Today was a sad day because I left my home stay family, who I have come to love. It is a bittersweet feeling because I am happy for the end of training but I wish I could just live with my family for two years. I will get back to today though. First, I need to back up about a week.....
I had my first experience with sickness in Senegal. During volunteer visit I drank some unfiltered water for the day that we spent with my family and my stomach didn't like it. However, I just had an upset stomach whereas some of my friends have gotten really sick. A couple people have had amoebas, one girl had to be hospitalized for a couple days.
We got to go to a cool drumming/dance party at one of the schools in Tivaouane. We also took a field trip to one of my friends permanent site and met some spanish farmers. Then went to lunch in Thies and ran into some americans! Small world. My friends new mom also gave us like 20 melons from these farmers when we left. They were delicious.
So I think my mom thinks I am a strange girl, she loves me but thinks I"m funny because I am not a typical senegalese woman. I don't know how to cook and she was doing some ironing today and asked me if I was going to help and I said I don't really do my own ironing. She was really surprised and asked who did my ironing and I said that my mom in the U.S. does my ironing because I'm her baby. She just laughed at me and I helped her with the ironing the next day. This was also an interesting day because that morning there was a guy that walked past our house that knew my mom and they were talking and then he was turned to me and was like I miss you we can get married. I was just getting up to leave and my mom was like he's crazy. lol. Then on my walk to class I was stopped by another guy that told me in english that he loves me and I'm a nice girl. Then later that day I walked past the first man and he asked if I wanted a boyfriend and I accidentally said yes but he realized it and it has just become a joke between us. :-)
The next day was a huge wrestling match between Yikini and Balla Gaye 2. My mom, oldest and youngest brother wanted Yikini to win but my middle brother wanted Balla Gaye to win. If you don't know what Senegalese wrestling is you should look it up, it's kinda funny to watch. But so Balla Gaye wins and the city just goes nuts! My brothers run out into the streets and I go outside and my mom was like I'm so sad! and so I walked to the main road with my neighbor and there were a ton of people running through the streets chanting balla gaye. Then that night there was a heated discussion about Yikini and Balla Gaye and how Yikini still has the better record. There was a friend of ours there, Moussa, that was in on the discussion. So Moussa talks fast for me in the first place but when they were all getting excited he talked even faster and I couldn't follow the conversation. I love hanging out with him and my brothers though, they are hilarious. My middle brother, Omar, is 16 and the funniest ever. I also explained to my mom where in the U.S. Wisconsin is and how states compare to regions here and about Eau Claire. So the rest of the night she walked around and would randomly say Wisconsin. lol. I love her.
We have to get Senegalese outfits made for our swearing in ceremony, so we went to do that with my friends mom. At the fabric shop they first gave me a pink fabric that I almost got but then my friends saved me and told me it would have looked like Malibu Barbie meets Africa. lol. So I got this pretty light blue fabric. We then went to the tailor and tried to explain what we wanted. It was interesting but worked because they turned out beautiful!! I will put pictures up of our swearing in on friday when we wear them.
So I finally put a baby on my back the way the Senegalese women do and my mom loved it! all the women loved it. We then had our counterpart workshop at the center for a couple days. Our counterparts are the people that we will be working with in our communities. They will also be the ones to help us integrate and meet people. My counterparts are my ICP and a matron at the Poste de Sante. My ICP is great. He seems really excited about everything and can't wait to have me there. At the end of the workshop we had a soccer game between the trainees and the counterparts/LCFs. It was so much fun. I also realized how out of shape I am.
We then went to Dakar to meet some Embassy people and get our residency permits. Dakar is like a magical place compared to the rest of Senegal. It's crazy. Then we got to go to Popengine for a beach weekend!!! It was so much fun. We rented houses on the beach and it was beautiful. There were cliffs but it was too shallow for cliff jumping. :-( But I got to swim in the ocean and lay in the sun for two days!! So now I have a good tan going. Omar told me the other night that after living in linguere for two years I am going to look like him from all the sun and heat. lol. love that boy.
Yesterday was so hot!! and my family all day kept saying it was hot and then they would turn to me and got but it is even hotter in linguere and you have to go live there. lol. Also, this is how funny Omar is....I was hanging out outside with him, my other brother, moussa, and some more friends. Moussa has a crush on me and we were standing together and Omar comes over and says Moussa! Fataw doesn't want a Senegalese husband, she wants a Toubab husband so just forget about it. hahaha. He watches out for me.
I had to go around to my neighbors last night with Omar and Moussa to say goodbye and everyone told me that I need to stay here and why do I want to go to linguere, it's too hot there. I want to stay with my family so much! Today I picked up a new outfit from the tailor. Well actually what happened was my mom took me to her tailor to be measured and then she bought me fabric and is having a dress made for me!! It's crazy. and So we stopped at my tailor to pick up my outfit that he had been making and it wasn't ready yet. So I said I would come back later but I got caught up taking pictures with my family and carrying the most adorable baby around all afternoon. So he showed up at my house with our clothes! I was so surprised. and my family loved the outfit and told me I am senegalese now. :-) I also got a bracelet from my mother and then Omar gave me a necklace. Then my oldest brother Youssu saw and so he had to give me something too....not to be out done by omar so I got another necklace from him too. I love my family and was so sad to leave. Everyone gave me a hug goodbye and my mom started crying which made me cry and I just didn't want to leave. I think I was really lucky to have such a great family because a lot of my friends did not have good experiences with their home stay families. They told me I have to come back and visit and call all the time. I think I have already decided that I'm going to visit every other month hopefully. It was a sad day. On the upside, I get to see my mom on thursday because we have a party for our families before we swear in. I can't wait to see her!! I love my family so much.....almost as much as my real family.
I had my first experience with sickness in Senegal. During volunteer visit I drank some unfiltered water for the day that we spent with my family and my stomach didn't like it. However, I just had an upset stomach whereas some of my friends have gotten really sick. A couple people have had amoebas, one girl had to be hospitalized for a couple days.
We got to go to a cool drumming/dance party at one of the schools in Tivaouane. We also took a field trip to one of my friends permanent site and met some spanish farmers. Then went to lunch in Thies and ran into some americans! Small world. My friends new mom also gave us like 20 melons from these farmers when we left. They were delicious.
So I think my mom thinks I am a strange girl, she loves me but thinks I"m funny because I am not a typical senegalese woman. I don't know how to cook and she was doing some ironing today and asked me if I was going to help and I said I don't really do my own ironing. She was really surprised and asked who did my ironing and I said that my mom in the U.S. does my ironing because I'm her baby. She just laughed at me and I helped her with the ironing the next day. This was also an interesting day because that morning there was a guy that walked past our house that knew my mom and they were talking and then he was turned to me and was like I miss you we can get married. I was just getting up to leave and my mom was like he's crazy. lol. Then on my walk to class I was stopped by another guy that told me in english that he loves me and I'm a nice girl. Then later that day I walked past the first man and he asked if I wanted a boyfriend and I accidentally said yes but he realized it and it has just become a joke between us. :-)
The next day was a huge wrestling match between Yikini and Balla Gaye 2. My mom, oldest and youngest brother wanted Yikini to win but my middle brother wanted Balla Gaye to win. If you don't know what Senegalese wrestling is you should look it up, it's kinda funny to watch. But so Balla Gaye wins and the city just goes nuts! My brothers run out into the streets and I go outside and my mom was like I'm so sad! and so I walked to the main road with my neighbor and there were a ton of people running through the streets chanting balla gaye. Then that night there was a heated discussion about Yikini and Balla Gaye and how Yikini still has the better record. There was a friend of ours there, Moussa, that was in on the discussion. So Moussa talks fast for me in the first place but when they were all getting excited he talked even faster and I couldn't follow the conversation. I love hanging out with him and my brothers though, they are hilarious. My middle brother, Omar, is 16 and the funniest ever. I also explained to my mom where in the U.S. Wisconsin is and how states compare to regions here and about Eau Claire. So the rest of the night she walked around and would randomly say Wisconsin. lol. I love her.
We have to get Senegalese outfits made for our swearing in ceremony, so we went to do that with my friends mom. At the fabric shop they first gave me a pink fabric that I almost got but then my friends saved me and told me it would have looked like Malibu Barbie meets Africa. lol. So I got this pretty light blue fabric. We then went to the tailor and tried to explain what we wanted. It was interesting but worked because they turned out beautiful!! I will put pictures up of our swearing in on friday when we wear them.
So I finally put a baby on my back the way the Senegalese women do and my mom loved it! all the women loved it. We then had our counterpart workshop at the center for a couple days. Our counterparts are the people that we will be working with in our communities. They will also be the ones to help us integrate and meet people. My counterparts are my ICP and a matron at the Poste de Sante. My ICP is great. He seems really excited about everything and can't wait to have me there. At the end of the workshop we had a soccer game between the trainees and the counterparts/LCFs. It was so much fun. I also realized how out of shape I am.
We then went to Dakar to meet some Embassy people and get our residency permits. Dakar is like a magical place compared to the rest of Senegal. It's crazy. Then we got to go to Popengine for a beach weekend!!! It was so much fun. We rented houses on the beach and it was beautiful. There were cliffs but it was too shallow for cliff jumping. :-( But I got to swim in the ocean and lay in the sun for two days!! So now I have a good tan going. Omar told me the other night that after living in linguere for two years I am going to look like him from all the sun and heat. lol. love that boy.
Yesterday was so hot!! and my family all day kept saying it was hot and then they would turn to me and got but it is even hotter in linguere and you have to go live there. lol. Also, this is how funny Omar is....I was hanging out outside with him, my other brother, moussa, and some more friends. Moussa has a crush on me and we were standing together and Omar comes over and says Moussa! Fataw doesn't want a Senegalese husband, she wants a Toubab husband so just forget about it. hahaha. He watches out for me.
 |
| My wonderful brother Omar |
 |
| Omar, Muhamed, Abdul, and Youssu |
No comments:
Post a Comment