A brand new update direct from the Hut!
Its around 8:30pm and things are winding down for the day here in Patar Lia. The evening call to prayer is coming in a few minutes and we'll be having dinner (birdseed with a sauce of weeds and peanuts!) before everyone falls asleep outside. Its too hot to sleep inside, or do pretty much anything after 10 am...which means a lot of time to sit under trees, sip tea and talk about life. Today the conversations ranged from gossiping about a lover's tryst during the latest health worker training, music star style, and infant nutrition – you can guess which topic I introduced! The rainy season brings mosquitoes, farming, and the end of the school year. With the schools closed and the kids out in the fields along with their parents I haven't got a whole lot of environmental educating to do. Luckily I'm well prepared this year to fill the time and we're off to a GREAT start with the Sokone girls leadership camp and my most recent adventure, a 233km bike trip through the biggest national park in Senegal from Tamba to Kedegou for the annual PC 4th of July party!
Just as the school are winding down several volunteers came together with a 27 especially academically gifted, motivated and financially challenged middle school girls for a week of fun, leadership training, and mutual education in Sokone. These girls were all participants in the Michelle Sylvester Scholarship program run by SeneGAD and came from a few different towns in the region. The camp was years in the making, but will hopefully turn into an annual event. This was a huge deal for everyone involved, girls without much experience outside their family compounds and volunteers who've never worked with each other, or more importantly with a gregarious group of 27 middle school girls! The whole group of girls, volunteers and teachers invaded a small community campground set in the middle of the mangroves outside of Sokone. There were swimming lessons and a tug-o-war but also sessions on career goals and women's health and sexuality. There was collage making and honey facials followed by aerobics and nutrition lessons with lots of donut samples! We also visited to a sea-shell island of sacred baobabs, where I got wandered off, got lost, and was forced to swim around to where everyone was waited with the boats! The whole experience has really opened my eyes to the great work that can be done in big groups, and how much more fun it is to do big projects in a beautiful area with all your friends and a place to go swimming!
After the camp I was back at site for only a few days before heading out again for an EPIC bike trip! It was an incredible experience, a combination of super outdoorsy working out, great friends, breathtaking scenery and even some animal sightings! I'm so proud that we made it the whole way and the fun we had along the way only added to the AMAZING feeling of rolling into the peace corps house in Kedegou at dusk the night before the party...and letting everyone know exactly where'd we been coming from!
The trip started out with my friend April meeting me at the Kaolack regional house to plan and and prepare for our trek. Mom's amazing care package of under armor gear, letters of encouragement and s'more supplies couldn't been better timed and we left early the next morning for Tamba. The 5 hour car ride to Tamba used to be the worst in the country but apparently the entire infrastructure budget went to repaving that stretch of road this year and we arrived at the next peace corps regional house early and in great spirits. We met up with three other volunteers from Kolda, Amanda, Ana, and Maya and headed down to the market to pick up last minute supplies. Plastic sheeting since the rains had started a little early, lots of bottled water and most importantly 5 matching fake flowers to decorate our beautiful PC issue bikes! We made it back to the house for a pasta party a la CBW girls soccer and tried to make it an early night. The exciting world cup game and thunderstorms didn't exactly fit into our plan, but at 7 am we were on the road!
We rode straight through beautiful countryside and farmlands greeting everyone with the traditional Pulaar “Adjarama” or thank you. In this part of the country the majority ethnic group is the Pulaars and they greet by literally thanking you for your work or presence. We stopped after a few hours to have breakfast in a small town called Mako where I sat down next to a PCV from the most recent training group and didn't even notice I was so excited for my bean sandwich! He and his nearest neighbor had met up at their weekly market and we were lucky enough to get insider information on the area and advice for the next leg of our trip. Their advice was basically one word - Wassadou – a eco-tourism project a few hours further up the road. Set on a beautiful curving bend of the Gambia River this rustic hotel offered us hammocks, showers and free clean drinking water for the entire afternoon and all we did was buy a few drinks! They were so welcoming and so excited to have guests, since the rainy season means even fewer tourists making the trip all the way down south, especially guests that speak local languages! We waited out the hottest part of the day sipping beers in hammocks at Wassadou and snacking on imported (thanks to the diplomatic pouch!) beef jerky, dried fruit and granola!
As it started to cool down, you know only a 100 or so, we left Wassadou behind and continued along to the entrance of the park at Dar-a-Salaam. We stopped by the first guard post to be our charming selves for the military men in charge before entering the only camp in town. Lucky for us the community run eco-hotel was perfectly suited for our needs and budget, or lack thereof! The no nonsense pulaar mama who was in charge had just finished bartering for our confusing room demands (with 3 beds for 5 people?!) and even more ridiculous dinner request (you want pasta, with vegetables, delivered to your room, with utensils?! No birdseed? Are you sure?!) when the skies opened up an it downpoured! We were sort of prepared with tents and tarps but the room service spaghetti and dry mattresses made the slumber party a lot more fun, and the spirits the next morning a million times higher.
The next day we were only aiming to make about 60 kilometers but we still started early since we wanted to get to our stopping point before the 'hot' part of the day. We had a lot of fun passing through more small villages and getting stopped at a police check point ( yes, yes, we know its a long way through the park... yes ,yes we'd like to bike...yes, yes, we know its hot.) The Nikolo guard post is about halfway through the park and where we decided to spend the night. Although its not exactly permitted, encouraged, or normal we'd figured it'd be a great way to break up the biking and spend more time in the park! Upon arriving we were met by a few guards who immediately exclaimed over our sweatiness and started to tell us how terribly worried they'd all been! Apparently the guards at the first station had called over to say we were coming and the guys had been concerned about what was taking so long! They were so hospitable and excited to have guests – I'm sure they don't get many being 50 km from the nearest village, especially not 5 foreign girls who ask right off the bat to spend the night!
We were waited on all day military in full uniform (cameo print shorts and a top without sleeves or sides?) but seriously an achievement for gender work here in Senegal. The guys made us lunch and dinner and helped us pull water to shower – things I've never seen a man do here, especially not for a perfectly able woman. Later on we went for a hike around the area and down by the river where we saw baboons, monkeys, warthogs and crocodiles! The monkeys managed to overrun the camp and stole any food that wasn't totally secured. What we lost in bean sandwiches and sour fruits we made up for in pictures! Later that evening we were wandering around an open field trying to get close to the antelopes when our favorite guard, Babacar, comes running over with his gun in hand and yelling for us to come quickly! He says that he just heard a lion and that we've got to get back to camp immediately, either a close call or a clever trick to get us all around the campfire a little earlier than expected! We hung out with the guys until late, trading stories and jokes (Niki limu waxee moom - That's what she said!) and making s'mores! They weren't quite as into them as we were but definitely appreciative all the same, and that meant more for us! We set up our tents in a lean to with the guards and drifted off to the sounds of baboons and birds not at all in the distance.
Before the sun came up we crawled out of bed to go on a lion spotting mission. 5 girls in short shorts and flip flops tip toeing along in the hopes of seeing a man eating lion! Between forest noises, the early morning mist and our own sillyness we managed to freak ourselves out of hunting to hard, but we did see more crocs before packing up our bikes and saying ba beenen to our wonderful hosts. This was definitely the hardest day for biking with lots to go and seriously hilly terrain. We worked our way up and down to the beats of girl talk and lady gaga, making it through even with the gears at 1/1! That first village after the part brought more bean sandwiches and another beautiful eco-tourism project to beat the afternoon heat. We took a dip in the Gambia river, keeping an eye out for hippos, and rested before tackling the last leg of our journey to Kedegou.
That last few hours were some of the best, except for our first and only blown tire. The sunset call to prayer echoed from a dozen different mosques as we entered the city limits and made our way the regional house. Just one cold beer later and we were all fairly inebriated (thanks dehydration/exhastion/elation!) and happy to have arrived. The rest of the time in Kedegou was a blur of pool partying, seeing tons of friends, hiking to gorgeous mountain tops, dancing under the fireworks (again imported via the diplomatic pouch?) and floating down the River Gambia. It was a great way to kick off my own summer vacation and a well deserved break after the end of school year rush and Sokone girls leadership camp.
So this is turning to the longest email I've sent in over a year but I guess I'm just feeling inspired to tell you all about the exciting things happening here in Senegal/having brought my computer to the village means I have an awful lot more time to write things out! Well that is until the battery dies...
Anyways that's about everything exciting up until now but there is SO much good stuff to come! I'm leaving to go up to IST, the second training seminar for the newest group of volunteers, where I'll be talking to them about visual aides and also the recycled paper briquette press I've been working on. When I get back to the village its time to plant a few hundred tree seedlings and then head up to Dakar to pick up Sarah! Both my younger siblings are being a pair of freaking rockstars and making the trip to visit their big sis here in Africa for a few weeks! They'll be spending time separately in the villages with an overlap in the middle during which I expect we'll tear the Dakar party scene to pieces, ride camels and sleep under the stars in the middle of the desert and generally have the most amazing time ever. Sarah will spend a few days in the village with me before we head up to pick up Steven and then after Sarah leaves Steve and I will head down to Patar for a few days of village life. I'm beyond excited and expect the worlds most massive email following the insanity I'm sure will ensue in the next few weeks before the start of Ramadan and the end of food/rain/fun as we know it in the village.
Until next time and lots of love!
And please send me some updates! I know you guys are taking vacations, having delicious BBQs and going to concerts that I would kill to see! Let me know what's going on at home...you're computer isn't attracting every bug in a three kilometer radius and that means you can type me an email too! <3 <3 <3
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Sunday, May 24, 2009
On being an invasive species in the desert
Evolution here is counter-intuitive. If you're too hot to function, the obvious choice is to boil tea for 20 minutes and drink it from glasses without handles, wear pagnes that reach your ankles, and work just a little bit harder during the season where it goes months without raining.
Since my last update a few things have changed...most notably my location: I now live in the village and will be moving into my hut soon (inchalla as in G-d willing and the workmen finishing something like a month late and before the rains come!!) Patar is pretty amazing and the people have really opened up their hearts and homes, honestly treating me like a daughter of the entire village. They just go out of their way to make sure I know the ropes like a local...no small task considering my excellent sense of direction and innate ability to remember names, relationships, and important community positions.
Now for story time:
1.As of about 1 month ago I'm an official Peace Corps Volunteer!! We had our swearing-in at the American Ambassador's gorgeous palace-like residence and although it was basically commencement all over again (except in French, Wolof and Pulaar!) the feeling of finally being done training was just about as amazing as those last few hours in Gosman. Afterwards we filled out mountains of paperwork, got back cards, and headed to the American Club some pool time fun, although a kickball tournament and river boat dance party would have been nice additions to the program!
2.I was welcomed into the Kaolack regional house community with a rice sack bag, our very own spoon, annnnnnd a scavenger hunt race! We tore through the market trying to buy used American clothing, fresh mint, a goat horn and Senegalese sex amulets (mine glows in the dark!!). The regional house is basically our home away from hut and mine has about 40 volunteers that share the western style kitchen, bathrooms, and kiddie pool! Its a magical place when you've been in the village for three straight weeks like I just spent and the other volunteers in your region are an incredible support network whether you've got a crazy fungus destroying your garden, really need to make tex-mex food, or want to commiserate on your host family's best intentioned attempts to make you eat the goat eyeballs at dinner last week!
3.The day after was supposed to be my official installation at my village site but I found out at the very last minute that my hut wasn't done! It was a really stressful day or two while Peace Corps Administration contemplated sending me to another site entirely (about 15hrs from the capital in the hottest part of the country!), packing me back up to the training center, or having me move in and sleep in the great wide open as a motivating prop for the slow-paced stone masons.
4.My installation was moved back a week, meaning I got to go to Dakar for the Women's Soccer Tournament and some super fun city time! After getting a free, air conditioned ride for me and my new puppy to the capital we made a quick stop at the vet before starting to check out all there is to offer in the almost western world of Dakar. I played touch football with some Marines stationed nearby and the other Peace Corps Volunteers and I somehow kept the score even until the very last minute...think every stereotype you know about Peace Corps Volunteers and Marines and just take a quick mental picture! We had a BBQ afterwards at the park which ends abruptly with a steep step down into the ocean and a breathtaking sunset view.
5.That same night I followed the Ladies Tourne '09 staff into Thies where the Semi-professional soccer teams would be spending the night before the big game the next day. It was a long ride out of the Capital and crazy to be back right next to the training center after only a few days away. It was a really fun night of meeting and greeting the teams, coaches, and even a Senegalese pop star! The tournament the next day was fantastic and coaching the girls clinic in the morning made me happier than most anything else I've done in country.
6.It was really nuts to be working in such a familiar setting but with a Senegalese twist...the ball and the drills were the same but we had a really tough time getting them to concentrate of the ball instead of dancing to the blasting drum beats. A game of head-catch got everyone interested and translated surprisingly well into Wolof. Then, instead of the standard pasta party fare we all crowded around bowls of rice and meat on the floor before watching the semi-pro teams play in the afternoon. I finished up a fun few days in Dakar with an international dance party, visit to the posh pool club for some super-competitive volleyball, and champagne pong!
7.I finally installed a few days later and even though my hut still wasn't done, the community came out in mass to greet me! The first few days at site were a whirlwind of meetings at the local government council, the health post, the middle school, and with all the Khalifa (VIPs!) of the community. My host family is pretty amazing and I'll be sure to write a lot more on them all soon...with lots of photos!
8.The local government seat is ridiculous...its probably the nicest office building I've ever seen with varnished conference tables and leather desk chairs, Internet and a gigantic scanner/copier/printer/possible time travel device that no one knows how to use. This is definitely an example of an NGO throwing too much money at the wrong problems and now we have some kind of clone of “The Office” where grown men play dress-up with second-hand briefcases and loafers to go with their traditional tribal dress and argue about authorization forms for markets that have no sanitation rules, events that are regulated by completely non-existent police forces, and committees that discuss the problems of communication between committees with other bodies not involved in the committees. Its funny to watch but mostly makes me sad when you realize there are a few more pressing issues that might have been dealt with first.
9.There was a HUGE weekend long party in honor of the end of the school year at the junior high with a quiz game show, wrestling tournament, and drum circle dance party...all at the same time! The line of what is and isn't culturally appropriate here is absurd...with showing your knees forbidden and pregnancy a completely taboo topic, while giving public lap dances to your teachers, wrestling in your underwear, and shaking your booty so hard your skirt falls off are totally acceptable and encouraged. I also ended up chaperoning the middle school dance which included watching 13-16 year old kids in the most racy outfits I've EVER seen light up cigarettes and dirty dance until 6 am...truth be told I'm not sure what rules exactly we were enforcing but it was entertaining as anything else and it seems like everyone had a great time!
10.I had my first baby weighing/nutrition demonstration! I made some special weight gain porridge type stuff and talked to about 100 mothers about breastfeeding, healthy food, and how to avoid malnutrition. Of all the kids we measured there were only a few significantly underweight and hopefully armed with this new info those kids will have improved significantly by next month's event! It was tough to talk in front of everyone (while cooking on an open fire!) but it seems like I got through to at least a few of the women and it definitely didn't hurt that I was giving away free samples to people who answered by questions correctly!
So that's about all I've got...I'll try to post again next time I leave my village with lots of pictures...especially now that I've let some of my new friends in the village braid my hair!
Until then, lots of love and hope to hear from you all soon!
And PS. NEW ADDRESS!!
“Stephanie Shumsky”
b.p. 325
Kaolack, Senegal
West Africa
Evolution here is counter-intuitive. If you're too hot to function, the obvious choice is to boil tea for 20 minutes and drink it from glasses without handles, wear pagnes that reach your ankles, and work just a little bit harder during the season where it goes months without raining.
Since my last update a few things have changed...most notably my location: I now live in the village and will be moving into my hut soon (inchalla as in G-d willing and the workmen finishing something like a month late and before the rains come!!) Patar is pretty amazing and the people have really opened up their hearts and homes, honestly treating me like a daughter of the entire village. They just go out of their way to make sure I know the ropes like a local...no small task considering my excellent sense of direction and innate ability to remember names, relationships, and important community positions.
Now for story time:
1.As of about 1 month ago I'm an official Peace Corps Volunteer!! We had our swearing-in at the American Ambassador's gorgeous palace-like residence and although it was basically commencement all over again (except in French, Wolof and Pulaar!) the feeling of finally being done training was just about as amazing as those last few hours in Gosman. Afterwards we filled out mountains of paperwork, got back cards, and headed to the American Club some pool time fun, although a kickball tournament and river boat dance party would have been nice additions to the program!
2.I was welcomed into the Kaolack regional house community with a rice sack bag, our very own spoon, annnnnnd a scavenger hunt race! We tore through the market trying to buy used American clothing, fresh mint, a goat horn and Senegalese sex amulets (mine glows in the dark!!). The regional house is basically our home away from hut and mine has about 40 volunteers that share the western style kitchen, bathrooms, and kiddie pool! Its a magical place when you've been in the village for three straight weeks like I just spent and the other volunteers in your region are an incredible support network whether you've got a crazy fungus destroying your garden, really need to make tex-mex food, or want to commiserate on your host family's best intentioned attempts to make you eat the goat eyeballs at dinner last week!
3.The day after was supposed to be my official installation at my village site but I found out at the very last minute that my hut wasn't done! It was a really stressful day or two while Peace Corps Administration contemplated sending me to another site entirely (about 15hrs from the capital in the hottest part of the country!), packing me back up to the training center, or having me move in and sleep in the great wide open as a motivating prop for the slow-paced stone masons.
4.My installation was moved back a week, meaning I got to go to Dakar for the Women's Soccer Tournament and some super fun city time! After getting a free, air conditioned ride for me and my new puppy to the capital we made a quick stop at the vet before starting to check out all there is to offer in the almost western world of Dakar. I played touch football with some Marines stationed nearby and the other Peace Corps Volunteers and I somehow kept the score even until the very last minute...think every stereotype you know about Peace Corps Volunteers and Marines and just take a quick mental picture! We had a BBQ afterwards at the park which ends abruptly with a steep step down into the ocean and a breathtaking sunset view.
5.That same night I followed the Ladies Tourne '09 staff into Thies where the Semi-professional soccer teams would be spending the night before the big game the next day. It was a long ride out of the Capital and crazy to be back right next to the training center after only a few days away. It was a really fun night of meeting and greeting the teams, coaches, and even a Senegalese pop star! The tournament the next day was fantastic and coaching the girls clinic in the morning made me happier than most anything else I've done in country.
6.It was really nuts to be working in such a familiar setting but with a Senegalese twist...the ball and the drills were the same but we had a really tough time getting them to concentrate of the ball instead of dancing to the blasting drum beats. A game of head-catch got everyone interested and translated surprisingly well into Wolof. Then, instead of the standard pasta party fare we all crowded around bowls of rice and meat on the floor before watching the semi-pro teams play in the afternoon. I finished up a fun few days in Dakar with an international dance party, visit to the posh pool club for some super-competitive volleyball, and champagne pong!
7.I finally installed a few days later and even though my hut still wasn't done, the community came out in mass to greet me! The first few days at site were a whirlwind of meetings at the local government council, the health post, the middle school, and with all the Khalifa (VIPs!) of the community. My host family is pretty amazing and I'll be sure to write a lot more on them all soon...with lots of photos!
8.The local government seat is ridiculous...its probably the nicest office building I've ever seen with varnished conference tables and leather desk chairs, Internet and a gigantic scanner/copier/printer/possible time travel device that no one knows how to use. This is definitely an example of an NGO throwing too much money at the wrong problems and now we have some kind of clone of “The Office” where grown men play dress-up with second-hand briefcases and loafers to go with their traditional tribal dress and argue about authorization forms for markets that have no sanitation rules, events that are regulated by completely non-existent police forces, and committees that discuss the problems of communication between committees with other bodies not involved in the committees. Its funny to watch but mostly makes me sad when you realize there are a few more pressing issues that might have been dealt with first.
9.There was a HUGE weekend long party in honor of the end of the school year at the junior high with a quiz game show, wrestling tournament, and drum circle dance party...all at the same time! The line of what is and isn't culturally appropriate here is absurd...with showing your knees forbidden and pregnancy a completely taboo topic, while giving public lap dances to your teachers, wrestling in your underwear, and shaking your booty so hard your skirt falls off are totally acceptable and encouraged. I also ended up chaperoning the middle school dance which included watching 13-16 year old kids in the most racy outfits I've EVER seen light up cigarettes and dirty dance until 6 am...truth be told I'm not sure what rules exactly we were enforcing but it was entertaining as anything else and it seems like everyone had a great time!
10.I had my first baby weighing/nutrition demonstration! I made some special weight gain porridge type stuff and talked to about 100 mothers about breastfeeding, healthy food, and how to avoid malnutrition. Of all the kids we measured there were only a few significantly underweight and hopefully armed with this new info those kids will have improved significantly by next month's event! It was tough to talk in front of everyone (while cooking on an open fire!) but it seems like I got through to at least a few of the women and it definitely didn't hurt that I was giving away free samples to people who answered by questions correctly!
So that's about all I've got...I'll try to post again next time I leave my village with lots of pictures...especially now that I've let some of my new friends in the village braid my hair!
Until then, lots of love and hope to hear from you all soon!
And PS. NEW ADDRESS!!
“Stephanie Shumsky”
b.p. 325
Kaolack, Senegal
West Africa
Sunday, April 19, 2009
A few more stories and lots of love from West Africa!
1.My volunteer visit was amazing! Despite being dropped off a few hours south of my intended destination the guy who was hosting me managed to get us all the way back up to his community...with enough time to meet some other volunteers, have maffaay for lunch (mmmm I will make it for you all some day) and sip frozen drinks on a street corner. We shared a 5ft by 5ft hut for about a week while I got a chance to see what life will be like for the next two years.
2.In his village we hit up a party with VATS of coffee to commemorate a father's death the year before, a giant sand box style cleanup of the common area next to the mosque, an impromptu tour of the village fields/latrines, a few baby weighing and infant health causeries, annnnnnd most importantly a day trip to the town I'll call home starting in about two weeks! I was only able to stay for a few hours, but I did get to meet my new family talk to the directors of the Health Post and the middle school, drink sweet tea with a few of my soon-to-be neighbors..ooo and see a baby born! One of my 'older sisters' is a midwife and thought it only appropriate that I take a hands on approach to health education!
3.Also...to get to and from my town I ride on the back of a donkey cart...its awesome. This particular day was fish market funtime, meaning it was me, Risvik, ten women and their buckets of raw fish sharing space for a few miles of bumping acquaintance. Probably better than walking and maybe more fun than the T!
4.Senegalese Independence Day came and went without much incident, the elementary age children were pretty adorable in their matching purple outfits on parade. We might be planning a giant bike tour to commemorate another upcoming independence day...ending on the 4th in the southwest corner of Senegal with all the fireworks we can find! At least we won't get arrested here...or rather there is no enforcement, no neighbors to complain, and you probably can't accidentally set mud huts on fire!!
5.I spent my first night in my regional house on the way back into Thies. Each part of the country has a place to call home away from the hut...and my region's version comes complete with a kitchen, wi-fi, a HUGE library, rooftop horseshoe court and lots of friends to make mint juleps with! Kaolack is a big – read – dirty dirty dirty – city, but will probably make a nice change from village life every now and again. Plus...Dakar and the beach are only a few hours of minibus bush taxi craziness away!
6.The next day we had our first visit to Dakar. I'm so excited to explore the city and it seems like you really can get/do/see anything your heart desires. The beaches looked amazing and the waves are insane. We ended up spending most of the day in meetings, but hopefully I'll get a chance to grab a board soon and really check things out.
7.Almost the whole group of trainees finally got a chance to check out and we all headed down to Mburro for a few days of beach fun, catholic party time, and raging underwear only dance parties. It was great to get away from the center and really relax for the first time since stepping off that airplane! We rented almost an entire hotel out and were invited to a Catholic dance party in honor of Easter. After more than enough mojitos and a full day of beachness amazing we broke it down well into the night with the religious minority...switching between traditional African dance, club nasty grinding, salsa steps and eventually dissolving into jumping up and down with no regard for the beat. Awesome.
8.Tomorrow starts our counterpart workshop, two days of insanity as the center is invaded by two or three locals from each of our communities with the hopes of giving them a crash course in what its like to be a trainee, how to help us achieve our development goals, and hopefully start up really productive partnerships for the next two years. If nothing else it should be interesting...especially the part where we spend an hour teaching them Spanish, Russian, and Latin, maybe they'll be a bit more sympathetic to our inexpert indigenous languages if we start off with a Buenas Dias!
9.I got my swear-in outfit made...get excited for the pictures. So many sparkles absolutely dance party fabulous. My teacher Ouly put her foot down and called us red necks insisting on assisting throughout the design process, and ps. The ceremony will be broadcast on the national tv station...Ha!
10.Fingers crossed...I'm working at a HUGE women's soccer tournament on May 2nd in Dakar! They have been having qualifying matches all month and small events to promote this giant Soccer and women's leadership summit backed an NGO and the UN...and through some PC connections I might get to coach a clinic for young girls the morning before the championship game. It should be a great time, super inspiring, and hopefully lead to some serious contacts for getting programs up and running my soon to be region! I've just put in to delay my final site installation by about a week to stay in Dakar and help out at the summit...it seems like my ACPD is all for it and I can't imagine a better way to finish off two months of training!
I think that's how I'm going to leave it for today, email please...how is the homefront?!
Love and love!
Sophie
1.My volunteer visit was amazing! Despite being dropped off a few hours south of my intended destination the guy who was hosting me managed to get us all the way back up to his community...with enough time to meet some other volunteers, have maffaay for lunch (mmmm I will make it for you all some day) and sip frozen drinks on a street corner. We shared a 5ft by 5ft hut for about a week while I got a chance to see what life will be like for the next two years.
2.In his village we hit up a party with VATS of coffee to commemorate a father's death the year before, a giant sand box style cleanup of the common area next to the mosque, an impromptu tour of the village fields/latrines, a few baby weighing and infant health causeries, annnnnnd most importantly a day trip to the town I'll call home starting in about two weeks! I was only able to stay for a few hours, but I did get to meet my new family talk to the directors of the Health Post and the middle school, drink sweet tea with a few of my soon-to-be neighbors..ooo and see a baby born! One of my 'older sisters' is a midwife and thought it only appropriate that I take a hands on approach to health education!
3.Also...to get to and from my town I ride on the back of a donkey cart...its awesome. This particular day was fish market funtime, meaning it was me, Risvik, ten women and their buckets of raw fish sharing space for a few miles of bumping acquaintance. Probably better than walking and maybe more fun than the T!
4.Senegalese Independence Day came and went without much incident, the elementary age children were pretty adorable in their matching purple outfits on parade. We might be planning a giant bike tour to commemorate another upcoming independence day...ending on the 4th in the southwest corner of Senegal with all the fireworks we can find! At least we won't get arrested here...or rather there is no enforcement, no neighbors to complain, and you probably can't accidentally set mud huts on fire!!
5.I spent my first night in my regional house on the way back into Thies. Each part of the country has a place to call home away from the hut...and my region's version comes complete with a kitchen, wi-fi, a HUGE library, rooftop horseshoe court and lots of friends to make mint juleps with! Kaolack is a big – read – dirty dirty dirty – city, but will probably make a nice change from village life every now and again. Plus...Dakar and the beach are only a few hours of minibus bush taxi craziness away!
6.The next day we had our first visit to Dakar. I'm so excited to explore the city and it seems like you really can get/do/see anything your heart desires. The beaches looked amazing and the waves are insane. We ended up spending most of the day in meetings, but hopefully I'll get a chance to grab a board soon and really check things out.
7.Almost the whole group of trainees finally got a chance to check out and we all headed down to Mburro for a few days of beach fun, catholic party time, and raging underwear only dance parties. It was great to get away from the center and really relax for the first time since stepping off that airplane! We rented almost an entire hotel out and were invited to a Catholic dance party in honor of Easter. After more than enough mojitos and a full day of beachness amazing we broke it down well into the night with the religious minority...switching between traditional African dance, club nasty grinding, salsa steps and eventually dissolving into jumping up and down with no regard for the beat. Awesome.
8.Tomorrow starts our counterpart workshop, two days of insanity as the center is invaded by two or three locals from each of our communities with the hopes of giving them a crash course in what its like to be a trainee, how to help us achieve our development goals, and hopefully start up really productive partnerships for the next two years. If nothing else it should be interesting...especially the part where we spend an hour teaching them Spanish, Russian, and Latin, maybe they'll be a bit more sympathetic to our inexpert indigenous languages if we start off with a Buenas Dias!
9.I got my swear-in outfit made...get excited for the pictures. So many sparkles absolutely dance party fabulous. My teacher Ouly put her foot down and called us red necks insisting on assisting throughout the design process, and ps. The ceremony will be broadcast on the national tv station...Ha!
10.Fingers crossed...I'm working at a HUGE women's soccer tournament on May 2nd in Dakar! They have been having qualifying matches all month and small events to promote this giant Soccer and women's leadership summit backed an NGO and the UN...and through some PC connections I might get to coach a clinic for young girls the morning before the championship game. It should be a great time, super inspiring, and hopefully lead to some serious contacts for getting programs up and running my soon to be region! I've just put in to delay my final site installation by about a week to stay in Dakar and help out at the summit...it seems like my ACPD is all for it and I can't imagine a better way to finish off two months of training!
I think that's how I'm going to leave it for today, email please...how is the homefront?!
Love and love!
Sophie
Sunday, March 29, 2009
To my friends who have waited o so patiently for a blog update:
HI! Assalamalakum and may you have peace only! I'm going to try to keep up the ten short stories theme I started in Costa, basically forever ago, but we'll start off with a quick scene description of life here in Senegal. First off...I've been here more than a month already and we're halfway through training, know our actual site assignments and I can already speak a lot of Wolof (the indigenous language I'm learning...more on that soon!). The training center that I write this from is like a toubab (gringo/giri/foreigner) oasis that we visit every so often for group training activities and as a staging grounds before big trips. My fellow stagaires and I share a few dozen rooms and are free to roam the city of Thies when not in class...with access to(in order of importance) cold beer, chocolate ice cream, and wi-fi Internet cafes. For the majority of our time thus far we've been stationed in small villages nearby and working in the communities to get hands on training in our technical fields and learn two languages faster than I had previously thought possible!
I'm heading out tomorrow for my first visit to the site I'll call home for the next two years, a small village named Patar-Lia. There are a few hundred people, a middle and primary school, and apparently a lot of excitement about what might be accomplished. I'll know infinitely more after this next week...and hopefully update accordingly so you can all start planning you visits! Get pumped...my town is only three hours by car from Dakar (the capital city with an international airport) and there's no need to take a 12 seater prop plane/8 hours in hell bus ride in the style of Playa San Miguel, Costa Rica!
So ten or so stories for you all and more love than I can count!
1.My name is Sophialau Ndianye...rafet na n'est pas? Pretty crazy huh...Sophie is my favorite name in the world and they picked it out for me...after knowing me for just a few hours. Best of all...no one here knows its my dog's name back home haha so I can use it and be so so happy!
2.I love African Dance...like real African Dance...like hundreds of people forming a circle with pounding drums in the background and mass chaos of bodies in the center. The women move in ways I didn't know excited and I have resolved myself to learning! Obviously the fact that I don't exactly know how to dance didn't stop me from trying and it was the craziest thing I've ever experienced. Picture sand flying, arms spinning, and a crush of people as they all rush towards the middle and explode in movement. Yeah...I'll need to get a video haha!
3.I live in a village called Keur Madoro with the Imam and his family. The peace that radiates from the mango trees at the center of my compound has inspired me to write poetry. I won't subject you guys to it but it is a magical place to spend every afternoon. 15 or so children learn to recite the Koran in Arabic while my 'father' discreetly dozes off and I help my older sisters make sweet sweet green tea foamy by pouring it from glass to glass. Their rhythm comes from everywhere at once and seems perfectly in time.
4. I'm pretty convinced Wolof is the best language ever invented. Wow = yes, your best friend is your one nose, children are called sticks of G-d..as in how many sticks of G-d do you have...and there are so many similarities to Spanish I'm convinced that the Christopher Columbus stopped by at some point in 1500s! I've already tested out of the language requirement, I got to an intermediate low level after only 4 weeks and I'm so excited! Its just going to get better and easier and hopefully I'll be fluent in no time at all...and move on to learning arabic haha. My 'dad' the Imam says its a piece of cake haha...well not really he says its un-hard like making rice which is how they say it haha.
5.I'm pretty sure I've found my cultural group the Senegalese eat bread with nutella everyday for breakfast and wear sparkley clothing whenever possible and place great importance on inner peace for all.
6.Eating in general is kind of crazy. We all sit on the floor and eat with our hands..its an art form really and there are an entire set of verbs to describe the different ways of making balls of rice so you can pop them in your mouth. All in all the food is pretty good...fish, veggies, rice and some surprisingly awesome sauces made from the leaves, flowers, and roots of native plants. O and lots and lots of MSG haha...but what are you going to do?
7.Mango season is coming! I'm excited...my family has a mango tree plantation and I think it's going to be amazing. The trees are everywhere around my village...something I think peace corps had a lot to do with a few years ago and had really made a difference for many of the locals!
8.The medicine I'm on to prevent malaria has interesting side effects...mainly that it gives you incredible acid trip dreams that are so vivid you can't imagine they didn't really happen. So far all of my have been absolutely fantastic! Haha...par example I started a Dispatch concert naked from the balcony of my hotel, had a raging party at the Coulton's house in Doylestown complete with all of our parents, every member of the Killer Bees and pretty much every coach we've ever played for, I got to fly an airplane, and go hang gliding...haha. Crazy seriously, but definitely more entertaining that anything I've every seen on tv.
9.I have fallen completely and totally in love with the kids here, they've already made everything we work towards totally worth it. I will be adopting dozens...please plan accordingly. Seriously, these kids are absolutely adorable, so incredibly motivated, giving, open and I just can't stop smiling when I'm with them. They follow the other two girls in my training village and I around in groups from place to place and climb on anytime we sit...or even stand still for a little too long! Haha. The little girls especially...ah There are pictures...you'll understand I'm sure.
10.We had our first gardening demonstrations...in Wolof...for 40 kids at once....and believe it or not...things were fantastic! The kids were so excited to get the school gardens going and had so much motivation they made a second seed bed even better than our demonstration one while the other PCTs and I were working on a different part of the garden! LOVE it! They're so receptive to any information we try to teach them and are just so passionately into whatever we want to do with them! O and we've painted our first mural and more are coming soon!
11.I'm running out of things to say....hmmm what else is there....I miss you guys! I did manage to get phone service here and a new number...I have reception everywhere and I can call/text the states! Its a bit expensive....ok not really...its like 20 cents a minute haha and peace corps pays BANK in terms of the local economy. We're in Thies for a few days doing technical training...code word for partying up with all the local volunteers and learning how to do the things we are supposed to teach the locals!
So anyways the new phone number is +221776719932
love and love and love and hopefully another update much sooner than later!!
Stephanie
ps. i rode bumper cars last night...here in Thies. I don't know how in the world they got here but omygosh I am so glad it happened! haha! The senegalese do not call them bumper cars...they're actually called little cars and people drive slowly and carefully trying not to disturb anyone else's ride....a concept that was clearly lost on the Toubob contingent and would have resulted in our first international incident had we not managed to go all at once without any locals on the floor at the same time. SO MUCH FUN!!! Followed by whiskey shots, disco hut dancing, and big big big smiles! <3 besossss!
HI! Assalamalakum and may you have peace only! I'm going to try to keep up the ten short stories theme I started in Costa, basically forever ago, but we'll start off with a quick scene description of life here in Senegal. First off...I've been here more than a month already and we're halfway through training, know our actual site assignments and I can already speak a lot of Wolof (the indigenous language I'm learning...more on that soon!). The training center that I write this from is like a toubab (gringo/giri/foreigner) oasis that we visit every so often for group training activities and as a staging grounds before big trips. My fellow stagaires and I share a few dozen rooms and are free to roam the city of Thies when not in class...with access to(in order of importance) cold beer, chocolate ice cream, and wi-fi Internet cafes. For the majority of our time thus far we've been stationed in small villages nearby and working in the communities to get hands on training in our technical fields and learn two languages faster than I had previously thought possible!
I'm heading out tomorrow for my first visit to the site I'll call home for the next two years, a small village named Patar-Lia. There are a few hundred people, a middle and primary school, and apparently a lot of excitement about what might be accomplished. I'll know infinitely more after this next week...and hopefully update accordingly so you can all start planning you visits! Get pumped...my town is only three hours by car from Dakar (the capital city with an international airport) and there's no need to take a 12 seater prop plane/8 hours in hell bus ride in the style of Playa San Miguel, Costa Rica!
So ten or so stories for you all and more love than I can count!
1.My name is Sophialau Ndianye...rafet na n'est pas? Pretty crazy huh...Sophie is my favorite name in the world and they picked it out for me...after knowing me for just a few hours. Best of all...no one here knows its my dog's name back home haha so I can use it and be so so happy!
2.I love African Dance...like real African Dance...like hundreds of people forming a circle with pounding drums in the background and mass chaos of bodies in the center. The women move in ways I didn't know excited and I have resolved myself to learning! Obviously the fact that I don't exactly know how to dance didn't stop me from trying and it was the craziest thing I've ever experienced. Picture sand flying, arms spinning, and a crush of people as they all rush towards the middle and explode in movement. Yeah...I'll need to get a video haha!
3.I live in a village called Keur Madoro with the Imam and his family. The peace that radiates from the mango trees at the center of my compound has inspired me to write poetry. I won't subject you guys to it but it is a magical place to spend every afternoon. 15 or so children learn to recite the Koran in Arabic while my 'father' discreetly dozes off and I help my older sisters make sweet sweet green tea foamy by pouring it from glass to glass. Their rhythm comes from everywhere at once and seems perfectly in time.
4. I'm pretty convinced Wolof is the best language ever invented. Wow = yes, your best friend is your one nose, children are called sticks of G-d..as in how many sticks of G-d do you have...and there are so many similarities to Spanish I'm convinced that the Christopher Columbus stopped by at some point in 1500s! I've already tested out of the language requirement, I got to an intermediate low level after only 4 weeks and I'm so excited! Its just going to get better and easier and hopefully I'll be fluent in no time at all...and move on to learning arabic haha. My 'dad' the Imam says its a piece of cake haha...well not really he says its un-hard like making rice which is how they say it haha.
5.I'm pretty sure I've found my cultural group the Senegalese eat bread with nutella everyday for breakfast and wear sparkley clothing whenever possible and place great importance on inner peace for all.
6.Eating in general is kind of crazy. We all sit on the floor and eat with our hands..its an art form really and there are an entire set of verbs to describe the different ways of making balls of rice so you can pop them in your mouth. All in all the food is pretty good...fish, veggies, rice and some surprisingly awesome sauces made from the leaves, flowers, and roots of native plants. O and lots and lots of MSG haha...but what are you going to do?
7.Mango season is coming! I'm excited...my family has a mango tree plantation and I think it's going to be amazing. The trees are everywhere around my village...something I think peace corps had a lot to do with a few years ago and had really made a difference for many of the locals!
8.The medicine I'm on to prevent malaria has interesting side effects...mainly that it gives you incredible acid trip dreams that are so vivid you can't imagine they didn't really happen. So far all of my have been absolutely fantastic! Haha...par example I started a Dispatch concert naked from the balcony of my hotel, had a raging party at the Coulton's house in Doylestown complete with all of our parents, every member of the Killer Bees and pretty much every coach we've ever played for, I got to fly an airplane, and go hang gliding...haha. Crazy seriously, but definitely more entertaining that anything I've every seen on tv.
9.I have fallen completely and totally in love with the kids here, they've already made everything we work towards totally worth it. I will be adopting dozens...please plan accordingly. Seriously, these kids are absolutely adorable, so incredibly motivated, giving, open and I just can't stop smiling when I'm with them. They follow the other two girls in my training village and I around in groups from place to place and climb on anytime we sit...or even stand still for a little too long! Haha. The little girls especially...ah There are pictures...you'll understand I'm sure.
10.We had our first gardening demonstrations...in Wolof...for 40 kids at once....and believe it or not...things were fantastic! The kids were so excited to get the school gardens going and had so much motivation they made a second seed bed even better than our demonstration one while the other PCTs and I were working on a different part of the garden! LOVE it! They're so receptive to any information we try to teach them and are just so passionately into whatever we want to do with them! O and we've painted our first mural and more are coming soon!
11.I'm running out of things to say....hmmm what else is there....I miss you guys! I did manage to get phone service here and a new number...I have reception everywhere and I can call/text the states! Its a bit expensive....ok not really...its like 20 cents a minute haha and peace corps pays BANK in terms of the local economy. We're in Thies for a few days doing technical training...code word for partying up with all the local volunteers and learning how to do the things we are supposed to teach the locals!
So anyways the new phone number is +221776719932
love and love and love and hopefully another update much sooner than later!!
Stephanie
ps. i rode bumper cars last night...here in Thies. I don't know how in the world they got here but omygosh I am so glad it happened! haha! The senegalese do not call them bumper cars...they're actually called little cars and people drive slowly and carefully trying not to disturb anyone else's ride....a concept that was clearly lost on the Toubob contingent and would have resulted in our first international incident had we not managed to go all at once without any locals on the floor at the same time. SO MUCH FUN!!! Followed by whiskey shots, disco hut dancing, and big big big smiles! <3 besossss!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
I leave in just a few days to start my 27 months of service with the Peace Corps in Senegal. At this point I'm doing almost anything to procrastinate packing up everything I'll need! I'm starting back up with my blog so you guys can keep up with my adventures, and keep me updated with all the going-ons in your lives too!
My mailing address for the first few months is:
PCT “Stephanie Shumsky”
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 299
Thiès, Senegal
West Africa
please please please I'd love some postcards!
I'll let you all know about phone numbers when and if I get one.
Lots of love and please be sure to call my cell phone before Thursday if you'd like to say goodbye.
Love!
Stephanie
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Amores y amantes:
So here's another batch of ten (very!) short stories...please keep in mind I'm probably a good bit more easily amused and under-stimulated than those of you with access to actual entertainment! En general San Miguel is just the same as always, with lots of baby turtles, big mama turtles, and a few days of torrrrrrrrrrrential downpours here and there. The surfing has been hellish and the waves insanity in a very dangerous way but seriously too much fun to pass up.
In other really exciting news I've just found out that the project will be ending early on December 7th, giving me about two full weeks to backpack before catching my flight home on the 21st! I'm planning on heading down to Panama since I've already seen so much of Costa Rica and trying to spend a week with the Kona indigenous peoples of the San Blas Archipelago. I think it could be amazing since I've never really a taste of that culture in any of the Central American countries I've visited....just please don't tell me parents I'm probably going to have to hitch a ride on a merchant ferry to get down there! Also...consider this an open invite to anyone who has vacation time, a school break, or any desire to come along to come with! I'll be in San Jose, Costa Rica around December 8th or in Panama City on the 9th before heading out and would love the company!
I didn't actually go to Panama before for my visa run!! At the very last minute I found a plane ticket to Miami for $240 to visit Magram and Poppy for Rosh Hashana! Things could not have worked out better and it was absolutely fantastic to be in Boca Raton for the holiday! I was in San Jose at the hotel with my mom trying to find a bus to Panama for the next day and it all started as a joke until we realized the bus company had gone out of business and the flights were so inexpensive. She called Magram and spun a completely ridiculous story about canceled flights and needing to spend three days in transit from CR to Philadelphia so that Poppy would meet me at the airport and all the sudden I was on my way to the US! I have never seen Magram so happy and definitely never pulled off such a big lie! I showed up at their front door backpack and all and was fantastically spoiled in first world air conditioning, hot water, real mattress, phone and Internet, lots of love and peanut butter style for three days! I got to spend tons of time with my Aunts, Uncles, cousins, and godparents who were all around as well annnnnnnnnd I went to TARGET which was incredible. I have never been so happy to embrace mass marketing and materialism...I mean I was able to buy everything I'd been needing for the past few months in about half and hour PLUS I went to the starbucks in the store! Haha...you can take a girl out of the first world...>! Going stateside was a trip and crazy culture shock which I was definitely not prepared for, but by all measures was super successful in getting 90 more days in CR and having a beautiful time! Plus yummmmmmmmm sweet new year food!
Back to the bosque for the beginning of October and I spent a few days alone while Claudia went to Nicaragua for her own visa run and Eduardo (our PhD volunteer from Barcelona) left to do some traveling. It was a nice few days to reflect and make plans for the 2nd half of life in Playa San Miguel although to be honest I basically managed to get over being sick (the doctor in Boca thought I had tuberculosis and/or was pregnant... aka a bad chest cold and severe lack of sleep! I suppose that's what happens when you work too long in FL with retirees..).
We've just gotten in a new group of volunteers, a mom and her two kids are down here for two months, like home-schooling jungle style and very excited to be here. The kids are great and have made a huge difference in our interaction with the community, and the mom is this balance of semi-responsible tree-hugger, arts and crafts idea pot and eastern religion wine drinker....obviously lots of love! Things are changing for the better in big ways and I feel like we're really starting to connect with the families here in San Miguel, to educated them about the project and to learn about them in ways we never have before. Its the first time I'm really feeling like a member of the town and integrated as a normal person here as opposed to some strange objectified extrajera for the hombres to bother ALL the time. We have been holding court in the restaurant/bar in the center of town almost everyday making posters, meeting new people (Insanity after two months in a town of 100 people) and having more fun than ever!
We spent a day doing henna tattoos of turtles, ying-yangs(they're still cool here!) and flowers (some in rather racy places!) on the dozens of vecinos that came by and have invited everyone to accompany us on our patrols when they can. There was a giant game of capture the flag a few nights ago and I cannot imagine a better place to play...its totally and completely dark out here and there are miles of places to hide and secret paths to take and absolutely no shortage of super - competitive players. When we're not screaming down the beach chasing the kids they're sneaking up behind us with giant ghost crabs, learning how to play spoons and blackjack (I never learned that many card games!) in addition to the very important art of shaking it to American music on my front porch.
I spend a good bit of time at the Flying Scorpion if I want to see Claudia and as a total bonus there's also this girl Amanda from Texas who just came work for Rossi...or maybe just to hang out with us while we watch the baseball games (GO PHILS!), play beer pong, make mojitos with BASIL instead of mint (it was our third drink of the day at 11am ok?!) , cook quiche at 3am *Stephanie I miss you and our cooking! * And generally get a little crazy now that the restaurant is closed until the tourists come back in November.
I learned how to make hammocks from this old man who sits in the center of town. He's like 80 years old and everyone calls him Pollon, which means old, fat chicken, and half-blind from cataracts buuuuuut awesomely sweet and incredibly patient with my lack of knotting skills. Now I have a hobby with a purpose and possible Christmas presents for you all!
There have been road trips all over the place in the back of pick up trunks, on quads and motos to a dozen beaches, towns and the middle of nowhere! I've jumped over fences to steal guavas right off someone's trees, and slept in a room with walls made of glass, looking down on the beach for miles around....that is until being woken by a crowd starting the party up again with fajitas and tequila sunrises all before 10 am! Hitching home from these parties has turned into a habit...one that I might try to break before our 8-year old visitor asks me again where I spent the night as I pull up to lunch wearing the same clothes as the night before! Also...I've introduced 'never have I ever' to the town...things may never be the same.
I was aiming to get to ten points but I've basically forgotten everything else I've been up to besides the fact that my Daddy and the beautiful, talented and O SO amazing Amy King are coming to visit in less than a month and there is nothing that could make me more excited! Things on the Playa are great and life is pura vida, super tuanis, and more tranquila that I can explain. Lots of love, gallons of coconut milk, and un monton of besos for you all!
ps. Sneak preview: we're planning a haunted house at the station for Halloween !! We already have the bats and found a dolphin skeleton and things are just getting very creative. I'm superexcited to show the kids how we do things stateside and buy them lots of candy too! We're also planning a crazy party at Rossi's and I think Amanda, Claudia and I are going to be Imperial (local beer brand) girls! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures of both!
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
HELLLLLLLLLO my friends! Sorry for the long long time gone but here goes a hell of an update----
I've been reading far too many books about writing books, something of a coincidence but in all ironic honesty I'm beginning to think myself an ESL author doing undercover research for some kind of sad comedy best seller. Playa San Miguel really does defy description, not just in general appearance and infrastructure but the societal fabric and character cushioning that pad every experience are just like whoa ok. Even if I could show you pictures the most obvious parts would be invisible, so I suppose you'll just have to read on and wait a few more months for what I'm sure at the best stories I have ever told.
A blog update in several parts:
- THE BABY TURTLES ARE HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- The baby turtles are the most important thing in my life at this time in all seriousness. I, like Clau and the volunteers, have a six hour shift of watching sand everyday to make sure the babies aren't stuck in the hatchery for longer than necessary and when they come up we put all 100 of them in a big blue bucket and walk down the beach on top of the world. This is better than the chickens and their eggs...I LOVE LOVE LOVE concretely successful things. I feel so validated actually everyday....and all I have to do is notice their coming. Delayed gratification has its advantages..never thought you'd hear that one from me eh?
- I've probably been hanging out too much with a certain Canadian guy eh?
- I've noticed a trend in the pictures the volunteers take that I steal and put of my computer to show you all in December....basically all the same. Beach, station house, baby turtles, sunset, bar nights, house parties, surfing, sunset, baby turtles, ridiculous rain gear, beautiful nature/waterfalls/mangroves, bar stools and gallo pinto, ect ect ect. Like some kind of parody of my life repeated every two weeks or so. I wonder how I can keep cycling through this like it were new everyday. Some things are different, things change, and I keep moving...but seriously, my life is a well documented caricature or itself. Gracias a dios I do so much yoga haha.
- I live in a sorority house...seriously I thought that Shakespeare was ridiculous but this is worse and better at the same time...since we have no actual responsibility or occupation in general. Sometimes its loud music and dancing but seriously...there are no pants allowed. The girls that have been coming down are incredible, fun, and awesomely independent lately. I'm having the most wonderful time getting to know them and sharing life as a turtle girl in the insanity that is this tiny town. The perfect foil to our supposed sisterhood is the older divorced men that have stepped into a kind of gay/father/pimp role and simultaneously present and protect us in our various escapades.
- I lost my voice last night to a rendition of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody that I barely remember...I'm sure it was awesome mostly because I do remember the bootylicious Beyonce dancing the preceded it. I sound like a 50 year old who left the womb with a cigarette in hand and I feel wiser for it. I love American music and to hell with anything even remotely 'good.'
- I watched the sun come up this morning while skinny-dipping in an infinity pool that looked out over three separate beaches from the mountain above. You could hear the howler monkeys bitching about their hangovers way before ours set in and it was possibly the best feeling I've ever had. Maybe there is something to materialism after all...it was the first house I've ever considered worth settling down for. It has more to do with the location, the people I was with, the guacamole we had for breakfast, and the immense amount of ron consumed... but I think its a pretty intense step along my twisted decent into the real world.
- Everyone I meet inspires me to take a page out of their books...to try what they've done for myself, to work in the same way and to follow in their footsteps. I'm keeping a list and it keeps getting longer. I feel like I'm no closer to finding myself but its fun to imagine being someone else. Also...since my shoes all have holes in them (two pairs of old navy flip flops to last for 6 months of walking miles everyday) I am actually walking in their shoes that they've left behind for me. I'm often a disaster and it shows.
- Everyone here is constantly defending their decisions to adopt a non-traditional lifestyle...makes me want to go climb the corporate ladder just to spite them. Its like some kind of religious conversion that they're trying to push on the rest of us and I'm not sure why I resent it so much. I just hate the idea that even at 40 all of them are still trying to prove themselves...especially to someone like me. I hope I never have to feel that way.
- None of you really knew but I was in a pretty bad place a few weeks ago. It had to do with a lot of things I'd rather not post but the news for punto numero 10 is that I'm back to bliss. Things have never been better, I feel like myself, which I thought I'd lost for a bit, and life is beautiful like its never been. I'm better for going through it and I hope I never have to do it again. Sorry for the super profundo end note but I felt the need to share and I suppose that's what blogs are for.
Too much love,
Stephanie
ps. I'm going to Honduras on the 26th to see a great friend whose diving on Roatan and to renew my visa. If anyone was planning a visit I'll be in San Jose on the 2nd of October or so and could bring you back to paradise with me instead being forced to brave a solo bus trip into the great unknown.
Pps. My mom is coming next week! She's bringing surprises (read: new shoes and craisins) from home...Its like Christmas!!
PPPS. Speaking of Christmas...I'm thinking the party on the 23rd of December. Save the date like it was your own wedding since its the last one until I'm done with Africa!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
