Reading List

I’m going to have a lot of free time in these next few months, so I plan on doing a fair amount of reading (there’s really only so long I can socialize when it’s 110 degrees). If you’d like to start a long distance book club, I’m all for it! Here’s what I’ve read so far:

1. Cutting for Stone, Abraham Vergese

2. Jane Eyre, A Bronte Sister

3. What is the What, Dave Eggers

4. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,

5. When You Are Engulfed in Flames, David Sedaris

6. Segu

7. The Belly of the Atlantic, Fatou Diome

8. Stones from the River, Ursula Hegi

We’ve got a well-stocked house library in Kolda but any new additions are always welcome...

Feeling Like a Rockstar

Beyond the obvious reasons I feel like a rockstar on a daily basis (I mean, come on…) my first week in village has allowed me to experience some serious Keith Richards-esq moments. Here are a few:

Groupies: One morning, while walking down the road to get my daily bean sandwich and instant coffee, I decided to pop in at the local Pulaar/nursery school. The school is a very attractive, single room building in the traditional round wall and straw roof style - I believe it was built rather recently by a Spanish NGO that works in the area. As far as I can tell some 30-40 little kids go there every morning and learn the basics of numbers, letters and causing mayhem. When I visited I was quickly swarmed by a mass of little bodies shouting my name and wanting to shake hands. Since they only come up to about my waist, I got the distinct feeling of being on stage at a rock concert while screaming fans reached up at me. I briefly spoke with the teacher and got the ok to come back one day, hang with the kids and guest teach – I plan to bring French bingo and see if I can adapt it into Pulaar. When I left the school, all of the children ran up to the fence and screamed my name as I walked down the road. There is nothing like 40 (little) people screaming your name to make you feel popular.

On a side note: I think my visit to the school helped break the ice between Toolaye – the terrified 3 year old – and me. I think it was a little like “Show and Tell” for her - “that’s my weird white person!” - and seeing the other kids excited to see me made her excited too. I have to say, she is potentially the cutest child I’ve ever seen . I hope she doesn’t get annoying.

Drugs: This comparison might be a little of a stretch, but I now know how it feels to have addictive white powder forced upon you at all times of day. No, Senegal isn’t the new Colombia. I’m talking about sugar. Pure, white, highly processed, diabetes-inducing sugar. My household here can easily go through half a kilo of sugar a day. I think my American parents have had the same 2-pound bag of sugar in our cabinet since I graduated high school. Beyond the heaping spoonfuls of sugar that go into coffee and are used to sweeten porridges, the real culprit is “attaya.” Attaya is traditional Senegalese tea that involves a whole boiling, pouring, foam-making and slurping ritual. For a small pot of attaya, one will easily use a half kilo of sugar (about a cup, for those unfamiliar with metric baking). I can feel my cavities developing.

Swag: While I haven’t gotten a free Porsche or personalized Rolex, I do get a fair amount of free stuff on a daily basis. This perk is almost exclusively limited to food, but has included a lifetime supply of mangos, fried dough, a fruit that tastes just like sour patch kids, my daily beans and coffee, mints and a necklace. In addition to the free stuff, I get the first choice of just about everything else – chairs, fruit, meals. I’m not sure I deserve any of this or if this pattern will last, but for now it’s a nice contrast to feeling like an idiot all the time (I wonder if that’s how Brittany Spears feels too).

Constant Attention: There are no tabloid reporters or paparazzi in Sare Sara, but that doesn’t stop people from wanting to know everything about you at every moment of the day. One of the harder parts of this first week has been the need to socialize 24/7. While I don’t consider myself a recluse, I certainly enjoy a certain amount of “me” time. This concept is wholly foreign in Senegal. Before installing, older volunteers advised us to spend as little time alone in our rooms as possible, even if that means napping outside on a mat instead of inside in bed – as long as you can be seen, it counts as being social. This is fine until that moment when you really just want to be alone or don’t want to repeat the same Pulaar greating for the 600^th time. Yes, I did wake up this morning. No, I did not wake up with evil. I now understand the dark side of fame.

Game Time

Being in the village without actual work to do has given me time to invent a few of my own new games. Here are some:

What’s in My Mouth - played at dinnertime when you’ve forgotten to bring your own headlamp. Play begins when the current flashlight-holder turns away and the dinner bowl is suddenly invisible. Is that squishy thing an eggplant or a hot pepper? How many fish bones did I just swallow? Was that a spoonful of couscous or sand? The mystery is half the fun!

Goat, Sheep or Child – best played while lying in bed, but good for all times of day or night. Play begins when crying begins, first to identify origin of the sound wins. Variation: can be played over the phone!

I’m Not Issa – played while walking through the village. Play begins when a small child yells “Issa!” Correct responses include, “Wonna Issa!” or “Ko mi Koumba.” Incorrect responses include, “Seriously, do I look like f*****g Issa?” or ignoring the speaker entirely. Player receives karma points for correct answers, loses karma points for losing temper.

Mystery Footsteps – Most often played while bathing, sometimes played late at night in a half-asleep daze. Play begins when player hears (or thinks she hears) uncomfortably close footsteps. Player wins if those footsteps belong to a hungry cow or other barnyard animal meandering by, loses if they don’t. Player also loses if “footsteps” are actually from a chicken, the wind or do not exist at all. Do-overs are not granted for malaria prophylaxis-induced hallucinations.

Drink – Play is ongoing. Game objective is to prevent dehydration and requires players to constantly replenish lost body fluid by drinking water (preferably filtered) throughout the day. Winner is determined by clearest pee. Losers get headaches and fatigue. I have yet to win this game.

The Mango Game – Created by a fellow volunteer, this actual game involves eating a mango whenever doing another pre-determined activity. It can also be played between sites, with all players required to eat mangos whenever another player does so. Everyone wins.

Lessons from Week 1

I survived my first week in the village and am in Kolda for the day to resupply (i.e. go to the bank) before heading back out. We’re supposed to try to stay in village (either ours or visiting other volunteers) every night for the first 5 weeks. Luckily for me, I can pop into the city to shop, relax and check email while still making it home for dinner.

Here’s what I learned this week:

1. When the man at the hardware store tells you to dilute your chalk paint, he is wrong

2. Always bring your own flashlight to dinner

3. Sleeping outside without a mosquito net is a bad idea

3b. Sleeping outside with a poorly hung mosquito net is no better

4. Napping under the mango tree for 4 hours each afternoon is both acceptable and expected

5. Do not watch a TV show about a serial killer before going to bed in the village

5b. Those footsteps are most likely a goat, not the aforementioned serial killer…and sleeping with your back door closed will only bake you alive – not keep you alive

6. All white people look the same to Senegalese children. 6’2”ft white guy = 5’5” white girl.

7. Decorating your hut will make you feel both happy and sad. It will also cause your family to wonder who that girl is who sort of looks like you but is clean. They will also wonder who the Asian girl is.

8. Leaving your poo kettle in the sun is a bad idea.

8b. Leaving your shower water in the sun is an ok idea…but can result in an uncomfortably hot bucket bath.

9. You will always feel the dirtiest

10. Children and dogs both take 2 days to overcome their fear of white girls

11. Repeating the same phrase faster and louder will not make its meaning any clearer

12. Puppies are everywhere

13. Calling and texting fellow volunteers is key to maintaining mental health

14. It’s ok to cry

15. New straw roofs will shed for an undetermined period of time, leaving all your possessions with a fresh coat of dust and debris.

16. There is no limit to the number of mangos you can consume in one day

17. Dried fish does not enhance the taste of food, but will raise your blood pressure

18. The hot season is aptly named

19. It is flattering to be told you can speak Pulaar…and discouraging to then not understand the rest of the conversation

20. PCV life is pretty nice so far

Nange di Wuli

Well, I’ve finally made it to Kolda and it is HOT. I thought it was hot where I lived during PST, but little did I realize the benefits of the desert – namely, it cools off at night. Here in Kolda, that doesn’t happen. It’s hot in the morning, it’s hot during the day and it’s hot at night. No breeze, no relief. I have very little hope of getting anything done until the rains come in a few weeks (but luckily, no one else will be doing anything either so it’s all part of the integration process). Another part of integrating is realizing that Senegalese people say the same things over and over. This especially applies to jokes – which literally never get old – and the weather. “Nange di wuli” means “the sun is hot.” There are no days when the sun isn’t hot, but this is still said every day with a hint of surprise.

Tomorrow is my big installation day! It feels like the first day of camp – I know I’ll have a good time, but I’m dreading those first moments of being alone and not knowing what to do. We did a ton of shopping yesterday which included the purchase of:

-two trunks

-lots of buckets

-various kitchen supplies

-a cot

-new foam mattress

-paint/chalk

-half-length mirror (my splurge purchase)

-toubob food (ramen, corn flakes, jam, pasta)

-a machete (awesome, I know)

I’m planning to buy an aircard so that I can get internet in my village, but it’s going to have to wait until the next time I get paid (probably in the next week), so I’ll be off the grid for a bit. I’ll write a few posts about my first few days and put them up when I come back into Kolda. Thanks to everyone for your support with the CNN piece – I even made it onto CNN Student News and got seen by my cousin Adina’s 6^th grade class.

Puppy Hunt 2011 starts tomorrow…wish me luck!

kp