Recently, our language classes have been going on field trips; we've gone to different home-stay families and a local artist's workshops. Some groups have even been to restaurants. Yesterday our class was taken to 'Place de France' (PF). PF isn't a restaurant, boutique, home or even park. It's an open paved space enclosed by several major streets. Usually you can find a bunch of street kids riding bikes around in circles on it. It's basically an empty space with a few (maybe 4) shaded benches that makes for a good meeting point due to its location. For our field trip we were dropped off in the big white PC bus and told to start talking to people.
Recently, I've adopted the strategy of not talking to strange men between the ages of 14-35 so as to avoid the inevitable unwanted attention/marriage proposals/requests for money.. However, this particular activity required us to do just that. Go talk to random strange dudes (without: giving them any food/money/gifts/any of our stuff, offering to become one of their wives, telling them too much about ourselves) and ask them to slowly and patiently help us practice out Wolof. AND, unlike our other field trips so far, where we've all sat together so our teacher can check on our pronunciation and comprehension, we were told to go off on our own and start talking to people. Though I was less than 10 feet away from another girl in my class, we were at least 100ft away from the next closest classmate. I found myself surrounded by a bunch of scraggly-looking boys aged 6-18, who finally resorted to teaching me the equivalent of "head, shoulders, knees, and toes" in Wolof after failed attempts to get beyond what's your name and where are you from.
Though I know there was probably something positive about the field trip, right now all it's done is put up a blockade between me and Wolof. Even giving us a heads up before we were dropped off as to how the activity would work would have at least have a better attitude about it. As it was, I ended up spending the rest of the afternoon napping at the center and avoiding anyone I might have to speak Wolof to; not my favorite way to start the already short weekend. The older street boys did tell me that it was much more difficult for them to travel to Europe or America than it is for us to travel here, but I only understood what they were saying once they said it in French.
PST (these first 8 weeks in Thiès) is definitely important, but it also needs some revision. Since so much of our technical training/skills can't be developed until we get to site and have begun to assess the needs of our community, most of our tech training is vague. Fortunately, we have a current health PCV who's extending for a 3rd year and is making some changes as we go along. She's sympathetic to our frustrations, but also reminds us that PC programs are always developing and evolving. We've discussed different training methods in other countries; some places do Village-based training, which splits up everyone across the country, but allows them to begin the process of integrating faster, start understanding the needs of their community earlier, and specialize their training based on needs specific to those areas rather then the needs of the whole country.
While village based training seems like a great idea now, I think we're a ways off from transitioning to that. Currently, we have 8 weeks of intensive language training (did I mention that some people are going to sites that don't speak the language that they are being taught in PST?) along with some tech training. After this we spend 3 months at site trying to figure out the needs of the community so that when we come back for IST (3 weeks of intensive tech training which follow our first 3 months at site) we'll have an idea of what we need to learn.
Fortunately, PC (or at least PC Senegal) is open to change. Around 2-3 years ago PST was 3 months and IST didn't exist, so the split in the training program is rather new. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I'm already thinking of extending to continue the development of the health program here. In all my time of training CPR/Lifeguard/1st aid classes and more I was never so appreciative of their detailed training outline so much as I am now. I guess if I had to outline my project plan for a potential 3rd year I would explain it as wanting to 1st-shorten PST to 5 weeks of intensive language training 2nd-extend IST to 6 weeks of intensive tech training and 3rd-create a "YLifeguard/Red Cross CPR/AED" type manual for both instructors and students of the PC Senegal health program. There's SO much information and so many resources that we have as health workers, but all of these are totally disorganized, rendering them basically useless. I haven't been to site yet, let alone been here 2 years, so who knows how I'll feel about extending or implementing these changes when I get to that point. We'll see... (NB: If a PCV does extend for another year, PC requires you to take a minimum 30 day vacation and will not only pay for a plane ticket back to the states, but also continues to pay your stipend while you're there). Most of the PCV's I've met here recommend planning out projects, trips, anything (no matter how ridiculous) really to help get you through the rough times.
Well enough complaining about training for now. More important things like, oh yeah, my BIRTHDAY! This Fri, May 4 brings be to the big 24. As a couple of other trainees have turned 24 since we've been here, we started discussing it's implications. 24 is definitely 'mid-20s'; no longer can we claim to be in our 'early-20s.' And after 2 (or maybe 3) years of service here we'll be 26, which we decided was the last year we can get away with claiming 'mid-20s.' It doesn't really matter; I'm here now and glad to be doing what I'm doing. If I get to a point where that changes I can always re-evaluate. Regardless, my birthday is Friday and my goal is to find an ice cream cake, or at least a slice of cake with some coffee ice cream on the side.
In other news, I had my first Sabaar lesson on Friday. The sabaar, or 'tam-tam' as they French call it, is a traditional drum that is used in most West African music. They come in varying sizes with varying process, but I've decided to make learning/practicing it a personal project for my first 3 months at site. When I started asking our teacher about prices he said he could get me a 'deal' for around 12mil. (1 us dollar = approx 500 CFA, so 1mil is about 2 us dollars). Since neither I, nor anyone in my family knew how much a sabar should cost I decided to look around at prices before our next lesson. When I asked the nearby boutique how much for a medium-sized one the guy started at 60mil. I gave him an aghast look and named 6mil as a more appropriate price. Very quickly he halved the price to 30mil, then 20mil, then to 15mil. I know that most people here will quote us exorbitant prices because were obviously foreign, but I had him to less than a quarter of his original price before I left. I didn't end up buying one, but I'm glad I practiced my bargaining skills and tried out a few different drums.
It's hard to believe that I've been here for 6 full weeks and have less than 2 weeks until swearing in (Sat May 12). The following Monday (5/14) we'll be on our way in "sept-places" (a kind of transportation that holds up to 7 people and goes quickly between large cities) to our regional houses. I probably won't get to my village until around the 16-17th, but a big PC car will drop off me and all my stuff. I've heard that it's hottest right when we arrive, but at least that means each day will get cooler and more comfortable. I am a little nervous, but I'm also incredibly excited and can't wait to check out my new home. Oh and hopefully I'll find a kitten...
Ba Chikanoom
(until next time)
Sharon
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