Well, I'm finally going to head back to my village this afternoon. I've been at the Kolda regional house for a few days, waiting on my diarrhea to go away. I bought supplies today, and I'm going to try to fix spaghetti and salad for my family for dinner tonight (or tomorrow, depending on when I get back). Their previous volunteers made them spaghetti, and it was a big hit - they keep asking me when I'm going to fix it, and I figure now's a good time, since I need to ingratiate myself a little after being gone so long.
I finally got most of my pictures up on a site for you to see - the address is http://diatoudiamanka.shutterfly.com. Hope you like them! I don't pretend to be any sort of photographer.
Love you all! Until next time. (Hopefully I'll stay a while in the village this time.)
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
2010 Begins
And hopefully these first few days aren't indicative of what's to come. I've been really sick for the past three days or so with another GI ailment, complete with high fever, chills, and splitting headache at times (diarrhea's a given). Still haven't made it back to Kolda after travelling to St. Louis for New Year's Eve (I'm holed up in the Kaolack region's PC house, mid-way between St. Louis and Kolda), which was it's own sort of fiasco, but ultimately a very enjoyable one.
First of all I was borrowing money from friends most of the time because I failed to take into account that banks would be closed for New Year's, as well as the weekend that came directly after, and I haven't gotten my Senegalese ATM card yet.
Second, I made it to the New Year's Eve party my stage-mates had planned as it was underway, because my travel companion, Martin (quite a character), was mistaken about what day it was. He arrived at the Kolda house the evening of the 30th, thinking it was the 29th, and we didn't leave until the morning of the 31st. But we got there after all, and it was a thoroughly festive night, at a beachside inn with a pretty big group of us.
I just spent a couple of days there, but from what I saw, St. Louis is a lovely city (by Senegalese standards). Lots of tourism means there are plenty of decent restaurants and hotels, and stores with interesting crafts. We ate at a deliciuos Moroccan place one night. St. Louis is the art capital of Senegal, and has a yearly jazz festival and lots of art for sale. The city consists of the mainland, an island (the main tourist area), and a smaller island called the 'hydrobase', which is where our hotel was. Lots of fishing (really beautifully painted wooden boats!) and fishmongering takes place there.
So, after getting out at the Kaolack garage Sunday afternoon to transfer to a car to Kolda, but finding that they only have one at 5 am every day, I was lucky enough to find a cab driver who knew how to get me to the PC house here (because I sure don't know Kaolack at all). He then promised to have another driver come pick me up at 4:30 the next morning, but he never showed up. However, since I ended up getting too sick over the course of the night to go go home, that worked out just fine.
End of the story is - in between bouts of feeling absolutely dreadful these past few days, there have been a lot of people I know in and out of the house and it's been kind of fun. I sure feel guilty for being away from my site for so long, though... But it can't be helped. Hope they're still watering my tomatoes and cabbages, and maybe the demo-plot fence will be up when I get back.
Love you all, and I hope you've had a great start to your new year!
First of all I was borrowing money from friends most of the time because I failed to take into account that banks would be closed for New Year's, as well as the weekend that came directly after, and I haven't gotten my Senegalese ATM card yet.
Second, I made it to the New Year's Eve party my stage-mates had planned as it was underway, because my travel companion, Martin (quite a character), was mistaken about what day it was. He arrived at the Kolda house the evening of the 30th, thinking it was the 29th, and we didn't leave until the morning of the 31st. But we got there after all, and it was a thoroughly festive night, at a beachside inn with a pretty big group of us.
I just spent a couple of days there, but from what I saw, St. Louis is a lovely city (by Senegalese standards). Lots of tourism means there are plenty of decent restaurants and hotels, and stores with interesting crafts. We ate at a deliciuos Moroccan place one night. St. Louis is the art capital of Senegal, and has a yearly jazz festival and lots of art for sale. The city consists of the mainland, an island (the main tourist area), and a smaller island called the 'hydrobase', which is where our hotel was. Lots of fishing (really beautifully painted wooden boats!) and fishmongering takes place there.
So, after getting out at the Kaolack garage Sunday afternoon to transfer to a car to Kolda, but finding that they only have one at 5 am every day, I was lucky enough to find a cab driver who knew how to get me to the PC house here (because I sure don't know Kaolack at all). He then promised to have another driver come pick me up at 4:30 the next morning, but he never showed up. However, since I ended up getting too sick over the course of the night to go go home, that worked out just fine.
End of the story is - in between bouts of feeling absolutely dreadful these past few days, there have been a lot of people I know in and out of the house and it's been kind of fun. I sure feel guilty for being away from my site for so long, though... But it can't be helped. Hope they're still watering my tomatoes and cabbages, and maybe the demo-plot fence will be up when I get back.
Love you all, and I hope you've had a great start to your new year!
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