when deprived of the usual forms of enjoyment and a sofa and a fireplace and a spot to snuggle my feet, i get my kicks where and when i can. so in place of television i have made a few of my own shows...
er: watching my uncle demba dig an inch long thorn out of my brother hamadel's foot while my two cousins hold him down. yea the tears were real.
man vs. wild: each week i take on a new area of the fuuta; the podor garage, the taredji market, the sept place from dakar to ndioum...i share my tips on surviving through each of these situations. sometimes questionable food is involved (meat in a bag anyone?) take that bear grylls!
cheers: yea, wherever you go...EVERYONE is going to know your name. and say it over and over and over again.
house: with a handy little health guide you too can attempt to diagnose your mystery rash, explosive diarrhea, or a sneeze that has gone on for months. pop your multivitamins like they were pain killers.
tour de france: i race charettes and trucks every sunday. have yet to win the yellow jersey.
lost: on a good day i feel like i survived a plane crash and am stranded on an island. on a really good day i'm one of the oceanic six and i DON'T go back.
friends: each night i get to watch my eight closest friends hang out but instead of a coffeeshop it's my bathroom floor. and instead of jennifer aniston it's toads and a lizard. please don't judge me. my ipod died and i need to save my sanity.
and let's not forget the hundreds of reality shows that my life seems to mirror everyday; survivor, amazing race, the real world, candid camera...
stay tuned for the emmy's. i guarantee you no nph, but you won't see anything like it!
cheers!
jaime
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
would you rather?
would you rather fly or have lightning speed? would you rather lose an arm or a leg? would you rather marry FDR or teddy roosevelt? would you rather get a job after college or spend two years living in a mud hut eating rice?
so the other night, this question came up to my family. it was night time and as usual i was sitting on a mat chilling with the bros when my sister binta starts screaming and runs out of the house. turns out there was a toad that hopped in after her and scared, she ran away. so now there is a toad in the house but no one will go near it. as it happens, everyone from my siblings to my host mother and aunts and uncles are afraid of toads and frogs. my tocaram asks me if i'm afraid-i say no, it's a toad. so i go into the house, pick up the toad and walk outside. i chase my brothers around for a bit until they start to wimper and then take the frog over to the livestock area and put it down. i come back over to the mat, wipe my hands clean and pronouce "there, it's over". the rest of the night all my host moms and aunt could tell me was how brave i was.
puzzled as to why exactly my family, and in fact a lot of pulaar villages that i know are afraid of toads i asked my family. everybody it seemed had their own reason, "their eyes are weird, don't look at them in the eye", "they only come out at night and make lots of noise", "they hop everywhere, they don't walk", "they pee on you". so all of that may be true, i said but they eat bugs like ants, termites and the stupid little ones that have no name but dive bomb into your eye at night because of your head lamp.
so, i asked would you rather? would you rather have a scorpion in your room or a toad. a resounding "scorpion" was the answer. this flabergasted me. "so let me get this straight, you'd rather have a scorpion-something that could give you excrutiating pain, that hides under things so you can't see them- than a garden toad?" "yea, banel you can kill a scorpion." apparently toads are immortal, something i have yet to tell the many toad corpses in and around my village. "okay, would you rather get stung by a scorpion or peed on by a toad?" "stung." "STUNG?!" "yea, toad pee is very bad." "you're crazy!" "no, banel. toads are very bad."
they may be bad, but my hut's been free of bugs for a month. plus, i'd get peed on everyday before i took a sting to the foot. that's my rather.
cheers and happy toad hunting!
jaime
so the other night, this question came up to my family. it was night time and as usual i was sitting on a mat chilling with the bros when my sister binta starts screaming and runs out of the house. turns out there was a toad that hopped in after her and scared, she ran away. so now there is a toad in the house but no one will go near it. as it happens, everyone from my siblings to my host mother and aunts and uncles are afraid of toads and frogs. my tocaram asks me if i'm afraid-i say no, it's a toad. so i go into the house, pick up the toad and walk outside. i chase my brothers around for a bit until they start to wimper and then take the frog over to the livestock area and put it down. i come back over to the mat, wipe my hands clean and pronouce "there, it's over". the rest of the night all my host moms and aunt could tell me was how brave i was.
puzzled as to why exactly my family, and in fact a lot of pulaar villages that i know are afraid of toads i asked my family. everybody it seemed had their own reason, "their eyes are weird, don't look at them in the eye", "they only come out at night and make lots of noise", "they hop everywhere, they don't walk", "they pee on you". so all of that may be true, i said but they eat bugs like ants, termites and the stupid little ones that have no name but dive bomb into your eye at night because of your head lamp.
so, i asked would you rather? would you rather have a scorpion in your room or a toad. a resounding "scorpion" was the answer. this flabergasted me. "so let me get this straight, you'd rather have a scorpion-something that could give you excrutiating pain, that hides under things so you can't see them- than a garden toad?" "yea, banel you can kill a scorpion." apparently toads are immortal, something i have yet to tell the many toad corpses in and around my village. "okay, would you rather get stung by a scorpion or peed on by a toad?" "stung." "STUNG?!" "yea, toad pee is very bad." "you're crazy!" "no, banel. toads are very bad."
they may be bad, but my hut's been free of bugs for a month. plus, i'd get peed on everyday before i took a sting to the foot. that's my rather.
cheers and happy toad hunting!
jaime
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
in the sa of sahel
quick geography lesson. northern senegal is part of the sahel of africa, a band of semi-desert that goes from the antlantic to indian ocean. the sahel is very end of the sahara desert to the north before you get to some pretty awesome jungles and plains. for the most part the sahel is dry and arid and hot, aka the "hell" part of sahel. when i came to senegal everyone kept talking about this rainy season where the sahel grows grass and becomes a savanna, aka the "sa" in sahel. last year during our rainy season i went nuts because it turned green. but by green i mean that it turned puberty green. just a little peach fuzz to show off to your friends. after spending what seemed like an eternity in nothing but sand just this little green was enough to make my day.
this year the rains came late. at first i figured that this meant that it wasn't going to rain as much and that we were going to have a drought. well, the opposite happened. they were late, but man they raged. as i've been told by many reliable pulaars this is the worst rainy season in ten years. it never just rained. it rained, sandstormed, and winded (is that a word? wind blew i what i meant) all at the same time almost every three days for about two months. lesson: be careful what you wish for. i wanted the rain to come and yea, it came.
the river where i used to play and swim and frolic is now a deadly torrent of brown sludge. the bank which used to be thirty feet to the water is now almost overflowing. though watching my bros do backflips into the water is pretty cool. the rice crops were heavily damaged and so the harvest this year is in peril and we're talking the only income many families make (reminicent of wisco's crop loss these past two years). my hut, my poor precious paradise has been beaten badly but is however, still standing (thank god!). although my roof is now sporting grass which is kinda cool. flooding is everywhere and because of standing water the mosquitoes are extra bad this year.
and the bugs. or should i say, the plague of bugs. ever wonder what it's like to have thirty grasshoppers, all about four inches long, dive at you? or look at the floor and suddenly realize it's moving with thousands of beetles? or to put up your bed at night only to be overcome with hundreds of moths, beetles and other critters who find your headlamp irristable? yea, it's sooo much fun. i just love bugs. and i really did until they came in ginormous number.
but it's not all bad.
because of the awesome generosity of family and friends my net distribution is being put to excellent use. my village is putting their nets up early and using them religiously (that's a big alhamdoulillah!) my friends walter, shermann and lilypad are back and they brought two new lizard friends, smithers and gernonimo. hehehe, no more bugs in my room! my tree nursery and trees that i've given out to the village in the past year are growing like crazy. and there is grass...wonderful grass. like full on grizzly adams beard grass. it's so great; the cows and goats are healthy and are able to eat and eat and eat, and the sahel is beautiful. it really is the "sa" in sahel. so right now, i'm enjoying the greenery while it lasts because i know the cold season is coming!!
on a different note. i would love to announce the news that i'm now a grandma. my goat, clementine, has delivered a healthy baby boy, citron. so i'm officially a herder with my own herd of goats. both dam and kid are healthy and will be returning from the island as soon as the river goes back down and is safe to cross.
have a beautiful and wonderful fall, i'll be enjoying the sahel's own metamorphosis.
cheers!
jaime
this year the rains came late. at first i figured that this meant that it wasn't going to rain as much and that we were going to have a drought. well, the opposite happened. they were late, but man they raged. as i've been told by many reliable pulaars this is the worst rainy season in ten years. it never just rained. it rained, sandstormed, and winded (is that a word? wind blew i what i meant) all at the same time almost every three days for about two months. lesson: be careful what you wish for. i wanted the rain to come and yea, it came.
the river where i used to play and swim and frolic is now a deadly torrent of brown sludge. the bank which used to be thirty feet to the water is now almost overflowing. though watching my bros do backflips into the water is pretty cool. the rice crops were heavily damaged and so the harvest this year is in peril and we're talking the only income many families make (reminicent of wisco's crop loss these past two years). my hut, my poor precious paradise has been beaten badly but is however, still standing (thank god!). although my roof is now sporting grass which is kinda cool. flooding is everywhere and because of standing water the mosquitoes are extra bad this year.
and the bugs. or should i say, the plague of bugs. ever wonder what it's like to have thirty grasshoppers, all about four inches long, dive at you? or look at the floor and suddenly realize it's moving with thousands of beetles? or to put up your bed at night only to be overcome with hundreds of moths, beetles and other critters who find your headlamp irristable? yea, it's sooo much fun. i just love bugs. and i really did until they came in ginormous number.
but it's not all bad.
because of the awesome generosity of family and friends my net distribution is being put to excellent use. my village is putting their nets up early and using them religiously (that's a big alhamdoulillah!) my friends walter, shermann and lilypad are back and they brought two new lizard friends, smithers and gernonimo. hehehe, no more bugs in my room! my tree nursery and trees that i've given out to the village in the past year are growing like crazy. and there is grass...wonderful grass. like full on grizzly adams beard grass. it's so great; the cows and goats are healthy and are able to eat and eat and eat, and the sahel is beautiful. it really is the "sa" in sahel. so right now, i'm enjoying the greenery while it lasts because i know the cold season is coming!!
on a different note. i would love to announce the news that i'm now a grandma. my goat, clementine, has delivered a healthy baby boy, citron. so i'm officially a herder with my own herd of goats. both dam and kid are healthy and will be returning from the island as soon as the river goes back down and is safe to cross.
have a beautiful and wonderful fall, i'll be enjoying the sahel's own metamorphosis.
cheers!
jaime
Thursday, August 20, 2009
access camp and mosquito nets
these past two weeks have been two of the busiest of my service and two of the most rewarding. so to sum up...
access is a program through the us embassy that teaches english to middle school and high school kids. there are a few programs in dakar, one in thies, and one in zuinginchor. during the summer the embassy puts on a week long camp for each class the peace corps volunteers run along with the access teachers. me and three other volunteers helped out at the thies camp.
the whole week long we did a number of activities to help kids learn english in a fun way. we taught a number of different songs (head shoulders knees and toes, the hokey pokey, if you're happy and you know it), and new english lessons (who am i, songs lyrics, american slang). the kids had only been learning english for a year or so so their level of english was low so at first they were a little shy but after a day or two they really got into the camp and had a lot of fun. it was a great week; it was so much fun teaching kids new games, see them having fun, watch the girls have a confidence those in my village don't have, and have fun myself doing games and the like. i'm really glad i was able to do the camp and i think the program itself is great. it teaches kids english (and very well too, the kids who've been in the program are able to speak much much better than those who simply take english in school). and it is also a way to further the teacher's education as well (many of the teachers get to attend english programs in the states which also helps them get better jobs later in their life).
after the camp, i raced back up north for my village's mosquito net distribution. me and lauren hosted nine volunteers from england who helped raise the other half of the nets. (if you remember, i was raising funds for nets that were two dollars. the nets were actually five (with shipping costs) and a another organization, price waterhouse coopers, raised the shipping costs.) the volunteers came to senegal to help out with the distribution and to see where their nets are actually going. they stayed for four days and three of them were able to stay in diambo with me. they helped out at my distribution and then three others that lauren organized.
the distributions went awesome. we gave out almost one thousand nets to four villages completely covering those villages (aka every one will be able to sleep under a net) the volunteers really enjoyed visiting the different villages and got to experience many aspects of pulaar culture. i really enjoyed having them visit. the kids of course loved them, they got to see a scorpion in my room, dance, eat the local delicacy (rice rice rice) and live like a volunteer. i hope they had a great time and enjoyed being in senegal and my village as much as i enjoyed hosting them.
it's been a busy couple of weeks but like i said earlier, it's been extremely fulfilling. i feel like i've been able to do a few very concrete things and see the effects right away. so much of what i do is hard to actually see the results of so it's difficult to think i'm doing anything at all. it makes me excited to think of what else i can do for the next eight months!
cheers
jaime
access is a program through the us embassy that teaches english to middle school and high school kids. there are a few programs in dakar, one in thies, and one in zuinginchor. during the summer the embassy puts on a week long camp for each class the peace corps volunteers run along with the access teachers. me and three other volunteers helped out at the thies camp.
the whole week long we did a number of activities to help kids learn english in a fun way. we taught a number of different songs (head shoulders knees and toes, the hokey pokey, if you're happy and you know it), and new english lessons (who am i, songs lyrics, american slang). the kids had only been learning english for a year or so so their level of english was low so at first they were a little shy but after a day or two they really got into the camp and had a lot of fun. it was a great week; it was so much fun teaching kids new games, see them having fun, watch the girls have a confidence those in my village don't have, and have fun myself doing games and the like. i'm really glad i was able to do the camp and i think the program itself is great. it teaches kids english (and very well too, the kids who've been in the program are able to speak much much better than those who simply take english in school). and it is also a way to further the teacher's education as well (many of the teachers get to attend english programs in the states which also helps them get better jobs later in their life).
after the camp, i raced back up north for my village's mosquito net distribution. me and lauren hosted nine volunteers from england who helped raise the other half of the nets. (if you remember, i was raising funds for nets that were two dollars. the nets were actually five (with shipping costs) and a another organization, price waterhouse coopers, raised the shipping costs.) the volunteers came to senegal to help out with the distribution and to see where their nets are actually going. they stayed for four days and three of them were able to stay in diambo with me. they helped out at my distribution and then three others that lauren organized.
the distributions went awesome. we gave out almost one thousand nets to four villages completely covering those villages (aka every one will be able to sleep under a net) the volunteers really enjoyed visiting the different villages and got to experience many aspects of pulaar culture. i really enjoyed having them visit. the kids of course loved them, they got to see a scorpion in my room, dance, eat the local delicacy (rice rice rice) and live like a volunteer. i hope they had a great time and enjoyed being in senegal and my village as much as i enjoyed hosting them.
it's been a busy couple of weeks but like i said earlier, it's been extremely fulfilling. i feel like i've been able to do a few very concrete things and see the effects right away. so much of what i do is hard to actually see the results of so it's difficult to think i'm doing anything at all. it makes me excited to think of what else i can do for the next eight months!
cheers
jaime
Friday, August 7, 2009
a day away in senegal
pcvs like to joke when we go to dakar that we're actually leaving senegal and going to a whole new coutnry. in many ways this is true; dakar is the biggest city in west africa and has in some shape or form everything you miss about home. (except snow, cheddar cheese, spotted cow, family and friends...) but they do have a ton of restaurants (indian, chinese, brazilian, lebanese, vietnamese, etc etc etc) plus n'ice cream, a little slice of heaven offering over 30 flavors of ice cream everyday. so when pcvs come to dakar it takes us a little while to get used to things. (it would kind be like going from chugwater, wyoming to new york for the first time. a lot to take in for both body and mind.) and it's always weird because we tend to blend in better here. there is a huge expat community both american and other western countries, plus the tourists (though trust me, we AREN't tourists in dakar). half the time i don't think the majority of us know what to do with ourselves.
such as been the case for the last week or so i've been here. i had my mid-service doctor's exam (making sure everything is okay, and it is) this past week and so have been hanging out while a few friends cos (go home). we've done the usual; n'ice cream (obama cookies, chocolate pear, tiramisu, pistacio, yummmm....), happy hour, and food glorious food. but that's all good if you're here for a few days (for various reasons, one being that your gi system just got used to eating rice everyday, another, your bank account dwindles) if you're here any longer things start to get a little boring.
so a few friends and i decided to play 'tourist'. (like i said, we're not tourists. once people know we speak the local languages and refuse to speak in french we get treated as something better than a tourist (not getting ripped off big time) but not quite a local (paying the real price)). we went to the grocery store (yes, a grocery store with aisles and a frozen food section.) and bought goat cheese, brie cheese, bread, olives, and red wine (very pricey, but today we are tourists!) then we went to ngor island (where the rich have their second house) and ate our delicious food on the beach. (did i mention that it was alsmost two pounds of cheese?) there, looking out at the ocean and the beach we were struck with how different dakar really is from the village.
teenagers on summer vacation were on the beach playing without adult supervision and not a care in the world. i don't remember the last time my brothers, sisters and cousins got more than an hour or two off from working, chores, or helping in the fields. being able to go to the beach isn't free. it costs 500cfa per person (little over a buck) to get there, then you have to pay for an umbrella and spot. with 500cfa in the village the women buy everything they need for lunch and dinner that day (vegetables, oil, spices etc.) and that is a huge expense. people were friendly and left us alone. we didn't get hassled on the beach like we would if we went to a neighboring village.
as we sat there, we couldn't help admiring the lives the people around us had. after a while though, i began to think about my family back in diambo. how lucky i am to be able to come to dakar when i want to. i've seen so much more of senegal than anyone in my village and have lived in way more comfort. how different life is back in the village where a trip to the weekly market is the big occasion. the disparity between dakar and the rest of senegal is so big. the more dakar seems to build (a new mall in 2010 for example) the more it seems that the villages get left behind. it's hard to take it in (is it just the way development goes? where is the money coming from? who is getting the money? why does over half the population still not have electricity and running water? why does the president need yet another house?)you get torn.
on the one hand i love dakar and everything it gives pcvs from food to company to a break from the stresses of the village and being in another country. but after looking out into the ocean i began to picture my river; the kids playing in it, the women doing their laundry, boats crossing and going to the fields, my dad bringing his horse down to water, maybe nessie in the background, and have realized that diambo and "the village" is senegal for me and that dakar really is a different country. one that i'm glad to visit from time to time but always happier to leave and head back up north.
cheers!
jaime
such as been the case for the last week or so i've been here. i had my mid-service doctor's exam (making sure everything is okay, and it is) this past week and so have been hanging out while a few friends cos (go home). we've done the usual; n'ice cream (obama cookies, chocolate pear, tiramisu, pistacio, yummmm....), happy hour, and food glorious food. but that's all good if you're here for a few days (for various reasons, one being that your gi system just got used to eating rice everyday, another, your bank account dwindles) if you're here any longer things start to get a little boring.
so a few friends and i decided to play 'tourist'. (like i said, we're not tourists. once people know we speak the local languages and refuse to speak in french we get treated as something better than a tourist (not getting ripped off big time) but not quite a local (paying the real price)). we went to the grocery store (yes, a grocery store with aisles and a frozen food section.) and bought goat cheese, brie cheese, bread, olives, and red wine (very pricey, but today we are tourists!) then we went to ngor island (where the rich have their second house) and ate our delicious food on the beach. (did i mention that it was alsmost two pounds of cheese?) there, looking out at the ocean and the beach we were struck with how different dakar really is from the village.
teenagers on summer vacation were on the beach playing without adult supervision and not a care in the world. i don't remember the last time my brothers, sisters and cousins got more than an hour or two off from working, chores, or helping in the fields. being able to go to the beach isn't free. it costs 500cfa per person (little over a buck) to get there, then you have to pay for an umbrella and spot. with 500cfa in the village the women buy everything they need for lunch and dinner that day (vegetables, oil, spices etc.) and that is a huge expense. people were friendly and left us alone. we didn't get hassled on the beach like we would if we went to a neighboring village.
as we sat there, we couldn't help admiring the lives the people around us had. after a while though, i began to think about my family back in diambo. how lucky i am to be able to come to dakar when i want to. i've seen so much more of senegal than anyone in my village and have lived in way more comfort. how different life is back in the village where a trip to the weekly market is the big occasion. the disparity between dakar and the rest of senegal is so big. the more dakar seems to build (a new mall in 2010 for example) the more it seems that the villages get left behind. it's hard to take it in (is it just the way development goes? where is the money coming from? who is getting the money? why does over half the population still not have electricity and running water? why does the president need yet another house?)you get torn.
on the one hand i love dakar and everything it gives pcvs from food to company to a break from the stresses of the village and being in another country. but after looking out into the ocean i began to picture my river; the kids playing in it, the women doing their laundry, boats crossing and going to the fields, my dad bringing his horse down to water, maybe nessie in the background, and have realized that diambo and "the village" is senegal for me and that dakar really is a different country. one that i'm glad to visit from time to time but always happier to leave and head back up north.
cheers!
jaime
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