me & me

Bye

Now I'm really leaving. No more excuses. I have to get three tree nurseries started this week. 

I've got antibiotics, gauze, etc ... I'm prepared for anything. I even have TAMIFLU, should the swine flu find me. Highly unlikely. When they passed that out they said it was in case of a bird flu outbreak. Pigs seem hardier than birds.

Wish me luck.

fish hooks

My plans hit a snag. Instead of going back to village I went to the hospital to get stitches in my leg. There's nothing exciting or remarkable about the injury, I sliced it on a metal chest I was walking by.

I was able to get the stitches here in Kolda and the Peace Corps Doctor, Ararat, was great, calling the Senegalese doctor so he would meet me at the hospital. Of course, he and I tried to meet each other at two different places, but that didn't take long to sort out.

The doctor didn't actually take care of me himself, Nurse Penda did that, but he was there making sure everything used on me was sterilized (I got special treatment). That was fine and Dr. Ararat facilitated the whole thing so I didn't run into any problems.

Now, Nurse Penda was a nice lady, but I have unhooked fish with more gentleness than she used on my shin. Also, cosmetics aren't a concern, so the stitches were sort of far apart.

Heck, I'll just show you. I made Nate take pictures.

She was liberal with the anesthetic, so I'm still not feeling a thing. Her technique was uncomfortable to watch. (Not her fault I'm a wimp and went to the hospital instead of just wrapping the injury.) It was also wonderfully disgusting, and it's such a shame Grayson wasn't there to gross out with my injury.

I'm pretty sure no one is going to wipe the blood off that mattress.

I'm a liar

I'm planning to go back to the village tomorrow night, so I guess I won't be writing those updates like I planned. Tell you what, I'll try and resume my periodic blogging in my hut, BUT I'm making no promises.

Life has been busy lately. I am getting up at 5 every morning to study for my GREs (very out-of character for me). Then I go on my walk. After that I have to sweep my hut (that has to be done daily) and after that I am off to my schools.

My library has finally opened and it's a huge hit. Of course, we'll see this week if anyone actually returns any books, but so far students have been very excited. So excited in fact that once a student comes in I have to yell at people to give them room so they can get out. It's a small room. Only two students are allowed in at a time (it's a very small room, ok?) and the crush in the doorway looks painful.

I am going back to my village tomorrow night so I can open the library on Wednesday morning. I also have three tree nurseries to prep this week, so think good thoughts.

The few days in Kolda have been nice. The three newest volunteers arrived, and I think they are excited about their sites. We were shopping for things they will need in village and I bought a belt that says "USA OBAMA" along it, with an Obama hologram on the buckle. I never would have bought this on my own, but a few of us were just sitting in the market, waiting for the excursion to wrap up and another volunteer kept saying "I'm very tempted," so I just got up and bought it for myself (gave him peace of mind, I think). I needed a belt anyway.

P.S. I am taking the GRE in Barcelona. It's super expensive, but practical (long, uninteresting story) and extra incentive to study. Do well on the GREs, enjoy the rest of my vacation. If I do badly ... well, let's not think that way.

I'm alive

That's in response to Jackie's email. I am alive everyone.

Julie sent me a text this week asking where I was, so I guess I have been absent. I've been in my village and at the time of that particular text I was sweating in a classroom. The room had walls made out of corn stalks. I was there to attend a middle school club meeting. I just wanted to see if they would be interested in planting some trees, but they were holding board elections.

The heat had me dozing, but I jerked to attention when I realized someone had just nominated me for the position of secretary. I could not and did not want to be secretary, but it did start me wondering why anyone would want that position.

When I was in school kids ran for club office positions because it would look good on their college applications. The president of my school's Key Club was also our valedictorian and went to Dartmouth (or was it Cornell?). I was not a member of Key Club and ended up at a state school. You see the connection, right?

I don't know what motivates these kids. There's no Dartmouth to aim for, and anyone sitting for an exam this year will probably fail anyway because the teachers were on strike most of the year. Heck, school's over in a month and they just met for the first time, hence the elections. Students here get a bad deal.

.... enough depressing stuff. I'll write more later about the witch doctors, family battles, etc... Right now I'm going to get some chicken.

P.S. I made my pitch for the tree nursery and could see the kids mulling it over. If I were in their position I would have voted it down (it's 110 degrees in the SHADE for God's sake), but my cause got a real boost when a teacher stood up and announced anyone who plants a tree "gets to go to Heaven."

Yup, that's a direct quote. Not to be outdone, another teacher announced planting one tree saves 1,000 lives.

So we're doing a tree nursery.

P.P.S. A roach just crawled out of my drink cup and onto my face. Gross.

camels

I'm back from the camel riding trip in honor of Maggie's birthday. I had a really good time and Dakar was exhausting, but fun.

We got a car for home at midnight and were back in Kolda by 10:30 this morning. I don't have any blog posts planned (I have to study for my GREs), and I am going back to the village tomorrow. I did post some camel pictures, but I never seem to take a lot of photos and I haven't stolen Maggie's yet.

I could write a lot more here about the trip, but I'm tired of blogging.

I lost my window

I had a lot of good posts that I didn't write down at the time, and now I can't remember them. In all fairness, I had a bad week. I was really excited to go back to the village and when I got home I found out my hut was broken into. Again.

I walked into my compound and after the greetings Bala said "you forgot to lock your back door when you left."

I hadn't, of course, and he went with me to check my hut. Surprise, surprise! Someone had come in through my window, ransacking my hut and apparently dancing on my mattress, leaving dirty footprints all over it. Nothing too important was missing, so I won't go into details.

I'm mostly mad at my family for not making any effort to contact me and say "Hawa, your hut's standing open."

Obviously they knew there was another burglary. But whatever, it's done and now I have metal shutters and new locks (again). The highlight of the whole experience was Bala examining the mattress and a few days later announcing, "Hawa, I know those feet."

Here's Inspector Bala for those of you that don't know him.

I arranged the hut repairs on my own (again) and Bala stopped by to admire my new metal shutters, marveling that I got to the repairs before he had a chance. That's when he revealed that he recognized the footprints. I didn't say anything but sort of glared at him and he was gearing up cry again - I've come to recognize the signs - when Kelly called and saved me.

The good thing about the shutters is they have horizontal slats, like blinds, and now people can no longer spy on me at night.