Care Package Paradise

This weekend I'm going to write a post all about In-Service Training and work stuff and what I've been up to and all that, but right now I just want to talk about some of the wonderful things that have arrived in the mail recently.
First, from my mom, this pink mini-sewing-kit egg, which came in a box filled with protein bars and postcards and whatnot.

Miniature Things That I Own 

Then, from my brother, a pound of Peet's coffee (Major Dickason's Roast, my favorite) and cat postcard, which I loved and used to make a new nametag for my basket in the Regional House kitchen hut. 

AND THEN this arrived via Diplomatic Pouch:

(My brother is the best brother.)

Dried fruit, BBQ sauce, iPod cord, chocolate chip cookie mix, OREOS, Ritter Dark with Hazlenuts, Toblerone, Tom's of Maine toothpaste, Hawaiian Punch (Juicy Red Flavor), dental floss, facewash... OH, and A NETBOOK. And an external hard drive. It was a little overwhelming, like Christmas and Easter and my birthday all at once.

So, now I have a computer again (and a battery, which arrived separately) and I'm super thrilled about it (even though Windows is ridiculous) and will be doing my best to catch up on e-mail and Facebook and all that.

Five-Week Challenge and In-Service Training

Right now I'm in Thiès, starting my In-Service Training (IST) on technical aspects of the projects I'll be working on as a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV). It will involve sessions on how to make nutritious weaning foods, ideas on leading community meetings, gardening with natural pesticides, baseline survey information, and lots of acronyms. It's great to see all the people from my training stage again, and last night we got to go up to Dakar for a dinner at the Country Director's house.  


The dinner party was for everyone who completed the Five Week Challenge by not spending the night at a regional house for the first five weeks of service. It wasn't exactly a fancy dinner party, but after two months out at site we were pretty thrilled with the menu, which included American breakfast cereal and cold (not powdered) milk, scrambled eggs with moringa, corn chips and guacamole, chicken wings, crispy shrimp, watermelon, salad with vinaigrette, mashed potatoes, garlic potatoes, chicken quesadillas, ratatouille, and green beans. Also, yellow cake with chocolate frosting, brownies, and ice cream cones. And Cornonas. With lime wedges. 


It was kind of amazing.   

Ah Hab A Code.

It's a gray and rainy day here in Kédougou. It's so chilly that I put on a long-sleeved t-shirt, even. The wet season is starting and I have a little bit of a cold, so the other under-the-weather volunteers and I are hanging out in the library hut, sniffling and drinking lovely green tea and rooibos from my Tekoe stash.

(Actually, I am drinking out of an old mayonnaise jar.)

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!

My First 100 Days

A few weeks ago I was listening to a podcast about a lady who wrote a book about Obama's mom, and it occurred to me that I was about to complete my first one hundred days in Senegal. Here are a few of the my early in-country achievements:

My language has advanced to the point where I can say "Hello Mother! I am going to with lunch Taki's friend here. There. There. I am going to lunch. Is not here, me, lunching. Lunch? To eat. With Taki from Etiolo. Friend of Taki house here. Ok? Thank you! Thank you much much much! At afternoon ok!"

All of the little kids in my neighborhood have stopped calling me "Toubab!" and started calling me "Adama!"

I built a little barrier at the base of my hut's back door so that the rat who has been digging a hole in my wall can't scamper in while I'm trying to enjoy my morning coffee.

I have established myself as the Resident Facepainter at the Regional House.

Diabou, the ten-month-old who was initially extremely suspicious about me as a person, has finally warmed up to me and now calls me "Ada!" and waves and gives me brisk little handshakes.

I new have a faint Chacos foot-tan and approximately two dozen new freckles, most of them on my ankles. 

The Castle, Revisited

I feel like my camera has a hidden Funhouse Mirror setting; last time I posted a photo of the Salémata castle it looked like a mini-golf prop, but in pictures from a couple weeks ago it looms over me. You get the idea, though. 

The Day of the Neem Mural 

Volunteer Visit

This is the poster of Bob, the guy who had the castle built. I don't really know what else to say about it, except that in real life is much older and heavier and more leathery than he is in the poster photos. 

This is Bob's poster.

Language Seminar

I just got back into Kédougou from a language seminar in Bandafassi, a village about 60 km from where I live in Salémata. Houssey, my Peace Corps Pulaar teacher, came down from Thiès, the other people from my training group came in from their villages, and we all had three days of semi-formal language class. PCV Patrick hosted us, (and he really was a very, very gracious host) we went on a nice hike up to a Bedik village in the hills above Bandafassi and his host sister cooked some fantastic lunches.

Just to give you an idea of where all things are happening, Salémata is the "A" on this map, and Bandafassi is the "B," the city of Kédougou is "C," and Dakar (where all the political protests and everything were happening last week) is "D."

In case you were wondering, it takes about two days to get from Salémata to Dakar, so I'm a long ways off from any of the protests, and even when things get hectic in Dakar nothing really happens in the village, which is nice.

PHOTOS: Bandafassi Language Seminar