I made it! I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer, after swearing in Friday, December 4 at
Ebbets Field (yes, Ebbets Field) in Dakar. There were times, I confess that
I didn’t know if I would make it this far. But I did. I think I just barely
passed my language exam, but I did pass. There were four people who didn’t,
including my roommate and a good friend. They have to stay at training for
another week, then take a second exam.
Swearing in had all of the pomp and circumstance you might imagine. What I will remember
the most is the jumble of bright colors of all of our women volunteers in their
compleats and headdresses. It started with an early wakeup and a crowded bus
ride into Dakar. Once at the field it all went rather smoothly. There were
remarks by the ambassador and four of my stage mates spoke in the Senegalese
language they each learned. They did great. Then there was a right hand raised
thing and, boom, we were in.
I packed quickly that night back in Theis, then is was an early
departure to the Saint-Louis regional house where i would spend a few days, before being
installed in Louga. Not really sure how this system works. It would have been
just as easy to drop me in Louga on the way by, but this is the way they do it. Others have to shop for supplies and furnishings for their new sites, but I am pretty
much set.
I was up at 6:00 Saturday morning to load the car. it was pitch black. Funny thing about living on the equator: not only are the days always the same length, but there is virtually no dawn or dusk. one minute it's dark, the next, it's daylight.
But for the moment, it is dark. The compound is behaving like an evacuation scene in a war movie. People trudging through the dark weighed down with satchels and backpacks. idling cars spewing exhaust even darker than the night. Headlights splitting the murky air. And i am searching to say goodbye to friends.
But there is no time. I have to load all of my possessions including a water filter, floor fan, bicycle, buckets, suitcases, backpacks into the waiting sept-place, a beat up old Peugeot wagon--the most reliable means of public transportation between cities in Senegal. And i have to do it fast. Actually, I am not sure why i have to do it fast. What's the difference if we arrive at 10:00 or 11:00 or even sometime in the afternoon. Practically, there is none. But that's the Peace Corps way.
So we got there by 10:30 and I spent four days decompressing, exploring, shopping for Christmas presents and swimming.
I am here for a few days, and Wednesday some Peace Corps folks will come pick me (and all my stuff) up and take me to Louga, take me to meet people I need to meet. And then I am on my own.
***
Now, my first day in Louga is just about done. I think i can do this. I got up
early and went to the sandwich lady around the corner and got an egg sandwich
and a cafe touba (75 cents) without any problem, and chatted a bit with my
neighbour on the way there. Then i got on my bike and rode to the Cultural
Center in town when we have a small demonstration garden. I wasn’t expected
there, but i found the gardener whom I had met when I was here a month ago. I checked out the garden then made plans to come back next week and help him out.
(Basically I was only speaking Wolof there.) Then I went to the outdoor market
and tried to find the Eco-bank. Everyone i asked sent me in a different
direction and i never found it. I did find a bike shop though.
Then I went to my family’s house for lunch and told my “dad” that my mini-fridge
wasn’t working. “It has no ice,” I said. I had a long lunch there then came back
to my place to meet the other Louga PCV. (She’s in economic development, not
ag.) Then my dad came by with a refrigerator repair guy. We made a call to the
Peace Corps and found out i wouldn’t be reimbursed for the repair but I told him
to go ahead. Soon, i
will head back to my family for dinner. (I won’t be doing that every night, but
don’t have the energy for cooking tonight.)
Oh, and i got a new name. I am now Cheikh Niang.
