MegaUpdate: January 2012 Edition

It’s been a busy few weeks (month?) over here. I kind of can’t believe it’s February. I knew (in general and in Peace Corps) about the whole time-speeds-up thing, but it still feels surreal.

In any case, January kicked off with a scramble to get our Work Zone stuff all squared away (basically everyone in and around Salémata told me what they’ve been up to lately and I wrote up a report), getting things together for a potential latrine project, and working on visual aids for nutrition causeries (health talks) at the Salémata Health Center.

Then, along with a few other PCVs, I headed up to Thiès for the Gender and Development (GAD) conference and Work Zone Coordinator meetings, followed by our All-Volunteer Conference (All-Vol). The idea behind All-Vol is that all of the PCVs from Senegal get together with delegations of PCVs from other West African countries (Mali, Guinea, the Gambia) to talk about projects and plans and chat it up about Peace Corps stuff. I had a good time, it was great to see other people from my training stage and to hear about what it’s like living in other parts of West Africa.

After All-Vol it was time to head up to Dakar to get ready for the West Africa Invitational Softball Tournament (W.A.I.S.T.). There are two categories of teams at W.A.I.S.T., those that play in the Competitive League (for people who play softball regularly, know the rules, and own gloves and bats and things) and those who are in the Recreational League (for people who are more concerned with having good costumes). 

My friend Rachel is on the International School’s Faculty Team, so she had to play against us, and we had a little Logger reunion – there are currently at least five University of Puget Sound graduates in Senegal, and all of them were on W.A.I.S.T. teams this year. 

Loggers: Rachel, me, Mac, Mika, Emily. 

After all the softball madness I spent a couple days hanging out poolside at my friends Rachel & Emily’s wonderful bungalow, playing with their cats and talking about babies – baby blankets, baby names, baby nannies, baby showers, baby onesies… It was adorable and Leah would have loved it. Then I had Peer Support Counselor Training at the Peace Corps main office in Dakar, which went well. A lot of other PC programs have peer counseling systems and I think it’s a really good thing to have for PCV support. After that wrapped up there were enough of us heading back from Dakar to fill up a sept-place back to Kédougou.

Peer Support Counselors 2012
(I'm top left, with the tall kids.)

Once I was back in Kédougou I went back to village for a few days, and it was really nice to sleep in my own bed, hang out with my host family (baby Fatou is getting so big!) and help out at the monthly baby-weighing stuff and vaccination day at the Salémata Health Center.

And then I got strep throat. 

Tamba-ween!

We all went to Tambacounda for Halloween, and the Tamba PCVs did an excellent job of decoarting and cooking for a crowd - there were impressive decorations and lots of treats, from chili, hummus, and cucumber salads to squash bread, cookies, and gissap. And of course, there were costumes:

After Halloween was over it was time to head back, so everyone going to Kédougou all piled clown-car style into a mini-bus and hit the road. In the Niokolo-Koba National Park we stopped for a minute to stretch our legs (one of the biggest mefloquine side effects is that your limbs fall asleep all the time) and were warned by the police to watch our bags because there monkeys that hang out and snatch things that people unattended. 

Les Dakarois

After the  Health/EE Summit my friend Leah and I went up to Dakar and had a wonderful time visiting Rachel & Emily at their completely lovely home, which, coming from village, pretty much seemed like Hearst Castle to us.

(Rachel is going to make the best baby blankets.)

I took some photos out the window of our sept-place (the hearse-looking station wagons that have seven seats) to capture the stunning scenic beauty of the Dakar freeways. 

It was mostly partly finished houses and rubble piles and the occasional baobab, but also a surprising number of these bizarre billboards encouraging everyone to "Be clever like Leuk!" and get bank loans to buy Christmas/a fridge. Leuk is apparently the father of a family of rabbits with human bodies? 

Gold & BBC News

The BBC recently posted a slideshow about gold mining in Senegal, relatively close to where I live. There's also a BBC video on gold mining in the region of Kedougou as well as a BBC report on prostitution in mining areas. This isn't my village, but if you're interested it does give you a good idea of what my region looks like - I feel awkward walking around taking videos of people going about their daily business; it makes me feel like a tourist, and I don't want my neighbors to start snapping cellphone pics of the toubab washing clothes in a bucket or carrying water or whatever else I'm doing.

At this very moment what I'm doing is being in Dakar, thinking about taking a pool-side nap at the Club Atlantique. A few of up came up on the overnight Niokolo bus last night, and it was uneventful (aside from the ridiculous amounts of dust) but still quite tiring, so I'm going to try to catch up on a little sleep before heading over to the Thies Training Center for the Health & Environmental Education Summit that starts tomorrow.  

Cervical Cancer Screening Training continues…

…and it’s going well. More on that later. Right now I’m signing in to Skype so that I can chat with my Gramma.

Sometimes we're adorrrrable.

One of the main reasons I was so stoked to go to IST was because I was looking forward to seeing my PST roommates (Sarah L., Emma, and Cady) again. Sarah and I arrived a day early, and Sarah gathered some flowers for dorm beautification. 

I got my art-type-stuff stuff out, and we had a good time having craft time on a rainy afternoon. 

The bouquet idea was all Sarah L.

I was behind the paper-and-soda-can vases. 

We are adorable. And also look like bridesmaids in a vivid wedding.

We are such a good room-match that we all (totally separately) wore blue outfits to the Five Week Challenge dinner in Dakar last week. Adorable. A little weird, but still adorable. 

Happy Belated 4th of July!

We hosted the Peace Corps/Senegal American Independence Day party at the Kédougou Regional house. About a hundred people came and all in all it was a pretty great party. 

Meera and I improvised facepaints

I got to see Emma and Cady again!

David and I made vats of potato salad...

... and coleslaw

The Ice Cream guy set up shop in the yard

Everyone got all America-ed out!

Volunteer Status

Yesterday we went to the Ambassador's Residence (which is a very fancy place) Dakar and officially swore in as Peace Corps Volunteers!

Now I am going to hop in a car and go down to Kédougou. I'll have a few days to get everything I need to move in, so I will post some more photos soon.

PHOTOS: The Kédougou Regional House and Salémata (with some edits and captions!)

The American Club

Rachel and LaRocha in Dakar

I know that this photo could have been taken at any playground in the American suburbs, but it's of my friend Rachel and I at the Atlantic Club (formerly known as the American Club, I hear that the name was changed after 9/11; it's a private swim & tennis club) in Dakar. We went to the Univ. of Puget Sound together, and it was nice to catch up. There are actually four Loggers (that's the UPS mascot) currently in Senegal with the Peace Corps. Small world... 

Our Peace Corps IDs give us complimentary access to the Atlantic Club, so while we were in Dakar visiting the Peace Corps main office, getting our service visas, and all that we stopped in for lunch and hang out time.