A Social Sunday Stroll

After a week of sniffling and sneezing around my compound, or more aptly my room on especially yucky days, my head decided it was done being runny and achey this Sunday.  So I strapped on some sandals and went for a walk around my neighborhood.

My first weeks here consisted of getting to know other local PCVs and meeting different NGO and local government employees.  However, I have been sorely neglecting another vital opportunity to meet and greet right in my own quartier.  I realized that I haven't been spending time in my own neighborhood when a neighbor greeted me two nights ago and then asked where I had been for the past week and was shocked to hear I had not left town.  Apparently I need to get out more and say hi.

So Sunday I spent walking around the neighborhood and into compounds of neighbors I knew despite still not being completely comfortable showing up at someone's house without calling ahead or receiving an earlier invitation.  After getting over that initial hesitation, it has been heart warming to always receive a warm welcome and be asked to sit and chat for a while - a short while for now as my very limited pulaar doesn't exactly allow me to make deep conversation.

Social Sunday strolls may have to become a service tradition for me although I'll also be sure to be social the other days of the week too so my neighbors don't think I leave town Monday-Saturday.

Dust off the radio and tune in at 6 tonight

Hut sweet home!

Welcome to Kolda! After the initial drop in my stomach while watching the white Peace Corps car pull away from my compound, I have been enjoying getting to know my new home and my new family.

While we still eat lots of rice and fish and love to watch TV (when the power doesn't cut out) home now is quite different from my living situation in Thieneba, but just as welcoming and warm.  Biggest change has been my siblings. While the Thieneba crew's oldest was around 16, my current youngest is 12 years old, preceded by two in late high school and most of the older ones are living abroad in Spain or Dakar for university. This means there is less demand to play Uno or be bounced on my knees while I make horsey noises.  My host dad works for an NGO and is usually pretty busy, but always takes time to sit with the family after meals.  And what great meals they have been.  The amazingness of the food might be attributed to the end of Ramadan we just celebrated and the fact everyone is excited to be eating regularly.  So don't worry, mama, I'm eating just fine.

These first few weeks are meant to be spent settling and integrating into my new home. This has meant lots of meetings with local leaders, government offices and NGOs; to which my counterpart has graciously accompanied. It is also the time to practice the language(s).  Conversations have often flowed from French to Wolof to Pulaar, which I like to think helps me practice all of them at once.  The most helpful person to this end, besides my local tutor, has been my host grandma.  Sitting outside our gate with her in the evenings, greeting passer-byes has been key to properly pronouncing 'jam tun', which means peace only, as well as learning the many various ways of asking how life is going.

To hear my three languages in action and if you are lucky enough to be in Senegal, you should tune in at 6 pm tonight to hear Rougui (my new Senegalese name, pronounced "Roo-gi" hard G at the end there) introduce herself as the new small business volunteer here in Kolda, excited to work with current and budding entrepreneurs on anything from marketing to accounting.

But it hasn't been all work.  I've lazed on our back patio reading and usually take a bike ride or two around town each day - partially to work off all the carbs I am eating.  These explorations have brought forth some great discoveries such as a woman who sells what is the closest approximation of a baked cookie I think I can find in town as well as a small local library complete with books in local languages. Photo to the left is on a ride home past my neighborhood 'lake' which is probably just the result of bad drainage during rainy season, but still pretty!

Much love and many hugs from my new home in Kolda.  Also thanks to everyone in the region who came out to celebrate my install and show me around town and a special thanks to my wonderful new site mates. I'm lucky to be just a short bike ride away from some pretty incredible individuals.

A missionary, an aid worker and PCV are walking down a road...

A fellow PCV just posted this and made me giggle as well as do a bit of reflecting, so I'm passing it along.


"A man falls down a well and calls for help. A passing missionary hears his pleas and drops a Bible down the well. Next an aid worker stops and drops down some money. A Peace Corps Volunteer hears the man screaming, drops down a bag, then leaps into the well. “What are you doing?” asks the startled man at the bottom of the well. “I’ve come to live with you,” the PCV replies."


Thanks for sharing, April!