Michael Goldman
BP 157
Velingara, Senegal, West Africa

Friday, December 2, 2011

The day I watched a documentary about africa in africa with africans.


So, some interesting things happened today.  The first of which was that my landlord came over and planted bananas in my compound.  He wouldn’t let me dig even after I told him that I am an agriculture volunteer and it is my job to dig.  I personally believe that he didn’t dig deep enough, or wide enough.  Although his digging skills were no match to mine, he did add manure, dry leaves, and green leaves to the hole before placing the banana suckers in it.

So, then later in the day I bought some notebooks for one of my friends cause he doesn’t have any money.  After I hand them to him he said “thank you very much my n****er”  I immediately turn to him and very sternly and assertively tell him that the “n” word is not a good word to use, and is extremely disrespectful.  I don’t think he understood.  This of course is not the first incident where I have been called the “N” word.  I tend to blame rap music.  It is all they listen to, and because the word is used so often they assume that it is an appropriate word to use in everyday language when talking with Americans.  It makes me very uncomfortable.  Even now I am not comfortable writing it even though it is merely to explain a story that happened to me.

So, then I got into this huge argument about malaria.  The guys I hang out with were convinced that they were not able to get malaria because “the only people that malaria are children under 5 and pregnant ladies”  It made me very upset to hear this, and to also hear that because they thought this way, they refused to use mosquito nets.  We made some phone calls to other volunteers that they trusted, and then we were able to ask a doctor and she explained it all to them.  I did a great malaria workshop without even trying.

So, then we were watching tv.  It was some frenchy national geographic like thing on some tribe in Rwanda.  This was probably the most interesting part of my afternoon.  Watching an African tribe on a national geographic-like tv show with other Africans.  They could not believe what they were seeing.  Every few minutes the whole house would be filled with laughter.  It was interesting to see how different Africa could really be.  From one part of the continent to the other, things are drastically different.  They were aghast at the body cuttings being done, and the huge lip discs and enormous earrings.  Then they were all laughing whenever a naked man or woman was shown.  They were so interested by the other culture, and it really hit me that there is so much diversity on this continent.  This family was really freaking out at what was happening on the tv.  The best was when the Rwandan tribe was putting on paint and washing in a river.  Everyone was naked and washing each other.  Hilarity ensued at the house I was at.

In America we sometimes assume that all of Africa is in tribes that have war paint, masks, and ceremonial cutting.  I watched this television show with people that wanted to hear the newest Akon album and wear American clothing.  They were in utter shock at how other people in Africa behave.  In many ways Africa is more like America than we assume, of course then you have half clothed (or naked) men running around beating each other with sticks.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

The Past Few Months


The day I got examined

So, I went up to Dakar to get my mid service medical examination.  The entire thing went surprisingly smooth.  I arrived in Dakar with my friends Rachel and Hildawg.  As we got off the highway the rain began to pour and I finally got to know Dakar during the rainy season.  It was really gross.  Sewage was everywhere, the animal and human poop that was in the streets was then all over the place.  Every step had to be careful.  You did not want to step in a puddle, or a stream of water.  I was unsuccessful and am now waiting for my feet to change color or some kind of worm to show itself. 

So, I eventually got examined.  I had them take a good look at my ears because I had been hearing weird crackly noises.  They said that they didn’t see anything abnormal, but that they were going to switch me to new malaria medicine from mefloquine to doxycycline (sp?). Yay!!!  Since having switched, I no longer hear noises, I have lots more energy, and lots more motivation.  Things are much clearer now that I have changed to doxy.

So, then I went to the dentist.  I have never had trouble with the dentist in America.  I almost enjoyed it.  Going to a dentist in a developing country is very different.  You quickly realize why dentist offices in America are the way they are.  There was no soothing smooth jazz playing, no fun toothy pictures on the wall, and all the magazines are French (not to mention the chairs are less than comfortable).  In America there is excellent Kenny G music playing, comfy chairs, and fun posters.  My dentists office is especially fun because he has a PacMan arcade game that can be played for free.  I like going to him, he is friendly and the dentist assistants are usually pretty cute.  This dentist here in Dakar was a very friendly man.  There were only three people in his office.  Him, his secretary, and me.  There was no assistant to clean my teeth before the dentist saw me, he just went right in.  everything was fine for the most part, he even spoke a little English.  The cool part was that as he was examining me,  there was no one handing him tools or helping.  It was completely a one man show.  So, then he gets to my two wisdom teeth that peace corps decided I did not need to have pulled before my service began.  He tells me that I have a cavity in each one…great. 

So, I leave the office and go straight to the Nice Cream ice cream shop.  I was very excited to eat some Barack Obama flavored ice cream.  Its like milk chocolate with nuts and crunchy stuff in it.  It is essentially like the best flavour ever.  Unfortunately for me, they were all out and I ended up getting some banana thing instead which was less than pleasing.

So, I had never gotten cavities filled before.  As you can imagine I was a little nervous about it, especially cause the dentist’s office isn’t very friendly.  I go in like normal I go sit in the chair and realize that it is just the dentist and I.  No assistants.  He shoots me up full of novocaine and goes to town on my teeth.  Twenty minutes later I have my first cavities filled.  So, I then went to Nice Cream and they had it.  Barack Obama flavor, and it was just absolutely wonderful.

The rest of my trip in Dakar was filled with pizza and icecream.  Lots of icecream.

So, then I went to Theis to assist in training.  I probably didn’t need to be there.  I essentially sat around and occasionally put in my two cents.  I got to meet all the new people though.

So, then I got back to Velingara.  I met my new arch nemesis…The Bathroom.  I had some experience with this enemy in the frat house, and in my old apartment.  Here in Velingara all I want is for my shower to work.  I don’t really care about the sink or the toilet, as long as my shower works.  So I tell my landlord this and he gets his plumber to come over to try and fix my bathroom so that water wil flow into it, and into the shower so that I can wash myself.  Everytime the plumber came to my house he made things worst until finally there was just water leaking everywhere.  There was water permeating through the cement walls.  It was pretty bad.  So then the man who actually own the property (he lives in spain) came in for the holidays and checked out the house.  He was all like “this is no good” so the next day he came back with some guy from the water dept.  the next day him and a bunch of guys come and tear some pipes out, and install some new pipes.  I assume that everything is fixed.  But I was wrong.  The new pipes leaked too, and to this day they are not fixed, but I do have a shower.

So, then it was Tabaski.  Tabaski is the Holiday to remember that one time when Abraham went up to the mountain with Isaac to sacrifice him before the lord but instead killed a mountain sheep.  Because my host family moved to the village that is where I went.  As I get to the village and get off my bike my families dog runs at me and tackles me to the ground.  It was great.

So, work wise I have been doing stuff.  I made a new radio show called Lundi Science with my friend Curtis.  Its about science and stuff.  I feel really good about it.  I can’t wait to make more episodes.

I have started studying French, its going pretty well I’d say.

I have started being the town luthier fixing all the guitars in the city.  Business is good.  I do it for free though.

So, there is like this huge flock of turkeys that runs around my town.  I had always thought that it was very strange that a native American bird was running around the streets of Velingara.  That put me in charge of Turkeys for Thanksgiving.  So the other day Curtis and I went over to the turkey owners house to talk turkey.  This is one of the nicest homes I have been in, in Africa.  We look at the flock, and go inside to discuss prices.  He starts the prices at 10,000 cfa  for the female, and 15,000 cfa for the male.  I say ill give him 20,000cfa for both.  Then he tells me in English that he will give me the female for free.  I accept the offer. 

So, then we get into talking and he tells Curtis and I that his grandfather was a French jew.  That fact blew my mind.  A part jewish Senegalese.  He then shows me a huge menorah with a large star of david on it that his grandfather had brought from france.  Not only is this man jewish, but he told me that he was a Levi, just like me and my family.  We then continue talking and I agree to give his son Joseph Levi  Monte (Monte is like French for Berg) guitar lessons.

Since then the first lesson went well, and tomorrow I will be travelling with a pair of Turkeys (I named them Esther and Yitzak) down to Kolda for Thanksgiving.

-Mike


Thursday, September 22, 2011

The Day I Made a Boat

So, because I don't have any good garden space at my new apartment I decided that it would be in everyones best interest if I made my house into a demonstration for container gardens.  I got a bunch of woodchips and manure, and I started filling up rice sacks, and plastic bottles and things around my house.  I planted potatos in the rice sacks and beans in plastic bottles that are hanging from my window.  They look like boats, so I am calling them bean boats.  I also found a pair of pants, so I sewed the legs shut and planted beans inside.  I also plated lettuce and tomatoes and chives and good stuff all over the place.

So, after things sprouted I invited a bunch of ladies over for a workshop on container gardens.  We looked at what I had done around the house and then I took them inside to a room that I made into a makeshift classroom (I put a national geographic poster on the wall)  I talked a bit about what was going on outside and how it is done.  Then we all went back outside and made a bunch of container gardens.  I passed out seeds so that everyone could have gardens at their homes.

So, after everyone leftCharlene came over and painted on my front gate the Star Wars Rebel Alliance symbol, and on my "garage" (the building that was supposed to be a kitchen but I keep my bike in it) the Batman Symbol cause I always wanted a batcave.

Mike

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

The New Place

So, I first want to apologize for not writing anything for a while. it's been a little busy here for me.  To begin I guess I have to talk about my arch enemy the bank.  As a jew, it seems strange that the bank is such an enemy to me, but thats just how it is.  So the other day the ATM ate my card.  there was no real reason for why it ate it, but it did.  so I had to sit in the bank for a few hours till they could give me my card back...sigh.

So, this was my second Ramadan in a Muslim majority country.  Ramadan really isn't that bad.  I wasnt able to go to many restaurants, but that was ok because my mom send me lots of fun american food to eat like Raman noodles, and cans of chili.  I ate oatmeal for breakfast with raw honey and bananas.  it was delicious.  my dinners were late because I would go to a families house for break-fast/dinner.  People kept asking me if I was fasting.  I told them no.  they were very confused, and told me that I need to fast because it is a senegalese holiday.  I told them that im not fasting because im not muslim, and that it is not my holiday.  they told me that it was a senegalese holiday, and that because I am here to be senegalese I should fast at that point I was just annoyed (keep in mind multiple people are asking me this and I had to go through this exact conversation daily).  I eventually changed my answer to yes I am fasting, but I start after lunch.  People seemed to recieve that answer much better and thought that it was silly and laughed.  They then would say something like oh that is very good that you are fasting.  During Korite (the end of Ramadan aka Eid in other places) I decided to hide in my house, because I did not want to go all around town in a very very hot, and annoying ceremonial boubou, and be the center of attention wherever I go.  I ate Raman and watched movies instead.

The day after Korite I hopped in a car and drove down to Kolda for my host families baby naming.  I figured it would be the last time I would probably see them all together and I didn't want to miss it.  So I rode my bike from Kolda into the bush played with some kids and ate some goat.  took pictures of the family, and left.

If you are confused as to why this may be the last time I will see my host family it is because My host father is a teacher, and he got a promotion.  because the government runs the education system, he was promoted to a bigger city.  I hadnt seen my host mother or sisters since march, because they went back to the village for a religious pilgrimage thing.  from april-august it was just my host dad and I, then for ramadan, he wanted to be in the village with his family.  I had been by myself for almost all of august, in a huge house in africa.  towards the end of July my host father tells me that he got a promotion and that I needed to move out by the beginning of september.  Most of my ramadan when I wasnt being annoyed with the demo garden, I was searching for houses that would meet peace corps security specifications.  I eventually found a nice 3 bedroom apt just around the corner.

So, now that you are caught up...I moved into a new apartment just around the corner that is much smaller than where I had been living before.  it has an exterior kitchen and an interior bathroom with western amenities (english toilette and shower)  and it only leaks in the front porch area (the old house leaked in every room except for my bedroom).  when I moved in the water wasn't turned on, but I was able to use the well for washing and cooking.  I plan on making the front yard (its all concrete so its not really a yard, but im not sure what else to call it) into a container garden demonstration area.  I have been getting manure and substrate like peanut shells and sand, and wood chips and have been planting things in containers everywhere.  I am very excited for this new place.

why am I so excited? I plan on building a grill and a distillery in my compound.  I plan on making some delicious steaks, and some hearty moonshine over the next year.  there is more than enough corn for whiskey, and potatoes for vodka.  I have the space, time, and money right now so why not?  I may never be able to make moonshine again I might as well try while Im still young.  I plan on first making mead and then moving to harder beverages.  No, the grill and distill will not be next to each other.

So, next to my water faucet (which is outside) is a small bit of un cemented soil.  I asked my landlord if I can make a small garden there and he said it would be fine.  I began to dig.  The first plot was great, the soil is kinda rocky but I can deal with that.  so then I begin on the second plot.  suddenly I hear a strange noise.  a hissing out of the bowels of the earth.  I don't look down right away.  I think to myself well this could be one of two things. 1. I struck oil and my landlord is rich and will hopefully give me a cut for finding it. 2. I hit the water line.  it was thought number two.  not only did I hit the water line, but it isnt even my water line.  It was the line going to my neighbors house.  they were not very pleased.  I had to call the landlord and explain.  he didn't seem to upset, and I offered to pay for the repair.

Thats all for now.

-Mike

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

I Just Want a Sandwich.

So, I woke up early this morning because today is the first day of the Demo Garden construction...woo.  Things started off good.  My fencing boys were not only on time but early (which is absolutely unheard of in Senegal)  and we got right to work.  I did the basic white guy foreman thing watching over and making sure things were done right.  Of course through every step of the way my counterpart told me things were being done wrong, and I had to go out and fix them even though it was like little details that probably didn't need to be addressed.  My counterpart also kept telling me that the fence was bad.  he didn't give me much more criticism than it was bad.  he told me it would not work.  as of right now, there are like 22 holes in the ground without any cement or fence posts in them.  how he knows the fence is bad already? we'll find out once its up and then assess the situation.  the chief of agriculture is very concerned about pigs.  he says that the pigs will dig under the fence and get in.  I disagree.  the plan is to have a thorny live fence made out of thorny species of shrub like trees, just inside of the metal fence to demonstrate that you don't really need to buy a fence if you don't have the money.  they don't quite get it yet, but they will.  I might buy some barbed wire if the agriculture guys get really upset about the pigs.  I think that if a pig or any animal gets into my garden without my permission, I have the right to use a slingshot and kill it and eat it.  if someone comes to me looking for damages, ill ask them for the damages for the crops that were eaten.  then I will offer him half of the meat (the organs cause they are gross but people like to eat them here I will split the liver with him cause liver is tasty).

So, then it was lunch time.  becauase it is ramadan I have been making my own lunches.  Today was sandwich day.  on my way to pick up a fresh loaf of bread from the bakery I get one of the worst calls you can get.  Pam called and in a slight panic she asked "how do you stop the bleeding? it wont stop!" I then rushed over to her and assessed the situation: she cut herself pretty bad.  about one cm long 3 sided flap kind of cut.  it got pretty deep definetly into the fatty tissue layer.  She most likely needs a single stitch, but if taken care of properly she wont need anything besides me (wink).  I asked her what she did, she told me that she was cutting meat with a sharp knife and then she sliced her finger.  she then told me that the first thing she did was use antibacterial soap to stop the bleeding, and that because the soap didnt work she decided that the next best plan of action was to spray the wound with perfume to stop the bleeding.  She then asked if she was to put salt in it, if the bleeding would stop...  I made her rinse it again and grabbed her med kit.  then I forced her to sit down and take an ibuprofen.  it was very difficult to get her to sit down and stop moving her finger.  we put pressure on it until it stopped bleeding called med and wrapped it up according to the way med wanted me to.  then I was on my way to getting bread again.  I made a delicious sandwich.  spam and cheese with bbq sauce with some warm kool aide.  it was a very tasty lunch.

So, my arch nemesis is back...yes thats right the bank! (ooo scary right?)  the ATM has been down for like 2 days now and I'm going to have to pay these guys for the fence soon.


-Mike

Friday, August 5, 2011

The Morning I Went On A Quest to Pick Up a Radio Show

So, if you didnt read the post "Whats it Like!? Transportation" a few weeks ago, this is another example of just how ridiculous it is to travel about this country.

So, I woke up early and went to the garage bought a ticket for a car, and ate my delicious egg sandwich.  I got the first seat, so I knew I would be waiting a while.  As the car filled up and we were entering the vehicle, I noticed the ground.  normally this wouldn't be weird, except that I noticed the ground from inside of the car.  I turn to the driver and ask "is this car safe?"he doesn't really respond, and seems confused by the question.  I get in anyways.  If you are sitting in the passenger seat of the car you are required to wear a seatbelt.  I find it covered in mud, and stuck.  I ask him if this is normal, and he said yes, it is broke.  Then the car starts and we are on our way.  After about 10 km (6.2 miles) we stop.  he gets out of the car plays with the front tires.  then pours a clear liquid that I think must have been water into a hole somewhere in the engine, and gives it another try.  it works for the most part, but the driver is not satisfied.  he decides then to get a second car so instead of driving us back to the garage he thinks it best for us to wait on the side of the road.  after 30 minutes or so a car shows up.  to all of our surprise there is another passenger in it.  the passengers form the first car tell me not to get in, and I don't.  It is ramadan and people get angry when they don't eat.  the driver and some guy argue in Wolof and French for 5 minutes.  I can imagine the argument they are having.  then the guy arguing decided it is best for us to just walk back to Velingara.  The driver doesn't like that and makes the lady in the car get out and wait for another vehicle to come by for her.  I eventually get to my destination grab the radio show, and get on a mini bus back home.  a few km out we stop for a few minutes, which is not normal.  I look out the window and see a cow tied to a tree.  Then I see some men grabbing the cow, and wrestling it to the ground and hog tie its feet.  the cow does not agree with the situation and poops on one of the men.  then one man grabs the horns and head, one grabs the legs, and one man grabs its testicles and tail and lift the animal on top of the mini bus.  the rest of the trip is without complications and I get back to site.

-Mike

Friday, July 22, 2011

Whats It Like!? Travel.

So, traveling in Senegal kinda sucks.  In America I am a huge supporter of public transportation.  I used to work on a train outside of Cleveland. I was also happy to take a grey hound from Cleveland up to beautiful New Hampshire, even though It took me 27 hours, and a layover in NYC's Port Authority, where I met some very colorful characters (one of whom told me that he stole a bullet proof vest, a shotgun, and a tazer from a police car a few years back).  I tend to enjoy the scenery on those long excursions, and I get to experience a different part of America.  However in America the planes, trains, and automobiles are all set to schedules.  very strict schedules which of course sometimes have delays.  Of course when delays happen, you know that it is happening, and you know when to expect the transportation vehicle to arrive.  You are also told your own estimated time of arrival for your designated destination.  So you know when you will depart and when you will arrive from any given destination.  this system is fantastic, although there is some organization issues with it, the system is still wonderful.  One more thing to add about the greatness** of Americas public transportation system is that the places that you have to wait for things like trains, and bus's are all inside.

So, Senegal is very different and it kinda sucks.  To begin, the roads are bad.  they are bad because stupid NGOs and Governmental organization dumped a bunch of money into the country and built roads without any sense of how Senegal is going to do maintenance.  So a road that is built up real nice one year, may fall apart after 3 and will never be repaired until another NGO or something comes in and dumps a bunch of money again.  the potholes are tremendous.  what is interesting though is that many of the dirt roads in the country are much better than the paved roads.  I sometimes don't understand the need for so many paved roads when they are many times more dangerous than the dirt roads.  Then there is the vehicles themselves.  There are two kinds; the 7-place, and the Al-ham.  A 7-place (french place so it is pronounced pl-ah-ss) is a broken down station wagon with tacky stickers that range from an american flag giving a thumbs up, and pictures of Barack Obama,  to stickers that show the image of Osama Bin Laden with a military jet in the background with the caption "Osama Bin Ladens" (Many times the Obama, and Osama stickers will be right next to each other.  Things can get confusing)  A 7-place is called a 7-place because that is how many people are supposed to fit inside.  Although it was made for 6 people, sometimes as many as 20 people will ride upon/inside one of these vehicles.  sometimes the windows work, the AC is just a button to make the car look fancy, and the upholstery is in pieces.  many times the car will not start right away, sometimes there is no key, sometimes the key falls out while the car is in motion, sometimes the key is actually a screwdriver that the driver uses with the engine.  For luggage, you must bargain with the driver for a good price.  The Al-hams are very similar but they range in size from the VW mini bus-like thing  20 person van, to a much larger 40 person van/bus thing.  you can put cows on top!  there are five people per row no matter what.  there is no aisle, instead they put in a seat with hinges so that people can sit right in the middle.  These vehicles will stop wherever you want them too, and they will.  and they will stop for anyone on the side of the road.  What should have been a two hour trip can quickly turn into a five hour trip in one of these.  One of the worst parts about this kind of transportation is that you could be squished between two very large people with no AC and limited wind for hours at a time.  You never know when a vehicle will be leaving.  There are no schedules.  The cars leave when they have been filled with people.  if there aren't enough people, the car does not leave.  you need to know the day of the week and where weekly markets are to help with your decision on when to go to the garage.  For instance I know that there is a huge weekly market every wednesday, so for me traveling that direction on wednesdays is really easy for me to do.  but on a saturday, it may take hours of waiting in a garage for me to get into a car, because no one has to travel.  I work in a village 40km away (25 miles) and it could take me anywhere between 1-5 hours for me to get there.  I could be waiting all morning in the garage, or there could be many stops along the way or both.  Also if you plan on traveling in Senegal, make sure to use the bathroom before going anywhere.  there are no rest stops on the side of the road, and the bathrooms at the garages are nasty.

-Mike

**it should be noted that Americas transportation system kinda sucks because it doesn't have high speed rail.  This is a huge flaw in the American transportation system that needs to be addressed.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Whats It Like!? Rain.

So, this is what happens when it rains.  you wake up and it is a very enjoyable morning.  there are a few clouds, but mostly sunny skies.  as the day goes on it gets hot.  it gets extremely hot and extremely humid, almost as if you were at a sauna, and you will not be able to dry off because of all the sweat.  you may try again and again with towels and fans but in the end it will not work.  eventually you will fall over and curl up and say to yourself "öh how can I go on in this heat and humidity!?" then suddenly when you think you are about to shrivel up and die a great huge gust of wind like Wizard of Oz Style comes out of nowhere with great huge ominous, impending doom, villain clouds, and throws dust and sand into your face.  things start flying everywhere.  The clouds will quickly consume the sky, and appear as if they were giant disco balls lighting up in every direction.  then with a loud crack of lightening and impressive burst of thunder out of the great grey blanket of clouds it will begin to rain, and it will rain hard.  the rain will come down in great drops that pound on your body like you are being struck with thousands of water balloons, and you will be standing in the middle of it thinking that perhaps you will see Noah and his ark floating by, and you will scream out "when will it ever stop!?".  Then it will stop just as suddenly as it started.  There is sometimes a beautiful full rainbow.  The rest of the night is cool but humid.

So, because of the rains everyone is getting sick.  lots of rashes, infected cuts, fungus on tongues (that didn't happen to me, but it looked gross) I have diarrhea again, and a nasty looking rash developing.  The worst part about rainy season though are the flies.  the flies are on every cut like white on rice.  if they aren't covered, the flies will land and try to eat you.  flies are really gross here because of the lack of sewage treatment.  there is fecal matter everywhere, animal, human, and other.  the flies go from the poop to the cuts, and you food, and it is just terrible.  there aren't many flies during the hot season, cause it is way too dry.   there are also no to little mosquitos in the dry season, its just too dry for them to reproduce.  I am not a big fan of this rainy season.  I will admit, living here has gotten more exciting lately because now I have to go on adventure every time I leave the house.  every street has a different amount of water filling it.  some are walkable, some are jumpable, and some I have to find a new way to get around the river-streets.

So, in other news I finally have money for my demo garden.  I am going to buy chain link fencing, and supplies for it and start working in it asap!

-Mike

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

The Day It Rained a lot, Then I Ate Some Goat.

So,  The rainy season is definitely here.  all morning it rained.  The rain has its pros and cons.  Its great because its cool, and smells good, and you don't have to water stuff.  You also don't have to go to work because its so wet, and sometimes you cant ford the street.  yes, I said ford the street because the streets turn into 10 foot wide rivers that are sometimes unpassable.  The rain kinda sucks cause it brings with it disease, and mosquitos and its gross and muddy, and you can't go anywhere.  I decided to stay in bed, cause i didn't have anything better to do.  I read the Cleveland Jewish News my mom sent me It came out the first week of february, but that is still current news to me.  Then I watched Star Wars A New Hope.
So, I gotta say that I really like living with teachers.  I have lived with a teacher almost my whole life (my mother) and it has been pretty wonderful.  why is it so wonderful? you may ask, well its mostly because of the ridiculous gifts people give their teachers.  I wait all year for winter break and summer vacation, not because I get out of school but because of all the gifts that people would give my mom.  sure sometimes the gift is a mug, or a sweater or something weird, but most of the time it is delicious chocolates and cheeses.  They were delicious, and I would like to take this time to thank all of her students the cheeses were really tasty.  In Africa it is very similar except there isn't any cheese or chocolate for miles around.  but there are many goats.  So my host father being a teacher, received a goat the other day from a student.  While I was watching Star Wars he knocks on my door asking for my sharp knife.  I hand him the Spanish Steel I bought during my trip to spain.  The knife worked very well to slaughter the goat (unfortunately it happened right outside my window) They then took out my machete to butcher the meat.  They gave me a bunch of ribs that I now have marinating.  Tonight Pam and I will have a delicious feast.

-Mike

Monday, July 11, 2011

The Day I Almost Caused Rebellion

So, this whole master farmer thing has been continuously complicated.  issues of distance from me, distance from a water source, and lack of funding have caused me trouble.

The other day I received an e-mail from my boss responding to an e-mail I sent him with my concerns about the master farm.  So me and a peace corps employee went out to assess the problems.  We learned that to dig a well and especially at this time of year would be very difficult to impossible because of the depth and the rains. to get water to the farm we would need to create a new water line to the farm about a km long, which would be fine.  but then we realized that the water line connector was across the main road.  this road is the only road that connects to the rest of the country.  every truck of food and supplies to the casamance region has to pass through that point.  In America this would not be a problem you cut up a road, and there are other roads for a detour.  the road can be repaired in a day or two and things can continue normally.  If I was to cut up the road for this one farmer it would halt all the traffic to the casamance region where over 200,000 people live.  this would create mass starvation, the rebels to the west would create riots, and more than likely the south of the country would go up in flames and secede from the country.  I decided not to let that happen, and instead we will build a well sometime in april when it is dry.

-Mike

Sunday, June 19, 2011

The Night I Went to a Concert

So, I went to a concert last night.   I had heard about some Malian music being played in Velingara from charlene earlier in the day but didn't really think anything of it. I didn't know I was going to a concert until I was actually there.  my evening started off pretty simple.  I went over to Fatou's house (at around 8:00) to tell her that she needed to stir her compost the next day, and I tried to time it out right so that I could perhaps get some free dinner out of my visit.  Neither of those things happened.  as soon as I got there she takes me by the hand and tells me that we are going to a carnival.  because of the accent and stuff it sounded like carnival like in brazil.  this made me excited for a moment but then realized I was in West Africa not Brazil.  I kept asking her if it was really a carnival that we were going to (my mind now on corn dogs funnel cakes and pie eating contests) and she insisted that it was a carnival, although I remain skeptical.  we go through some dark alleys and end up at the basketball courts which are pretty far form my home.

So, we arrive at the "Carnival" which is really a concert set up by World Vision (an NGO) and UNICEF to educate people about like sexual abuse and domestic violence and stuff like that which is set to start at 9:00.  So I sit down and remember that I am very hungry now (8:30).  I get up and go eat an egg sandwich with some hunks of meat in it (I think that some of the meat might have actually been organ meat, but in an egg sandwich who cares?)  and sit back down to find that Fatou is gone.  I sit down by myself and call Pam.  She says she is going to come.  Thirty minutes later she arrives, and the concert has not yet started.  By this time I have met a very strange man that works for World Vision.  He made very strange noises and really freaked me out. Pam and I sit down and talk and wait.  Then suddenly some soldiers show up.  this is not surprising, there are a lot of people all around, the show has not started and there might need to be some crowd control.  what struck me as odd about the soldiers (besides there only being two for a crowd of 2000) was that instead of wearing riot gear, or carrying tear gas and pepper spray was that they were carrying M16 semi-automatic rifles.  Then some guy got on stage and started speaking in Wolof and French (two languages I can't speak) and then he tries to say something in English which didn't really work out for him.  he started by saying good morning when it was obviously night time, and then something about canada and UNICEF that I didn't quite understand.  I also didn't quite understand why he wasnt speaking Pulaar to a large group of Pulaars.  The man kept going on stage and eventually Pam told me that the concert had not yet started (10:15) because the Prefect (like the vice mayor or something) hadn't arrived and that the show was not going to start until he arrived.  at 10:30 I try to call charlene to see if she has made it yet, she had not.  then at about 11:00 the sous prefect (like vice prefect) showed up and was apparently good enough for the concert promoters to get the concert started.  At this moment in time Charlene and Geoff and some others had showed up.

The concert began around 11:00  with the three worst lip syncing rappers I had ever witnessed.  The speakers were waay too loud, and they didnt even hold their microphones up to their mouths.  Being at a rap concert is very awkward for me.  Firstly, I am white.  Second the N word is used very often**.  when the first rapper went on stage he kind of just repeated it becuase that is what he hears in american rap music.  Does he know the origin or meaning of the N word, no probably not, and so uses it very inappropriately and way too often.  Geoff and I made jokes about milli vanilli.  After a few songs a new rap group would get on stage slightly better at lip syncing than the last group.  The lip syncing was like classic Ashley Simpson.  I got very excited for one rapper because they MC called up Cysco (sp?) I was expecting the Thong Song.  It was not the Cysco I know and love though.  It was instead some skinny lip syncing pulaar man. Another rapper got on stage and claimed to be a "hustlah".  He was so proud of his "hustling" abilities that he had it screen printed on the back of his shirt.  However his shirt did not say "Hustlah" like it would in America it instead read "Heusleu" as it would be pronounced/written in french, thoroughly providing the proof that he has no idea what a hustlah is or does  but that it is just a word he has heard in American rap music.

Throughout the concert not one person was looking very happy nor excited.  There was little dancing involved and most people were not smiling (I suspect that it was in part because of the lack of beers).  It made me very frusterated and decided that if no one else was going to dance and be happy to be at a concert then I would make up for all the other people that were not having such a good time.  Yes I became that annoying American causing a rucus in the back.  I started whooping and hollaring and causing a scene (not too much of a scene I didn't want to get shot).   Then the best lip syncer showed up.  MC Ballejjo (MC Black)  So MC Black gets up and does his lipsyncing act.  I get bored  and I walk pam home (12:30).


-Mike

**I would like to point out that people around town have indeed been calling me white, and they have also been calling me the "N" word.  it makes me very uncomfortable and I tell them that it is not a good word for them to be calling me, or anyone else for that matter.  they merely laugh at me when I tell them this, and ignore the fact that it is a terrible word for them to be calling me.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

The Day I Almost Dug Holes

So,  I woke up early the other day because I wanted to get to my master farmer's farm early before the sun got hot.  The plan was to meat up with Mamadou (The Master Farmer) Hildawg and Marie and dig a whole bunch of holes for corn.  At 7:30 I get to the garage.  At 9:30 I can finally leave the garage, and at about 10:15 I arrive at the farm.  After a few mintues of goofing around we assign ourselves different jobs to do.  I was going to dig with Mamadou while Marie measured out where the hole were going to be placed, and gave the machete to Hildawg to cut down some shrubbery (she needs to practice how to properly handle a machete too she wasn't very good, but she has potential).
Mamadou At The Farm.

So, By like 10:30 we are starting work.  If you know anything about working in Africa 10:30 in the morning is not a good time to start work cause its starting to get really hot.  Then Mamadou and I start digging holes and realize that the soil is almost as hard as cement because it hasn't rained in weeks.  after digging two hole I look at him and say, this isnt working.  It is way to hot, and the soil is way to hard.  This just isnt going to work out today.  he agreed and we left.  of course by then it was getting close to noon and  it is almost impossible to find a car going anywhere between 11:00 and 3:00 in Senegal, especially on a friday.   We go and sit with mamadou and have a very delicious lunch of rice and veggies and beef.
So, after waiting a few hours we finally are called over to the car.  and we sit in the car...and sit...and sit for maybe an hour and we wait for the car to get filled up with people.  in the oversized van that we are in,we are in the back where the seats are parallel with the sides of the road facing each other. in front of me I have marie and a man weilding a sword which is poorly hidden beneath his road, and will not let me see it.  to my left is a man wearing some very nice clothes and bling and a paper bag of meat, and on the other side of him is Hildawg.  Now this man on my left seems to be a bit out of place.  wearing really nice clothing, has some bling on, and onto the van he brought on a TV wrapped in a sheet, brand new fly kicks (nice looking shoes), a very cool truckers hat, and some new bottles of cologne.  This man was also wearing a jacket because he was cold. (I was in a T-shirt and shorts because it was around 100 degrees). The man opens this dripping-with-grease bag of meat and attempts to eat.  I look at this and can't believe he is going to risk having sticky fingers in such an environment (theres no water to clean up with) and I proceed to ask him why he is eating pork. he tells me it is mutton (thats french for sheep) and I tell him that I saw the restaurant earlier this morning and that they had killed a pig.  he doesn't believe me and continues to eat his mutton.  he then offers me some, and I tell him no I do not eat pork only mutton.  he laughs.  then he realizes the fatal mistake he had made, and after two hunks of mutton he tries to wrap up his meat and shoves it into the sheet with the TV.  then he looks down at his nasty greasy sticky hands.  Does this man worry about sticky fingers? no.  he rubs the mutton grease into his hands as if it were lotion.  then he begins to dance.  yes dance in the back of the van.  the man with the sword is not entirely pleased.  The mutton man then tries to dance with marie who really isnt having it and I tell him that she is my wife and that if he touches her again I will beat him.  he agrees to stop touching her, but continues dancing.  once he stops dancing he takes out the bag with the fly kicks and cologne and begins to spray me! I am not entirely amused but it does smell nice.  he then proceeds to spray all of us (and he is laying it on thick) and then sprays himself. then trys to spray me again.  I however stop him.  Then his attention focuses back on the girls.  and he asks for Hildawg.  I tell him that I will give her to him for 500,000 cfa, 10 cows, 3 goats, 3 sheep, and a kilo of rice.  He agrees and said that tomorrow morning we would do the arrangements.  I had kept asking him what his work was after this, and he would not divulge this information which leads me to believe that not only was this guy hopped up on drugs, but he was also involved in trading.
So, there we are smelling nice (kinda) and really want to leave, and so finally I go up to the driver and tell him that we are in a hurry and need to leave.  apparently it worked! and we were off.  on the road a lady began to talk to us, and offered me her baby.  I respectfully declined the offer with the excuse that I was travelling with my two wives and that Marie is my first wife and Hildawg is my second wife, and that I do not need anymore children because Marie has given me 3 boys (Aliou, Samba, and Lemiyne) and Hildawg has given me 2 boys (Demba, and Mamadou).  She completely understood why I did not need another baby.
We eventually got to Tamba to rest and wait some rain to fall, so that I can go back to the master farm and do what I do best, dig holes.

-Mike

Saturday, June 4, 2011

The Formation that Almost Didn't Happen.

So,  (a formation is the same as a workshop but french)  I was supposed to have this formation yesterday and today about composting and soil preparation.  I have been having soo much trouble with the womens group Sahelia (See blog Post "It's Hot" from May 12).  Yesterday was supposed to be the beginning of the Formation...that didn't happen.  So the story goes, A really good gardener form Kolda (Seck) came up here to do a formation with me (his wolof and pulaar is much better than mine and can explain things that I just can't)  He arrives on time and I meet him and I show him to my house where he will be staying.  we then go to the garden we will be working at and then to the house of the president of Sahelia.  she is very excited and claims to have everything prepared...then I ask her what she has prepared.  her answer was nothing.  so the three of us go looking for manure and other items.  then I made sure to remind her that we would be starting at four O'clock.  she agreed.  Seck and I had a delicious lunch at a very nice restaurant in town and we napped.  at a bit before 4:00 we went to the garden and waited.  after about 15 minutes the pres showed up.  after another 15 minutes a few more people showed up.  by 5:00 there were 4 people ready for the formation.  we discussed what the hell is going on.  I was very disappointed.  then we decided to do both parts the next day.  some in the morning and some in the evening.  which shouldn't be a problem.  a few minutes later we realized that there was a problem.  beautiful Pam my site mate has a formation of her own the next afternoon.  We then decided to do it all at once in the morning.  not my favorite plan but getting out of the way first thing in the morning is fine with me.  We all agreed that 8:00 would be the time that we begin.  We also agreed that if no one showed up after 1 hour Seck would go back to Kolda.

So, the next morning we arrive on time.  we wait 15 minutes and then the pres shows up.  after an hour 4 people are there...again, also she didn't bring any manure or ash or anything else that she was supposed to bring.  I tell her that we will not wait any longer and we are leaving.  We both have other work to do (Kinda, I mostly just don't want to be sitting there, and I suppose I could be writing a radio show).  She runs off to who knows where and suddenly after 15 minutes a few ladies show up ready to work.  at 10:00 everyone shows up, and all the materials are there and we make compost piles and amend the soil and have a great time.  We ate lunch, took some pictures, and everyone left smiling, even me.

Now word is getting around amongst the ladies of Velingara.  already I have heard complaints from the other womens group about how I would not let them have a formation even though that is completely ridiculous.  I gave them an extra 7 days to give me the money even (See blog Post "It's Hot" from May 12).  Apparently they told pam (at her formation this afternoon) that they are upset with me and that I "did not agree" with them about having a formation.  I really don't care.  I am not going to worry about this.  I am going to focus on my Demo garden, my master farm, and the radio shows.


-Mike

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Bad Morning.

So,  I am making a really big change.  Some people may not take this change of mine seriously but it is still huge for me.  I am making the switch from Tevas to Chacos (sandal brands)  I have always been loyal to Tevas, but I don't think that they can handle the rainy season here.  I had ordered some Chacos Onine earlier in the week, and I have been very excited to get them.  Yesterday I woke up from a nightmare at about 5:00am. I had bought womens flipflops, and there was nothing I could do because I am in Africa, and I had to live with wearing womens flipflops for the rest of my service here.  It was really awful.

Then the worst thing happened.  As many of you know I love cats.  not as much as trees, but still I love cats.  At my house in America my family 4 cats.  After the terrible nightmare I went outside to water the garden and eat some frozen yogurt for breakfast.  I heard this weird noise coming from a corner of the compound, so I went to check it out.  to my surprise it was a little baby kitten maybe a week or 2 old.  somehow it had gotten separated from its mother and ended up in the compound.

All I could think of was "OH NO! my puppy (it weighs roughy 30 lbs now) is going to destroy that baby kitten I need to save it"  so I went and tied up the dog, and went to rescue the kitten.  I figured that I could probably bring it to Tampa and give it away to someone there.  I went over and reached for the kitten, but the kitten decided to make a run for it.  The puppy saw the kitten scampering away and with a mighty force snapped the rope it was tied up with.  I immediately grab a stick to beat the dog that almost is eating a kitten that is running away.  we all stop at the douche (the douche is a french word for hole in the ground that you poop in) and we stare each other down.  The pup looks at me with the stick and the kitten, the kitten is looking at the douche, me and the pup, I am looking at the kitten, the douche, and the pup.  no one makes a move.  then suddenly the kitten thinks the douche is a good idea.  I freak out cause the dog moves in.  the kitten is able to back out and I am still scaring the dog enough for it not to attack.  Then I decide that the best action for me to take is to go for the dog, and tie him up again (with better rope) and find the kitten after and save it.

I make a move for the pup.  The kitten thinks I am going for it.  The kitten makes a final leap into the douche never to be heard from again.  not a sound escaped that disgusting hole of feces and cockroaches.  not a splash or a mew.  it was just gone...worst day of my life man.

After that fiasco, I travelled up to Manda to see my master farmer and ended up walking around his barren field in the hot sun measuring out plots for beans and stuff.  It was really hot. For some reason we had to measure it all out using triangles.  that was annoying.


-Mike

Monday, May 23, 2011

Bagels


So, I have been having trouble with this bagel project of mine.  For those of you that do not know, I am trying to have the pastry shoppe in town make bagels.  I think that they would make a lot of money from this endeavor.  Volunteers from all over the country have told me that they would buy bagels if they were available.  There are also many hotels and campements in the area with lots of foreigners that would buy bagels.  If the pastry shoppe makes bagels I would take orders from all the volunteers once a month and give the order to the pastry shoppe.  I would then distribute the bagels.  They would make a killing!  So here is the problem.  We tried to do bagels a few months ago.  They made a single bagel about the size of my head, and it tasted more like a donut.  Although delicious, its not a bagel.  Then I was away from site doing things like regional conferences, allvol, the donkey ride, and a number of other work related conferences.  Last week I entered the bagel shoppe with the new volunteers and I told the chef that they all wanted bagels.  As soon as I said the word “bagel”  the new volunteers immediately turned their head and started asking and being very excited about bagels.  The chef turned to me and said ok, I get it I will make bagels.  So a few days passes and I show up again and I ask about where they are.  He says that he doesn’t have the ingredients.  We look at the recipe list.  And we decide afterwards that he does have all the ingredients.  And he says in a few days to come back and he will have them.  I come back a few days later and ask where the bagels are.  He says he couldn’t do it.  I ask why.  His response is that he is unfamiliar with the unit of measurement on the list.  I look at it, and I realize that he doesn’t know what a tea spoon or a table spoon is.  This is understandable because he usually makes large orders, and I assume that he uses different units when making cakes, most likely he sticks to grams.  I tell him I will come back in a few days for the bagels he says ok.  I return a few days later very excited for bagels.  I ask him where they are are, and he tells me that he can’t make them.  I ask why not?  He says that the recipe is for 10 people but he is using 800 grams of flour, it doesn’t make sense he can’t do it, there is no way to weigh out 800 grams of flour.  I tell him that this is like science, it is ok to experiment and that he should just estimate. Then he tells me that he can’t do it because it takes too long,  he needs an hour to let the dough rise and that is just too long.  I tell him don’t worry about it just let it rise for 30 minutes and maybe it will be ok.  Then he tells me that he needs to let it rest in a refridgerator, and he doesn’t have one (he does have one and it works, and there are cokes and fantas in it right this very moment) I tell him don’t worry about the refridgerator.  He tells me ok I will make them tonight.  Today I went back to see the bagels.  He told me that he could not do it because the electric mixer is too big to mix the dough.  Geoff was with me and we told him to just double the recipe, although I don't know why he can't just use a spoon.  It is very interesting to me, at how precise he is following the recipe, and his unwillingness to look outside the box.  I think that it has a lot to do with the education system.  There is a lot of just rote memorization, whereas in America we are taught to think of ideas, and to problem solve.  Especially for a pastry chef, you would think that he would be able to figure this kind of thing out.  It is also very apparent to me that he doesn’t understand the chemistry involved with cooking.  Hopefully the bagels will turn out alright.  I think that my next pastry shoppe project will be peanut butter cookies.  There is a lot of peanut butter here, and they know how to make cookies, so it only makes sense...doesn't it?

-Mike

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

I Got Sick...Again

So, I have gotten sick a few times here.  Giardia, Ameobas, heat rashes, and some stuff that was undiagnosed.  This last time I got sick was the worst so far I think.  It was a classic case of Giardia, which is  "an infection of the small intestine caused by a microscopic organism...outbreaks can occur in communities in both developed and developing countries where water supplies become contaminated with raw sewage" Lucky me. I think I got it from drinking some unfiltered well water, ain't I smart?  So anyways I woke up feeling really tired, and diarrhea, and then the sulfur burps came (classic symptom of Giardia is having an unusually high amount of burps that taste like sulfur.) So like a good Peace Corps volunteer I called med to double check the medicine i should buy(I was pretty sure of the medicine 'Fasigyne' but I just wanted to be sure).  I called, and told the person on the other line my name and site, and what was wrong, and they weren't quite sure why I was calling.  I explained myself again and asked for a doctor.  at that point in time the doctors were attending the new volunteers swear in ceremony, (which I do approve of as a completely legitimate excuse) and the man on the phone asked me if he wanted them to send down any medicine.  I needed the medicine now, not in two days from now, so I asked him again if he could just tell me the name of the medicine I needed to take.  He failed.  I hung up and bought the medicine.  I ate the medicine and some tylenol, and tried to nap.  Unfortunately for me, my next door neighbors were having a wedding.  This meant that there were giant speakers and a hundred people making noise.  I pretty much watched movies and read for most of the day and night.  the next day I was still not feeling so good.  I went to pams house and told her im sick. and then I came home and decided to watch the Mighty Ducks trilogy.  at this point some guy came into my compound with my host dads key took some mangos I think and left...but he didn't lock the door behind him.  so ten minutes later all these ladies form the wedding next door are in my compound asking me to fetch them water, and ice water, and ice, and all sorts of stuff.  I am not amused.  I am not hospitable.  I do not know who the hell these ladies are.  So there I am in the hot african heat, sick, with crazy ladies bothering me and I have to watch them, cause I don't know who they are and if they feel like stealing something from my house.  Eventually my host dad comes back and I can go to sleep.  Sleeping was difficult this whole time.  when the power was on, I could use my fan and sleep in relative coolness but the giant speakers next door were blasting terrible senegalese music and Akon.  When the power was out, the music was gone, but it was too hot.  By night fall, I took some more tylenol, and drank a bunch of gatorade and I was feeling relatively good.  I went to a restaurant and ate some eggs and potatoes, I checked out a new bar that had jsut opened up (I didn't drink anything) and then went back home.  Then the worst 5 minutes happened.  Suddenly the power went out.  not a problem I walk outside and drink some cold water.  then I realized I had to pee.  I want to see the color of my piss to know how hydrated I am so I bring in my cell phone because it has a flashlight.  I repeat to myself over and over, "Don't drop it in, don't drop it in, don't drop it in"  of course I do drop it in.  Now let me tell you.  I have a nasty toilet.  it is really really gross.  I stare at it for a few seconds, and sigh and begin the search for a flashlight.  during the search I slice open my thumb on a piece of metal (of course I don't realize this till much later cause I can't see anything)  and I eventually find my flashlight and latex gloves.  I fished it out and swiftly walked outside with the phone dripping nasty goo from its seams.  As soon as I had laid the phone down and started wiping it down with an old cloth, the power came back on. I went to Pams house and told her everything.  She pretty much just laughed.  I put the phone in a bag of rice in hopes that the next day it would work.  3 hours later I started feeling extremely nauseas.  this lasted until the next morning.  my stomach hurt so much, I got only a few hours of sleep.  Then the next day I was so tired and felt so sick I could barely get out of bed.  I managed to walk to pams house and used her phone for some work stuff and then went home and slept.  That night I was feeling well enough to talk to the women's group president.  I had to tell her that I had to move the date of the workshop again.  I was feeling so loopy, I could barely understand a thing she was saying to me.  I can only hope that I got my message across.  


Now I am feeling much better although my appetite has still not completely returned, and I am still a little tired.  I can only eat a half bowl of rice.  Gatorade is a real lifesaver.  That stuff is awesome.  


It has Rained twice this week!  last night it was pretty scary.  a lot of wind and lightening.  almost reminded me of home.  In a few weeks time my city will turn into the Venice of Senegal! Imagine a town with its streets flooded from rainwater stirring up all the donkey, cow, goat, pig, and human feces into a wonderful beautiful river.  I can hardly wait.


-Mike

Thursday, May 12, 2011

It's Hot!

So, to begin this post I must say that it is really hot.  possibly even too hot.  I am lucky enough to be living in a place where I get electricity 80-90% of the time, and I have a freezer.  other volunteers are not so lucky.  they live in huts with grass roofs and no electricity or running water for miles.

So, I've been trying to make some workshops happen for some womens groups.  One of the groups presidents (from the Mashala group)  called a great gardener that I know in Kolda (who happens to work with the peace corps almost daily) and asked him to come up and do some workshops.  Gardening workshops.  very simple workshops for just a few hours.  He contacted me through the wonderful Kolda volunteer Marcie and I went down and scheduled some with him for the two womens groups I garden with (Mashala, and Sahelia are the group names).   I told both groups to have half the money ready by May 2nd, and after the workshops they can pay the second half.  May 2nd came along and no one had any money. I ask the Mashala president why they don't have any money, and they say its too expensive (it is not at all expensive).  I told her then that if she doesn't have the money she can't have a workshop.  This seemed to surprise her.  I told her that i was doing this for her because she called the gardener in kolda, and that I am only organizing this because she asked for a workshop.  she tells me that she doesn't know what I am talking about.  That she doesn't know the gardener in Kolda and that she doesn't even have his number.  That surprises me. eventually she tells me that she will have all the money by May 10th.  I am at this point to tired and annoyed to continue arguing, and agree.  I tell her that I will call her everyday and ask her about the money until may 10th, and I continually remind her that if she does not have any money, she does not have any workshop.  I then go to the house of the other president of the Sahelia group.  She says that she and all her ladies love me so much, and they are so happy when I come around.  I then ask her for the money.  She tells me that i need to sit down and eat Laalo.  Laalo is a nasty meal consisting of rice, and the leaves of a baobab tree (at least I think its baobab).  its kinda gross.  I eat a little bit anyways to be polite, and again ask her for the money.  she says she doesnt have it, the secretary has it. I say ok lets go to her place and get the money.  So we go there, and of course she doesnt have any money.  The president tells me to go to her garden the next morning and she will have the money then.  I have my doubts, but say ok anyways, and that I need to leave for Kolda at 10:00.  at 9:00 I am at the garden, at 9:05 she tells me she doesnt have the money, but knows someone that does.  So we walk a few blocks and end up at Pams supervisors house (I must point out that her house has some beautiful banana trees).  I am thinking oh this is great this lady will know I am PC and everything will be great and I will get the money, and I will soon be gone.  The lady doesnt really recognise me, nor does she speak pulaar, she only speaks french and wolof, two languages I do not speak.  So there I am, trying to figure out what is going on between the two of them, and wondering why on earth woud pams supervisor not speak pulaar, and why does she have the money?  I explain to the president who explains to pams supervisor what the workshops are for and why they need money for work shops and she seem sto understand, and then she says that her uncle works for PC.  she calls him up and it turns out to be Yousafa, a man that taught me a lot about Urban ag during my training, and whom I really get along with (we are both huge James Brown fans).  He told me that both of the groups were trying to treat me like a normal NGO, and are trying to get money out of me (these ladies have obviously never met a full blooded jew before) and that what I was doing was great and that I should not give any money, and that I am here as a teacher.  I agreed with him on all accounts, and he talked to Pams supervisor and as soon as she hung up the phone I had the first payment for the workshop in my hands.  of course it was almost 11:00.  The next day in Kolda I went to the gardeners house and told him all that had happened.  He was very confused that the Mashala president said she didnt know him, because the other day she was at his house. he is her uncle.  I decided to call her right then and there.  the gardener and I talked to her, and reminded her about collecting money for the workshop.  everything was great.  I called that lady every day to remind her about the money (I may have forgotten one day) and then it was the 10th.  and I go to the garden where she works, and notice that no one is there.  I call her.  I asked her where she and her ladies are.  her response is essentially I do not have any money, and I am in Dakar.  I tell her she can not have a workshop. The weird thing with her is that she asked for the workshop, and she knew the whole time it was going to cost money, and she knew when the due date was.  So, then I go and check on the president of the sahelia to make sure that the second payment will be on time on the 14th.  I go to her house, and she tries to feed me Laalo again, and I eat a little bit but this laalo was really bad.  and I get down to business, and ask if she has collected the money yet.  she asks me when the workshop is going to be.  I tell her it is still going to be on the 14th, thats saturday, I use french numbers usually and she asks what that is in Pulaar and I tell her, and she suddenly looks very surprised.  She tells me that the 14th will not work, because all of the women will be in Kounkane for a regional women's group thing.  at this point, I am not surprised.  I honestly should have seen this coming.  I ask her what is a good day for her. she says the 17th I call the gardener and he says it'll be fine.  later that night as I am in bed watching a movie (Grandmas Boy) and I get a call from Pam.  She told me that the president had gone to her house and told her that she wants the workshop on the 13th instead.  why she didn't call me, or come to my house instead of Pams house I do not know.  She wants the 13th?  you have got to be kidding me! I can't move it up a day, thats the day I am going to buy stuff for the workshop and actually prepare materials for the workshop.  So then there was this morning.  I go to her garden at 9:00 because she told me to be there at 9:00.  I waited until 9:30 and then I left.  Will she have a workshop on the 17th? maybe.  will she get her money back if there is no workshop? I don't know.

My demo garden budget is almost done! its going to be great!

The hamburger guy is back in town, now with Nems (like eggrolls) and Fatayas!!!  its awesome!

it is really hot.

-Mike

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Master of Farms

So, I got roped into PC Senegals Master Farmer program.  At the time it seemed like it wouldn't be too hard.  After having completed the training for it, It is going to be a little more work than I had anticipated.  The Master Farmer program is a program in which the PC gives all sorts of materials to an extremely motivated native farmer, that has already shown his or her skill in their farming ability, and who is open to new farming techniques.  Once these farmers have these new materials they set up a hectare of land, and grow food plants, and hold trainings for local small scale farmers to improve the food security of their area.  The farms are set up according to PC standard using the farm to demonstrate why these improved techniques are better.  for instance the farmer will set up a row of corn.  one half will be done with added amendments like manure, compost and ash, and will be thinned out so that really big healthy corn will grow, and the other half will be planted using the traditional method that is commonly used where they don't add anything to the soil, and they don't thin out the plants.  people will be able to come to the farm and immediately see how to grow corn, and be able to grow more food.  it is a really cool program but requires a lot of time and energy.  my job is to over see the farmer and help with all sorts of agricultural techniques and help solve his agricultural problems.  The farmer gets to keep all the food produced by his farm of course, and can sell it at the market.  he will most likely raise the most money from selling fruit trees and ornamentals.  a fruit tree (mango, orange, papaya) can sell for 1000 Cfa (2 dollars) it is easy to get a pepiniere (nursery) of 1000 trees.  the farmer can make a ridiculous amount of money like this.  I am really excited to be working with my farmer, although he is far away from me.  He lives like 40 km down the road.  the only reason I can work with him is that there is another volunteer in the same city as the farmer.  he is a health Volunteer, which is why I am going to be the Agro specialist for the farm.  he will probably work with the farmer more than me.
So, I am having trouble with mangoes.  They are extremely delicious and nutritious but they make my hands sticky, and they give my lips and skin a bad rash.  its mostly cause I am careless about the skins when I eat them.  there are nasty oils in mango skin, and I get a rash like poison ivy.  I usually eat them like an orange, I just peel away a part of it and chomp down.  I am going to have to change my technique and use a knife to take care of the skin.  its a less fun method, but I love mangos.

-Mike

Sunday, April 24, 2011

I Am Doing Things

So,  I have started to do things here at site.  I have almost completed the organization for my garden workshops, although I am running into some trouble.  The womens groups keep trying to haggle, and bargain with me about the price.  I can't change the price.  That is just silly.  For the Demonstration garden I am doing, I finally have a budget and a mason.  I am going to have an awesome well, and really nice fence.  I was a little skeptical about this guy at first, but then he showed up with blueprints from world vision, and told me that he has done similar wells nearby.  I think he is pretty legit now.  the guy that is supplying the materials speaks english pretty well, and I like that in case i need to explain some details.

Today is easter!  My puppy got neutered today! instead of looking for easter eggs some guys came over to my house and looked for puppy balls!  they found them!  from what I heard one man held his head, one held the puppies front legs, one man held the puppies back legs, and one man held the tail and razorblade.  I was at a garden when this was all happening two streets away.  I could hear the screams of terror from the puppy as he was put under the knife.  when I got home he looked like he was doing ok.  kind of bloody, but wagging his tail.  I think i am going to get him some meat tonight.  he had a rough day.

Mike

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Since Spain...

So, Since spain I have not been at site too much.  There are lots of things happening that I had to go to.  There was a long Urban Ag summit in kolda.  it was ok.  I learned what air layering is.  I hadnt even heard of that term before!  I also bought a pomegranate! It was really great seeing my Uag friends after a few months.  I was also able to go to the pool everyday! I love the pool!  then there was volunteer visits, so I stayed in Kolda for a few more days to meet the newbies.  They seem pretty nice.  really pretty girls.
My host mom is still in the vilalge for a religious thing, so I have been going to all the tiny little restaurants that velingara has to offer.  some are niceer than others.  there are a few that only has girls working there and they all try to talk to the "rich" white guy, but I don't really give them the time of day.  there is one place that I think may double as a whore house.  its near the bus station and gas station.  the food wasnt very good, but the interior was pretty nice, and there were 3 pretty girls working that were all talking to me the whole time.  one of my favorite places to go now is a meat plate place, the guys there are really nice, its near by, and the food is delicious.  there is also a fan!  having a fan in the restaurant is soo crucial to my repeated business.  there is one fancy restaurant that I know of now.  the food is pretty good, it comes with a salad and some bread.  its twice as expensive as most restaurants and there is no fan.  I think i will return there in the cold season only.  the puppy keeps digging up the garden.  he is a bad boy!  he will fetch though, so thats fun.  he is adorable.  I might end up stealing him and bringing him back to the states.  he only speaks pulaar, so it would be funny bringing him home and having people try to give him commands in english.  thats all for now

Mike

Espagne part dos

So, Then we went on to Barcelona.  That was awesome!  We took a high speed train (yay trains!) and I got to experience the beautiful spanish country side.  I think I saw a castle, but im not sure. The spanish country side is gorgeous.  Then when we got to Barcelona, I realized that one of my bags was gone.  long story short it was stolen, and our tourguide (the angel that she was) was able to have the train people locate it (sorry my english is getting worst everyday).  most things were still in my bag, but my new beard trimmer, and battery charger were gone.  luckily they didn't touch the Bacon! barcelona was much warmer than Madrid (thank goodness) although it was still kinda chilly.  First we went to the Olympic Stadium.  I love the olympics, so that was really awesome to see.  Then we took a bus tour for some of the afternoon of the beautiful city.  then I ran into my arch enemy again... The bank! (see previous posts) for some reason, after I told Chase Bank via phone, and via online banking that I would be in spain, they put a hold on my account.  I eventually fixed it and everything was fine.  The food in Barcelona was awesome!  I ate a lot of bacon (The hotel breakfasts were very lack luster, and were very senegalese.  bread, butter, bad coffee, I was very unhappy with the barcelona hotel breakfast)   There was cake, and bacon, and chorizo, and all sorts of stuff everywhere.  The coolest part of Barcelona is the Gaudi stuff.  The architecture there is unbelievable.  I highly recommend going to the gaudi park.  there was one place that was very overwhelming.  There is a large market that has jsut about everything.  I couldnt handle it.  it had dragon fruit and berries!  BERRIES!!! there was such a large variety off foods, and it was so crowded, but no one was bothering me, It really freaked me out.  I had a whole 5 minutes in there then I had to leave.  But then I found a bar.  everyone spoke english, the bartender was from somewhere in europe, but a jew, and had recently completed service in the Israeli army.  he was a cool dude.  After the bar i kept wandering, and then I found something amazing.  barcelona has a dominos Pizza.  yeah! I ate some pizza.  some real american style delicious pizza.  they served beer there too but it was too expensive. My last day in Barcelona I wandered around, for days I was dreaming of my favorite american fast food breakfast, the sausage egg cheese bisquit sandwich from McDonalds.  one would think oh its Barcelona and there are many McDonalds around of course you will be able to find one that has breakfast.  but no.  I walked around Barcelona with my luggage for an hour trying to find an opened McDonalds.  at about 10:30 I found one and rushed in all happy and smiling really big, "Finally what I have ben waiting for!" I said to myself.  I went up to the counter and asked for breakfast and she looked at me and said something in spanish to the equivallent of we dont serve breakfast here.  I didnt say anything else.  I jsut turned with a frown and walked out. later that day and found a cool american style bar.  everyone spoke english.  there was a game that I played where you have to balance a coin on a lemon floating in a pitcher of water.  I won like 4 times, and each time you do it you get a shot.  the bartender was one of the most beautiful girls ive ever met.  she was swedish, and was sooo into me.  she wanted me to stay an extra night.  I couldnt, and I left.  At the airport I started singing when i was in the duty free store.  the song i sang went like this...duty freeeee liquor, Duty freeee liquor, oh look duty free chorizo, duty free chorizo!.  it was a good song, it was great.  Spain was awesome.  On the ride home I met a really pretty pulaar girl.  she was sitting next to me on the plane.  we talked for most of the ride.  she was really hot.  she gave me her number (shwing!).  I dont think i will ever call her though, because african women scare me.
when I got home, it was full blown mango season! and I was locked out of my house for a few minutes and I looked up at the mighty mango tree in my yard and said to it "oh mango tree why can't there be a mango close to the ground so that I can eat a mango?" and then suddenly a mango fell from the tree.  I ate it.  I love my mango tree.

Mike

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

And Then There Was Spain. Pt 1

So, I don't have time to write the whole story right now so here is part one of "And Then There Was Spain"

So, then I went to Spain.  This allowed me to help complete the third goal (I think its the third goal) of the Peace Corps Mission, which is "Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans."  My mother is the orchestra director for my old high school.  my brother is now also in that orchestra.  The orchestra was going to Spain on tour, and my mom told me that if I could find a ticket to spain for under 500$ She would take me along.  so I did it, and went to spain.  I rode on Royal Air Maroc. it was an ok airline.  if you have the option of chicken or beef, you should go for the beef.  I chose poorly.  the breakfasts on Royal Air Maroc, are lacking flavor, and the bread they serve it with is hard and crusty and tastes old.  Beside all of that my flights were great.  I had a Layover in Casablanca.  we got to walk on the Tarmac, which was cool, cause I got to be like  "Rick" from the movie Casablanca.  Then I got to madrid.  Madrid is a beautiful city.   When I stepped off the plane I immediately went to customer service, and asked "Hables Ingles?"  The lady behind the counter said something crazy in spanish about how she could speak english, but then I didn't understand the rest of what she said, so I asked her again.  her response was that she spoke english but she could speak to me in spanish if i wanted to practice.  I then smacked her in the face,  and yelled at her about  how dare she assume that I want to practice a different language, I'm on my goddamn vacation.  I want to speak as much english as possible!... At least that is what I thought about in my head.  in reality I just took a deep breath and asked her were to find a sim card and a big mac.  to my joy, they were right next to each other!  so I bought a new sim card, and sat down for the the best hamburger i've had in 9 months.  I had a few hours before I could meet up with my mom and the kids, so I decided to put on my winter clothes and my winter hat and walk around Madrid with my backpack for a few hours.  Looking back, I don't think that it was an especially good idea for me to have been alone those first few hours in the western world.  Everything thing since getting into that first airplane in Dakar, had been slightly overwhelming, and then I thrust myself into an even more overwhelming experience all alone.  I grabbed a map, and quickly figured out the metro system.  I put myself right into the center of the city Plaza Mayor.  I walked around and ate food for about 3 hours.  I found an all you can eat buffet that served beers.  I stayed there until I could not longer eat.  then I found a place with ice-cream, but not just any ice-cream! yes you guessed it, Magnum Bars.  I ate one even though i was freezing cold.  I should mention that normally 50-60 degree weather does not even phase me.  However going from pulling a donkey 50 miles in 120 degree weather for a week, and then going to a climate that has a high of 55 is going to make me very cold.  I met my mom outside of the Bullring.  the Bullring in Madrid is beautiful.  really all the architecture in spain is beautiful.  Spain is a beautiful place.  
So, then I was part of the group.  That was where I met the nicest lady in the world.  Elena was our tour-guide, and she was the best tour-guide I have ever had.  she knew everything, and could speak english really well, and always kept her cool about everything.  she's a really cool lady.  a few times, when the kids were set free to wander we would go have a drink and have tapas.  I was able to hang with the group and my mommy and brother in all the museums we went to, and just had a great time.  meal time in spain was very difficult for me.  I would get upset at everyone around me for various reason, but I think I kept my cool.  when I was sitting with he chaperones, all I wanted to do was eat delicious foods.  the chaperones however kept asking me question after question.  all I wanted to do was keep pouring food down my throat.  When I ate with the kids I would get upset when they didn't eat.  one kid wouldn't eat creme brulee because it looked weird.  what an idiot.  I argued that it was just sugar and flour, and he still would not eat it.  he said all he wanted to do was eat candy... well like whats the difference!!?!?  then the kids were all complaining about how all they have been eating was Paella...they only had it 2 nights in a row! I have been eating basically the same 3 or 4 dishes for the last 8 months, and I have yet to complain about it.  these kids complain about having the same delicious food in an exotic country two nights in a row and they complain?  I know that they all go to chipotle everyday, and im sure they don't complain about that! anyways...the food was awesome.  the second night I was there was probably the best meal.  there were like all sorts of courses, and then the main course was a half a chicken! that was sweet.  and for dessert there was cake.  all kinds of cake! (I took pictures)  I was smart to be eating with the chaperones that night because a tray of cake was brought to all the tables with all sorts of cakes and whipped cream.  the chaperones, acted like normal adults wanting only little tastes of a few cakes to watch their weight.  I however went to town and put some serious cake to the face.  as we were leaving I noticed out of the corner of my eye a half eaten piece of cheesecake a kid had left behind.  this cheese cake was no ordinary cheese cake however.  this piece of cake had BLUEBERRIES. real, never frozen or dried blueberries!!!.  I couldn't believe it.  I had not eaten a berry since august, and not there was a cake with berries on it in front of me. I freak out and ask out loud to the crowd " Do you see that this cake has real blueberries on it!? who would do this!? do you see the berries!?" I then lunge for the delicious half eaten pice of cake, but then my mom slaps my hand and looks me in the eye and says "Michael you are out of control"...I never did get to eat that piece of cake...But then the next day we got to ride on high speed rail to the wonderful city of Barcelona!!!  If you know anything about me, then you know I am a huge advocate for high speed rail in the united states.  riding high speed rail in europe was just as I imagined.  sleek, smooth, speedy!  I just hope that the kids will take their new knowledge of how amazing trains are back home with them to the states.  they should e-mail their senator about how high-speed rail is important for the economy and environment of Ohio.   The spanish countryside was magical.  I think I even saw a castle!  on the ride I got to read an amusing book my friend sent me, and watch a spanish soap opera.  Then I lost my luggage.  Part 2 coming soon!