Friday

Hello all! Today is Friday, a holy day, and our Peace Corps trainers are looking their best in their traditional clothing. Today we (the trainees) had our cultural fair and it was amazing. We were introduced to everything from proper eating and drinking etiquette to how to clean yourself without toilet paper *ahem*. The trainees were first split into six groups, and we rotated through six different stations. Each station had a theme and the trainees were guided through that theme by current volunteers and natives of Senegal. My favorite stations were the ones about Senegalese food and unique Senegalese cultural items, because at these stations I got to taste, touch, smell, try, and drink a variety of new things. I chewed a cola nut (origionally found in coca cola!) and used a tooth stick. I drank baobab juice and ate baobab fruit, as well as drank ginger juice, Touba cafe, and a traditional tea. One of the great things about this cultural fair is that I can try things in a safe environment where I can communiate effectively if any problems were to arise. If I have a bad reaction to something new, I can communicate immediately in English that I am having a negative reaction that needs addressing. If I have a bad reaction to a food or drink within the context of my future host family, I unfortunately do not have the language skills yet to effectively communicate anything other than I feel sick and need to call the Peace Corps doctor. Don't get me wrong- this is sufficient in most situations and being with a host family is 99% positive, but Culture fair was definitely a perfect opportunity to try and learn plenty of new things.

The trainees will probably learn what language they are learning and what their language group is either tomorrow or the next day. I'm pumped about this. I don't think there are any "bad" languages to learn. They all seem really cool and beautiful and the ability to speak any of them opens up doors to entirely new aspects of Senegalese culture. The groups are pretty small,
3-4 maximum, and should in theory accommodate a variety of learning styles. I will have plenty of opportunities after class to practice new things learned with my host family, in the market, with my neighbors, with children, etc etc. This time around, I feel much more confident. During PST in Kyrgyzstan I felt very insecure about my ability to learn a third language and my progress as a volunteer trainee. Now, I feel much more relaxed about language learning and am more willing to let it come to me informally. It is not a waste of time to sit under a tree and drink tea and chew sticks and listen to the radio- in fact, this will be how the best language learning will happen.

Everyone has started taking their malaria medications, myself included. While in the United States I dreaded the possibility of taking malaria meds and all of their wild sounding side effects, but now that I am in Senegal and see just how many mosquitoes their are around here, I am relieved to have the malaria meds. I couldn't wait to start taking them. I do not want to get
malaria under any circumstances and plan to be a very faithful malaria medication taker. One great thing that I did not realize while I was in the states is that if I have any bad side effects with a malaria medication that I am on, the Peace Corps medical officers can switch me to a different medicine. Before I was in country, I was afraid that I would be stuck with side effects if I had them. Now I am aware that I have options, and a few of them. Peace Corps medical has our backs.


Well, that's all for now. Still no pictures. I will get around to taking them, I promise, but now isn't the right time. In the meantime, happy reading!

In SENEGAL!

Hey everyone, and welcome to this Senegalese life. I'm your host, Ivy Glass, and today we will be bringing you stories from men and women born in all corners of the United States, and brought here, to Senegal, to live and work in a culture new to them.

One of these stories is mine.

So I've been in Senegal for almost 30 hours now, and it has been wonderful. The flight felt very long, but I got to watch Over the Hedge in French, and finally got to see The King's Speech, which was awesome. The plane was huge- at least 74 rows, and I'm not sure how many more. We flew in to very early morning, and immediately after getting off of the plane, we got on a bus to Thies, where we are training. The bus ride was beautiful and the sun was coming up as we traveled to our training center. The longer we were riding, the more the surrounding areas woke up- we saw people traveling with cart and horse/donkey, chickens pecking around, herds of goats and sheep, people at market, and cars full of baguettes parked on the side of the road. Yep, cars. We arrived exhausted from the trip but the general feel was excitement and satisfaction.

The training center is a small enclosed area with several dorms and offices where volunteers have showers, rooms, beds, and wireless internet (but having the time to use it, and whether or not it is working on your computer, is a different story), so I will have internet at least for the next two or three days. We are only at the center until we get our host families, which will happen soon. The area is generally sandy, with banana, mango, and yet-to-be-identified trees growing everywhere. Pink and purple flowers surround the area and top the clay-colored walls that enclose the center. Nic and I are staying in a room with two beds with wax fabric sheets and mosquito nets. Our walls our yellow, During the day it is quite warm, but at night it cools off, and it's the type of cool where you sleep perfectly with just a sheet. I brought a pillow but don't need it at the training center. I'm sure it will come in handy sooner or later.

The food here at the center is awesome. For breakfast we have baguettes with chocomousse, peanut butter, butter, and jam. Every morning there are just giant bowls of baguette and you spread your spread of choice. Typically breakfast comes with tea or nescafe. I've been going for the nescafe. The tea is a basic black, Nic's drink of choice. Lunch has been a big bowl of rice with some form of meat and sauce. Today it was chicken with a brown onion sauce. Simple yet delicious. 4-5 people sitting on the ground gather around one bowl of food, which is maybe a foot and a half/two feet across, and eat from it at the same time using a spoon- or your hands, if you want, but so far all of us are using spoons. Dinner yesterday was pasta; no idea what it will be tonight. I'm excited though.

There's running water and electricity at the center, which is pretty posh compared to what our sites will be like. Nic and I in theory will be near another married couple, as PC Senegal has discovered in the past that married couples do better placed near each other as there are so few of us in the country, and it is better for us emotionally if we have others near us we can relate to. The Heifer International headquarters for Senegal is located here in Thies, but unfortunately I am not sure we will be living in this area after Peace Corps Training, but we'll see. I am sure that Nic and I will have a good permanent site.

Yesterday afternoon, after our sessions, we had a big dancing circle and we were taught a few Senegalese dances. There were drummers pounding various beats, some were slow and predictable, others fast and fun. Some neighborhood folk and kids came and joined in and showed of their skills. The Senegalese are great drummers and dancers so far! I can't wait to meet my host family and see if they are musically inclined. Speaking of drummers, the sound of a drum indicates lunch and dinner, so when we hear the drum around 12:30 and 7:30, we all come running, as by those times we are hungry and actually have been hungry for a while. Though the baguettes and coffee are great, they sure don't stay with you.

My general impression of the country is very very positive. The Peace Corps staff is friendly and helpful, and I feel very comfortable experimenting with my very very very limited Wolof and somewhat limited French. They are receptive and happy-seeming. Wonderful folk. The country is beautiful and sandy. Lots of tropical looking plants, like bananas, and there are tons of birds. They made so much sound this morning that neither Nic nor I heard the alarm clock go off- just the birds. Tonight I will be sleeping with my alarm clock under my pillow.

We've been issued our cell phones, so family folk and friends, here in a few days I will be sending you my cell phone number.

Alright, that's all for now. I'm still not sure how often I will be able to update this, but nonetheless, tune in occasionally for more stories from This Senegalese life.

Maybe some pics, too.

As the world turns!

Hello! In just a few days, Nic and I will be flying out of MA and back to AR, where we will have about a month to prepare for our journey to Senegal. This includes visiting our local friends, doing some packing, doing some work, and hopefully plenty of down time. Peace Corps Training was intense last time around, and I am looking forward to the intensity of PST in Senegal, and am really looking forward to the climate! Right now in MA it's in the 20s and there is a snowstorm and several feet of snow on the ground. Rumor has it after some time in Senegal the 60 degree evenings will feel cool. Can't wait!

My packing list is minimalistic. Instead of focusing on business clothes or reading material, I've shifted the focus towards bare minimums plus materials for hobbies. Bringing lots of nice clothes won't help the adjustment period, but having my sketchpad and journals definitely will. I made the mistake last time of not bringing drawing pens and not having a sketchpad and not bringing a single square of watercolor paper... what a fool was I! Not this time around.

My time on the farm is running low, and I'm feeling pretty good about it. I'm finishing up projects and feel ready to move onto the next phase of my life. It's been an adventure these past few months, and I've learned all kinds of trivia to boot.

One of the best surprises this Thanksgiving was the birth of four adorable teeny tiny little guinea pigs! I took some video of them today so here it is for everyone to enjoy. They are so cute...and they squeak when they walk.They also will all pile under their mother so you can't see them.



Great, aren't they?

Tell me, folks, why can't a real person answer a customer service call just once? I hate talking to robots. And pressing buttons for them. I want to hear a real human voice. Is this too much to ask? If you want to give people jobs, fire the automated answering systems and set me up with a real person. Good customer service isn't "Press 1 for more options." Good customer service is a working relationship between customer and business person. It's a pat on the back, a genuine "how are you," and a laugh between the customer and salesperson.

and now I'm even older!

I'm now located in Maassachusetts, where I will probably be through early February. And, in early to mid March (the date is not finalized yet, though it will be around March 9th), I will be leaving for a super epic and exciting Peace Corps assignment in... SENEGAL! This is a bit of a dream come true, actually. I will be in a French speaking country and will be taking intensive French classes upon arrival (i.e. I will finally be able to speak to the French side of Nic's family once I come home), and will be a health educator, which is a fantastic job. Throughout various times in my life I've contemplated a wide variety of jobs, ranging from teacher to pharmacist, and the only real interest that has survived over my years of conscious existence has been in medicine/nutrition. This PC assignment really gives me the chance to put my baseline interest to the test- can I make a living from what has been a hobby and interest for years? I surely hope the answer is yes. But, I've got two years to discover and explore this career choice, and I'm looking forward to every day of it. Plus, Nic will be studying a native language, and I eventually will to, but French first, and that's cool. I will eventually be married to a tri or quad lingual dude. That's exciting. I love the ability of humans to continue learning and growing over the course of their lives.

Speaking of learning and growing, I'm back to being an education volunteer here at Overlook Farm, which basically means that I teach groups of children and adults (but usually middle school aged children) about hunger, poverty, community building, and farm-livin' (the element that tends to excite people the most). It's my job to inspire people to take some sort of action towards ending global hunger, either in their backyard or in any number of countries. It's a good job and I generally love it. It's an excellent transition to the Peace Corps, which is where, hopefully, I will be able to take the knowledge I have gained from Heifer International and apply it on a global scale. A portion of what HI teaches about is nutrition and health, and I can take that information and apply it directly to my future work with the PC.

In addition, NPR has some amazing free albums on it's website. I highly recommend checking out NPR's First Listen segment. http://www.npr.org/music/

Also, there's this great website out there that hosts MRIs of fruits and vegetables. They're beautiful, and everyone should look at them. http://insideinsides.blogspot.com

I've also been doing a bit of reading. As should be expected, here are the 38 second book reviews.

Get Me Out: A history of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank by Randi Hunter Epstein. This non-fiction book addresses the history of childbirth, and is a well-written and fascinating work that traces the taboos and trends of child birthing over hundreds of years. The author is well educated and it shows in a good way. Featuring everything from a short history of forceps to previews of the masturbatorium in sperm banks, Get Me Out both entertains and educates. It's shocking and amazing how childbirth, a very natural process upon first glance, has over the years been "adjusted" according to the scientific understanding of the time. I highly recommend this text.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip Dick. The film Blade Runner was based on this novel, a classic work of science fiction that calls into question what it means to be a human and why it matters anyway. In a world that creates androids and then fears them, and where people long for the company of the animals they once destroyed, a reader like me can't sleep because she's wrapped up in the text. Called brilliant for a reason.

Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation by Elissa Stein and Susan Kim. I severely disliked this unnecessarily sassy text that felt more like a trendy coffee table book than a real cultural history. This is probably because it is a trendy coffee table book and not a real cultural history. The only positive/interesting thing about this book was the catalog of historical kotex ads. Which are worth a look, mind you, but I won't be buying this one.

The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum. Three cheers for Deborah Blum! This gruesome yet educational work (unintentionally?) challenges our acceptance of weirdo chemicals in our everyday products by showing how they have been used in the past in facial creams and alcohols, and how we've consequentially suffered. A fantastic amalgamation of chemistry, murder mystery, and underpaid employees' horror stories, The Poisoner's Handbook is a great reference book and a great story. What stood out the most in my mind is a tale of radium, which is structurally similar to calcium and absorbed thus by bones in the human body. So-called Radium Girls, watchmakers who absorbed a crazy amount of the stuff while painting watch faces, had so much radium in their bones and bodies that they exhaled radon. What! Did I mention this entire text is nonfiction? Rarely am I so downright entertained by historical text.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. Tracing the lives of twins separated at birth by father applying a sick idea of "protection," The Memory Keeper's Daughter utilizes themes of family, fear, and the past to push forward an interesting and relevant story. It demonstrates the ability of secrets and skeletons in closets to weigh down and potentially wreck some lives, while potentially making others better. This read held my attention and I got through it pretty quickly. Not too sad, not too suspenseful, but not quite lighthearted either.

Alright! Have a good day, all!

Waiting but with the dominos lined up

I finally got medical clearance again just the other day, which means that Nic and I are on the right path towards our next Peace Corps assignment. At this point, we've done all the paperwork, jumped through all of the hoops, and are waiting on an official invite. That should be coming around October or November. In the meantime, I've been working with a computer program on some simple French (les enfants courent), and waiting for Heifer. If I were waiting completely idle with absolutely no idea what I was going to be doing in the future, I might go completely crazy. However, as it stands, I've got the dominoes lined up for a decent next year or so. From late August-mid January, I will be working with Heifer international. From January-March, I'll be, if things go as planned, studying French and packing my bags. And finally, sometime in March, I'll be getting on a plane for Peace Corps adventure number 2. One day at a time, though.

In the meantime, I've been doing a lot of reading, which means time for more 38 second book reviews!

De Niro's Game by Rawi Hage. Not quite as good as Cockroach, an instant favorite of mine. A somewhat biographical and ranting work of fiction based on life in war-torn Beirut, the work tugs at heartstrings and keeps your attention. A fairly quick read. Get it from your local library.

Pieces for the Left Hand by J. Robert Lennon. This genius collection of 100 anecdotes range from sad to silly to sadistic. I laughed, I languished, I loved it. Because of the wide variety of topics addressed in this text the concise nature of each piece, everyone can find an anecdote to enjoy and remember. Each anecdote straddles the line between an epic short story and a long-lost poem. I have a copy I can lend you.

Sophie's World by Jostien Gaardner. This highly successful novel is more a history of philosophy than it is anything else. If I had never studied philosophy, I might have found this text more interesting. I often found the descriptions of each philosopher's work to be over-simplified, and were written in a way that was sometimes patronizing. I do plan to hang onto this text as a reference book in the event that I am ever without the internet and wish to quickly review a philosopher's point of view. However, I will neither be rereading this book in it's entirety, nor will I be recommending it to those that have studied philosophy in an academic setting. It should be kept in mind will reading Sophie's World that it is a work of fiction, and, albeit educational, readers should research more about the philosophers addressed in the text before reaching a conclusion about his or her works.

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman. A brilliant, non-fiction account of cultural misunderstandings between the Hmong living in America and the American medical system. Provides great insight into various perspectives on welfare, medicine, spirituality, and family. This text reads like two parallel stories, and without a doubt sucks the reader into the lives of both the doctors and Hmong family members involved. I found myself desperately trying to relate and have sympathy for all party members involved. Read it, and find yourself questioning what culture is.


America and the Pill by Elaine Tyler May. Another non-fiction account addressing the history of the birth control pill in the United States. This text challenges the notion that the birth control pill fueled the sexual revolution of the 1960s, and pushes for an understanding of the various controversies surrounding the pill, including its tests outside of the United States and the pill's potential role in eugenics. Interesting stuff.



That's it for now. See ya'll around!