a killer” Big Pun
Quote: “Bien Sur”

10 things I love in Senegal
1: Speaking English to people who are trying to learn. (They know how I feel now)
2: Kids scared of my beard
3: The expectation that I am fluent after 6 days of Wolof Training
4: Cheeb u Jen
5: Petting goats
6: Inventing stuff (Fishing Poll, Mosquito Net Holder)
7: Even with horrible French people ask me if I am French
8: I can walk into any building and demand the boss and then see them
9: The national anthem
10: If you are at some ones house during lunch, they offer you food. I have a circuit worked out to eat three lunches a day.

Wow, it has been a while since we last spoke. No I haven’t completely lost my mind yet and yes I think I am starting to figure out some stuff I can accomplish. To start off with, training was a little slow for me, but it was good to reconnect to a few other people and see what they have been up to for the last few months. I discovered I am just as useless as most of the other volunteers in my stage. Many others are in a similar stagnant stag of their service, just trying to figure out what is going on and discovering the language and community. I learned a little more Wolof, which I was proud of, but I am not fluent so I was reminded of that when I got back. I do now have the skills to improve on my own which is really important for me. We also had a softball tournament, which was a lot of fun. My team lost every game by a lot, but we did have the cutest uniforms and best dance moves. My team was almost all girls so we had the important things in order such as dancing and uniforms. It was a nice break to eat hotdogs and have an occasional beer. You can check out some of the pictures online also if you were curious as to my uniform. After the tournament I spent a night in Louga to check out my friends site and see what type of work she has going on. It is good to be back and I have a lot on my plate which is great since I wont feel so bored or useless anymore. I am still working with the artisan and we are right now trying to get him to export via the internet. So I am taking pictures of his product and starting a website for all of the artist in Senegal that the Peace Corps volunteers work with. A funny story actually, I go to his house the other day where he sells his art from and he tells me we are going to go to his boutique. “Oh you have a boutique?” I start asking my self why have you not been selling out of your boutique this whole time, maybe it is a new place. Yeah, he has a store on the river front where the tourist get off of the boat. This whole time, for years in fact, and he has been selling his product out of his house. My mind has officially been blown. So we are now working on fixing up his boutique a little bit. Besides that I am starting a garden, with tomatoes and a few other vegetables. I am using all recycled materials for the garden except for making the gate to keep the goats out. I am using old tomato cans and buckets. Also using some onion bags to protect from lizards and the sun. I am also starting a tree nursery to see if I can get the kids to start one. I am one of three people planning the all SED conference, which is for all volunteers in the business sector. That will be a little difficult since I am not even sure if we have permission yet to have a conference. Djiby’s English club is at a standstill also because the kids are scared of my beard. It is ok, they will overcome their fears and we will have a strong English club once again. For all of you people with snow, it was 92 degrees in St. Louie, which is the coldest city in Senegal. So I have no clue how hot it is here because it gets way hotter where I am.
That is all I have to report as of now. I will talk to you soon and have a spring. Check out my photos.

Holiday fun

2008-01-19T08:36:00.000-08:00

Book: The Ecstasy and the Agony By Irving Stone. (Great book if you want to go to Italy or have been.)
Song: The Other Side By Josh Ritter
Quote: “My best interest can only be my best work.” Irving Stone “The Ecstasy and the Agony”

So it was a bi day in Senegal yesterday. It was the last of the big holidays until Ramadan in August. It was Tamkharite, the New Year. So naturally I have no clue what is going on. I just know that we eat a lot of millet and the whole family gets together to celebrate. I wake up just like any other day and get ready to go out for the day. I decided I want to read a little and do a tour of town to see if I can maybe discover a few new things. So I walk past the market, find a nice spot along the river, read a few pages, or closer to 50 and get ready to go on home. (Don’t worry mom, they caught the terrorist in Guinea-Bissau so it is safe to be back on the river.) So I head home and eat the usual for lunch, fish and rice. Then my cousin tells me I am going to help prepare lunch. By help she means I will sit and watch her cook. Every time over the next few hours I would try to get up she would say Foo Dem? Where go? Then she would yell at me to sit. So I got to watch her cook, by the way I must of eaten at least 5 handfuls of salt last night for dinner. For the fete you eat a lot of millet with beef, vegetables, and a tomato oil based sauce. So we sit down for dinner and eating a meal like that with your hands is not easy. You can only take food with your right hand so when you dig into the bowl to take meat, the person next to you help by grabbing the other end and pulling it apart. So it was a fun and messy experience. For dessert we they cleaned the beef and vegetables out of the bowl and added milk. So we ate a millet, tomato, milk mix. It wasn’t the best thing in the world, but I do recommend it, without the tomato paste. It is called Lakk, Millet balls with milk. All milk here is powdered with sugar added, even though we have a lot of cows. So I figure at this point it is time to relax and take a load off. I’m minding my own business reading a little of my novel when I get called into my brothers room. Here put this on, UHHHHH. Apparently it is tradition for men to dress like women and the opposite. So I put on this dress made to fit a tiny human being. My brother and our friend do the same and we went around the house dancing. You can check out the pictures online. I made a pretty girl, and I wore the dress with confidence. Or as they tell me, Tu ne parles pas Francais et Wolof, mais tu intergres tres bien. So I can’t speak but am well integrated into society. Half of the battle is has been won. Hopefully this formation in Thies will help me with solving the second half of the equation for me. Any who, until next time.

Been a while

2008-01-14T01:44:00.000-08:00

Books: “The Fountainhead”, “Puppet Masters”, “Into the Wild”, and “Metamorphosis” by Kofka, "The Agony and the Ectasy" Irving Stone
Song: Boom Boom by the Animals
Quote: “Integrity is the ability to stand by an idea. That presupposes the ability to think. Thinking is something one doesn’t borrow or pawn.” Ayn Rand

In the Peace Corps one feels many highs and many lows sometimes within a few days time. I recently had a feeling of stagnation, which was eating away the pit of my stomach. I decided to go out and try to make some progress in my relations and the work I am doing. I started out by going to my friend’s house and speaking to the grandpa who invited me over for lunch the next day. By the way my friend is a 10-year-old girl so I’m not the social butterfly I was hoping to be but what can you do. So after the brief meeting I headed over to my counterparts house so I could set up a time to go to the mayor’s office and meet some of the big wigs in the town. After a nice 30 min walk I reached my counterparts house only to discover she wasn’t there. I did make another discovery however at that time. My counterpart’s house contains 4 wives and 16 children. The father died a few years ago, so now it is starting to all come together why there is so many people hanging around the house all the time. I couldn’t ever figure it out but I finally put it all together after getting confused on everyone’s name. So after I set up another time to come back and try to set up another appointment to go to the mayor’s office I decided to walk home. So I set up a time to return to make an appointment. I love Senegal for that very reason. Any who I was walking home and I discover a large building that looks like a hotel. Well next thing I know I am lost walking down random roads, I find a street of barber shops, a bus depot with direct routes to Dakar, a water tower, a beautiful missionary, and met a new friend on the walk home. So I finally felt productive after having a few low days at sight.
I also have been going to a management class and afterwards consulting with the teacher to make the class a little better. Teachers tend to teach straight out of a book and not use any real life experience, which is a problem I think when trying to teach people who have no clue what is going on. I made a few suggestions to try to get the students to interview business owners and ask relevant questions. He seems enthusiastic, but has not actually done anything to change the class so that I guess that might be that. We will see in the upcoming days. I am also teaching him how to use search engines so he can teach others but it just turns into him wanting me to look stuff up online for him so that is getting a little aggravating. I did however help an artisan who sells to French tourist. I gave him some advice about presentation and hopefully we can start asking the French tourist what they think about the setup and maybe take a quick survey to improve business. Outside of the business sector I have been taking these two kids to the library which has become a difficult task in itself. It is good to get them familiar with the library, but the two kids are on two totally different levels. One of the kids doesn’t speak any French so that is a little struggle. I am going to start making lesson plans so I can keep them working and be productive. I just need to figure out what to do. I put up a picture of the two kids for you to check out. Their names are Fatou and Demba Aziz. Brother and sister. They are great kids and really respectful of me which isn’t always the case in my neighborhood.
I have just posted a bunch of pictures and movies on my picture page. So you should check it out. It is my most honest photographs that I have taken up to date. It is what I experience every day and puts a smile on my face. The funny looking little dude in the white outfit is one of my favorites. His name is Vieux, which means old. It is a fitting name. Every day when he sees me he runs across the field and gives me our handshake. He is a good kid who doesn’t speak French or Wolof so it makes it a little harder. He is a cool one who makes me laugh.
On a more serious note, over a thousand people have been killed in Kenya because of the elections. If anyone was thinking on sending me a package, I would rather have you donate $20 to a fund in Kenya. I live well and eat well, and the situation is a lot worse over there so please don’t send me anything except for letters and emails.

Tabaski

2007-12-25T06:34:00.000-08:00

Book: Still on “The Fountainhead” by far one of the best books I have ever read. If you have read it you know what I am talking about.
Song:

So this is a special report about my Tabaski. Since most people don’t know about it I figured I will tell you about my day. It started at 10 when my father and brothers got back from the mosque. They took about 7 knives and dug a whole in the ground. We got the family together and put the got onto the ground next to the whole. I was watching and then they told me to come over because I needed to help. At this point I felt as if I just wanted to watch and not really take part of the Tabaski sacrifice. I knelt down at the rear of the goat and put all of my weight down on the struggling animal. I looked up at the animal struggling and looked back down at the goats torso and saw it urinating all over the ground in front of me. Then I looked up and blood was flowing from the neck. My stomach felt like a hollow well. After the throat was slit I had to hang on because the body was twitching and I could feel every single breath rumbling out of the body. I would hqve to put this up with one of the most intense moments of my life.
After the animal was done twitching I was able to get up and then they skinned and dissected the animal. After we cut the animal up we started a BBQ and ate some good meat. After the BBQ we had breakfast which was meat with onions and mustard. A few hours later we ate boiled, deep fried goat with bread. Then for dinner we ate more boiled sheep. For breakfast the next day we ate a oil based soup with the brains, intestines, heart, and the stomach lining. It didn’t taste to bad, but I didn’t eat much since I was able to identify each part of the insides.
After we ate lunch we hung around and got our outfits on and went to other people’s houses. I visited my counterparts house and ate fried goat which was a little furry and dry. I had orange soda with it, which made it all the better. After that I went back home and made my first pot of tea ever. I didn it and the first round wasn’t very good but the second round was excellent. For those of you who don’t know about Senegales tea, it is a long process which takes along time to make the tea. There is a special pouring technique thqt is necesairy to get a special formation of foam on the top of the glass. I spilled all over my self but now can make a descent glass. All of my hard work has paid off. That was a quick view of my Tabaski. I also went to a few dances at night in Dagana, but didn’t have too much fun. Every one was starring at me and pointing and laughing so that didn’t make me to happy. I still busted a move on the dance floor and my bollacast dancing is getting better. My brothers have been home a lot also so I am starting tio get to know a lot of the people who live in Dagana and I can’t leave the house without someone calling me over to speak to them. I never know who they are but they tell me that they know me and we meet the other day. It is hard to remember everyones name when you meet atleast 15 new people a day. Any who just wanted to say hi and hope everyone has a merry Xmas.

Longest day yet

2007-12-19T03:30:00.000-08:00

Book: Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
Song: The Way I Are by Timberland. Senegalese people love it, and I brought it.

5 ways I get woken up every day.
1: My alarm clock (Lame)
2: Children beating against my window yelling at me.
3: Goats, sheep, donkeys, and Roosters.
4: Some one banging the broom against my door while they sweep.
5: Host mom having long conversations at 6 am outside my window.

Any who, life is going here. I just recently had the busiest day ever in Senegal. I woke up at 9, which is kind of late for me, but I find it to be perfect. Woke up ate some bread with mustard on it. Had a quick little work out then showered. I was out of my house by 9:45 to go to the center of formation for women. I got their a little early greeted everyone there than realized the guy I was supposed to meet up with was probably still sleeping even though we made plans to meet at 10. It happened to me the day before also so it wasn’t a big surprise. I decided to walk back home when I ran into my cousin who was on her way to the market to buy lunch and dinner. I decided to join her on the walk that was over a k away. We went to the market, but before we could buy anything we had to return her hair extensions, which was impossible because, there are no recites and she went into every store asking that they take them back and give her the money back. Here are a few reasons no one gave her a refund. She tried returning it to stores she didn’t buy them from. She said she didn’t know which store she had bought it from. Second of all she just asks for money back and she comes up with an arbitrary number. Third no one is going to give you money three days before the big holiday in Senegal. Tabaski you buy new clothes for the family, kill a goat for dinner, and the whole family gets together. No one is going to give you money back. So after a half hour of wondering we go to the market and buy vegetables and fish for dinner. A quick description of the market; hundreds of women pushing to get to the vendors. It is like a farmers market in the US with everyone sitting on the floor and everything is sandy. So as I was getting pushed around a lady grabbed my arm, so I turn around like what the, and it was my counterpart. So she drags me away from the crowd and tells me to go find her house. She lives near the pharmacy and just ask there for her house. So after that brief interaction where she would only speak English because she wants to improve her English. (I only understood half of it.) I turn around and realize I can’t see my cousin anywhere. I go back into the market and finally find her at s stand buying beesap. We grab the basket and on the way back she stops in each store to sell back her extensions. At the end of the market we jump into a taxi, which consists of a two-wheel cart and an emaciated horse on the end of it. So we get a ride home, but I hate ridding in these taxis because the horses get beaten pretty good and for some reason the guy said he wanted to impress the American by beating the horse to a full gallop. Any who we get home and I walk straight back to the Center to meet my friend. We meet up and I use the free internet. Yes I said that. Free internet. When he finished his work we went to his house around 12. He lives past the marche (market) so it was a long walk. After we arrive we sat in his room from 12 to 3 just looking at photographs and discussing various things. That is what you do in Senegal. You put in your time and relax and that is how you build relationships. Every Senegalese person has a packet of photographs they will bring out when someone visits. Photos here are like gold and every house I go to people show me pictures. And the pictures are generally people standing straight not smiling. It is great. Donc at three we ate lunch, which was awkward because the uncle stared at me the whole time, which made me really uncomfortable. After lunch I hung out until 4 then went home took a shower left by 4:30 walked to my counterparts house where the family mostly only speaks Wolof. I spoke to my counterpart while she died her fingers and feet red. Kind of weird. We decided that tomorrow I would come by for a big lunch and spend the day together. She also told me that when people ask who my mother is that I say she was my mother. Kind of weird, but hey I can dig all of the love, only a foreigner can get. So I get home at 6:30 and just relax. I went to bed at 9:30 and am now typing this message. So that was Djiby’s day of craziness.

Dagana oh Dagana

2007-12-14T02:49:00.000-08:00

Book: The Chosen by Chaim Potok,
A Million Little Pieces,
The Book of Guys,
The Discomfort Zone by Jonathan Franzen
and my French book is Ma Babouche Pour Toujours. (Don’t ask me what that means. I still need a dictioinary.) Alisa I think that you would really like “The Chosen” if you haven’t read it and Lea you will also like it, but only if you follow through with Birth Right.
Song: Since Your Gone, Josh Ritter. It makes me laugh. Thanks Katie!

Ten ways you know you are in Senegal.
10: You feel like you have accomplished something if you leave the house and have a conversation.
9: You see a concave of trucks everyday with loud speakers cruising the streets. Sometimes they yell about the President, play music, or promote a phone company.
8: You only have the option to buy one product because there is only one company that makes the product.
7: You pay the hotel by the hour. (Hotels are popular in factory towns.)
6: You know you really shouldn’t jump in the river and swim because of shisto, but decide to do it anyways.
5: You see a large truck where the entire side is open and has pictures of soup cubes and there are over a hundred women with their yellow buckets clapping to the music waqiting for free soup cubes.
4: You hear someone say that Djiby is a good dancer. He dance Senegalese.
3: You get a thorn stuck in your foot every other step.
2: You walk into all the women in the family sitting in a semi circle two feet away from the TV watching Spanish soap operas and yelling at the TV.
1: You get to sit on the same stage as the presidents wife just because you wonder on it and no one says anything to you. Yeah I’m a celebrity in Senegal. On the news and everything.

Which is a good intro to my story. We will call it Djibi’s crazy day in Richard Toll. So a few days ago I get a text message from my neighbor to the West to come to Toll and meet the President’s wife. She will be talking about AIDs and prevention. I say well I will think about it and see what I have planned on that day. Two days later I get another text saying, “Djiby, I got us an invite to a BBQ with the UN.” They work for the United Nations refugee program. When I hear this I say well I guess I can make an effort to come into town and do this. I get up at seven in the morning, make myself an omelet sandwich get on my bike by seven thirty and head on down the road. I get to Toll Just as Bryn is leaving and we immediately head to the site where the First Lady will be speaking. Once we get their we find her supervisor who is also the assistant mayor. He grabs us puts us in the truck with him and we go run some errands. It is interesting to note that this guy will most likely be the next mayor of Richard Toll, and he was picking up tee shirts, delivering ribbons for decorations and picked up the podium. In the US a person would be hired on to do all of these smaller jobs, but not here. We ran around like chickens with our heads cut off and finally arrived at the spot where she was going to speak. The supervisor tells us to go to the stage and sit. So we find a good spot in the middle, two rows behind where the First Lady will sit and we wait. After everything fills up they start to add some extra chairs to the stage because they were a few short. Then finally she arrives and we are two rows behind her for the entire time. Oh yeah, the two white people behind her on the news, one of them was me. People told me they saw me. I am special. After the speech she takes off and we head back to the apartment to hang out before the dinner.
The dinner was great, they cooked a lamb on a grill, and a chicken. We also had onions as our side dish. Yes you heard me right, the dinner was meat and onion sauce. No salad, no fries, but it was very American style since we all got our own plates and a knife. There really is a technique to eating with a hand and a knife. For dessert we had watermelon. I can’t even explain how much watermelon I have been eating. It is less than a dollar for an entire melon so I have been buying them for gifts and eating it for breakfast.
As far as work goes I have been going to the Center of Formation for the Femme, which means they teach English, French, Accounting, Management, and some other professional things. The Senegalese government and the Luxembourg government run it. The problem is that they are out of funding to run the program so maybe in a few months I can try to help get funding or help make them self funded which has been a big crutch from them so far.
That is all form the other side of the Atlantic. By the way, please send me mail, it makes my day.
I decided to add this on at the end because this is all fresh information. I had one of my best moments and one of my worst moments all in the same day. Today I decided to make a way to hold my mosquito net up. I went and found used tomato cans, thrown away bed frame, and cement to build my apparatus. The reason I am so proud of this was that I have never mixed concert before and the entire time I was I had a group of workers who at the same time were using concrete, just watching me. They spoke under their breath and laughed at what I was doing. The great thing was when I finished one guy came over took a look pointed one thing out to me and told me I did a good job. Now for the worst time, I had to pay rent to my host dad for the month. I knew I was going to be out of town for a few days so I decided I tried to explain I would pay a little less for the days I was going to miss. Rather than discussing it he yelled, brought everyone in the family into my room, told me we were family and I should pay the money I need to. This isn’t a hotel I don’t just pay for the meals. So after getting yelled at for by my host mom and host dad, I realized they had all of this work done on the house and couldn’t pay it until I gave them all the money. I’m just writing this to get it of my chest. I love it here in Senegal and when I notice my language improves or I get invited to peoples house to eat and drink tea. I know that it is worth being here and it is going to be rough at times.
Love
Josh (Djiby)

Funny story?

2007-12-01T09:27:00.000-08:00

Book: Captain Courageous, and Robin Hood (in French) Bon Chance
Song: House of the Rising Sun, The Animals That is the first song I am learning on the guitar

Ok, I had to write again because I have a funny story. A few nights ago after dinner, my sister asked me to go on a walk a little ways. She said she had to go run an errand. I figure what could you possibly have to go do at nine besides run to a corner store and pick something up. So we start to walk a little ways and about half of a k I ask, “where are we going?”
She responds it is pretty far where were going, so at this point I know I am in for a nice surprise. With this new info I ask where are we going. She says that we are going to visit the Marabou (a religious leader). Ok why are we going to visit him.
She says “I have a headache.”
“Have you ever tried Advil?”
“It is not that type of headache. I have to get the evil spirits out of me.”
At this point I am thinking, what did I get myself into?
We arrive at the house after a nice long walk and we greet the women outside and she enters into a room in the compound, which I was not aloud to enter. I go and greet some more women who are sitting on the floor, but they only spoke Wolof so the conversation was very short. After a few minuets I hear a kid call my name and invite me into the room, and naturally I figure, better than standing outside. Who knows how long it will take for her to get the demons out. So I enter a room that is about the size of a small bedroom and there are over 20 kids sitting all over the ground. I get invited to sit next to the two older kids who were making tea at the time and we had a conversation and drank tea while I hade kids climbing on me. The most difficult thing was that one of the kids didn’t speak French so it was a short conversation. Most of the time was spent asking me if I had four wives.
After a brief talk, my sister came and got me, I drank some tea, shook 50 hands and went on my way.
Just thought that it was a little different story and something entertaining that has happened to me recently.

Dagana Dagana

2007-11-26T08:56:00.000-08:00

Book: Captains Courageous By Rudyard Kipling
Song: Instant Karma By John Lennon

10 ways my life has changed;
1, I ride my bike 20 k to get mail and use the internet.
2, I work out every day, but I use buckets of water for weights.
3, I look at Mauritania every day, weird.
4, I try to learn French but people only speak to me in Wolof, so my French still sucks and my Wolof is way worse. I can only say Mangi Dem, I go.
5, Every single time I step outside my compound I get rushed by at least 3 kids. One of which looks like he is 40. I will get a picture.
6, Every single place I go, every single person stops what they are doing and looks. Just like in the “Three Amigos” when they step into the bar in Mexico.
7, I eat all meals with a spoon or if it’s not rice I use my hands to eat.
8, Every single day for lunch I eat is fish and rice. Every day I like it a little more.
9, Every day I read 70 to 120 pages in my book.
10, I drink 2 to 6 cups of tea a day. They are only shots of tea but each shot has a little over one teaspoon of sugar in it. I brush my teeth a lot.

Sorry it has been so long since I last wrote. I got to Dagana to discover the internet, but it works so slow I really got nothing accomplished in the hour I used it. I got to one email gave up and tried to surf the web. After that I went to Richard Toll to use the internet but the reso was not working there so I had to wait a little. But now to start from where I had left off.
All has been going well, I recently have left my family in Theis, which was sad because they are very nice people and I wish that they could of stayed my family, but as it goes I have a new one. My older brother has actually called me and texted me how much he misses me hanging out with him and his friends at the boutique on the corner. That is generally how we passed the nights.
I was excited to get to my site and but before getting to Dagana I spent three nights in St. Louis with two other volunteers waiting to get installed. We had a good time hanging around and trying to bargain with the locals. I bought a new bed and that was about it since I figured a town of 25,000 I could probably buy what I need here. Boy, was I wrong. I can’t buy a stove anywhere. The city was nice but I got a little bored of it after 3 days. The third day the country director came and picked me up to go to site. At this point I was starting to get a little nervous and starting to worry about everything. The language, my room, the whole deal. We finally get to Dagana after a short drive and dropping another volunteer off in the middle of nowhere. We pull up to my house and my dad comes out to greet me. That is when it really got interesting. Within the first two seconds of hearing my dad speak I couldn’t understand one word he said. He mumbled and didn’t move his teeth when he spoke. I looked straight at the country director, he looked at me and I knew that was it. We walked into my new home into my rooms, which I didn’t realize were my rooms because they had everyone else’s stuff in them and it was dirty. I said hi to the rest of my family and sat down. Immediately my dad started to ask about money and paying bills so I knew it was going to be a difficult transition period into the house. After 10 min of questioning me about money I was qued to start dragging my stuff out of the car. The only problem was that I had nowhere to put my stuff because my room was occupied by all of the family’s materials. As soon as my stuff was in the house the CD looked at me sighed and said, “You have my number, right? Call me if you need anything. Good luck.” I just stared back thinking to myself, oh my good what have I gotten myself into. The car pulled away and we started cleaning up my rooms. Which by the way are some of the nicest in country, but make my frat house in college look like the Ritz (for all of you who have seen my frat you are probably laughing.) Before we started the cleaning process I met everyone and got down names. I thought I had a mom, a dad, 4 sisters, an aunt, and a maid, but as it turns out I was very wrong. I have a dad, two moms, a cousin, the aunt doesn’t live with us, a grandma who wears the same outfit everyday the last two weeks, one sister with one mom, another sister with the other, and a niece whose mom doesn’t live with us. That is who lives with us I actually have 9 brothers and sisters 7 of which don’t live with us. You can also imagine how awkward it is when you find out the lady you thought was a maid is actually your second mom. The second wife does a lot of the work in the house so it was very confusing. But now I have it down although I can only remember a few of the names. Luckily they have namesakes so I have two Awa, and two Fatou. It helps. As I have been writing this blog I just drank two cups of tea, it is 8 at night so it was my 5th cup of the day. We also have after dinner tea which means I will have atleast two more cups.
Moving into my new house was very hard since I really couldn’t understand my dad’s French and my family will only speak to me in wolof. I get very tired each day and find myself taking frequent cat naps to help me get through the day. I have also been working out in my bathroom, which is a good release of energy. Another hobby of mine is going down to the river and watching the sunset over Mauritania. I spend a lot of my time reading, and going around the town speaking or trying to find new things. I have not yet my counterpart since I was just dropped off at my site and have no way of contacting her. I have been showing myself around town. So far I have been going to the French classes in the high school and now sit in M. Duff’s class at 10 every morning. At 12 I go to his house drink tea and he helps me with my French. After that I go home and sleep, read, play the guitar, work out, anything to stay busy. Around 4:30 I go to a garden and help out while the teenagers or kids speak to me to help me with my language. I have learned that the only thing that can hold me back is fear at this point. I had to go to the garden and offer to help. No one did it for me, my dad helped me get into the class at the lycee, but I am the one who set the schedule and the tutoring lessons. I am the one who goes to the maison communale and speaks with the employees and reads at their library, I have no choice but to be social or I will fail and be miserable. This experience thus far has given me a lot of confidence and has made me become more of an adult, but I would be lying to you if I said I wasn’t scared to go and speak to all these people. What makes it a little easier is that I am white and American. As funny as that sounds, I just can go to city hall, walk into the mayor’s office without an appointment and hangout for the day. People want to know the white guy and it is important for me to get to know the people in power. Even if I can’t communicate very well right know, the fact that I go and say hello to the mayor, makes me just as important as that mayor. People will see me with the mayor and think I am very important. I also have been working on a scheme of fame. I have been finding all of the pockets of children and teaching them my name. So whenever I go anywhere in town, the children start to chant my name and wave. I am going for a “Lawrence of Arabia” moment when all the people chant his name, or a “Volunteers” moment. By the way my name is Djibril Fall aka Djibi (Jibi) or in English Gabriel. I have the coolest name in Senegal, I love it. Any who this is starting to get really long so I will save you something for my next blog if I can make the 20 k ride. I almost died since there are not to many trees and the wind was going, along with a uphill ride all the way home.
(My dad has a really dumpy car that we have to push start some times, it is his baby and the other day he was really mad because when he was driving at night he ran over some kids bike, because his lights don’t work. He was telling me all about how the kid shouldn’t of been their. Now he is mad at the fam because he had to honk his horn three times before some one would open the gate for his car. My life is funny.

Ps, There is a cricket in my room for the past two weeks that is really loud, but when I find it there will be a tortures death involved.

Peace, Love
Djibi

Nouveau Volenteer

2007-11-10T06:27:00.000-08:00

Book: The Count Of Monte Cristo
Song: Ball and Biscuit, White Stripes
Yeah, yeasterday I sworn in and am now officialy a volunteer in Crorps de la Paix. We had a small ceremony at teh house of the US Ambassador. It was nice and they televised the entire ceremony on National television. I have already had people coming up to me and telling me that they saw me on teh tele. It is even funnier because there are only 9 channels and we were on the first channel which 80% of the country leaves their tele on. I am a celebrety now. On a more seriouse note, I leave tommorow for St. Louie and then Dagana. I am leaving all 39 people behind. After this week I will have to ride my bike 20 K on through the desert inorder to speak with some one in English. At this point I can only laugh and say that I will be in good shape by the end of two years. i have already lost 12 lbs and am starting to thin out a little. My family eqats well in teh North from what I hear but the volunteer befor me lost 20 lbs at site in two years. I am getting a little nervouse also because my family only speaks Wolof and all I speak is bad French. I get to be a baby that is contious of his world. It will be a good experience and I look forward to taking it all in and having this experience. I don't know when I will be able to write again because my site might not have Internet, but when I figure it out i will drop u all a line.
Love Josh

The Beach

2007-10-31T10:14:00.000-07:00

Song of the moment: The underdog by Spoon
Book of the month: A coffin for Dimitrios by Eric Amber
I decided that it would be a good time to start trying to do a few more blogs since I will be going to site where the Internet is uncertain. They have been trying to get the Internet at my site for a while so it might be in by the time arrive. Since we have last spoken my stage took a trip to a National park called Popenguine. It was amazing; there were cliffs to the left and large rock formations to the right. We had a house on the beach. It cost me 7,500 CFA for a place to stay, dinner, breakfast, and beer. That is the equivalent to $15, what a country. This coming week I will be going to Dakar to check out what the city is like. I also went to a wedding. It was a Seereer wedding which is different then most, beer and it lasted 3 days. There was a lot of music and dancing. The dancing here is so crazy. It’s funny today a new person has showed up in the house. Apparently he is my cousin and he lives with us. It is fun because I get a new family member every few weeks moving into the house.
This past weekend I went to Dakar and got to blow off a little steam. The first day we arrived we walked around and looked for a hotel. After we found one we ended up getting a room for the three people which was a little problem since there was six of us. After devising several plans to sneak into the room with six people we decided to just greet every person who worked in the hotel and use Wolof to communicate. It worked like a charm, we had no trouble keeping six people in a room, and what is even better is the fact that noise is not an issue in Senegal. People are always loud. In Dakar we did a lot of club hopping which involved being the only people at the bars along with a few French soldiers. The second day in Dakar we went to the American club which sounds lame, but it was some of the most fun I have had in a while. We swam and played beach volleyball for a few hours. It was all-free, but peculiar to see little kids speaking English.

First Month

2007-10-14T05:26:00.000-07:00

Song of the month Pink Floyd; Heaven can Wait
Sorry that it has been so long between my post. I have had a lot going on right now which has made it difficult for me to be able to sit down and type. I currently have my host family, which is great. My mom Georgette is in her mid sixties and my dad is Jean-Gabou. He is in his seventies, is blind in one eye and is almost deaf. I thought my French was bad when I spoke to him, but he just couldn’t hear what I was saying. I have three brothers, Louie who is in his mid thirties and works as a physical education teacher. Pascal is another brother who works in textiles (I think). He is the father of Pape who has been the person who has helped me the most. Pape speaks to me all the time and we will go out for the occasional beer. That’s right I am in the 5% and have a Catholic family. They are Seerar. My other brother Philippe is ill as it was explained to me. He doesn’t speak at all and is extremely thin. I am not sure exactly what is wrong, but I am not sure if my family knows either. TIA (This is Africa) as we say. My sister Mary Angelic is a very nice woman. She does the majority of the cooking and cleaning. She wakes up with my mom every morning by 7 to start sweeping the courtyard. She has two kids. Ferdie who is 5 and Annyolan who is around one. Our house is basically, several separate rooms that lead outside to a courtyard. Since it is so hot we generally sit under one of our several lime trees. We always have chickens running free in our yard and a pigpen. A funny story, the other day I came home and noticed a pig was missing and a pot was on the stove. Naturally I was excited because I have eaten mostly fish and rice since my arrival. This would be one of my first meals without fish. I go up to Pape and ask if he needs help. He accepts and I grab a seat and the fan, which he had requested. He opens the pot and starts pulling piece by piece out of the pot parts of the pig’s head. First off was a snout. Apparently you can eat that. After the snout we got a jawbone and had to peel the meet off of that. The grand finally was the ears. Yeah, we made Pate with that. If you were curious to why I needed to help, it was to fan away the flies while we cooked. I was happy top hear that the pate was for sale and not for us to eat. But some things are lost in translation when he brought me a half loaf of French bread with Pate. By the way the only bread in Senegal in the cities is French bread. All I eat is rice and white bread. I am on the carb diet.
A typical day for me starts at 6:30 I wake up and get to the Center by 7:10. I generally ride my bike while the Talibae yell at me. My spelling is probably wrong but the Talibae is a group of children who are sent to live with a Marabou. The Marabou can’t afford to but these 8-10 year olds anything so he sends them out to the streets to beg. Since I am white and the only white people they see are on TV you can imagine what they think. I have all of the money. It is difficult to not feel bad for these kids but you can’t give money to each kid or you would go broke by the time you went a kilo. The other day I went to a house with Pape to watch prison break and a little girl freaked out and cried because she was scared of me. It is very weird to have all eyes on you. In other cases kids will come up and shake my hand or pull on my arm hair because no one has hair on their bodies here.
I unfortunately have dealt with death also. A safety trainer from the Peace Corps, died on his way to a site. He was in a car accident. He was a very nice man who worked very hard for us to be safe. It was difficult to deal with because many of the trainers couldn’t work and we witnessed several of the prayers. We also went to his house to pay respects to his wife. I have never seen anything like it before. Everyone is gathered in the courtyard, the women sit on mats on the floor while the men sit in plastic chairs. You go drink tea and pay your respects.
Once again sorry for having so many scattered thoughts but I have been here for a month and all of this happened. Yesterday I went to a Baptism and saw a goat gets skinned and deboweled. Now if you have never seen anything like that, I recommend it. If it were the only time you have eaten meat in a month you would have no problem watching it and seeing how it is prepared. It is a way of life. In other news I got my site placement. Holy Smokes, I am going far north into the desert. Dagana, Senegal. It is on the river bordering Mauritania. 25,000 people 2km by 5km. My closest neighbor is 20km away and the closest neighbor I already know is 47km. I am 125 km away from st Louie, but that is a 3-hour ride in Senegal. By the way someone please send me anti motion sickness pills. The engineers here thought it wise to put asphalt roads on top of dirt, so in the rainy season when the dirt roads the asphalt falls through and causes some nice pot holes. There is a handicapped organization I will work with and a new high school where I will help teach English. That is my plan as of now, but I need to get some business in somewhere so we will see. One of the subsidized sugar factories is in my town and a tomato canning plant is there. I am in the middle of nowhere and it is rocky and sandy. But I am only two hours away from the two best national parks in Senegal. There is a third one I will see but that is South East. That will take me a two or three days drive. Hhahahahah. TIA Imagine if you liveed in a world without a cell phone, no Internet, no cars, and one day you just had it. No knowledge of how it works or any concept of its origin. Their would be no regulations for car safety, no concept of the value of a phone, no idea how to drive, and no idea of edicate. I was at the cyber and the guys on either side of me were looking at porn. That is a normal occurrence. Just a thought to leave you with.
I live in a fish bowl, I can eat, dress, act Senegalese, but no matter what, I am not Senegalese and people are here to remind me of that fact every day. My skin has become thick and imagine if you have only seen black people on the television and you finally saw one for the first time. Would you stair, yell, grab at, beg from, welcome, or cry from being scared. Every day I see these reactions and it shocks me because we live in a different world. Most experience has been good for me, and I like it here, but when you think stuff is hard for you, think about what you have, because the people here have it a hundred times harder and they are the happiest people I have met. One month down 25 to go.

2007-09-17T06:11:00.000-07:00

I hope every one is doing well. It has been a few crazy days for me so far. Talk about a culture shock. We had a staging oin atlanta where we got to meet everyone and become friends. It went very well because everyone in the group is about my age. We mostly spent time talking about what it will be like when we arrive o site. It wasn't very helpful, but it calmed the nerves. The hotel was very nice and each person had a queen sized bed which had 10 pillows on it and a nice AC. I say that since I am in over 100 degree weather with no ac. We headed from atlanta to Dakar. Our plane was also heading to South africa. The funny part was when we landded in Dakar, we were the only ones to get off. Even the baggage guy didn't belive I wwas getting of in Dakar. I think he was trying to tell me something when he said "Your not going to South Africa?" After arriving in Dakar we noticed the diffrence immediatly. It was as if we stepped into another world. There were about three guys working the inside of the terminal while four guys were sleeping on the floor. The baggage came in on the only conveyor belt and then we headed to the bus. As we walked outside there were about 200 men tanding next to the airport behind baracades stairing at us. No one said a word to us except for a few men who hold out their hands for you to shake them. Aftre a long bus ride we arrived to the training center which is called Theis (Chess). The drive was very akward since I have never been to aplace like this. Most buildings are cement or tin. people are walking in the road and everyone is stairing. After arriving at the training center they reeted us with a tam tam, or drumm as you would call it. Then we began the process. we were assigned rooms and given a chance to sleep under these musqioto nets. Which are 20 degres hoter inside. Since trainuibg we have been doing survival Wolof which is the main language spoken. I have been having a very difficult time since words ar crazy. Like thank you is jerejef. Words can have mb right next to eachother or tudd means name, but the dd has to be said stuttering. I wa really getting frusytrated since I can't get it. Luckily we have had a chance to go to dymistification which sends me and another trainee to a village where people voluntering are. We are right now in Joal which is a fishng town south of Dakar. it is beautiful and the people are great. The children run and yell toubab toubab every time we pass by. Which means white or foreighner. I hear that about a thousand times a day. It satrts to get a little annoyinhg but that is what the kids do. I hope to send some pics soon but it still may be a little. When I walk in the street I have to greet everyone and that is the nmost important thing. For example:
Asalaa Malacuum
Malacuum Saam

Nanga Def
Mangi Fi(rekk)

Naka Waa keer ga
Nunga fa

Cava
Cava cava bien bien

Nanga laa tudd
Josh laa tudd. (Every one calls me Jass)

Fan nga Joggee
Americ laa jogee

Fan chi amric
Michigan Chi americAt this point i jhave no wolof left so I go to cava. A five min walk can take 20 min. I havn't had a meal on teh floor yet with a family except for training so far but i have eaten at the house of momadu nji which is a very generous man. They always make you try to eat more than you can which is makes it difficult to say no.they always ionsit kind of likle mom with the appetizers.Any who i have to get going i am out of time. i get my family this thursday and I want to say happy b day katie. I love you all and i sweat non stop.

Great Summer

2007-08-30T02:41:00.000-07:00

I couldn't sleep so I decided to write my blog this morning. So far the summer has been great. I traveled through French Canada with my dad for a few weeks. I did a road trip with my girlfriend. I got to see my friends across the country. Best of all i got to spend time with my family. I am very excited to be leaving for Senegal in 12 days. I am also very nervous since I don't know what to expect. I am excited and wanted to get this blog out so people can start signing up and getting connected. Thank you to everyone who is going to stay in touch with me.
Much love