I have officially moved out of my village. Last Friday morning, I packed up my stuff and hit the road. It was a very sad day. Basically all of the goodbyes started Thursday. I spent the day hanging out with my family and also with Janaba, my counterpart. I didnt really make a big deal about it being my last full day in the village. I HATE goodbyes and just wanted to enjoy my last day there while i could. I spent the mor ning giving away my clothes, dishes, furniture, etc. People were very excited to get nice gifts!! I then went to Janaba's house around 10 to hang out and have breakfast with her. I bought some bread and some milk and headed over to the other side of the village. Wehn i got there, Janaba saw what i had brought her and was like "Ummm...NO... Im cooking you a real breakfast!" I sat there and cooked with her one last time. It was great. She cooked eggs and potatoes (thats a HUGE breakfast here...people usually eat bread or millet). We sat there and ate breakfast together and just enjoyed each others company. I know i have said it so many times, but i love janaba. She is truely an amazing woman. Her door is always open and she has really accepted me as a friend and a daughter. I cant thank her enough for how welcom and comfortable she has made me feel the last two years.

I went on to spend the rest of the day hanging out with the kids and trying to soak it all up. My last day with little Ablaye Ngom was sad too. i had a really hard time saying goodbye to him and the other children. I was overwhelmed with thoughts of what is to come for the kids that i have come to love as my own. The mothers in my family have lost countless children to illness and disease throughout their lives. Binta lost her entire family including her husband. She only has one son left from her first marriage. The other all died of illness. Its a sad fact that there is a good chance that when i return to Senegal someday, atleast one of those kids may not be there.

The rest of my last day in the village was spent hangning out in the salon and visiting random houses to tell people goodbye. I didnt visit many people though because again, I HATE GOODBYES. A volunteer living nearby came to stay over my last night in Diagle. He has great relationships in my village as well and wanted to see everyone before i leave. Janaba called me and said she had cooked us another fancy meal and wanted us to head over. I ended up spending the entire evening at her house hanging out and eating wayy too much. I came home around 10:30 and my family had already gone to bed. Which is very unusal. They always stay up until midnight or later. I think they were not happy with me spending my last night there with Janaba so they were trying to let me know without having to tell me. I felt really bad at first. After long reflection, i am so glad i spent my last night with janaba. She has always been there for me and i think she and I will appreciate that last little time together much more than my family would have.

Anyway, David and I came home and wet to bed. I woke up about an hour later so thirsty so i got up and chugged some water and went back to my bed outside. Thats when things turned sour. About fifteen minutes later, my stomach started making crazy noises. I spent the next 6 hours sicker than i have ever been in my whole life. I couldnt even sit still because my stomach was twisting and turning. I had things coming out all ends and it was not pretty. David was sleeping inside so i literally crawled in to ask him to get me some water. I had vomitted everything out of my system and was evern thirstier than before. Since I only had water from the same bucket that i had just drank out of, poor david had to bike around the village knocking door to door asking anyone if they had faucet water. I drank bleached water from the well. I had gotten rid of my water filter a few days before since i was leaving. I didnt sleep another wink that night and ended up packing up and leaving about 7 am friday morning. I spent the entire day friday feeling extremely hungover since i was so dehydrated. The village kicked me outta there to say the least.

I have spent the last few days here in Dakar getting stuff ready for me to leave. There is so much paperwork, legal stuff, and medical exams that have to be completed before i can head out. I signed up to get a flight out sometime next Thursday or Friday. Of course, the PC office didnt follow up with me yet so i still have no idea whats going on with that.

Im heading down to Kaffrine today with Ablaye. I want to see his family one more time before i leave. Also, we are getting married tomorrow. CRAZY! Anyway, ill write more about all of that after it happens because i kind of dont know what to expect.

I hope everyone at home is doing well. Ill be back in about a week!! :):)

With less than a month left here in Senegal, I have found myself torn about my real feelings about leaving. I mean, yes!, i am very excited to get home and enjoy the luxuries i once took for granted. I am also sad that i will be saying goodbye to some very dear friends possibly forever. Most of my friends here in Senegal do not know how to use a computer and some of them do not even know how to read or write... which means the only way to keep in touch with them is through the telephone. Thats a scary thing because phones are lost, stolen, or do not have credit on them alllllll of the time. Phones here are all prepaid. If someone loses their phone, they generally have to get a new phone number. Which will pobably mean goodbye to long lost friends abroad!

I have thought a lot about me leaving Senegal and what that is going to mean. There are many, many things i will certainly not miss about this country. I will definately not miss being called "toubab" all the time and i will also not miss people asking me for stuff. But there are countless things that i will miss forever.

I will miss the mountains of endless fresh air. The beauty of the clouds and the sky and the sunsets. I will miss the smell of the first rain of the year. The rare silence in the village when no one is talking and you can only hear the trees blowing in the wind. I will miss that 60 seconds in the evening when the sky turns hot pink just as the sun is setting. I will miss Amie Colde', Maymouna, and the Ngom family. I will miss Janaba Sarr, my one TRUE FRIEND in all of this. Without her, my Peace Corps service would not have been what it was. I will miss the kids, the kids, THE KIDS. Without the little Ngom children, i would not still be here today. They accepted me into their lives, were patient with me when my language skills weren't there, and have NEEDED me in a way that no one has ever needed me before. I cannnot thank them enough for just being kids and making me laugh, cry, and grow a heart bigger than i knew possible. I will especially miss Ablaye Ngom. He will forever be my little man and precious friend. Someday, i will come back for him and do everything in my power to give him the life he deserves. I will miss reading countless books and having extra time for reflection and thought. I will miss the kaolack market, where hidden treasures can be found around any corner. I will miss speaking sereer everyday and learning, learning, learning. I will miss eating the food that is grown in the family garden, cooking classes with Janaba, and swimming in the Mangroves. I will miss the sandstorms, thunderstorms, lightning, and the floods. I will miss travelling to unknown places and seeing new things that i could have never imagined before. I will miss that long stretch of dirt road where i ran hundreds of miles during the evening hours and found solitude when i needed it most. Most of all, I will miss the simplicity of life here in Senegal. This simplicity cannot be found even in the smallest towns in America and can never be fully described or comprehended by others that have not experienced it themselves. I am greatful for the opportunity to have come here and learned so much. It has been more than i could have asked for.

My time left here in Senegal is limited. I am just spending my last few weeks here soaking it all in and having a blast!

Maybe i have mentioned it in a previous posting, but i am sooo in love with SOOW! Soow is a luxury food here in Senegal. Soow is basically rotten milk. Well, really there is no other way to explain it. It is rotten milk. And its delicious. Soow is made by milking a cow, putting the milk in a sealed container (people usually use old water bottles) and closing the lid tightly, let it sit for about 2 days and Voila... SOOW! When the milk turns chunky, chill (if electricity is available), and add sugar! Over the last 3 days, i have consumed 4 Liters of soow. I rarely get dairy products so when i do, sometimes i can stop. Women sell their soow along the roadside on the way to Kaolack..I bought an entire bucket just a few days ago; its gone! I dont get it often because usually it is only the Pular people that have cows. I live with Sereer people. At this point, I am sure you are thinking I am crazy and disgusting, but i dont know a single volunteer that does not love soow. This is senegalese dish that i plan to make for the rest of my life...

The following is a list of random facts about Senegal i think you should know:

-When a family is eating a meal, only people of the highest ranking in the family are aloud to speak. The father usually is the only person that speaks during a meal. Often, meals are eaten in dead silence. A child rarely has permission to speak during a meal.

-Senegalese people have an extreme fear of genies. They believe that genies are spirits that take on the body of a human and are seen many times throughout the day. No one will actually know that the "person" is a genie though. They believe that genies are people from another life. They know about our lives here on earth, but we cant know about theirs. People are so terrified of genies, that they usually sleep with their bedroom doors completely closed, even when it is ridiculously hot. They believe that genies are afraid sometimes too, and most genies are too afraid to enter someone's bedroom at night. People think i am ludacris for sleeping outside every night. I would rather be eaten by a genie than left stuck in the sweltering heat in my bedroom at night! On the other hand, the Senegalese believe there are good genies. These genies are known to be friends with religious leaders. They can be sought out to deliver favours such as good health, or especially money. If the genie delivers the favor, the receiver is asked to sacrifice something of importance, like their child's inteligence or a finger or limb.

-When someone dies, the funeral generally takes place the same day. The person is wrapped in cloth and placed on top a bed of sticks. The bed of sticks is lowered into the ground and the person is buried. Men are the only people aloud to go to the burial. Women, including a widow, do not attend a burial. When a woman is widowed, she is supposed to stay inside in mourning for 4 months. She does not cook, clean, or do any of her normal household duties.

-Teachers and principals beat their students anytime they feel necessary.

-Meals are served and the presentation of the dish is sometimes more important than the taste. Fish are served whole, including bones!

-Gris-Gris (pronounced Gree-gory) are a certain type of charm. In general, a gris gris is a type of necklace or bracelet that is worn for protection. The gris gris are usually made by a Marabout (religious leader) and can be worn for protection against negative spirits, for good luck, good health, prosperity, etc. Gris Gris can also be made for a house or a car. In general, they are placed above an entrance.

-When a baby is born, the baptism is held seven days after the birth. The baby is not given a name until the day of the baptism. In general, the father is supposed to sacrifice a sheep the day of a baptism. Just before the baby is given a name, its head is shaved and a certain scripture from the Koran is recited into each ear of the baby. In general, a baby is named after someone else important to the father or the mother. This person is called the child's "toma." They believe that the child will acquire 7 personality traits from the toma. After the name giving ceremony is finished, a party follows.

-When a Senegalese couple gets married, the men gather together and have a ceremony at the mosque. The women and the groom, do not attend. The bride and the groom each find a person to represent them at the mosque. The groom's representative will be given a cola nut by the groom. He will then take it to the mosque and give it to the Marabout and he will pass a small piece out to each man supporting the marriage. during the ceremony, the Marabout will discuss with the men about the marriage. They will recite a part of the Koran that regards marriage. The ceremony generally lasts about twenty minutes. This ceremony serves as a wedding. The bride and groom do not participate any further than finding their representatives and discussing with them what they want out of the marriage. The bride and groom can go to the mayor after the ceremony to sign papers to be legally married. In general, people here do not ever become legally married. The religious ceremony is more important to them than the legal papers.

-Soccer is Senegal's favorite sport. One can pretty much find some sort of soccer going on in any village at any given time. Its called football instead of soccer.

-Senegalese people are surprisingly clean. They bathe multiple times a day and wash their hands and feet often. People take great pride in the way they present themselves also. Clothes are always washed and rarely stained. They love to iron their outfits. Women love to have perfectly braided hair and jewelry to match their outfits. Bright colors are always welcome and shiny metalics are a plus. The flashier and gaudier, THE BETTER!

-Fruits and nuts grown in Senegal: mangoes, papaya, cashews, peanuts, baobob, coconut, banana, orange, lemon, lime, mandarin, ditax, and the list geoes on and on... there are many fruits and vegetables grown in Senegal that most Americans do not even know of.

-Boutiques and small shops close each day between the hours of 1:30 PM and 3:30 PM . There really is no exact times for closing up shop but you can bet when you really are in need of something from the boutique, it will be closed. During the hot part of the day, people tend to hang out and take naps. The sun is BRUTAL!

-Travelling around the country can be a real pain in the butt and can take hours longer than one would expect. The most available form of transportation is a "sept place" which means seven places. Really its just a nice word for station wagon. If you want to travel, first you must head to the nearest garage. When you arrive, you look for the station wagon going to your destination. Usually garages have tons of cars going to all different places all over the country. After you find the find you want, you get in and pay for your seat. You then wait for others to come and fill the car up. This can take hours sometimes if you are going to an unpopular destination or to a small town. There is also a Jugin Jaay. It is a vehicle something like a huge van that seats about 30 people. If travelling by jugin jaay, you can just wait near any nearby raod and eventually one will stop and pick you up. They generally only go to regional capitals. After you arrive at the capital, you can get out and get another jugin jaay that goess to the next capital if you want to go further. You are free to get on and off a jugin jaay at anytime and you only pay for the time you are in the car. If travelling by sept place, you pay a standard rate.

-Car batteries can be used for everything around here. People living in villages with no electricity often use a car battery to charge cell phones, watch tv, or listen to the radio.

-The left hand... the left hand is used to touch any part of the body that needs attention. The left hand is used to wipe your booty or pick your nose. Toilet paper is deinfately not used here. Nose picking is very common and no one seems to notice. Also, it is extremely rude to offer someone your left hand for a hand shake or to hand someone something. If you want to pay for something at the boutique, you take your goods from the shop owner with your right and put it in your left hand. Then you take your money and switch it to your right hand befre handing it over. Children will always be scolded for offering to shake someone hand with their left. The only time it is appropriate to use your left hand is if you are leaving someone for a long period of time. When leaving, people will shake your left hand with their left hand. This is their way of sayng they are 100% sure they will see you again. They did something so bad by offering their left hand, they are sure they will see you again so they can offer you their right and undo their wrong.

-Bread can be eaten at any time of the day with almost anything served on it. The following is a list of things you can find served on bread: beans, onion sauce, chocolate sauce, butter, spaghetti noodles, macaronni noodles, potatoes, eggs, meat, homemade mayonaise. My personal favorite is chocolate sauce! I eat a chocolate sandwish evry morning for breakfast.

Hope you have enjoyehe above the list above. If I think of anything else to add, ill be sure to do so. Hope everyone at home had a lovely Easter!

Getting used to Senegalese culture can be difficult. I have spent the last 19 months trying to learn how to just BE here. And by that, i mean letting go of the fast paced life i once led back in the states. It has not been an easy task. As an American, i think it has been hard for me to relax and just enjoy whats going on around me. Life here can be slow and at times boring. When i hang out in the village, i have a routine that has become a constan in my life. On days when i dont have much work, i spend the morning at my friend Maymuna's house and the afternoon at Janaba's house. This may sound BORING and for a long time, it WAS boring. Many volunteers find it hard to sit around and do nothing. At home, that would be considered lazy but here... well, thats just part of life. If you arent doing the same thing today as you did yesterday, you are consdiered to be "having fun" which pretty much means, spending money! When i am in the village, it seems like a do the same things over and over... and in fact, i do just that...

At Maymuna's house, i buy my breakfast at their boutique and usually stick around to chat with her mother. She is very educated for a woman for her age. She is always up for a morning conversation. Sometimes its hard for her to STOP talking actually. I think she justs likes attention from me for some reason. After a few hours doing nothing there, i end up across the village at Janaba's house. I usually help out cooking lunch and or doings odds and ends around the house. Dont get me wrong though, i am still to this day treated like an extra special guest at her house. Sometimes i stay for lunch which pretty much means i have to stick around for afternoon tea.... which means i am still there around 4 PM. I usually head home between 4 and 5.

This sounds so boring, i know. But lately, i have learned to embrace it all and just be bored. Its a great feeling to know that i do not have any real responsibilties here. Maybe i shouldnt be saying that, but im just being honest. I mean, i do have work (garden sruff, book mobile, english club, etc) but none of my work is reallly set in stone. I can change my schedule any time i want to without any consequences. I cant even remember the last time i set an alarm clock! This may sound like the ideal life... think again. It has been a real struggle to get used to. Often i feel like my work here is pointless, or unneccesary. American culture leads us to believe that success is everything. Without success, what do we really have? Here, the more successful you are, the more you are expected to give to others. Its a sad thing sometimes. I met a man last week that had just returned from Europe. He drove a nice car and wore nice clothes. He told me when he went home, he had to lie to his family(extended family; he was not married) about where he had been. If they knew he was in Europe, then they would know he was successful in his work and expect more from him. Thats a real shame.

Moving here and taking on a life that was so foreign to me has been challenging but fun too. I know that i will probably never have the option of sleeping in as late as i want and doing whatever i want, whenever i want to do it after i leave Senegal. I wont be able to go to the beach whenever i choose. I will also never be able to cancel class or work commitments at the last minute without consequences. Leaving all of that behind will be hard; however, there will be a lot to gain. I will regain my freedom of speech, my pride in success, and my independance. I will be able to choose who i marry and when i will do it. I will choose my living environment, be gay or straight, stay out late at night or come home early, or use heat or air conditioning. I will be able to eat whatever, whenever i want and have ice in every single glass that i drink out of. I will be able to sleep peaceflly at night without the risk of contracting a deadly disease such as malaria.

Being an American brings on lots of luxuries. But we deal with a lot of responsibilities too. These responsibilities consist of but are not limited to the following: a 9-5, health insurance, car insurance, cell phone payments, and mortgages. Without these things, we wouldnt be able to function correctly in America. All of these things can lead to head aches and worries about where money to pay for these things will come from. But sometimes, just sometimes, the goods outweigh the bads and we find ourselves excited about all the responsibilties of being an American because those responsibilties pave the way for the luxuries.

Part of my commitment to Peace Corps is to teach people in this culture about American life and Americans about Senegalese life. The grass may always seem greener on the other side but next time you are driving to work in your privately owned car worrying about the kids, the bills, the groceries and wishing for a life filled with no responsibilities, think again and count your blessings. Some would kill to be in your shoes.

The photo to the right is what a cashew looks like straight from the tree. The nut grows inside an outter shell that sits on top of an apple like fruit. The fruit grows in yellow or red and is edible. It tastes sweet and the texture is nothing like an apple. its actually quite rubbery. The fruits are full of acid and leave me feeling sick every time i eat them. The nuts are pulled off the fruit and are cooked over a fire in the shell. The nuts are full of acid that can burn your skin if the nut is cracked open uncooked (remember what happened to me last year??) The women cook the nuts and then peel off the outer shell leaving what we call a cashew. The outter shell can cause a huge rash (remember what happened to me on a different occasion last year) and many people are extremely allergic to it. Thats why cashews are so expensive. They are very hard to process. I have become very allergic to all parts of the cashew and the fruit. I am staying far away from any form of cashew this year!

Today, i did have my first mango of the season. The hot season came with a vengance and mangoes are already ripening. Mangoes season is a great time of year because i live near lots of mango orchards and that means tasty fruit at all hours!

The school garden is finally up and running. The mason is not quite finished with the well but he finally reached water about 9.5 meters down. The school got really excited about the garden and decided to go ahead and plant in the garden even though the well is not finished yet. they are using a nearby faucet to water the garden. Using the faucet can get expensive so I am hoping this will be extra pressure on the workers to get the well finished asap. The school planted one section o the garden last week and have been watering it faithfully. I hope they keep up the good work!

Book Mobile news: Our driver accidentally backed the truck into a concrete fence and sidewalk area and did some major damage. The fence was in front of a very expensive, nice house. the owner was actually really nice about the whole situation and we are trying to get it all fixed up for him as quickly as we can. The truck is not doing so well. not really because of the situation with the fence, the truck is just old and is in constant need of repairs. David and I have been having real trouble working with the NGO that co operates the Book Mobile with us. The owner is an american lady that takes our work for granted. People at their organization expect a lot out of us and give us absolutely nothing in return. We have continued working with them because the project is a good one that we both believe in. When we take out the truck, the kids make it all worth it. We are trying to get the truck all fixed up by next week so we can take it out Tuesday to start our March run. I kind of have a feeling its not going to happen but im still keeping my fingers crossed.

I am having another volunteer visit me for the next few days. My friend Daniel and I are going on a two day bike ride and hoping to catch up on some swimming in the Mangroves. I havent spent much time their lately and want to hit up the mangrove beach before i leave... Speaking of beach, Ablaye and i had a wondeful weekend in Poppenguine last weekend. We only stayed for 3 days but it was well worth it. The water was freezing but we swam quite a bit. The water ended up being infested with black jelly fish. Thank God neither of us got stung but we did see several other people that did not end up being so lucky. The first time we entered the water we got out to about waist deep and then we noticed that there were hundreds of jelly fish all around us. It was scary but we managed to get past them and stay out where the water was deeper... for some reason they kept getting washed up to where the water was shallow..Im sure there were planty more that we couldnt see but we tried to forget about them and have a good time. Anyway, the beach was great and the weather was perfect!

I hope everyone at home is doing great. i hear the weather is starting to get warmer and people are spending more time outdoors. Also, enjoy your spring break vacations!!!

I cant believe its already March! The months are coming and going so quickly. This month i have a full schedule. I have less than 3 months left in Senegal so i am trying to get as much work in as possible while i have as much fun as possible. David and I have been working really hard on Book Mobile stuff. We cleaned out the truck today and got rid of old books that were damaged last year during the rainy season. We also are working hard to get the truck fixed up because we got a ticket last month because the drivers side mirror is broken. It was not really a ticket, it was more or less a police officer asking how much money we would give him so he would let us continue on without taking the driver's license.. corruption at its finest! The truck is having some serious mechanical issues also so we are trying to get them all fixed up before taking it out for another run.

the garden project is stil SLOWLY moving along. Its definately not finished and probably wont be by the end of the month. I just hope its finished by the time i leave... never ending battle it seems. i am having a PC agriculture assistant come out this week to talk to the villagers for me to get to the bottom of the problem. I finally figured out that there are a lot of politcal problems in the village. Diagle is sub-divided into two smaller villages that make on large village. The school is right between them both and i have heard that the problems are because each indivivual village does not like to work with the other side. I always knew there was a big divide between the villages but this is taking it to another level. I love teh Diagle side of the village.... unfortunately i live on the other side, Mbaleme. I spend 90% of my time in the village on the Diagle side... usually at a woman named Janaba's house...

Janaba Sarr is the most classy Senegalese person i know. She is my female counterpart and such a great friend. Her door is always open to me and my friends. I feel like she is the one person in senegal that really does not want anything from me other than my friendship. I am going to miss her sincerely when i leave. I do think i will keep in touch with her for a long time though... she reminds me a lot of my grandma back at home.. She is a great cook and always trying to feed me. Janaba has actually helped me learn to cook a lot of senegalese foods. I have really taken an interest in learning to cook the foods i eat here. So far, im not too bad!

Other fun news: I did decide to get on my bike and bike into Kaolack this weekend to get book mobile stuff done. i biked about 40 miles. After the first hour, i realized that the whole bike trip was going to be up hill and biking into the wind. I arrived about 4 hours later. The last hour felt like misery. I have biked this before and without the wind it took less than three hours. The winds here are hard core. Dont forget about the crazy sandstorm i was in last summer!

Plans for the month include: Next weekend i am going on a small mini vacation. Ablaye and I are hitting up another beach that i havent been to yet. We are only going for two nights but its super hot here and the beach is calling my name. The following week, my friend Daniel is coming for a visit and we are biking to a small town not too far away and catching a porogue (small boat) to a nearby island. The island is in the mangroves and has senegals only Eco lodge type campement. we wanna just go for the day and see what the place has to offer. Its always great to take porogue rides through the mangroves too! That weekend, Kaolack is hosting its annual party.. really i dont know what we are celebrating but fom what i hear tha party should be a good one.. lots of food, drinks, and i hear there is even going to be some sort of a DJ or something... who knows how that will end up but i sure am looking forward to it. the follwong week, David and I will be back in the villages with the Book Mobile. The month is going to fly by.

I plan to be back in the states by Memorial Day! im running out of time here and just trying to get through these last few months with good work and good fun. I hope you all at home are getting warmer weather than what i heard about a few weeks ago. Mother Nature is still blwoing our socks off here with temperatures in the 110's every day (already)! This is going to be one HOT HOT HOT dry season!

After arriving back to the village after a FUN week in Dakar, i was greeted by one of my favorite English club students. He came over, shook my hand, and said "Look me in the lips." Obviously i laughed and asked him what he was talking about and he told me he saw it in a Revlon make up add in a magazine i had given him. Anyway, it was quite funny and now i realize i need to actually look through magazines before i give them out...cosmopolitan is not exactly rated PG!

David and i are currently in the middle of another Book Mobile run. Things this month have been a little smoother than last month. We are finally understanding what is exactly expected of us and what to do and when to do it. We also started doing more activities in the villages with the kids to try and "make the books comes alive!" We are trying to teah the kids that the books are great ways to use your imagination. Most kids here have to grow up at a very early age and dont have much of an opportunity to be a kid and actualy PLAY. David and i took some kids aside and did a few read alouds. We also had the kids choose their favorite animal in one of the books and we did animal face paintings. The kids really had a good time. We are going out with the Book Mobile again tomorrow. The truck is having some mechanical problems. Hopefully we make it through the day... wish us luck!

The garden project is still going SLOW!!! I have laid low for the past two weeks and kind of stepped back to see if someone in the village would step up to the plate.. i dont quite think that has happened yet! The project is moving along but super slow. It is about halfway finished and we are now two months in. ugh... whatever though... its not my loss!

Other projects- I recently decided i want to get the school children involved in tree planting this year. I plan to repaint the mural on the school wall(the volunteer before me made a mural map of the whole world on the side of the school...its old and in reallly bad shape now!) and the painting will have something to do with health, gardening, and trees! I think it will be a great way to remind the children each day about the project that is currently being built for them. I want to get all the kids involved and have them use their handprints to make leaves for trees. The kids havent been involved in the building of the garden so i think this will be a good way to introduce the garden and get the involved. I want to talk to the head master this weekend and get the OK but it shouldnt be a problem :)

I am going to upload some photos this week... be on the lookout! Hope everyone at home is doing ok... miss you all!

Happy February! January is finally over and I seem to be settling back down here in Senegal with lots of work and what seems like LOTS AND LOTS of free time on my hands. Transferring myself back to a Senegalese schedule has been nothing but diffcult. I have found it hard to deal with the creeeping days and looong weeks. Thankfully a new month has started and hopefully it will bring on a feeling of normalcy for me because this past month has been nothing normal at all.

Things this past week have been absolutely crazy. I will say hands down that this has been the worst week i have ever had in my village. I probably shouldnt be typing up a blog when im feeling completely frustrated but it will be nice for people to see how things really work around here. For starters, i finally got the community garden project that i have been so looking forward to going. I bought all the materials, had a village meeting, made plans with the president of the school assosiation about the when/ where/ what/ hows of the community garden. I was so excited that things finally got underway and then..WHAM!! Things starting falling apart before they even had a chance to get going. I always thought the president of the school was a respectable man: Nice, friendly, willing to help...WRONG! This man has burned me time after time this week. Lets just start from the beginning. I came to kaolack and bought all the materials for the garden based on what the villagers wanted. He took one look at some of the things i bought and critiqued it all saying i pretty much didnt know what i was doing. He told me the wire that i bought to hold up the fencing was not thick enough and he needed to exchange it. He asked me for money because the thicker wire would be more expensive. Normally, i would never hand a villager money but i was out doing runs for the Book Mobile at this time and was about the leave the village for a few days and they were anxious to get started while i was away. I handed him the money he asked for and then told him i needed a receipt. Well... long story short, he bought the wire and gave me a fake receipt and kept 25% of the money for himself. Strike 1!

I left to head out with David to take out the Book Mobile. While i was gone, the village got started putting in posts where the fencing will be later added. For some strange reason the president thought it was ok to change the demensions of the fence without consulting me making it 30 meters shorter than it was originally supposed to be!!! Strike 2!!! Now there are unused materials laying all around the school that will never be used for anything. The total cost for the extra materials is over 300$. I cannot understand why he did that. He later explained that the school wanted to save space to build another classroom in the future.... NO PROBLEM.... BUT WHY DID THEY TELL ME THEY WANTED A BIGGER FENCE IF THEY REALLY COULDNT FIND SPACE????

I could go on and on about strike 3, 4, and 5 but ill spare you and get to the biggest problem of them all. After talking (and arguing) with the president of this group for several days, even more bad news came. When PC gives a volunteer grant money to help out their villages, the village has to find a way to conrtibute 25%. They generally have to give 10% money contribution and 15% in-kind contribution..meaning some sort of free labor. My village handed over their 10% money contribution without me even asking. I thought i was going to have a super easy time getting them to get the project going; they all seemed extremely motivated! The 15% labor contribution was agreed upon by the community as a whole and they decided that they would build the fence and dig the well themselves. Now i realize that digging a well can be complicated and that average villagers have no way of knowing how to do this. I talked with the president several times and he informed me that they were planning to pay a mason to come in a do it for them. No problem! Great! A few days goes by and a friend in the village comes to my room at about 9 PM and said.."look, you are my friend so im gonna tell you the truth. we dont have any money to pay for the well and they are planning to ask you to pay for it after you buy all of the materials." I was pretty angry at the president for lying to me straight to my face for the past few weeks about this but i was also happy that someone came to me and told me the truth about what was going on. I talked with him and thanked him for his honesty. I then called a meeting in my room that night around 10PM. 4 men showed up and i questioned them all about the village contribution and who would be paying for the well. The president just sit there and said nothing. I finally point blank asked him if he was planning for me to pay for the well, etc, etc. They all came clean and told me their sob stories about how the village has no money and they are so sorry and embarrassed that they didnt want to tell me. We talked and tried to find a solution. They asked me if i would pay for it. I said no! We continued and somehow, they convinved me to contribute about 100$ to the cause. I agreed i would help them out if they agreed they would pay for the rest of it and they would put in solid effort in helping the mason. I also explained to them about the whole point of the 25% contribution is so PC knows that the village is invested in the project and really want to see it successful. We came to a final agreement and i felt fine about contributing a little of my own money to help out the village. I mean, they did kind of take me in under their wing and have taught me a lot in the last year and a half. I felt much better about the project UNTIL YESTERDAY! My counterpart and i were chatting about how thigns were going. He has been a huge help in dealing with the villagers all wanted to put their two cents into the project and having too many cooks n the kitchen. He said it was really nice of me to contribute to the village and it would be a successful project. Then he just mentioned in passing that he didnt know why the village was being so weird about contributing because they have over 1 million CFA in the bank! When i heard this, i was crushed... think about what just happened... villagers lied to me, convinced me to help them out financially, but in reality, the school has a bigger bank account than i could ever imagine having here????!!!???

After thinking this over for two days, i have never been so disappointed. I am so shocked and ashamed of them for tricking me out of financial help. I cannot believe that after living here for this long, people in the village still see me as an open bank account. Im mad at myself for falling for it!

Anyway, after having such a rough week in Diagle, Laura and i decided to bike to Toubacuta and get away for a day. we met up with the new volunteer there and continued biking to Missirah. I got some awesome pictures of wild monkeys along the way. We biked about 40 miles total in a day. We were lucky and had great weather so it was not as hot as it could have been. We arrived in Missirah around 1130AM and planned on sticking around to have lunch and go see this HUGE Baobab tree there. It is the biggest tree in Senegal. We pulled up to the tree and hopped off our bikes. Immediately we were approached by a man asking us to by his carvings. we turned him down and approached the tree. A little old man came running down the hil towards us screaming NO NO NO!!! He came over and told us we had to pay the equivalent to 3 dollars to look at the tree. we kind of just ignored him and kept walking. For some reason, he kept targeting me. He followed me and kept shouting saying it was his tree and we had to pay. By this time there were about 4 men standing around us watching us gettting screamed at by this 4 foot tall Senegalese man that was about 60 years old. Me being the smartass that i am told him that we lived hee and that if we needed to pay to see the tree then he should ask us...NOT SCREAM in our faces. I also mentioned that the tree belonged to God. not him. People dont really have property lines here so there is no doubt in my mind thAT he was some crazy old man that saw an opportunity to squeeze money out of some stupid tourist. I mentioned that the tree belonged to God because usually when someone mentions God, people calm down and realize that what they are doing is in fact wrong. Not this guy! He got even more angry. He would not bug off and continued to hassle us. He approached me and started doing some sort of voodoo type dance around me mocking us all. it was the strangest thing i have ever seen! He started saying the wolof terms for F you over and over and i seriously thought he was about to punch me in the face. He was getting so angry because Laura and I were just acting like he wasn't even there. I dont speak good french but Laura told me he was calling me every name in the book in french. The other random men fianlly came over and said that they were sorry about what was happening but we needed to get out of there because they thought he was going to get violent. We stayed long enough to get about 5 photos and then we split. We got back on our backs and biked back to Toubacuta. Had we just biked 20 miles one direction to get harrassed by some maniac old man that wanted to beat me up?!?!?! What is going on around here these days???

Lets just say things around here have been interesting! I also had a chance to see the Conceran (sp?) Each town or village has someone dress up in a crazy red costume and he carries knives and runs around the village scaring children. Its something like the Boogyman. Its a tradition to have this man do this each year during circumsion times. He chaces kids with knives and they are terrified he is going to circumsize them (Its Senegalese tradition for boys not to be circumsized until they are older. Usually between 10 and 18). Its strange but it was kind of cool to see. I even snapped a secret photo. Laura told me a story about another time when she ran into the conceran and it turned really violent. He started chasing Laura and her friends and was serious about hurting them. They had to go hide in a closet at a restaurant and he even came and pounded on the door with his knives. It sounds so crazy and i cant imagine being in thst closet with her. When we saw him in Toubacuta, he seemed pretty harmless but the Senegalese people went into hiding, even the adults. I had a chance to see him one other time in another part of the country. Thank God i was in a car that time because there was absolutely no one else to be seen anywhere else and he looked a little more dangerous.

This post probably sounds crazy and the last week has been crazy. But just to let everyone know, i am ok! I will be in the village until this weekend and then David and i have more Book Mobile work to do. Next week, i will be in Dakar for the west African Invitational Softball Tournament. All volunteers from West Africa come for a two day conference and 3 days softball tournament. There will be lots of swimming, drinking, and fun! Im excited to get out of all the drama that has become my exhistence here in the village lately!! Ihope everyone in the states is doing ok. Miss you alll!!!

Sorry about all the typing errors in this post. Im too annoyed about all that has happened to re-read what i wrote and correct it!

The link to the video above is an excellent way to learn more about Senegal. The video says more than i could possible ever say through my blog. I highly advise watching it! Half the world's population faces food shortage by the end of the century as climate change takes its toll on global harvests. Drought in the Sahal, which runs through Senegal, means many climate migrants are flocking to the capital, Dakar, to find work to be able to feed their families. The video also looks at what is being done to feed Senegal in the future. After watching this, you will have more of an understanding about how people really live here.

Back to the village means back to work. After heading back last week, i realized the next few months are going to be crazy. The community garden project is moving slowly but surely. I spent pretty much every single day last week buying materials and getting them transported back to Diagle. It was fun spending money that didnt belong to me but not as fun as it could have been because it was all in an old shop that sells nothing but cement, iron, and misc. things. I bought all of the materials for the garden and am now just waiting for the villagers to get a move on it and actually start building. I had a talk with the president of the school today and told him i will not be buying anything for the well until i see some serious motivation coming from people in the village. Hopefully in the next few days they will have a meeting and organize who will be doing what. I think i have busted my butt in the last few days getting things ready for them. I hope they are ready to bust some butt for me! People here have no idea how simple little tasks for them can be huge hurtles for me to jump over. One great example: CHARETTES. Those are the carts pulled by a donkey or horse used for transporting materials or people. I spent some serious time this week waiting around for people to come pick things up and transport them for me. EVERYONE here pretty much has a charette in their family but no one wants to help me when i need one. I obviously dont know how to drive one of those things. Its strange but they have specific noises that they make for the donkey/horse to turn, slow, or stop. I ended up paying about 5 times what it should cost to get materials transported from Sokone to Diagle because the villagers were being lazy and wouldnt help. There are always excuses: In the morning it is "Wait until later, the charette needs to go out in the fields" in the afternoon, it is "Wait until later, its really hot right now." In the evenings it is, "Wait until tomorrow, the donkey is really tired!" Things like this make me want to scream! I think i hear the word "wait" more than anything else here. But i explained to them that everytime i have to pay someone for a charette that just takes more money away from their project that could be used to buy nicer materials. I heard a few people making fun of me after i walked away but whatever... its not my money. Its just makes me die a little inside when i try so hard to help people here and get turned down. I am asking for people to HELP ME HELP THEM!!! Its not that complicated!

A few days ago a young girl stopped by my room asking for nail polish. I took one look at her face and almost vomited. This girl has huge bumps all over her face and body. I immediately asked her what it was and she said it was rice. I asked her to explain and she said when she pops the bumps that rice comes out. I took her home and talked with her parents and they said that she has had it for about two months now. I asked to see her pop one and when she did... a WORM came out!! This is a tough issue for me here because of course i wanted to help her because obviously her family is not planning to, but its definately not my responsibility to buy medicine for people in the village. I have done it a few times in the past but only on rare, serious occasions. Obviously i am not going to let someone die because they dont have medicine but i know that if i start buying medicine for sick people, then others in the future will expect it too. It sucks. What would you do?

Other news: David and I finally got the Book Mobile up and running and have spent the last two days out in the bush delivering books to elementary schools. We will be going out with it again tomorrow. The kids really seem to love it! The book mobile has been a fun project thus far but it has a long way to go. The truck has problems and we are still in need of more books. We do have an awesome driver that has been more than wonderful in helping us with passing out books and dealing with rambunctious villagers. Shout out to Babacar! He is also a mechanic so when our truck broke down three times on our first trip out of Kaolack, he saved our lives! We are still in need of a better selection of books. All of our books are donated and unfortunately people often donate junky books that could not be used elsewhere.... sometimes not ideal books for elementary students and villagers. Today i found an "Idiots Guide to College Survival." haha It definately made me laugh. Aftet that David and I spent several hours going through the books and taking things off the truck that seemed unuseful. We have gone to four villages in the past two days and all is going well. I got some good photos of the truck and the kids today. Ill post those up soon. After we finish our run tomorrow, we will be spending time trying to coordinate the book mobile with village "reading rooms." We are creating reading rooms around the country that are pretty much libraries but cant be called libraries due to issues with the government. Hopefully we will get some cool projects that bring the rooms and the book mobile together. Our next run for the book mobile will be in February!

Things here are going well for me and i have been a busy little bee. I hope all is well with everyone at home. I miss you all already!! :) I hope my dad and sister Crystal both had happy birthdays this month!

Ive been dreading posting on here because i guess that means my vacation is officially over. I am currently back in Senegal and am heading back to the village tomorrow. UGH! Im not really dreading going back or anything but no one really likes to go back to work. I spent the last month in The States visiting family and friends. I had a wonderful time and was sad to leave. But all was well and i am back and refreshed and ready to move forward.

Before heading home for the holidays, I received a large amount of money from the US government funding a community garden project I have been trying to get off the ground for over a year. FINALLY its all coming together and now its time to get down to business and make it happen. Im planning to have a village meeting this week and find out how the village wants to get our new project started. I also need to find out if they came up with 10% of the money for the project. Villages have to pay for 10% of the cost of the community project as a way for th government to know that they are really invested in it, Also, they have to pay for atleast 15% more of the project which can be done through free labor. Hopefully they will be ready to get going.... but things take a lot longer than necessary here so i guess ill just have to wait and see what kinds of problems i hear about after getting home...I am very excited to get this project going. The village will really be happy when it is complete.

I dont have much other news since i am just now getting back and settling in. Thanks to everyone that made Ablaye's and my vacation great. We had a wondeful trip and couldnt have asked to have better time. Thanks again to all of those who donated money as well... It is all very appreciated!

Racism.....ugh... There is really no good way to discuss this subject but i experience it daily firsthand and want to share some of my expriences. Normally when someone mentions racism, most people in America would immediately think of racism against black people. I use the word black people not in a negative way but i just want to reinforce there are other black people besides african americans.... anyway, racism against white people is a part of life here. I CANNOT walk outside the door without being called TOUBAB by a screaming child, waiving frantically down the street. I here "TOUBAB, MAY MAA XAALIS" (White person, give me money!) more often than i here my own name. I think i have been a pretty good sport about it thus far but today i finally hit a breaking point. Toubab is a word Senegalese people use loosely for white person. Yay, ok maybe its not THAT racist to call me toubab all the time but why is my race even noticed???? When i was living in Kenya I was called Mzungu daily and realized its a part of life that will never change. I have talked with many Senegalese people about the term toubab and they describe it as nothing rude or negative at all. People describe it as saying something like "American" or "Senegalese." They just say "Why do you get so mad??? You ARE a Toubab." And yes, i suppose i am a white person. I have become quite used to the word toubab and have accepted it as part of my name... Aissatou Toubab. (My name is Aissatou here if any of you have forgotten). But today something happened and i snapped. There is another word people use here that is very derogatory.... Hoonk A Noop! This means "Red Ears." I draw the line with toubab. When someone says Hoonk a Noop, they know its mean and racist but they do it anyway. In my opinion its like calling an african american the "N Word"..there is nothing more demeaning than this. Anyway, today I decided to head down to the salon and get my hair braided for Tabaski. Women getting their hair done for Senegalese holidays is a must. I like to play along and get big braids and the people here love it. So i walk into the salon and discuss what i want and the price. All was well until i sat done and the girl starting braiding. All of the sudden another girl working in the salon decided to start talking about me. I didnt say anything because people talk about me constantly but then i heard the magic words... Honk a noop. I heard her say it and i repeated what she said to back to her and all the girls working started giggling and looking down at the floor. I starting undoing all the braids i had in my hair and the women were in shock. I grabbed my purse and just told them that Senegal is a bad place and i walked out the door. I walked home so mad. Racism sucks. It doesnt matter where, when, or why... it sucks. A fw minutes after i got home, the regional house guard came and got me and told me the ladies from the salon were out front. I went out and they apologized and said that it was one of their students that said it and they would braid me for free if i would agree to come back. Lets just say i will not be going back there. No amount of money or free braiding is worth someone treating me like im worthless and dont exist. I am shocked that the girl said it so freely knowing that i can speak Wolof. Our previous conversation was in Wolof.

All in all, racism is terrible but i will say that it has been a life changing exprience to be here and experience racism against white people. White Americans have to admit that they have it pretty easy in the racism department. Here, that is not the case. I have learned how it feels to be the minority. I have also learned what it feels like to have a child see me and run away terrified because they have never seen a white person before. I have learned what it feels like to have someone think I am worthless and stupid because I do not have the same skin color as them. I have learned what it feels like for people to think I am the richest person in the world and beg me to buy them this, that, and the other just because I am white. I have also learned that apparently Barack Obama, Akon, and I are all friends and live near each other in America. While experiencing all of these things has been less than fun at times, I will add that I would have never learned all of these things had i not come here. I appreciate all the things i have had to go through to get to where I am. It has given knowledge that is worth more than anyone could ever pay me and for that, I am thankful.

With that being said, i would like to say Happy Thanksgiving to all of my family and friends at home. I am thanksful for eah and every one of you. Ablaye and I fly into the states on Dec 7th and will be there until Jan 2nd. We are both very excited to get home and see all the people i have missed for so long. Just 13 days left!

Congratulations Crystal and Andy! Im so excited!!! i know i havent written on here in awhile but i wanted to write a quick post and wish my big sister and brother in law the best and to say congratualtions on the birth of their baby girl. Mommy and baby are both doing great!

I have less than three weeks until i will be back in the states for christmas. i dont have much else to talk about because America is on my mind 24/7.... especially with the birth of the new baby. I have mentally checked out of Senegal... the next few weeks are going to be tough. Work has kept be insanely busy but ill write about that another time... as for today... im just daydreaming about the beautiful niece that will be waiting for me when i get home :)

Its been almost a year now that i have been out of training and in the village and actually working as a volunteer... Other volunteers and i were talking about Peace Corps today and pretty much reflecting on what we have/have not learned or done in the past year. I have been in Senegal now for going on 15 months. If i would have known then what I know now, i dont know if i would be here today... not that i regret my decision to be here one bit. It has been the best experience i have ever had and i have learned so much about myself and about life in general. BUT Peace Corps is HARD. Its as simple as that. I dont like writing negative things on here because people at home worry. My thoughts today are not negative in any way; I think they are just reality. When i left for Senegal last year, i would have never imagined that I would have been sick so much, learned to speak two other languages, learned how to sit down and do nothing without being bored. I have also learned that i love to read. I never did that in the states. I think my time here has been priceless and all volunteers say the second year is a lot more productive and fulfilling than the first. I am exited to see what the future holds in store for me for my second year here.

Things with work have been going great. I cant remember if i wrote on here previously about me taking over a Book Mobile project.. Anyway, i am now in charge of a book mobile that is run by the NGO (non-government organization) 10,000 Girls. This association is run by girls in Senegal to help give education, empowerment, and revenue generating projects to girls in Senegal that would not otherwise have it. I am taking over the Book Mobile with another volunteer, David. The point of the book mobile is to get books into the hands of children and adults so they will read... and LEARN. David and I are planning to do our first run November 17th. We are going to 4 villages. We will go to villages that have PC volunteers living in them. The volunteer in a given village is responsible for keeping track of the books there. The truck will go around to these villages one time every month. We are hoping to be able to do up to 8 villages a month in the future. We are just starting out and are still working out the kinks but the project seems to be going well...other than a few minor problems with the truck. I really believe in the project and hope its as successful as i envision. Another volunteer started the project a year ago but spent most of her time getting the materials and the truck ready... now we are ready to swoop in and get the project going and books out into the villages. We are taking donations for books in any language all the time. If you are interested in donating, let me know.

I recently signed up to host some american high school students. Im not really sure what i got myself into but i think i am hosting american high school exchange students. Two students will be coming to visit me November 2nd-7th. They have been living in Dakar and will be heading back to the states at the end of the semester and want to experience village life before returning home. Pretty much two youngsters are going to follow me around for five days... i sure hope i can find something to keep them entertained with and tat no one gets sick... ugh! Its kind of a big responsibility hosting people becaue my hut is only 4 meters by 4 meters... Not to mention all of the water i will be pulling out of the well for the three of us.... bathing, cooking, drinking, etc. It gets exhausting to say the least! But, i think i can manage to show them a good time and am actually looking forward to it.

Other work-I started English classes in Sokone. My first class will be held on October 31st. I had over 30 people sign up the first day so again... maybe i dont know what i am getting myself into. The classes will be taught in English only and are for people who have previous knowledge of English and want to better their language skills. There are several small middle and elementary school in Sokone. Many of those schools have English departments. Ideally, the teachers in those schools will all come to my classes. If I help improve their language skills, they will become better English teachers. I also went to one of the middle schools and requested to start teaching English there. They seemed really excited about it and offered to let me become a member of their English department and teach classes weekly. I am VERY excited about this but dont want to get too excited too soo. This same thing happened last year with the high school in Sokone and the school never called me back. I went there with another volunteer 4 times and they always acted very excited about working with us but when it actually came down to work, they were too lazy to do anything and never even started their English club back up after the previous year. Sometimes its so frustrating. Why would a high school refuse FREE help from native English speakers??? I am hoping to hear from this middle school within the next few days. They actually teach English during school hours so i am hoping it will be a different story than last year. Either way, I have my own adult classes starting a week from today. I need to spend some serious time on lesson plans; however, i am super excited to be teaching.

Family news- I have been having problems with my host father again...surprise, surprise!!! My blog is not the place to vent about drama within the family but i just want to say that i have never been so frustrated with an adult in my entire life. My host father has no regaurd for anyone other than himself. My family is POOR. And when i say poor, i mean it. There have been nights when i havent been able to sleep because i was so hungry. This is a reality this family cannot change because of the wrckless decisions of their "provider." Last week, he came to tell me he recently had another baby with his third wife. I definately was not shocked. The man has 4 wives and 14 children of his own, not to mention the children that his wives had with other men bfore they were married to him. If I added those children to the count, the number would be well over 20. I have never even met his 4ourth wife and have no clue how many kids she has....anyway, that is none of my business and not the point. I dont care if the man fathers 50 kids but the reason i am so angered by this man is because he does not take care of his kids... the kids i have grown to love. The kids come to me all the time because they are either sick or hungry. I do my best to help the kids out with medicine and with food. Its my pleasure to do it BUT I dont like feeling like i am being taken advantage of. For example, Khalilou is 5 years old and has worms. I have noticed him losing weight and have been just waiting for over a month to see if his father was going to step in and buy him medicine to get rid of the worms. NOPE... SURE HASNT!!! I cant decide if he just doesnt care or if he just knows i will end up buying the meds for him. I hate to do it. I dont want to buy the medicine just to spite the father but im decided im buying ittomorrow. I cant sit back and watch this kid become a bag of bones and not do anything about it. He will get whats coming to him later from someon other than me. I weighed poor Khalilou and he is 11 kilograms...which is approximately 24 lbs!!!Dont forget he is 5 years old! This man raises my blood pressure daily... Im not even going to mention how this father lied to me and suckered me into buying something for the family and now owes me over fifty dollars. Ill never see that money again!

On a lighter note- Ablaye and I will be home in 42 days :):):):) The month of November will be a busy one for me. Im looking forward to having lots to do so i wont sit around and count down the minutes to coming home. I dont know if it will work though :) We are so excited to see everyone. I just updated my ipod today with all christmas music. I know its early but "The best way to spread christmas cheer is to sing loud for all to hear" (quoted from Elf)

Still waiting for my new little niece Lucy... whats going on in there???

I just finished with a week long complete body check up with the PC doctor. I am finally completely healthy... no parasites, no wounds... its nice. Every volunteer has to go through a big check-up after they have been here for a year. I procrastinated and just now got around to doing it. Im happy to say that i have no problems. Also, the rainy season has pretty much ended. It hasnt rained in weeks. That usually means that many of the bugs go away (including mosquitos) and skin infections start to disappear. The cold season should be coming on strong in the next few weeks. I cant wait! When i say cold season, i mean like 70 and 80 degree weather during the day. Its so bizarre how much my body has adapted in the last 14 months. I woke one night last week and was freezing. I got out my big winter blanket and checked the thermometer. It was a whopping 72 degrees!!! Im going to die when i come home for christmas lol.. but certainly looking forward to the cold weather.

Things here have been going well. I have been in Dakar for the last week. I feel like i have been here soo much in the last few months. I have been sick so often that i pretty much have been here A LOT. Atleast this visit was on my own terms and i didnt have to stay in the medical unit. I have been staying with an American lady named Alice. She lives downtown and i stay with her sometimes when i come to Dakar. Let me just say that she is the nicest lady EVER. She is always so welcoming and generous when i come over. Last night she took me out for sushi for my belated birthday. I havent had sushi since i left the states and it was more than delicious. Lets just say i have been well taken care of in the last week.

On another note, i have recently found more with with an NGO in Sokone. It looks like it is going to be great work with great people. The NGO finds children that are under priveledged and hooks them up with sponsors in France. The sponsor sends a recommended thirty dollars a month to sponsor the child. This pays for school fees, school supplies, and healthcare. The program is really good and the people really know what they are doing. I went to them to find out what their program is about and found out that they dont even have a website. After talking to them, they told me they really want to extended their program to America and see if they can find sponsors there. I explained the importance of a website and agreed to create one for them. I have spent the last week working on getting a website going and putting them on wikipedia. Ill let you all know when it is finished! Also they have asked me to be acting liason between their organization and America since there is only one person in this group that speaks fluent English. I will be the main contact point for people in the states that do want to donate or sponsor. Also I am in the process of starting adult english classes in Sokone with this group. There are A LOT of people in my area that speak some English but need help in order to become fluent. Im hoping to get my classes going within the next week!

I hope everyone at home is staying warm... Ill be home in just a few short weeks. As of now, im just trying to get back to the village and get to work. Im also anxiously awaiting the arrival of my niece... hopefully i will be getting a call in a few weeks saying the family has a healthy new baby girl!

Mbedee jamm! Taa Mbind naa? Jaam reek Mene. Xaye, jegaam Ganard. Xaarit es, jessica, a xe gardaa no mbind in. Contantaam! kaa faax. Fogaam xan in tayel naal fop. Apres, Kaam bugo jow a put. Xan in naam apaax!

ok, so that was a little bit of sereer. the language i speak here in my village. My language has come such a long way and in th past few months i have noticed myself go from good to really good. Above i just said...

Good morning. how is your family? We are in peace here. Today i will have a guest. My friend jessica is coming to visit us. I am very happy. i think we will be lazy all day but i will cook lunch. We will eat a lot.

haha pretty elementary but thats how people talk here in the village; there are always the same exact greetings every single time you see someone.. How areyou? how is the family? are you in peace?

!Hope everyone is doing ok and happy and healthy. Excitement is growing deep inside because in about two months i will be home for christmas vacation!!!! I have never known such excitement! things here have been going great since i got back to the village. I havent done much in the lines of work lately because everything has been planted and people are just waiting to harvest their fields. the rains are slowly starting to subside... Which means the cool season is soon to come. But things have been quite humid lately. I started waking up in puddles of sweat again...nasty! Within a month or so the weather should tame down. I cant even imagine what it will feel like in america. I was freezing a few nights ago and woke up and checked the thermometer. It was 71 degrees...

I am in the midst of waitng for money for my school garden project; i have had this project in the works since last February and am reallllllyl hoping to get it funded. Say a little prayer for me because i need all i can get. If i dont get the project funded soon, i doubt it ever will :( the school garden project will be huge for the village and for the school. Now all i need is Peac corps to approve the project and hand over the xaalis (money in wolof).

I recently spoke on the phone with the new volunteer coming to live in the village beside me. she is learning Sereer also. She sounded super enthusiastic on the phone and i am so excited to get a few face around here. I think she and i will have opportunitues to work together in the future. she will be living lless than a mile from me. Her family has never had a volunteer before so i think she may need a little help in the beginning. people here sometimes are confused about what a volunteer is really supposed to do here. I am hoping i can be a good reference for her to get her on her feet.

We just had Korite in the village... The holiday is the end of ramadan. I actaully celebrated it twice because on half of the village celebrated it on Sunday and the other half celebrated it on monday.. to say the least, i ate more than my fair share. I got some really good photos that i put up on facebook. i realize not everyone uses facebook so i will try and add them to my online photo album in a few minutes...

Miss you all..... 70 days until i get home lol

Tomorrow, my mother will be having a birthday....

Mom- Happy 25th birthday to the most beautiful mother in the world. May all of your dreams come true!

Before i start, I am alive and well as of now. No permanent damage. I have just been released from the hospital. I was diagnosed with Malaria on Tuesday and had to spend a few days in the hospital to see what was going on. I was having terrible pains in the right side of my stomach. I also had a fever of 102. It all started in the middle of the night Monday so i toughed it out through the night and called the doctor first thing Tuesday morning. She really wanted me to come to Dakar to examine me but there have been insane downpours this week and the road to Dakar is basically non-existent anymore. The PC doctor thought it was too dangerous for me to try and take public transportation all the way to Dakar during all of the rains. Another volunteer tried and his car ended up washing away with several people in it and they ended up having to swim out of the nearby river. Anyway, i was in no shape to head to the garage and attempt to make it to Dakar. The PC doctor told me to go to the hospital in Kaolack. Sooo, i headed out the door in what was basically a monsoon and practically crawled to a taxi crying hysterically like a baby. By the time i made it to the hospital, the town was pretty flooded and i had to wade through water to get in. After arriving, i was taken aside and three women pretty much started stabbing me with needles and not telling me what was going on. It sucked... A LOT. They didnt speak the same language as me but they kept asking me "Why are you crying??" Im sure the reasons for th hysteria are pretty obvious (1. I was in a lot of pain. 2. I was ALONE in the nasty hospital in a foreign country. 3. They were giving me unkown injections and NO ONE would tell me what was going on!!!) but they just couldnt seem to figure it out. After about thirty minutes i broke down and called the PC doctor in Dakar and told her i was about to leave because they wouldnt tell me what they were injecting into me and she called the hospital and had a talk with the doctor. She called me back and basically told me it is Senegalese custom to not tell the patient whats wrong with them or give them any updates of whats going on UNTIL THEY ARE RELEASED!!!!! She convinced me everything was ok so i decided not to sneak out and was later thrown into a back room and sat there alone for the rest of the day having no clue of anything that had happened. I was told i couldnt leave until my fever went down. The next day other volunteers came by to check on me and basically i took the IV out and told them i was leaving. They let me go and told me i had Malaria. I went back to the regional house and waited for a PC car to be sent to get me. I ended up in Dakar early yesterday morning. I have been in the hospital here since. The PC doctor is skeptacle of the results the hospital in kaolack gave me because they told me if their results were accurate, i would be dead. This morning i was sent to have an ultrasound of my liver, intestines, gall bladder, et and the results show that my mid section is inflammed but they have no clue why because all of the other blood tests came back negative. I was told there is nothing they can do for me at the moment and i am just kind of waiting it out. I am continuing the malaria treatments and that seems to be under control and going away. Another volunteer was diagnosed with the same stomach issues this week as well so they are keeping me here over the weekend to be sure that i dont have some sort of virus but everything looks ok at this point. No moer fever and just minor stomach pains. I should be released on Monday.

Thanks for the nice messages from those of you who knew i was here in the hospital. I appreciate them all. Also i would like to address another issue. Many people have responded to this and other med issues by saying "COME HOME." Thats nice that people want whats best for me and want me to come home but i just want to let people know that saying that does not make my life here any easier and i have no intentions of coming home. Illness is a fact of life here and people just learn to deal with it. Malaria is the only illness i have had in the last year that is life threatening and we have more than enough healthcare here provided by PC to deal with that as it comes (i just happened to have really bad luck and get sick during a monsoon). Yes, i realize i have been sort of a magnet for disasters so far but all of the illnesses have come and gone and life goes on. Im not finished with my work here and plan to stay until i feel like i have accomplished everything i came to do. When that happens i will let all of you know :) Until then just keep reading! Ill be sure and post an update early next week to let everyone know how i am doing.

By the way, today is my one year anniversary here. Happy anniversary to the 38 out of 40 of us that came last Sept who are still here.

Also, Happy 18th Birthday Devin! Hope you have a wonderful day! xoxo

Just wanted to give a quick recap of the past week.

Today my host father was gone all day. He left early in the morning and the family knew he wouldnt be back until late afternoon. Around 11 am i noticed that my mothers were cooking up a pretty decent sized lunch. Dont forget that it is Ramadan and people are supposed to be fasting. Around 1 PM i was called to the bowl to eat lunch. The whole family came to eat and i didnt say anything about fasting but i was wondering what was going on. Anyway, halfway through we hear a car stop out front and the host father coming in. Both mothers took the food and ran! They hid it in their rooms so the host father wouldnt know they weren't fasting.... oh, Senegal!

So a few days ago i went out for my eveing jog. I go jogging every day on the same road and pass the same people. This particular day i decided to stay on the main road since it had rained a lot and was quite muddy. I was sprinting home and with about 1/2 mile to go,i tripped, lost my balance and went skidding across the pavement. And when i say skid, i mean SKID. I tore the skin on both of my palms, both knees, have big skid marks going up my calves and stomach. I dont know what has happened to me since coming here but i am a total clutz and prone to illness and accidents. None of my injuries are healing quite yet and when i stand up and blood run hrough my legs, my calves feel like they are being run over by a car. It sucks to say the least. When people see me they say "OMG What Happened to you?" and i have nothing better to say besides i fell down. Then they always ask "Oh, you mean you fell off your bike?".... No, no... no bike involved. Then they laugh at how much of a loser i am just just fall down...

At this point i just sit bac and laugh because its always something...

Ramadan is the ninth month of the islamic calendar. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking, and indulging in anything that is in excess or ill-natured; from dawn until dusk. Ramadan officially started yesterday here in Senegal. The days of Ramadan change each year depending on the moon. During this holy month, Muslim families wake up each morning at 5 am. They eat and stuff their faces until about 6:15... say their prayers... and then back to bed. They lay around all day, maybe sleep some to ward off hunger pangs, some even have to work out in the fields all day. They do not put ANYTHING (not even water) into their bodies until dusk when the sun has just set down over the horizon. The sun is usually out for about 13 and a half hours each day. This is hell on earth for many people. Others beg to differ and say they love fasting. I am not participating in fasting but i can imagine the suffering these people go through all day long for the month of Ramadan.

I experienced Ramadan last year from the training center in Thies but experiencing it with a family is completely different. First off, even though i wasnt fasting, i spent most of the first day starving as well. Who knew that when Ramadan started that all boutiques in the village would be closed?? I sure didnt. I didnt buy anything for lunch in advance because i thought i would be able to just get something at one of the boutiques. That didnt happen so i jumped on my bike ready to pedal into Sokone. Whomp, whomp... sure enough my bike had its third flat tire of the week. And in observance of Ramadan, there was no public transportation the last three days in a row....ugh! I cant complain too much because i know it could be a lot worse and i could be missing lunch for thirty days in a row, not just one!

I went for my evening jog and hurried back just in time to break the fast with my family. I kind of felt like a chump participating in breaking the fast with them because i actually wasnt fasting... but the family wanted me to be there. Around 7:20 just as the sun had just gone over the horizon, my host father passed around a bowl of dates. Each person took one and broke their fast. Breaking fast with dates is a muslim tradition. After that each person received a small piece of bread and a cup of coffee. Everyone scarfed them down quickly. To my surprise no one reached for the water. I cant imagine not hurtling towards the bucket of water after not drinking for an entire day. Shortly after, the father lead the family in prayer. I have seen this many times but will describe it for you. They all line up on prayer mats and face the same direction. The father is in front, followed by the boys, and the women and girls stay in the back. The women MUST always be in the back because they think that if a woman is in front of the men, the men might let their thoughts wonder... Anyway, the father led the prayers and they all did the bowing and kneeling simultaneously. This is the part where i was shocked. My host mothers and sisters sat in the back and talked and did not pray. They did the movements and pretended like they were praying but were actually laughing and talking about dinner. When the host father turned to check on everyone, they stood up straight and put on their prayer faces and pretended to be deep in prayerful thought. I stayed off to the side and waited with the kids for the family to finish. After the prayers, we ate a very large dinner and the night went on like normal.

After the dinner was over and everyone seemed settled, i asked one of the family friends why the women pretended to pray if they really werent into it and didnt care. He gave me a short answer and just said "they have to"... i continued to press him and ask WHY do they have to if they never pray any other time and why do they even bother with fasting. He just told me it was not their choice and since they are muslim, they have to... simple as that. I feel that many things in Senegalese culture remain like this. I do not think that it is Islam, i think its the culture in this country. There are no real answers to many questions, people just do things because they HAVE TO or because they know a friend or neighbor is watching. After seeing the way the women in my family were acting on the first night of prayer, i now feel strongly that there really is not as much fasting going on as one would think. If they just pray only when others are watching, i have a feeling that they are just fasting when others are watching as well.

Sometimes its hard to differentiate the culture from the religion because people here blame many things on the religion when in fact, its just the culture. For example, women walking around topless/ breastfeeding in public. In true Islam, women would never, ever be allowed to take off their shirt in public or feed a child while someone was watching. Even the fact that men can marry up to 4 women at a time is a controversial one. In true Islam, a man can take on a second, third, or fourth wife IF AND ONLY IF he has enough money to financially support them all comfortably and not have to worry about money. In my opinion, there are very, very few people in this country that have the means to do that. People take on as many wives as they please here and always fall back on Islam as their support and justification. I am not a muslim and have no intentions of every becoming one but i find it enlightening when a true Senegalese muslim can admit that there are many problems in this culture rather than just join the crowd and blame Islam. I have had many a arguement with village men about how they blame Islam for their reckless behavior.

New topic: We finally completed the Mangrove project that i have been trying to get going since January. We did a mangrove restoration day last week and it was a success. Three other volunteers and i went out on a small boat into the already existing mangroves last Monday and collected over 6,000 transplants (see attached photo). The transplants grow on the trees but when the tide comes in they usually get swept out into the ocean and dont have a chance to grow. Mangrove trees grow near beaches in water that is about waist deep. The tide comes in and goes back out twice a day where the trees grow. When the transplants get swept out into the ocean and away from the beach, the water is too deep from them to grow. We ended up collecting 4 rice sacks full of transplants on our day out at sea. The following day, we held a meeting in Sokone and invited the Mayor and many other small political groups and random committees to help us plant. The meeting lasted WAYYY too long but the groups learned about the importance of the mangrove trees in the ecosystem here and they were also taught how to collect and plant the transplants so they could continue the project in the future. A few days later with about 50 Senegalese people and 15 volunteers, we set out onto the beach to replant. Just at the exact wrong minute, a huge storm blew over and we ended up outplanting in a downpour. The outplanting was quick and simple. The project was great and i hope people will do another project like this in the future.

In the last week, the rains have finally started to hit us hard and it has been wonderful. I finally have been able to start sleeping in my hut now (instead of in my backyard by the latrine!) since the temps have dropped below 100 degrees. The fields are all green and farmers are starting to have their crops sprouting. I have spent many days in the last week just going to each farmer that i gave seeds to so i could check and see their progress. People are more inclined to do good work when they know someone else is looking. My "boss" is coming this week on Friday to check out my work and to see how things are going with the farmers. everyone has been in a hurry to weed their fields for him.

Other news: Peace Corps finally bought us another regional house so we will be moving out of this rodent-ridden dump in just a few short weeks. THANK GOD! Also, I heard last night that a new volunteer will be moving into the village next to me. It is a Sereer village so i am hoping someone fun moves in there. Its always nice to have cool people living near you. I am excited to find out who/when/where, etc. There is only one bad thing, the volunteer moving in there will be doing a sight visit with me from Sept. 12-17th. I will be spending my 25th birthday in the village with a stranger. Not exactly ideal since i already had a island vacation planned with another volunteer yet again. Last year's birthday was spent in the village so i guess i will live through another. Maybe this just means an even bigger/better vacation than i already planned later!

Let me begin by saying Dakar is great and i have had an amazing week thus far. I have been busy teaching English this week for the Embassy summer camps. Working for the summer camp has been a great experience. I have been paired up with 3 other volunteers to teach about 50 students all week. The schedule is relaxed and we can pretty much do whatever we want with the students. The whole point of the week is to get the kids practicing their English with native English speakers. We have played a lot of games, read a lot in English, had conversation hours, etc. The students are really great with the language and have really warmed up to us volunteers. Yesterday, we had a conversation hour and my group of 15 students started their own debate. The topic was Polygamy. They chose the topic and ran with it. I was shocked that the kids had such an interest in the subject. They had an opportuniy to ask me questions about how i feel about certain subjects and about American culture in general. I gave my opinions on some of the topics and i really think what i said gave the girls a lot of confidence and they were able to speak about how they feel without being shy. The conversation/ debate went great and i think the kids learned a lot from it. These kids have only been studying English for about two years but are very smart and have picked up a good amount of vocabulary already. I only have two more days with the kids and will be sad to leave. Friday we are having a talent show and a small party to celebrate the kids finishing the program. After class friday, the kids will no longer be part of the Embassy English program. It is only a two year program. I think they will be sad to leave too. It has been great to have had the opportunity to work with such bright and talented kids. I have seen improvements in just this week alone. Sometimes it gets discouraging teaching English in the village because i started from square one. It has been nice to see that with hard work, the kids really can/will/want to learn English.

I have spent the week here in Dakar concentrating on getting healthy. I am happy to say that i hve no ailments at the moment lol. I am starting to feel like an old lady. I was blessed with Creeping Eruption last week (google it...its sick!) I also had a root canal last week. I went to the dentist for a minor tooth ache and came out with a root canal. Apparently the dentist i saw in the states before coming to Peace Corps was a quack. The dentist removed two of the fillings i had put in last summer and did the root canal because he said i would have serious trouble in the future because of the way she put the fillings in incorrectly... who knows if this is true or not... maybe he just needed some business. Either way, PC pays so i did what i was told and showed up for my appts. Since i am ALWAYS getting sick here, i have decided to make some major lifestyle changes. I am going to stop eating with my family and start cooking for myself. I think my family has cleanliness issues. I have never once seen soap around our home anywhere and am starting to think that they dont even use it to wash the dishes. Let me describe what happens before we eat lunch.... (keep in mind that everyone eats out of the same giant bowl)

First... everyone is called to the bowl and we all sit on small little benches that are about 2 inches off the ground. The girls get benches, the boys squat. There is a small can of water passed around the bowl and each person puts both hands in the bowl to wash before the meal. There is no soap involved and they do not change the water. Everyone uses the same water. There are approximately 13 people eating out of the bowl at any given lunch. Also, dont forget that most villagers do not eat with a fork or spoon, the eat with their right hand only. After pasing the can around and washing, everyone digs in. Can you imagine what the water looks like after 13 villagers wash their hands in it?? It is definately BLACK. After the meal, each person finishes at their own pace and then goes back to the same can filled with dirty water to re-wash. Often, they use this water to wash their face as well after eating.

Let me back up and say that I always eat with a spoon and i never wash in this can. After almost a year of eating with people who do this, i am starting to realize that eating out of the same bowl after people that "wash" this way is making me sick all of the time. I always thought that i would be fine since i am not touching the water and i dont eat with my hand... WRONG. Little Ablaye has started sitting between my legs when he eats. We eat after each other all the time. I absolutely cannot continue to live this way. When i go back to the vilage next week, i am going to have a long talk with my family about using soap. I plan to buy atleast 10 bars of soap and some dish washing soap also. I hope this helps. The kids have been passing pink-eye back and forth for months now. I have gotten it three times already! No wonder this keeps happening. I already bought them soap and pink-eye medicine multiple times. Finally, i had to become psycho and start chasing people around with hand sanitizer everyday for a week...after that, the pink eye seemed to go away. It will be interesting to see if it has come back while i have been away.

It is easy to get sucked in to the way people live here. Many volunteers start to think crazy/disgusting behavior is normal. I want to start cooking for myself but i know it will totally offend my family and many people will be mad. At this point though, i have to start thinking about myself. If they are mad, so be it. I have earned my right to cook. It is so bizarre that something like cooking would make so many people angry... but i guarantee it will! Ill update on that later.

Other news... im a sucker and got conned out of about 50 dollars. Here is the story. I was walking down the street in Dakar a few nights ago at around 8 PM. I saw an Italian man speaking about a hundred miles and hour to a police officer. The police officer was just telling the man he couldnt help him and that he was sorry. The man sees a white girl and immediately approaches me. He told me (in English) that he had been traveling earlier in the day from Gambia heading up to Mauritania. He was on a bus and when he got off, someone snatched his bag. Totally believable. The man kept telling me he was desperate and needed help. He was pacing up and down the streets in this neighborhood because someone told him that an Italian family lived there. He told me he went to his embassy earlier in the day and they were issueing him a new temporary passport early the next morning. He had no money, no passport, no identity card, no phone. Red flag possibly.. but also Why would someone be talking to a police officer if they were phony??? He was dressed nice and i really thought i was going to see a grown man cry. He was freaking out because it was getting late and he had nowhere to stay for the night. He asked me if i lived in the area or if i knew people who did. I said no. He then proceeded to show me his receipt from Western Union. He told me that his family was sending him money the next morning but he didnt know what he would do for the time being. So i thought about it for a minute and realized i had to help the man out so i lent him the equivalent of 50 dollars. He told me he would meet me the next day in the same place i found him at 2 pm to repay me. He was very, very grateful. He took my phone number just in case and went on his way. I knew i gave him the money knowing that i was trusting a total stranger. 50 dollars here is a decent amount of money. It would have been enough for him to get a hotel, dinner, and breakfast the next day. I walked away without a doubt in my mind that he would come back and repay me. He knew i am a volunteer and also we talked about how we get paid basically nothing... Also, a friend was with me and she agreed that i did the right thing and he would come back the next day. I dont think i could have slept that night knowing that i left someone out on the streets. I am staying in a multi-million dollar home all week out of the kindness of someone else. (I stay with a lady that works for the US Embassy...she is awesome!) After class tuesday, i rushed downtown and waited in the same place i had met the man the night before.... and i waited... and i waited... and he never showed. I guess i am a sucker! I am soo angry that i was completely taken advantage of. Part of me wants to continue to believe the man and trust what he said,... he was robbed and had nothing...but why didnt he show up to repay me? Why didnt he call?? I cant imagine letting someone help me out if i were at an ultimate low point without following up on my end of the deal. I also cant imagine being a con man for a living. Wherever this man is, i hope he is sleeping well tonight. But someday he will get whats coming to him for being so deceitful! How rude!!! UGHH. i get angry even thinking about i now. Im letting it go and putting this in the back of my mind. I wont be lending anyone money for awhile.

Back to good news... I will be flying home on December 7th and staying until January 2nd.... I cant wait for a vacation!! I miss all of my famil and friends more than words can describe.

I will be going to Kolda next wek for Ag classes. I am leaving Dakar on Sunday and heading south. Its always sad to leave Dakar but the sooner i leave, the sooner i get to come back! Hope all is wll on your side of the pond. I heard about all of the storms... Its still barely raining here. I think the wells will dry up next spring. Send a few drops our way!

I left the village late yeaterday evening. I was planning to stay until today but started to feel the oncomings of yet another illness so i decided to get out before I got reall sick. Sickness seems to hit me HARD in waves so i decided i needed to be proactive. Im currently in Kaolack at the regional house. My counterpart recently had a baby and another volunteer and I are going to the baptism later today. Relgious ceremonies here are never too fun but they are a big deal so i think its definately important for me to make an apparance. I was sick last night and my family knew it so I a hoping i can milk it for whats its worth and sneak out a little early today ;)

Things in the village have been good the last week. My english club started out successfuly. We had about 35 people show up to the first class and about the same to the second. The club is currently just learning the English alphabet and number 1 through 25. I have tried to squeeze in some fun trivia also. Im trying to make the classes fun so people will continue to want to come. if anyone has any ideas about fun games or project for English clubs, let me know. We tried to play telephone at the last club meeting. We made it through 3 people and then they completely forgot what i had originally said. We tried again and then someone stopped us and said "Huh, why are we doing this?" They didnt understand at all... I need something simpler.

I worked out in the fields some this week. I helped plant millet and i also helped till the land in a sorghum field. They definately do not have machines for this. There were about 6 women including me bent over with a small little han-held hoe digging up a 2 acre field. I stuck with them for about 3 hrs. Its two days later and the back of my tighs are still quite sore. I dont know where the women get the energy to do this type of work. I am definately in better shape than any of the women working in the field that day, but they kicked my butt in the work dept. In general, people wont let me work in their fields because thay say i will get sick. I forgot to mention that one of the women working out in the field is about 7 months pregnant. I saw how hard she was working and told them that if she could do it, i could too... Really it sucked but i was trying to prove to them that i am not as fragile as they think... The next day, i got sick so maybe i am more fragile than i think lol...

I passed out all of the trees that I have been growing. I donated a few hundred trees to a local cemetary. A man is planning to transplant the trees and create a better fence around the cemetary. I also gave away hundreds of other trees for random fencing in other family compounds. I also gave out many Nebadie trees. This is just a fsat growing tree that has very nutritious leaves. Many people use the leave to make a sauce to eat with millet. People were very interested in getting the trees and i think next dry season, i will plant even more. I am in the process of talking to the director of PC about trying to be replaced in the village by an Agroforestry volunteer after i finish my service. I think my village would definately prosper from having a agfo volunteer instead of just ag.

I am on my way to Dakar tomorrow. I am DYING to get there. Dakar is like a little America and I havent been there for almost 2 months. My family was joking around yesterday saying i was sick because i missed the city...they have no idea...hahaha.. I am going to Dakar to work with the US Embssy teaching English camps. I will be working with high schoolers and have been placed with my friend Thomas. We have about 45 students I think the wee should be a good one. Also, I am excited to get to the city with my friends, eat some good food, and hang by the pool...

What a week this has been. I came back to the village with hopes of getting things done. I have been having a tough time the last few weeks here because it is planting season and have i mentioned... I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT FARMING????? I passed out all of the seeds and am following the progress of each field. There is no positive reinforcement whatsoever here so i have absolutely no clue if what i am doing is correct. Whatever.... ugh... anyway, I have decided to take it upon myself to keep busy doing other projects that i do know about. I have held classes each day this week on how to make insect repellent lotion out of neem leaves. People know about this repellent from the volunteer before me, but they dont seem to know how to make it. Its super easy and quite cheap to make. With the use of oil, neem leeves, water, and soap it is possible to cook up a lotion that repels insects such as mosquitos; therefore, reducing the number of malaria cases. Today i started the class with only 5 people showing up. Everyone kept telling me to wait and see if others would come. I decided to be hard-headed and go ahead and begin. Im tired of the Senegalese way of thinking that schedules do not matter. We cooked the ingredients and made the lotion at 10 am like i planned. We finished around 10:45 and soon after about 20 other people showed up. They couldnt figure out why i didnt wait for them... so i agreed to teach one more class on monday... Starting ON TIME!

I also got our Mangrove restoration project off the ground this week. We are planning to do a seed collection day on july 29th and have an out-plnting day on August 19th. I want to invite other volunteers and villagers to help with the out-planting. We are hoping to be able to plant several hundred trees in just one day. I am excited to find out that things are actually working out with this project.

Monday will be my first day of teaching an English Club. I have visited other English clubs in the area to see what the kids like to do. I went through the village and invited EVERYONE here so hopefully i will have a good turn out. Another volunteer is coming to help me get the club started. The first class will probably just be used to find out who exactly wants to study English and also find out English levels. i plan to break the club down into smaller classes for adults, students, and children... keep your fingers crossed for me because this is going to be a big project.... hopefully anyway!

Im trying to put in two more weeks in the village and then head to Dakar for a week. i am teaching English classes in the US Embassy... the next two weeks are going to be tough because its super hot still and its not raining much... wish me luck!

So i made it through the bike ride in one piece! Hooray for that! This past week has been looong and tiring and i am glad that it is over but i will say that i had a great time. Ill just start from the beginning and fill you in on the bike ride. We started out saturday morning in a Sept Place heading to Tambacounda. We were meeting other volunteers there and starting the ride sunday morning. The car ride down was not bad and we met up with the others and spent the afternoon being lazy and loading up on carbs. Sunday morning started off ok but we left hours later than we originally planned because of minor bike problems. There were 7 of us total. We headed out and got caught in rain showers almost immediately... but actually the rain was a blessing because it cooled things off quite a bit. Within the first 30 Km one girl decided she conveniently didnt want to do the ride anymore and caught a car back to Kaolack. This was really annoying but in the end it was for the best because she was dragging us down and complaining. If she was ready to give up that easily then she needed to go anyway...then there were 6. We did over 80 miles that first day. We stayed at another volunteers house for the night and tried to get some rest. The next day, approximately the same amount of biking. Day three- Riding through the game park. Daniel and i were super tired after the first two days and decided we didnt want to ride through the park 1. because we were tired 2. it is illegal and you have to bride the guard to let you through with a bike and i felt this was kind of dangerous seeing as lions live there and 3. It is a stretch of approximately 100 miles with no water. There are no villages through the park and no where to get clean water. A few other volunteers have tried to ride through unsuccessfully because of the heat and water issue. Daniel and I were soo lucky. We hitch hiked through the park and caught a ride with the nicest guy ever. We ended up on the other end of the park relaxing for the day and swimming. Throughout the day, others from the bike ride showed up because they ended up quitting in the middle of the park and catching a random car also. Two people actually made it through the park without quitting..props to them but im not ashamed of cutting out early. The next day, we decided we wanted to go to a nearby waterfall. We were told the ride was easy and we could get there in under two hours.... YEAH RIGHT! A few other volunteers tagged along and there were 9 of us total. We started out just fine and then things got rocky... i got deathly sick and was projectile vomiting off my bike. It was too late to turn backand i reallllly wanted to see the waterfalls...so i kept going. About the same time, another volunteer got a flat tire. And by the way, this ride was into the mountains so there were no cars or people to help out. We all stopped to help the girl with the flat but she seemed to know what she was doing and worked hard at repairing the tire. I decided to bike ahead of the group because i was so sick i was going much slower than anyone else and didnt want to fall behind. I biked for about an hour and no one caught up so i decided to sit along the trail and wait for the others. I didnt want to get too far ahead. Finally, after sitting for another 45 minutes, one girl caught up (Erin) and said the flat was still not fixed and the others were walking to a nearby village to see if they could find someone to help them. She and I decided to go ahead and keep biking because at this point it was about 6 30 PM and we were nowhere near our final destination. Around 7 PM, the worlds biggest storm blew in. We could see it coming. The sky blackened. Winds were howling and then a huge cloud of black stuff started heading our way. I had never seen something like this. Erin and I were pedalling at full force trying to get the heck out of there before it all hit. We ended up getting split up and i was caught alone in what i finally figured out was a huge sandstorm. I certainly was not able to bike through it so i jumped off and my bike was blown out of my hands and kind of just skidded on the path around me. I squatted down and covered my face. Sandstorms are outrageous but only last a short time. It was incredible. I have never seen winds like that in my life. After i got out of the sand and was able to see again, i ran to get my bike and jumped back on. At this point adrenaline kicked in and i was no longer feeling any pain.... i was completely terrified. I started pedalling and about 3 minutes later rain started pouring down in sheets. I couldnt see anything but i just kept pedalling. Finally i caught up to Erin. She had found some sort of shack and was screaming my name so i would come hang out in there until the storm passed. We stayed there for about 30 minutes. Dont forget about all of the others...they were still out in the storm as well. They managed to stay together and took a really cool video of the sandstorm action. I wish i would have been smart enough to bust out my camera but at that point i was only thinking of ways to get out of there. We waited in the shack and the others caught up with us and the storm subsided to just a sprinkle. We headed back out and still had about 10 miles to go and it was 8 pm. Only 4 of the 9 people had flashlights. It took us two and a half more hours to get to the campement where we were headed. We arrived around 1030 unannounced and starving. Luckily someone was still awake and let us in and gave us rooms. The man running the place went to wake up all of the women and they cooked us a big spaghetti dinner. The day turned out to be something we had never expected but we totally should have. Next time we will know to come moer prepared. While we were stuck in the storm, it was pretty scary but looking back, it was actually really cool and probably something i will never experience again.

The next day, we woke up and hit the trails to do some hiking to find these waterfalls. Senegal has had a problem with rainfall this year and one waterfall was dried up. We found another one and spent the day there swimming. It was gorgeous. I got some really great photos that i will send out later in the week. At the moment i dont have my computer and dont like uploading from pulic comps because of viruses. I will upload sometime this week so be on the look out. I got some great photos of people that acutally live in the mountains. They were doing laundry in a spring. We spent the next few days hiking around and biking to some nearby sights. We swam in The Gambia river, saw monkeys everywere, saw hippos, hiked, camped, played in the waterfalls, and even had a big party for the 4th that included roasting a pig and firworks! Many Senegalese people were watching our party and fireworks peeking through a broken fence. We all thought about what it would be like to be on the other side of that fence and were all thankful that we have what we do. I always think watching fireworks on the 4th is a good time for reflection but this year it was extra special because we just had to look anywhere around to be able to fully appreciate the life that we have been given. A life that most others in the world will never know.

Lets just say today i am more than tired. We didnt sleep last night and caught a bus out of town at 4 am. It was a great week but i was worn out and ready to go. There were about 60 volunteers in Kedegou and the regional house accomodates about 10. I dont think i got moer than 5 hours of sleep any night during the week. Camping is great but after about two nights, i really just needed a Holiday Inn!

Its about 730 PM here and i am deliriously typing so im gonna cut it off here. I need some serious sleep. I hope everyone at home had a happy 4th!!! :):)

After re-reading the following post, i would just like to comment that i am fully aware of the dangers surrounding me and do my best to stay out of the way of those dangers...so dont worry!

Monday night at about midnight the rains finally came! It was great.... The past week has been extremely hot and humid. During the next month, it will rain one or two times each day for an hour or maybe two. During August, the heavy rains will come and it will rain A LOT. A few other volunteers told me that last year it rained for 5 straight days without stopping. The rains in Africa are not comparable to rains in America. We get torrential downpours. It can be a super sunny day and within 5 minutes a giant storms blows over. I have already been caught out in the rain once and it was actually kind of scary. I am looking forward to a good rainy season though. I have plenty of work in the fields with the farmers and plenty of good books in my room. One huge down side to the rainy season is KAOLACK! Kaolack is the nearest small city from my village. Our regional house is there. Kaolack is the nastiest place in the entire world in my opinion. There is no form of waste management here whatsoever. One side of town is just a huge field of trash and sewage...throw a few feet of rain on top of that and im sure you can imagine what the result is. Lets just say its not pretty and does not smell good either. The gutters are always overflowing and the stagnant water is just a gian breeding ground for mosquitos (malaria!) I will do my best to stay out of Kaolack as much as possible for the next few months.

Another completely unrelated subject: Today i witnessed a horrible car accident. An ambulance with a person in the back actually flipped over and landed upside down. Let me just say this was the most disturbing thing i have seen in a long time, if not my whole life. Immediately people started flooding out of nearby cars and going to see what happened. As we pulled over, people started getting out. I didnt want to be just another bystanding getting in the way but i decided to get out and see if i could help. Police are basically non-existent in situations like these. Also i will say that i have only seen a handful of Ambulance vehicles in this country as well. Peace Corps basically tells us to stay out of situations like these. But i could hardly sit back and do nothing. Many other volunteers have found themselves in the same situation. One girl even delievered a baby on the side of the road last year! Im definately not a doctor but i have been trained in CPR and first aid several times and I thought i possibly could help more so than some others that were standing nearby. I walked up to see two men slaying on the ground. I basically just wanted to see if there were any open wounds and to see if they were breathing. They were both breathing and no rushing blood... a few broken bones were obvious though. I then noticed two men trying to pull one man off the ground and make him stand up. I finally figured out that this was the patient in the back of the Ambulance to begin with. I started telling them to stop and to leave him on the ground...or atleast just move him into another car and get him to the hospital. The man was so out of it...one second he was laughing and the next he was crying and then laughing again. I was so mad at what was going on and no one was listening to me. A man came over with a medical bag so i assumed he knew what he was doing and i got back into the vehicle was riding in. (By the way, i was riding in a very small bus..seats about 25). Anyway, the next thing i know, they throw the man in the back of our bus on the floor and people start piling in on top of him and around him. They were gettig back to their seats so we could go. I flipped out and caused a scene. At this point i was yelling in English and i dont know if anyone understood what i was saying but i know they knew i was MAD! I was trying to tell them to put the man in a nearby car and get him to the hospital ASAP... he didnt have time for all of the 2u46278623756 passengers trying to load back in the car. People continued to get in and then i started getting scared. At this point i was worried about my own life. I knew that if everyone piled in, then the driver would take off and try to get to Kaolack asap. I also knew that we would probably end up like the ambulance and be flipped over within 5 minutes. The buses are not made to have stuff piled on top but they always put baggage up there. The bus somehow always ends up being much taller than wide... i know this makes for a dangerous drive...and not to mention the roads here are dirt and there are pot holes everywhere. I grabbed my bags and started climbing over people to get out. If someone was going to die today, it certainly wasnt going to be me! At this point i was half in tears because i was terrified and also for the poor dying man on the floor of the bus. He was hysterical screaming and praying and saying he didnt want to die. As i got out, i convinced a man nearby to tell them to get that man off the bus floor and into a car. He realized what i was saying and grapped a nearby sept place (car for 7...station wagon). They threw the man in and off they went. We pulled out shortly behind them and i got a glimpse of him a few miles later. Part of me knows he didnt live to see the rest of the day. I hope i am wrong. Who even knows what happened to the other man that was on the ground hurt too.... Sometimes common sense just isnt that common here.

On a lighter note, tomorrow i am headed to Kaffrine. I will stay there for one night with some friends and Saturday morning the big trip begins. I am going on a cross country bike ride with several other volunteers. I am super excited about it and have been preparing for several weeks. I have been biking about 30 miles every morning to try and get in shape for the trip. We will be biking to Kedegou and then throughout the Southeastern part of the country. There are moutnains and waterfalls..and we will be going around a game reservation so hopefully we will see some cool animals along the way. This is the first real time that i have been able to travel for fun since coming here. I have done some travelling but it has all been for work reasons. I am glad to get out of the village for a few weeks and just forget about everything. All the volunteers head down to that side of the country for the 4th of July. We are having a big cookout that day. All you can eat and drink all day for 6 bucks! Cant beat that! As most of you know, i am prone to accidents and illnesses here so keep your fingers crossed for me that i make it back in one piece! I packed my camera so i will be sure to take some good photos. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Its is a HOT, dreary day here in Senegal. I am on my way back to the village today after a few wonderful days in Dakar. Have i mentioned before how GREAT Dakar is? I think so but i just want everyone to get the full effect. Things on this side of the world have been good lately, but still no rains! I have been waiting anxiously for weeks for the rains to finally arrive. When the rains do come, the weather will cool off dramatically. As for now, i am sitting in the regional house sweating. The thermometer in the house is reading 102 (It is only 9 am here!)

The last few weeks have really been productive for me and the village. I finished the mosquito net disribution i have been working on since January. I distributed over 300 nets to three different neighborhoods. These nets should directly effect between 700-1000 people because NO ONE in the village has their own bed. Usually there are 2-4 people piled in one. One mother in my father has 5 children sleeping together. I am thrilled that i got all of the nets out before the rains with no problems. The actual distribution was somewhat different than my family would have liked. The volunteer living in Diagle before i came told me that she had big problems when she did a nets distribution. She sat at a table at the local health hut and had the villagers come by to get their nets. In any western society, this sounds like the only logical way to pass out hundreds of nets..well not here! People came by and took mor nets than they should have and i think even shorted her money. African people RARELY know how to stand in a line and wait to be serviced. I cant imagine how hectic it must have been for her. I decided to take another approach. I bagged up about 50 nets and drug the sack out of my compound. I decided i wanted to go from door to door to pass out the nets that way i could do it as slow as i wanted and not have to deal with 300 people harassing me at the same time. My family saw what i was doing and was horrified. One mother immediately jumped up and told me i couldnt distribute nets like this because the sun was out and it was too hot. NEWS FLASH: the sun is always out and it is always hot!.. The family all began shouting at me at once telling me to pass out the nets the way the other volunteer did because i would be soooo tired if i did it my way. I ignored there advice and explained to them that the other volunteer ran into many problems doing the distribution at the health post and continued on my way out of the compound. And just so you know, dragging around a bag full of nets really is super heavy. It took me 3 days, but i went to every single family compound with my bag of nets and my list of names and passed out the nets. Yes, after three days, i was sunburned, tired, and my arms were very sore; however, i did not have any problems with the dirtibution and all ran smoothly.

After the net distribution was finished, i started to get bored again. I worked a little on seed distributions. I distributed rice, two types or corn, and two types of sorghum.Peace Corps gives ag volunteers improved varieties of seeds to distribute to farmers. I am supposed to give any given farmer one kilo of seeds and after the harvest, the farmer is supposed to give me two kilos back. Next year, i can use the seeds that were returned to me to extend to another farmer. The farmers are also supposed to save some of the improved varieties to replant the following rainy season. This sounds like a great plan, but i feel it has MANY glitches. For example, proper seed storage is very difficult and many farmers do not do it. When i moved into the village, the former volunteer left me a bucket with several kilos of seeds in it that she had returned to her at the end of last rainy season. I put the bucket under my bed and have not done anything with it until last week. I pulled out the bucket and opened the lid to find thousands and thousands of bugs eating away at the seeds. The bucket has been closed for months and somehow bugs still managed to get in. If the Peace Corps volunteers cant even store seeds properly, how can we expect others to do it???? (Not that i am blaming the other volunteer for poor storage). Also, bean seeds are extremely hard to save. Many people know it will be a failure and dont even waste the kilo to begin with. They just cook it then and there at the end of the rainy season.. i cant say that i blame them. Another problem with this system, Peace Corps leaves it up to the volunteer to choose who we want to give seeds to. I am using about 5 farmers that the previous volunteer used and about 5 new people. Many volunteers use the same farmers year after year. What does this teach the farmers? In my opinion, this teaches them that the American government will come in and give them improved variety seeds for free every rainy season and they dont have to do anything to get them. I did give my village father seeds this year just because i felt obligated to do so. I really have no desire to work with him but felt he would be super offended if i did not give him the seeds. He told me this is the 5th year in a row that a volunteer has given him seeds. As far as i know, he didn't save any seeds from last year's harvest. Why should he continue to get the golden opporunity year after year?Volunteers are supposed to be here to teach techniques that are supposed to help improve yield numbers for each season. Do you think a 24 year old white girl from America knows more about agriculture than these people here that have spent their entire lives working out in the fields??? I am not going to answer that question! We are also here to teach about crop spacing and monitor the fields with improved varieties each week. If a farmer is excelling, it is our job to take other farmers to look at the best fields so they can learn what they should have done to get the same effect. This part of the job, i can do. I just dont feel completely comfortable knowing that my main job here is a job that i am not qualified to be doing. Anyway, after the seed extension was finished, i got realllly bored. All of my projects are kind of at a stand still until the rains come. Nets distributed.....check, seeds distributed....check, tree peppineres all planted/replanted and growing...check, my work with the school garden and well project finished...check, bee hives finished and baited and waiting for a swarm to move in....check.

All in all, my work for the dry season has been quite successful and i am ready to get into the new season. After the rains do come, i will be working closely monitoring some of the fields with improved variety seeds. I also will be direct seeding thousands of trees in the women's garden. I have been saving seeds for a few months and the women are really excited about it. We will be using trees to creat live fences. The women all have garden plots in his beautiful valley that has horrible fencing. Cows and goats sometimes get in there and eat the crops. The trees that i will be helping them with this year are a thorny type of tree that doesnt get very tall. The trees are planted abou 50 cm apart. When they grow, the branches weave together creating a live fence that animals wont bother. This is more efficient than just buying a barbed wire fence or a metal sheet fence because the trees will live a lot longer than the other fences can last. And, this wont cost any money to do and will never cost money for maintenance. The women will be able to prune back the trees themselves. I am anxious to get this project going!

I hope everyone at home is happy and healthy. I havent heard from many of you in awhile. Send me an email and update me on your lives!!! Also, i want to give a shout out to Thompson's Chapel Church for donating money for my bee project and for mosquito nets!! It is very appreciated! Thank you all very much!

Sometimes when i sit down to write these things, i dont know where to begin. I think i will start this blog by saying Senegalese people have so much drama. We were told long ago back in September to watch out for Senegalese men. I knew from the day I stepped off the plane that there are many creepers in this country just waiting for a girl like me to walk past so they can hastle me about this, that, or the other. Well, just so happens that i have a first class creeper as a counterpart. Peace Corps assigns all agriculture volunteers to a male counterpart and a female counterpart. These people are supposed to be there to support us if we have questions or need help with work, etc. My counterparts have been nothing but great until about a month ago. Let me just add that my female counterpart is the bomb and i love her! On the other hand, my male counterpart has started coming on to me so much that i often avoid going to work in my garden. (i planted a garden on his property). He started sending me crazy text messages professing his love... i dont dont mean just one or two, Im talking daily! He has been staring at me and making bizarre comments to others about me. Finally last week i had to sit him down and have a talk with him. I told him if he continues this behavior, i will no longer work with him and we will not have ANY sort of relationship, not even friends. I am surprised by the way he i acting 1. because he has a wife 2. he knows i have a fiance and 3. Before my arrival, Peace Corps had a big session with all counterparts warning them about trying to pursue relationships with us. Ibou knows better! I shouldnt be shocked though, the PC volunteer living in the village before me warned me that he did the same thing to her. I guess he didnt learn the first time. This week, he has settled down some... hopefully things continue in that direction.

Also, there is drama within my household between me and the host father. He is soooo bizarre. I mentioned it before, but he recently got married to two new wives (now with a total of 4!) and is always on the go to visit them. The two new wives have not moved into our compound yet but i heard one of them should be coming next week. Anyway, After Ibou and I had a long talk about him being a wierdo, he told me we needed to have a talk about Diokel (host dad). Ibou told me that Diokel has been spreading rumors around the village about me to his friends. He has been telling people that I am Ibou's toubab (toubab is the word Senegalese people use for white person or westerner). He has also been telling people that I am lazy and I dont work and i havent done anything since i came here. Ibou told me that Diokel often harrasses him about working with me and about helping me with projects. He also said that sometimes if he does something for me, it has to be a secret because Diokel will be mad that i didnt ask him for help. In Senegal, the father of the house is the boss. What he says goes. Ibou is not Diokel's son but is basically part of our family and is younger than Diokel, therefore, Diokel has more authority than Ibou. This concept drives me INSANE. Diokel is not my counterpart and has never done one thing to help me and in fact he is doing the opposite by spreading rumors about me thoughout the village. So two days ago, i did the dreaded and had to call him out as well. I didnt want to do this because it is hard to call someone of authority out in English, let alone a language one has only been studying for 8 months. I worked up the nerve and went into his room and asked him if he had time to have a talk. I explained all of the things that i have heard and asked him if he heard anyone say any such things. He started rambling off on some random subject which was his way of not answering my question. We talked for over an hour and basically he told me he doesnt like talking to me because i cant speak french. This should be irrelevant because our whole family speaks Sereer. He tried to take me to my friend Cisse's house because Cisse speaks English and he wanted to use him as a translator. I refused because i have noticed that everytime something tense comes up, Diokel wants to go talk about it with a 3rd party. There is enough talk about me going around the village, i dont need to drag my friends into the drama too. Anyway, after about an hour and a half, i think he finally realized i am not afraid of him like he wishes i would be. He told me he wants me to have more relationsips in the village. I told him i have many relationships in the village, i just dont have one with him because he is never home and never makes an effort to talk to me. We came to an agreement that i would come to his room atleast once a month to tell him about my work so he knows whats going on in my life here. I think it is pretty pathetic that i need to do this seeing as our rooms are right next to each other's and i should be seeing more of him than anyone else. After the conversation, he came to my room and gave me a big bucket of mangoes. I guess thats his way of saying he is sorry...who knows, but the magoes were good :) I think Diokel just doesnt know what to do because women here never talk back to men.

On another note, I spent the entire week last week in Dakar on Med hold. At this point, i almost want to laugh about all of the things that have gone wrong with my health in the last few months.

Two weeks ago, i was in my room rearranging things with my sisters. We were moving a large mirror to the other side of my hut when the handle broke off the mirror and the whole thing came crashing down on the back of my ankle. The mirror broke into a million pieces cutting my foot up. The mirror weighed probably around 15 lbs so the weight of it really hurt my tendon. I had to go to Dakar the following morning. The damage was not too bad but the doctor wanted me to stay because she was afraid i would end up with an infection if i went home. So i stayed in Dakar for a week and got a lot of sleep and just relaxed. It was nice! I also had an opportunity to go to the zoo in Dakar and see a few touristy things i havent had achance to see yet. The week turned out to be a good one.

Currently, I am in Kaolack. I came to pick up mosquito nets for distribtion in the village this weekend. We finally raised enough money to buy all of the nets we needed. This came at the perfect time because the rains should be coming in about two weeks and mosquitos will be out in full force. I also have a recipe for neem lotion and am working on it today. Neem lotion is a homemade lotion made from leaves from a Neem tree. It is used as an insect repellent. I am planning to make several batches of the lotion and my sisters are going to seel it throughout the village and in the local market. I am also meeting Mossally tomorrow (my boss). He s coming to Kaolack to drop off seeds for distribtion. Every year before the rainy season, ag extension volunteers extend seeds to certain people in their villages. These seeds are improved vareties of crops often grown in Senegal. B extending these seeds, the farming have an opportunity to grown crops that will produce higher yelds. They are also expected to save seeds for the following year. If this is done corretly, they can seel their improved variety seeds to friends in the village thus increasing the number of people with improved variety crops. I dont know exactly who i am going to extend the seeds to this year but am in the process of making a list of interested people. Its hard t know here who will actually work and who just wants something free. Its always trial and error i suppose.

I took some photos and will put them up online on my online photo album at snapfish.com. The username is candicewhittaker@gmail.com and the password is peace corps. I hope you are all having a great Memorial Day. Eat something yummy for me. It s currently 112 degrees in Kaolack... i might go roast some hot dogs on the sidewalk!

When: 4:30 AM- May 10, 2009

Where: Kaolack, Senegal

Why: The regional house is a dump!

Things in the village have been CRAZY.. i have been working my butt off but have successfully planted over 1500 trees in tree sacks. I originally planned to plant 2000 in sacks and try to reach a total of 6000 by planting 400 more directly in the ground after the rains come. After spending my entire week sitting in a pile of dirt, i decided 150 will have to do. I went to the Eaux et Foret last week to get more bags with no success at all. The man working there was nothing short of rude to me and i left empty handed. Eaux et Foret provides farmers with trees sacks and other materials needed for farming. Everything is provide at no cost. It is sponsored by the Senegalese government. Unfortunately, they looked at me and laughed and i went home mad. Its so frustrating when I try to work and people let their ignorance get the best of them. Nevertheless, i found sacks and spent my week filling them. I also got my beekeeping project of the ground. I spent the day today building beehives out of concrete. It was actually a success... as far as i know. I am now waiting for the concrete to dry so we can bait the hives and wait for the bees. Things are going surprisingly well. I originally wanted to weave hives out of grass but found this incredibly time consuming. The westerner in me came out in full force and i headed to the local quincallerie to buy cement to make the hives the easy way. I am in need of buying some beekeeping suits and tools but am looking for someone to sponsor my project. If anyone would like to donate money to sponsor this, please let me know via email.

On another note, i stepped on a scorpion this week in the garden while watering with no shoes on. I got stung and thought i was going to die. I started to panic and then realized i was alone... so i collected myself and sat down and cried. Scorpions can be deadly but i remebered the doctors saying the scorpions here are not. After i cried like a baby i went back to watering and pulling weeds. For the next three days, my whole foot was swollen and itched so bad i thought i was going to scratch it off. At the moment, it is doing much better and only my toe is swollen.

I have found a new group of friends.... Im sad to admit it, but really my best friends are a group of 10 year old kids. These kids have helped me tremendously with my pepinering. They all worked really hard last week helping me prepare the soil and fill sacks. I gave them some school supplies at the end of the week and now i am basically a celebrity. They were so happy to receive so little. School supplies are hard to find here and when they are available, they are expensive. If anyone is interested in sending school supplies please let me know... THE KIDS NEED ALL THEY CAN GET. While I am at it, i will give a shout out about our malaria prevention project. We are in desperate need of $700 more dollars. We are raising money to buy mosquito nets. The rains will be here in about a month and the malaria counts will start to flourish. Sleeping with a mosquito net dramatically reduces the chance of contracting malaria. If you want to know more or donate money, please go to againstmalaria.com/kaolack... Any help for any of these projects would be more than appreciated!!! I hate asking people back in the states for money for our projects but really, a little goes a long way over here.

I hope everyone back at home is happy and healthy... i just realized i have been here for a whole school year... CRAZY!

I just returned yesterday from a trip to The Gambia. I went there with a few other volunteers to study beekeeping. The Gambia was absolutely great and was really different than Senegal. The people there speak English so it was immediately easier to relate to them. Also, The Gambia does not have Talibe' (the kids that go around begging for money to give to the religious leaders). The weather there was cooler and the people were a million times less aggressive. I was only there for 4 days so maybe i dont have a complete view of what life is truely like there, but from what i saw, i loved it. The travel guide books label The Gambia as "Africa Light" and i can completely understand why. Whe we were walking down the street, we rarely had anyone call us Toubab and not even one time did someone appraoch me and ask for a gift. Dont get me wrong, i like Seegal, bu going elsewhere for a few days made me realize just how tough it can be to be a foreigner living here. I tried to explain this to some of my Senegalese friends and they got very upset and offended. They think The Gambia is completely the same...and to them, it probably is. I think that many Senegalese people will never understand how hard it is for white people to live here because simply...they are not white. When i am with Senegalese people, i am not treated the same in public as i am when i am alone or with other white people....really its sad. Immediately when we crossed back into Senegal yesterday we were hassled. There were 4 of us waiting in the car for others to come and fill it up. The car needs atleast 7 people in it before it will hit the road. Along came 3 men and hey told us that they would not get in unless the girls moved to the back seat. The back seat is dreadful and is very tiny; however, we moved just so they would get in and we could leave. As the car started moving, one of the men began talking about us in Wolof and saying that our friend did not deserve to sit in the front seat. They all continued assuming that we could not speak wolof.... me having the big mouth that i do, decided i wanted to call him out. I politely tapped him on the shoulder and said i speak Wolof and what he was saying about my friend was rude. He immeditaely started yelling at me telling me i couldnt speak wolof. He spoke Sereer and so do i so i started speaking in Sereer because i can speak that better and he just continued to yell at all of us and say we couldnt speak the local language and it was none of our business... i finally ended the conversation by saying something in Sereer that doesnt translate to English...but pretty much i was telling him it wasnt important and Allah was watching. When someone brings Allah (God) into anything here, the table always turns and people immediately panic... after this, he shut up. My friend in the front seat that was being insulted was mad at all of us girls for starting an arguement, but i felt totally happy with the results. Women in this culture NEVER stand up for themselves and i loved it that 3 girls did exactly what they teach women to never do here. The man was wrong in what he said and he needed to be corrected. I think by sitting there and not saying anything, we would have just reinforced his ignorant behavior. Maybe next time, that man wont just assume white people cant understand him... and i know next time, i wont give up my seat for anyone! This little fiasco happened immediately after we got back into Senegal. This just made me realize how nice taking a trip to Gambia was. I livevery close to the border and think i will be visiting more often :)

So back to the bees.... the classes were great and i left there with all the knowledge necessary to be able to start my own bee hie. We learned how to make a homemade hive, how to attract the bees, how to harvest their honey, and how to maintain a colony. The classes were intense but i thoroughly enjoyed it all. I was even able to suit up in safety clothes and go out and harvest honey from a live colony. It was scary but i managed to not get stung.... many others were not so lucky. The bees can actually sting through the safetly clothes. Also, after we were finished harvesting the honey, the bees followed us around and we had to walk about a mile and wait about an hour before we could take off the suits. Many people ended up with several stings because the bees hide in places on the suits and then attack when the person is undressing. All in all... i love bee keeping and plan to start it in my village asap. It is dangerous but if classes are taught properly, it is a great way to generate income. I have 3 farmers that are interested in beekeeping so i plan to go back and teach them what i have learned.

I am going back to the village in about an hour. I have a million things to get done. Work has been booming since the rains will be coming in about a month or so. In the next week, i plan to start having latrines dug in the village. I already recieved the funding and just need to buy the materials and have the pits dug out. My village will be receiving 15 latrines. I also plan to plant 2000 peppineres... i have been putting this off long enough! I WILL get this done this week. I also need to do some major work in my garden. It royally sucks. I am the worst gardener in Senegal!

I hope all is well at home. Big shout out to Jory and his class for hooking me up ith school supplies and other fun things for the kids...they loved it all!

Last week, I had yet another bad run in with cashews. I ended up with a rash covering most of my body and a trip to the doctor. I am FINISHED with cashews for the rest of my Peace Corp service....Anyway, things are good now and i just returned from a much needed week in Dakar. I spent most of last week entertaining two guests... a Tostan volunteer and her friends from Rome. They came to the village and stayed for a few days and then we headedto Dakar for the weekend. I think they both enjoyed time in the village but realize now how hard life can be there. I am glad they came. I had a wonderful time with them and it was nce showing of some of the things i have accomplished here thus far.

Tuesday I am headed to The Gambia with a few other volunteers to study about beekeeping. There has been quite a bit of interest in working with bees from the villagers and i think it will be a great way for me to do agriculture work in a different way than just gardening. I will be in Gambia for about 3 days and have been told i should have all the knowledge neccessary to be able to get started when i return. I am really excited about this little trip and hope to come out of it with some new prospects for work.

Things are really starting to pick up around here workwise. The rains should be coming within the next month and a half. Everyone is planting their gardens and starting tree peppineres now. I have a goal of planting 2000 trees using peppinering (tree sacks) before the end of May. I also have a goal of direct seeding 3000 trees during the month of June. I have collected a LOT of seeds for the women's group in the village. After the first few rains, we will be planting seeds for trees that will grow and make live fences. This will elliminate a lot of animals eating in the gardens when they should not be. Also, a live fence is completely sustainable on its own. So there is no need for outside funding or replacing the fence in the future. This live fence was something the volunteer before me worked on a little and the women are really passionae about getting it growing. It will take a few years before it will be ful grown but there is no better time to start than now!

I will be all over the place in the next few months. I will try and take some cool pics from The Gambia and send them out soon. Take Care.

I want to sart this post by referring to the night last week that i almost killed myself. Before you continue reading, please note that I am alive and well..... OK so to start the story... There has been a shortage of food in many of the villages in Senegal. The senegalese economy is suffering much like that of america. Rice and other food prices are skyrocketing and many people have resulted to theft to feed their families. My family is suffering as well. Last week, we ate millet and water every night for dinner. I have described millet here a few times before and lets just say water does not help the taste much. After about 3 bites of scrumptious millet, i went back to my room starving. It was about 9:30 pm as I scrambled around my room to find some peanuts and cashews to snack on before bed. (I found 6 cashew fruits the day before and saved the nuts...) I took a big bite out of the first cahew and noticed that MY MOUTH WAS ON FIRE... i immediately spit the nut out and began rinsing my mouth out with water... At that moment, i remembered another volunteer saying something about fresh cashews being extremely poisonous and many people get rashes from just touching them. I soon felt my throat beginning to swell as i washed my entire mouth out with soap. The skin on my lips began peeling off as the acid from the cashew set in. The taste buds on my entire tongue were burning off as well. I ran to my medical kit and downed 3 benadryls and 2 zyrtec. I wasnt sure if i was going to overdose on Benadryl but i new i was having an allergic reaction. I called the nearest volunteer and she biked over to be sure i was going to be ok. Keep in mind that it was pretty late at night to be riding a bike. There is no emergency service in this country so we sat there and waited it out. Luckily, after about an hour, my throat began to feel better. My lips and tongue have taken several days to heal. I finally started to be able to taste food again but im still not 100%. Today i told a few other volunteers about what happened and they were shocked that I am alive. They told me horror stories about others doing the same thing I did and not having the same luck as i had.... I dont know who is praying for me back at home, but thank you! As of now, I am finished with cashews!

After a visit to the doctor last week, i have been informed that I AM FINE... not the answer that i was hoping for because "you are fine" does not explain the fevers, vomiting, etc. (ill leave it at that)... the process to find a parasite is not fun and involves certain bodily functions im sure you dont need to hear about. Anyway, im fine and my health is slowly coming back. Maybe my stomach is just weak and cant handle the GOURMET food i am being served haha.

I arrived back in the village a few days ago and have stayed quite busy. Today i planted a small garden... AGAIN... i have not had much success in having a garden in the small space behind my house. Im not sure if the soil is not good, the sun/shade is not correct, or if i just suck... maybe all 3. After several tries and zero luck, i decided to move my garden elsewhere. I chose a spot in my counterparts garden. I sent out photos of his garden a few months ago but if you dont remember, it is beautiful and he is a wonderful gardener. I am hoping with a little coaching, i can actually get something to sprout! I am growing tomatoes, cucumbers, and brocolli. People here have never seen brocolli and dont know what it is. I bought plenty of extra seeds in Dakar and have extended a few of them to friends throughout the village. I am hoping this catches on and they like it. It is difficult to get people to think outside the box and try something new here so i only gave out the seeds to people that seemed really interested. My friend Cisse lived in Italy and he knows about brocolli and became my spokeman for the afternoon. People seemed more interested in the seeds after they heard him talking and not just me....Im still the NEW toubab in the village and people dont always trust what i say.

I am in the process of starting an Enlgish club. Most teens in the village have studied English for several years but rarely get the opportunity to practice with a native English speaker. I talked it over with the headmaster at the school and he agreed to let me use one of the classrooms after school. I am planning to do classes 2 times a week. I have been doing a lot of private tutoring and it is getting time consuming. I am hoping the classes will eliminate most of the private sessions and i will be able to reach out to more students.

My project with the elementary school is coming right along and i should be able to turn in the budget within the next two weeks. After i have the budget complete, i will just have to wait and see if the project gets approved. If so, construction of the fence/garden and well should start soon thereafter.

As of now, things are going great other than the fact that it is getting extremely hot. It was 105 degrees in the shade last week! I am adapting the the heat quite well though. I dont notice it much unless i am directly in the sun. Hopefully mother nature will continue being nice and bless us with cool evenings for a few more weeks. I am dreading going back to sleepless nights and sweaty sheets...

I hope everything is going well for each and every one of you keeping up with my travels. Take care and more to come soon:)

Ok, dont worry, i did not run off and give birth; however, I have basically taken over the mother figure role for one of the children in my family. His name is Ablaye and i just love him to death. He is extremely neglected by most people in the family and has been quite sick lately. I spend time with him every single day and have made it my personal duty to get him healthy. I recently created a online photo album and he is in many of those photos. In the past two weeks baby Ablaye has opened up to me and has even started talking. He is going on 3 years old and is tiny and can barely talk. I am hoping that this will change in the next year or so....

Things have been going well in the village. This week i was invited to attend a village meeting at a local elementary school. I a planning to put a well and a garden in this school. The director came to me the night before the meeting at aroun 11 pm and said to just stop by the meeting the following day if i had time and he would possibly mention my project. So the next afternoon, I was really busy and barely made it to the meeting but indeed, i was there. The meeting commenced and i noticed that there was one chair in front of the room.... the next thing i know, i am being summoned to sit in the chair and was told to explain my project. THE MEETING WAS FOR ME AND NO ONE EVEN TOLD ME. About 50 men from the village showed up and luckily i was prepare and had the budget for the new project with me. This was the first time i have led a meeting in Sereer. I was quite surprised at how well i did on such short notice. The meeting lasted almost 4 hours total. After the first fifteen minutes, i just sat there and listened to the men discuss and argue the details of the project. They were trying to figure out where they were going to come up with the contribution to the project (they need to contribute 25%). The meeting was great and everyone approved the project. I am currently rewriting the budget for a garden that is 50M-50M and a well that is 15 M deep. This garden will be used by the students in school as a way to teach gardening and business skills. Most village families are supported by earnings from gardens and field crops. I heard that the school has been trying to get garden going for years. I am praying that this project i a success....

Work has been picking up lately and i have been quite busy. I am in the process for applying for a job within the peace corps community. I am applying for a leadership position among volunteers. The Peace Corps Volunteer Leader is someone that acts as a liason between the Peace Corps offces in Dakar and the volunteers in the village. The leader is also responsible for the regional house in a given region. This is a big job on top of regular volunteer duties but i am up for the task. Theposition will not be available until August but applications are due friday. I finished mine today. In general, this position usually goes to a third year volunteer... i will only be going into my second year in August but am keeping my fingers crossed that the director will give me a chance... say a little prayer for me :)

Tomorrow I am heading to Dakar to see the doctor. I have been quite sick for about a month and am almost certain i have a parasite or amoebas or something of that nature. I will keep you updated. Again, dont worry.... im not dying... Peace and Love-Can

I didnt realize it had been so long since i last posted on here. Sorry for the delay. Yes, I am alive and well. Things have been going much better around here lately. I am super busy with work and have started a new project in my village.... well i dont know if its a project but its been great. I decided to eat lunch and dinner with a new family every week. I am about to start my third week and couldnt be happier with the way things have turned out. I have gotten to know a lot of people and have made a few new friends. Making friends here is sometimes difficult because every single girl in the village thats around my age is definately mqrried and has children.... not that i mind this. it just makes it difficult to find things in common. In general, girls my age are cooking, cleaning, and washing. They rarely have time for friends. This week has been great because the family i am currently eating with is huge and they are all soo nice. I have been welcomed completely in their homes.

Yesterday was a Senegalese holiday; It was the celebration of the birth of one of the prophets. Last night there was a big market that went all night long. The village had a large gathering for prayers and for celebrating. Everyone gets so dressed up for holidays. I participated fully and wore traditional Senegalese clothing and sat at the market until about 2am with my friend Maymuna Sarr. She definately stayed later than i did but i was quite proud that i mqde it until 2 am... i NEVER stay up that late here. The holiday was good and things seem to be going my way lately.

I also discovered that i live beside a small paradise. I took many photos of this beautiful place and plan to send them out this weekend. The women in my village have a garden that is located about a 15 min walk outside the village. This place is gorgeous. There are palm trees everywhere and everything is green. The water table is only baout half a metter below the surface so there is fresh ground water everywhere. This may not sound as beautiful to you as it does to me but you have to keep in mind that Senegal is full of sand and at the moment everything is dead. It hasnt rained here since the first week of Nov. The rains will come again in late Juneish. Until then all remqins dead and sandy and ugly.... but not in this beautiful garden. I am actually going there today and cant wait. I will send out photos asap.

The rest of my week is filled with work... which is great! I hope everything is going well in America! More to come soon....

I am heading back to the village in just a few minutes. I am at the regional house now. I have been here for the last two days..putting off going back. I think i am finally ready though. I have been out of the village for three full weeks now. I had two weeks of training and then a full week in Dakar for WAIST. The softball tournament was fun but no really what i expected. There were games for four full days and then parties after the games at night The parties were fun but i definately felt like i was a freshman in college again going to the frats. I had a good time but the parties weren't really my thing. I did take advantage of Dakar though. I ate a lot of good food and spent a lot of time at the American Club hanging out by the pool. Also, each volunteer gets assigned an American family to stay with during Waist. If the family likes the volunteer, they can invite the volunteer back. I stayed with a woman that works in the American Embassy. She was great. Her house was awesome and she washed all my laundry in the washing machine!! I havent had that for about 6 months now. She invited me back too. Her house has a great location in Dakar. She lives downtown so i didnt need to take many cabs. I really had a great time there. It was refreshing.

My nearest neighbor, Laura, and I decided we want to team up and start doing projects together. We really have a lot of great ideas for work and I think we will work great together. We both feed off each other well and it will be motivating to have a teammate. We sat down yesterday and created a schdule for the next few weeks concerning projects and how/when we wanted to get things started. I have a busy schedule for the near future and feel really motivated to get back. In general, volunteers dont live as close together as Laura and i do. We are really lucky to be able to work together and i think a lot of things will benefit from it.

I have also mentioned before that i have had trouble dealing with the intensity of my village family. I have spent the last few weeks trying to find strategies to cope with this. I have come up with a plan to eat meals with a new amily every week in the village. It will be a great way for me to get to know the vilagers and vice versa. I dont think it will be a proble to get invitied because it is sort of an honor for them to have me there. I think I am going to ask my tutor friend if i can start the first week at his house. During hat week i wil tell others about what i want to do and wait for them to invite me. I also plan to help each family build a mud stove (instead of giving money) as a thank you gift for letting me eat there for a week. A mud stove is an easy little thing to build that is cheap and saves wood. It will help he women with cooking and help the environment. Hopefully this project will go over well... i think it will :)

I am teaching Sereer to another volunteer that did not have to opportunity to take Sereer class. We are going to trade language lessons. He is going to help me with my French. Our first class is next weekend. I also have another meeting in Kaolack so i will be back at the internet then. Hope everyone is doing ok in the states... miss you all!

Im finishing up with training tomorrow. The last two weeks have been good and bad both. I have learned a lot but some of the classes were sooo boring. We were lucky because a volunteer came and took over the classes and taught us some rally good stuff. Some of the Peace Corps teachers have trouble teaching american students because Senegalese classes are run completely different. I have also been able to hang out with some old friends here. We dont get to see each other often because we are all spread out all over the country. This week has been refreshing and fun to say the least!

Tomorrow we are heading to Dakar for WAIST. I am getting an American homestay. Hopefully i will be able to continue to stay with the family ocasionally when i go to Dakar. Other than that, nothing much has been happening here. Ill write again soon :)

Today is finally friday... in general, days of the week here do not matter. Monday is the same as Wednesday is the same as Saturday; however, I have been waiting for today for awhile. I am going in Kaolack today meeting up with friends. We have our next training session in Thies starting tomorrow. I will be taking another language test and then having two full weeks of ag trainging. I will also be learning Wolof...hopefully i will be able to get adecent grasp on the logistics of the language so i can continue learning on my own after the training is finished. Im excited to get back to Thies and see all of the others from my group. I havent seen many of them in about 3 months. I have been in Senegal for almost 5 months by the way!

So i think i met an angle this week... his name is Cisse'. I was reading out in the field one day and this random guy comes walking up and started talking to me. We spoke in Sereer for a few minutes and then he sais "you are a bright girl" as he was walking away. We started speaking English and come to find out he speaks fluently and used to be an English teacher. He also speaks Italian, Spanish, French, Wolof, and Sereer. I went to visit him later that day and we discussed projects etc... AND NOW I FINALLY HAVE A LANGUAGE TUTOR!!! It has taken me almost 3 months to find someone in the village that speaks English. Cisse' is one of my new favorite people. I love his family and he is very intelligent. He is a hard worker and has many projects that i hope to help him with. I am starting lass with him after i get back from training. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it all works out and he really will help me out with language tutoring.

Everything in the village has been going ok but this was a very tough week to get through. On Monday, i was hanging out with my family and one of the little kids started crying. His mother went out and got a stick from the tree and began beating him with it...she showed no signs of topping so one of the other mothers pushed her away and thn they began fighting. This has happened several times but this week was the worst of it. It is very hard for me to sit back and watch this. Its hard to make an effort to like people when you cant stand the things they do. The kids in my family are so cute and i really like them. After this incident on Monday, i really almost left the village and came to Kaolack.... in the end, i stayed but the rest of th week sucked. I am hoping that during my training things will cool off at the house and i can go back to a fresh new start. In the meantime, i am trying to figure out what i can do next time this happens because next time im not going to watch it. I think i want to have a talk with the mother that is always hitting her children and tell her that i want to find a new family if she continues with her wreckless behavior because i refuse to sit there and watch it. I dont know how i will go about this but i am hoping i can do it in a successful way. Until then, I plan to have a good time in Thies and enjoy my friends. I hope all is well with friends and family and everyone is happy and healthy :)

Lots has changed in the last few days...

First for all.. i want to give a shout out to all of my republican family members and say GO BARACK OBAMA! The inauguration was a great one. A few friends and i had the opportunity to watch it live at a restaurant in Kaolack. I was hoping for a Peace Corps shout out by the big man himself but beggers cant be choosers and i was nothing short of pleased with his speach!

Anyway, I now have work.. and lots of it. I met with a lady named Viola this week and i tink she is the answer to many of my problems here. She is running an NGO here called 10,000 Girls. I am now working with her and am starting a girls group in my village. My girls group will consist of any interested girls in the villages ages 12-22ish... I plan to go back to the village and just start having meetings once a week. In these meetings, we will just do small projects and start making things that can possibly be sold..such as pepineers and neen lotion. Neem lotion is made from soap, oil, neem leaves. After boiling the ingredients together, a lotion is formed that helps fight off mosquitos. This lotion is a big hit in many villages and i am hoping t get it startd in Diagle as well. The girls group will spend a few months just doing small projects so the people that dont really want to work will weed themselves out. In the meantime, i will be trying to get a plot of land. I need atleast 10 hectors before Viola will work with me. After i get the land, the girls will plant and harvest bissap. Viola's NGO will then buy the bissap from the girls and then her group will work to have it exported to the states. Another voluteer is working with Viola n the smae project. She told me that her girls cant keep up with the demand for the bissap so i am hoping this will be a great new project for the young girls in my village. It will be a good way for them to learn how to have a business but also do somehing they know how to do...like grow bissap. The entire project will tak about a year but hopefully it will be succesful and the girls will be able to continue it without my help. This whole thing sounds somewhat easy but really it will be VERY hard! The other volunteer that is working on the project has had numerous set backs because the older villagers are not so happy about the young girls making so much money. Hopefully this will not happen in Diagle but i have a feeling it wont be a piece of cke to get this thing rolling. Regardless of the setbacks and whatnot, i think the project sounds great! I am excited to work with young people because (for me anyway) i find it hard to relate to te older people in the village. They seem to think that since i cant speak their language like they do, I am an idiot. I think i will have a lot more success with the younger folks because they are not so set in their ways.

I am also going back to start the Mangroves project. I wrote about it in my last entry but maybe i should elaborate more. I am going to talk to a man that owns a campement near my village. The mangrove trees grow right through his campement. I am hoping to be able to start a mangrove pepineer directly in the water there so i wont actually have to carry water to it every day. I am going to colect seeds this weekend and then Laura and i are starting the pepineer next week. We will build a large wooden box that just has seeds planted in it. The box will be places directly in the water to grow for a few months. Potentially, we could have hundreds of small trees by August. In August, we will invite the volunteers that live in the kaolack region to come help us plant the small trees. This project should be somewhat easy but is very important. Really, we could keep it going for years to come.

All in all, a successful week it has been!

Right now i am enjoying the wifi connextion at a campement in kaolack. We are having a three day regional meeting. Today was the first day and it really has been great so far. I have been able to meet with many other volunteers and find out about some of the projects they are doing. It is a good way for new volunteers to find out what really worksaround here and what doesnt. I am planning to start a girls group in my village. The girls will have a garden of their own and will plant bissap (hibiscus in the states). One of the oher volunteers has a connection with an organization that helps her girls group export their bissap to the states and is sold in California. She said they the demand is o high they they cannot keep up. I am hoping to be able to get the same thing going in my village. The girls will be able to earn their own money and put it to use somewhere they see beneficial...hopefully school and such. I am planning o go with this other voluntee Monday and meet with the lady that got it all started for her. Getting projects such as this one started always tate forever. First i am going to have to meet wit this lady and find out what sh wants me to do. There is a ton of paper work and i also have to go to someone in charge of land and get a plot of land to give t the girls to get started on. All of these things take time...much more time than one might think. Buthopefully i will be able to get on it because i se big advantages for the girls if it really works out. The young girls already hae a small bissap garden so i know there is interest. Now i just need the right materials to get started. Imsure i will also have to fork over money out of my pocket to get it going but i think it sounds beneficial.

There wasa holiday here last week somewhat like Halloween. All the chilrdren cross dress and go to each other's houses begging for rice and millet. They sing and dance. It was cute. I got some good photos. Thanks to a nice package of candy from miss Angie, i gave out sweet tarts...lets just say i was a celebrity for a day... Soo... today, i fond ou that my faher just took on a 4th wife!!! I just wrote in my last blog that he took on a third wife...and now there is 4. I dont know much about this yet but i am kind of thankful. Im over the drama that this creates and i am thankful that i am not in the village at the moment listening to it. Im in shock and disbelief because my family has NOOOO money. I dont know what my father here is thinking and dont even want to know. All i can say is God Bless America.

Also, i finally figured out how to upload photos here..ENJOY:):)

Many things have happened this week. I went to the high school in Sokone and have decided to start an English club. I will be working with another volunteer and we are planning to have Enlgish classes with willing students after school and on weekends. I am excited about it because i will actually be doing something i like and something i know how to do....unlike gardening. I am waiting to hear back from the principal. The other volunteer also wants to help out with lqndscqping the school. I am down to help out with that too... the school is very nice but really needs plants and trees. The principal said we could write out a budget and they would be able to get the money for us. Things like that rarely happen here so i think it might be a miracle if it actually happens. Im keeping my fingers crossed. Also, i am getting a wolof tutor. I decided to cool it on the french lessons and dive into wolof. My french is good enough to get around and many villagers dont speak french anyway. I have more training in Feb and after that i plan to start in on the Wolof.

Oh i almost forgot..... after i got back fo*rom Christmas vacation, i noticed my dad was not around much. I kept asking around to find out where he was but evryone kept saying... he will be back later. Come to find out, he snuck off and got married AGAIN. I now have three moms. My new mother is 21 years old. My dad has a son that is 27.... im not going to tell you how old my dad is because basically i have no clue but i think you get the point. My new mom is not living with us yet but she will be moving in soon is what i was told. I think things will get interesting when she gets here because one of myother mothers is not very happy about this new wife and she is very open about it. Hopefully, things work out pecefully.

I have a big regional meeting next weekend with all fo the volunteers in my area. I am hoping that i will be able to get involved with some cool activities. I am planning to start helping out with some girls camps soon. Im not really sure what my roll will be with all of that but i will let you know when i find out!

I just got back to Kaolack yesterday and a about to hea back to my village in a few hours. I spent the last few days in Dakar eating good ood and getting fat. I enjoyed New Year's Eve. I wet out with only Senegalese people. We got tickets to go out on a midnight cruise out on the water... If you didnt know, Dakar is surrounded by beach! The midnight cruise wa nice...everyone was soo dressed up. Wore jeans! People here drss up sooo much. We got on the and the boat started cruising around 11. We were sitting in the front row an i noticed there was a box of sand in front of me about 5 feet ahead. I asked what the box was for and someone said it was for fireworks.... So about 11 55... the captain of the boat comes out and starts putting fireworks in the sand... I told the people i was with that i thought it was dangerous for s to be sitting so close to such big fireworks...they assured me that it was safe... the next thing i know, someone says it was the new year and the captain starts shooting off the fireworks one by one. NO ONE EVEN COUNTED DOWN TO MIDNIGHT!!! most people here are muslim and dont drink... it was very tame and people were more concerned about watching the fireworks than saying happy new year or kissing joe shmoe beside them... bizarre! Anyway, so the captain knocks over one of the fireworks and they start exploding on the boat a few feet away from us... So loud and dangerous. At that poin, my face was burried into the guy's chest next to me... Apparently i make friends easy here haha...no one really seemed to think it was scary but me.

After the little explosion, the boat cruised for about an hour and went around this little island. I am not sure what is at this island exactly but i heard that it is really historical. I think it is where the first slave trades took place. I want to go there next time i am in the city. I was told there ae still shackles and chains and eerything there. Not the nicest thing to see but still cool.

I am heading back to the village today and decided i am going to go to the high school in town and start teaching English. I dont know how it will all work out but im sure they will jump on the fact of having a free english teacher... hopefully that will go over well and i can start being productive.

I hope everyone had a happy new year and had a drink for me :)

Sooo.... i made it and everything went smoothly during travel. We got here on Wednesday and have been super busy ever since. Not much has really happened except a lot of class and lectures. Just to let everyone know..... ITS SOOOO HOTT!!! It is the end of the rainy season and i have heard that this is the worst time of the year for the weather. Its hot and extremely humid. I have been showering 3 times a day. Everyone around here changes clothes throughout the entire day because of sweat. Hopefully in the next few weeks the humidity will subside. Sitting through classes and listening to the Peace Corps mission statement over and over and over in the heat hasnt been the greatest but tomorrow things will be changing! We finally have language classes.

We have about 40 people in our stage and everyone seem pretty cool. We have had several volunteers from other stages come back to help with our training. They have been very helpful. We have all been hanging out quite a bit. We finish with class at around 6 each day and then dont have much to do until class starts back up the next day. Lets just say there is a lot of sitting around getting to know each other. Today was our first day off so we finally got to go into town and look around. I feel like they are really sheltering us. Im slightly annoyed that we have been here for days and have had no chance to contact our families to let them know we made it ok. I have already done the whole village thing and we never had anyone to walk us through everything so i am feeling like all of these classes are a little redundant but i can see that some thing that we have learned are important....yesterday i learned how to poop in a med kit to check for parasites! It was pretty funny actually AND we also learne that we are all gonna poop our pants atleast once! lol more on that later.

Anyway... we are having class on Monday and then Tuesday moving out to our villages. I found out i will be speaking Sereere ?? in my village. I dont know a word of it and havent had any language classes so far so i think its going to suck majorly for the first few days in village. Keep in mind, no one speaks English!! I think we are learning basic phrases tomorrow in class. Tuesday is my birthday so im looking forward to starting a new year in a village. I have "heard" where i am going to be placed but wont know for sure until the end of Sept. I think i LOVE everything i have heard about it so far. I am pretty sure its just south of Thies and Dakar. I think here is less muslim families and more catholics in that region so it seems like it is a little more relaxed. Im hoping its as cool as what i have been told.

Sooo all in all everything is going well and i am looking forward to the week coming up. Wish me luck!!

I finally made it to my staging today.... It has been a veryyy long day but a good one at that! I got here (Philadelphia) this morning sooo early. Luckily i was able to check into my room early and squeeze in a much needed nap. I made it down to orientation and sat through hours of mind blowingly boring lectures. We basically went over all the rules and paperwork today. Tomorrow hopefully something cool happens... Im just wating for someone to freak out and have a panic attack and get shipped home... it wont be me btw! Dont get any ideas :) I dont think anything exciting will be happening until Wednesday. We will be catching a bus to New York and going to get vaccinations.... then flying out. I wont be writing again until i get in Senegal. Just thought i would let everyone know i made it and everything is going well... Hope all is well in Indiana!

Well... today is my last day of work. I know i have a million things to be doing within the next half hour but i just wanted to take a minute to write a very big thank you to all of my co-workers at Harrison County Hospital. I LOVE the camera and have spent half the day eating cookies and other goodies. I really appreciate everything. :):):) Also, thanks to everyone that went out for sushi last night... VERY nice!

I will be flying out Monday morning...this is getting weird! Unfortunately i dont have anything too exciting to be writing about like sugarplum fairies and snicker doodles (Sarah) but hopefully my blog will be filled with a little more entertainment in the near future!

Also, Angie, MC Hammer WILL be making it to Senegal... dont worry... You work on the Roger Rabbit and i will work on my "Cant Touch This".... i think there are plenty of African children that need to know about him!

More to come soon!

This past weekend i visited some friends in Chicago.. it was well worth the trip! I had a great weekend and it was really great seeing a few of my friends for the last time (for awhile anyway). I got in touch with SATO and will be flying out of Louisville on Sept 8th at 630 am. I will be in Philladelphia for two days and then heading to New York. I have a direct flight to Dakar from JFK on the 10th. Wish me luck!! :)

Its official... i am leaving in less than a month. I keep thinking that something is going to happen and mess everything up because things have been running rather smooth lately. I got my staging kit in the mail yesterday so I am calling SATO (travel agency) in a few to find out my flight details. I think i will be flying out early Monday, Sept 8...who knows. I feel like i havent really known what was going on with this PC stuff for more than an hour since i got back from africa last time...

Anyway, I am going to chicago this weekend to visit some of my old africa friends and my old roommates... if anyone feels intrigued to meet up because you miss me more than you realized...holla!

Well.... I will be leaving for Philadelphia somewhere on or around September 8th. Im still working out the kinks of this blog site so more will come later...