what easter just happened?

This was my second to last stay in my training village which means that the training period is coming to a close and I will be heading to my site soon. The down fall to this is I have a million and on things to do before may 13th. That's right I officially get sworn in to the Peace Corps on Friday the 13th. ironic isn't it? this week has been especially busy because in two we are hosting our Senegalese counterparts for two days at the center. during this time we are presenting the Peace Corps and the Senegalese Government came up with to further environmental education and health in the country. The trouble lies with the fact we have it in English and we are presenting it in the native language so that means a lot of translations. They say we only use 10% of our brains but this last week 100% of my brain has been hurting. Either I found a way to be the smartest person on the planet or my brain cells are slowly revolting against me. Time will only tell. Although I have gotten to the point were I can speak Seereer and people can understand me. Where as this is a small victory for me the problem comes because now they start asking questions I have no clue how to answer. On another funny story I spent a good half hour trying to translate the sentence "When I speak in Seereer people can understand me" with one of my host sisters.
Some clarification on the wrestling the men are not naked but think man thongs and manties (man panties). Also they strap talismans around their bodies ex;animal teeth, feathers, leather pouches, then dunk them selves in a very bad smelling liquid. For those of you who will get this think Osceola Cola, either way you don't want to sit down wind. It is actually an interesting sport they strut around the area for a while and then they start going at it and the ref calls who gets to keep on going to the next bracket. All the while you have a group of drummers who play out a beat the entire time with out stopping. Pretty impressive in my opinion.
Also before we went to the village last week they took us to Dakar to see the main office and tour the city. It really was not anything too interesting just safety sessions and how to get to the embassy but we got to go out and get ice cream at this futuristic looking shop called nice cream. Hands down my new favorit store in Senegal.  Other than that everything is fine No parasites or malaria yet but I have had a round of Diarrhea for three days.

delta ahoy

This last week I went and visited the volunteer at my site pechie. It is a small town of three hundred no electricity, and about a twenty minuet walk from the river delta. So for the next two years I will be sitting cozy with a nice ocean breeze every night. Another plus is I have a volunteer living with in a thirty minuet walk. For the week I was there we went around and talked to the entire village so they know who I am. Then we went and lounged on the beech  for the afternoon. On friday me and the other trainees went with our volunteers to a local wresting match, think Greek wresting. So for the evening we watched men tackle each other. It was fun although the camera crew that was there was in our faces all the time but then again we were the only five white kids there. Other than that I have spent the day hanging out in the regional house. really nothing all to exciting has happened.

This last stint was the longest we had in the village. During this time we spent setting up a garden in the school as well as painting murals on the school walls. The mural we painted was of the food pyramid although the colors we chose made the painting look like it was out of the 80's. The garden was the difficult of the two projects first because we had to clear and area behind a classroom then make the beds, chase away goats, plant the garden, chase away sheep, build a fence, laugh at said goats and sheep trying to get in. we currently have some healthy eggplants, hot peppers, and onions. Plus some very unhealthy looking lettuce. The tree garden has yet to sprout.

The langue is coming slowly and we had our first test yesterday. Other than that I have been able to walk down the street and conversations with random people. Of course our town has wolof people as well so there has been some times I greet them and they come up and start talking to me. Of course I can't speak it so I try to communicate in my broken French. Although a really cool thing that happened. I have a "two year" I can never get a clear answer on his age , his first words where my name Dauda. Sure he could have been talking about my younger brother but I am going to think it was me. The other funny thing that happened to me involves noise. Senegal is never quiet there is aways noise going on animals, people, music, cars. All times of the night to. So during my stay I had to go to the restroom. So I walk out of my house and it is quiet, like you could hear a pin drop quiet. It was incredibly odd and awsome. As I am walking back to my room the thing that breaks the sience was my nieghbors donkeys doing it. The other random story I have is I have a two year old in the compound I live in his first words was my name. I thought it was cool. Last on the stories We had a religious ceremony last night in our town which meant good eating, as in beef. The down side of that is we got to see the cow slaughtered of course this really did not bother me and I thought it was kinda cool. The down side to this is that they spent the whole night singing from one until seven in the morning, so no sleep for me.
To answer your questions Senegal is a polygamous society so a man can have multiple wives as long as he can pay the dowery. I have seen and talked to my dad and second official mother. My dad is a businessman dealing with export and import of locally grown agriculture. He also dose a lot of community refurbishment, example he help build the school we are working in.
second I did teach them the mocerana and they love it although they keep saying macaroni instead.
lastly sorry but no worms yet.
Feel free to post questions here or e-mail them to me like the ones above were.
Take care and have fun with the wet season because I am in a blow dryer.