New Years

A whirlwind of plans and unexpected events led Brent and I to Dakar to spend New Years. We managed to get a ride from Kolda to Tamba in a Peace Corps car (since an regional director, Pape unexpectedly stopped by), and took an uncomfortable overnight bus to the city the very same day. Dakar is alright (I have not spent much time there and certainly do not know the ins and outs of the city) although you must take taxis to get around, and since the Senegalese decided to stage a transportation strike due to increasing gas prices Jan 2-4, it made it difficult to do anything and I literally felt trapped. Fortunately, a fuk e jiy (used clothing market) was within walking distance and I found my "costume" for WAIST (West African Invitational Softball Tournament, following the Senegal Gender and Development and West Africa all volunteer conferences January 11-13), an Athletics jersey for TambaGou's "baseball" theme, along a few other things. We stayed at the regional house in the city, Liberte 6, and were in the company of many other volunteers while there. The day before we met up at a friend's apartment to make dinner (preceded by appetizers), which reminded me how much I like to cook and entertain! It was really low key but pleasant.

For New Years we were invited to house hop expat's homes with some volunteers and Marines before we all ended up at a field by the water to light off fireworks. The house hopping was really fun (it was really interesting to see the living standards of expats e.g. American lifestyle and amenities despite being in Senegal), as each house had a theme (Mexican, Mardi Gras, Italian, and the last was supposed to be "Frat," but they decided not to do it). We gathered more people at each stop and were transported by two Alhums. Fireworks were impressive but when people left to go out, we just went back home. We resided in Dakar until we were able to travel and headed down to Koalack to go to Brent's site for a couple days since by the time I would make it to Kedougou, I would have to come right back up for conferences.

In order to get to his site, once we arrived in Koalack, we went to the garage to wait for a mini bus to Guinguineo to fill up. At the garage, we ran into Caitlin, from our stage, which was really nice because I was supposed to see her over New Years but due to changing plans, didn't. Once in Guinguineo, we took a seret, cart pulled by either three donkeys or a horse, for another half an hour to his village. It was really nice being back in a village, but frustrating because we didn't share the same language (although there were the few people who knew Pular greetings which were nice and familiar). We walked out to the Master Farm one day, but other than that, just spent a lot of time with his family and greeting people. I forgot how much I like being up north for the "cheb yu gin" (fish, rice, carrot, cabbage, potato, and bitter tomato dish); it is so much more filling than my lunches down in Kedougou (either rice or corn couscous with some type of sauce, typically peanut or okra). Once back in Koalack, I went to the tailor to get alterations on a dress I had made for "Prom" being held during WAIST (quite 90's, and rather fabulous). Details soon to come!