Peace Corps Journals / Senegal / all updates

Solidarity and Vacations

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 16:38:00 +0800

(Senegal / Ryan On The Run)
Just when I think African solidarity couldn't possibly become any more intrusive... it does.Not only what is in my wallet fridge and medicine cabinet not just mine (remember the borrower's right to ...
8 reads

The wind is in from Africa

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:09:00 +0800

(Senegal / L'esprit de Becca)
I am the sales manager for a solar light distributor and it's part of my job to answer questions about our products. However I'm fairly certain that the most common question I am asked these days is ...
9 reads

Final Goodbyes

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:26:00 +0800

(Senegal / L'esprit de Becca)
Any time you say goodbye to someone there’s really no telling if it’s that last time you will see them. Living so far away from family I am a bit more cognizant of that fact and this is definit ...
7 reads

Art Overload

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 20:50:00 +0800

(Senegal / Staying Sassy in Senegal)
Today I helped two study abroad students connect with some Thies artisans so they can write their thesis on West African Art. I wont lie and say I was thrilled with the proposition especially after I ...
10 reads

My How Time Flies...

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 20:32:00 +0800

(Senegal / Jackie's Adventures in Senegal)
7 months in Africa! Happy 7 month anniversary (or "Africaversary" as Katherine would call it) to all of my fellow August '09 volunteers. Part of me wonders how the hell I made it this long and part o ...
6 reads

Training like Whoa

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 20:04:00 +0800

(Senegal / Jackie's Adventures in Senegal)
My my my I am bad at keeping up with this thing. I get so distracted by reading Alyssa's blog that I forget to write in my own (by the way if you ever want some supplementary reading check out any ...
11 reads

Second Annual

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:38:39 +0800

(Senegal / me & me)
Today is the Second Annual Miss K* pageant in my village. Unfortunately I can't go. Here are the girls playing on the new cart of firewood Guiro had just brought home. There's a big deforestation problem here it's not hard...
10 reads

A Package and A Hair Appointment

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 14:42:00 +0800

(Senegal / KO In Senegal)
Two night ago I ran into the post office guy on the street and he told me that I had something at the post office so the next morning I stopped by. A family friend had sent me an amazing box full of ...
0 reads

Livin for the City

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 12:32:00 +0800

(Senegal / Story of a Seneguy)
Ok ok ok so I promised more frequent blogs now that I have internet at my fingertips at all times of day... and I made that promise two months ago. It took a departure from Dakar and the crazy pace o ...
3 reads

Zombie talibe in the north

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:24:27 +0800

(Senegal / Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal)
In order to explain this story a bit of contextual background needs to be provided. The majority of people in Senegal are muslim and the way it is divided up is by brotherhood. Meaning that generatio ...
14 reads

Contact Info

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:37:00 +0800

(Senegal / Ordinary Adventures)
I just realized I should get out my alternative contact information before I'm cut off from internet (which could be any day now they are going to turn it off at the training center). If you want to ...
7 reads

Spread Your Wings

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:33:00 +0800

(Senegal / Staying Sassy in Senegal)
There comes a time when everyone just needs to spread their wings and fly. I experience two instances of this trans-formative time in one's life today. The first being when a Senegalese child finally ...
9 reads

First Impressions

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:50:00 +0800

(Senegal / Ordinary Adventures)
We've only been here 3 days but they have been three of the most jam packed days of my life so it feels like much longer (in a good way). So far we haven't seen much except the training center altho ...
3 reads

Manure Pants

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:42:00 +0800

(Senegal / Senegal, Y'all.)
I'll keep this short since my battery is running low and I have yet to navigate buying an adapter. The flight to Senegal was great with lots of movies free champagne and talking with everyone. I di ...
6 reads

The New Stage

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:58:00 +0800

(Senegal / Staying Sassy in Senegal)
The new Health/ Environmental Education volunteers arrived in Senegal yesterday and I went over to the center today to meet everyone and help teach a session on Islam. Everyone seems to be holding it ...
7 reads

Building Schools Building Futures

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:20:00 +0800

(Senegal / Shannon in Senegal)
My friend and fellow Tamba volunteer Jessica Scates made a great video about a project she's working on which is building additional classrooms for the school in her town. The second teacher she interviews in the video is speaking in Mandinka!
8 reads

I've gotten good at SST (Senegalese Standard Time)

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:09:00 +0800

(Senegal / Mar in the land of Mar)
IST is over and I’ve been back at site for almost a week. I’m once again relieved to be “home ” breathing the clean air (pollution-free but a little dusty) sleeping in my own bed. There is s ...
3 reads

Excellent article about Somalia

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:42:00 +0800

(Senegal / AidWorker)
I just ran across this interview/article from the Council on Foreign Relations about Somalia and it's really excellent. A good explanation of the real situation in Somalia (unlike what you'll r ...
0 reads

A village in crisis

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:31:15 +0800

(Senegal / me & me)
I was walking to the market this morning when I heard screams and saw people running toward the health post. Naturally I picked up my pace. I was horrified to see them unloading a screaming girl from a pickup truck....
10 reads

End of Training

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:26:00 +0800

(Senegal / Ryan On The Run)
Finishing up the rest of February and a few days into March was my In Service Training (IST). This is a technical training held 3 months after becoming a volunteer which for me happened in October. I ...
29 reads

Playing in Cement

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:48:00 +0800

(Senegal / Developments in Progress)
I really should have done an update here long ago but well I have been in my village pretty continuously with short non-computer filled stints into cities. The village is a bad place to hang out ...
20 reads

100km in 2 days

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:20:00 +0800

(Senegal / KO In Senegal)
Yesterday around 7am I left Bambey for Thies... on my bike. The ride to Thies wasn't too bad and I had the sun at my back which made it easier. As soon as I hit Thies however it was hitting a wall o ...
13 reads

Scandal

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:14:12 +0800

(Senegal / me & me)
Kumba ran away to Dakar. She just up and packed her bags before anyone was awake and caught a ride. There's a story of course. Kumba went "out" and left her toddler Abby in the women's hut. He was crying ...
2 reads

Waiting

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:50:07 +0800

(Senegal / me & me)
I'm killing time. I mean that on a few levels but right now I am waiting for a call from a fellow volunteer's mother. My friend's niece or nephew is supposed to start living today and her mom will call...
1 reads

Work work work

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:36:00 +0800

(Senegal / Sur La Piste du Bongo)
Well with WAIST being over things must once again return to normal. I spent all of last week helping out our U.S buyer navigate through Senegal and develop new products. It was a very ...
11 reads

Things I miss

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:54:25 +0800

(Senegal / Maya en route)
In no particular order… Knowing exactly what’s expected of me from my job cold pizza for breakfast night & weekend minutes relative anonymity locally brewed beer Jamaican beef pat ...
1 reads

Katherine's A Rockstar

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:44:00 +0800

(Senegal / Staying Sassy in Senegal)
Yesterday was a great day. After I got yelled at for not greeting the main office manager of the stadium I like to run in he was sitting in an office that I didn't even know existed and being asked ...
1 reads

Tam Tam

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:54:00 +0800

(Senegal / Ordinary Adventures)
First order of business at the training center after initial interviews...2 hour dance party!!!
0 reads

Arrived in Senegal

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:50:00 +0800

(Senegal / en route to Senegal)
so this morning around 5:30 local time I took my first steps in Africa! Senegal is cool thus far there's still a lot to do and get out to see still just on the Peace Corps training compound more i ...
2 reads

Goodbye USA

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:29:00 +0800

(Senegal / Ordinary Adventures)
This past week has been a whirlwind of preparation...packing paperwork saying goodbye more packing more paperwork. Yesterday we all met in Georgetown for orientation basically getting to know eac ...
8 reads

The Sanctuary of Truth

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 06:35:00 +0800

(Senegal / Baobabs et Pagodas)
The Sanctuary of Truth is this incredible structure-in-progress just north of Pattaya on Rachvate Cape right against the ocean. Because I can't describe it like it deserves to be described I am refer ...
9 reads

Staging in Washington DC

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:45:00 +0800

(Senegal / Senegal, Y'all.)
I woke up at 4am this morning to get my stuff ready for the flight to DC. We all took a shuttle with the ridiculous amount of baggage to the hotel rushed out for some food and had a day of training. ...
15 reads

In Service Training

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:35:00 +0800

(Senegal / Byron Yee's Grand Adventures)
Feb 17 – March 3: In Service Training (IST)After struggling for our first 3 months at site with language cultural and integration issues as well as having absolutely no work projects to do IST a ...
32 reads

The Miracle of Life

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:34:00 +0800

(Senegal / Byron Yee's Grand Adventures)
When your days are filled with absolutely nothing the best thing to do is witness a pregnant kitty to 6 lovely kittens. We managed to find a box some scraps of cloth and some of us sat around for t ...
16 reads

Do I look like a “Ginger” mime?

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:47:00 +0800

(Senegal / Joshua Fickle in Senegal)
It has been a month since I have been gone from site. I was gone for 3 days of Wolof training a week of gardening a week of softball and two weeks of SED training. I enjoyed much of the time spe ...
1 reads

Steel Trap

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:42:00 +0800

(Senegal / Staying Sassy in Senegal)
Dioss never ceases to impress me. I went over to his gallery this morning to discuss indirect costs and he was already all over it. Peace Corps gave us GERME books which are business books in French ...
4 reads

The Chateau of Salamata

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:07:00 +0800

(Senegal / A Change of Scenery)
Not only is my new site different than my old in Guinea the program entirely in Senegal is different as well. I have to say that the volunteers of the region of Kedougou work hard. There are a vari ...
3 reads

What’s in a name?

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:09:00 +0800

(Senegal / Mary's PC blog)
Senegalese people love to fete. Every other week it feels like I’m invited to some kind of celebration usually a baptism. A baptism in Senegal is the baby shower ...
18 reads

Building Schools Buiding Futures.divx

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:26:56 +0800

(Senegal / YouTube)
Author: escatespc Keywords: Added: March 8 2010
8 reads

Bikes and Braids

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 23:56:00 +0800

(Senegal / KO In Senegal)
I really enjoy Sundays in Bambey. There's almost nothing going on and it's nice to just hang out (not like I don't do enough of that during the day). At one point during an afternoon of Senegalese mus ...
7 reads

Oh Senegal

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 20:11:00 +0800

(Senegal / Staying Sassy in Senegal)
Things That Don't Happen in the US While One is Running:1. Moments into your run you must slow to a walk because two horse drawn carriages are taking up the entire road and you can't get around2. Smal ...
6 reads

Velingara Malaria Prevention Campaign

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 15:37:48 +0800

(Senegal / YouTube)
Author: pcsenegaladmin Keywords: Added: March 7 2010
0 reads

Growing Pains

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 12:56:54 +0800

(Senegal / Being Ñamoo)
0 reads

WWS letter #4!

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 12:52:45 +0800

(Senegal / Being Ñamoo)
Dear. Ms. Riha and Class Hi everyone! Isn’t this paper interesting? This is the type of paper that school kids in Senegal use. When you buy a notebook from the store this is the type of paper ...
13 reads

Pattaya

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 11:57:00 +0800

(Senegal / Baobabs et Pagodas)
I have already wrote about my student teaching experience here in Pattaya Thailand. Now let me tell you about the city itself. Imagine Las Vegas. Thailand style. The expression goes: This isn't T ...
3 reads

Student Teaching at Phoenix Internationa ...

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 11:35:00 +0800

(Senegal / Baobabs et Pagodas)
I did my student teaching for the Language Corps program at an international kindergarten called Phoenix with two to four year olds. The school is a multilingual institution. The students learn Thai ...
3 reads

Its been a while YAAFO! (Sorry)

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:41:00 +0800

(Senegal / The road goes ever on and on)
Greetings everyone! I am sorry for the lack of updates over the past 3 months and I promise to try and do better for the rest of my service.However first of all I must express a sincere and grateful ...
7 reads

Found

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:28:00 +0800

(Senegal / Staying Sassy in Senegal)
Sleeping in this morning felt amazing especially after I slept through the entire night because there were no mosque parties or continuous rooster crowing. Amazing. As my after IST resolution was to s ...
1 reads

2 "red ears" make a right?

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:03:00 +0800

(Senegal / KO In Senegal)
Let me start by saying this is my 100th post woohoo! Now back to Senegal:Since I got back to site I've been trying to really hit the ground running. Near the end of training our APCD said something th ...
13 reads

Work Work Work

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 12:17:00 +0800

(Senegal / Sweet Up and Down)
So if anyone's interested in what I've been doing the past few weeks click here:http://pcsenegal.org/malari a/velingara.htmlThere you have it. We've only distributed to a tiny tiny percentage of the ...
9 reads