some photos!

amazing have fast internet today and had a chance to upload some photos for everyone since my blog has been so dull recently. so in no particular order, here we go!
this is my friend nafi working at her sewing machine in thies, i went around one day to photograph disabled people working to have some examples for others.

here's a picture from a wheelchair basketball game i went to about 2 weeks ago with my disabled friends from thies- they won!

here are 2 of my new host siblings in ndayane, jaxtu is on the left and astou is on the right. they're 11 and 10 respectively but super cute and fun to be around. i just recently taught astou the song, ' i've been working on the railroad' she always wants to learn english.

here's the beach in my village, ndayane!

here is nafi's father and older brother at their artisan shop in thies. the father is a really nice guy who after i gave tea, sugar and powdered milk in thanks for staying at his house while i was in thies, said i could come back anytime. they make an effort to make me feel a part of their family whenever im in thies

here's me and aida, my little buddy who doesnt cry anymore when im around but plays with me now instead! i gave her the little stuffed animal which is named ami thiam (my senegalese name) and she was pretty excited. last time i was there she gave me little bits of her potato chips and she thought it was the funniest thing. aida is just what i need to brighten my day.

here's me wearing my friend soxhna's wig that she wore for a party bc she didnt like her braids. EVERYONE has fake hair here, and i just think its funny, funnier to see me with straight hair and bangs.

and here are the famous pants!!!!!! the pad sewn in to make the butt bigger. im so glad i have proof because otherwise no one might believe me!

and here is my room in ndayane!

i hope you all enjoy it!

a fun cultural note to get you thinking

for all the women reading this blog who have ever felt self concious about their bodies (in particular, their butts), i have a fun bit a senegalese culture to share. here, a big butt is what every woman wants to have and is a huge compliment if someone tells you you have a big butt. some senegalese women here who are tall and skinny, like runway models, they lament about not having a butt, while women who have got a larger backside are very proud about it. this is such a big deal that i have seen stretch pants with pads sewn in them to make someone's butt look bigger-- just imagine push up bra for the butt... i almost keeled over in laughter when i saw it, trying as best i could to explain that this is the last thing you would ever find for sale in the US and how anyone in the US who has a bigger butt is probably trying to get rid of it... needless to say, the women were appalled at this. talk about complete opposite conceptions of beauty.

it's been a while!

i know i haven't been updating, but things have been going really well! i'm in thies right now but about to go back to ndayane (where i went about a month ago and met the women selling beads on the beach) i live there now! after a lot of travelling around and looking for a base, i realized im just not cut out for life in the big cities. now, i have a room with a family in ndayane and i'm working in the mornings at the preschool in the village. i taught the kids the song 'london bridge is falling down' on friday, that was fun. but it's easier in ndayane to get to know people and become a part of the community. i'm still going to be trying to dig into the disability scene, and hopefully seeing if there are ways to link people in smaller villages to whats going on in bigger cities like thies. ndayane is really beautiful and right on the ocean too, the people there are of the lebu ethnicity and they're incredibly nice. i will have to upload pictures later bc this connection is really slow! but i wanted to atleast update some good developments in my work here.

more thies and mbour

i had some time to upload so i thought i would post some more fun pictures.
this little girl below is aida, she lives with nafi in the house that i stayed at in thies. the first few days she was NOT a happy camper that i was there. if she wasn't throwing a fit (and we're talking arms and legs going nuts and screaming) she was sitting like this as far away from me as she could. i loved this little thinker pose, even though she was completely miserable.

but don't worry, after a few days we became friends and now she likes me. we played a lot towards the end of my time there so i dont feel bad for making her freak out anymore.
these kids below are in the oldest class at the deaf school in thies. they were really nice kids.

and the video below is a prime example of why i have avoided dancing like the plague here. until i figure out how its possible to throw your arms and legs around like a spasm but make it somehow coordinated to a drum beat, i think i'll stay on the sidelines.

i took this picture on the beach in mbour yesterday. i've found that the beaches here are really prime training areas for sports teams and athletes. there's a style of fighting here in senegal that is hugely popular and this is a group of men training for that. i dont know how to describe it other than a cross between boxing and sumo wrestling. it's on TV a lot, and its huge here.


that's all i got for now! enjoy

so apparently it's the hot season...

hi everyone! there's actually electricity right now (i'm learning the hard way that that's not so common this time of year) and i wanted to quick update. the utterly oppressive heat, usually over 100°F, apparently comes before the rainy season which doesn't start til june, so i'm in for some sweating! i'm in mbour and i arrived yesterday. i found the handicap center here and actually sat in with their preschool yesterday and today. there are 3 classrooms, 1 for 3 year olds, 1 for 4 year olds and 1 for 5 years olds with a student to teacher ratio that is almost unbelievable. the 5 year old classroom has 1 teacher and 52 students. i wish i could say i was exaggerating but i was there this morning and counted. the other two classrooms have fewer students but it's no picnic either. a bunch of the students have to wait their turn to learn and there's almost always someone crying somewhere. i have been wowed to silence in the lack of supervision, i can't understand how more kids don't get injured day to day climbing around during their recess and jumping off stuff. after my little time here though, i'm not sure mbour is for me for longer term. it's big and toursity in some ways and i think i just want something more manageable where it's easier to become a part of a new community. i'm going to a village a bit further down the coast tomorrow just to check it out but i'll keep posted of my travels!

more from thies

i had a chance to upload some pictures from thies! i am actually in mbour now, i came here this morning and am going to meet with a handicap center and kindergarten this afternoon. i'm hoping something will work out here so i can actually settle down and im right on the coast! we'll see though, i've learned to expect nothing to happen before it actually happens.
the picture below is of one of the kids from the deaf class in thies and he has blue eyes!! i couldnt believe it and i have no idea how its possible, but i had to take a picture and share it. i have more pictures of kids from the school but internet is not on my side to upload right now.

and here's a picture of some of the women working on dying fabric to sell at the disability center. the one in the middle is nafi, and i stayed at her house for the last week. she had polio when she was a kid. she's great though and her family welcomed me so much, so i'm sure i'll be back to visit thies.

thats all for now but i'll try to get more pictures up soon!

Thies (sounds like 'chess')

hi everyone! i am aware that i have done a very bad job this past week keeping people updated, BUT in the interim i have been learning wolof for about 6 hours a day with a peace corps tutor and i'm done and am finally conversing in wolof now and barely use french at all! in just the few days this has been possible, it's been an amazing milestone for me and has changed my interactions with people here immensely and has opened up doors for me that wouldn't be possible in french. i have made friends with people at the disability center here in thies, (i left dakar last week) and am starting to get more of a handle of the way things work here. i even sat in on a class for deaf children yesterday! it was really cool. and however ironic this is, the teacher who can hear but also signs, learned sign language from an american, so the kids in the class were using a variety of american sign language. i studied a little sign here and there, so i actually was able to talk a little with the kids. not much more than spelling my name and i studied signing, but it was still fun. the disability center is cool too, i'm really enjoying getting to know the people there, and i'm collecting some information to share with ame back in dakar so he can put it on his website about disability initiatives in senegal. i think i'll be on the move again soon though, to check out another town (on the beach!) where i've heard there's more stuff going on with disabilities. i really want to get involved with kids here too. i think i may try to find some more steady work in a school or something. but honestly, i have no idea! but things are moving in a good direction and i'm really happy to be using wolof. tomorrow i'm heading to a town called rufisque to watch wheelchair basketball so i'm excited. i'll try to update with pictures soon!