Swearing In and Shipping Out

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.

That was followed by mocktails and snacks, live music and a little dancing. Plus, of course, more paperwork to sign. Then we made a surprise stop at the Dakar office for flu shots for all. 

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. 

The Change in the Weather is Not Gonna be Extreme

Sunday October 19

If interesting and unfamiliar and amazing things are happening all around you but there is no way to send words or pictures to anyone are they really happening? Of course they are. But I am really jonesing to tell people about Senegal-- all the little things that happen daily, like having tater tot sandwiches for breakfast. Or the way they will serve any crazy thing they can get their hands with Mbouro (bread) for breakfast, like mayonnaise, fish paste, margarine, onion sauce, spam--but never peanut butter, not in my house.  Some families serve a Nutella kind of thing but not mine.

When we first got here a few kids came to the garden and they were interested in what we were doing and happy to help. More and more kids kept arriving. Someone started paying them off in candy. Today, they were there making mischief and said they wouldn’t leave unless we paid them. I tried to call our host national language instructor, but while I was on the phone I told the kids I was calling the gendarmes and they scattered.

I think the weather really is cooling down a bit. Today there was a strong breeze and turned it into the kind of day in which you didn’t sweat just standing still. I had a tough language day in which he asked each of us open-ended questions such as "Kan mooy Warren?" Who is Warren? Or what will you do in Theis? But being on the spot as I tried to figure them out seemed very helpful. That, I think, is what the exam format will be like.

Oh, I found the mysterious Internet café up at the market place. I just went snooping around until I found a storefront with a number of computer workstations on table, and a price list on the wall. The owner came out and we talked in English, French and Wolof. He was very helpful. Said he would welcome me anytime. That I should consider it my home. He loves to talk to Americans, but unfortunately the power was out at the time. I will check it again tomorrow.

The content of this blog do not reflect the thoughts, philosophy or beliefs of the U.S. Peace Corps. The opinions are those of the author alone.