Some Pictures

Her brother in Thies
Her sisters in Thies
At the Pink Lake.
Riding in the fish truck.
This posting is by Bridget's Dad. She mailed me some photos to post. She is now in her remote village south of Kaffrine. It sounds as though she will have very limited internet access from now on. I spoke to her on Saturday. Her cell phone has limited coverage in the village. She must go to Kaffrine to charge it as there is no electricity in the village. She is doing well so far and would appreciate hearing from you via snail mail.

me in front of the training center in thies

Well this is it for me and the internet for a while. I finally found a good internet connection to get you some more photos.

This is the sept place that 2 of us took with all our stuff to get to Kaolack

These are from graduation.
Some of my buddies thought it was a good photo

My wolof class and our teachers.

Kaolack is still treating me well. I finally have money now... went to the bank this morning. I am finishing getting all my stuff together to load up tomorrow morning first thing. There are 4 of us headed to Kaffrine tomorrow and we will meet with city officials and the people from the forestry department. I will be dropped off at my village somtime between 3 and 4 in the afternoon. I am getting nervous. still really excited but i am starting to get butterflies in my stomach. I know I have really good people around me so that thought helps.

After I finish up here we are going to another volunteers house for lunch. She also has a girls group meeting today and we are going to tag along with her. We will probably go out to dinner and then early to bed cause we will be up early. Ok my time is coming to an end so I should say Bye for now. oh here is my address. letters will be great to get especially since my access to internet will be so limited

PCV Bridget Robinson or you can use ny new senegalese name Momkoumba Mbangue

BP 51

Kaffrine, Senegal

West Africa

Thanks! I love you!

Kaolack

Well I have made the voyage to Kaolack, my regional capital. The PC has a regional house where i have been staying for the last 2 nights. We arrived here on Sunday and pretty much immediately went to the market in small groups to buy things for our new homes. I got a couple of bainwars(buckets for showering or doing laundry or dishes etc), a couple of buckets with lids(bug, mouse, rat, chicken proof if sealed properly), a tea pot, small foam pad to put on top of my straw mattress, a plastic chair, and a besan(plastic matt/rug that is good to sit on or take a nap).
It really isnt a lot of stuff. I am lucky that there was a volunteer there before me and left some furniture. I still have to buy some cooking utensils.

After shopping we rested a bit and conversed. We headed into town again later on in the evening for a Thanksgiving dinner. We rented out a restaurant and some of the volunteers helped cook turkeys, chicken, mashed potatos, squash, green beans, all sorts of good stuff. We had pumpkin pie and pecan pie too. It was really yummy and we had a lot of fun. It was another late night for us so we have been running on empty for a couple of days. And yesterday we had to get up early.

We went to the bank to set up our accounts. Fortunately we were all able to complete the process before lunch. The bank has a reputation for being incredibaly slow so to get 14 of us new accounts before lunch was great. It was a slow and boring process but I had a book to read. Here is the really interesting bank story...we had to have 100,000cfa to start an account and we had been told that we could put that in and then take it right back out. Well that was not the case. W got paid on Friday and got only a part of our moving in allowance and part of our travel money which didnt ammount to that much really. I had 100,000cfa and some change left yesterday after paying for all my buckets etc, transportation and food. A couple people went ahead of me and came back saying that we couldnt take money out and it wont be ready to take out until Wed. It just really sucked and is really no fun. I have since borrowed some money from a friend who had to take some out of her account in the states. It really sucks for some others because they are going to their villages today so they are broke and wont be able to get any money out.

Last night was a cheap night for us. After the bank yesterday we went into the market, I think it is the second largest coverd market in Africa. We found a guy who helped us around. We bought eggs, onions, potatoes, a watermelon and some other stuff. Oh I got pineapple and bananas too. I had a banana, 2 fried eggs and pineapple for lunch and for dinner me and my friend Kate made egg sandwiches and potatoes for 7 others. It was really tasty. We had the watermelon for dessert. It was really fun to be in a kitched cooking for people. The best part was I didnt have to do the dishes. After dinner I went to bed early and I got to sleep in today so i feel pretty good.

This morning We said goodbye to the first 4 people to go off to their villages. They loaded up 2 PC land cruisers and were off. It was really strange. The past 2 days have been strange becaus it feels like there are so few of us. We are slowly skattering away fron eachother. We were 48 at graduation. There were 14 of the newbies here now 10 and this afternoon we loose a couple more. I am in the last group of 4 to leave. We are trickling into our independance and then on thurs. for me I will be dropped off in the village. Some people are really nervous and scared. I am not yet. I am sure about 5 minutes before the PC car drops me off I will feel sick. I am mostly excited. I am looking forward to having more independance and hanging out in the village. I am happy that I have gotten to see Kaolack and learn a little more about my closest neighbors. Everyone is really great and I will have a great support system here.

Well my time here is running out. I hope all is well and I should be back tomorrow because this is the last time I will have easy internet connection. Love you all!

Leegi, wolunteer laa

There are no v's in Wolof. I am a volunteer now! We had graduation yesterday. For the most part it was boring like any other graduation. the ambassador was there and a guy form the senegalese government. We had the ceremony in Dakar on a baseball field that overlooks the ocean. It was beautiful plus we got a nice breeze so it wasnt too hot. Bryns blog has photos. And yes if you see them I am wearing fake hair! I had extensions put in on Thurs night for the big day. My family thought it would be a good ideal. I have to say I am rather impressed with how they did. I think it looks pretty good. It is strange to have long hair though. It has never been as long as it is right now.

Not important... Graduation. It was really fun. My sister came with me to the ceremony. We started by singing both the senegalese national anthem and then the american one. Then there was blah blah blah in french. I understood most of it. Some of the Volunteers put on a skit which was really funny, they did a good job. We got our official IDs and our letter that states we are volunteers. It was a pretty proud moment for me. I am so happy to be here doing this. After we took the official government oath to serve there was a reception. We had yummy food (that did not treat me well this morning) and drinks. After that the family members went home and we all went to the American club. They had good food and a pool and as PCVs we can get in for free any time we want. We swam for a while hung out and we had to say our first good byes. some people left early this morning. I wont see some for 3 months. It is sad because we have all basically been together every day all day long.

Back in Thies... I hung out with the fam for a bit. Brought them a kilo of sugar just as a thank you. We went out to dinner at a swanky french restaurant. I had lasagne yum! We said good bye to adan and hung out with him ath the center for a bit. It was pretty late by then so Bryn and I wend home and put on our party clothes and took our siblings out to the club. We got there at 1230 but it didnt really get hopping until 1. I was running on empty but it was still a good time. You only live once right! I brought my younger sister who is 19 and she had never been to a club before so i felt like i was corrupting her. She had fun though dancing with all of us. We got home before 4 and then i crashed. It was noisy this morning so i was up at 9...not enough sleep at all. oh well. I got up, ate and packed up my stuff. I have so much stuff. the PC gives you all these books and I have gotten packages and I have some senegalese clothes. not to mention my bike and my water filter(probably holds 5 litres). Dafa bari! (its a lot) plus i am going to go shopping to buy things like pots and pans, a bucket for my baths, a matress etc. oh well.

I am getting all my stuff to the center later this afternoon. I am going to take a long shower there because I can and then sleep there too. We leave at 630 tomorrow morning. I will have time when i get there to shoot you another update. I wont get to my village until Thurs. Thanksgiving. I love you all a lot. I will get you my new address asap!

last full weekend in Thies

Ok, a lot has happened and i dont really know where to start. Friday Night was pretty incredible. It was a regular evening until about 930. I was about to go to bed and i got a phone call from Bryn and she said I had to see something. At our bus stop in the street there were a ton of people preparing for the presidents visit. He came here yesterday for a political rally thing. In the street there were huge pots (easily over 100 of them) with fires underneath to cook rice and meat. Where did they get the meat to cook? We saw that too. They were slaughtering cows in the street too. It was very organised, they had a fenced in area where they were bringing the cows to kill and clean. They were probably working on 10-12 cows at a time. They had 100 cows in total. I obsereved one trying to fight for its freedom and I also saw him fall ito its deat at the mercy of 5 men. Watching the minutes after death and before stillness were the most difficult. I will spare you the details, there will be photos soon but they are graffic and will be well labled so you dont have to look if you don't want. It was very interesting but something that i dont ever have to see again.

Now to get into the politics of the whole event... all of this preparation for the president happend all night long. There was a water shortage in town because of it and there were periodic black outs. gas prices for the weekend also spiked just because the president came. Also 100 cow are not cheap. Who exactly paid for them and what they expect to get out of feeding tons of people I am not exactly sure. All i can say is that there is supposed to be an election in Feb. and maybe a meal can buy a vote. it is hard to see such poverty and then know one man had the means to feed practically an entire town.

Any ways yesterday after school we werent really supposed to go out in the town because the president was around which of course means all the criminals were out too(thats what the PC told us) It was probably true...wasnt so safe for us to be out plus we arent allowed to go to political rallys of any kind. we are neutral(just dont ask any of us how we fell about the current US administration). So yesterday I just took a nap, worked on some photos. I am sending a USB key to the parents so you can see what my life has been like for the past 7 weeks.

Last night we went out for dinner and a drink. We had the best food at this little hole in the wall place. It was a pretty early night. This morning I went to a baptism of sorts. the mom and dad are not married so it was very low key. It was a pretty strange morning. Now I am here waisting time before lunch. going out for a bday party of another trainee. Happy Birthday Kristal!

long week

This has been such a busy week. I cant believe it is friday. I graduate from training in a week then off to my village.

Monday we went to Dakar to visit the Embassy and the PC HQ office. We did a lot of silly paperwork. We had to go to the police station there too so we could sign our Senegalese IDs. It was a very long day, driving around in traffic and listening to people.

The middle of the week was dedicated to some language classes and getting ready for counterpart workshop. Wed. night we welcomed our village counterparts (mine just happens to be my host dad too) and our professional counterparts (mine is from the forestry department). There was a lot of anxiey for everyone...waiting for their counterparts to arrive. Mine are really great. Well from what i understood. little language barrier. my host dad/counterpart is illiterate and can only speak wolof. on the other hand he has been working with trees forever and knows way more about them then I do. All of our sessions for the las two days were in Wolof so my brain hurts from trying to understand. I definitely got the jist of everything that we were talking about which made me feel good. It was also translated into English for us. We have some amazing language teachers. Some of them are fluent in 6 languages.

The past two days have been exausting, trying to explain cultural differences and trying to learn about agroforestry technologies. With that said I am off to eat dinner and go to bed. I love you all and miss you a lot! jamm rekk!

St. Louis

I had such a great weekend! School on Friday was fine and the party afterward was great. We stayed at the center for dinner. we ate fried chicken and french fries...yummy. We always eat a ton of chicken when we can because we dont have it often and we wont be eating it in the villages. After dinner, We had a talent show that both trainees and trainers preformed in. Some of the skits were really funny. We had some singers and dancers too. I didnt do anything. After we had another little dance party then I went out with a bunch of people in town. Saturday was really busy at school. I had a test on tree species here...got 100. I also got the results of last weeks assesment. I am doing well.

Saturday afternoon We headed up to St Louis. We went to the "gare" in thies an got into a "sept place" a station waggon that seats you guessed it 7 people not very comfortably. It took about 3 hours to get up there. It was hot. we sat in the way back where there are no roll down windows. the people in the middle can roll down their windows but most of the time they dont choose to do so. It is basically an oven. i have heard that they dont rool down too many windows because it lets in bad spirits. there is still a little bit of animisim mixed into culture here.

Anyway we made it there safely and met up with some volunteers. The have a flat that is about a block away from the ocean. it was unbelieveable. It is a third floor open air flat that gets a great breeze off the water and you can see forever over the atlantic. just so great. We didnt do a whole lot sat night, went out to eat, hung out and walked around the beach for a bit.

Today we got up lateish and made breakfast, eggs with onions on yummy bagette bread. Then we travelled about 4k south of st loius to a beach. well really it was this hotel that has a pool and is right on the beach. it is a very touristy place where lots of europeans vacation. it is still a little early for europeans to be coming down here (still really hot) so the place was really quiet. We could use the pool and the beach access if we bought lunch there. So for 2100cfa i ate, swam in both a pool and the ocean and i got to take a real shower. It was definitely a great afternoon!

We made it back to thies in another sept place which was equally as uncomfortable and hot as the first but this time we made it in 2.5 hours. well now it is time for me to go home(it is weird to use that word). I havent seen my host family in a couple of days. I hope all is well! oh, stop sending stuff to my thies address. I probably wont get it if you send anything from now on. It has been taking 3 weeks for me to get anything from the states and i only have 2 weeks left. I will let you know when i get my new address! thanks!

hi

Hello all! I have had another great week here in Senegal. We had language exams on tuesday and technical exams on wed. i dont know how i did yet but i am sure they went well. I had a tutoring session today with one of the lang teachers and he said that i am doing well. This has been a really busy week. we are coming down to the end of training which is so hard to believe but i cant wait to go to my village.

Today was very relaxing. we had the whole afternoon off. I did laundry, studdied tree species here and organized all my papers. In the evening we hat a street fair. the training center was set up like a little market and we went around to different stations and learned some but mostly we just ate some good food. had bean sandwiches, beignets, juice and kabob type things. then we had a mini dance party half american style and half senegalese style. it was so great but i had to leave to tae the bus home. Tomorrow we are staying at the center even later for dinner and then a talent show. there will probably be dancing involved too. that should be so fun and i cant wait.

This weekend i have big plans too. I am going to st louis with a couple of friends Byrn and Adam. We are going to meet up with some current volunteers who live around there. we are going to explore the city a bit and go to the beach. I am so excited for this too! We are leaving right after school on sat*. we have half days on sat. We will be back some time sunday night.

monday for school we go to dakar to the embasy to do some paperwork... blah. should be good though to see the city, embassy and PC office there. ok i am running out of time but i will try to get back here some time in st louis. :)