Peanuts

I love peanut butter. a lot.

Luckily for me, Senegal is pretty big into peanuts too.  We roast 'em, grind them into flour, mash them into butter, bake them into brittle (pictured at left), etc.

To get my peanut butter fix, my old skippy jars accompany me to the market about once every week or two to get filled up for about a $.50 a jar.  My current favorite combo is then to mix the peanut butter with some honey and eating that straight up or spread it on some bread at breakfast or bananas for an afternoon snack.

But do not let the fact that I have easy access to locally made, all natural peanut butter deter you from sending me processed skippy from home - I love the sugary stuff too.

Dressing up and getting my grub on

My feet are tired from dancing, my belly full from eating and my backpack dusty from travel - its been a good couple of weeks.

The party started on a bittersweet note when Kolda said good-bye to a fellow PCV who is all done with her two years with a local band and dancing in the street outside her house (I highly recommend checking out her blog when you get a chance).  The band is pictured at left. The guy without a shirt played a drum for about 5 minutes then spent the rest of the evening dancing around shirtless, reminded me a bit of a gogo dancer trying to get people up and moving with the music.

Then it was time to head north of the Gambia to Kaolack, Foundiougne and Tamba for a couple of birthdays and Halloween with fellow PCVs - all three cities provided late nights and loud music, hence the tired feet.

I was back home to Kolda in time to celebrate Tabaski with my host family.  This Muslim holiday celebrates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael and God provision of a sheep to sacrifice in the place of the son.  As my brothers, dad and uncle went about slaughtering our sheep while we played the Koranic verses recounting the story of Abraham and the sacrifice, I was reminded of Christmas back home listening to the nativity story around the twinkling tree, except I don't understand arabic and the sheep was a whole lot messier than a tree.  Don't worry, my little neighbor picture below was closely supervised and didn't actually do anything besides pretend to saw off a hoof. After grilling lunch, we put on some new clothes to visit neighbors- my host mom had the blue ensemble I'm styling in below made for me - impressive she knew my measurements just by looking at me.

The fun hasn't stopped yet though as I'm looking forward to another great holiday - Thanksgiving - at the regional house this week.  Someone managed to procure a turkey! The joy that the fact of turkey coming to dinner on Thursday elicited in me confirms my suspicions that I've become even more of a carnivore since moving here.  Knowing where my food comes doesn't make me less inclined to eat, I actually look at chickens often and think, you'd be really great with some yassa - onion sauce.

Sanakoro: a taste of the village life

pepper from Alana's family garden

As a city PCV in a fairly patron family, I don't have to pull my own water from a well, I use a western toilet and have fairly regular electricity as well as wifi.  This past week I decided to see how the majority of PCVs live and get a taste of village life.

Sanakoro is a community of about 250 people 7 km outside of Kolda and home to a lovely environmental education PCV, Alana.

This past Wednesday, after a half hour bike ride down a really nice dirt road - I was hoping for more difficult route as I was supposed to try and be 'roughing it' - I dustily rolled into Sanakoro.  Once I had greeted all of Alana's family, we shared a breakfast of sweetened 'lait caille' or milk curds and took a tour of her garden - which has inspired me to take better care of my outdoor space and add in some more fruits and veggies.  Then we toured the countryside trekking through the corn, rice and cashew fields, marking the first time I had seen rice in its pre-processed form - reminds me a bit of wheat, just shorter.

Once we were back at her compound, her sister grilled up the corn we (well, Alana's cousin) had picked in the field and we chatted while waiting for lunch - great practice for pulaar and wolof.  After a traditional Fuladu lunch of okra based sauce and rice, we helped me improve my language some more as we drank attaya tea under the mango tree, discussing American music and the upcoming football finals in town.

As Alana's family walked me out to the main road before sunset, my backpack heavy with cashews and veggies from the family fields, they all reminded me to greet my family for them (whom they have never met before) and encouraged me to come back and visit soon.  It was a moment where I was reminded how important hospitality and community are in Senegalese culture.  This was reinforced as I rode out of town and heard my name called and greetings shouted the fields and houses of people who had just met me that day. No one is ever alone here and while sometimes the quickness with which people become friendly and familiar here was at first almost unnerving, I am coming to love how quickly someone can become a member of the large family here.

A big thank you to my new Sanakoro family. I'll be back soon mostly because they do feel a part of my Senegalese family, but also because I forgot to try and pull water from the well - need to cross that off the bucket list.

Brewing Byssap

This is my amazing neighbor who has been key to my adjusting to life in Kolda.

First, she introduced me to a group of local students who play volleyball most evenings at the nearby middle school - an activity that has been a great way to burn off steam and some calories while getting to know people in the community.  It has also been a cross cultural learning opportunity where I've noted that some things are universal.  For example, blocking a boy who think he's a badass is fabulous fun in any country, especially if you do it 3 times in 1 game.

She has also been teaching me a bit about food in Senegal.  The other day we wandered the market in the early morning and then spent the rest of the morning and afternoon preparing 'ceeb u quecha', or dried fish and rice.  Its much better than the name sounds, but my hands did stink of fish for two days after the meal.

While the first cooking lesson's results were tasty, I decided to take our next recipe into my own hands and proposed a juice making day.  She and her little cousin came over and helped me prepare the byssap flowers (the red leaves below) and mint, get the charcoal fire started and demonstrated proper stirring, sifting and straining techniques.

All in all, there were no complaints from my family when we enjoyed glasses of cold byssap juice after dinner that night, so juice making might have to become a regular undertaking for me.

 

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.