Actually, Arianna Huffington pays people to have a blog for her too, right?
But I digest.
I am a terrible blogger. From what I understand, you are supposed to post relatively often. There are a couple factors preventing me from doing so. First, I don’t have the best access to the internet. My community-based-training site, Mboro (which is very nice), has internet, but going to a cyber-café is both expensive and time-consuming. The other factor is that I am unbelievably lazy. That being said, I am writing now.
So we just got back from a two week stint at our training sites. It was a while for us, considering we’ve only been here for a month and a half. At the same time, our language skills are getting pretty good. I can communicate with my family, including my extended family that speaks Pulaar, rather than French or Wolof (which I am learning).
Ramadan is quickly approaching, we call it Korite, which is a little worrying. I do not plan to fast. A lot of volunteers do. It shows a lot of solidarity with your community. At the same time, I’m trying to learn a new language, and being hungry, dehydrated, and grumpy won’t make it easier. I decided, as many of my friends did (and my supervisors suggested), to give it a pass this year and try it again next year. I remember Muslim friends of mine in middle and high school fasting, and the idea of not eating and trying to learn something at the same time gives me a lot of respect for them. I have been to a couple religious family events, though. Two nights ago I went to a baptism, which was a lot of fun. A week before that, I went to another event. Both events can be classified as “Turs,” (can’t say that the spelling is event close to that but that’s how it sounds) which means a that the event was one held for our extended family here. It involved a lot of religious singing, which is very loud, but nonetheless entertaining. I do enjoy them. I was also able to wear my Senegalese clothing to the last one, which earns me some respect with my family, and means I can stay cool and comfortable during the event.
On another note, I do mean to post more pictures on both this blog and my flickr site than I actually post. My camera ran out of batteries, and I didn’t have any means to charge it at site. One of my fellow trainees in Mboro, Daba (her actual name is Courtney, and she is from San Francisco, but Daba is way easier and more fun to say), has a bunch of pictures that I will add as soon as I can, so at least you can all see something of what has been happening.
So, I plan to post more in the next few days. Our counterpart (Senegalese locals that we work with closely on all our projects) workshop starts soon. They will all be coming to the training center in Thies for a few days to talk about the way Peace Corps Senegal works, and to do some sessions on American culture and our way of thinking. I HIGHLY recommend that you all read “African Friends and Money Matters,” a book that we read a few chapters from for our cross-cultural training, as it really highlights the way that African and American mindsets differ when it comes to both commerce and gift-giving.
I’ll try to put up another post, especially those pictures, in the next few days. Let me know if you’re ever interested in Skype-ing, as I’m usually free around 2pm est.
“The first rule of sailing camp is DO NOT talk about sailing camp. The second rule of sailing camp is DO NOT talk about sailing camp.”
