Back in Leona

Came home, promptly had hair braided:

This time it's SUPER sweet...

I'm in Louga today, working on college apps. Ugh! Anta (my GCY "supervisor" I suppose you'd call her), as well as Abby Falik (GCY Founder) and Nicole Orillac (GCY International Program Director) are visiting tomorrow. 

Hopefully we'll be able to work out a more regular work schedule... all four of us Leona fellows are kinda spinning our wheels. If something doesn't show up pretty soon, we're just going to start showing up at the school, health clinic, etc. and ask to help out. Especially since the harvest season is over pretty soon, so we won't have anything to do... Hmm.

Laundry Day!

Ingredients for successful laundry-ing: powdered soap, water, bucket.

After letting the soap, water, and clothes soak for a few hours, I set about scrubbing them by hand.

Then everything goes on the clothesline to dry.

Bissap

Just chillin' in the bissap fields.

Picking!

Picking in the fields, usually each person picking fills one of these tubs or a burlap sack.

Hulling! Cutting out the middle seed cluster using knife, a special coring device (pictured) or just hands.

My hands after hulling several kilos of the super-red bissap.

White bissap drying in the sun on our roof. After it reaches a crispy consistency it is bagged and sent to market.

Thanksgiving!

We stopped at a gas station on the way to Dakar and I bought an ice cream-- the first thing I'd eaten that's refrigerated, let alone frozen, in three months!

Thanksgiving morning we had a lovely seminar on Islam, and then we went to Le Village des Arts, a sort of commune of artists in Dakar, where we took Djembe lessons. This is where Christina Schueler has been living for the last three weeks, I met up with her. She showed me her living quarters as well as her wood-carving project. I met her mentor as well.

Semi-candid, sitting at Thanksgiving dinner in our Hostel. I miss you guys at home, but this will definitely go on the list of unforgettable Thanksgivings!

Course 1: Pumpkin soup.

Course 2: Sweet Potatoes au Gratin

Turkey! I didn't eat it (I've basically reverted to vegetarianism, which is miraculously possible) but it was exciting to have that connection to all of you at home.

Course 3: Toikey!

Course 4: Lemon Pie/Tart

Saying what we're thankful for...

Candid... nawt! I need to work on my photogenic-ness.

De-De, the fabulous woman who is responsible for taking on the immense task of making a Thanksgiving meal for us in Senegal. She even went all the way across Dakar to some Chinese friends to borrow bowls so we could have soup. LOVE YOU DE-DE!!!

Andddddd we bought some more ice cream on the way out of Dakar... be back in four weeks.

Stuff and Things

Just a few things I thought you guys might find interesting! 

Taking pictures of small children... they love cameras! Many have never had their picture taken before. 

At the beach helping some fishermen shimmy their boat up the beach.

Close-ups from the measles vaccination we attended on November 23.

Holding a child while he's getting injected. The day was tear-filled, mostly, but there were a few exciting moments during which I was vomited and peed upon...

Madeleine soaking her hands and feet after being attacked by Ha-Hams (tiny poky burrs that grow in the peanut fields).

Bissap, a type of Hibiscus, which my family farms. We hull it using knives, weird coring devices (pictured at top), or just plain hands.

Bissap drying on my roof. It comes in white and red varieties.

A picture I took of the moon rise. It was happening at the same moment as the next picture of the sunset.

Cliché, but this is the beauty of where I live!

Like... are you for real!?

Top: View of the sunset down the main road that passes through Leona. It's the only road that's paved.

Bottom: Taken at the same time, looking other direction. The Millennium Village Project sign. You can see the moon tiny, in the middle.

See You Soon!

Just had internet for the first time in ten years two weeks!

I'll be in Dakar on Wednesday (AEDIN'S BIRTHDAY!!!) and look forward to skyping you all. Feeling the family connections, though I'm worlds away. You keep me strong.

Saturday in Louga

We made spaghetti! 

Look! Plates and forks and not rice, OH MY!

Madeleine serving it up!

Yummmmmmmm. Not rice and fish. And not dreaded dead sheep. Saddy. If Senegal has made me appreciate one thing, it's American gustatory liberty!

(We had to get super creative; the sauce was made using tomato paste, sauteed onions, a little vinegar, some oregano our team leader miraculously had, and a bit of salt. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

Oh, Senegal.

No fruit available today, so we opted for canned pineapple. T-t-t-tasty.

Lovely, natural sugar.

Team Leader Madelaine preparing the pan for BANANA BREAD!

Batter: an improvised recipe. Oops, it's a little blurry. 

Little burned on the outsides. Ovens here are more like broilers. But oh so delicious!

Here's to a great day in Louga, a welcome break from the mental hardships of cultural and lingual immersion. I've found I need to take these little breaks from being "Senegalese" to help keep me sane. And I'm not being so hard on myself about it, any more. 

I will be going to Dakar on the 24th (AEDIN'S BIRTHDAY!!!) and can't wait to skype the family at the ranch. I hope everyone is well, I'm sending you so much love. It's going to be hard, as this is the first time I've ever done Thanksgiving away from family, but I know you are with me in spirit. 

Love, love love, 

Naomi

Hippo Birdie Two Ewes!

Amanda, Johannes, and Madeleine conspired to get me a surprise present...

5,500 CFA of fruit: apples, bananas, oranges, tangerines, and a watermelon. Also some lovely vanilla yoghurt. Chop, mix with some mixed nuts and museli = the best meal I've had in two months. Love your grease-laden food, Senegal, but it has NOTHING on the beauty of fresh fruit.

So beautiful.

Johannes (Senegalese name: Ibrahima) was shaved for Tabaski... the jury is still out on whether it was an improvement, aesthetically.

After we fed my family (we made sure to be Senegal-sensitive in our sharing) a large group of kids from the village somehow found out we had fruit... we didn't have enough to go around so we covered the bowl and waited it out till they left. Kids here never tire of looking at us Toubabs (white people). At one point we decided, all four of us at once, to turn and stare back at them. It mostly just got laughs, and groans that I think meant, "Oh, you silly Toubabs!" So I just decided to put a spoon on my nose; why not amplify their perception of my weirdness...

Waiting was really hard, though...

Then later, I mostly hung out with my host family. They thought I was crazy already, as this was the day after Tabaski when I'd revealed my vegetarianism. I said that if I was queen of the world, I would only eat fruits and vegetables. They've subsequently been a little more supportive.

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AND LATER!

Me, talking to mom on the phone; the card mom, Amanda (a fellow also living in Leona) and Madeleine (another fellow in Leona) conspired to create for me. Madeleine somehow sneaked it into my room when I wasn't there, and I found it on my bed. It kinda made me cry, but I was so so happy, it was like a little piece of home that magically transported itself to Senegal!