A Weekend in America

I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but I spent this weekend in America.  It was rather convenient actually as it turns out that America is just a two-hour Alhum ride from Thies to Popenguine.  Ok so not literally America, but qualitatively close enough for me.  Yes this past weekend was the oft talked about and greatly anticipated BEACH WEEKEND, which is apparently a tradition for each new stage.  Now before you start thinking that we’re just having fun and partying here in Senegal keep in mind that this was our first weekend off in 7 and a half weeks.  We left on Saturday after once again getting up at 5:45 in the morning to come back from village.  We had a few sessions in the morning and then it was off to Popenguine.  Everyone had told us that the houses that PCV’s always rent are nice, but oh my god were they nice. They were like any standard beach houses you’d find in socal and with the waves, and beer, and spaghetti, and music, it really was a mini American vacation.  As for the specifics of our debauchery… well I’ll just leave that up to your imagination.  In all honesty though it was pretty laid back.  No one went too crazy and mostly it was just nice to sit and talk with people, and lazily swim in the ocean. 

When we were buying some “supplies” in town we ran into a group of American’s who are currently studying abroad in Dakar.  This was such a fun experience.  They were really excited to talk to us, and thought that it was so cool we were in the Peace Corps and that we would be living in villages and speaking the native languages.  They had taken a few classes in Wolof, but admitted that their program isn’t as intensive so they didn’t know a whole lot.   We helped them find the Toubab boutique and left back to the house with a little more pep in our step feeling just that much more legit in our Peace Corpness. 

I brought my backpacking tent, so when I was tired of the loud house I just pitched it on the beach and went to sleep.  That was really nice as well, although sand is not as soft as one might think.  After breakfast the next day a bunch of us went up to a little “nature reserve” which has a hill overlooking the beach.  It was beautiful.  We all climbed on top of an old WWII bunker and lounged and talked and took wacky pictures for about an hour.  After that more swimming, then reading, then napping, and then back to Thies.  Twas a short trip but it was fabulous. 

Today we went to Dakar for the first time since arriving in Senegal.  If you had told me then that I would ever consider Dakar to feel like America, I would have told you you’re crazy, but now it feels like coming home.  I think initially I had a bad reading on Dakar.  The shock of seeing the trash and lack of infrastructure made me think that this was terrible poverty for many people, but in reality its just bad infrastructure, and sooner or later even though it sucks you just work around the problems like garbage and bad roads and live a pretty happy life.  Looks can be deceiving and while Dakar, and Senegal in general, has problems, living in a third world country does not necessarily mean that people are miserable and starving to death. 

All right so now Dakar.  We started with a driving tour through down town area which looked amazingly like most big cities in America.  After a rushed walk around said area we went to the American Club for lunch.  This was rather bizarre.  The club is attached to an international school and kids use the pool for swim classes.  I couldn’t help but think of the Ojai Valley Athletic Club and how I used to go there as a kid after school, and how these kids are doing essentially the same thing but in Senegal.  There’s a snack bar, a pool, tennis courts, and a volleyball court, all of which I had in the states.  Bizarre.  Lunch there was American enough but still not quite the burger I was hoping for.  We had a few sessions about security and living abroad from the Embassy and then we went to the Peace Corps Senegal Headquarters.  Excuse me if it sounds like I’m repeating myself, but oh my god was this place nice.  I heard a rumor that it may have been donated to PC by the Senegalese government, but I’m not sure.  Anyways the marble staircase and air conditioning and volunteer computer rooms, and awesome medical rooms/ med hut for sickies to stay in certainly showed me the wealth of resources and infrastructure committed to assisting PC Volunteers in Senegal.  It makes me feel special in an odd way.  In another way though its very strange to think of the disconnect that there are so many things that I get automatically that would never be available to my Senegalese friends.  For example I could never take my Senegalese family to the American Club… That’s strange.  As much as I try to integrate and live at the level of my counterparts, I will always be rich and privileged because I will always be an American. 

As privileged as one is though, nature still calls.  And by nature I mean good old number one and number two.  So we were coming back to Thies and got stuck in absolutely terrible traffic.  One volunteer, who shall remain nameless for now, had to pee something fierce so he got out of the bus and went… not in a bathroom, not on the side of the road, but on the truck next to us.  In his defense it was the most discreet way to do it.  Even so though I don’t think I have ever seen a Senegalese man laugh so hard as the one in the car behind us.  Oh we are a dignified bunch indeed. 

Well there we are a short and relatively more rapid blog post.  I got a few more pictures up, but that’s really difficult with internet over here so I don’t know when I’ll be able to post pictures from this weekend.  Hopefully before install in two weeks.  Wow that’s soon.  Oh one last thing.  For swearing in on the 15^th one person from each language group gives a speech in that language to say just some basic thank you’s and what not.  I will be doing the Seereer speech and as it turns out that Senegalese TV comes to film this, so I will be on Senegalese national television.  No pressure… Should be cool though.  Thanks for reading!

Cheers

Garrison