So lets have some encouragement here. i know people are reading this because they tell me when i get the rqre chqnce to talk to them. how about some comments? questions? words of encouragement? Adjusting to a new life can be stressful, yaknow. this week I spent in Pout and the honeymoon stage of "sleeping in a sauna is cool" "the lack of privacy makes me feel loved," and "who needs a desk to study, a table to eat off of, and a toilet to sit on," and "yay for cockroaches running out of my clean clothes pile and medicine box" is running out. Im feeling a bit of stress from my life here and the one at home. Sooooooo hit me up!
Ok i still like it here. i am super excited to actually get settled into my own place and my own village and start living. i would love nothing more right now than to unpack my suitcase. Oh, and i would LOVE a chocolate covered strawberry wafflebowl sundae from DQ. i think I mention it once a day. And breakfast at the Blue Sky Cafe... AAHH! i forgot what its like to have a kitchen table, a desk to study on, a toilet to sit on, and oh, clothes that go on a body that is clean; and not so sticky.
i am excited to have my own hole in the ground and my own hut! i have never really had my own place. That is still a few weeks away though.
Hey, anyone want my address in Kedougou? any sort of food thing the doesnt spoil or melt will be amazing. other things would be nice too. i dont have a list on me. hmmm. be creative. anyway my address is
Sheila McAtee PCV
BP 37
Kedougou, Senegal
easy, no?
thats all for now. nothing really new except for.... lots of language and agroforestry learning. Oh and I have an African cookie run here. hydriginated oils have not left my life; they have become my therapy. yay for Biscreme and Tutki! and nescafe and chocolate with powdered milk in the morning. mmmmmmm.
ok, bye bye
if you made it to the end of this that means maybe you want to see some pics. i have a few... they took forever to get here. here is the link
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2040624&l=456bc&id=72202129
enjoy!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
Kedougou is my new home and my new favorite place in the world!
hello out there! it's been several days since i'vr written and once again way too much has happened for me to explain it all! oh well, i guess i can stick to the good stuff. first of all, how about some accurate information? i am in the Kedougou area of Senegal. there are several volunteers in this area, either in Kedougou or in surrounding villages. The village that I will be living in is called Thiabedji, pronounced thai (like the food) -bed-jee. this week i spent a week shadowing a volunteer who lives in a village similar to the once i will be in. i got to see how he lives and what life is like as a volunteer, so i finally have a realistic image of how life will be for the next two years. I must say I am more than a bit excited! i absoutely love everything about my area, and the people seem great!
so a bit about what we did. well, it turns out that Kedougou is about 450 miles from the training center in thies, the farthest distqnce from any other sites in the country. we ended up driving 11 hours in an official PC range rover to get there. it was honestly one of the scariest things i have ever done in my life. the roads for the majority of the time were littered with potholes of all different shapes and sizes, not to mention that senegalese drivers have different ideas of speed limits, and no desire to stay in their own lanes. the speed on the horrid highway ranges from 6mph? which would be a trotting horse carraige, to 65mph by the brave drivers. everyone is always passing everyone, and the road is littered with people walking, biking, and seling things. livestock here also roams free and have no fences, so we experienced a lot of cows, horses, donkeys and goats in the road, crossing or just chillin. as we approached Kedougou, however, the animals in the road changed drom live stock to wildlife, like lqrge troops of red baboons and troops of small tqnish minkeys. Once we even saw a warthog crossing the road!
shadowing an actual volunteer was great. i got to learn about daily life. ill write more about that when i am settling in. what i want to talk about was our trip to the 'mst beautiful waterfall in the country,' designated by the current volunteers here. about 10 people took 10 bikes with camping gear about 10km to get to the waterfall. we crossed a huge river with help from locals with canoes. on the rides we rode on thin paths often overgrown with grass 8 ft tall (it is the rainy season right now). we crossed a lot of streams as well and often had to dismount to walk through deep mud. it was an amazng bikeride. i cant even explain how great it was. it would be even harder to explain the awesomeness of the waterfall. picture the most beautiful 80 ft waterfall you can picture in yur head. this one is better. haha... i will post pics eventually. the great thing about the waterfall is that nobody goes there... ever. the senegalese just arent really into nature adventures. so we had it all to ourselves. there were three pools below the falls that were perfect for swiming. the water was greenish blue and crystal clear. the water was the most refreshing thing i have felt since being here; it actually made me feel cleaner and fresher than any shower i have taken here. imagine how nice it was to jump in aftre a long, sweaty, muddy bikeride. it was amazing. several of us found our way to the top of the falls and enjoyed an amazing view. we ate, talked, sat around the fire, and just generally enjoyed our time in this amazing place. then the next day we biked back and i found myself largly exhausted... bleh. i kinda just layed around for the rest of the day.
the ride back the thies was just as scary; but we made it! and now here i am with occasional internet again, momentarily, at least.
still havent gotten sick, knock on wood.
thats all i got for now. ill write again soon
so a bit about what we did. well, it turns out that Kedougou is about 450 miles from the training center in thies, the farthest distqnce from any other sites in the country. we ended up driving 11 hours in an official PC range rover to get there. it was honestly one of the scariest things i have ever done in my life. the roads for the majority of the time were littered with potholes of all different shapes and sizes, not to mention that senegalese drivers have different ideas of speed limits, and no desire to stay in their own lanes. the speed on the horrid highway ranges from 6mph? which would be a trotting horse carraige, to 65mph by the brave drivers. everyone is always passing everyone, and the road is littered with people walking, biking, and seling things. livestock here also roams free and have no fences, so we experienced a lot of cows, horses, donkeys and goats in the road, crossing or just chillin. as we approached Kedougou, however, the animals in the road changed drom live stock to wildlife, like lqrge troops of red baboons and troops of small tqnish minkeys. Once we even saw a warthog crossing the road!
shadowing an actual volunteer was great. i got to learn about daily life. ill write more about that when i am settling in. what i want to talk about was our trip to the 'mst beautiful waterfall in the country,' designated by the current volunteers here. about 10 people took 10 bikes with camping gear about 10km to get to the waterfall. we crossed a huge river with help from locals with canoes. on the rides we rode on thin paths often overgrown with grass 8 ft tall (it is the rainy season right now). we crossed a lot of streams as well and often had to dismount to walk through deep mud. it was an amazng bikeride. i cant even explain how great it was. it would be even harder to explain the awesomeness of the waterfall. picture the most beautiful 80 ft waterfall you can picture in yur head. this one is better. haha... i will post pics eventually. the great thing about the waterfall is that nobody goes there... ever. the senegalese just arent really into nature adventures. so we had it all to ourselves. there were three pools below the falls that were perfect for swiming. the water was greenish blue and crystal clear. the water was the most refreshing thing i have felt since being here; it actually made me feel cleaner and fresher than any shower i have taken here. imagine how nice it was to jump in aftre a long, sweaty, muddy bikeride. it was amazing. several of us found our way to the top of the falls and enjoyed an amazing view. we ate, talked, sat around the fire, and just generally enjoyed our time in this amazing place. then the next day we biked back and i found myself largly exhausted... bleh. i kinda just layed around for the rest of the day.
the ride back the thies was just as scary; but we made it! and now here i am with occasional internet again, momentarily, at least.
still havent gotten sick, knock on wood.
thats all i got for now. ill write again soon
Thursday, October 2, 2008
still learning
So I just got back to the training center after spending 9 days with my host family, and day after day i learned more pula futa. i feel as if the learning process is going slow but if i look at where i was two weeks ago, i have learned a ton! im starting to hear the language better, which is good. yesterday was the fete of Kordite. that is the second biggest holiday in muslim culture. wikipedia it if u dont know what it is. i dont have time to explain. everyone dresses nice for it so now i have a fancy hand tailored african outfit. i would post pics but i kinda need a laptop for that and i am lacking. it sucks having hundreds of pics and not being ablt to do anything with them. sorry about my poor grammar and spelling. i feel rushed in this internet cafe and still dont know the keyboard that well. i got my hair braided for Kordite. you know, small braids all over. the situation in which was braided is funny. my host mom sells watermelons by the side of the main road in my village. there are rows of women with stands full of fruit that sell to passer byers. a car stops and the women run towards it and try to sell their fruit. it is interesting to see from afar; but because my host mom works there i get to be part of it. i went to visit her at lunch a couple days ago and was introduced to all the women. they are amazing and very funny. they adopted me and sat me down and started braiding. when not running up to cars they sit in a circle on buckets and broken chairs and barvard like enthusiastic housewives. they speak wolof so i had no idea what they said about me. a few spoke french. i sat for 2 hours under a tree watching the women run up to cars while getting braided. sometimes the woman braiding me left to chase cars as well. once all the women jumped up at once and someone threw a baby in my lap and ran towards a car. needless to say, i got to bond with a baby for a few mnutes and ive never held a baby before. i got a proper introducton later. i got pooped on by birds about 10 times while getting braided. the tree i was sitting under was inhabited by about 100 birds with nests. eew.
today i found out where i wil be living for two years. too bad i forgot the paper, cuz i forgot the name of the city. it is a small village about 15 miles from internet/electricity. i will have to bike to the city because there is no transportation. the population of my village is 1000. i will live in my own hut. i will be in the far south east of the country; the only place with mountains. i read that it also has the most wildlife. hippos, crocs, lions, panthers, chimps, baboons, birds, etc. cool, huh? im excited about the 15 mile bikeride, it sounds fun and the guy said it was pretty safe. tomorrow we are driving 400 miles to follow a volunteer for 5 days, to get a taste of the area. i will let you now how it is after that. wish me luck! Oh and the city i will be biking to is cqlled Koboudou or something similar if u want to look it up. Kodougol maybe? i am bad with names. ok bye bye
today i found out where i wil be living for two years. too bad i forgot the paper, cuz i forgot the name of the city. it is a small village about 15 miles from internet/electricity. i will have to bike to the city because there is no transportation. the population of my village is 1000. i will live in my own hut. i will be in the far south east of the country; the only place with mountains. i read that it also has the most wildlife. hippos, crocs, lions, panthers, chimps, baboons, birds, etc. cool, huh? im excited about the 15 mile bikeride, it sounds fun and the guy said it was pretty safe. tomorrow we are driving 400 miles to follow a volunteer for 5 days, to get a taste of the area. i will let you now how it is after that. wish me luck! Oh and the city i will be biking to is cqlled Koboudou or something similar if u want to look it up. Kodougol maybe? i am bad with names. ok bye bye
Sunday, September 21, 2008
just some comparisons
so i have this personal philosophy that i am trying to live by to help me acclimate to this new culture. i have this notion that i am going to intentionally not miss anything about american culture so that i dont get sad. so when i see new things and have new experiences and i have any thoughts comparing them to america, i erase those thoughts. I wont do it for this blog though. i know people want to know how it is different. i'll give some of them
i don't have electricity at my homestay. after dark we sit in the yard and just lay around and chat. lots of mosquitos bites. there are flashlights passed back and forth, but they arent always on. my room is dark all the time. all of the rooms in the house are. i am getting used to going in my dark room to get something. i keep my flashlight on the corner of my bed. there is elecrticity in a lot of the houses in my village, but not mine. i always sleep under a mosquito net. i like it.
there is water at my house. a pump in the backyard. i use a filter given to me by the peace corps to sterilize the water i drink.
the toilets here are all those holes in the ground. i won't sit on a toilet for 2 years. i won't have a hot shower for 2 years. good ridence. the cold showers are wonderful in this heat. Well, there are showers at the training center but i have a feeling that is the only place i will be staying with showers. i will soon live on bucket baths. bucket baths are surprisingly refreshing. whoever said that people bathe once a month is silly. my family bathes from 1 to 3 times per day. i will also not get to use a washing machine for 2 years.
I got a bike yesterday. I love it! she is my new best friend, and yes, it is a girl!
food here. i think we eat really well at the training center. breakfast is bread and jam or butter or nutella. Milk and tea to drink. lunch is a big bowl of rice cooked in oil topped with veggies and meat. up to 5 people eat out of the same bowl. that is how it is here. the locals often eat with their hands. so far we eat with spoons. Dinner is always something new. something imitating an american dish.
very very hot every day. no ac whatsoever. I have been pretty good at ignoring the heat but sometimes it is hard and takes a conscious effort. there have been several occasions where i have been literally drenched in sweat while doing nothing with no way to cool off. here you just have to take it... i usually like to sleep in a room and make it as cold as possible. now i sleep in a sauna every night. this is taking some adjusting.
In France you arent supposed to talk to strangers. here we were advised that it is ok to greet anyone, especially if they look at us, and most do. i feel that we greet more people than the locals would, but we are obivious strangers here and it is good to make a good impression. if you greet people, whether they respond or not, it means that you respect them and they now know who you are. so if you are ever in trouble, they might be more willing to help. that is what we learned.
we have learned lots about how to stay heqlthy and how to stay safe. i will have to be conscious of my health here. that will be new for me. when i get home though, after two years, i may be able to combat any bug!
thats all for now
until next time
i don't have electricity at my homestay. after dark we sit in the yard and just lay around and chat. lots of mosquitos bites. there are flashlights passed back and forth, but they arent always on. my room is dark all the time. all of the rooms in the house are. i am getting used to going in my dark room to get something. i keep my flashlight on the corner of my bed. there is elecrticity in a lot of the houses in my village, but not mine. i always sleep under a mosquito net. i like it.
there is water at my house. a pump in the backyard. i use a filter given to me by the peace corps to sterilize the water i drink.
the toilets here are all those holes in the ground. i won't sit on a toilet for 2 years. i won't have a hot shower for 2 years. good ridence. the cold showers are wonderful in this heat. Well, there are showers at the training center but i have a feeling that is the only place i will be staying with showers. i will soon live on bucket baths. bucket baths are surprisingly refreshing. whoever said that people bathe once a month is silly. my family bathes from 1 to 3 times per day. i will also not get to use a washing machine for 2 years.
I got a bike yesterday. I love it! she is my new best friend, and yes, it is a girl!
food here. i think we eat really well at the training center. breakfast is bread and jam or butter or nutella. Milk and tea to drink. lunch is a big bowl of rice cooked in oil topped with veggies and meat. up to 5 people eat out of the same bowl. that is how it is here. the locals often eat with their hands. so far we eat with spoons. Dinner is always something new. something imitating an american dish.
very very hot every day. no ac whatsoever. I have been pretty good at ignoring the heat but sometimes it is hard and takes a conscious effort. there have been several occasions where i have been literally drenched in sweat while doing nothing with no way to cool off. here you just have to take it... i usually like to sleep in a room and make it as cold as possible. now i sleep in a sauna every night. this is taking some adjusting.
In France you arent supposed to talk to strangers. here we were advised that it is ok to greet anyone, especially if they look at us, and most do. i feel that we greet more people than the locals would, but we are obivious strangers here and it is good to make a good impression. if you greet people, whether they respond or not, it means that you respect them and they now know who you are. so if you are ever in trouble, they might be more willing to help. that is what we learned.
we have learned lots about how to stay heqlthy and how to stay safe. i will have to be conscious of my health here. that will be new for me. when i get home though, after two years, i may be able to combat any bug!
thats all for now
until next time
Friday, September 19, 2008
I'm part of a family!
this keyboard sucks. I know most of the keys but still make a lot of mistakes so bear with me. I have been here for 12 days now and so much has happened i don't know where to begin. We spent the frist few days here in the training center compound, learning about how to adjust to a new country. we weren't allowed outside of the compound until a few days later. i am in a city close to dakar, called thies. i think it's the second biggest city in senegal. i moved in with my host family three days ago. we are living with host families for our language training. this weekend, however, we are all returning to the training center for more training. basically all we do here is learn how to live and what is expected of us. Oh and we get lots of shots.
my host family is great. the language i am learning is called Pula Futa, it is a dialect of Pular. we have had two days of language training and living with our host families and i must say, it is a non stop learning experience! at school we learn things nice and slow and then when class gets out everyone talks fast and i can't understand a thing. it sure doesn't help that the city i am living in speaks wolof. the only people i know that speak pula futa is my family and i think they only do it when i ask them how to say something. i love my family. i have a dad, a mom, 4 sisters ages 16, 11 y/o identical twins, and 8. then i have a little brother age 3. He is adorable and follows me around everywhere. My family is very hospitable, which is normal in senegal. the culture here is very different and i often don't know what to do so for now, they do it for me. i think i am like a tall, pale, pet to them. when walking in the streets, ether alone or with others in my class, we are often given 'celebrity treatment.' we get lots of stares and lots of people shout greetings to us. they are generally very nice. the kids love shouting 'toubab!' at us, which means foreigner. the kids always want to touch our hands.
so, so far so good. lots of language training to do and lots of agroforestry learning to do. it will be hard work but also very rewarding. I like it here and think that i will have a nice, enlightening two year here.
until next time!
oh and sorry this is so bland.
my host family is great. the language i am learning is called Pula Futa, it is a dialect of Pular. we have had two days of language training and living with our host families and i must say, it is a non stop learning experience! at school we learn things nice and slow and then when class gets out everyone talks fast and i can't understand a thing. it sure doesn't help that the city i am living in speaks wolof. the only people i know that speak pula futa is my family and i think they only do it when i ask them how to say something. i love my family. i have a dad, a mom, 4 sisters ages 16, 11 y/o identical twins, and 8. then i have a little brother age 3. He is adorable and follows me around everywhere. My family is very hospitable, which is normal in senegal. the culture here is very different and i often don't know what to do so for now, they do it for me. i think i am like a tall, pale, pet to them. when walking in the streets, ether alone or with others in my class, we are often given 'celebrity treatment.' we get lots of stares and lots of people shout greetings to us. they are generally very nice. the kids love shouting 'toubab!' at us, which means foreigner. the kids always want to touch our hands.
so, so far so good. lots of language training to do and lots of agroforestry learning to do. it will be hard work but also very rewarding. I like it here and think that i will have a nice, enlightening two year here.
until next time!
oh and sorry this is so bland.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Just the Start
Well I've left my old life behind and am beginning a new one. There is only one thing in my life that I left behind that is causing pain.
I'm in Philly. I would try to spell out the name of the city but I don't know how to spell it and don't want to seem stupid. I arrived yesterday at about 5:00pm. I checked into my hotel and showered, then met my roommate, who was also an early arrival. Her name is Michelle. She seems nice. . I think she will make a great volunteer.
Last night her and i wandered and found a nice place to eat a philly cheese steak sandwich. It was delicious, which is strange because I haven't enjoyed meat all summer.
Today I wandered the city alone in the morning which was quite refreshing. I passed a few parks in search of a place to copy some photos. After I succeeded I went back to a park and ate breakfast and wrote in my journal. I like writing, I hope to do it a lot in these next two years.
Training calss today was fun. There are about 40 people in the group. Most are white, most are in lower to mid 20's. 60/40 male/female. A lot of eclectic people and I think there are a few that are gay.
I can't wait to learn more
So, tomorrow is the last day of class.
The following day we get a bunch of shots and then head off to senegal, where the real adventure begins.
Later.
Sheila
I'm in Philly. I would try to spell out the name of the city but I don't know how to spell it and don't want to seem stupid. I arrived yesterday at about 5:00pm. I checked into my hotel and showered, then met my roommate, who was also an early arrival. Her name is Michelle. She seems nice. . I think she will make a great volunteer.
Last night her and i wandered and found a nice place to eat a philly cheese steak sandwich. It was delicious, which is strange because I haven't enjoyed meat all summer.
Today I wandered the city alone in the morning which was quite refreshing. I passed a few parks in search of a place to copy some photos. After I succeeded I went back to a park and ate breakfast and wrote in my journal. I like writing, I hope to do it a lot in these next two years.
Training calss today was fun. There are about 40 people in the group. Most are white, most are in lower to mid 20's. 60/40 male/female. A lot of eclectic people and I think there are a few that are gay.
I can't wait to learn more
So, tomorrow is the last day of class.
Publish Post
Later.
Sheila
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
4 days until departure.
Hi It's Sheila.
I finally got around to creating my blog 4 days before departure. That is better than never, right? People have been asking about how they will know what I'm up to in Africa and I've gone over several options, finally landing on the blog thing.
I chose to write a blog for several reasons. The most superficial reason, perhaps, is because thats what people DO these days! Everyone who is anyone has a blog, correct? Maybe I want to get in on the fun. Another reason is that, well, if you think about it hard enough, having a blog about throwing all familiarities away and living in another country for two years just seems kinda cool. There will be lots of things to say. I can write whatever I want, whenever I want and if people want to read it they can, and if not, they don't have to. I won't fill your inboxes with useless rambling and cultural misunderstandings. I'm not like a traveling saleman trying to sell you my life story. I'd much rather be a periodical that you have decided go to a bookstore to get because you want to hear the latest scoop.
So, log on once in a while. Maybe there will be a new post, maybe there won't. Maybe I will get a routine on writing, maybe I won't. But do know this, I will post and I will try to keep it interesting! Of course I welcome questions and comments of any kind, whether posted on my blog of sent to my personal email.
So I have 4 days until I leave. I'm not ready at all, I've been too busy with life. I know I will be ready though, so have faith in me. Now where is my "to do list..."
I finally got around to creating my blog 4 days before departure. That is better than never, right? People have been asking about how they will know what I'm up to in Africa and I've gone over several options, finally landing on the blog thing.
I chose to write a blog for several reasons. The most superficial reason, perhaps, is because thats what people DO these days! Everyone who is anyone has a blog, correct? Maybe I want to get in on the fun. Another reason is that, well, if you think about it hard enough, having a blog about throwing all familiarities away and living in another country for two years just seems kinda cool. There will be lots of things to say. I can write whatever I want, whenever I want and if people want to read it they can, and if not, they don't have to. I won't fill your inboxes with useless rambling and cultural misunderstandings. I'm not like a traveling saleman trying to sell you my life story. I'd much rather be a periodical that you have decided go to a bookstore to get because you want to hear the latest scoop.
So, log on once in a while. Maybe there will be a new post, maybe there won't. Maybe I will get a routine on writing, maybe I won't. But do know this, I will post and I will try to keep it interesting! Of course I welcome questions and comments of any kind, whether posted on my blog of sent to my personal email.
So I have 4 days until I leave. I'm not ready at all, I've been too busy with life. I know I will be ready though, so have faith in me. Now where is my "to do list..."
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