Today is my last day in Senegal and the last day of my Peace Corps service. Tomorrow I will not only be in the United States of America, but I will also be a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV). Who would have thought? I'm in shock and disbelief that it's the end. I can't believe that I made it, that I enjoyed it, and what a wonderful experience Peace Corps has been.

When I was first thinking about Peace Corps and casually telling people my plans during my senior year of college people were incredulous. Close friends knew that Peace Corps was a dream and maybe that I'm not quite the princess everyone seems to think I am. I remember one conversation in particular with a similarly minded friend who thought Peace Corps was a cool idea. I vividly remember standing in my kitchen on Oakland and we both had red solo cups in our hands. The friend asked me if I thought I could do it and I replied "yes, I think I can." Peace Corps is completely mind over matter, or at least it was for me. PST was absolute hell, but as I built a community of Peace Corps friends, work partners, and my Senegalese family everything else became bearable.

Now, two years have passed. There is no conflict of feelings. I want to come home, back to the United States, more than anything. Senegal was great, but this experience is over. At the same time it's unbelievably sad to say goodbye. It's difficult to move on from a life that I built completely by myself and one where I may never see the people who have meant so much to me ever again.

If you're thinking about doing Peace Corps, DO IT! It's amazing and you'll never regret it although, you will hate yourself at times for making such a ridiculous decision.

Thank you again to everyone who has read my blog and sent me letters. Thank you to my family and friends for being an amazing support network. Thank you to all of my Peace Corps friends; you guys are amazing and I can't even imagine what it's going to be like to say goodbye to you tonight.

That's it from Senegal. Katherine and I will be boarding a plane back to the motherland tonight! Ready or not here we come!

Until next time, Senegal.

Babenen yoon, Senegal.

Saturday, July 16th, 2011

Saying goodbye to my family was excruciating. After the past couple of days of emotional hell coupled with my family talking about my departure, but not really seeming to care, I thought that I was going to be OK about saying goodbye. I should really know myself better than that. I was a wreck, but not as bad as I thought I would be. I wanted to sleep in to prepare for all of the goodbyes and my trip to Dakar, but I still woke up early and laid in bed staring at my empty room which looked really, really sad without all of my decorations up. Eventually my family started to get up for the day and I walked around greeting everyone and then sat in the courtyard taking everything in until my mom and Ahmed came downstairs and we watched TV together.

Katherine, Jackie, and I planned to leave site in style and together by renting a sept-place in Bambey which would pick up Katherine, then me, and finally Jackie in Pout. Katherine kept sending me text messages as she passed landmarks between her site and my house. Every time my phone would beep with a text message my entire family would look up and ask where she was. It was like the grim reaper slowly making his way to his victim. I took one last swing around the courtyard, took a quiet moment to myself in my room, and then Katherine appeared at our front door.

I had bags and bags of luggage both to take all the way back to American and to ditch in Dakar for other PCVs so as Katherine and the driver started to load the car I started my goodbyes. All of the men were easy. We shook hands and told each other that we would miss the other person. Ziabata thanked me for the baby clothes and toys that I gave baby Khady and promised he would come visit in the States. It was all very stoic. The women were a whole different story.

I said goodbye to Mami first. Since Mami spends most of her time in Dakar we aren't that close and I don't really like the mood in house when she's home so that wasn't too hard of a goodbye except that she was holding Abdou. I went to pick up Abdou and give him a kiss and he smiled at me and reached his little arms out to me like normal, which made me immediately burst out in tears since this wasn't normal. It was goodbye. I've known Abdou his entire life. Granted that's only 10 months, but he's such a cute and happy little baby and he also put a smile on my face when I was having a bad day. Next, I said goodbye to Awa. She was a little teary, but we had a quick goodbye.

Next I said goodbye to Ahmed who was freaked out that I was crying uncontrollably. Ahmed helped me so much at the beginning of my service. I always had a friend and he always filled me in on the things I couldn't quite get or the names I forgot. Ahmed is so cute and so bright. I hope that my family continues to put him in the best schools and push him to succeed or at least do his homework. Working with him on his letters, numbers, and English has been really rewarding since he's so proud of himself. Without Ahmed I would have been really lonely at the beginning of my service before I had the chance to bond with the women. When Ahmed and I walk around the neighborhood he always corrects people who call me toubab and tell them I'm an American; I hope he maintains this attitude and isn't afraid of other white people and knows the toubabs can be nice too. In parting I told him that he's really smart, that he's my best friend, and that I love him. I gave him a hug and walked away; he continued watching Saturday morning cartoons.

Jeenaba was no where to be found and that's because she was hiding in her room crying. I had to go find her. Saying goodbye to Jeenaba was heartbreaking. I probably spend more time with Jeenaba than anyone else in my family. I sit with her as she makes meals, I'll sit and hold Abdou for her while she's sweeping outside, and we can sit together in a very comfortable silence. I also help her out a lot financially whether or not I should. Even though baby daddy is a good dad, he doesn't help out monetarily and Jeenaba is constantly in debt to my mom and Khady. Yesterday I gave her some money and told her to hide it from my mom and use it for Abdou. I hope she does. I also gave her my email address with instructions that if she or Abdou really needs anything to get in touch with me. I don't know if she can do that on her own, but hopefully she can find someone to help her. It was so, so, so sad saying goodbye to Jeenaba. She's been so kind to me when people aren't all that nice to her and we really bonded. I hope that everything turns out OK for her and that's she's able to leave the family house and make it on her own with her husband and Abdou. Jeenaba couldn't pull herself together to walk me out to the car so she stood on the second floor balcony and waved.

Khady and my mom walked me to our front gate and out to the car. Khady was quietly wiping away her tears, but my mom was sobbing. My mom's reaction really surprised me since we've had the recent rent problems which really upset me. I understand and respect that my mom runs a huge and complicated household and she makes sure that everyone has what they need and that takes money. It's a difficult dynamic because everyone claims I'm family, but in the end it all comes down to money. Seeing my mom react to my departure so strongly was really nice and reaffirmed what I already knew; that my family really does love me and that we've grown really close over the past two years. I gave Khady and my mom huge hugs, thanked them from the bottom of my heart and got into the car. My mom stood at the gate crying and waving until we turned a corner.

What I've just described cannot do justice to what actually happened. Moving to a foreign country and really adapting yourself to it's culture, it's rules, and living a host country national family is indescribable. You really become family with these people even if "family" may have a slightly different definition than what I thought or be more complicated that I thought. The Gaye family welcomed me into their home and into their lives. We had our problems, but I love them dearly and can't thank them enough for everything. When I said goodbye to my real family two years ago it was really sad, but that sadness was mixed with terror for what was to come. My goodbyes today were just sad. Pure emotion, sad. Two years ago I knew that I would come home and my family would be waiting for me. I don't know if I will ever see my Senegalese family again and I know that it will never be the same since I will lose my Wolof language skills to disuse and become Americanized once again. This was truly an amazing experience.

Back in the car, I had a good cry and pulled myself together so that Katherine could throw three giant bags of trash along the side of the road on our way to pick up Jackie. With Jackie in the car and all of the Senegalese goodbyes behind us we plugged my iPod into some speakers to listen to the Star Spangle Banner as I popped a bottle of champagne out the window as we drove out of Pout. Our last trip into Dakar was filled with two bottles of champagne and half a bottle of Warang to dull the pain. We reminisced about the good times and stared at each other in disbelief that we did it. I can't believe we did it.

Once in Dakar it was off to the races once again. We grabbed some lunch and then Katherine and I repacked our bags before we all showered and headed out to another PCVs apartment. A boy in our stage, Jack, who's extending for a third year just moved into an apartment in Dakar and invited us over for cocktails. We supplied fantastic appetizers and he supplied the cocktails. It was exactly the type of evening I wanted. After being really emotional for three days, it was nice to sit and sip a delicious beverage with a close group of friends and just talk. There were no distractions, no one bothering us, we just enjoyed each other's company and talked about the past two years. We ended the night back at the regional house because Ben had a flight out tonight. It is so weird saying goodbye.

Friday, July 15th, 2011

Today was like any other day except that it was my last day in Thiès.

I got up early as usual and was able to move a lot of things out of my room and take a TON of stuff over to the center before my family even woke up. Many PCVs hand things down to their replacements and I wanted to do that for Nancy so I packed up my trunk with all of my dishes, silverware, phone, internet modem, voltage regulator and some other goodies. I had a giant bag and a box full of food that I wasn’t able to get through and a ton of toiletries that I gave Clare.

My trip to the center was multi-purpose. I needed to give Nancy the trunk and Clare he ridiculously large “care package,” but I also wanted to say goodbye to the trainees, Talla, and all of the staff at the center. The center really became a refuge during my second year where I could go and have some quite alone time. I also started helping out with trainings a lot more and really got to know some of the language instructors, the guards, and the rest of the staff.

Saying goodbye to the trainees was really weird. I welcomed them at the airport a little over a month ago when I felt that I still had a long time in Senegal. Passing the torch seems surreal. Apart from the trainees, I thanked Talla for all of his help, Amadou, the Peace Corps secretary, for helping me plan various events and rent various types of vehicles among all the other things he does. Awa, the cultural coordinator, for being amazing and helping me with my recent rent problems. I also had to say goodbye to Mike who entered Peace Corps Senegal with my stage after the program in Mauritania closed down. He now works on contract with Peace Corps at the training center so I see him a lot; that one was hard. I’m completely emotionally exhausted so the goodbyes are getting a little easier.

From the center I went into town for the last time. I wanted to print some recent snapshots for Jeenaba. She used to think that un-posed pictures were weird, but now she’s really happy that she has a bunch of pictures of Abdou. She’s such a good mom. I also ran to Les Delices to get a cake for tonight to thank my family which gave me an opportunity to say goodbye to the waitresses. Then, I took my last cab ride in Thiès and came home.

I wanted to spend the rest of the day being “present,” just taking in life and appreciating my family. Taking it slow reminded me why I force myself to get out of the house every morning and every afternoon even if it is just to walk around. Being around all day is oppressively boring and I see a lot more of the arguing and hardships that Jeenaba faces. I did really enjoying spending the day with Ahmed and Abdou. Ahmed knows that I’m leaving and told me he’s sad even though I gave him a huge box of papers, pens and pencils, and presents last night. While cleaning my room today, a feeding frenzy broke out over the rest of my toiletries even though I was trying to finish everything up before having my things attacked. It was a weird feeling to have my things picked over while I was still around.

Many PCVs give their families some extra money so everyone can enjoy a nice feast their last night. I didn’t do that because I was interested to see what happened. I didn’t expect my family to do anything different and they didn’t and for some reason I’m still sad about it. I bought a cake and ice cream which we enjoyed after a very underwhelming dinner. I’m not sure what I expected my last night to be, but I don’t think it was this. Everyone is talking about my imminent departure and that it will be sad, but I don’t necessarily believe it. Jeenaba and I had a moment today when I was really able to thank her for everything and try to explain how much her friendship means to me. We both teared up a little bit and I gave her my contact information in case she ever really needs anything and some money for Abdou. I hope things go well for her and Abdou.

It’s now the end of the night and I’m ready to go to bed for the very last time in the bungalow. I can’t believe my service is over. I’m still in shock that I made it and that I’m going home. Tomorrow morning I have to say goodbye to my family, which I’m sure will be extremely hard even though today wasn’t the best day. Then it’s off to Dakar with Katherine and Jackie where the festivities will really start.

Thursday, July 14th, 2011

The goal was to get everything done this morning and hang out all afternoon. I was far too ambitious. After talking to Matt, I left the house and went to Orange to close my internet account since I don’t know when Stacy is going to move in and she’s not here to switch the bill into her name. Shockingly, working with Orange was an incredibly frustrating experience where I had to write a handwritten request to the President of Orange requesting that he be so nice as to let me close my account. I threw a semi-controlled fit about there being no customer service and that I’ve been paying for the internet for the last month, but I’m only allowed to use Gmail. Orange was not impressed, but I left with a closed account and some satisfaction that I wrote a very mean note to the President, which I’m sure he’ll never read. Then I was off to Les Delices so I could use all of the internet before heading over to Kerry’s house to say goodbye and to pick up some pictures he took of me while we taught Junior Achievement.

I planned to say two goodbyes this morning; the guys at the post office and Dioss, but Dioss was busy so I headed to the post office. For the past couple of months I’ve been really annoyed with the post office guys and I didn’t really want to do goodbyes even though I knew I should. The reasons why I don’t enjoy sitting there like I did became instantly apparent. The first thing they tell me is that I’m cheating them out of money because another PCV is going to use my box. And we’re off to a good start! We had an infuriatingly circular conversation about post office box etiquette with them telling me that they would give me the slip for the other PCV’s package, but they wouldn’t be so nice the second time. At this point I wanted to scream and run away, but it got better.

Ever since it became painfully evident that Pathe, one of the guys actually wants me to be his wife and is apparently head over heels in love with me , things have been awkward. Everyone else eggs him on and it makes things uncomfortable. On top of this we had to get into a discussion about how I should stay longer because who really would want to ever leave Senegal. This was accompanied with one of the men telling me that he doesn’t even want to visit the United States and would never want to live there and doesn’t understand why anyone else would ever want to live there. I know that this shouldn’t get under my skin, but I spend so much time being culturally sensitive and singing Senegal’s praises that it’s really annoying. Especially when everyone knows I’m going home and I’m excited about it. The guys claim we’re friends and that’s not how they would treat one of their Senegalese friends.

Going to say a final goodbye at the post office was not satisfying. I wish it had been because for the first year of my service we really did have good conversations and I really enjoyed going there. The whole interaction left a bad taste in my mouth. As I was leaving they told me about another PCV, Rebecca, who they claimed was a friend to them just like me. Apparently, she never called them when she got back Stateside. Everyone made it abundantly clear that they wouldn’t call me or email me, but I’m a bad person if I don’t contact them. A lot of interactions in Senegal are obvious white lies. You say you’ll do something that you obviously won’t do and no one expects you to do it. You say anything to save face and not embarrass the second party. I’m sad that those relationships ended as they did because now I have no interest in making any effort to contact the guys at the post office.

This afternoon I went to see Dioss. Fortunately the episode at the post office had hardened me a little bit after the emotional chaos that was saying goodbye to Mme. Ly. Dioss and his business partner Issa as well as several members of the boy posse were at the atelier. We spent a lovely afternoon talking while Dioss made tea. It was far less emotional than yesterday. Dioss wanted to talk about the immediate future while Mme. Ly dwelled on super emotional topics like our past work together, how she thinks of me as a daughter and the distant future when I’ll bring my husband and children (obviously the girl is named after her) back to Senegal for a visit. Mme. Ly indulged my nostalgia and my sadness, Dioss did not.

Dioss is still obsessed with his catalog and is very excited about some of the ideas Nancy had when I took her to meet him. I hope that Nancy can lay down the law with Dioss and he can make real progress with his business. When it came to say goodbye Dioss kept it short and sweet. I was sad and had to fight back tears, but I held it in and when he said that he’d email me I actually believed him. I was able to choke out a few sentences thanking him for working with me, being my friend, and letting me hang out with the incredible people he’s friends with (Dioss, the Ly family, and Dioss’ friends are the only people in Senegal I’ve ever seen read a book that is not a textbook)I really hope we can keep up a correspondence; I’m interested to see what he does.

We shook with our left hands, hugged, and I walked away.

The other goodbye today was to my home for the past two years. I start disassembling my room today. Damn, it’s really freaking dirty. Moving furniture here creates a repulsive dust storm. My goal today was to get everything packed up, which I pretty much did, and tomorrow I’ll do the heavy duty cleaning. I was surprised how unemotional packing up is. None of my clothes are coming home with me. I have a bunch of souvenirs, my electronics, and all of the letters that everyone has written me over the past two years. Taking down all of the pictures I’ve hung up, the Michigan flag and the banner reminding me “Those Who Stay Will Be Champions,” brought a huge sense of accomplishment. I’m moving on up in the world. My first solo, big girl “apartment” is soon to be a thing of the past and I’m looking forward to a big upgrade.

Before coming to Senegal I scoured the internet for blogs written by people in relationships. I wasn’t all that successful and what I did find was not encouraging. Even before joining, if you’re honest, Peace Corps asks you to fill out a fairly detailed questionnaire concerning the romantic relationship and how it will or will not affect your service. I also spoke with one of my sorority sisters who started serving in Tanzania a year before I started my service. She relayed the grave news that only one relationship in her stage survived the first year of service. Having a significant other Stateside is fairly taboo within Peace Corps.

In my stage of 56 people there were 15 people in a relationship when we started. 5 couples have made it the two years. I should qualify this by saying that 5 couples have remained at that same level of commitment without any hiccups, or at least none that I know of. My stage quickly acquired a not so nice nickname because so many of us started out in relationships. For some reason there is a stigma against having someone back home. It supposedly lessens your experience. Keeping one foot in America makes you a lesser volunteer. I definitely garnered a reputation during PST as the crazy girl who got up to Skype at 6am. Ah, the glories of the west coast. But, at this point, I think I can say that I’m not defined by my relationship within the Peace Corps community. It’s taken as a fact along with my Thiesty region-ness and people know I’m not a wet blanket, which I think is the concern.

In my opinion, my relationship didn’t hinder my Peace Corps service; it enhanced it. Being able to share what you really think with someone you care about and who won’t judge youis nice. It also gives you perspective and an outlet from the groupthink that Peace Corps can sometimes be. What I do know about the other relationships that made it is that we all talk every day. Skype will be your best friend and a third party in the relationship. There were differences among the relationships. Some had significant others in school which made visits easier and longer. Others had significant others who are working. A demanding job Stateside can definitely act as a distraction, but I think it’s easier for the person who is a PCV. We’re always having new experiences and have ridiculous things happen to us. Definitely expect to carry conversation. It’s also important to have the same expectations of what the relationship is and where it’s at. Many relationships met their demise because people weren't communicating when they were talking. Visiting is a must, the ability to countdown a necessity. I would also recommend that your significant other visit you as late as makes sense into your service when your language skills and cultural understanding are at their best. Sorry if this sounds preachy.

Today is my anniversary with Matt. He has been unbelievable. He didn’t cave when I asked him to tell me to come home during PST and he was the voice of reason when my mom and I had whipped me into a frenzy. We had several fabulous vacations not least of which was his trip to Senegal where he was a champ. He deserves a ton of credit for putting up with all of my shenanigans and coming along for the ride. Matt, I cannot thank you enough for everything.

Not only have I seen and experienced change in my relationship with Matt, but with all of my relationships. I have been overwhelmed with the amount of support I’ve received. There were the usual suspects who have always been and continue to be awesome and there were the friends from high school who came out of the woodwork to donate to our girls’ camp. I’ve been able to reconnect with some friends over email, gchat, and Skype who I had lost touch with or didn’t feel as close to anymore, but there have also been the friends who have become more distant. My family has also been fantastic. I’ve always had a close family, but their letters, packages, and fun when I went home at Christmas was above and beyond. I’ve also enjoyed connecting with my aunt through her class and experiencing Senegal with her through her students. I’m excited to see how all of these relationships progress once I’m back in the States and back in action.

The most surprising and rewarding relationships over the past two years have been with my Peace Corps friends. I would not be writing this post if not for Tamar. There’s absolutely no way I would have made it through PST without her. My girls know every single mundane and fantastical detail of my life since August 13th 2009 and I wouldn't have it any other way. My friends have gotten me through the dark times and really made Peace Corps a fantastic experience. There are people like Katherine who I would have been friends with anywhere at any point in my life and there are also the people who I would have never been friends with if not for Peace Corps. Peace Corps has definitely taught me not to read a book by it's cover and that you might as well jump on and enjoy the ride.

Huge shout out to Jackie, Katherine, and Tamar for everything they've done and for all of the good times ahead.

Wednesday, July 13th, 2011

Katherine, Mme. Ly, and me at our last time at Mme. Ly's stand in Thies.

Photo Credit: Jackie

Leaving Senegal correctly has been something I’ve been thinking about a lot. I want to say goodbye properly and thank everyone who needs thanking. A couple of days ago an idea popped into my head and then seeing Christine yesterday finalized it. I had to go to Tivaouane to see my PST host family. When I told my friends yesterday they thought I was crazy and even this morning I was on the fence, but the seed was planted and I knew that I would feel like a terrible person if I didn’t go, so I went. It absolutely poured this morning so I let myself sleep in a little bit and left for the garage as soon as the deluge ended. I used my sweet Obama golf sized umbrella to shield me from the rain.

At the garage I started kicking myself for letting the thought of going to Tivaouane get into my head. Tamar’s text messages let me know that she thought I had lost my mind. I ate breakfast waiting for the car to fill up with passengers and then bought a ton of cookies and other fun things out of the car window as gifts for my family. The monsoon like rain we got this morning made the scene exactly that of PST. It was hot as hell, muggy, unbearable. And I was headed to Tivaouane, very fitting.

Tivaouane greeted me as if nothing had changed. The streets were mud with a faint scent of urine, people instantaneously started to harass me, and I felt the feeling of dread I felt every time going back to site during PST. Christine deserves the Congressional Medal of Honor for finishing up her two years in Tivaouane. There’s absolutely no way I could have done it. It’s a long walk from the garage to my family’s house in the center of town so I had a lot of time to reminisce while I side stepped mud, motos, and mean children.

My family was definitely surprised to see me. Only the girls were home. My mom was overjoyed. She was so happy. Binta and Kyte seemed pleased especially when I produced all of the cookies, but they did not look good. The house looked even more decrepit than when I lived there and the girls seemed to know that they are never going to leave Tivaouane. They seemed sad and didn’t look physically healthy. Binta took me to see my brother Aly, the youngest child and the host sibling I was closest to. He now works at a small boutique that sells mixed tapes. He was definitely excited to see me and we caught up for a few minutes before exchanging contact information so we can friend each other on Facebook. Aly has had to drop out of school to help support the family because my host father’s pension isn’t enough.

Talking to my mom was sad. The girls couldn’t believe that two years had passed. They couldn’t believe it in a sad way. Their lives really hadn’t changed at all and I had already finished my service. When we started to say goodbye my mom started crying so I obviously started crying. It’s sad to say goodbye and not be able to help these people who helped me so much. Who took me into their home and tried to help me learn a language and about a culture so different from mine while being infinitely patient with all of my mistakes and faux pas. On my ride back to Thiès I thought a lot about why my mom cried. She was definitely genuinely happy to see me, but she also recognizes that I’m going home and back to a place of opportunity. She’s devastated that Aly couldn’t finish school and knows that I want to return to university. Even though she doesn’t speak French and has never really left Tivaouane she knows that better things are out there wherever there is and I think she was sad for her family.

Even though what I just wrote is really depressing, I’m very happy that I went to Tivaouane. It provided the full circle/ closure that I’ve been trying to achieve. I also think that my family really appreciated it. My coming showed that I hadn’t forgotten their kindness and generosity. I left with a skirt, a dried gourd, and two little bracelets. The family Ba in Tivaouane are really, really, really nice people.

Back in Thiès I hung out with the family while waiting for lunch. This mainly involved playing with Abdou and two spoons. He is such a happy baby and some fun and unconditional love is exactly what I needed. Ahmed and I also continued to take pictures.

This afternoon I went to see Mme. Ly and Khady. I hadn’t planned on saying goodbye to them until at least tomorrow, but because of the rain they didn’t go to their outdoor booth and where therefore at home – the perfect opportunity to say goodbye. It was terrible.

Khady and Mme. Ly were sitting under a shade structure watching TV on a mat and I joined them. Mme. Ly immediately pulled me to her and put my head on her lap like a little girl. She stroked my head for two hours as the three of us talked. They had a lot more questions about the United States. More than they’d ever asked me. They wanted to know if I could go to the market and buy fruit and vegetables, in what kind of house my family lived, and most poignantly how far away my Peace Corps friends live from me. Mme. Ly had a lovely image of the Peace Corps family continuing once we got home. That everyone lived close enough that we could see each other all the time and talk about our friends in Senegal and our experiences over the past two years. She was absolutely appalled that Katherine and I will be separated by a country that is many times the width of Senegal.

Once the other family members who I don’t know as well started to come home, I started making signs of leaving. Mme. Ly wanted some last pictures which I was more than happy to take. Major shout out to Matt again because I’ve been taking the Polaroid with me everywhere I go so that the person/ people I’m saying goodbye to can have a picture of us – instantly. The entire Ly family was pretty pumped about the instant camera and we got some really nice shots for them as well as some on my camera.

Cuddling and having my head rubbed for such a long time had lulled me into a calm state, but as soon as the time came to say goodbye I started to lose it. I couldn’t help it. Mme. Ly and Khady have made my service. They were so open to working with me, being my friends, and they opened their home to me. They’ve come so far and I know that they want to go so much further. Mme. Ly and Khady would be amazing people in any culture, in any country. Their drive, determination, and willingness to put themselves out there is almost non-existent in Senegal. They are really special people.

By the time we had given each other left handed handshakes (this signifies an improper goodbye and that the traveler must return again) everyone was in tears. Khady had to turn around and run into the house. I had to put sunglasses on, but children still ran by myself side asking why the toubab was crying. I hope that I was able to express how much Khady and Mme. Ly mean to me and how much they’ve helped me and how much they mean to me. They made my service a success and I will remember them and their kindness forever.

Before the Thiest girls took the Dakar region by storm, it was a sad, sad region. Most other PCVs mock us because we have amenities and the region has never been very close because the Dakar regional house is used by all of the volunteers in country. Well, that has all changed now and it's honestly one of the things I'm most proud about in regards to my Peace Corps service. I love that we all get together in Thies for lunch, we have beach weekends together, work on joint projects, and all really get along and genuinely like each other. In hopes of continuing the tradition and the WAIST domination of the Dakar region, Katherine and I with help from a first year PCV named Sarah have been working on a Dakar region getaway day for the newbies for the past couple of weeks.

The events started this morning when everyone leaving from Thies was supposed to meet at the garage at 9:30am. Katherine, Stanzi (KO's replacement) and April arrived super early and everyone else arrived at very degrees of lateness. This was an omen of what was to come with transportation. While we were waiting for everyone to arrive and while eating an egg sandwich I bargained to rent out two sept-places for our trip to Mbour. Everything was all set. Well, we ended up waiting over an hour for the last person to arrive and once she did my deal was apparently not good anymore. Working with my new friend at the garage I switched my focus and bargained for a bus, which we all climbed into, waited for, and then were forced to climb out of because of politics in the garage. Over an hour after we were supposed to leave we finally, actually left and began an insanely slow trip to Mbour where everyone from the Petit Cote was already waiting for us at Warang.

I've written about Warang before and it never disappoints. Since all of their liquors are seasonal there's always new flavors which adds to the experience. The owners are super nice and put extra bottles in the freezer just like I'd asked! Needless to say we converted another generation of PCVs into Warang lovers. This was everyone's first chance to mingle and talk. The trainees were excited to tell each other about their demyst experiences, my stage was happy for another wonderful afternoon together, and everyone had the opportunity to meet the Ag and Health/EE PCVs that they might not have met before. It was a very inter stage and sector event, which made it even more fun. From Warang we all hitch hiked back into town to go to Kassoumaye, the amazing pizza restaurant that I went to with Matt.

Kassoumaye, undoubtedly, has the best pizza in the country and I've been talking it up for months. Unfortunately, I found out a while ago that their pizza oven is broken. I'm not sure how a brick pizza oven can be broken, but, alas, it is. The owners were incredibly gracious in working with us and had an amazing menu planned. Everyone had a salad, pasta, fruit salad for dessert and glass of wine. I thought that there were going to be plates of carbonara and plates of bolognaise and that, since we're Peace Corps Volunteers, everyone would eat off each other's plates and get a taste of each. The people at Kassoumaye are geniuses and put pasta in the middle of the plate with a scoop of each sauce on either side. Perfection. At lunch everyone had the opportunity to mingle some more and everyone stood up to introduce themselves and give their favorite fact about Senegal.

I think everyone had an amazing day. I know I did. Getting everyone together for a day is a lot of work and I spent a lot of time yelling at men working in garages, but it was totally worth it and a ton of fun. Today really offered me the retrospective/ full circle feeling that I've been missing out on. Seeing all of the trainees enthusiasm, reliving the excitement and newness of it all through them was great. I can't believe it's been two years and how far I've come. I can't wait to stalk the blogs of all the new PCVs to see what they do.

We're back in Thies now after another terribly long travel experience. I have to say goodbye to April before I leave the center for the night which is going to be terrible. It's my first real goodbye. Tomorrow starts my Thies goodbyes. I''m kind of numb to the fact that I'm leaving and in total disbelief that I'm going to be home in less than a week. For good. Now, I have to make sure that I not only leave, but that I leave properly and I'm really dreading saying goodbye.

There are a bunch of new pictures up in the "It's the End of the World As We Know It" album.

Monday, July 11th, 2011

Awa’s baby had her baby naming ceremony this morning. Obviously no one told me that the naming was happening this morning, but I guessed when I saw a bunch of old men walking into our house. I sat with most of the women in my family in the entryway to the house watching the ceremony unfold in the living room. Khady is the baby’s godmother and namesake and held the baby sitting in the middle of a circle formed by all of the men. The men took turns whispering prayers and the baby’s name, Khady, into her ear before blessing her and finishing the ceremony. It was pretty cool to watch especially since the actual baptism will take place on Saturday after I leave Thiès. After the ceremony I held Awa for the first time. She’s not a very cute baby which is unfortunate and seems to be in a really bad mood the vast majority of the time. Definitely a departure from the happy-go-lucky Abdou.

From my house I went to the center to pick up Nancy for the day and to talk to Awa about my rent situation. I’m finally at peace with the situation and really do believe it was a misunderstanding, or at least a situation where it is highly plausible that there was a misunderstanding. Awa obviously had an Ah-ha moment when I gave her the past two years of rent receipts that I have. Apparently, most people in Senegal pay their rent on the first of the month for the previous month. Therefore, when I paid July’s rent, which was half the normal amount since I’m leaving, she thought that I had only paid half for June and was going to run out on July. While this is still fairly annoying because it’s still all coming down to money in my last week of service when I’m supposed to be reveling in my accomplishment and spending time with the people who made it so memorable, it does make sense in a nonsensical Senegalese way. The person who installed me two years ago was supposed to explain this procedure and didn’t, but I know that most of my friends pay their rent American style on the first of the month for that month. I understand that my host mom is fairly money grubbing and a penny pincher. I see this behavior inside my household and with her own children so I’m attempting to remain more calm than I was. I’m satisfied that the situation has been resolved, my mom’s actual intentions and whether or not she’s happy are no longer my concerns, and that it looks like a first year PCV is going to move into my house.

Nancy and I were supposed to go see Dioss in the morning, but when I called to confirm our little date he was obviously somewhere else so Nancy and I chatted at the center until meeting up with Kerry for lunch. After lunch Dioss was back at home so we went to visit. It’s going to be really hard to say goodbye to Dioss and I started choking up almost immediately before I forbid him from talking about anything to do with our projects together or me leaving.

I think he and Nancy could have a great partnership. The large shipment of his association’s catalogues are supposed to arrive in early fall and he wants Nancy to help him set up a little party and publicity event. He also showed us the documentary that Pauline and friends, the French students who were here last year, created. It’s actually pretty good and I found it wildly entertaining since I know almost everyone in it. Nancy was already several steps ahead of Dioss and suggesting editing the video down further so that it’s facebook and youtube accessible as well as putting the full length video on his website. Dioss is so close to getting everything right he just needs someone to connect the dots and I think Nancy will really be able to help him do that. Nancy not only has her amazing experience in Kenya as a PCV, where she also worked with artisans, to draw on but she’s worked for giant retail corporations in the States like Nike, Reebok, and Ralph Lauren. I’m really excited that someone as experienced and full of ideas as Nancy is will be taking over my projects. All of my friends are demisting PCVs who are in our age range and who are outwardly excited, enthusiastic, and wide-eyed at the accomplishments of their anciens, PCVs before them. I’m not really getting that experience since Nancy already understands Peace Corps and the lay of the land, but I hope that means she’ll be able to jump into her projects right away. Madame Ly and Dioss and the artisan reseau at large are poised to make real progress in the next two years and I’m excited because I think Nancy will really be able to help them with that.

Nancy and I spent a couple of hours with Dioss. I’m always so relaxed after leaving Dioss’ atelier. It really is a nice place and has been an oasis throughout my service. Looking through his art, new and old, is always fun and I picked out a few more things to take home and give as gifts. If you want anything you have until Thursday morning to email me! That’s when I have to say goodbye to Dioss. Ugh.

I spent the rest of the afternoon with my family. They were in fine form as usual. I owe a very delayed shout out to Matt for sending me one last package full of Polaroid film. My entire family, but especially Ahmed are OBSESSED with the Polaroid camera. Everyone clamors to have their picture taken when it comes out. There was general outrage when Ahmed took a picture of our sleeping dog, Mischa, and when he accidentally took a picture of the floor. But, in all honesty, the rest of my family isn’t too much better at taking pictures and Ahmed loves it so much. I gave him a Thomas the Tank Engine Pez dispenser at the same time (cleaning out my room) so he was pretty much in heaven. I have a couple of really cute pictures which I will post as soon as I can.

The topic of my impending departure is pervasive at home and it’s really sad. Ahmed isn’t talking about it, but he definitely knows if he doesn’t quite understand. It’s going to be really, really, really sad and I wish I could provide some lasting help to Jeenaba and Abdou, but that’s very difficult to do. In the meantime, I’m trying to snap as many pictures as possible, watch as many terrible soap operas as the power outages permit, and soak it all in.

Saturday, July 9th, 2011

Yesterday I came back to my house after a night out at chicken dibi and Pamanda’s with my friends and it was like nothing ever happened. I used all of my knowledge of Senegalese culture I've accumulated after two years to show absolutely no emotion and to pretend that nothing had happened. If there's one thing I absolutely cannot deal with, it's passive aggressive behavior so this was a huge test of willpower and patience. Everyone in my family also pretended that nothing had happened and welcomed me home after a long day with open arms. My mom acted normal, Khady wanted to know where I got my necklace (a Mme. Ly creation bien sur), and Jeenaba handed me a tired and grouchy Abdou. They asked about my day and had already been told that my replacement, because she is slightly older, didn't want to share a bed with me and would be staying at the center during de-myst (and until we figure everything out).

What's more miraculous than the relative calm I returned to (which actually wasn't that surprising since being direct isn't a part of Senegalese culture), is that we had a new addition to the family and utilities! Awa had a little baby girl earlier this week while I was in Dakar. The big news with the family was that Ziabata and his immediate family (Ziabata is actually a cousin) paid for Awa to stay in the hospital for two days after the birth. This was big, BIG news and Jeenaba was clearly jealous. They've been telling everyone about the hospital stay it seems to be more exciting news than the reason why Awa is in the hospital... the child. Anyway, the baby is a girl and wont have a name until it is baptized next week. She isn't nearly as cute and chubby as Abdou was, but I also haven't spent a lot of time with her.

The other big news is that the water is back! After three months the spigot in our compound is finally full of water. It's amazing. Everyone is super excited about it and we've been filling everything in sight for fear that the water will turn off as suddenly as it appeared, but so far so good. We actually have RUNNING water. The water doesn't come on just in the middle of the night for 30 minutes; it's on all the time. Or at least it's been on for the last 36 hours, which makes it the longest stretch of my service. Obviously this is happening after I have a fight with my family about how much I pay/ if I actually paid and after I told Peace Corps that I never have electricity of water. Fingers crossed I will live in the lap of luxury for the next 5 1/2 days.

This morning I met up with Nancy, my replacement, to start her tour of Thies and my work partners. We went to the post office to meet everyone there, put her name on the box, and I gave her my key. From there we went on a little tour of all the boring administrative places in Thies. Where to get your residency card renewed, they mayor's office, and all of the banks. From there we went to see Mme. Ly.

Madame Ly immediately set us to work putting out of all the bracelets on the table. It was past 11am and she was just getting started, go figure. It was a good first taste of Mme. Ly's style for Nancy and she did get to look at everything up close. Nancy worked with artisans on product development and marketing while she was a PCV in Kenya so she has a great background, a lot of experience, and some great ideas to not only help Mme. Ly, but also the artisan association at large. I'm really excited to see what happens! In the meantime the association is still going strong. Madame Ly is going to make the second connection between artisans and buy a bunch of leather bracelets from Aly's leather worker, Demba, in Mboror.

After spending some time with Mme. Ly, we had a nice lunch and then hung out and escaped the afternoon heat in the relative cool of the center. I spent the night at home with my family just hanging out.

This morning I was frantically trying to clean my room, shower, and get to the center in time for a session Katherine and I were doing on the Best Game when my mom pulled me aside. I was literally telling Jeenaba that I wouldn’t be home for lunch or dinner when my mom told me that I needed to tell Awa, the head of Peace Corps home stays, that she wanted to talk to her. I thought this was an odd request since I’ve been able to handle everything else on my own for the past two years so I asked her about it. My mom said it had something to do with money. I assumed the issue stemmed from me only paying her half of the usual amount for July. I paid full rent and then halved the food, water, and electricity amounts since I’m actually only at site for 8 days in July. We’ve been through this several times and she’s not happy about it, but I don’t feel the need to give more than I already give. I pay an absolutely ridiculous amount of money (practically the entire bill) for water and electricity – utilities we never have.

As I pressed for further information on what my mom was unhappy about the problem became even murkier. I really have no idea what she wanted other than more money from me. At first I thought the problem was the prorated July rent, then it seemed like she was accusing me of not paying anything for June when I have a receipt with her signature on it in my room for the month of June, and finally she just insulted me by saying that I didn’t understand the problem and needed someone to explain it to me in English. I understand that this is a very Senegalese way of dealing with a problem – avoidance – but it has been an absolutely heartbreaking day.

Completely unsure of what happened at home, what the problem was, and feeling terrible about the entire situation I collapsed in Awa’s office at the center and told my story. It’s heartbreaking because I’m being reminded just 8 days before I leave for good that I really am a tenant, a paycheck. All of the nice things I’ve done with my family, all of the time we’ve spent together, and all of the money I have already given them isn’t enough. They want more. At the very least this is how my host mom feels or how she chooses to express it. I hope that Jeenaba, Khady, Ahmed, and baby Abdou feel differently. I hope that I have made a positive impact on their lives that isn’t purely financial. I always knew that money wasn’t far from the surface and was the most important part of our relationship, but I wish that I hadn’t been reminded of that fact at the very end – it just leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. It’s sad.

What makes all of this that much harder is the effect it will have on my family who I have lived with and loved for two years. While I will be replaced by a volunteer in Thiès who will continue working with my work partners such as Mme. Ly and Dioss, the volunteer will not live with my family. The money situation has become too much and the utilities too poor to put anyone there.

Today was supposed to be an incredibly exciting day. Today was site reveal. When all of the trainees finally find out where they’ll be living for the next two years of their lives. I was excited to welcome all of the new Thiès region trainees into the family and ready to tell Nancy, my replacement, about her wonderful host family. I have truly loved living with the Gaye family. They have, for the most part, been absolutely wonderful. I’ve definitely had my frustrations and even money issues before, but this blatant extortion plan is just too much. Awa was kind enough to go to my house and try to solve the problem. Apparently, my mom doesn’t think I paid her for July even though I have a receipt. Supposedly it was all a big misunderstanding and that’s what I’m going to attempt to pretend actually happened so I can enjoy my last week at site. Everything should be smoothed over when I bring all of the receipts to Peace Corps on Monday.

This episode is in stark contrast to another interaction I had today. Jackie, Katherine, and I went out for lunch today and swung by Mme. Ly’s stand because Jackie had part of an order she still needed to pick up. It was the last time that Jackie and especially Katherine since she worked with all of the artisans was going to see Mme. Ly. I seriously love this woman. Madame Ly is a saint and such a good friend. She was distraught that Katherine is leaving and I think we all teared up. Mme. Ly wished us all loving husbands, a bunch of kids, and full lives while smothering us with kisses and forcing us to pick presents of her jewelry. I’ve given Mme. Ly nothing except for my time and friendship (alright, alright I’ve also bought a boat load of jewelry!) and she is much more effusive than my family. In my already heightened emotional state it’s too much to have my family saying how much they’ll miss me and how we’re all going to cry next week and then demand more money or insinuate that I haven’t paid them enough.

Today should still be an exciting day though! Nancy is going to be my replacement in Thiès. She is an older PCV who already completed a service in Kenya in the early 2000s. She has an amazing retail background and worked with artisans in Kenya. Nancy is going to be able to do amazing things for Mme. Ly, Dioss, and the artisan network at large! I can’t wait to introduce her to everyone. My night should improve since I organized a huge chicken dibi outing! Most of the trainees and most of the PCVs from my stage are in town and we’re going to celebrate a little and get to know our replacements!

Thursday, July 7th, 2011

The COS process is over! It’s official! On July 18th I will become a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer and board a plane to come home to the United States of America. Katherine and I have been busy the past few days wrapping things up in the office and doing all of our last minute shopping in Dakar.

The Close of Service process was relatively painless. Past PCVs have really complained about how hard the process is, but it didn’t seem too bad to me. Katherine and I had both written our COS reports in advance which definitely made things less stressful and we were the only two people COSing this week. Checking off each box on the massive COS checklist was at the same time exciting, gratifying and numbing. It’s so strange that I’m the person COSing and a PCV who I’ve looked up to for the past couple of years. I’m so excited to come home, but I’m dreading saying goodbye and I’m still in shock that the time has actually come.

In-between medical appointments, exit interviews, and waiting for signatures, Katherine and I did find the time to get some additional shopping in. The two of us were in charge of getting the Dakar region’s COS bracelets. Silver ID bracelets are very popular in Senegal and it’s a Dakar region tradition that all of the COS-ers get a bracelet with their Senegalese name. It took several trips to the market and we had very little hope that all of the names would come out correctly and written on the correct bracelet, but Senegal offered us up a little miracle and the bracelets all look fantastic!

We also went to Marche Kermel which is a pretty touristy antiques market to get some last minute souvenirs for Katherine. At Christmastime I had picked up some excellent gifts for some of my male friends: pornographic bottle openers. They are amazing. The bottle openers are supposedly bronze, very sturdy, and are fairly graphic. They’re great. Anyway, Katherine and I are walking through the market trying to find and bargain for these items when one of the all time great Alyssa-isms pops out of my mouth. While waving a large, bronze penis bottle opener in my hand I proceed to tell the vendor who is quoting us a ridiculous price that “If you want to sell this bottle opener then 3000CFA is a good price. If you don’t want to sell this bottle opener then 11000CFA is a good price.” Needless to say Katherine got her souvenir.

Note for all future PCVs: If you ever find yourself in a market in a heated bargaining argument over a bronze penis you know it’s time to go home!

With souvenirs, bracelets, and a completed checklist Katherine and I said goodbye to everyone at the Peace Corps office and headed back to Thiès for the last time.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Before time really starts to slip away I want to thank everyone who has helped me, encouraged me, and kept up with my story for the past two years. Here is a non-exhaustive list in no particular order...

The United States of America

Thank you for the chance to serve in the Peace Corps. I hope I did you proud.

The United States Postal Service

Thank you for creating flat rate boxes. Without flat rate boxes my mother may or may not have gone insane and me and my friends would have had to suffer through holidays that did not feature boxed wine, sausage, nacho cheese and the myriad of other delicacies that have been shipped across the Atlantic.

Skype

Thank you Skype for allowing me to have panic attacks and fits of joy communicating with my loved ones at home while not paying exorbitant fees. Your amazing unlimited call plan is just fantastic. I will miss the sound of the program starting up at 5:55 in the morning.

Gmail

Thank you Gmail for offering HTML for slow connections as well as google chat without you Google, I would not have been able to communicate with my friends and family nearly as much!

McKeown Family New Yorker Subscription

Thank you for the years of New Yorker magazines accompanied with bags of pistachios! Without the McKeown family subscription I would have been much more bored at meetings and PCVs throughout the country wouldn't have had nearly as many magazines nor nearly as an enjoyable of a time traveling through the country. I am sure that years down the road PCVs will be reading your New Yorkers and be very happy that they traveled all the way to Africa for their reading pleasure.

Shirley

Thank you Shirley for all of the cards. I need to count just how many cards there are because it's a truly impressive number. Your cards always put a smile on my face. Thank you so much.

CJ

Thank you CJ for coming all the way to Senegal and having enough sibling love not to pretend that Senegal isn't exactly the nicest place in the world. Your disbelief more at me for staying here than in my living conditions was very refreshing! I will always have great memories of our trip to the waterfall in Kedougou even if you were a little bitch pretending you were sick while we were in Thies.

The Pirate Bay

Thank you The Pirate Bay for providing me with limitless torrents to make time move just a little bit faster. My completely worthless and trivial knowledge of Top Chef, Grey's Anatomy, 16 & Pregnant, The Amazing Race, and other terrible shows would not be the same without you. Hopefully I will be less socially awkward and be less unaware of American pop culture when I return to the motherland because of you.

Matt

Thank you for listening to my insanity at all hours of the day, coming to visit, and showing your infinite patience and levelheadedness. Ready or not here I come!

Peace Corps Senegal

Thank you Peace Corps Senegal for allowing me to serve even though it was hard for myriad reasons at different times. Thank you most of all for the free calling plan among PCVs. Without free calling I would have had to spend even more money on credit and much less time scheming with Katherine, talking about food with Tamar, and gossiping with Jackie.

Clif Family Products

Thank you Clif Bars for creating the life sustaining product that is Crunchy Peanut Butter. I seriously think Clif should have some sort of partnership with Peace Corps because we love your products.

My Family

Thank you to my entire family for all of your support, emails, Skype calls, and packages. Can't wait to see everyone when I get home!

SpaceX

Thank you SpaceX for allowing me to send my online shopping purchases to you. Very discrete.

My Friends

Thank you to all of my wonderful friends who sent me email updates, spent countless hours on gchat with me, sent me letters and packages, and made the time to hang out while I was at home over Christmas. You are the best and I can't wait to see all you!

JCrew

Thank you JCrew for allowing me unlimited window browsing and many, many pairs of sale cargo pants.

Mom and Dad

Thank you for everything.

Pamanda's Hummus Plate

Thank you Pamanda's hummus plate for being you.

Senegal

Thank you for hosting me.

My Peace Corps Friends

Thank you to all of the PCVs who served with me in Senegal. You are all amazing. Without you I would have ET'ed without a doubt. See you all at unofficial WAIST!

Blog Readers

Thank you to all of my blog readers. I stalked you through Google Analytics and I appreciate your time and all of your comments. Thank you for all of your support. The support has been overwhelming.

This list of thank yous is by no means exhaustive and is only supposed to thank all of you for everything you've done for me. Every email, post on my blog, letter, package, phone call and text were incredibly special to me. You've kept me going and knowing that people at home are thinking about me and interested in my life here in Senegal makes a world of difference.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

Let the COSing begin! My COS and DOS reports (the main pieces of paperwork I owe Peace Corps in order to leave the country) have been done for a couple of weeks now, but that is truly only the beginning. Leaving Peace Corps is almost as tedious and requires almost as much paperwork as the application process. Katherine and I must complete all of our COS (close of service) work this week so we can de-myst our replacements and then spend our final days with our Senegalese family and friends before party plane-ing it back to the motherland.

During our COS conference a few weeks ago we were given a giant packet of papers as well as a several page long checklist to help us keep track of and complete everything we have to do. The race started this morning. Immediately upon arriving at the office we check in with the medical office who tell us we have a few hours to wait so I run to turn in all of my bike equipement and have that signed off on. Instead of reveling in the air conditioning and wifi space that is the PCV lounge I ran off to the bank (twice since I had to come back because I forgot my passport!) and Katherine waited for Med.

Oh, the Senegalese banking system. Jackie was already waiting impatiently at the bank when I arrived. She had made the ridiculous mistake of pulling a number and waiting to be called when all she had to do was talk to someone at a desk who had to send an email to someone else in order to close our accounts. Obviously. Luckily for me, Jackie had the not waiting part all figured out and we had the man behind the desk email the accountant to finalize everything in our accounts so we could close them. Do not ask me why they man behind the desk, who had full access to all of our account information, was powerless to do anything except wait for this other person to email him. Two hours of waiting, people watching, exasperated eye rolls, and several bouts of annoyed questioning later the mystery man emailed the guy at the desk back and we started the process of closing our accounts.

Banks in the US like when people open savings accounts, not so in Senegal! It’s no wonder that people don’t have bank accounts. I know all about the frustrations of opening an account from when I helped Dioss open one so we could work on the exporting his cards to America. I had no idea that closing an account could be even more frustrating, confusing, and counterintuitive. By the time all of this was over I owed the bank almost 60USD. That’s because they did me the great honor of giving me the exact amount of money left in my account, fees for having kept a bank account open for two years, and having the temerity to actually close it which cost a whopping 40USD. Very, very, very annoying.

The poking and prodding had just begun because it was time for my medical appointment. The Med office is currently overrun with people who are sick and might be medically separated from the Peace Corps which is really unfortunate, but I appear to be healthy and my appointment didn’t take too long. An eye exam, physical, blood drawn… and other things you don’t want to hear about…

From Med it was more running around, more signatures, searching for Peace Corps staff members and trying to make the rest of the week as easy as possible for myself. That was until Katherine and I headed downtown to for lunch before going to see the dentist. As you can see from this post, trying to leave Senegal involves a lot of running around. I’m very happy to be doing all of this before the very end so my last few days of full of family and friends instead of Peace Corps bureaucracy.

Before joining Peace Corps, I loved America. American history, politics, and the US itself fascinated me. Now, after living abroad for two years, my patriotism has reached new and fanatical levels. The United States of America is the best country on Earth.

We woke up this morning in Toubab Diallaw in order to celebrate another great birthday. Tamar turned 26 two days ago and American turned 235 today. What a week. Unfortunately, Senegal wasn’t about to give us a free pass to Dakar in order to let us start the celebration early. Even with stomachs full of delicious crepes we still arrived in Dakar famished and ready for more American style food since the 35 kilometer drive from Toubab Diallaw to Dakar took us almost three hours.

After quick showers and shoving as many clothes as we possibly could into the washing machine at the regional house, we packed into two cabs and headed off to the American Club. Most of the PCVs in country are down in Kedougou celebrating the 4th like we did last year, but in order to COS, de-myst my replacement, and be ready to leave when I wanted to it was impossible to travel all the way down to Kedougou so I’m in Dakar. The American Club was up to its patriotic best with a spread including hamburgers, fries, salad, grilled chicken, and fruit salad. I went for the hamburger which was made decidedly less American when the waitress slapped a fried egg on top of it before I could protest, but delicious nonetheless.

The American Club also provided entertainment. Very strange entertainment to say the least. There were Senegalese clowns for the children to play with and Jackie and Tamar were on this side of absolutely terrified. The clowns did acrobatic tricks, had marionettes, and did little skits for the kids. We were also all entertained especially when the clowns pulled April into the circle and forced her to perform tricks with them (see pictures). Regardless of creepy clowns, the American Club was a great stop. It provided exactly what we wanted: grilled hamburgers, gaudy 4th of July decorations, beer, and the national anthem played over terrible speakers. But, we didn’t let the fun end there…

Off to downtown Dakar we went to participate in another one of mine and America’s favorite pastimes: shopping. I cannot wait to go shopping. The thought of a trashy American mall (or a super nice one for that matter) makes my heart skip a beat. Sandaga, the main Dakar market, wasn’t exactly the fix I was craving but it had to do. The main purpose was to secure COS bracelets for the PCVs in my stage in the Dakar region. That was a fail, but Katherine, April, and I did find an amazing necklace/ bead store. The three of us fed off of each other’s almost manic shopping frenzy energy and had an amazing time working with the flamboyantly gay salesman. The store was a great find and Katherine and I continue to corrupt April (a first year PCV in our region) on artisanal products. We may or may not have made several additional stops as we wound our way out of the market. Shopping expedition success.

Still on our shopping high we rushed to NiceCream, which is the best ice cream place in Dakar. The mission: Obama Cookie. Obviously there is a flavor of ice cream named after Obama and obviously it is delicious and the perfect treat on the 4th of July. Obama Cookie ice cream is chocolate ice cream (duh) with cookies that I describe as Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies without the mint. It’s really good. Our 4th of July food triumphs do not end here! Another cab ride returned us to the regional house where we proceeded to whip up some Velveeta Mac & Cheese courtesy of Jo Ellen.

What is the most perfect way in the world to end such a representative of America 4th of July? It would be watching The American President on someone’s laptop surrounded by your friends who have been working on giving each other 235 high fives throughout the day to celebrate America!

God Bless America.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

There is Peace Corps lore, propagated by Thomas Wheat, about Toubab Diallaw – a beach town just south of Dakar. The main attractions of Toubab Diallaw are not the picturesque beaches, the quaint village, or the lovely water, but rather the crepe restaurant and the pizza restaurant. Seriously. We ate a lot of crepes.

Friday morning after frantically packing, by shoving as much food and boxed wine into my bag as possible, I met Katherine, April, and Jackie at a small garage in Thiès to rent a car. Bethany, a response PCV living in Thiès, and three of her friends met us and the eight of us piled into a 6 person van that absolutely reeked of urine and off we went! A super short trip later we arrived in Toubab Diallaw.

Toubab Diallow is a real Senegalese village and it’s also a beachy resort destination. Both Dakaroise (wealthy Senegalese from the big city) and foreign tourists voyage to Dakar which makes for some weird bedfellows. Our hotel was really nice. It’s dormitory style, but we had our own room and our own beds. The bathrooms were communal. While I loved the hotel and thought it was great, especially for the price, it was a strange, strange place. The hotel looked like a medieval castle that Senegal threw up on. It was made of a million different materials, featured drum circles, dance circles, and lots and lots of study abroad American kids who were loving the “cultural integration.” It was a great place…and it was only a few steps away from the crepe restaurant.

The big crew from Thiès arrived before the birthday girl, Tamar, and Brian met us in Toubab Diallaw. Once we were all reunited the only thing we could talk about was crepes. Chez Baby is located right on the beach and is run by Sierra Leoneans who speak English and who make crepes. Unfortunately, it took two hours to finally get our crepe lunch order, but it was totally worth it. The crepes were big, thick, and filled with delicious treats. I had a chicken, potato, and onion crepe. It was awesome. Next up was lounging on the beach and swimming in the ocean before we had to take showers and start thinking about our next meal. The pizza was delicious and very romantic since we had to eat by candle light as it rained.

Sunday morning we were back, bright and early, at the crepe restaurant for round two. Round three happened Sunday morning when we went back for breakfast again! Our Toubab Diallaw weekend was supposed to be a fantastic 26th birthday celebration for Tamar as well as our last little getaway before we all return back to the United States of America. The weekend, shockingly, revolved around food and lounging. The beach was really beautiful and the water was warm and we had fun playing in the waves. It was also nice to lay in lounge chairs and read a book in peace.

Sunday night’s dinner was AMAZING. Having already eaten crepes several times and not being completely enthused with the pizza, we decided to go to the restaurant right next to the crepe place. The woman running the restaurant immediately noticed the necklaces Jackie was wearing – a Madame Ly creation – and asked her where she got it. It turns out that this woman knows Mme. Ly and she was super excited for us to eat at her restaurant. Because we know Mme. Ly, the woman gave us the option to order the “special” plate that she makes for all of her friends. A “special” plate is usually a tossup. We thought there was a 50-50 chance that it would be good so we went for it. We were all so happy that we did because it turned out to be a giant platter of perfectly cooked fish, grilled chicken, salad, coleslaw, and fries. It was heaven especially when paired with a cheap bottle of wine on the beach at sunset.

A great time was had by all. I definitely needed to get out of Thiès so the trip was a welcome relief and it was really fun to spend a lazy beach weekend with my friends. It’s amazing how little time we have left so I’m happy we have a few more pictures and a few more good laughs!

It's JULY!!! AHHH!!! I'm coming home this month!

Allow me to illustrate the passage of time with one of the two most annoying conversations I had yesterday. Out of all the repeated conversations I have in Senegal there are two that stick out as being the most rage inducing.

1. There are 52 states in the United States

2. Why don't you just stay longer/ marry a Senegalese man

I had both of these conversations yesterday with the customs guy at the post office. I was so upset and frustrated by the end of the conversations that I almost left my package there since he was holding it hostage until the end of our conversation.

The 52 states debate is infuriating because it's factually untrue, but Senegalese people have a printed source that says it is. There is a high school textbook here in Senegal which states there are 52 states in the US. To make matters even better it does not list these 52 states it simply says they exist. Therefore, I don't know if they get 52 by believing that the continental US is 50 and then added Alaska and Hawaii or if Guam and Puerto Rico are counted. The lack of critical thinking skills in this country mean that all which is printed is truth. As an American citizen and history buff, I am unqualified to denounce said textbook and am ridiculed for my lack of patriotism and intelligence when I attempt to right this wrong. I was practically in tears yesterday trying to explain the textbook's mistake. It's even more infuriating since it would never stand if I tried to correct a Senegalese person on a fact about Senegal.

With nerves already frayed due to the 52 states conversation we moved on to the "why don't you stay longer/ marry a Senegalese man conversation." There is no correct answer. If I say I miss my friends and family, then I'm told to bring them to Senegal since it's so much better. If I say it's because my significant other is there, I'm told there are many more eligible men who would marry me right now here. Hey, my relationship at home isn't a sure thing, but that man on the corner definitely is! Or if I like it so much here, why would I go home? I know that a lot of this stems from insecurity and the desire to have me praise Senegal, but it's unbelievably annoying and circular.

Everyone always says that two years is nothing. I completely agree and completely disagree. Before I came to Peace Corps the two years was the scariest part. The scariest part should have been coming to Senegal, but since I was completely naive, it was the time factor. Two years seemed like an insurmountable amount of time away from family and friends. It seemed like throwing my life away by not making any money or attending graduate school. I have definitely missed out on things at home and time with friends and family, but while I will never get that time back nor would I want to give that time back, many of those events have been common occurrences and I will reclaim my spot when I come home. Without a doubt I have gained more in two years in Peace Corps Senegal than I would have at home and have become a much better, more patient, and empathic person. Not to mention the amazing friendships and Peace Corps family I've forged here. But, two years is still a really freaking long time and it makes me angry that people who have never left home are telling me it's not. I can also no longer come up with politically correct excuses to live at home and not marry a Senegalese man.

Moral of the story: I can't believe that it's been two years and I can totally believe it's been two great, amazing years!

That was yesterday. I spent the night in the dark with my family who continues to astound me with the awesomely bad food they've been preparing. Yassa (fried fish on white rice with onion sauce), Ngalach (peanut butter, chocolate, milk, millet concoction), Fataya (fried dough balls filled with fish), and Ceebu ketcha (rice with dried fish). I'm seriously impressed with how bad things have been lately so I've been raiding my remaining stash and hanging out where other food is available. The main plus of the power outages is that I actually spend time with my family instead of time spent watching television with them. I love our conversations in the dark while I get to cuddle with Abdou. Everyone is starting to talk about my imminent departure. They claim they're going to miss me and I actually believe them. They're also nervous about the new PCV they're going to get. They'll have to wait a little bit longer to be let in on that secret...

Today I've been out and about running some personal errands, trying to get all of my organizing and packing done, and going to see Mme. Ly. She's working on a couple orders for me and my friends which are still not done, but we had a nice chat anyway. I'm really going to miss Mme. Ly and Khady. It's so peaceful to hang out with them even though their stand is on a busy road with traffic and a lot of people. I always take pleasure looking through their stock and watching Mme. Ly and Khady as they work. My work is pretty much done so I visit for mostly social reasons although we did go over which PCVs who work with artisans will still be here another year and talk about my replacement.

I've been trying to get some work done at Les Delices this afternoon because the real final countdown starts tomorrow. Tomorrow is two weeks left at site, but even that is misleading because I'm headed to the beach tomorrow with my friends to celebrate Tamar's birthday, then it's off to Dakar to be medically cleared and complete all of my COS paperwork, back to Thies for a day with the family until de-myst with my replacement starts, and then three days of goodbyes before returning to Dakar to get on the plane. Two years have flown!

Fall Stage '09 Ladies at our last Thies lunch.

For the past two days I've been hanging out at the center. Today and yesterday I had sessions at 8:30am and ended up spending the rest of the day working at the center since my house never has electricity and Jackie and Katherine have been in town. This morning the three of us and Kerry led a Junior Achievement lesson. For some reason the stage a year behind me is totally anti-JA and only one person has started teaching classes so far. The new stage seems much more excited about the project. After a brief presentation and overview about JA, Kerry led a panel discussion and the three of us answered questions. It was actually quite fun to tell our amusing anecdotes and reflect back on our time with JA. Junior Achievement was definitely a good project and I hope that a lot of volunteers in this new stage continue teaching.

Ladies and Brian

The big event for the day was the last Ladies Who Lunch event of my service. Lunch marked the last time that the Fall Stage '09 ladies will all be eating lunch together, in Thies, in our Thiest Region t-shirts. A sad time to be sure. Fortunately everyone in my stage was able to attend lunch at some point, although Christine didn't quite make it into the pictures! I am so lucky to have been posted here in Thies with such fabulous colleagues. Seven girls from my stage were placed in and around Thies and we'v had so much fun together. Whether they're "thiesty" or not I still love them all dearly. The seven of us really made Thies a sub-region among volunteers and it's been great to acquire new members along the way and I hope that the PCVs who replace us will continue the tradition of camaraderie and leisurely lunches.

While this was our last Thies lunch, it wasn't sad and that's because we're all in denial or at least I am. I cannot believe how short the countdown has become. I still remember the count up when I made it to 100 days in Senegal and now I'm in the teens. As in less than 20 days in Senegal. I will be home in 19 days. We are down to the wire, but there's still so much more to do that I don't feel like the end is as near as it is. I also hate goodbyes and am already getting teary when I think about having to do it with Peace Corps staff, with my work partners, with my family, and with my friends. The lunch wasn't sad at all. It was fun. And that's how I hope the vast majority of the rest of my 19 days will be. We definitely have some fun events planned to take us all the way to the final goodbye at the regional house in Dakar.

The Thies region also has a love of khaki/ fatigue pants! Guess who's who!

Let the insanity begin (continue)!

New pictures are up in the "It's the End of the World As We Know It" album.

Monday, June 27th, 2011

Today was a really good day.

My ever present social guilt and the fact that I wont have the opportunity to see all of my Senegalese work partners in the near, near future prompted me to call Dioss even though I didn't want to. I don't know why I never want to call Dioss because I always have a pleasant time when I go to his gallery. Today we chitchatted for a little while and then both read books while listening to American soft rock as some of the boy posse ran errands and painted. Dioss has been a really good friend and at the beginning a very good work partner. I hope that my replacement continues a relationship with Dioss. I've recommended in my COS report that he or she asks one of the members of the boy posse if he would like to learn some basic accounting and in that way help Dioss since Dioss has very little interest in learning the business side of his business. The time it took to read an entire Vanity Fair magazine was the amount of time I was willing to sit around Dioss' gallery before returning home, but it was a lovely morning and I'm definitely going to miss Dioss and the rest of the boy posse when I leave.

When I arrived back at home and drenched in sweat (the hot and muggy season is officially here) my mom, Numbe, and Awa were all sitting around the kitchen. The electricity had still not come back 24 hours after it turned off. The three women were eating a tropical fruit that looks like a rotten yellow tomato. I don't think it has an English name and I had definitely never seen it before I came to Senegal. The fruit has a hard rind, thicker than an orange, and inside there are hard seeds covered in a little fruit surrounded by goop. Sounds gross, tastes good. Well, it tastes good after you add sugar to it because before it is incredibly sour. My family likes to freeze them, scoop out of the fruit, and put the fruit in some water to make a kind of fruit smoothie. It's actually pretty good although incredibly time consuming and difficult to eat.

As we ate our fruit and chatted, Numbe caught site of the magazine in my bag and asked to look at it. One of my family's great pleasures are the perfume ads in magazines. They LOVE them. After getting over their initial horror that I would rip pages out of a magazine, they now demand that the fragrance ads are immediately taken out of the magazines so everyone can smell them, rate them, and rub them all over their bodies. It's quite the spectacle and the "which fragrance is better" conversation gets heated quite quickly! It's true female bonding time and it was really fun. I had a great couple of hours, waiting for lunch to be served, sitting with my mom, Numbe, and Awa. There are moments here that are so great and then there's the rest of the time...

After lunch, I headed over the center to put a large bag of miscellaneous objects into a Peace Corps car going to Dakar. I've been trying to clean out my room and either sending things to Dakar, throwing piles and piles of Peace Corps paperwork in the trash, or bring things to the center for other people to pilfer. There are a ton of people in Thies right now working with the new SED trainees and volunteers doing sensitivity training for Peace Corps staff and trainees on being a homosexual volunteer in Senegal.

Due to the large number of volunteers in Thies and the fact that it was one PCV's birthday we all went out to Massa Massa for dinner. Jackie, Katherine, and I had been planning on going to Massa Massa for one last meal and this was a great excuse. Although Lamine, our favorite waiter wasn't there, we all ordered the lasagna and all made ourselves sick off of it. Every time I eat an entire plate of lasagna by myself I remind myself that the reason we split lasagna isn't cost, it's that we make ourselves sick when we eat it by ourselves. Two years later and the lesson is still not learned!

Sunday June 26th, 2011

Last night was my loudest night in Senegal. A truck with giant speakers was parked outside my house blaring music. There was no party. No political rally. No death. No birth. No baptism. No nothing. Just a truck with gigantic speakers parked outside my house. I could barely hear myself think. Today I found out that all of the Catholic children in my neighborhood were receiving their first and second communion, but there was nothing going on last night. I don't understand why people don't stop ridiculous things like this. My family was complaining about the noise and my host dad is the head of our neighborhood yet, they still didn't attempt to stop the noise. There are only two plausible explanations:

1. Senegal

2. No one complains because they know at some point that they will want to have a truck parked outside of someone else's house blaring loud music.

Today I really wanted to and thought that I would do work. I went to the center and even took a lunch so that I wouldn't have to leave. I sat in the living room at the center and tried to hunker down and concentrate. No such luck. In anticipation of the trainees coming back to the center for the first time and due to all of the recent power outages there were a lot of PCVs at the center so I chatted, walked through the market, and did other unproductive things.

The trainees did come back from their first five days in their towns/ villages and were excited to be back at the center again. This group of trainees is already really tightly knit since there are only 17 of them so they were excited to see each other and excited to get a nice cold beverage at the Catholic compound. I didn't really hear any horror stories, but people definitely have a new appreciation for Thies and the training center.

Back at home my family was in a terrible mood. Having Mami home full time now, university is out for the summer, really creates tension and drama, which is fun for me to watch!

The past couple of days have been full of ups and downs. I feel incredibly busy, but at the same time seem to be accomplishing absolutely nothing. For the first time in years my two worlds, the world of Peace Corps Senegal and the world of my old life at home, are colliding. I’m so close to being done, but home is still out of reach and while I’ve been planning a life at home it’s still vague and currently includes another plane ticket to the west coast 11 days after getting to Michigan and that’s pretty much it. The new trainees are here, I’m writing my Close of Service Report which will help my replacement jump into life and projects in Thies (I just finished it this morning!), and I’m placing last minute jewelry orders for my friends and myself (hey, I’m trying to keep what’s important in perspective!). At the same time my calendar is filling up with all kinds of events in Grand Rapids and Chicago. Having a foot in each world is a little weird, but probably good practice for how I’m actually feel when I get home. For now, I’m trying to prepare, but enjoy my time in Senegal with all of my friends. We still have one more trip planned and 4th of July festivities to look forward to!

The process of writing my COS report has been a strange one . Writing the details of my service, how I organized the artisan expo, what the creation of the artisan association looked like, the shipment of Dioss’ cards to the States, the new styles of Mme. Ly’s jewelry, is an exciting look back at my service and has reminded me that I actually did accomplish things. Writing about my family already has me in a panic about saying goodbye. Describing everyone’s personalities, their quirks, relationships to each other, and how the insanity of my household all seems to make sense is really emotional. These people no matter how much they annoy me, how incredibly inconsiderate they are sometimes, or how they truly feel about me as a “member” of their family are my family here in Senegal. I depend on them and I love them and it’s going to be terrible to say goodbye even if I will enjoy not being barged in upon while half naked and given a baby to hold. I hope my replacement finds the same camaraderie with my family as I did.

My COS is only one of the written documents I’m working on. Job applications, letters of recommendations, different essays, and PST schedules are constantly open on my computer and just never seem to be complete. I’m easily distracted these days.

Yesterday, I did get some work done. In the morning I attempted to explain my internet problem to the service provider. It ended with me having a meltdown in the Orange office much to the amusement of two Peace Corps employees who were also there to complain and attempt to have their problems resolved. From there I headed over to Mme. Ly’s to check in, chat, and discuss a special order for Jackie. Upon hearing that there may or may not be coveted hot pink beads in Dakar, I also placed an order. We discussed the Artisan Association and how it really has nothing to do with Katherine and I and that the next meeting in September will be just as successful and the artisans can do more and more themselves. Mme. Ly doesn’t seem convinced, but I’m confident she’ll pick up the reigns when she has to.

In the afternoon I met up with Andrew, one of the new trainees who is doing PST in Thies. He was feeling a little antsy in his home stay which I could understand after talking to his mom on the phone and explaining that he was a big boy and could walk to a central location by himself to meet me! We walked through the market running some errands I had. During my PST I felt like all of the PCVs who came in were so enthusiastic and happy about everything and in love with Senegal. Many people in my stage find it funny that I’m in essence “stage mom” since I hated PST with such a passion, but I hope that I’m giving people a realistic picture of Peace Corps life. I would have felt so much better if someone had told me that Peace Corps is hard, that people can and will be really mean in cities, and that Senegalese cities are just dirty and disgusting. This isn’t a value statement it’s just the truth. I think Andrew has a lot of the same misgivings that I did when I first arrived so I hope that I’m helping trainees who feel like I did and at the same time not appearing to be too much of a Debbie Downer to the super happy go lucky people. It was nice to get out of the house and hang out with someone and it was another opportunity to reflect on my service.

So, I have been doing things. I’ve visited work partners, yelled at service providers, toured Thies with new trainees, and even written reports, but it doesn’t really feel productive. I need to kick it into high gear. It’s a sprint to the finish.

As I’m in transition, so is the weather. The rainy season has arrived. Katherine called me this morning because she knew I had plans to go into town and a storm was hitting Bambey. It takes almost exactly half an hour for weather to get from Bambey to Thies, which would have had me walking around in the storm. Thanks Katherine for the heads up! Even without Katherine’s heads up I hope I would not have been stupid enough to leave my house after looking at the sky. It was pitch dark at 9am and then the sky turned red with sand and the wind was incredibly violent, banging everything closed and tearing limbs off our Mango trees. It was pretty cool. The storm lasted for over two hours and it rained a lot! Now we actually have some water since we collected it in buckets. The rain was a welcome relief from the humidity that’s settled over Thies in the past week or so. I’m not too pumped for Thies to become a swamp of trash again, but I do enjoy seeing the change in life when the rains come. No one does anything, there’s no cars on the roads, everyone hides from the rain and I watch movies in my room!

SHOUT OUTS!!! I’ve been delinquent in putting these up! I apologize.

McKeowns – Thank you so much for the “Countdown to Redondo” package! The trail mix and magazines should provide me enough fuel to get through the next few weeks. I’m excited to teach Ahmed all about paper airplanes as well. Thank you for your support.

Mom and Dad – Thanks for another great package. The wine cups will be much appreciated during our beach weekend next week! And I promise to wear the new underwear on the plane so Africa underwear doesn’t make the jump across the Atlantic!

Shirley – Thanks for another great card! Matt and I are definitely going to call in that order of Pecan Bars and I can’t wait for some fried rice salad and mashed potatoes!

Sorry this has been a rambling and disjointed post! I’ll try and do better tomorrow.

With a very short five days of "rest" at home in Thies/ the training center, I was off again and back to Dakar on Tuesday for a Junior Achievement event. But, this wasn't before I had the chance to go see Mme. Ly on Monday afternoon.

I had been dreading going to see Mme. Ly because of the disaster that was Jazz Fest. She and Khady had the most miserable expressions on their faces every time I saw them and I was afraid that all of my hard work with them would be for naught after the giant disappointment of the expo. Fortunately, Mme. Ly doesn't hate me. Just like Katherine's artisan Matar told her, Mme. Ly told me that the event was so horrible that the artisans bonded and that they did really learn a lot from the gallery and how we had set up the Peace Corps display there. Apprently, the boys stayed an extra couple of days in St. Louis and sold some more product which is good. Mme. Ly and Khady left after the final official day of the expo with some very, very, very exciting news. After I had already left St. Louis, Joelle, the gallery owner, came over to the Peace Corps booth to check things out and speak with the artisans. She was impressed with a couple of the products including the Collaboration Bag (made by Matar the tailor and Demba the leather guy) and a lot of Mme. Ly's new jewlery designs.

Mme. Ly and Khady are over the moon that Joelle liked their jewelry and the three women are working on finalizing and order for the gallery and creating a partnership! Exciting!!! Over the past year I've been creating a Look Book for Mme. Ly with all of her designs. Every time she has a new necklace I take a picture and put it in the photo album I bought her. She now has a record of well over 50 designs that she's made. The next time Mme. Ly goes to Dakar she's going to take her Look Book and show it to Joelle so she can choose more designs. Hopefully this will turn out to be an enduring partnership! And it means that at least two good things came out of Jazz Fest: the artisans have really bonded and become friends and Mme. Ly has a new opportunity with a gallery!

Unfortunately, Monday night did not end as well as the afternoon went. My internet is suddenly suffering from the mysterious disease that Katherine's internet had a few months ago. From home, when connected to the internet through my modem and an ethernet cord, I can only access Gmail, NYT.com, and Skype. While these sites do represent the holy grail of internet, but it's really annoying when you can't access the rest of the internet, especially after I had paid my bill earlier that day. Yes, I know, the trials and tribulations of the Peace Corps Volunteer. No internet. Poor me. But, it's all what you get used to and I have work to do! Although I have been obsessively calling Orange (my service provider), re-configuring my modem, and turning everything off and on, there has been no improvement. Blame the terrible utilities companies for the lack of blogging.

Tuesday morning, after yelling at several Orange representatives over the phone, Talla came to pick me up and we headed to Dakar. Since Talla was driving and I didn't have to take a sept-place I took a ton of Peace Corps property into Dakar to turn in... I'm getting closer and closer to coming home! We picked up Jackie and with Kerry already in the car we sped to Dakar... until we got stopped in standstill traffic for over an hour. The real purpose of the trip was Junior Achievement and the end of the year festivities and events planned by the JA country team.

Tuesday night we attended a lovely reception at the American Ambassador's house and Wednesday morning we went to the national theater along with a bunch of JA students (including some from Lycee Technique!) to celebrate their accomplishments and listen to some Senegalese musicians perform. We also got to watch a television segment about JA in which Jackie and I starred or in which Jackie starred and I had one ridiculous line. The best part was we were both wearing the same outfits we had on in the video! Just goes to show you how poorly PCVs dress.

Now I'm back in Thies waiting out the power outages and politicking. Definitely check out Senegal is the news for yesterday and today. I'm an fine and safe, but there are protests happening throughout the country. Yahoo news, Reuters, and AP all have articles if you are interested to know what's happening in Senegal.

Trainee site placement interviews continued yesterday and I continued to be absolutely fascinated not because I see myself two years ago, but because I see my projects two years from now. The new group of trainees is overall older than my group, has more experience, and already speaks better French. The number of people with retail and marketing backgrounds who want to work with artisans is staggering and they are chomping at the bit to take the Peace Corps Artisan Association to the next level with their expertise, contacts back in the US, and their excitement at what their service holds. It's a little sad that I wont be around to see everything first hand, but don't worry, I'm coming home.The nostalgia is definitely kicking in. The new stage is so excited to get to know each other, so excited to learn local languages, and so excited to get to work. I can finally see why some people do extend their services for a third year(again, don't worry this is happening, I already have a plane ticket). At this point in my service no matter how incredibly annoyed I am with the country of Senegal and everything it entails, I can still get things done. The artisans, even after the catastrophe that was the St. Louis Jazz Fest, are still excited about the association and call me incessantly to talk about. With my language skills and cultural understanding at the point they are now, I could do great things with a third year just like some of my stage-mates will do with their third year. But, back to the new stage...PST is going well. Who the hell thought I would ever say that in any context? I was at the center all day again yesterday doing interviews, answering questions, and participating in the cultural fair where I lead the Islam talk for the forth time. Last night since the trainees are still not allowed to leave the center I lead/ created a trivia night for them. While the questions might have been a little titled toward the Alyssa/Katherine weird knowledge/ obsessions side, it was still fun and I hope a success. Fortunately, I am able to take a little break from the center today and try to become a whole human being again. The past ten days have been crazy. Katherine and I worked our asses off all day in St. Louis and then may or may not have had a little too much fun at night, then 5 days in Dakar for COS Conference, and now PST. In return for all of my hard work, I have earned a very persistent head cold and complete exhaustion. I slept for 10 hours last night, got up, eat breakfast, pretended to do work for an hour, and then took an almost two hour nap. Yeah. I want to spend some time with my family today because I've barely seen them this month and I have very little time left. I did spend a little time with my family today. Operative word being little since I was so, so, so tired. My main interaction was holding a stick on one side while Ahmed held it on the other in order to prevent him from seeing how many times one can poke a light bulb before it breaks. I had to take several naps both in my room and on the floor of the living room when the power was out and it was too hot to be in my room without a fan. I think tomorrow I will be close to normal and can continue with normal live. Tomorrow is also the Thies walk around so the trainees will be let out of the center for the first time! Hopefully I wont scare them too much!

Yesterday at 4:45am Chris (our Country Director) picked up a group of us at the hotel where we were staying for COS Conference and we all went to the airport to pick up the 17 new SED stagaires. Even though I was sick and had to sit through the rest of the conference all day, I wanted to go great the new stagaires to come full circle. I remember how incredibly terrified I was when I landed in Senegal and how much I looked up to the PCVs who came to collect us. I didn't see any of the terror I felt in their eyes, but it was great to get a first look at them.

The stagaires were in Thies all day yesterday, but I left early this morning for Thies with a group of second year SED PCVs to present on our various projects and give a little taste of what we do to the new kids before they had their interviews about site placement. Katherine and I presented on artisans (it seemed like people were super interested!), Elizabeth and Jackie did Junior Achievement, Byron presented on cross sector collaboration (SED and Ag co projects), Chris on Eco-Tourism, and Lyzz (a first year) on waste management. I know that I would have liked a project overview early on in my pre-service training, since I had no idea what kind of work the PCVs did, so I hope they enjoyed the presentations. I also participated in a safety and security discussion about Thies, but the most interesting part of my day was the site placement interviews.

I am lucky enough to sit in on the site placement interviews and help decide which trainee goes to which site. It's absolutely fascinating. I remember my interview and how it's so hard to talk about what you want when you don't know a damn thing. I feel like the PCV who sat in on my interview really was able to look at the sites, understand who fits into what site, and then evaluate my personality in order to put me in Thies. The fact that I wasn't quiet about my desire for internet/ connection to the outside world probably didn't hurt either. Regardless, I hope that I can help place people at a site where they will be successful and at a site that they love. Listening to the new trainees struggle to find the right words because they're jet lagged, try to describe their perfect site without knowing anything about the sites, and attempt to process all of the information being thrown at them is bringing back a deluge of memories.

All of their questions are interesting and I already feel invested in them since they are a SED stage, but most especially because one of them will be living with my family, taking on my projects, and quasi living the life I've lead for two years. The goal of these interviews in the next two days is to figure out which languages people are going to learn. Since the group is so small (only 17), there will be 5 French, 2 Serere, and 10 Wolof. Therefore, winnowing down the two who will speak Serere is a pretty big deal as they will be placed in one of two sites. There's a lot more variables in play for the people learning French and Wolof, but I definitely have my eye on a potential replacement for myself and for Katherine.

The past 8 days have been insanity with Jazz Fest, COS Conference, and the new stage arriving and it's not going to calm down anytime soon. For the rest of the week I will be spending all day at the center with the new stage and I have to go back to Dakar next for a Junior Achievement Senegal conference.

Artisan Update: I just got off the phone with Katherine who spoke to her tailor, Matar. I have yet to really speak with or visit Mme. Ly. According to Matar, some artisans stayed until Tuesday even though the event officially ended on Sunday and that they actually sold quite a bit of product and that the artisans are generally happy. Apparently, after we left, everyone started singing kumbaya and being best friends forever. Alys' leather worked, Demba, is now a father figure to Matar while Mme. Ly is his mother. They all bonded over the horrible situation and believe St. Louis made the association stronger, which they are now obsessed with. I desperately hope all of this is true because I've been feeling terrible about how poorly Jazz Fest went and how miserable the artisans appeared while we were there. I can't wait to get a chance to go over and see Mme. Ly. I hope she's as positive as Matar!

Fall 2009 Stage at COS COnference

For the past three days my entire stage has been in Dakar for our COS (Close Of Service) Conference. This is a point in my service that I never, ever thought I would attend. I didn't think I would make it through PST and then I thought I would be going to grad school in 2011 and wouldn't make it to the conference, but, as I've learned in Peace Corps, you never actually know what's going to happen and I made it to COS Conference.

The real purpose of COS Conference is to bring the next stage to leave together in order to give us mounds of paperwork and instructions for ending our Peace Corps service and returning to the United States. What COS Conference really is is an opportunity to get everyone in your stage together one last time and stay in an air conditioned hotel in Dakar for four days. Unfortunately, that AC gave me a terrible head cold, which I'm still struggling with. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were filled with vast amounts of paperwork to be filled out in the future, job prep information, and how to continue our service in the US by speaking with schools, participating in recruiting events, etc. The conference wasn't super informative since I had already ravenously read our COS manual, which I received a few weeks ago and outlines most procedures, but the conference was the last time I'll probably be able to slow down and think and process.

With volunteers spread across Senegal, there are only a couple of times each year we all get together and other than trainings there's no time when you are along with your stage, the people who crossed the Atlantic with you and suffered through the same PST. It's really fun to see everyone and hear about how life is so different in a village than in Thies, but that we share many of the same frustrations and our perspectives on Senegal aren't all too different. I love hearing everyone's personal anecdotes about site from accidentally adding too much bleach into her drinking water, to 3 day long bus rides to Mali, to me getting peed on by a goat while sitting in a car, to making bagels over a gas tank or being asked to participate in a traditional wedding, everyone has a great story.

During the day we sat in a conference room learning and sharing and at night we sat around the hotel pool or in our air conditioned rooms reliving our favorite memories, making news ones, and discussing our plans for post Peace Corps life. That next stage will start at different times for different people in my stage. Myself and most of the SED volunteers will start leaving mid next month (because our replacements have arrived in Senegal 2 months early), while our agriculture stage-mates will be leaving anytime from July to November. There are also the brave PCVs will be extending a service for 3 months or 6 months or even a year. COS conference is supposed to bring us together and make us think and it definitely accomplished that for me. I am so unbelievably excited to come home and as I'm wrapping up my Peace Corps experience I'm proud of what I've accomplished and believe that my service has come to a logical conclusion, but at the same time it's really, really, really sad.

Wednesday night (the concluding night of the conference), Chris, the country director, invited us to his house for some food as a thank you for our service and as a last meal as a group. Jackie made a freaking amazing slide slow with pictures from the past two years. I'm not close with everyone in my stage, but there's the person I sat next to on the plane from DC to Senegal, or the people from my PST training village, or the person I spent a weekend with at a regional house. Most of all, these are the only people who will ever really understand my two year Peace Corps experience in Senegal. They know how crazy it was, how much I hated PST, and the fabulous adventure it was.

Not to be super sentimental/ nostalgic/ sappy... I will move on. COS Conference also represented the last few days I will have to think about my service, or, at least, start thinking about my service. Wednesday morning I was part of a crew of 2 year SED PCVs who got up at 4:45 to great the new SED stage at the airport. One of these people will be my replacement! Crazy!

Katherine and I arrived in St. Louis Wednesday afternoon after the one of the worst sept-place rides of all time. I literally sat on my right hip the entire time because the back seat was so small, a the giant woman sitting next to us decided to needed to jiggle her baby most of the ride, and the 2.5 hour trip actually took a little over 4. The only thought that sustained us during our sept-place ride was: Rice Krispie Treats. Katherine’s mom sent us some last minute food supplies and we brought a lot of it to St. Louis, most importantly the Rice Krispies. There was obviously no gas at the Peace Corps house in St. Louis so we foraged for sticks. On the side of the road. In a major city. Once we collected what we thought was a sufficient amount of stick on which to cook Rice Krispie treats the magic happened. Fortunately, butter and marshmallows don’t take too much heat to melt and before we knew it we were indulging in the gooy delight that is Rice Krispie treats. Making ourselves sick for what would be the first out of two times on Rice Krispie treats we hid the remnants in a plastic bag and then put it in our luggage to enjoy later/ hide from other PCVs because we’re fatties.

In a sugar coma, we walk across the bridge to the island to meet Amanda and see the gallery for the first time. We also walked through the artisanal stand section to find our booth and prepare to help the artisans find the booth and set up Thursday morning. The gallery, like the one in Dakar, was beautiful although they received a giant shipment of goods while we were there and actually didn’t get everything set up and open for business until Friday, which was a day after the actual festival started. Everything seemed like it was under control and Katherine and I left the island feeling like the artisans could pretty much fend for themselves and our roles would be minimal. We made a delicious Mexican fiesta over some more sticks, ate some more Rice Krispie treats, created a PST presentation, and went to bed thinking that the apocalypse probably wouldn’t happen the next day. We were wrong.

The gallery was supposed to open at 9am so that’s when Katherine and arrived to find the first floor of the gallery overrun with product to the point where we could barely find a path to walk. The first day at the gallery was a bust because it never opened, but it did provide us with a reprieve of the absolute hell taking place outside. I went to the stand to search for artisans and ran into Ndeye, a boutique owner from Kaolack, on my way there. She couldn’t find the booth. Ndeye was the first artisan to show up followed by the women from Kebemer who make bags and then Mme. Ly. It was obvious at this point that we were in trouble. The artisans were not happy about the space or the congestion in the “artisan” area. We had warned them about the space. At the last artisan meeting we actually mapped out on the floor the dimensions of the booth and reiterated to everyone that they could not bring their usual amount of goods/ baggage. This needed to be an event where we worked together to make the most of our space. This obviously didn’t happen.

The three women started setting up and pretty much filled the entire space and four artisans had still not yet arrived. I had had several discussions with Mme. Ly about only bringing her best goods and only bringing a couple necklaces, bracelets, and earrings in each style. This obviously fell on deaf ears as she brought her normal/ ridiculous quantity of goods. I was really annoyed she completely disregarded my recommendations and then that she refused to reduce the amount of goods she had on display so other artisans had more room. The day really only got worse from this point.

Katherine and I had to move our bags from the Peace Corps office to the house our stage rented for the weekend so we did this and had lunch, leaving the three artisans who had actually arrived at this point at about 12:30. We returned at 2pm to hell. The male artisans had finally arrived and the amount of bags they brought with them had brought all of the artisans to a complete standstill. It was like they were paralyzed. No one was continuing to set up. Everyone was just sitting there, complaining about the lack of space, and staring at the unpacked goods. While we were hoping to have a minimal role, Katherine and I jumped in and started unpacking; there was nothing else to do. We moved as much as we had been OK’ed to move into the gallery to create more space and we attempted to have the artisans work together in creating displays.

The Peace Corps Artisan Association is supposed to be a practice in collaboration. There are already several products where artisans work together and several have become good friends, but when it comes to money and showcasing goods all bets are off. Each artisan wanted his or her own space. No one wanted to or accepted the idea of displaying a piece of jewelry in a bowl or on a basket. There was just an explosion of goods and it looked terrible. Fortunately Amanda came over to play bad guy and arrange goods for them. The artisans are terrified that the one product they put away is the one thing that will sell even if they already have the same product displayed elsewhere. Amanda helped us work with the artisans for several hours to create a space that looked semi-decent, but which was still overflowing with products.

The artisans and especially Mme. Ly did not like what we did. At this point it’s 6pm and we’ve been working on arranging things since the early morning. Most of the artisans traveled to St. Louis that day. Everyone is exhausted, it’s incredibly hot, and the conditions are just terrible. The artisan exposition is more like a bazaar. The vast majority of booths were filled with random crap from the market, goods made in China, and cheap knock off goods. There were 100 booths and maybe 20 had actual artisanal clients. The majority of the clients were Senegalese school girls and there was a constant crush of humanity milling along the road at all times. Loud music was blasted and the organizational effort put in by the mayor’s office was nonexistent. I went to a boutique to buy drinks and donuts to make everyone feel better, but most of the artisans didn’t even want it. That’s how angry and exhausted everyone was. With nothing left to do and the artisans definitely not wanting to talk to us, Katherine, Alys, and I left around 6:30 for a much needed and deserved beverage.

Friday morning wasn’t all that much better. The gallery finally opened and served as our oasis from the chaos outside, but since the chaos outside stretched to the front of the gallery we barely had any customers. What we were able to do was bring the artisans inside the gallery so Amanda could talk to them about product display. Unfortunately when she asked them what the biggest difference between the booth and gallery was they said space instead of set-up, but they did she how nice and clean and minimal everything looked. Space was definitely tight at the booth, but if they had worked together to display everything they would have been much better off. The men really seemed to get this lesson and take the entire debacle as a learning experience. I’m not so sure about the women. Next week I will talk to Mme. Ly and have a short de-brief to learn what she really thought. Hopefully she’ll have cooled off by then.

Friday night was the big Peace Corps party night. Richard, the volunteer in my stage in St. Louis, had his favorite hangout hold a Peace Corps Appreciation Night and he was the DJ at the event. The party was really fun…too fun and I paid the price yesterday. We had planned on leaving yesterday morning to come to Dakar, but that turned into yesterday afternoon as Katherine and I had to spend most of the morning in bed and finding my phone. For some reason I gave Katherine my phone who put it in the safest place to put some of value: her bra. When we woke up yesterday morning the phone was gone. We went back to the hotel where some PCVs were staying and looked around. Nothing. We asked the staff at the hotel. Nothing. My phone was ringing and no o ne was picking it up so we thought there was a pretty good chance that it was laying somewhere for us to find. On the walk back from the hotel Katherine decided we should check the beach as she had gone out there with Emily and tripped several times. With Katherine calling my phone and me following behind scanning the beach, I saw Katherine’s entire body shake in excitement and then bend down and pick up my phone. The phone was still on the beach at 12pm. That’s a Peace Corps miracle right there!

Phone in hand, we headed back to get our bags and then to the gallery to meet Alys. A delicious greasy hamburger later, I felt like I could survive a 5 hour car ride to Dakar and we were off. A fairly easy car ride later we met Tamar at the regional house, took showers, and made delicious pizza. I’m extremely happy the expo in St. Louis is over. The planning and the event itself was extremely stressful, but it also marked my last project of my service. I’m definitely disappointed it wasn’t a big success, but I hope the artisans learned something and that future expos will be better. The event didn’t destroy the association, but seemed to make it stronger which is good. I’m now relaxing and recovering in Dakar at the regional house before moving to a hotel this afternoon to start my COS conference! Let the craziness continue…

Pictures will be up eventually.

Things having to with running have occupied my mind recently. After spending the weekend with Tamar on Mar Lodj and basking in the glory that is her shower, I've decided that I would most likely resort to physical violence to have running water. I'm at my wits end with the water situation. It used to be one of those grin and bear it scenarios, but now it just sends me over the edge. The electricity has been terrible lately which means there's absolutely no hope for water and Jeenaba was gone all weekend which meant that no one pulled water since our new maid doesn't work on the weekends, Mami and Khady are the antithesis of most Senegalese women, and Awa is approximately 74 months pregnant. Water on demand sounds like heaven. A dream. Utopia. I don't even care if it's hot. I just want it to come out of a spigot. I'm not even asking for a shower head.

I've also been running a lot in order to not look like I've spent the past two years living in Africa when I return to the motherland. Unfortunately, this gives me a lot of time to think about running out of time. Don't get me wrong, it feels like I have an eternity left here in Senegal even though I'm staring down the last six weeks of my service. Time is dragging. Everything is touching my last nerve. People are being so mean to me on the streets that I'm practically beside myself. Fortunately, my family is back in my good graces so they are the only thing that stands between me and insanity. Junior Achievement is over (more or less) and artisan stuff will be as soon as the Jazz Fest is over this weekend, but the social engagements (I know, I have a hard life), PST, and planning for life back at home takes a lot of time. Thinking about coming home isn't what I would call overwhelming, but it does take a lot of thought and I want to hit the ground running which takes a surprising amount of preparation. The time seems short in an intellectual sense, but like I've been banished to purgatory in every day life.

The return home has me reaching back out to friends for everything from job search questions to grad school inquiries to party planning. I forgot how freaking awesome friends in America are. In my opinion, one of the biggest differences between Senegalese and American culture is the acquisition and dispersal of knowledge. Knowledge is power after all, but knowledge is treated in totally different ways. Here in Senegal practically anyone would take you into their home and give you a meal and a bed, but ask them a question about future events or even facts about Senegal and they wont say a peep. Senegalese people keep their knowledge close to the vest. They don't want to share and help everyone else out in that regard. At home it's the opposite. I've been nervous about asking my friends for information, to read their essays, to ask for help because that's anathema here. I've been wording apologetic emails of solicitation only to receive page long emails with 3 attachments in return. Information spewing forth with ideas, recommendations, examples, and anything I could ever wish for. Seriously, America, you rock. As do all of my wonderful friends back at home. Thank you.

While thinking about all of these things/ how I would bore you by blogging about them, I ran around town. First I went to Les Delices to ensure I had power to Skype with my Aunt Diane's class for the last time. As usual they brought a smile to my face as did the plate of hummus I ordered! From there it was on to Mme. Ly's to confirm logistics about St. Louis and pick up necklaces to show at the gallery. She seems on board with the plan to only bring jewelry and only the pieces we've discussed. I have very little faith this will actually happen, but we'll see! I also ran to the post office.

SHOUT OUTS!!!

Shirley - the letters keep rolling in and are as amazing and uplifting as ever. Thank you.

Ma - Thank you for the amazing package. The treats and magazines are much appreciated. I can't wait to go shopping for all of the things I see in magazines when I get back to the States. Chicago better prepare itself!

Mom and Dad - Thank you for another fantastic package. If Awa ever has her baby she will be thrilled with the outfit. Ahmed already loves his eye spy book. He doesn't quite have the concept down, but he likes it. And I love all of the salty snacks and life giving magazines!

I appreciate every letter and package that's been sent, but it's about time to stop all of the love coming to Senegal. Packages should be sent no later than the end of the week and letters shouldn't be sent after the third week of the month. I want to make sure that I get everything. THANK YOU!

The past couple of months have been packed with trips and checklists and countdowns. The push to fit in everything I haven't done, everything I've wanted to do, and everyone I want to visit is in full swing. One thing left on the list was a "friend" trip to Mar Lodj. I've actually been to Mar Lodj twice before with my mom and then with CJ, but never for a girls weekend on the island. Jackie and Katherine still had Mar Lodj and visiting Tamar on their checklists and we all know it's fairly impossible for us to be separated!

Thursday morning Katherine had trouble getting a car, but then absolutely flew to Thies and caught Jackie and I a little offguard so, I happened to be the last person to arrive at the garage. We were people 5,6, and 7 in the sept-place and after I had my inevitable confrontation with the men taking the money for the car we were off to Joal. On Wednesday I had picked up some food supplies in Thies and Jackie grabbed some veggies in Pout, but in Joal (where we had to change cars) we were on the lookout for some more veggies and shrimp. After being told that we could walk to the market, which we later found out was 5k away, we bought some eggplant but failed in our acquisition of shrimp. A tour of Joal hotel then ensued as we looked for lunch to no avail. Arriving at the second garage where we could find a car to Ndangan (the town on the mainland where you get a boat to Mar Lodj) a man told us that he had a restaurant where we could get a lunch serve with a base of bread. For some reason unknown to the three of us we actually followed him. We are so happy we did.

The restaurant was absolutely spotless, featured actual glassware, and overlooked a fishery. It was a weird place for sure, but when they served us a 1/4 chicken, salad, fries, and bread for 1500 CFA we were pretty happy. It was delicious and a great start to our trip. The good luck continued at the garage where people tried to force us to be the first people into a 14 person mini-bus. A taxi driver approached the three, girl toubabs to try and sell us on purchasing a cab, obviously. The ridiculous part was that the taxi was the same price as a pass for the completely void bus. Excellent. We took a fairly comfortable cab all the way to Ndangan where we dropped Tamar's local name and were welcomed with open arms and told which boat to take.

In Mar Lodj we were greeted by Tamar, her friend Laura who is visiting from the States, and Byron who took a boat trip with the girls across the delta earlier that day. The group of us took a tour around the village of Mar Lodj and greeted Tamar's host family. The cultural exchange and use of local languages (unfortunately Tamar's site is predominately Sereer and I speak Wolof) we had a drink at a hole in the wall bar and then headed home to make a delicious pasta dinner full of nutritious vegetables. Katherine and I then cuddled in her bug hut on Tamar's porch under the huge night sky.

Byron left early on day 2 of our trip to Mar Lodj after a great Tapalapa breakfast. Tapalapa aka village bread is a dense and delicious bread that only poor people eat. City folks eat terrible, processed, machine baguettes and make fun of me when I find village bread and buy it. It's a treat for Jackie, Katherine and I to have Tapalapa and an even bigger treat when paired with fresh honey! Breakfast prepared Tamar, Laura, and I for a walk into the village to buy supplies for dinner. Soon enough we all piled on a charette, horse cart, and headed off to a campement across the island where we spent the afternoon sunning ourselves, going swimming in the delta, and discussing how crabs breath.

We took a long walk back to Tamar's house and started making our chicken dinner. We wanted to make a chicken dinner American Style for the women in Tamar's family. Chicken is a big treat and we wanted to see how they would react to our cooking. The plans were so well laid, but they obviously didn't work out. It was past 7 by the time the chickens arrived and were butchered, the grill kept going out because the wood was too wet, and we only had one gas to work with. Although we wanted to grill the chicken, a pan fry was still delicious. And the women actually loved our sweet potato chips and onion rings! That's right we made onion rings instead of onion sauce. Anyone who knows me well, knows my weakness for onion rings. They were delicious. Katherine and I were really excited about them.

This morning Jackie, Katherine, and I packed up our stuff and headed back to site. The trip was a really nice break. Tamar was a great hostess. She was probably very stressed, but it was very relaxing for me! Mar Lodj is beautiful, my family wasn't annoying me, and I had a minute to take a breath before the insanity of the next 6.5 weeks starts up.

Pictures of the trip are up in the "Cape Verde" album. Check them out.

Last night I went to sleep on the wrong side of the bed because my Aunt Numbe decided it was super important for her to ask me for a piece of paper and a pen at 10:45pm, after I had already locked my door and gotten into bed, and several hours after the power went out. This morning I woke up on the wrong side of the bed because we had no water. There was literally no water in the compound and I really wanted to take a run. Usually the lack of water would just generally upset me and then I would relent, run, and then walk back to the center and take a shower. Wednesdays always pose problems because I have Junior Achievement and I always have things to take care of at the last minute.

Realizing that not running was going to make me more angry, I went and concocted a plan to get water. The plan is not creative or inventive since there's only one way to get water when it's not coming out of the spigot, but it was taking matters into my own hands. Still dressed in running clothes, sweating, and red in the face, I grabbed a basin and headed to the neighborhood well. At the well I was greeted with blank stares and jeers, but remained undeterred. After almost 45 minutes of waiting, being mocked, and being cut in line it was finally my turn. Victory. A nice girl helped me lift the basin to my head and I got home without spilling too much, but since it was 9:30am no one was awake to help me take if off my head. I had to push the top of our 50 liter tank off with my hip and then pour the basin into the big tank. The clattering of the metal top of the tank brought the girls out of the house and they were incredulous at my initiative/ ability. In order to really show my discontent about the water situation, I filled a bucket to shower with and then took the rest of the water I pulled, put it in another bucket, and locked it in room. Probably not the most mature move, but totally satisfying.

One of the reasons I was worried about timing today was today was the final day of JA and we were supposed to hand out certificates. The certificates were order eons ago and were supposed to be in Thies last night. No deal. I called Talla this morning and he was able to get the certificates here and I stood on the side of the road as he drove by and stuck the certificates out of the window. This was humorous mostly because Awa saw me both pulling my own water and waiting on the side of the road in order to receive a giant stack of paper. She thinks I'm really weird. With certificates in hand I ran into my room, sat down, and wrote in all of the students' names, the date, and the course.

I finished the certificates just in time to jump in a cab and go to Bon Marche to buy all of the treats for the graduation party. For the second time in a day I carried things on my head Senegalese style. I had a giant box full of cookies and pop on my head walking down the main street of Thies. I'll let your imaginations come up with how that looked/ the reactions that I received. Fortunately, Kerry fed me snacks and lemonade as we waited for Talla and his friend to arrive before heading to the Lycee Technique.

I've previously aired my grievances regarding certificates in Senegal. Today was my worst nightmare. With everything that's been getting under my skin lately this one just really dug in. As soon as we walked on the premises teachers were making sure that we had certificates not only for our students, but special ones for them as well. Over and over and over again. Luckily Kerry and Talla were there to keep me calm and keep things in perspective because otherwise things would not have gone well. I spent my morning making sure the certificates were perfect. They were in order according to project group, attached to the attendance sheet so that no one could come up and say that they attended class, but didn't get a certificate. I was already frustrated with the certificates because last week the head teacher told me that I had to give a certificate to every single student listed on any of the attendance sheets instead of just the students who had attended at least 50% of the classes as I wanted. I just don't understand how the certificates are special if everyone gets one or how giving them out like candy reinforces anything positive. It also takes away from any feeling of accomplishment I might have, which I realize is selfish.

Today after all of the speeches, the students' presentations of their business ideas, and awarding the winning team a bunch of cookies, the teachers went through my perfecting organized certificates so they could reorganize them in exactly the same way. Apparently, I forgot two students. What actually happened is that two students came to the last day of class so they could get certificates, which I was forced to give them. I think this just cheapens the entire process and underlines why there is so much complacency in Senegal.

That all being said, Junior Achievement is now over, or, at least, the teaching part is now over, which is one more thing to check off my list! I think the class went well and hopefully the students learned something. Kerry and I definitely learned a lot which will help other PCVs teach JA better in the future.

Tomorrow I am off to Mar Lodj, Tamar's island, and next week it's off to the races with Jazz Fest, COS conference, and the new stage of SED PCVs all coming in rapid succession!

Shake it like a Polaroid picture.

Many moons ago when Matt was visiting Senegal he became transfixed with the idea of a Polaroid camera. Ahmed and the children of my neighborhood didn't need educational materials, or shoes, or other necessities...they needed a Polaroid camera. In Matt's defense, kids do LOVE having their pictures taken. And taking pictures here is a production. Small children and screaming and grabbing at you and pushing their way to the front of the group of children so that they are front and center in the picture. Once the picture's been taken it's imperative that everyone seems themselves on the screen of the digital camera and that we rehash the picture. Oh yes, that is you on the side... this happened 1.3 seconds ago. During Matt's trip we did have one particularly memorable photo session when an entire family stopped us on the road and demanded an impromptu photo shoot complete with smiling adults, sobbing children, and stray dogs.

Upon Matt's return to the States, the idea of the Polaroid stuck with him and he got me a Polaroid which traveled across the country to Katherine's boyfriend's office and then with Katherine across the Atlantic and to Senegal. I must say that I've been delinquent in bringing the Polaroid out mostly because Senegal and I haven't been getting along lately and I knew that it would be a hit. I had no idea how much my family would love the camera. To say that it caused a ruckus would be a vast understatement.

Today when the power was out I was trying to do some reading, but Ahmed was having none of it so, I grabbed the Polaroid and the madness ensued. Ahmed was immediately intrigued by a new camera. The boy is a ham. He was shocked when a picture magically came out of the camera, but then infinitely disappointed when there wasn't an image, only a glossy white finish. Invoking the infamous Outkast song, I told him he needed to shake the picture and it would appear. This was all too much. He went insane. As the picture started to appear Ahmed darted inside the house, shaking the picture the entire time, running around showing everyone the magic picture.

Pictures in Senegal are generally reserved for special occasions and snapshots are not the norm. Therefore, people are usually hesitant about having their pictures taken when they aren't dressed to impressed, much less on a Sunday afternoon when everyone looks like a lazy scrub. Ahmed's excitement generated interest and before I knew it there was a line. My mom loved the the camera, process, and resulting picture so much that she made Ahmed go upstairs and take a picture of my host dad to show him how cool the camera was. This is the best picture I have of my mom and myself:

There are a bunch of other pictures, but they've been commandeered. I hope that I can at least take pictures of them because some are really funny since Ahmed was the photographer.

It wasn't just the girls and the little kids who showed interest though. Baye and Petit (Jeenaba's older brother) were adamant about getting their pictures taken. They saw the pictures later in the day and sent Ahmed to my room and to get me and the camera so they could have their own pictures. The whole picture taking experience was pretty funny. Everyone was really in to it. I also like that they thought they looked better in these pictures than regular pictures; I'm pretty sure that's just a case of instant gratification.

After a while I had to put the camera away to conserve film. I definitely want to bring it out at least once when Ahmed has little friends over and show it to Dioss because I think he would really like it. Matt was right! The Polaroid was a huge success. Thank you so much for providing me with such a fun afternoon activity!

The past couple of days Thies has been full of American visitors and it's been great. Erin's parents are here and Tamar has a friend in town and I have willingly participated in their Thies experiences.

Yesterday, after a morning spent hanging out around the house, holding babies, and continuing my virtual job search, I headed across town to the Catholic bar to meet Erin and her parents and Emily for a drink. Erin's parents spent two days and two nights night her village which makes them total champs and they were just incredibly nice people. Exactly who you would expect Erin's parent's to be.

Today Tamar who has a friend visiting from the States as well as Erin and her parents were in Thies. I started out the morning walking through the market with Katherine trying to find fabric. Katherine's tailor Matar has finally perfected what Katherine and I like to call "the Tory Burch" tunic and we're having several made before we head back home. I'm also hoping he can turn a tunic into a tunic dress... we'll see what kind of clothes I come back with after Jazz Fest! I found two different fabrics that I really like. One went back with Katherine to go to Matar and I kept one in Thies in the hopes that Khady and I can work on making a really cute dress together at her tailor's.

Katherine and I went to Bon Marche and picked up a delicious picnic lunch (read: massive amounts of cheese) to share with Jackie at the center. Tamar and her friend arrived in Thies from Dakar early so the five of us ate lunch together before heading back out to the market, a nice visit with Mme. Ly, and a beer at Pamanda's.

As I was walking home from the center after a long day I got a text from Erin inviting me to Chicken Dibi. Well, a dibi invite is fairly impossible to refuse. I didn't want to go home because that creates a whole fiasco when I want to leave again for dinner so I decided to sit at Les Delices and wait for them. Most of the way to Les Delices I get a call from Erin saying they're going back to the center so I turn around and walk all the way back. I circled Thies at least twice today. A big group of us ended up going to the speakeasy by the center for a drink before dibi. The speakeasy is really stepping up their game, which, I assume, is in no small part due to Peace Corps Volunteer patronage. Anyway, they have a fence now which separates their house from our shenanigans and two bathrooms. Why do I mention the two bathrooms? Because one door says "uriner" and the other says "cacas." Classic. It seriously made my day.

Chicken Dibi never disappoints. I hadn't been in several months and it was great to go back. It's always so delicious!

Seeing people from the US is always great. They look so clean and shiny and are so happy to be experiencing Senegal. It also gives you a little glimpse into life back at home and almost makes you feel like you aren't missing too too much. What brings America even that much closer is what Tamar brought us from Dakar. Currently sitting on my desk is my COS packet. It details much of what I will learn at my COS conference next month: how to wind down your service and readjust to the US of A. Lets just say I don't think I'm going to need too much help getting back into the swing of things Stateside. But, things are starting to get real. We're getting down to the wire and home is within site, which is currently making things that much harder. The next 7.5 weeks are going to be insanity.

Last night I had a complete mental breakdown over a flashlight. Yes, a small piece of plastic with a battery that shines light. I sobbed in my bed, in the dark over a flashlight. It was sad. Senegal is really getting to me. The power was out last night and I had already eaten dinner so instead of staring (but not seeing) my family in the dark as we sat in silence I decided to go to my room and read in bed. The time was 10:35pm, not a weird time to go to bed. My door was closed, I was in my PJs, and I was enjoying a nice fashion magazine. Awa bursts into my room and demands the flashlight so she can heat up dinner for the rest of my family. Yes, it's not abnormal for them to eat at 11pm. I hesitated for a second since I was in bed reading, but in a blink the flashlight was out of my hand and I was having a temper tantrum in my bed.

The thin, thin line between family member, house guest, friend, and meal ticket is really getting to me. Everything is getting to me. I am a trusted confident and babysitter one minute and asked for additional money (I already pay A LOT) for food the next. My gas tank, matches, and other personal effects are taken because I shouldn't care right? and then I'm treated with respect and eat with my dad. I can't pull water, but I can't ask for water to be pulled because there isn't any. I want to be a normal adult so badly. Crying in ones bed in the dark doesn't usually denote maturity, but I did get over it just not before letting fly a string of profanities into my pillow.

Everything is driving me crazy and in my slow devolution back to my easily aggravated state of PST, I'm attracting crazy. Yesterday I was walking down the street when a man walked by me and pretty much gave me a noogie and tried to pull my ponytail out. Why? No idea. I started yelling at the top of my lungs at how terrible a man he was and pointing at him so that the busy street pull of people could see him. Or today when a man had to grab my arm to tell me that he needed a beautiful second wife like me. You are creepy. Stop. Not to mention all of the men on the street making kissing noises. A word to the wise: toubabs are not deaf; I'm ignoring you. And people are just catching on to this. As I was walking down my street today boys my age were making lewd comments and I was ignoring them, but when small children run up and want to shake my hand and ask questions I always take the time to talk (children are our future after all). The boys just started commenting on the fact that for some magical reason I somehow hear the nice children, but don't hear them. Who would have thought? There was also a boy who hit me with a clot of dirt shot with a slingshot. Lets just say that his mother wasn't too pleased with him after I literally dragged him to her and explained what happened. I seriously need some crazy repellent.

After my exhausting day of artisans yesterday and my general annoyance with the vast majority of Senegalese men, I was dreading Junior Achievement today. Especially because Kerry is out of town so I was flying solo and had to teach The Best Game. The Best Game is pretty much the Game Of Life and teaches basic finances and calendar planning. It is a no fail business lesson. Everyone always loves it. I planned to meet all the teachers in the teacher lounge 30 minutes before class so I could explain it to them. A terrible process to be sure. So, I was ecstatic when one of the teachers knew the game and wanted to teach it.

In The Best Game groups make paper hats which they then sell. The teams need to figure out that they have to take the risk to produce the hats in order to generate profit and be successful at the game. I spoke with the teacher before class started about giving quick instructions because we wanted the students to figure things out for themselves. It's best when one team epically fails and one team does well so we can discuss the differences in strategy. 47 minutes later, after I had written a journal entry, planned out the next week on my calendar, and texted back and forth with a few people, the teacher finished his explanation of the game. This is not a joke. He literally took 47 minutes (I timed it) to explain the game/ give away all of the little tricks and tell the students exactly what to do.

I know that I was personally bored to tears and even some of the other teachers came up to me to discuss how it might have been better to let the students figure things out. Regardless, everyone really enjoyed the game and hopefully learned something. I had cookies for the winners so they were pleased. We only have one more week of class! Next week is final presentations and certificate time! Things are winding down...

Because I've been having a rough 10 days I thought I deserved a reward, even though I had lunch with the girls yesterday. Since I couldn't reward myself with what I really want (some friends and family time in the best country in the world), I had to settle for the next best thing: dairy products. A giant block of cheese really made me feel better today.

Today featured two big events. The first was totally fun and the second, slightly annoying, but overall effective.

The Thies/ Dakar region finally has our very own Health/Environmental Education PCV and today was her inauguration lunch. Lisa was thrown into the deep end since almost everyone was able to attend and when we all get together it's hard to stop us for even a second to do introductions or explain anything. It is a special kind of bond when everyone can talk at the same time about myriad topics and start in the middle of stories and we all understand everything.

I've been eagerly anticipating today's afternoon event, the artisan reseau meeting, for several weeks. The meeting marks the second formal meeting of the association and also provided me with a forum to speak directly to the artisans instead of over the phone where we've all suffered misunderstandings and miscommunication. The association meeting started at 3pm so that the artisans had the majority of the day to travel to Thies and so that the PCVs could meet to discuss the Jazz Fest and other artisan things over lunch and perhaps a beverage or two to take the edge off.

When Katherine and I arrived at the center about 15 minutes before three 3pm I was stunned to find several artisans already ready, waiting, and mingling. Madame Ly threats regarding timeliness seem to work for some... they definitely don't for others. After a brief powwow with Talla to go over the main points of the meeting we were ready to start.

I was very pleased with the turnout. An artisan for PCV was present for each artisan attending the St. Louis Jazz Fest and one artisan from Kaolack who isn't even going to the Jazz Fest also came, which I thought was a bonus. I have to admit that I have been hoping that a female artisan from Kaolack named Ndeye would drop out. I'm not impressed with the plethora jewelry and weird cloth things she makes and it's just harder to coordinate with someone further away, but she's fantastic and deserves all the credit in the world. Katherine and I imposed fairly difficult restrictions on her about money for Jazz Fest, getting to the PCV in Kaolack in a timely fashion, plus she will have the greatest costs getting herself and her goods to Kaolack. She's been up to the challenge and is a very sweet woman. Ndeye is obviously hardworking, entrepreneurial, and independent woman. All that being said, there are still only two booths and seven artisans. It's going to be tight.

We discussed how there is only a limited amount of space that the artisans have to share and about the importance of at least attempting a somewhat cohesive look for the tables. After a long and drawn out discussion about space we finally got how to break down the costs of the tables. Since there are two tables and seven artisans, we were thinking one table of 3 and one table of 4 with the 70k price tag split amongst the artisans at that table. At first the artisans were going to split it evenly, but they finally figured out that they should split it amongst the table members. This lead to an infuriating discussion over who would be at each table led by Katherine's tailor, Matar. It was very important to him that he and his boy posse of Demba (Alys' leather worker in Mboro) and Mamadou (April's woodworker in Diourbel) be the three man table. I don't really know how this conversation spiraled out of control since no one was against Matar's idea, but it did. I just hope that the artisans don't freak out when they actually see the booths. We told them the exact dimensions and kept reiterating the small space and that people (aka Mme. Ly) can't bring all of their usual stuff. I'm expecting disaster, but we'll see what happens.

Division of tables and costs lead to what I knew would be the most frustrating part of the meeting: dues collection. I've been singing the praises of the women from Kebemer (cloth bag makers who don't have a PCV) because they are well organized even without a PCV and really know what's going on. At the last meeting I was pleased that they wanted to head up the Treasury because I thought they could handle it. Turns out, they don't actually write things down when keeping track of dues. Excellent. I ended up writing everyone's financial information on a giant sheet of flip chart paper so the treasurer could re-write it and all of the artisans could be sure that no one was getting cheated and that everyone was paying the correct amount. The amount of back and forth this necessitated was amazing. There was also a huge discussion over whether dues paid by members not attending Jazz Fest would be going to pay for the event. Lets just say that the idea of a communal pot and the true idea of an association has not quite taken hold yet. The money issues were solved as best they could. PCVs are still out money that they fronted, but I'm prepared to play bad guy at Jazz Fest to make sure that everything balances. Talla was instrumental in getting the money issues understood and solved. We couldn't have done it without him.

Amanda, the third year based in Dakar who works with the West African Trade Hub and who connected the reseau with the gallery owner in St. Louis, attended the meeting to explain the gallery. I was really happy she could come to explain the level of quality, creativity, and professionalism the gallery owner demanded so there was a separation between myself and that aspect of Jazz Fest. Especially since I didn't want it to appear that Mme. Ly was receiving special treatment since she will be exposing at the gallery and I'm largely seen as the PCV in charge. She did a really good job and I hope that she inspired the other artisans to take a look at the gallery and think about how they can improve their products so they could potentially exhibit in a gallery one day.

Three hours after the meeting began Talla, the artisans, and the volunteers were getting restless and we were done. A couple of minutes after most of the artisans left and I was sitting around with Katherine and April, Mamadou and Demba arrived. Three hours late. They were flabbergasted that the meeting was already over. Fortunately, Matar was still there and rehashed the meeting for them because I was too exhausted at that point to explain everything, again.

The meeting was definitely a success. I feel much better knowing that everything has definitely been relayed to all of the artisans and that there were no communication problems since Talla was there. I know that there are going to be problems with transportation, lodging, food, and space in St. Louis, but now that those problems have been presented and are out in the open they are no longer my problems; they are the artisans problems. Hopefully everything will go well. Now, my only St. Louis challenge, until the actually event, is to convince Mme. Ly that she absolutely cannot bring her giant/ ridiculous amount of product. Good luck to me

One of my stagemates wrote a fantastic blog post that describes my current state of mind. She put it much more eloquently and nicely than I could have. Her name is Maya and here is the link to her post:

http://mayaenroute.wordpress.com/2011/05/23/the-hangover-of-adventure/

I love her term "The Hangover of Adventure." I'm trying to think of something stronger/ worse than a hangover because that's what I'm suffering from.

Since all of the little things are really starting to get to me again (I was asked for my sunglasses 7 times today), I've been spending more time at the center because it's quiet and I can think and be in peace. I've also had a ton of computer work to do, which is much easier to do when I have a reliable source of power, which the center's generator provides me with.

Things are starting to get quite hectic with the artisan expo for the St. Louis Jazz Fest. I cannot wait for it to be over. Working with artisans has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my service and definitely the most quantifiable, but all of the money issues and all of the phone calls are getting to me. So, so, so many phone calls from artisans. The meeting is tomorrow and I think we're going to have pretty good attendance. Whether or not they come baring dues and are ready to discuss St. Louis logistics is still up in the air. I've been working on the flyer to promote the gallery. We're hoping to get some banners printed up as well.

Here's what the flyer currently looks like. And don't critique my French; it, undoubtedly, needs some editing.

I haven't been spending much time at home because my family is driving me insane and trying to force feed me intestine stew. Intestine stew is a perfect example of "The Hangover of Adventure." It used to be interesting, I tried it, it's edible, but why would I eat it now? Awa is still pregnant although, she seems increasingly unhappy about it, we have a new maid whose name is Adama, and Ahmed is being a little terror.

The past couple of days have not been good day. I have been busy which is good since a large part of my frustrations in Senegal have come when I have nothing to do. Jazz Fest is starting to become insane and I'm really looking forward to the Artisan Reseau meeting on Tuesday so I can hopefully transfer some of the responsibility and planning over the artisans. Junior Achievement is going well since we actually had class this week and I've already procured the materials for next week's class and read over the instructions for the class so I feel prepared. I'm also occupying (maybe stressing a little bit!) myself with finding a job, getting my pictures in order, and preparing myself for the final stretch of my service and all of the tough goodbyes which I know are just around the corner.

Before Peace Corps Senegal I was fairly tightly wound (some might say I still am) and frustration used to send me over the edge. Frustration in not being able to understand a school subject, or frustration with traffic (oh my, I hope this has eased since my next permanent residence is known for traffic), or just general frustration that was putting me a bad mood. Peace Corps has been so good for me. I've learned to let go and to sit and not do anything and know that's OK. My ability to be patient has increased a million fold. Creative problem solving is something I'm actually good at now. Small children don't send me running. I'm much less quick to anger. I've learned to adapt. All of this has been part of the transformation I've experienced from dealing with and struggling with the every day realities of Senegal.

At the 2 month mark (during PST) everything bothered me and I could barely deal with it and I wanted to go home. At the 6 month mark I was begining to understand that things are truly different here and that I had to accept and adapt. At the year mark I came to understand why Peace Corps is a two year commitment and I hit my stride. (My friends and I had a blast at the amazingly successful girls' camp and the Artisan Expo almost tripled 2009 sales). At the 18 month mark I started to realize the end was near, created a laundry list of things I still wanted to do and accomplished, and became a "senior" in the Peace Corps as a member of the next stage who is scheduled to leave; I realized I had made it. At 21 (almost 22) months I'm freaking over it.

The little things that I've spent the past almost two years learning how to ignore and let run over my shoulders are back...with a vengeance. I've moved well past anger. It's not anger. It's frustration and a sense of "why?" Or, SERIOUSLY!?!?!?!

WHY...!?!?!?!?!

Yesterday my family made a lunch that I'm not a big fan of. I will definitely eat it, just not a lot. It's obvious that I'm not the amazing shrinking woman and my family knows that I have my own snacks which I eat in my room, just like they do. Well, around lunch Jeenaba came into my room with eggs, a little salad, and bread. I thanked her and thought that our interaction was over. She sheepishly looks at me and says that my mom would like me to pay her for the lunch. I was dumbfounded. I didn't know how to react and I knew if I did react it would involve tears, profanity, and general inappropriateness (another thing I've learned: to keep my mouth shut). After eating the meal (even though I wasn't happy about it), I went into the house to explain for the millionth time that if I don't like something I will make my own meal. All of the women started chiming in that I'm a terrible cook and that the food isn't good. It's good to me. I don't like all of their food just like they don't like my food. Well, that argument fell on deaf ears as usual. I can't even really think about this situation without becoming enraged so I've decided it's best not to delve into the psychology behind this episode...especially since I pay my family an exorbitant amount each month for my rent, food, and water and electricity (which I never have).

When trying to woo me, do not point out the fact that the increase in the temperature has brought back my acne. Seriously, how terrible at flirting can you be? This prompted me to leave the post office without responding to the question and without saying goodbye. Also, how many times do I have to tell everyone that there's no way I will ever be a second wife.

With my frustrations mounting and my inability to eat ceeb for lunch, I left my house this morning and headed to the center for some quiet time. I didn't need anyone to tell me that I am sleeping when I'm sitting up-right with my eyes open reading a book. I didn't need to be told that the cleaning job I did wasn't good enough. And I didn't need to be told that I can't cook/ can't do anything in general. I can ignore the racial slurs, proclamations of love, and honking cars. What I can not ignore is a large man standing right in front of me. There's a part of the sidewalk on my way to the center where the sidewalk narrows so it's just one person wide. A man stood up from a chair and stood on this part of the sidewalk with his hands on his hips so I couldn't pass and had to walk in the street. When he confronted me about walking around him I lost it. Let's just say my tirade ended when he called me racist and I walked away.

I'm so over all of these little annoyances and instances of disrespect, or thinking that they can get away with it/ are entitled to it because I'm white. After two years a lot of people around Thies have at least seen me and know I'm not a tourist, I wish this brought me a little respect. I'm over the homesicknesses of America, I'm past missing my family and friends (it's way beyond that), I can survive another two months of ceeb. All I want is a little respect.

Yesterday we actually had a Junior Achievement class. Miracle of miracles. It didn't look too promising when Kerry and I arrived at the Lycee Technique and the teachers' lounge was locked, but we were able to secure our materials box from one of the secretaries which really happens because she's never there so, before class started we were at a draw. Then the room where we usually have class was locked and there's obviously only one key and the person who had that key was not at school that day. Never fear we will squeeze fifty people into a tiny room with not enough chairs. I'm actually not going to complain about this part since it was a tech room so it was air-conditioned to protect the electronics!

The class actually went really well. Unfortunately, since so many classes were cancelled we've had to combine several classes in order to fit in everything before our June 1st graduation. Yesterday's class was about marketing which was supposed to be two classes so the students could conduct a short market research survey. Kerry went to the Lycee on Monday to drop off the market survey, which the teachers were supposed to distribute to the students. This didn't quite happen, but we still had a good discussion about what market research is, why it's important, and how to conduct a survey. At this point Kerry and I are doing very little teaching. We prepare the lesson plans a week ahead so the Lycee Technique teachers have a chance to look them over. Two teachers have really stepped up and do the majority of the teaching with Kerry and I interjecting some information or explaining an activity.

The majority of yesterday's class was dedicated to the students writing and performing television commercials for their business. One was great, but I thought the other two missed the mark since they didn't really have anything visual or catchy. Definitely something to mark in the lesson plan: must have visual if doing a TV commercial. Next week I'll be flying solo and teaching a finance game that's a lot like The Game of Life. We'll see how that goes. Hopefully the teachers and students will catch on quickly and like the game!

Yesterday afternoon Kerry and I hung out at Les Delices talking about JA and enjoying some electricity. On my walk home I was in my usual walk mode: iPod on, looking straight ahead, and pretending to ignore everything in front of me. When a car keep honking at me as I walked down the street I ignored it. Cars honk at me a lot and I could tell it wasn't a Peace Corps car so there was no reason to turn around. Finally the car pulled in front of me and park. The car/ person I had been ignoring for over a block was my host dad who was trying to be nice and give me a ride home! Oops! He thought I had my music playing really loud, but I explained that people honk at me a lot so I just ignore it. He seemed to understand the explanation and not think too much about it. My mom definitely enjoyed the story when we got home and my dad told her my mistake!

Today was a fairly chill day. I did some work around my house this morning, which always invites criticism from my family since they still think it's impossible for me to do work in my room and that I'm always sleeping when I'm in my room alone. Yes, this is still frustrating me. This afternoon on my way back home from the Peace Corps center I saw two girls get into a huge fight in the middle of the street. One girl was accusing the other of stealing her boyfriend while at the same time screaming that her boyfriend is homosexual (a very derogatory name to be called in Senegal). It was really intensse. The girls were straight up fighting in the middle of the street and one almost got run over by a car when the other one pushed her. It was quite entertaining, if not infinitely dangerous for the two girls involved. Definitely the most interesting part of my day.

Now, I'm waiting for dinner, which I have confirmed is chicken. My mom proclaimed an hour and a half ago that we were going to eat "early." It's now 8:45pm. The wait is on.

I have a severe case of Senioritis.Yesterday I couldn't motivate myself to leave my compound. Today, I left the compound, but wasn't happy about it. Everything is a struggle. Interacting with people who are not in my family: struggle. Pretending to like ceebu jenn: struggle. Feigning interest in the discussion of power outages (we had one hour of power between 12 and 1 and it just came back on at 9:15pm) while staring at the ceiling: struggle. Dealing with the new heat wave: struggle. Thinking about anything other than the countdown to America/ life in America: struggle.

A complete lack of desire to do anything, other eat ice cream in a climate controlled setting and think about the America inspired playlist I'm making on my iPod, consumes me. Actually one other thing does take a lot of time and attention...

Personal Ad: If you or anyone you know/ can contact wants to hire me in the greater Los Angeles area, you will be my best friend forever and I will be forever indebted to you. Even job leads are appreciated.

There is a lull in artisan work until our meeting next week and only so much I can do for Junior Achievement when Kerry is awesome and has really taken the reigns/ we never have class so dreaming about the end instead of acting on the present is taking hold. I'm actually impressed I've lasted this long since a lot of my friends had early onset Senioritis. I'm so close, but yet so far and I know that I should be doing really awesome things, but getting marriage proposals, lectures on how American English and British English are so wildly different that I couldn't understand a Brit, and being called really mean names are getting old. These things don't even anger me anymore because I'm just really rude and walk away.

I did manage to tear myself out of my compound today (mainly because we didn't have power/ I was starting to feel like a loser). This morning I went through the market and collected vegetable prices on a long list of vegetables for a project that Byron is working on and this afternoon I went to see Mme. Ly. Mme. Ly and Khady are awesome and usual and have some new necklace designs that I will post when I'm not too lazy to take pictures. Purchasing jewelry is a tried and true method of buoying my spirits so I may have indulged in some of Mme. Ly's newest wares, but it's all in the name of the Senegalese economy and getting Mme. Ly's stuff out into the public eye.

Back on the home front the main topic of conversation was electricity and how it makes no sense that the power comes on for one hour in the middle of the day when it doesn't help anyone. True. I've also started to notice that I am the "fly on the wall." All those times that you wish you could hear a conversation and not get noticed? Yeah, that's my daily life. My family knows I'm not a gossip (well, about their issues at least) or thinks I have no idea what's going so I got to listen to many interesting conversations today.

1. Jeenaba ripping her baby daddy a new one about not contributing enough money. You go girl.

2. Awa trying to explain to my mom that she can literally not taste how spicy the food is she's making because she's just that pregnant.

3. Awa and Ziabata talking about how Khady doesn't discipline Ahmed... at all. True.

That's about it for the Senegal rundown. Nothing too exciting, obviously, since I have Senioritis. I also swung by the post office and Shirley deserves another SHOUT OUT from another great letter! Thank you!

A (food) crime against humanity was committed last night at my house. I'm still upset about it. I spent yesterday afternoon at the center using the power (the center has a generator so it was the only place with power yesterday, my house had electricity for less than two hours) and waiting for the new volunteers to return from Dakar where they had just sworn in. I try not to stalk PCVs on day one of their actual service, but desperate times call for desperate measures. The tally of artisans attending the expo in St. Louis next month is finally finalized and although the number is one too many and I'm hoping (I'm a terrible person) that one will drop out, I had all of the money ready to go. All I needed was a mule and that mule took the form of the new volunteer going to St. Louis. Jessica is really helping me out by taking the money to the SED PCV in St. Louis who will then take the money to Jazz Fest offices to reserve our booths. Complicated, but I'm confident all of the transactions will take place.

High off of my time with electricity and the money transfer I returned home to what I thought was a beautiful sight. Moroccan couscous was in the kitchen! I've been having major issues with almost all Senegalese food, which has been compounded by the fact that I never feel satisfied or satiated after I eat, so I was pumped when I saw couscous. It must have been the euphoria of seeing couscous that clouded my judgement and prevented me from asking what we were having for dinner because it was a truly, rookie mistake. Even though I was hungry I told myself not to snack from my stash and waited patiently in the dark for my delicious dinner to arrive. At about 10pm when I wanted sleep more than I wanted dinner anyway, I received gruel. Awa had turned scrumptious Moroccan couscous into lach aka gruel. I was so sad I had to call Katherine for moral support. There was nothing else to do but throw the gruel to the goats and go to bed.

Today was a really quiet day around the house because my mom and dad went to Dakar which meant everyone else did nothing. Literally nothing. The power was out so everyone sat in the rooms by themselves, which suited me just fine especially since I was going out for lunch. Brian was in town visiting his host brother who had club foot surgery in Thies so we went to lunch at Les Delices where we ran into a couple of other PCVs. It's always nice when people are in Thies and it was nice to get out on the weekend since I usually stay around the compound, which usually puts me in a not so good mood. Yes, I understand that problem is easily solved. Brian and I walked to Total after lunch to pick up some Sandras (ice cream) and then parted ways - I walked home and he went to the garage and back to Joal.

I spent most of my evening in the Dakar sitting on a mat with Abdou and listening to all of the women talk. I started yawning because I was zoning off and it was dark so Jeenaba started mocking me about going to bed early. She called me a chicken, which means "early to bed early to rise," since I went to bed at 10:15 last night. I would like to point out we had eaten dinner, we didn't have electricity and everyone else was lounging in the living room dozing. I take so much flack for going to bed "early." It is my family who are the abnormal ones as most of our neighbors and most other PCVs' families go to bed when I do. The going to bed early thing doesn't bother me anymore and I'm doing it again tonight!

Thursday, May 12th, 2011

This morning Erin called to let me know that she and her friends from the US of A were out and about in Thies, wandering the market and soaking in the fabulous atmosphere in Thies. As the de-facto Thies tour guide I considered it my obligation and my pleasure to tag along. Erin's friends has only been in Senegal for less than 36 hours when I met up with them and they had already been out to dinner in Dakar, gone to Erin's village for a baptism, grabbed a beer at the Catholic bar, and spent the night at Massa Massa. This seems like a whirlwind tour, but it gets better because they came to Senegal via Nepal where they had gone for a friends wedding! They are literally circumnavigating the world in one trip! San Fransisco to Nepal to Dubai to Senegal and back again. I can't say I'm not jealous.

I've been trying to take a lot more pictures of Thies recently because I'm running out of time and I'm realizing that I don't have the mundane pictures of every day life/ every day Thies that I will most definitely want when I'm home so, walking around with Erin and her friends was a great excuse to take pictures. Walking around in a big group of toubabs also makes taking pictures less awkward or perhaps so awkward that it really just doesn't matter anymore. One of Erin's friends is an avid quilter so we visited a ton of fabric stalls and really looked at the patterns and different options which I haven't done in a long time. It was also nice just to actually look around since so often when I'm walking in Thies I have my blinders on and go straight to my destination. Having visitors that weren't my own helped me to slow down, enjoy, and really take in my surroundings.

The market was oddly dead for a Thursday so we were able to take our time, walk in a group, and we weren't harassed too much, which was nice. After checking out most of the fabric stalls in the market as well as all of the fruits and vegetables, we headed over to see Mme. Ly. Since it was only 11:30am Mme. Ly was still setting up. It takes the woman an eternity to get everything out and displayed the way she wants it. I was immediately put to work taking out all of the earrings, which was fine because I got to see Erin and her friends look through everything. It was fascinating to watch since the girls went straight for the designs and colors that Katherine, Mme. Ly, Khady and I have been working on. Mme. Ly and Khady noticed it as well and were happy that the colors I've told them about and that they've seen in the American magazines I've given them really do sell better than other models and colors. The girls were really happy with their jewelry purchases, even Erin bought a new design in a fabulous coral color!

There's only one place to go after Mme. Ly's and that's to Dioss' atelier. We walked into a picture perfect scene of Dioss listening to old French music (quite loudly I might add), smoking a cigarette, and checking out Facebook on his computer. It just doesn't get any better than that. A member of his boy posse was working on the backgrounds of cards and cleaning brushes. Classic Dioss. Through a conversation with Erin I learned that Dioss is originally from a village near Erin's village where he has a field. I immediately called him out on the fact that there's no way he actually attends to his field. The man loves his shoes WAY too much. He didn't even put up a fight and conceded that Erin is a much better farmer than he is, but that the two of us should go visit her. I'm making sure this happens because I'm pretty sure that I feel more comfortable in a village than Dioss does and I want to see him squirm!

This fantastic morning was capped off with a delicious lunch at Massa Massa. I was in a great mood after grabbing a Sandra (the cheapest, most delicious ice cream available at the Total station) with Erin and her friends and then parting ways with them at the post office. Shout out to Jo Ellen for sending "end of service" supplies to get us through the next two months. I'm ridiculously excited for the Rice Krispie treats. Everything is safe in sound in Thies! Everything was great...

And then... the ugly side of dealing with artisans reared its ugly head. The St. Louis Jazz Fest expo is turning into a logistical, monetary, and emotional nightmare. The artisan association is just in it's infancy and there are still lots of problems and issues to resolve. Compound this with the fact that Katherine is working with fairly unhelpful people in St. Louis who are organizing the expo and we have no idea what's going on. Earlier this week Mme. Ly and I called all of the artisans to see who wanted to attend the expo and since then Katherine and I have been figuring out a way for a group of PCVs to advance the money to pay for the expo since the money is due before our next artisan meeting on May 24th. To say this has been a challenge is an understatement and things went from bad to worse tonight when I thought that we would have to get three tables and not two. I feel terrible, but at this point we're hoping that one artisan drops out so that there will be three artisans at each booth. Hopefully in the future, the association will have more money and the artisans will be communicating better with each other so that sudden death situations like this don't materialize, but for now things to be under control. That is... under control after Mme. Ly and I sat on the floor of her house, the dark, as she called artisans and told them they had to have their money for the expo to their PCV by 12pm tomorrow. We will see what happens!

New pictures of Thies are up in the "Cape Verde" album.

Today Jackie, Alys, and Katherine were in town and we had lunch with a couple of boys from the Health/ EE a year into their service. It was nice to see everyone and hang out a little bit. This morning Jackie, Alys, and I walked Thies and took some pictures for the Insider's Guide, a project eco-tourism PCVs have been working on to promote different sites in Senegal. But, the main event was lunch where we started talking about the end of our service.

Talking about COS (close of service) has been a topic amongst my friends since approximately day 3 of PST so it's not a new topic. The topic is now at hand and that's what makes it so different. Katherine, Jackie, and I have been specifically planning our departure from site for quite some time because we want to do it in high style, but when Katherine starting talking about it today reality set in. I started getting really emotional and I know it's only going to get harder. It's very weird to think about actually leaving even though I'm so excited to go home. I don't want to leave my two little boys and the daily, ridiculous interactions that I have with my family.

With COS quickly approaching, there are still a lot of things that I want to get done. I have work projects like JA and artisan reseau things that I want to tie up before I leave and there are personal projects like getting all of my pictures in order and re-reading my blog for all of the terrible spelling and grammar mistakes that you've been putting up with for the past 21 months. My blog. Oh my. I started reading it today and got through five posts. It's going to be hard. I've already started crying and in blog time I haven't even left the center for the first time and met my family in Tivuouane. This is going to be a disaster.

Anyway, I did do other things today than talk about/ think about leaving. After lunch where we did discuss artisan trials and tribulations with Alys, Katherine and I went to visit Mme. Ly who was selling at the training center today. It was the trainees first Mme. Ly experience and Mme. Ly made bank. Mme. Ly and Khady immediately started rattling off what they had sold once Katherine and I sat down. They knew exactly what was selling, what they needed to make more of, and the popular colors. I felt especially good about the colors since I've really pushed them into the neon colors that are popular in the States right now. They were obviously pleased with the results and Katherine and I were really excited that they were keeping track of their inventory and evaluating their work, what was selling and what wasn't.

Once we were done looking at all of the new beads and earring designs Khady had made, I walked Katherine to the garage where we parted ways. At home, I walked into girl central. All of big Ahmed's female classmates were over making chicken dinner spectacular for a school event tomorrow. The courtyard was literally packed with teenage girls butchering chickens, cutting onions, and pacifying babies after they started crying at the sight of me. It was insanity and big Ahmed was obviously nowhere to be found since he's guy.

The best part about today was seeing my friends and getting their pictures from The Gambia which are now up in the Cape Verde album. Check them out!

I've been a delinquent blogger! I'm sorry! Here are the updates.

Children

A couple of days ago I was walking one of my normal routes through Thies when I see a group of little kids who are beside themselves with excitement. They've spotted a toubab. As I approach them from several blocks away they get more and more excited. Giggling and pointing starts as do blank face stares when I greet them in Wolof and start shaking their hands. Then, one little boy approaches me with his arms outstretched like he wants a hug. I ask him if he wants a hug in French because I have no idea what the word is/ if it exists in Wolof. He definitely didn't understand since he was 2, but he kept staring at me with huge eyes and his arms outstretched...so I hugged him. The little boy didn't know what hit him. His eyes bugged out of his head. I asked him if he wanted to cry, he said yes, and then he started crying much to the amusement of the grown women watching him. It was pretty funny. I doubt he'll ever approach a toubab with arms outstretched again!

As for the children in my house...

Ahmed is really sick which means I'm enjoying a little peace and quiet and that I'm avoiding him because I don't want to get sick.

Little Awa is as annoying as ever, but seems to gradually be taking the hint that I don't like it when she pulls my skirt up or tries to open the door while I'm in the shower. At least we're making progress. Additionally, the staph infection in her armpit seems to be going away which is good because she was in pain and it was really gross.

Abdou is still really freaking cute and is a little fatty. Abdou being a huge baby is especially comical when his mom, Jeenaba, holds him since I look like a giant compared to her. He refuses to crawl, but loves to scoot around and hold himself up on tables and try to walk before he falls and starts crying.

The future baby has yet to arrive. Awa looks absolutely miserable and is huge, but I have no idea when she's due. She's also craving spicy food. Really, really, really spicy food. She cooked lunch both Saturday and Sunday and all of the boys refused to eat it because it was too spicy. She claimed she couldn't even taste it while slathering on extra hot sauce. I thought it was pretty good ceeb. If your taste buds are burned off due to spice you can't really taste anything, which, in this case, is a good thing.

* Update: We just had dinner and it was SPICY! After big Ahmed, my dad, and I ate my mom pulled me aside to ask me if it was spicy since my dad didn't eat anything. I told her it was as fire lept out of my mouth. She shook her head and scurried off because if I thought it was spicy there was no way any of the boys were going to eat it.

Artisans

Oh, artisans. Katherine and I have been working on the St. Louis Jazz Fest exposition which is coming up on June 9th. We are having equally frustrating experiences. Katherine has been trying to get information from the people actually organizing the event, which has been a nightmare. Just last week they set an exorbitantly high booth rate for artisans and now expect payment next week. This information sent me into panic mode because it was my job along with Mme. Ly to call all of the artisans and remind them that they have to pay their dues, we have an upcoming meeting on May 24th, and that we need a bunch of money if they want to go to St. Louis.

Calling the artisans is always interesting. Nicities are always exchanged and then Mme. Ly puts her Madame President demenor on and lays down the lay. Unfortunately, even after Mme. Ly has told people what's up I'm not confident that it's actually going to happen. I need confirmation people are coming or not coming because this is an expensive event and myself along with some other PCVs are going to have to front money to make it happen. It's also frustrating that the reseau isn't running better and that I still need to do a lot of hand holding, especially when there are artisans who understand that the PCVs need to start stepping back.

I'm still working with WATH and the gallery in St. Louis who might host some of the artisans during the Jazz Fest. By the end of the week I'm hoping to have a lot more answers.

Junior Achievement

Kerry and I are still plugging away at Junior Achievement, writing lesson plans and planning PST sessions for the new trainees. Hopefully we will actually get to teach a class this week since the past two weeks were cancelled otherwise it will be very difficult to finish before exams starts and the school year is theoretically over.

Random

This evening I thought we were about to have dinner so I was forcing myself to sit and watch the Wolof soap opera that makes me want to die. Dinner was obviously far, far, far away from happening, but I did see the most amazing thing. While two female characters are sitting on a bed talking, the camera pans the room. There's a chair and table, but the walls are bare except for...a Teletubbie hanging on the wall from a nail. NO JOKE! It was amazing and I couldn't stop myself from bursting out laughing. The best part was that it was the purple, gay, Teletubbie and that it was hanging from the nail by it's purple, triangle headpiece. Classic.

Also, shout out to Shirley for another awesome letter. You rock! Thank you.

It's been two days since we got back from The Gambia so, it's been two days since I was able to eat whatever I want whenever I want and not have to think about it. Just for the record, we did not eat local food one time while in The Gambia (if you don't count chicken sandwiches which are delicious and the only thing available at ferry crossings).Food is starting to become a real issue since even the smell of ceebu jenn is currently provokes my gag reflex. The past two days have also been bad meal days, culminating in today's lunch: Yassa. Yassa and I have never liked each other.

Now, I'm never the girl who doesn't like to eat something because it's unhealthy. I actually get angry when Matt buys ice cream that isn't full fat, but Yassa pushes me over the edge. It has no nutritional value and it's just not good. Yassa is white rice covered in onion sauce with some fried fish on top that have been sitting in the onion mixture so have by this point lost any fried delicious they may have once had. The vast majority of PCVs like Yassa. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it. White rice - fine. Onion sauce - well, we haven't been getting along for a while, but it's better than other things. Fried fish - fine. But that's it. There's nothing else. And I can no longer bring myself to eat it. Today lunch was really late so I was sitting in the living room, waiting, and reading a magazine. My heart dropped when I saw the Yassa. I sat down at the bowl, picked up my spoon, and put the spoon into the rice to take a scoop, but I just couldn't do it.

There was no place to hide so while my spoon was full of rice and hovering above the bowl I made the decision that I am indeed a big girl. I put down the spoon, announced that I wasn't hungry, and then ran away as my mom and Awa shouted after me that I don't like Yassa. You are one hundred percent correct my friends; I do not like Yassa. Fortunately, my family can see that I'm not the incredibly shrinking woman and that I do find food when I don't eat what they're having so their persistence that I eat is diminishing. After my triumph over Yassa, the only place to go was up so I went to Bon Marche bought a giant block of cheese and an apple and gorged myself on these delicious snacks in my room. Having control over my diet is without a doubt one of the hardest aspects of Peace Corps for me and I'm so excited to go back to the States and eat whatever I want.

Before I could go to Bon Marche and acquire dairy products and fruit, I had to go see Mme. Ly. The woman is a saint. I just love her to death and she and Khady always make me feel better. They were their usual, chipper selves and we had a good talk about the St. Louis Jazz Fest and some other upcoming events. Madame Ly also let me know that she and Khady are almost done with a big order they just received last week. They really know how to work hard and they even had some new styles to show me today!

Even with a giant block of cheese resting comfortably in my stomach I'm still hungry so let's hope for something good for dinner!

Day 1: Easier Done Than Said

After a night spent spooning and talking to Katherine, we had to wake up early in the morning to start our sojourn to The Gambia. Right off the bat we had some good luck with the sept-place immediately filling up (amazing luck with transportation was the theme of the trip) and we were off after I had an awkward conversation with two of the men in our car who chided me for not being able to speak Puular since one of them didn't speak Wolof. From Thies we absolutely flew to Kaolack where we had to switch garages and find another car to the border of Senegal and The Gambia.

I slept almost the entire way in the car (sleeping is a great talent of mine) so I was ready to schmooze with the customs officials once we got to the border. This was a good thing since we were there for a couple of hours waiting for some guy to return with our passports and new visas. Although having the customs officials tell me what scent of incense they would burn for me if I came to their house, was more than a little awkward, they did really help us out with our travel plans. The original plan was to cross the river at this point and travel on the south side of the river to Georgetown, our destination for the night. Fortunately, the customs officials told us the southern road is terrible and that it would be a much better idea to not cross the river and head east on the north side of the river. They were right. The road was in perfect condition and stick straight. The driver could have put the car on cruise control and taken a nap if he wanted to.

We arrived in Georgetown in the late afternoon, hours before we thought we would actually arrive. The only hiccup was exchanging money which proved to be slightly difficult since banks which offer 24/7 services were closed (and their ATMs locked) and the one bank with an accessible ATM was broken. Go figure. We were able to get some Delasi (Gambian currency) and once we arrived in Georgetown we hopped in a little boat and forded the river to McCarthy island, where, with the help of two guys who found us on the boat, walked back and forth across the island until we decided on a campament to stay in.

The campament was pretty nice and super cheap. We negotiated a boat tour with the men who helped us find the campament, took some much needed showers, and ate a delicious chicken dinner, and then went to bed... that is until the campament owner started hacking apart his door at 1am because he had lost the key.

Day 2: Apocalypse Now Field Trip

The first time we crossed the river to the island, Tamar fittingly referenced Apocalypse Now and the similarities between the boat we used and the boat in the movie. It is truly amazing that a boat made out of random pieces of metal fused together actually works.

The day before, the guy who was trying to persuade us into taking a boat trip with him claimed that we would see hippos jumping on a sand bar. While this image reminded me of Dumbo and gave us a good laugh, I gave hippos jumping on sand bars a 0% chance of happening. Grandiose talk. That's what it appeared to be almost an hour into our boat ride down the river. We had planned on going to Baboon Island, which is a chimp preserve, but time and money prevented that from happening so our boat tour was just through the river in the national park. The Gambia provides a much better chance of seeing wildlife than Senegal, but I was skeptical. Especially after seeing one very small monkey in a tree very far away and a small lizard that Tamar swears was dead.

Just as the four of us were about to throw in the towel and tell our guides to turn around we saw a huge family of baboons along the shore. There were probably thirty or forty adult male (huge!), women, and children along the bank. It was really cool to see. The baboons were running around and growling a bit, but we got to watch them for quite a while. We saw them again when we turned around as well. Totally satisfied with baboons siting, I thought we were done. Then we came across the infamous sandbar... and there were actually hippos! And they were frolicking on the sandbar. I couldn't believe it. There was a family of hippos on the sandbar (which unfortunately was mostly covered in deep water), but we saw the dad jump out of the water while the mom and three babies swam around. It was pretty cool!

Extremely happy with the hippo and baboon sitings we turned around and headed back to Georgetown so we could catch a car heading all the way west back to Banjul, the capital. We got in the boat for our tour at 7:30am and literally did not stop moving in some form of transportation until after 8pm. It was a boat trip to a river crossing in a boat, to a sept-place back to Faraffeni (where we had crossed the Senegalese border the day before), into an Alham (terrifying scrap metal bus) to the ferry crossing, a ferry across to the south side of the river, to another scary Alham bus, to a garage where we got on a slightly nicer bus, which we road for over two hours on a dirt road, until we came up onto a paved road, and then, finally a taxi to the Peace Corps regional house. I have never been so dirty in my life, which is saying a lot since I've been in the Peace Corps for almost two years. It looked like I had murdered a swamp monster in the shower.

We celebrated our insanely long day with Chinese food. Banjul is more like Accra, Ghana than Dakar. The streets and buildings are nicer, but there's less of a downtown. The cars are nicer, their regional house is WAY nicer than ours, and cabs actually know where they are going...until they get stuck in sand pits on back roads like ours did on the way to Chinese. No worries, we pushed him out. I have now eaten Chinese food in four different, African, countries which I would call quite the accomplishment. If I had to rank them; Ghana, Cape Verde, Senegal, and The Gambia - although we didn't leave anything on our plates!

Day 3: The Big City

Banjul and Fajara are about as interesting as Dakar. Our first stop was to see the big arch in Banjul, which was a big arch. We did take a nice walk around the market and along the beach until we started getting harassed by some local "bumpsters," or men looking to sell sex. I have a masters degree in ignoring obnoxious inquiries and getting people to leave me alone, but the bumpsters in The Gambia are like nothing I've experienced. They just don't give up. If you ignore them they call you racist and if you engage well, then you have to talk to them and they don't leave you alone when you tell them to. Being followed by bumpsters killed the nice walk along the beach. The beach is beautiful though.

Since there isn't too much to see and it was a national holiday (May 1 is international Labor Day), we headed back south in a cab toward SeneGambia - a strip of bars and restaurants for lunch. We had really good pizza and even better cheesy garlic bread! The food in The Gambia (specifically, the non-African food options) are far superior to Senegal and not surprisingly food was a major part of our trip. With bellies full of pizza we returned to the regional house and chatted with some Gambian PCVs before going to a bar over looking a busy fishing port to watch the activities and the sunset. Mexican food was on the docket for dinner and then a drink at an Irish bar.

Not wanting to offend The Gambia by not showing it the same level of commitment we showed Cape Verde, we swung by Aquarius. Aquarius is THE club in SeneGambia, but even this infamous club can't rally a crowd on a Monday night after a three day weekend so we were the only people on the dance floor...literally. Eventually we gained a few other people, but we never hit double digits. I would say it was a pretty epic night and we definitely owned the dance floor while the American Top 40 played which was great. Aquarius was definitely a good time, but how do you know you probably shouldn't be at a club?

1. It's Monday night.

2. You are the only people at the club.

3. The DJ agrees to watch your purse while playing all of your requests...because no one else is there.

4. There is no line for the ladies room.

5. CNN is on the TV which is supposed to playing music videos for the dancers to watch. Instead, we watch Elliot Spitzer talk about Osama bin Laden.

Day 4: OMG We've Spent Over 24 Hours in the Past Three Days Traveling

With a solid almost four hours of sleep under our belts, we're up and ready to get back to Senegal. If you've ever wondered what it feels like to be in Dante's ninth circle of hell, I can tell you. It involves being crammed into an Alham (crappy bus) while on a ferry fording a river. Yup, that's the ninth circle. Being packed with four other people on a bench made for three while the entire things bobs up and down in the water on top of a ferry is the absolute worst way to spend a morning after you've been out the night before. Not fun.

Two hours later the ferry docks and our Alham doesn't start so some guys have to push it and we coast into starting the bus. Fortunately, it was a short ride to the border where we stamped our passports, used our last Delasi to buy presents for our family, and climb onto a charette (horse cart and yet another form of transportation) to travel through Byron's village to the garage. There Jackie and I were able to get a car directly back to Thies which was awesome, while Tamar and Katherine had slightly longer trips back to site.

It was a great trip and I'm glad that I got to see The Gambia (aka the country inside the country I've been living in for two years) as well as some hippos and baboons! You may be wondering where the pictures are. I hate myself and forgot my camera. I've been so busy taking pictures for Mme. Ly I left it in another bag! Yes, I am heartbroken. Luckily, Jackie, Tamar, and Katherine took a million pictures so check out their blogs and I will be stealing their pictures the next time I see them!

Amazing. Loved it.

Not surprisingly my most thoughtfully laid plans totally fell through and Katherine and I were not able to watch The Royal Wedding on a big screen television in a private conference room at a hotel while gorging ourselves on enough food to pay for the room. Alas, CNN obviously didn't work in the conference room and I absolutely refused to watch French people discuss Wills and Kate getting married. Therefore, I sat in the lobby of said hotel, with remote in hand, turning the volume as loud as I could as guests, employees, and random people walked the halls. I say "I" because Katherine was caught in a miserable bus which took hours to get to Thies, Tamar was on her voyage into town, and Jackie was actually trying to do work/ laundry at site.

There's absolutely no reason why The Royal Wedding should have brought me so much pleasure as it did. I'm not a huge royal fan, but I do love weddings and pomp and circumstance...especially when it has nothing to do with me. I've been counting down the days until the wedding since they announced their engagement in November. I would also like to point out that I told my mom that the dress would be Alexander McQueen months ago and she didn't believe me!

Alexander McQueen the dress was... and it was fabulous. I actually LOVED Pippa's dress even more. It's amazing. I want to steal it off her and wear it myself. Everything was beautiful (including Victory Beckham's hat and those custom Louboutins) and I wish I was there to celebrate. It just seemed like such a happy day! I would also like to discuss how Prince William used to be super hot and now he's balding and how Harry was a scary, ginger child and now he's the most eligible bachelor in the world. I also want to attend Prince Harry's "survivors party" which goes until 6am, but alas I will traveling to The Gambia.

Yes, it's true. I will be traveling to The Gambia tomorrow. It is a British colony so that's fitting! Katherine, Jackie, Tamar and I are going so that we can say we've been to the country inside the country we've been living in for the last two years and to hopefully see some chimps (questionable) and eat some Mexican food (probable).

Check back on Tuesday for more updates and thoughts about the wedding (aka how I will ensnare Harry and become best friends with Kate).

Since the power was still out this morning after my run, after breakfast, and even after showering, I had nothing better to do than prepare for my Junior Achievement class. Honestly, I was a little nervous since Kerry isn't here this week and this was supposed to be the first class I taught solo this time around. "Supposed to be," being the operative phrase. I did everything I was supposed to do. I called one of the teachers yesterday to make sure that the students weren't striking, that they were back from vacation, and that the teachers were prepared for today's class, but that's apparently not enough/ nothing could have prevented/ foreseen today's cancelled class.

I arrived at the Lycee Technique and saw two teachers already in the lounge and all ready for class. Perfect. I left them to go get the supplies which are locked in a secretary's office. She obviously wasn't in for the day and no one else, including the janitor, could possibly have a key so I resigned myself to not writing anything down for the class to see and just taking copious notes. No problem. Then, I go upstairs to the room where we have class. As usual the English Club is practicing in the room before JA, but they are surprised to see me. One teacher does both English Club and JA and he told me that he didn't know about class today and thought we started up again next week. Sure enough, once I finally tracked down the head teacher who wouldn't answer my phone calls yesterday he confirmed that I was the person who had made the mistake. According to him, at our last meeting we had changed the schedule, again, to reflect a longer break. I'm positive this is untrue, but it doesn't really matter since none of the students showed up.

With nothing better to do and already planning on missing lunch at my house, I wondered the streets of Thies running some errands and making very special arrangements for Friday. I may miss many things while I'm away in Senegal, but the Royal Wedding will not be one of them. Plans will be released upon accomplishment on Friday since I'm worried that I'll jinx them!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The To-Do List for today was quite intense.

1. Renew my residency card

2. Have lunch with Jackie and Brian

That plan was turned upside-down quite quickly. Drenched in sweat after a morning run my phone started to get a million text messages. They were from Talla asking me if I could be at the center within the next 15 minutes to present about the SED program. No further information. I pretended to bathe aka splash some water on my face, threw on a dress, and jumped in a cab. Fortunately, I wasn't the only volunteer totally caught off guard. Although they did receive a day of advance warning, Emily and Erin also didn't have a fancy presentation like some of the other people. I think I did the SED program proud and put in a good plug for the work we do and the type of help we can offer to other volunteers with their projects.

Being at the center meant that I ran into a bunch of people including our country director, which was great since I needed to talk to him. I also dropped off magazines and filled up on cold, filtered water. From the center, Brian and I walked over to the office where residency cards are renewed. Fortunately, the process was quick and easy and Jackie even showed up in time to get hers done. Paying internet and electricity bills was followed by a trip to Mme. Ly's where Jackie did some shopping and I did some planning. The three of us then had a delicious lunch at Pamanda's and chatted away the afternoon.

Brian and Jackie left in the mid-afternoon to return to site and I stayed at Pamanda's to get some work done. I barely managed to finish a cover letter before Emily and Erin reappeared and we all caught up. While I was pretending to start another cover letter Dioss called to beg me to come over. The catalog is actually in Thies and he desperately wanted me to see it, so I obliged and went all of the way across town to Dioss' house where I met a study abroad student interested in art education. It's always interesting to talk to study abroad students and hear just how different their perspective on things can be. I really try not to sound too jaded, which I think I achieved. Dioss is insanely excited and proud of the catalog. It's actually not as big or as nice as I was imagining, but it is beautiful and he is listed as the author.

The power was already out when I got home so I spent a lot of time staring at my family in the dark. I did listen to one of the most interesting conversations I've ever heard my family have. Khady and and my mom were discussing where Ahmed should go to school next year. Khady wants a school that teaches both French and English (since I've been working with Ahmed on English and Khady realizes the next PCV could as well) and sounds like it has high academic standards, while my mom wants a school closer by and where other kids from the neighborhood attend. I'm not sure if philosophy or cost was really the issue, but Khady seemed to put her foot down.

A lot of time during a Peace Corps service is spent in dark, literally and figuratively. While I've had electricity fairly consistently lately, this didn't help me illuminate, in advance or even after, the reason for my trip today. For the past week I've known that there would be some type of Junior Achievement event today. Some type of event being the operative phrase. Earlier this week I learned that the event was in some small village, far off the road, between Ngeye Mheke and Louga and that a PC vehicle would come and pick me up at 9ish am. My ability to go with the flow has astronomically improved over the past 20 months.

Fortunately, Jackie was my partner in crime throughout the filming of the JA special last month as well as today's activities. Since Jackie lives a couple kilometers outside of Thies, closer to Dakar, she was also the person who called me to say that the car was actually on it's way. Now, in the car, with Jackie we discuss how we have no idea what the day's plan is. We picked up Kerry and then the fedora wearing Talla Diop and then gossiped for a while in the back of the car before we started questioning Talla about the reason for our journey. Talla didn't really know either and was only attending because the woman in charge of Junior Achievement asked him to.

The plan all along was to return to Thies in time for lunch. Being the seasoned PCV that I am, I knew that that was never going to happen, but I wasn't prepared for what was going to happen. Talla, Kerry, Jackie, myself, and two other men from Dakar arrived at the village's communal building where we sat with a bunch of important men introducing ourselves, eating beignets, and then staring at each other in silence. The staring continued while more and more people kept piling into the room. The silence was broken when Jackie moved her chair and knocked over and shattered for coffee cup. For some reason this was hilariously funny, if not funny in this post.

After an hour of sitting in the room waiting for more people from Dakar to arrive while residents of the village waited ever so patiently in a packed and hot room next door, Talla started to get antsy and asked to start the meeting while we waited. It's a good thing we started this process because it took FOREVER. The head table meant for all of us ended up being the entire length of the room and was then still too small because it had over-sized chairs behind it. So, we went back and forth and back and forth across the packed room. Tripping over people, getting in everyone's way, sweating, and trying to sit in order of importance. Jackie and I attempted an escape by graciously declining stairs for standing only room in the hallway to no avail.

Twenty or so minutes after the musical chairs started we were finally all seated. That is until the rest of the delegation from Dakar arrived and the entire process started over again. Once everyone was seated and the meeting began I started to zone out. I couldn't help it. The redundancies of the meeting, the sweltering heat, and all of the people taking cell phone video of me started to take it's toll and Jackie and I became a pair of slaphappy toubabas. This continued for an eternity - over 3 hours in total.

The event was to introduce Junior Achievement to this village and the meeting discussed the pros and cons and let the community air their concerns. There was absolutely no point for Jackie and I to be there. We were pointed at twice as the two PCV toubabs in the room and that's about it. I am still not use to Senegalese meetings where agreement is shown by saying the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over and over again and I don't think I ever will.

Almost eight hours later the car dropped me back off at my house and I collapsed in a heap and then made myself lunch...at almost 5pm. Hopefully my presence was appreciated although, I'm pretty sure it didn't make a difference.

All I wanted was a quiet evening, but that didn't happen because... Mami's home! She waltzed in sporting jeggings and a GIANT bow in her hair, instantaneously got in a fight with big Ahmed, and then called all of her girlfriends over for dinner. This upset Jeenaba because Mami wanted her to serve them in her room, which in turn infuriated Awa because Jeenaba wanted Awa's help with the extra cooking even though Awa was doing the dishes. I silently hoped that it didn't mean that my mom would cook dinner since we all suffered that terrible scenario last night while holding Abdou and officiating over coloring time for little Awa and Ahmed so they would be quiet and stop driving me insane. All in a day's work.

A giraffe in Bandia Nature Preserve

Traveling and guests have been the name of the game in the Thies region as of late and today was just another day of meeting the fam. Today I met Kerry's daughter and son-in-law on the last day of their 6 day whirl wind tour of Senegal! Today's agenda? Bandia Nature Preserve. I must admit that I was highly skeptical of today's itinerary. I've drive past Bandia many times on my to the Petite Cote and down to Mar Lodj to see Tamar and I haven't been very impressed. It's also the idea that Senegal used to have big game and the exotic animals that you think of when you think of Africa, but now doesn't because of poaching. The vast majority of the animals at Bandia have been imported from east and south Africa.

Kerry, Jeanine, Brian, and I set out from Thies for Bandia early this morning and we had a lot of fun at the park. Bandia is actually much nicer than I expected and riding around in a big jeep while looking at animals in Africa is pretty cool...even if those animals are no longer native to the area. We had a great time riding around and seeing some rhinos, zebras, giraffes, warthogs, ostriches, buffalo, and a lot of birds native to Senegal. Our jeep excursion was followed by a delicious lunch at the park's restaurant where some monkeys were getting a little bit too brave and a little too close to our table! There are some pictures posted of the animals we saw today in the Cape Verde album.

On our way back to Thies I called Dioss to see if he was at home so we could swing by the gallery... he was obviously in Dakar so we went straight to Mme. Ly's. I love Madame Ly. I honestly can't say enough good things about the woman. She was really excited to meet Kerry's family and was a very nice host while Kerry's daughter looked around. Unfortunately, Kerry and crew were exhausted after a week of traveling and sightseeing so they left and I stayed to talk and work with Mme. Ly and Khady.

Mme. Ly and Khady are work horses. They constantly impress me with how much they can get done when equipped with beads and electricity. Last weekend they went to Dakar for an expo which they both agreed was the worst run expo they've ever been to (while stroking my ego by reminding me just how great the Peace Corps expo was in December), but they did find some new and AWESOME beads. Since then, they've been going to town and have some really cool new pieces. I'm quite proud with how far they're pushing themselves. I wasn't even allowed to sit down today before I had to go and look at the new pieces and take pictures of everything. They are really starting to understand different lengths, color combinations, and that bigger is most definitely better. The only problem is me.

Mme. Ly and Khady want me to approve/ critique every piece. They also want me to be a fit model. I do enjoy the playing dress up aspect of this activity, but for those of you who know me well, you know that I have freakishly small hands and wrists. There are currently plethora of bracelets that fit me and small children...only. Hopefully this will be fixed next week.

Some of my concerns and fears about the artisan association for the spring/ summer season were also soothed by Mme. Ly's no nonsense "this is what I'm going to tell people," approach to her presidency so that's good. We are full steam ahead for the St. Louis Jazz fest and showing at a gallery. I'm trying to take some classier pictures for the gallery owner/ WATH so let me know which one of these pictures you like more or if you think they're both bad!

This is the necklace in a wood bowl.

This is the necklace on a whitewashed bench.

After a lovely afternoon talking jewelry with Mme. Ly and Khady, I walked home with a quick detour to the post office. Shout out to Shirley for another amazing card. Made my day as usual. Erin happened to be stopping by picking up some packages on her way back to site from an Ag summit Kolda. We caught up while she waited for the customs agent to materialize. The best part about this wait other than the exchange of gossip? Definitely when one of my post office friends called the customs agent and told him that one of my friends needed to pick up a package so he needed to come in even though he had already left for the day. Score. The post office men are back in my good graces!

I'm having problems uploading pictures so check back tomorrow for updated photos.

Reunited and it feels so good.

Time is a funny, funny thing in Peace Corps. The days can pass slowly and then the months (and day I say it, years) blow by. Since returning from Cape Verde, the days have crept by and that's partially because 66% of my main texting/ calling/ general communication circle has been gone. I just saw Katherine for the first time in three weeks and that's just unacceptable.

Yesterday I headed off to Dakar to clear my mind of Thies (even though nothing annoying/ particularly bad has happened) and to get a gossip rundown of my friends' recent adventures. The food brought from America as well as my newly fixed computer might have also sweetened the deal. It was great to be in the same room as Tamar, Jackie, and Katherine again and we had a great time catching up on each other's lives for the past couple of weeks which was a little weird since my friends usually know what I've eaten and the last time I've peed during the usual day.

We also had to plan our next trip! Nope this isn't a joke. We are determined to use all of our vacation days before we aren't allowed to travel because the end of our service is so near! So, we're going to The Gambia next week. Yes, we're crazy. No, we haven't done any planning.

The trip wasn't all fun and games though. I did have to go into the office to work on future artisan happenings. In Peace Corps everything seems to come at once! We might be attending an Expo May 5th hosted by the Embassy in honor of Mother's Day... if it can be organized in that short of notice. The details for the St. Louis Jazz fest are also coming together. Each year St. Louis, a city north of Thies on the coast, hosts a giant Jazz Fest which draws an international crowd and also boasts an artisan exposition. This year Peace Corps is working with the West African Trade Hub, an NGO devoted to helping artisans become export ready, to expose some of the artisans' work in a gallery. It's very exciting. We are also going to buy some booths at the general event (hopefully). A lot more planning has to be done, but hopefully everything will work out.

Things are pretty slow in Thies right now. Over the weekend Mme. Ly and Khady went to Dakar for a small Expo. They felt it necessary to keep me updated of their every movement by calling me constantly, which was sweet and totally unnecessary at the same time. They got back to Thies late this afternoon so I didn't go see them, but I did see the much more elusive member of their family: Dioss.

Dioss was really excited to see me because today, supposedly, is/ was the day when the catalog is finally being delivered to him...in completed form. I'll believe it when I see it. He was like a little kid on Christmas morning though which made him fairly worthless to talk to about anything other than the catalog. I took some pictures of his new technique to show the West African Trade Hub and then he kind of pushed me out of his house because he had a bunch of friends over. The pictures are in the Cape Verde album.

From Dioss' I walked over to the post office.

Shout Outs!!!

Thank you grandma for the amazing package including all kinds of delicious treats, magazines, and Easter goodies for Ahmed! I've already put a dent in the treats and the magazines.

Shirley! Thank you for two more amazing letters! I always look forward to cards from you!

At the post office I had a very annoying conversation about husbands, boyfriends, and marriage, which ended with me excusing myself after one of the peripheral post office characters called my boyfriend my "master." Conversations like that no matter if they are said in jest or not are not conversations I want to be a part of and I find them degrading. It's definitely not a mentality that I can understand and one that I don't have to tolerate when it's about me. I massage my ego with fruit snacks my grandma sent so everything turned out just fine.

I hung out with the fam for the rest of the day. Jeenaba and Abdou are back, which brought more life to the house since Khady is still sick. Little Awa is proving herself to a terror and I'm waiting for big Awa to pop out her baby!

Palm Sunday usually doesn't mean much to me and since I'm living with a Muslim family, one would assume that it wouldn't mean much to them, but in the spirit of any holiday is a holiday we celebrate, my family celebrated Palm Sunday. I had been looking forward to today because we've been without water since I came back from Cape Verde and holidays are usually celebrated by the utility companies by actually providing service. And I was right. My mom obviously thought the same thing and therefore stayed up all night. She was still awake filling water jugs from the most pathetic trickle of water coming out of our spigot at 6:30am when I got up. I told her I would take over, but she doesn't trust me that much so I went to take a run and she locked me out of the front gate. Pounding on the door ensued until Awa came to open it for me.

Other than the luxury of having some water and a day full of electricity we also had a delicious lunch to celebrate. Whenever there's a holiday and "a lunch you will like," in the words of a female cook are uttered it means we don't eat lunch until old people are eating their Early Bird Special. Today was also a weird day since Jeenaba and Abdou were celebrating Palm Sunday with Thomsir, baby daddy, and his family... who are also not Christian. Anyway, that means that all of the cleaning fell on poor, giantly pregnant Awa while my Aunt Numbe cooked lunch. Numbe has been hanging around more than usual since her daughter, also named Awa, is out current "vacation maid."

Rice and chicken with crudites (finely chopped vegetables that are steamed and covered in vinegar) was on the menu for lunch. Numbe was cooking all day. Literally. I took a run, cleaned by room, uploaded a ton of pictures onto facebook, worked on an application, helped cut vegetables, took a shower, and watched an episode of the Amazing Race before we ate lunch at 4pm. Regardless, it was tasty and we had some watermelon for dessert!

Khady is really sick right now which meant that she wasn't helping the other adult women nor was she rangling Ahmed and little Awa so they bothered me. All day. I thought Khady was just dehydrated because she was complaining of a mysterious headache after pulling water all day yesterday and not actually drinking any of it, but she's been MIA all day today trying to recover. My favorite part about this was the "sick" outfit she emerged in to collect her lunch. The tightest pair of painted on jeans I've seen her wear and then a completely sheer caftan with no bra. How is that comfortable? Khady's lack of supervision meant that the kids were all over me.

Ahmed and I have a very defined set of unspoken rules that govern my personal space and the lies I tell him to get him to go away. It really is a beautiful relationship. Little Awa doesn't know any of these rules and is incredibly curious and precocious. Today she wiped open my door after I explicitly told her I was changing. I saw an expression flash across Ahmed's face that said "Oh my God, she's not going to give me presents and candy anymore!" I had to get my stern face on with Awa after the door opening incident but she didn't really get it because she continued to be really annoying. It mostly bothered me because she kept touching me all over and she has a super nasty and giant staph infection that I really do not want to get. I like to keep my kid touching to a minimum aka Abdou and Ahmed only.

Apart from trying to hide from/ kill little Awa, Palm Sunday was quite nice. Everyone was really chill. We had some visitors who couldn't have cared less about me and I got to eat chicken and hoard some water in my room.