ladies and gentlemen...my goat!

a round of applause please, for the long and tedious journey of livestock purchasing in senegal has come to an end. that's right...the goat is bought, paid for, home safe and sound. i went to the weekly market this past sunday with my host father who decided that it was his tabaski good deed to help me out. so off we went, and once we got to the market he told me to go do my thing that he would come find me. so i bought my peanuts, beans, and bananas for the fam and myself some fatayas for breakfast (fried bread with onion sauce. sooo tasty. the lady also gives me a little one for free.) once i finished eating, there he was waiting for me. "okay, so there is a good goat. sixteen mille (about 35 bucks). let's go look and if you want, you buy it". done and done. so we go over to where all the herders are with their goats and sheep for sale, he points out a pretty little number and i hand a herder named ba sixteen mille. goat. check.

so my host father brings my goat home (apparently i own the goat but i don't have to do anything to actually care for the goat...that's what family is for...) once home my host father and uncle explain that their herd of goats is on the island including a nice big billy goat to you know...so they assure me that the next day they will take her to the island to go hang out with the other goats and in no time at all i'll have two goats. but first, i had to 'mark' my goat. thinking i could just whip-up a nifty necklace for it, but nope. mark means brand. so i got to come up with my own brand and take a hot iron to my goat. not exactly what i wanted to do my first day with my goat but hey...when in africa.

i'm pretty stoked about the goat. to be quite honest i didn't think i would actually get my goat at all...after attempt after attempt and attempt...discouragement was settling in. but things work out. i even found out that the little sheep i tried to take care of way back when is still alive and growing. during my second month in the village one of our family's sheep had a baby and then died. being the animal lover that i am i took the little lamb under my wing and fed it some milk as an attempt to keep it alive. however, one weekend i went away from the village and came back...the sheep was gone. my family told me that it went over to the island. i took that for the standard "it's gone to the sheep farm in the sky" routine. a little hurt, but nonetheless it happens all the time here. well, apparently i need to take things a little more literally. they actually meant they took it to the island (to go live with the other sheep. literally).

sometimes i think all i'm good for in the village is to humor everyone with how dumb and naive i can be.

but at least i got my goat.

cheers!
jaime

brrrr it's cold out here!

so the cold season has finally hit the fouta. it actually happened rather quickly, pretty much overnight (literally one night i was simly wearing a tshirt and skirt and the next i was huddled with all of my younger brothers in a sweatshirt and pants. i put a thermometer outside just out of curiosity to see how cold it really has been. it's gotten just over 90 degrees here at about one oclock and when i wake up in the morning it is about 65. the sad part, the part that makes me hang my wisconsin winter head in shame is that it IS cold. i go to bed in long sleeves and pants and burrow under my quilt...thank god i brought it with me! in the morning i heat up my water before taking a bucket bath. my littlest brother and nephews all cuddle with me at night for warmth...i never thought i would say it but that africa is so cold right now. even during the day it's comfortable...90 and breezy is the perfect day here. i could quite possibly die of hypothermia when i come back to wisco in february.

no snow shoveling is nice though especially from last winter...

we just celebrated tabaski here which is the most important holiday here. it celebrates abraham's willingness to sacrific issac for his love of god. (y'all know the story)...anyways each family kills a male sheep as a sign of rememberence and then the meat is cooked and shared among everyone. i was excited for tabaski for a number of reasons; after experiencing korite i was better prepared for what was going on in the village, i got a new outfit that was SO beautiful (i was even told so by my teenage sisters and they are pretty critical about my appearance), i bought all the kids candy to eat, and the village becomes so lively and happy. we ate meat all day long with potatoes and macaroni, drank tea, and visited each other. a fun day or i should say days since it goes on for awhile. i hennaed myself which impressed all the women, "banel you are so baleejo (senegalese)" and lauren,a volunteer who lives in podor. all the men got dressed up in their nicest boubous and it was really beautiful to watch all the men line up behind my cousin who is the imam to pray. all their clothes were these vibrant hues of purple; green, blue, and red they looked like a rainbow. and the women got dressed to the nines as well. that was my favorite part for me- watching the women get to dress up. they work so hard day after day after day that they take full advantage of the oppurtunity to pamper themselves. i loved the different styles of clothes they wore and the different braids they did, they were all so happy they even would break out dancing just to do it.

now i'm sure each village is a little bit different in how they celebrate tabaski but i loved the way my village came together. everyone in my village is related some way or another and so when it was time to eat everyone brought their bowls of food together and then split off into different groups which were; kids under 10, boys 10 to 15, girls 10 to 15, teenagers, married couples (20 to 40), older married women, really old women, and older men. where exactly did i fit in? i was too old to eat with the teenagers, not married to sit with the married couples...old women it was. until i got yelled at by my older sister to come sit with the married couples because i was one of them. (i forgot about my little "husband") so i spent most of the time there. it was fun going from group to group though to see everyone's outfits, gossip, chatter, games. i went to bed exhausted but full and happy.

with any luck the next few months will go by quickly. i have a number of things planned starting with a mosquito net dipping in my village next week. i'm a little nervous about it because the chemical is pretty nasty and i'm not the most coordinated of people (broken nose anyone?) but i've done a dipping before and i think that if i can keep people away from the dip area it will go well. it's malaria season right now and i feel like this is the bast time to do it. plus, the mosquitoes here are relentless and tricky little punks...they find there way everywhere and bite through everything. it's time to fight back and i will show no mercy.

on that peaceful note...merry christmas and happy holidays everyone!!

peace,
jaime

what's in a bucket?

i'd like to dedicate this post to the most useful object in country... my bucket.

seriously. living with as few of commodities as possible you start to get creative with what you can use something for. for example...

a bucket by all appearances just seems to be a plastic container with a lid into which you can put things. however... fill it with tasty treats from back home and my bucket becomes my own pantry. if i fill it with water and put a cup in it it becomes my very own bathtub/shower complete with shower head (the cup). if i go back to the well and fill it up with water again...presto! a washing machine powered by human (my) hands! if you sit on a bucket you got a chair. if you stack two buckets on top of each other and then sit on my bed you have a table. if you stand on your bucket you have a ladder. *note, it is better to turn the bucket upside down before standing on it as the lid tends to collapse. my bucket is my cutting board, my sink, my dresser top, my defense against rowdy kids, my place to hide from big scorpions. to me, my bucket is everything. who needs all those extra things when you got a bucket? i guess what i'm saying is that you learn to appreciate the things you have a whole lot more when you use a piece of plastic for every little thing you do.

thanksgiving went amazingly awesome. we (our regional house hosted) had approximately 47 people from all over senegal including one volunteer from mauritania, and a couple from england who wanted to celebrate with us. everyone arrived wednesday and had stew for supper. thursday the men of the region killed the turkeys (yep, we found turkeys in this country) and grilled them as well as five chickens. they even successfully deep fried a few. meanwhile me and a few other volunteers cranked out dinner consisting of mashed potatoes, stuffing, casseroles galore, fruit salad, deviled eggs, cornbread, and ten different pies. enough to literally feed an army. plus we were able to watch the dark knight and part of the new bond movie before the power went out on a "big screen" outside (a sheet with a projector). fun was had all around and it was indeed a great thanksgiving. plus i got to drink out of a boot. need i say more? (thanks joeber!)

the goat update: i want to keep as much money as i can in the village so i have been dead set on buying my goat in the village. so the other week i went around to a few herders i know and discussed my desire to purchase a goat. lucky me, i got a hit with one of my close friend's family. i told them i would come back on sunday to buy the goat. they said, "great, see you sunday, inshallah..." (note to blog followers on a previous entry about that word. i should have gotten the hint...) so i go back home tell my dad and uncles all about the goat i am going to buy. they look at me and shake their heads and say, "go buy a goat at the market sunday". i explain that i want to buy it in the village so that a family i know will get the money. they smile, look at me and drop the subject. sunday rolls around and i head over to go buy the goat (after coming from the market with my weekly purchases). i greet the family and my friend realizes that i've come for the goat. she looks at me and says, "i forgot you were coming...we took the goat to the market to get sold." inshallah... so i do the walk of shame back home and there is my dad and uncle with a knowing smile on their faces. "next time you go to the market and buy it" they tell me. no duh, i want to tell them but i don't think it translates. besides, how am i going to get a goat back to my village on my bike?

inshallah...

where does the time go?

so i realize that a lot of time has passed since the last post. although it hardly seems like any at all...time moves surprisingly fast despite the fact that you only have about five hours a day to actually do any work within the community. what i mean is, by the time i get up in the morning and clean, pull water, etc it is nearly 9 in the morning...and there is only about two/three hours before it is super hot outside and then there is lunch. then after lunch there is the "foftere" or rest which lasts until 4 or 5 giving me another two or three hours before dark. these are the only times people are willing to go to meetings/causeries/or do any work. so that said there is a lot of time where i don't have much to do and that has been a much bigger challenge for me- filling time.

there are a few health posts within the area i live in; one in taredji (6k south), one in mbantou (3k southeast), one in diambo soubalou (1k south and where emily lives), one in ndiawara (2k north), and one in podor (16k north). emily and i are starting to paint at each post-specifically growth charts and health murals and colleen, another volunteer who lives near us (and puts my art skills to shame) has started a huge project in podor which she has graciously allowed me to help out with. the health center there just has some major expansion and is more like a mini-hospital than clinic. so when there isn't much to do in the village we've been painting at these places.

i've also successfully grew a few (fifteen out of forty seven seeds) been trees for the village and next week i will be handing them out to a few guys who will plant them so they can grow (inshallah-note previous post)...these trees are like the super tree here. they can grow anywhere and grow fast, their beans and leaves are edible (the leaves used in my favorite dish here), the roots are natural water filters...they are great. i really really really want to be able to do a few gardens of them and spread the bean tree love throughout the village.

there's also vaccinations days at the clinics, causeries that we are sometimes able to do, routine house calls, and in between at all that we got the potato study i'm helping out with which is very interesting and i'm glad to be a part of it. it will be exciting to see how each distribution and weighing goes. i could even blog about in the project in detail...

for another day perhaps.

so yea, it's been a busy time. i've even turned a year older in the midst of it. i even got birthday haako and it was goooood. best i've had in country yet. so october just flew on by and i can't believe that november is nearly half over too...with thanksgiving right around the corner-yikes!

well, that's all for the quick update. now that we got internet at the regional house i hope to be able to post more frequently and share a few of the more exciting stories.

cheers!
jaime

a few of my favorite things...

since coming to senegal nearly seven months ago i've come to appreciate a few things...

village kids. specifically MY village kids, not nessessarily all village kids. but i am so glad that i have the kids i do in my village. for the most part they are very well behaved (different standard of what a "well-behaved" kid is but still...) i am able to let the kids in my room and they know they aren't allowed to touch or pick up or play with anything of mine before asking (and they DO ask!) whenever i do any sort of chore they come help. i have my regular water helpers who help me pull water from the well and bringit back to my hut. they love playing any sort of games and are just so happy to be around me. this bugged me at first--do you have to constantly be touching me!--but i've come to really like that. the kids don't hide their emotions, you can tell when they are so happy because they literally jump for joy as well as when they are upset because they scream and wail. (at first i was alarmed at this and bothered by it until i noticed the different wailings; i'm really hurt vs. i want you to look at me because i didn't get my way. after a while even i ignore the latter). the other day for korite (more on that later) i went to go greet my village and the herder village. a bunch of my village kids decided to come with me and took me by the hands and led me around. we created a little mini-parade much to the delight of the adults. and although a lot of my frustration comes from the kids, they really are such a god-send to have. a few have started giving me random hugs throughout the day which always lift my spirits and they are up for whatever game i want to teach them. they have even started calling me "banel toubak amen" which is "OUR banel foreigner"

senegalese faith. this is different from the muslim religion that the majority practice here and in fact exclusively practice in the futa just to get that out there. there are three major sayings that some up their outlook on life which are actually arabic (because they are muslim phrases). forgive me of my spelling (never was good at it)...the first one is "alhamdililah" or "thanks be to god". you see this everywhere in senegal from the vehicles to buildings. one of the public transports is even referred to as "alhams" by pcvs because it is written everyone on these big passenger vans. i don't even know their real name. one can say alhamdililah after anythig and they do. when you greet someone the conversation probably goes something like this, "how are you" "i am fine thanks be to god" "thanks be to god" "how is your health" "peace only, and yours" "peace only, alhamdiliah" "alhamdililah"...and so on...now depending on how you say it the phrase can mean several things; thanks be to god!!, thanks be to god i am finally out of that vehicle, thanks be to god now go away, thanks be to god THAT'S over, etc. the second phrase is "inshallah" aka "god willing". you say this whenever you make plans for something or refer to something in the future so..."inshallah"..."god willing i will see you tomorrow, god willing i'll make it back home alive, god willing it will not rain tonight because it is sooo hot in my room, god willing i will never have to do that again... the final phrase, "so allah jebbii" is a mix of pulaar and arabic meaning "if god wills it". is it going to rain tonight? so allah jebbii...are we going to have rice for dinner? so allah jebbii...will you do well on your test today? so allah jebbii...you get the idea. the other night manne my aunt here asked why i don't eat with my hands. i told her that i make too big a mess and that i prefer a spoon (which is true). she said, tomorrow night you must try your hands. and my mother replied, yes yes, so allah jebbii. the next night rolls around and we sit donw to eat and my sister hands me my spoon (knowing full well that i don't want to eat with my hands) and it is a while before my aunt realizes that i'm not eating with my hands. (i should clarify HAND. right hand only). she asks me why i wasn't and without missing a beat i reply, allah jebbani "god didn't will it" to which everyone cracked up. with these three phrases even if you don't know pulaar well -like me- you can still crack jokes and let people know how you are feeling. that's what i like about these phrases. depending on how you're feeling they can mean so many different things...it's a great way to bond with people when you both after a six hour car ride arrive at your destination and utter a "alhamdiliah!!"

my roommates. yep, although we are supposed to live along i have a few squatters in my hut. they've been gradually moving into my hut so i didn't notice them at first but now they've made their prescence known and although they didn't ask, i'm more than happy they call my hut home. i'm referring to shermann, lilypad, and walter my three toads. at first it was just shermann and he kept pretty much to himself. then lilypad moved in and for some reason like to hide in my clothes. (which has sometimes scared the____ out of me. walter is the newest addition and i must admit the most friendly and outgoing of the three. i greet them each morning as i sweep out my room and find out where they are hiding. they each seem to have their own space which is kinda cool so i can tell them apart. we have breakfast together and then i let them have a nap while i go do my thing. (as i discovered the other night they are noturnal and don't do much during the day. i was sleeping outside and it started raining so i had to move inside and couldn't sleep because they were crawling over everything!) but i love having them in my room. my ant problem is gone and there are less annoying beetles around. as long as they keep eating they can stay. it's also a riot because for some reason my village is afraid of them. my brother nearly started crying when i chased him with one and my mom won't come into my hut anymore. i don't understand why toads are so scary to them...my brothers chased a small mamba around the other day trying to kill it, yet they run like hell away from a toad. hmm.

market day. i get to ride into taredji, buy some frozen milk, chat with the vendors, buy beans and bananas...it always puts me in a good mood. plus i love it when i come home and surprise the kids with a treat (usually the bananas).

the landscape. it is soooo different from wisconsin. at first i hated it-it is brown and dry and hardly anything grows- but after a while i have been able to find the beauty in it. everything is in a delicate balance here and when it rains everything comes to life. because it is such a harsh place the things that do live are the toughest of the tough...plus the birds are so cool to look at (yep, birdwatch even here)

star gazing. and you thought the high school roof was the best place to watch the night sky (or get arrested for tresspassing if you're too loud about it)...it's amazing how many stars you can see here...it even beats the wyoming sky of duck creek ranch! i literally sit at dusk and just watch the sky. the sunsets are so beautiful and then night emerges...a great way to wind down the usually stressful day.

podor. when i just need to get away for the day, drink a cold soda (anything cold!), eat a bean sandwich (soooo tasty) and watch a movie trailer i just go to the side of the road wait for and unspecified amount of time, hop on whatever car pulls over and in twenty minutes i there. i love this town. the market is always bustling, the people are friendly, the post man always has a present for me (it's imported from the states) and the cyber guys are the nicest people in country. businesses here usually close for the hot hours of the day and so when we come they let us stay at the cyber, turn on the ac, and watch tv or do whatever we want while they lock up. it's really really really nice of them and i don't know what i would do if i didn't get to do this every week or so.

okra. it can grow in nearly every soil condition which is important here because you can't grow much out of sand...plus it's loaded with vitmins and minerals and available all year round and it's cheap. and it's surprisingly tasty.

ramadan. i won't elaborate as i've taked enough about it, but i really enjoyed it and very glad i got to experience it. we just had korite which marks the end of it. my village killed a cow so we ate meat all day, drank atayaa, and vistited everyone. i got my feet hennaed, my hair braided, and an outfit made for the occasion which the village loved and are still complimenting me on. it was more low key than i thought it would be but fun to see everyone dressed up and visiting with each other.

ok, there's so much i want to talk about but i've been pretty long winded already...enough for this post. i'm off to go hit up the post office then get a cold beverage for the fam.

peace out y'all!!

some good-home cookin'

food in senegal. many of you have asked what kind of food i eat here and if it's any good. that's what i'm going to talk about today; food habits in senegal and those as a pcv.

the senegalese diet is based on three major starches; rice (by far the most common), millet and corn. these are used in every meal of every day some way or another. a typical breakfast is bread and cafe touba (nescafe and eight+ cubes of sugar). it's pretty sugary but sugar and sweet tasting things are very very popular here. for lunch it's marro e liddi (rice and fish). this is cooked in a number of different sauces usually tomato based with onion or some form of bouillion. veggies such as eggplant, potato, cabbage, or okra as well as bissap leaves are cooked and put in the bowl as well. occasionally there will also be beans. for supper we typically have lacirii (couscous made from millet or rice) with sauce, beans, or fish. my favorite dish in senegal is lacirii and haako which is couscous and a leaf/fish/spinach sauce. the closest i can describe it would be couscous with fish, spinach and pinenuts made into a sauce. it's really really really good and i love it when we eat it which isn't very often because it is a pricier dish to make. some nights we have goci which is rice with sugar and water and occasionally milk. my family usually makes it with milk which makes it taste better. they also make this with corn. goci is not my favorite and we eat it a lot.

those are typically my meals everyday. compared to most meals in the states it's really repetitive and yea, it gets really old eating the same thing everyday. however, my family has some amazing cooks and because we share three different bowls at lunch and dinner we get plenty of variety. my only complaint is that my family tries to stuff me full of food each meal. (it's considered a sign of good hospitality if a guest is well fed and gains weight during their stay). since there is a food crisis going on and many of my siblings are malnourished you can see why i have a slight problem with it.

traditionally when you eat men eat with men and women and children eat together. i eat with the women. we all gather around the bowl and sit down. it's common practice to eat with your hands (only your right hand-left hand is used for the bathroom). for the life of me i cannot get this down without making a big mess and getting a lot of food on the floor so i eat with a spoon as well as other guests or highly regarded people. you eat what is in front of you and are able to to take pieces of what you want from the middle communal section. never reach across and take from someone else's food and never take a whole item (like a carrot or fish). when we eat we eat one bowl first and then proceed through the rest. usually it's about 8 people eating around one bowl.

for ceremonies or special events we may have chicken or meat (usually sheep, rarely cow, never prime rib). sometimes this is eaten with fries, onion sauce and bread, other times rice and veggies. meat is very very expensive here so it is a big deal to be able to eat meat. my family had a sheep die suddenly and we cut up the meat and distributed it to every single house in my village. no one got a lot of meat but being able to share the little that we had is a sign of respect and love.

many pcvs cook for themselves for a number of reasons: they miss american food, they don't get enough vitamins and minerals, they like controlling when and what they eat. i eat breakfast in my hut alone but eat lunch and dinner with my family. i really enjoy it because i eat very well compared to many other volunteers and it's also a great time to spend with the family. (this is something i love to do in america as well-ginny's making scalloped potatoes and ham at gramps? be right over). i love the sense of family i get when eating with everyone. it's comforting and having lunch always helps relieve some stress that i gathered during the day.

i do enjoy cooking here in country though and i get to do plenty of it. i tried making a few "american" things for the family which they didn't really like which means i do all of my cooking at the regional house. i'm close enough that i'm able to go for a weekend and get a fix of american food whenever i need to, luckily. and believe me i do. pizza, spaghetti, stew, breadsticks, pasta, egg salad, i could go on and on. and i never thought i'd say this but mac n cheese is a god-send. (after i vowed never to eat it again thanks to a little brother and a childhood filled with mac n cheese. love ya joeber). it's been fun figuring out what i can make with the few ingredients we have here (most veggies are out of season and there isn't much variety) and there has been a few mistakes, but i think i'm a much much much better cook in senegal than the states. at least i haven't melted any plated here. yet.

well, all this talk of food has got me hungry and it's about five hours till break of fast. enough for now. love to you all!

cheers!
jaime

rama-on!

like i said in the previous blog, ramadan is going on right now where muslims the world over abstain from food, drink, tobacco, alcohol and sex for 30 days. i've spent the past week fasting with the family and i've come to a number of surprising conclusions. the first being that not eating between the hours of five(morning) and seven (night) is relatively easy after two days. granted those first two days were a little brutal. the culver's butter burger dream i had one night probably didn't help at all either. i get up around 5 and make myself some breakfast/startfast to be technical which is usually oatmeal, pb, dried fruit or bread and nutella (thanks ruff!) then i do my darndest to chug two liters of water. i can usually polish them off in about 20 minutes...but it's hard. you try it. you'll be peeing like crazy. after that i go to bed for another two hours and get up for good. the day consists of me visiting other compounds, laying around with everyone and trying to fill my time before break of fast.

another thing i find quite enjoyable about ramadan-it's completely normal to fall asleep at someone's house. they'll even consider it a sign you're comfortable and take pride in it if you are a toubab like me. i've successfully fallen asleep at four different compounds one day. i'm hoping to get the whole village done by the end.

kids never get tired.

although by the end of the day they are all really really annoying and i want to scream somedays, my family's kids have been extremely entertaining. we draw and color, they play soccer, the boys see what they can catch...it goes on. i can tell they are often bored and looking for something to do so i do my best to keep them entertained...which somehow turns it around so that i am entertained. i think my favorite night was the bubble night. half were scared and ran away from them, others ran around popping them and the rest just stood there amazed that i could make bubbles out of soap and a plastic ring. i wasn't the only one entertained; my family got a kick out of it as well and gave us all a half hour we weren't watching the clock.

did i mention the street/village cred i'm getting? not to be selfish (ok maybe a little) the village thinks it's awesome that i'm fasting with them. they can't believe i was willing to not eat just because they were fasting. some said i was crazy, others laughed at me, but most think it's pretty cool. as i told my cousin moussa the imam, "you guys are all fasting and i'm not going to eat in front of you so i'm fasting too". he shook his head as if saying "stupid, you have no idea what you're doing" but he told me that i'm 'senegalese' for doing it. i'll take the compliment.

my favorite thing about ramadan is breaking fast. by seven my whole family is sitting around together, my sister's have started to prepare dinner, and everyone is holding a cup of coffee and a piece of bread. suddenly the call to break fast is heard from the mosque and everyone dives in. i usually do a little cheer and booty shake to celebrate. after coffee, we drink juice and cooled water as well as have peanuts. then we eat dinner and hang out until i go to bed. i know this doesn't sound exciting-at least nothing to give up eating all day for-but as soon as we break fast an invisible wave of happiness falls over the village and it's a totally new place. everyone is calmer, joyful, and much much much less irritable. i was a little skeptical about ramadan but it's a great time to be in the village and bond with everyone. i say, rama-on people rama-on!

i want to finish this post with a HUGE thank you to all the family members who were part of the dvd home video that jason and leslie sent. it was so amazing to get (a really big surprise- thanks leslie) and such a great thing to watch. i watched it my first day of ramadan in the village and it was the perfect timing. i then played it for my family and needless to say it was beyond a hit. they are convinced that i live among famous people. (who could argue with that?) i was glad i got to share it with them-you guys have been the talk of the village for the past week. i'll definitely watch it over again and again. the muscians rocked -er- accoustically pleased, the singers sang lovely, the groupies were great to look at. thanks again fam-love you all and miss you all A LOT!!

lotsa love,
jaime

back in the village again

it's a great feeling knowing that you've been missed and when you get back to your village you get swarmed by people who just want to tell you how glad they are that you're back. it felt so good to get such a warm reception when i finally got back to site. as soon as i got my bags off me my family made me sit and rest and had i not insisted on cleaning out my room myself (termites make a lot of mess) they would have kept me there all day long. i myself was glad to be bake in the village, i missed the laid-back pace of life as well as the routine of things. i spent my first day back greeting everyone and catching up on the village gossip. i found out that one of my good village friends had a baby while i was gone. (I didn't even know she was pregnant- it's taboo to talk about it here and they hide it under baggy clothes)so i was surprised needless to say when i went to visit hre and walked in on the baby's baptism. he looks healthy and was a good weight, 3 kilos so i am excited to see him grow.

yesterday i went to mbantou, a village about 3km from mine on the river with a couple of guys to watch a soccer match. not only was the playing incredible but the fans themselves kept me very entertained.

ramadan started today. i got up early...5am and chugged a liter and a half of water, went back to sleep and got up at 7 to start the day. when i told the village i wanted to try fasting they were really excite although some were a little worried i'd get sick. so far so good-only one day in though and 29 to go...

tonight i'm going to podor to celebrate lauren's birthday with emily and colleen. my guess is that we are going to hide in her bedroom and overeat on chocolate and other goodies. i can't wait!

cheers!

when it rains...

i've finished up ist last week. it was a great month of training. i got to learn a few new gardening techniques, some super-carb porridges for the little kids, among other things that i cannot wait to try out once we get to the village. this past weekend we had a big 'ole volunteer party in mbour which is one of the tourist spots along the coast. it was such a great time and so nice to go swimming again...even at 2 am.

this past week i've been in dakar for meetings and such and since it is the rainy season, it's rained everyday i've been here. this wouldn't be a huge deal except for the fact that i haven't seen rain for six months and now i can't get away from it. luckily the hostel i've been staying at is right near the peace corps office so getting there hasn't been too bad. however, getting caught in the rain downtown and then having to stay wet all day is. which is quickly remedied by n'ice cream which is like culver's back home. i've eaten my last three lunches there and should you ever find yourself in dakar i reccommend the banana/chocolate strawberry combo. or the cherry cheesecake/white chocolate. or the peach passion fruit yogurt/vanilla fudge. i know, this is a little lame but if you lived 300 km fromt the nearest ice cream you'd feel the same way.

i won't even start on cheese.

today i met with counterpart international. they're an ngo in cooperation with usaid and one of two ngos that work in the fouta region of senegal. they're doing a number of largescale projects from hiv/aids education and gardening to koranic school partnerships to nutrition research. i'm hoping to help with a new potato/soy porridge they're developing as part of the nutrition projects i have planned. here's the link for their site for a little more info https://www.counterpart.org. now that the new stage is coming (this september) the "newbie" feeling of being a volunteer is pretty much past and now i feel like i can start to do some major work. it's an exciting time.

ramadan is also approaching. some volunteers fast with their families while others don't. i'm not quite sure if i wil fast or not. i want to so that i can show my family and village i respect their religion and am a part of their community but on the other hand i'm afraid fasting will wipe me out. my plan is to try it for a week to see how it goes and if all is well i may try to do the whole four weeks.

well dakar has been nice, but i'm a small town girl by heart and very ready to get back to the village. inshallah(god willing) my hut is still standing and the termites haven't eaten it all.

cheers,
jaime

back to health

so as most of you know this past week kicked my butt. ist started and the beginning of the week went awesome. i even got to do some gardening again which was therapeutic. i'm told that my garden at the regional house is sprouting. good news all around. i settled in with the new host family- they're great and have given me a lot of freedom which i appreciate. i have been enjoying my bike ride to the center and back, talking with people i haven't seen for a while...

then came wednesday.

i woke up wednesday feeling a little puffy but figured they were the sleep puffies. i get them when i actually get some sleep which i did the night before. by noon the puffies grew to include my forehead and nose. by the afternoon the swelling had become extremely noticable. i took some benadryl thinking that it was an allergic reaction and some more again when i went to bed.

thursday.

i woke up and not only had the swelling gotten worse, but it was red and warm to the touch. i called the pc med office right away and they felt it was serious enough that i needed to go to dakar.

friday.

had my doctor's appointment in the morning. when i went to so see him he immediately told me i had to be admitted. so within the hour i was wisked downstairs and put on iv antibiotics. i had an infection in my face from a bite that had started to go to my blood. for me that was the scariest part- everything happening so fast and only understanding a little of rapid french/wolof. so i stayed in the hospital (the best one in senegal i'm told) for three days. i was on iv the whole time plus the occasional anti-inflamitory shot in the butt. (not pleasant). by the second day the swelling had gone down considerably and i was released this afternoon. i'm on anti-biotics for a week yet, but i am looking forward to going back to thies.

no worries, i had great care while i was here. the hospital staff was amazing and very kind and pc was awesome about taking care of me. i'm better now which is the most important thing. hopefully this will be my only hospital visit while i'm here. i have yet to talk to pc doctors (they weren't in when i got back to the pc office) and once they clear me i can go back to saving the world.

cheers!
jaime

my fouta family

not much new here to post...it's in-service training at the moment and so i am back in thies for the month. just found out that i won't be living with my keur issa host family this time around which bites, but now i'll be living in thies so i get to do more stuff and have a bit more freedom...we'll see how it all goes.

so i've decided to dedicate this post to my family in diambo who are awesome and fabulous and i actually miss quite a bit. i left on tuesday so that i could make a garden at the regional house. there was kinda a garden already there so we first attempted to fix it up, but me and colleen (who lives about 20km from me) ran into not one but two snakes (gray in color....MAMBAS?!) and so decided to make our garden out of trash receptacles and coffee cans. i think it looks extremeley cute. now it just has to grow.

a bunch of us spent this past weekend in st. louis....and let me tell you, this city rocks. soo much fun, i even got to eat ice cream and steak in the same day. soo good. we stayed at a great little auberge for really cheap, swam at a pool and he beach all day, and just had a great time relaxing. i'm so happy that i live close enough to saint-louis where i can go for the weekend. this will definitely be a place i will go to again and again.

so to the real purpose of this post; i've decided to give you all a little more detail about my family so here goes. i live with about 30 other people in three compounds that open up into a area (the youtube video shows this a little better.) anyways, my immediate family is my father, his two wives, and their kids. plus i got an uncle, his wife and their kids, another uncle family and then a cousin and his family. okay, here goes...

sille mall: this is my host father. he is about 55 years old and spends most of the day in the fields. he's about 5'2'' and maybe 110. i feel like an ogre next to him. he doesn't talk a lot but i feel that i can talk to him about anything and he really enjoys the fact that i love our families cows.

banel wade: this is my tocora or namesake as well as my father's first wife. she is from a village about 11 km from diambo. because she is the first wife she runs the household and is consantly trying to make me sit and do nothing while everyone gets my water, etc for me. at first this really bothered me but now i realize that she really wants to take care of me and make sure that i go home well fed and happy. (don't worry i'm both).

hawa soh: this is my father's second wife and my favorite. she's from mauritania which i think is really cool. she let's me do what i want but still makes sure i am taken care of. she also is one of the few people who is willing to sit down and help me understand what's going on which is always appreciated.

binta mall: my 16 year old sister. very cool girl, is smart and hardwoking and loves asking me questions about america.

miiye mal: my 15 year old sister. she spends most of the time working in the fields or doing other chores but she is also really nice, although she is usually the one to put my brothers in line which involves hitting them.

gaycire mall: 12 year olf sister. she is the best cook in the family so i always love it when she makes lunch. she's quiet but will come listen to me if she isn't doing chores.

hamadel mall: my 11 year old brother. he is usually very quiet and spends the day making traps for animals and playing by the river.

moussa mall: 10 year old brother. he looks just like hamadel and follows him everywhere. he still blushes when i talk to him.

djibbi mall: 10 year old brother. he is kind of a bully in the family and like to beat up the other kids but he also does what he's told and makes sure everyone follows the rules.

penda mall: 9 year old sister. she's really little like her dad and reminds me of a gymnast. she is usually helping cook but also will sit and talk to me. she also usually directs me to someplace if i get lost.

demba mall: 7 year old brother. he's kind of a drama queen and a wimp but loves any game i invent for the kids to do. he also follows me around everywhere.

camou mall: 6 year old brother and the baby of the family. spoiled beyond belief but once he stops acting like a baby is a lot of fun to play with.

demba mall: my uncle. he is a farmer and is really funny and quiet. he's the uncle all the kids run to when they did something they should be punished for. he also thinks it's funny that i like the animals so much.

manne mall: my aunt who is the coolest woman...she is a proponent of "tough" love but can also be really affectionate. she also got really excited when i started doing my chores and called me senegalese.

sinthan mall: my 16 year old cousin. he is a typical teenager and likes to boss everyone around. i like to put him in his place which the family thinks is hilarious and he likes because he gete the attention.

fati mall: my 14 year old cousin. she is totally boy crazy which in turn drives me and all the other young kids crazy. but she's firey which i like.

alage mall: my 12 year old cousin. he makes the best tea and is really shy. i like to talk to him because i know he won't try to confuse me or screw me up.

hamady mall: my 10 year old cousin. he killed a giant lizard with a machete and they gutted, cooked and ate it. he's hard core, plus a wicked soccer player.

dadi mall: hamady's twin. she's super smart 9smartest in her family) and a huge tom boy which i love. she also puts up with nothing her brothers or cousin's dish out. she's one of my favorite.

seydou mall: 6 year old cousin. he has the voice of a little girl and loves to try to beat up anyone older than him. he also loves to tease me which i tease back then pick him up and carry him to the river and dunk him.

alage mall: my other uncle who i stayed with while my hut was being built. kinda of snoopy and patronizing, but dotes on his kids which is nice.

awa jaan; my aunt who works in a neighboring city as a tailor. she's not around a whole lot but i love the fact aht she's a working woman in the village.

banel mall: my 7 year old tocara and cousin. she's a sassy little girl who swims like a fish. i love having her around and she loves mimicking me.

ramata mall: my 3 year old cousin. she is kind of homely (looks like a tim burton character) but is really funny and adventurous. she also has her dad wrapped around her finger which i think is hilarious.

moussa mall: my oldest cousin. his father drowned about two months ago in the river which was a really intense and overswhelming experience. moussa is the town's imam or koranic teacher. he speaks pulaar, wolof, arabic, french and a little english and has the best sense of humor. he's by far my faovrite male in the village and i love spending afternoons at his house cracking jokes with him.

fati mall: my older sister and moussa's wife. she's also really small like her dad but she's sassy and affectionate. she also refused to ride in a car because the driver wouldn't give me a ride. she told her we were family and if i didn't ride she didn't. she then got two other people to get out of the car. i think she's awesome. she also loves her two boyus to death and still calls them bebe "baby" even though they are little monsters.

amadou mall: my four year old husband/cousin. he started following me around in the village and would greet me every morning with a huge hug so i started telling everyone that his is my husband and it has stuck. i think he has cerebral palsy, but it doesn't slow him down at all. he's a little punk in that he eggs people on, slaps his mom's butt and then runs away. he also runs to me if one of the older kids is going to hit him because he knows i'm safe territory. i'm also teaching him english phrases such as "what up homeslice, and to the batcave!" as an effort to keep me entertained. it works.

sille mall: my 2 year old cousin and amadou's little big brother. he's the same size as amadou and totally wails on him and takes him down whenever they wrestle. he's a gentle giant though and loves to cuddle. i've started calling him my second husband which cracks the village up.

so that my family...i think they're great and i'm glad i get to be a part of their's for two years. alright, computer time is almost gone...signing off...more to follow.

peace!
jaime

when it rains, it....drizzles

so the rainy season has arrived, however unlike the 500 year flood so many of you got to experience this year it has rained twice. and drizzled three other times. rain here is scarce and i've been told that even this year it is wetter than average. but it is amazing how green everything has become with the little rain we've gotten. there is a greenish fuzz everywhere that the animals have gone crazy for and the trees seem a little fuller. even the people, though they are working very hard in the field everyday- seem happier now that the rain has come. but with the rain comes sandstorms and they are not fun. the sand pelts you like little needles and gets everywhere...i can't stand it and spend more time that i want to sweeping out my hut. but if this is the only rain the fuuta gets and everything depends on a good rainfall...i'm happy for any precipitation. even if it brings bugs and humidity.

the fourth of july was such a great time. the south of senegal is completely different than the fuuta...green, mountainous, jungle-like even. it was so cool seeing the different landscapes on the way down, and even better seeing all the other volunteers again and meeting new ones. it sounds like everyone is doind good...having similar experiences adjusting which is reassuring that i'm not going crazy. the trip took us two days down there, three back...totalling about 20 hours of traveling in a crowed car/bus/van. not the most comfortable way to travel but it gets you from place to place. we stayed at a hotel...i got to sleep in AC!! it never felt so good. there was also a pool where i spent the better of two days near or in. an awesome vacation with a much deserved rest.

we got about a week left in the village before we go to thies for IST. since everyone is in the rice fields working, i've mostly been hanging out at a couple of people's homes talking with a few of the women who stay at home. this is good-i've been practicing my pulaar with them and learning a lot of new things about the village. i'm excited to go back to thies; see and talk with the other stagers, get more health training, take a coupld of weekends to the beach, live with my keur issa host-family again. i've been able to stay in touch with them and they are just as excited to see me as i am...i miss them a lot too.

a quick cultural exchange that happened the other day and i had no idea what was going on:
my family and i were sitting around waiting for dinner when a few kids came running up from the river shouting and pointing. my family and the rest of the village quickly found out what was wrong and and ran down to the river. i was told "nake" as the quizzical face i was making showed them that i didn't get what was happening. in response to "nake" i nodded my head and followed everyone to the river. i had no idea what "nake" meant. i thought i misheard and they meant "nage" which is cows. maybe the cows were crossing the river again. once we were at the river, i followed everyone's gaze to the island where a bunch of people, an older woman, two men, and some children, were chasing and beating each other with branches. the older woman chased a girl into the river. other children followed her and kept hitting her. the two men took off running towards the boat. once in the boat, one stood and continued hitting himself and the paddler. suddenly he jumped into the water, got back in the boat and continued the beating. they arrived at the other people, picked them up and then proceeded to paddle across the river to our bank. suddenly another man came running from the fields, into the river, and climbed int he boat. as initiation everyone beat him too. then as if nothing happened they stopped. as they got closer to the back i realized that the two men were my uncles, demba and moussa, the woman a great aunt. everyone crowded around them and all were talking noisily and with big gestures. finally, my second host-mother noticed that i still didn't know what was going on and took me aside. "nake" she repeated and then started pinching her arm. "like a mosquito?" i asked. "yes, like a mosquito but they --------" then she stuck out her tongue and said "it is delicious". ahhh, lightbulb. "you mean honey?" "yes!!!!" "nake makes honey." "yes, now you understand." "yes, now i understand." BEES. nake = bees. they opened a bee hive in the field and were fighting off bees. eureka!

just an example of how a typical day for me goes.

cheers!

a much deserved post

i greet you all and your last names. (a common way to say hello to a large group of people here.)

sorry for the time lapse in blog postings...it's been a busy month and i've been here, there and everywhere overhere. i'm happy to report that i am all moved into my hut; unpacked, arranged and have started the unending process of killing termites and ants. it's been so nice to finally have my hut and my own space; i was starting to feel like a guest on vacation in the village who was being pampered. now that i've established my "galle banel" i feel much more like a member of the community. there was a slight crisis with my hut; my counterpart told me it would take a week to get done but after four it still wasn't. i was getting frustrated mostly because the lack of work on my hut made me feel that i wasn't really wanted in the village and so after talking with peace corps it was decided that i would go to the regional house until my hut was done. it took two more weeks. finally i was able to go back home and was a little nervous to at first because i figured the village would be angry at the fact that i had left, but it wasn't the case at all. i was truely missed and the village felt awful that i had to be gone for so long. i was really glad to be back as well--as much as the regional house is awesome (movies galore, electricity, fans...american food and showers) i was really bored there couldn't talk with anyone and had nothing to really do for two weeks. so the hut crisis is finally resolved and over- allhamdililah!!

despite the village hiatus i've still been relatively busy. i greet the village every morning which can take anywhere from an hour to four depending on who is at home and how many cups of ataya i have to drink. then i go to the fields to greet everyone there. well not anymore because the growing season is done, but i used to do that. during the hot time of the day, 12-5 or so i usually sit and study pulaar or read or do some pc health stuff. after that i usually go to diambo soubalou (or diambo proper as emily and i call it) and chat at the health post and then go paint at the school. on sundays i bike into tareji which is a road town seven km from me. the weekly lumo or market is then. i meet up with emily and we get frozen banana flavored milk, hard boiled eggs and then buy food for our families. it's a fun morning and i enjoy the bike ride and i like picking out food my family normally doesn't get like coconuts or now since it's in season, watermelon. at the end of every month our health post has vaccination day where babies get vaccinated for polio, measles, yellow fever, tetanus, diptheria, hepatitis B and two others i forget. emily and i get to weigh the babies that come in. this past time we weighed 36. there has only been a few in the "yellow" category for malnutrition and the rest have been in the green which is a great sign. however, i've noticed that malnourishment really starts once the child has been weened and eats from the bowl with everyone else. so the babies are all healthy but the kids from 2 to 5 are malnourished. this past vaccination day we also did a mini causery of the different food groups and why it is important to eat from each group, especially for children and pregnant women. we then made a porridge concoction of millet flour, peanut butter and bananas for the women to take home and give to their kids when they are hungry inbetween meals. it went okay, but i think we will be more prepared the next time.

right now i've stopped swimmin in the river because the rains have started and the river is cloudy. no one swims now and all the bathing/washing is done as quickly as possible because you can't see what's in the river. i'm told right now snakes (like basilisk size) and crocs are in it right now too which i don't know it true or not but i take for absolute truth. so i'm too scared to even go near it. the other day when i was walking to the fields a huge lizard, like four feet long, ran across in front of me. i immediately thought croc and ran home. the village still makes fun of me for it. it's been hard not being able to swim--it was the best way to cool off after lunch and sooo much fun playing with the kids. hopefully in a month or two the river will clear up again and we can resume our games.

this past month has also been the emotional rollercoaster peace corps promises it will be. i've gone from absolute rage to pure happy joy in about five minutes as well as everything in between. it's so easy to get frustrated here--not being able to speak clearly or make sense half the time nor understand what most people are saying, dealing with apathy on the part of a lot of people, trying in vain to motivate people, been asked for money about twenty times a day, having people say "give me give me give me" about anything i may or not have, seeing the kids get hit over little trivial stuff... it's really easy to get more and more angry until you literally scream. however, there are also moments that are absolutley the greatest; telling a joke to my family, outgreeting someone, playing games with the kids, having someone tell you how much they missed you, actually having a decent conversation, walking along the river, talking to a mother about breastfeeding and having her understand. these things and so many others can completely change my pissy mood into a good one. it's weird dealing with the emotions...i've never been one to be overly emotional, but here they just seem to come out at any given time. don't think that i'm not happy though either...i knew that it would be challenging when i came over here and for every bad day or moment i have the good ones make up for it tenfold. i just want to be able to explain that it isn't just daisies and sunshine overhere. although there is plenty of the latter. it's life just like anywhere else; there's ups and downs and a big paret of the past month has been learning to deal with them.

on the more pleasent topics...i really really really want a goat here. i'm planning on buying one after we come back from thiès. we have to go back in august for more training...and as soon as i get back a goat will be purchased. i want to be able to show my family:village the many uses of goats. livestock here is much different from home; it's a form of capital where one just has cows or goats and will occasionally kill one for the meat. however there is no population control or use of them for milk or anything. my big plan is to get a girl goat and after she has a baby or two start milking her and give the milk to my family teach them about how milk is like nectar from the gods. i may even attempt goat cheese....mmmm.... so yea, a goat is in my future.

i am also planning on painting my hut doors and windows soon. i'm thinking blue and green to match my awesome curtains. maybe even a daisy on the door for old times sake. it would be legendary.

there's a big pc party down south in kedegou for the fourth of july (happy i-day everyone!) that a bunchof us are going to. it really couldn't be any farther from my site. i'm estimating it taking two days to get there. but from what i hear kedegou is absolutely beautiful--a totally different landscape from the futa which trees and folliage everywhere. volunteers down there get machetes to hack their way through the jungle. there are also monkeys down there. and snakes. and bugs, BIG bugs. like dinner plate size bugs. but there are also waterfalls and i am really looking forward to the trip. should be a good time.

okay, well i think this post is long enough. many many thanks to lyne for putting the rest of my pictures online. you can check them out with the link on the side labled my pictures. also there is a video on youtube of my village that my family was able to put up. it's under jaime bodden in senegal should youtube be your thing. enjoy!

love to you all, miss you oodles!
peace,
jaime

ahhh village life...

i feel like these past three weeks have been the busiest yet most fulfilling in senegal. when things happen they happen at all once. first off, we officially swore in as volunteers may 9th at the us ambassodor's house. it was a nice ceremony as far as ceremonies go and we got to meet other volunteers from korea and japan who are in similar programs as the peace corps. after the ceremony we were able to go to the american club and hang out by a pool for a few hours. next we rocketed back to thies for a party with our host-families. it was really really really great to see my family one last time before i moved out. they even gave me a going away present of mangoes and an african outfit. i can't wait to go back to thies to visit them.



the next day, dark and early we set off for our sites. we got to ndioum which is my area's regional house that afternoon and had a few days there to rest, get much needed supplies for our new homes and meet volunteers who are currently in the area. i think that the futa folks are such a great group of people. i'm very excited to work with them and spend the next few years with them. most are health volunteers like myself although there are also environmental education, urban agriculture, and small enterprise development. there are a few projects like a health oriented radio show that i'm excited to take over in the podor area...it's really really excited to be able to start on projects and get involved in the community.



the install at my village was great...they had a little party for me the night i arrived and there is was given my senegalese name, banel maal (bah-nelle). it's a little bit unfotunate that my hut wasn't/isn't done yet so i've been staying with a family. i have such a huge urge to nest and make a home that it's driving me mildly crazy i can't do that. but my village is great. they've never had a volunteer before and are really really really excited to have one. there are about 350 people in my village which is in the middle of two others. emily is in the largest village and is like than a kilometer from me. if we stand outside our huts we can see each other. there is about 1000 people total in the three villages. i personally think mine is the best (not biased at all). it's small, everyone is super friendly, it's shady which allows for a slightly coller breeze than the sun (all relative because it's still hoooootttt) and the door to my hut is only about 200 yards from the river! thankfully there are no crocodiles or hippos or anything bigger than a fish in the river so i've been swimming everyday with the village kids. it's quite a site; none of the adults swim and because it's culturally inappropriate to wear a swim suit i go swimming fully clothed but am surrounded by a bunch of little naked african children. they love the fact that i swim with them and have been able to form a lot of great bonds with the kids.



right now for the next three months or so we are just supposed to adjust to village life and focus on learning the language. however, emily and i are both antsy and we've started murals at the elementary school. we figured it was a good project to start out with because it will take a long time and it allows us to do something within our limited volcabulary. the village seems excited that we've started this and i think they will like the murals once they are done. other than that, for the most part everyday i just chill out with my family. i actually live with one great big extended family that is three different houses. there are about 30 people total in my family although i "live" with only about 10. however, we eat all our meals as one big unit and the children go from house to house. since family is more loosely translated here i just consider everyone in the area of my hut my family. it seems to work out fine. i've also been brainstorming other ideas for projects i want to do; nutrition is the biggest for me...there are a lot of malnourished children in the village and the food that is grown here is misused. i also think that i will be able to do a lot of work with the health post and women's groups in the village as well. the nurse in charge of the post is absolutely amazing and so excited that we're there i think we'll have a lot of freedom in the projects we choose to do.



it's been such an emotional three weeks. i'm so glad to finally be in my village and my reception has been so great. but the language barrier as well as cultural barriers have been tough. the lack of privacy and the american sense of "me time" has been hard getting used to. i think that is also in part to not having my own space to escape to. also, the language is much more difficult to understand locally than the formal classroom setting and i get easily frustrated. it's been an emotional rollercoaster from being really happy/enthusiastic/excited to frustrated/tired/overwhelmed. luckily emily and i are able to vent to each other and keep each other sane. she also comes over everyday to swim with me.



the other day we went to taredji which is a depot town 7 km from us to check out the lumo, a weekly market. it was a nice escape and we were also able to get cold beverages to drink as well as buy fruits/veggies/and EGGS! it was only our second time taking public transportation and we ended up hitching a ride with a truck that was meant to hold ten people and actually held about 20. we got two flat tires within two km of each other. such is the life of a volunteer. today we're in podor, enjoying the cyber cafe, electricity (phone charging), post office, and visiting lauren, the other volutneer who lives here. it's only 17 km from our village, about a twenty minute ride. i think that my site is in the perfect location; i've been able to get the village life (and an amazing village life) but i'm close enough to charge my phone and check mail every ten days or so. most volunteers don't have that luxury so i consider myself spoiled. plus podor is a fabulous city. there's sidewalks and streetlamps and has the feel of a wild west town. in fact the last time we were in podor we were walking down the middle of the street and we looked like we were headed for a shoot out. the good the bad and the ugly came to mind.


as of right now, i'm still struggling with posting photos. i've been online for about two hours right now and have been able to get a handful online....slow go but i think i will screen my pictues in my camera and post my favorites. i've created a collection of albums that i will hopefully be able to add more to. http://jaimeinsenegal.shutterfly.com is the link. i hope you all enjoy!

that's all for now...miss everyone and love to you all!

peace,
jaime

as i post this blog entry, kenny g is playing

sometimes the little things just make your day. like the fact that i can listen to kenny g in the middle of africa for an hour. okay, now there is a michael bolton duet with him on...i want you all to appreciate how awesome and hilarious this is. i lust look like a crazy person right now because i have a huge smile on my face.

this past week was jam packed. monday we went to dakar to register at the embassy. i also had the best ice cream i've eaten in country at a place called n'ice cream. i also giggled at the pun. tuesday and wednesday we had classes, thursday was the start of our counterpart workshop. the workshop was an oppurtunity for us trainees to meet the one, two and sometimes three people we will be working closely with once we et to our sites. they act as mentors, cultural guides, and professional team members. mine came all the way from sinthiou diambo and diambo soubalou (the neighboring village that has a health post) one of my counterparts is a french teacher at the school there and the other is a nurse at the health post. both seemed really really nice and were excited by my few ideas of projects. we spent all day friday and saturday with them; teaching them about peace corps, our role as volunteers, their role as counterparts. it was a very valuable time for the three of us to discuss what the next two years will be like.

i was also able to get my first senegalese outfit made. i went to the market with emily and daniel, emily is my site mate and daniel is my biking partner. (we have a biker gang and our theme song may be "final countdown". yea, we're hard core). so back to the market...we got fabric from a store of ladies who happened to speak pulaar and we more than thrilled that we spoke it back, allbeit in broken chunks. then we went to the taylor; got measured, and described what we wanted. two days later we picked it up. let me just say...i look pretty sweet. we're going to wear our outfits next week when we swear in as volunteers (hopefully, fingers crossed i pass my language class so i can). for the ceremony we go to dakar to the american club. once there we will have a ceremony with a korean and japanese volunteer group (their equivalent to peace corps) followed by a cocktail hour and swimming. it's the bright light at the end of the training tunnel and we're nearly there. the following day we will all be heading out to our sites.

tuesday night we came back to our host families and my reception was unbelievable...i've never felt more missed. i know i've said it before but i have to say it again...my family here has been remarkable and is one of the main reasons i have been able to stay so positive. not every volunteer has had the same experience...and i am so so so thankful i'm so lucky. they were most surprised at my feet because i got them decorated with henna as well as my awesome farmer tan. they are convinced after two years i will look just like them and they tell me everyday how african i am. if only i could be so lucky. this morning my host-mother surprised me with the news of a party for me and the other three volunteers who live in keur issa at our house. it's going to be a great time. we've spent the past few days discussing who will miss who more once i leave. they say they will and i counter with i will more and so the argument goes.

well that's about all for today...this will probably be my last post for awhile as i won't be around internet access for a few weeks. in an effort to provide you with as much info about senegal as possible i'll leave it up to you to discuss what topics i should cover in my next post. some ideas... food culture, greetings, the many uses of duct tape, village life, the trouble with french keyboards, why donkeys are the worst animal in the world, talibes...let me know through comments and i will prepare a nice and long post for you all.

kenny g is no longer playing and i'm a little disappointed...hope all is well in the states. miss you all tons! lotsa love!!

peace,
jaime

new address

oops...forgot to include this in the last post. my new address is below. i'll have this address for the rest of my service. use this one instead of the other one because after may ninth i won't have access to it. i also updated it on the side link.

PCV Jaime Bodden
B. P. 79
Podor, Sénégal
West Africa

also, if you check out the link to other volunteers blogs you can find caitlyn's. it's a great blog so check it out, she got a few amazing stories as well as some great pictures. okay, bye!

back to the fouta, great scott!!

well folks, i'm pleased to announce that i successfully made it back from demyst alive and well. we left the 16th at seven in the morning and drove all day for twelve hours to get to kanel, where we were staying with caitlyn, a current health volunteer, and her family. it was a long trip and once we got past saint-louis it really started heating up. i thought thiès was hot...silly silly girl. each day we, my language class, spent about three hours in the morning having class and then taking a six hour rest before having class for two more hours. why the long break you may ask? because between the hours of 11 and 5 one literally cannot do anything because it is so hot. one day it got up to 57°C. i won't even convert that for you... just know that we boiled water without using any sort of fuel source, steeped tea, and made applesauce in a nalgene just by putting it out in the sun. i resorted to dunking my shirt in water and adopting the holy mary head shawl to stay cool. i looked pretty ridiculous but stayed cooler. even the senegalese don't do anything during that time... and the sad part is that the hottest of the hot season is still a month away. cheers!

despite the heat our road trip was a lot of fun. it was such a great experience to see a volunteer in action actually doing work and interacting with the local community. it also gave me ideas as to what kind of projects i can do once we install at our site. she also made me and the rest of the the volunteers headed to the fouta really excited to start. it sounds like everyone up there is an amazing gourp of people and it sounds like we're going to have a lot of fun together. just a heads up... the fouta region does thanksgiving for all the volunteers so it would be awesome to get the makings for pumpkin pie, etc in the mail. just a little subtle hint. we even had a fluke rainstorm one night which caused all the toubabs (aka americans) to dance around like crazy people while the senegalese watched from a porch. for a brief while we actually were cold and then the scorpions came out and made us all scared to go to sleep.

i wasn't able to go to my site since it is a little bit of the main path, but we did stop and have lunch at the market town me and emily will be using. it is only about 7km from us and it will be a great way to get veggies and fruit. the road to my site is also paved which means i will be doing a lot of biking.

we got back to thiès yesterday after a ten hour car ride. we were so happy that it went faster than the ride out because we were all pretty anxious to get back to thiès. the change in temperature once we hit saint-louis was amazing... it felt like we crossed a invisible barrier because all at once we hit the sea breeze and it felt amazing. then we all overdosed on ice cream. right now we have the day off before we head to dakar tomorrow for some administrative stuff. i'm excited to see dakar... we haven't been there at all yet, and the only time we saw it was at midnight when we drove through it our first night here. it'll be fun to see it during the day and walk around. we only have about ten days before we officially swear-in as volunteers so things are starting to get busy. we have a big language test coming up as well as our counterpart workshop where we get to meet the local partners we'll be working with during our two years. emily and i will have the same counterpart since we're practically in the same village. we've heard nothing but good things about her and we're excited to start a few projects right away. we swear in the ninth of may and immediately after head back to the fouta to install into our site. the installation process takes a while, we have to get things for our huts and everything so we'll have a little break after pst to rest. at least i hope we do.

well that's all for now, take care everyone!

peace, jaime

get out yer map....drumroll please...

so this past week we learned our site assignments aka where we will be spending the next two years of our life. i have the most fantastic site imaginable and will be in the north, near podor in a little village called santhiou diambo. (i'm going from memory on the spelling because i don't have my sheet with me). i'm about 20 km from podor which is just a spit from mauritania and about 30 km from our regional housein ndioum. i'll be serving my village, about 400 people and the village right next to it, about 200 people. what makes me most excited is the fact that i am only a kilometer away from emily, another volunteer here and one of my best friends here. we're super excited to do a lot of projects together and hang out and cook. i really couldn't have asked for a better placement. we even met the girl we are replacing, kiersten, and she gave us so much info on the place and was awesome. needless to say it is gonig to be legendary! (quick shout out to renée, how cool is it that i can put accent marks in right away because of the french keyboards?)

a little more infor about my village, it's right on the senegal river..i will be able to actually see the river from my hut. my village is a fishing caste village and the other village is herding, so it will be interesting to work within the different castes and to see the interaction between them. i will be living the the village chief's brother and they seem to be excited to have me live with them. i will be able to have internet access in podor but no electricity in the village so hopefully be able to update this thing often.

this past weekend the whole lot of us went to the beach to relax. it was awesome swimming in the ocean, in april, and not getting burnt. the beach was so clean (lake michigan is was NOT) and there were seashells everywhere which i of course had to pick up. i had a great time and even helped make sunday brunch for everyone. yes, the family tradition continues... it was a much deserved break and worth the crowded hour long bus ride. some even had enough balls to ride the 35km there. it might not sound too ar, but in 110 degree heat and the sahara winds blowing in your face, you'll have enough admiration for those guys as i do.

training is finally taking off; we're beginning to get more involved with the technical aspects which has given me renewed purpose of being here. in two days (thursday) we are leaving for our "demystification" or our visit to see what being a volunteer is really like. my language class is heading to the west near matam but in the desert for ten days. it's about a fourteen hour car ride and our site has been registered the hottest place on earth more than once. i was able to catch the weather last night and saw that it was 44 degrees C. i don't evenwant to know what that is in farthenheit, it's just plain hot. my site will also be hot and i'm told i will just walk into the river with all my clothes on as a act of desperation, but it won't get as hot because of the river. mind you, i have no idea what AS hot means. we're all pretty pumped to be taking off for ten days. our language teachers are the best and i know they'll have a great time with us as well.

okay, i have to get back to the center in order to make it home before dark...take care everyone and be safe...think about you all the time!

oh- quick shout out to the gore's for the awesome package. wet wipes and peanut butter and pretty much everything will be taken with me for the road trip....you guys are awesome...kathy, i won't even describe to you wear i go to the bathroom... also a huge thanks for all the e-mails, letters, and comments you guys have made. it's good to know that i'm in your thoughts and they're always a great pick-me up even if i'm not able to reply right away. love you all!

peace,
jaime

that africa is so hot right now

points to whoever gets the reference, joey i expect you to so don't dissapoint me. it's the end of my third week here in senegal and things have finally started heating up. it is about 95 degrees today and we are only just getting into the hot season. feel free to send any cold weather my way. two days ago i actually woke up with the fan i used for fanning myself still in my hand.

other than the heat, things are great. sorry for the small rant in the beginning but i've been sweating continuously for five days. my family is really truely the best of senegal. i feel completely at home with them and a part of the family. they are fantastic about teaching me the language and i'm picking up more and more pulaar each day. yesterday my language class got to visit with them which was really fun for everyone. not only did my family get to meet some other volunteers, but the volunteers got to see how awesome my family was. yea, i was showing them off, but they show me off everyday too so i thought i'd return it.

today is senegal's independence day. (from the french in 1960) in case you were wondering. all of the volunteers got the day off and to celebrate we were able to go out last night for the first time. it was such a relief to be able to do that and i think we were all ready for a little break from language and everything for the moment. today was really a rest and relax day for me which has made me feel great. it's been pretty tiring gonig to class for so long everyday and i was wiped out. so sleep is good.

tried uploading pictures but i havenùt even gotten one to load and my time is nearly up on my computer so i will have to firgure out a different way. i do have some great pics of the kids in my family playing in the garden.

miss you all. stay cool.
peace,
jaime

the homestay begins

asalaam mallecum [peace be with you]

i moved into my homestay tuesday night and so far things are going really well. i live in a small village called keur issa which is about a mile out of thiès. this means i get to bike everyday to the training center and bike home. i was pretty pumped when we got bikes because they are nifty trek bikes...no 1920 schwinn. i also have a bell on it which i plan on using the whole time.

my family is amazing, very big and very lively. i live with one extended family and i think, but because people come and go like nobody's business i can't say for sure, that about 20 people live there. unlike most of the volunteers, my family speaks french as well as pulaar so i have been lucky to learn a lot of the language. my uncle is teaching me how to say my morning routine, my mother is teaching me my body parts, a few nephews are teaching me how to spell everything and how to say important phrases and my sisters just talk to me in pulaar and laugh. i'm starting to understand much more than i thought i would after four days and i hope that during this stay i can pick up as much language as i can. this weekend is our first time we spend the whole day with our family. i think i am going for a walk around the crop fields where my uncle works, if i translated the pulaar/french correctly. i may also have agreed to a marriage proposal. we'll see what the weekend brings.

it's been a crazy two weeks in sénégal. we've been so so so busy that it feels like i've been here for a month at least. my days consist of about ten hours at the training center plus about four hours spent with the family. by the end of the night i am just exhausted, but the training especially the language is absolutely necessary.

the days are getting a bit hotter...we're enterning the dry season and it will only get hotter until june/july. i've heard from current volunteers that it can get over 120 here. hard to believe there was still snow in wisconsin when i left.

i haven't heard anything else about where i will be assigned. word on the street is that most pulaar health volunteers will be near the mauritana and mali borders, about as far from dakar as you can be. i won't know anything more until later in training and then i will begin my post a few days after i swear in as a volunteer which will be may 9th. i'll keep you posted.

hope you all have a great easter. feel free to send me news clippsing or anything you may find entertaining...we feel kinda like we're in a bubble away from the world right now and are dying for news from outside the training center. miss you and love to you all.

peace,
jaime

ps i've taken a few pictures but have't quite figured out how i will post them online. once i do however, i will post a link on here for your viewing pleasure.

i'm not burned yet

asalaam malaacum everyone i'm currently in thiés sénégal. we arrived here last monday night at about midnight following a 36 hour flight from new york to brussels to dakar. the city is prounouced chi-es kinda like the game chess. it's super hot here...probably around 85 degrees or so. the great news is that i am not burnt yet. i know, i'm surprised too. we've started our official peace corps training here, taking classes in safety, health, language, etc. so far i've learned a few phrases in wolof, the second official language. today i learned that i will be speaking pulaar and will most likely be put somewhere in the nord to eastern part of sénégal.

so far, i'm having a great time. the staff here is amazing and very helpful. we are in incredibly good hands here, so no need for excessive worry. the food has been great as well. i've even managed to eat fish whiwh was made with a lot of spices which in turn made it tasty. the days here are realy long and though we don't do a ton during the day, the heat really takes a lot out of you. we nap during the hottest hours of the day, which i think i can really get into.

tomorrow we head out to our homestay during the first two months of training. my family will be in the surrounding thiés area, but my address won't change. we'll live with the family until we're sworn in as peace corps volunteers and then begin our two years of service. during our homestay we still go to the training center for classes and everything too. from the schedule they gave us it sounds like we will be very busy for awhile.

dinner is about ready for us and so i've got to head back to the training center. miss you all, but i'm having a great time and know this is where i am meant to be.

peace,
jaime

In Philly!

i've arrived in philly safe and sound. staging started almost immediately and has been really helpful and not as boring as i originally thought it would be. there are 39 new volunteers total from all over the country. it's been amazing getting to know each person. most are rural health volunteers like me although some others are urban agriculture and environmental education. it should be a great group of people.

today we went to the health clinic where i got my yellow fever vaccine as well as my malaria medicine. i'm on the pill that you take once a week instead of daily. i don't know if that's the one that makes you have trippy dreams or not, but i will let you all know if they happen. my roommate lauren said i talked in my sleep last night so maybe i won't be able to tell!

tomorrow we leave for senegal. we check out of the hotel at 9:30, take a bus to new york, fly over to brussells, have a seven hour lay-over there and arrive in dakar at 10pm thursday. it is going to be a long day(s) of traveling and should be interesting to see how it all goes.

well, that's all for now. our second staging session for the day is starting in a few minutes so i have to dash. next time i post i will be in africa!

peace,
jaime

Leaving soon...Africa bound!

so in a few hours i will be hopping on a plane in madison, flying to milwaukee, and ending up in philadephia where i will have staging for two days. i can't believe the time is already here for me to leave...it went by way to fast yet it seemed to take forever to actually happen.

to start at the very beginning...i first started applying to the peace corps in february of last year. i filled out an online application which took about two hours. i was then called for a one on one interview which was late march. after the interview i found out that i really didn't fit any of the programs the peace corps was involved in. i wanted to do a health extension program so i had to volunteer for at least thirty hours to qualify for the program i wanted. this proved much, much harder than it would appear as i struggled to find an agency in milwaukee that fit within my school schedule. turns out, it didn't work.

so graduation came and went, i moved back home to save money-not my sanity-(just kidding mom and dad) and got hooked up with the best group of volunteers ever. every tuesday and thursday i took the 25.8 minute drive to dodgeville (if going 73mph) and volunteered at the free clinic there. the experience was absolutely amazing and the other volunteers really made me believe that serving others was what i was meant to do with the next few years of my life. so i quickly got my hours needed for the peace corps but continued with the clinic....with such a amazing group of people who wouldn't?

after sending in my hours to the peace corps regional office i finally got my nomination into the corps. didn't mean i was in, just that i was a candidate for the program. it was now mid-august. then in october i got my letter of acceptance into the peace corps and a few days later got my assignment-senegal. i was pumped. not only because it was in africa and a health program, but because my friends and i kidded around that senegal is where i would be assigned and then i would marry one of marquette's star basketball players who happens to be from senegal and then we would raise a bunch of goats together. it could still happen. i'm really holding out for the goats.

after being invited into the program i formally accepted the invitation, and then proceeded to fill out a novel size book of medical forms, dental forms, and other paperwork that i guess has a point of existing. i also ended up getting my one wisdom tooth removed in the process. after being medically, legally, and dentally cleared nothing happened until february when i got to book my tickets to staging (which was supposed to be atlanta but got switched at the last minute), filled out more papers, and finished packing (which was done about three hours ago tonight). all in all, my experience seemed pretty par for the course in terms of taking as long as it did and having to deal with the process. i hope that my service will be worth the wait.

so that was the past year in a peace corps nut shell for me. thank you to all the friends and family who gave me such wonderful support through the whole ordeal and especially in the last few weeks in the states. i can't believe the number of people i am surrounded with who have given me so much love, inspiration and strength. i'm truly the luckiest person alive to have you all in my life. take care, stay in touch, and keep spreading the love around.

peace,
jaime

ps- hope you enjoy the blog, and the links i have. if you find any other sites, video, etc about senegal that you think others would enjoy let me know and i will post them here for everyone.

ok, now i'm off to my last shower for two years...au revoir mes amis!