Freedom Hangs Like Heaven

(there new pictures on my Popenquine page and Picasa) 

I am now going on my 2^nd full day here in Popenguine and I have to say I love it.  Install was a bit hectic and I was exhausted/nervous, but my new sisters helped me arrange my room and I went to bed all unpacked.  This help was them basically folding the clothes I threw on my bed and putting all the stuff I took out of my bags on my selves in no particular order.  Still I really enjoyed the company and they are 3 very sweet girls. I already have colorings taped to my wall that they gave me.  There is also a little boy, around 3 or 4 running around. He is adorable, but needs to be watched….he already opened some of my food and just started eating it.  In general though, my family is great. I may have described them a little bit, and will more once I get to know them better. For now I will just say they are very nice and patient with my poor Wolof and only slightly better French. My mom even explained to a friend today that my ancien speak great Wolof but he was like me in the beginning, so she knows I will learn.  This may seem like common sense but it is really major here that she knows and explained that to someone else.  The Senegalese are great, but don’t seem to understand how hard it is to learn another language.  It this regard my site is great for this. I am not sure if it because there a quite a few ex-pats, and very few learn local languages, or just because they are used to volunteers.  Most people I have come across have been very patient, friendly and helpful.

Beach and the cliff of the Reserve

I’ll give a quick play-by-play of my last 2 day.

Wed

8 am-woke up and ate breakfast with my mom

9 am- walked to town to check my postal box and meet people. 

            This sounds like no big deal but I literally greeted everyone I passed, asked their name, wrote it down, and talked a bit to them. This was mainly done in Wolof with some French to help, when I was stuck. It was tiring but great, and I am hoping it will do wonders for integrating, especially the writing of everyone’s names.  They are really big on knowing each other’s names. You can’t know someone with out knowing AND remembering their names; this it the hard part for us toubabs.

10ish- Finally got to post office, explained (not in Wolof this time) who I am and that I will be taking the box over….but no packages to pick up. 

---more walking around town, found a hardware shop of sorts to buy shelves and paint for my room. I also found a second hand shop that has some pretty sheets and pillow cases. I wanted to buy them but unfortunately they were out of the rougher Senegalese fabric. Once I paint my room I may go back and buy them for curtains….who knows.

11:30 Finally return home, but not before I met a great lady who sells dresses, pagnes, and jewelry around town. There are quite a few of these women, because they can make some good money off of the tourists. I’ve been wanting a dress for night time, since I sleep in mainly just my skimmies and have this fear of needing to run out of the house quick.  Anyways, I originally greeted her like I did everyone else, but go to talking and I decided to look at her merchandise….needless to say I bought some things. However, she was so excited I spoke Wolof and would be living here that she gave me a bracelet and earrings for free. She said I was her new American friend would give me a great price; I also bought a dress, necklace and pagne all for 10,000 CFA….even in Senegal this is a great price. I am obviously happy with my new African accessories, but I was more excited about conversing with her.

12 pm- quick swim for some exercise

2 pm- ceebu jeen for lunch…my family cooks pretty well and there is a decent amount of fish, so hopefully I can get some of my muscle mass back.

Quick nap

4 pm-went to Campement to meet the women….this was a bit much for me. I was tired from my already long day in hot African sun and my nap just made things worse.  There were about 5 women there and they are all very lively, which is great but not if you are tired and they all speak in Wolof. They were very nice though and made sure I learned the phrases for I love you, do you have a husband and other Senegalese pick up lines. I also learned the appropriate responses. I really think marriage proposals may be my biggest problem here. After taking pictures and investigating the small nursery I made moves to leave….not before I was summoned to the kitchen and give a piece of delightful raisin bread…yes I think I will like these women.

6pm…ran into Badji (my brother, eco-guide and counterpart) He was showing 2 Swedish tourist around the park and they were about to go to Samone (a village down the beach). They spoke a little French but really good English so Badji asked me to come along for help. I hopefully won’t be doing this too much, since it is not really my job and not a sustainable business practice, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. They were really cool people and it was really interesting to discuss politics, government, development work etc with some sweeds…you can definitely tell they are from a stereotypically neutral country, which I think made the discussions so interesting.

10pm—finally home, skyped a little, then bed

Today

8 am-woke up and ate. 

Reserve de Popenguine Office, it is in the Campement

9am-when to campement. Spoke with Lamine, my other counterpart, a little bit about what I will be doing. He is a great easy going guy. Badji is a little more abrasive and push, (but he does get things done) and Lamine is very quick to say I need to take time to learn and adjust.  Have the two is a great balance and I think I will really enjoy having Lamine around.  I just get a great impression of him and he seems like he will be very helpful/easy to work with. 

3 of the 2 person huts

Spoke with the women, remembered a few of their names and responses to pick up lines thanks to my trusty notebook. It was much easier to deal with them this morning bc I was all there. They are still great and lively…I am really excited to improve my Wolof and get to know them better. There is just so much spunk in the group, it is great.

One of the other conservator took me aside to work on Wolof, which made me nervous at first since he was the one saying all the pick up lines to me yesterday (for practice only though). However, he is really patient and I think he will be good to ask questions about the Wolof. He also demanded I learn Jola. I said no but ended up relenting and learning a few quick greetings.

11:30 home for lunch, met an uncle and aunt in law….they said I can visit them whenever I am in Dakar, which I may take them up on.

2:30 Lunch---this is a little late but still pretty normal.

3:00 study Wolof, which turned into a 2 hour nap. I was initially unhappy when I woke up but I just get so tired here.

5pm- went to post, people, and discover I have 2 packages waiting for me but it is closed so that will be a fun activity tomorrow.

Pascal's campement and Bar

Quick beer at Pascal’s, a really lovely French lady who agreed to help me with my French if I help her with Wolof. We are basically going to be study buddies. Spoke in French and Wolof to her, the bartender and a few of the workers. 

7pm-returned home…dinner will be ready in an hour so I went to the beach for a quick work out and swim, which was absolutely delightful. I even did a little yoga.

8 pm …dinner, Massa (I think) milk sugar and millet couscous…really good but loads of sugar so probably not healthy.

All in all I love it here so far, can’t wait to settle in and meet more people. I even have some work Badji wants me to start doing with the website, so that will be an easy individual project during these 8 week.