All for 1 and a pineapple!

Hey all, so the past couple of days in the village have proved to be quit hard as i have become very homesick and missing all my friends and family back in the U.S. so wednesday, two days ago, i woke up in a fairly bad mood. i had tried to go meet with my official counterpart, only to find after i had rode the 9 k to Fongolimbi that he had gone to Kedougou for the day. so i ate this weird tuna sandwich and chatted with the lady who made it for awhile. turns out those tuna sandwiches don't agree with me very well. i spent wednesday reading and hanging out with my family. my mood had lifted some by the evening and as i lay in bed that night i heard a familiar song coming from my families house. it was 'unbreak my heart' by i think toni braxton. then i heard celine dion's 'my heart will go on' and i couldn't help but laugh some. i couldn't believe it, the titanic theme song in my little village in senegal. so i jumped up and got out my radio and found the station. it was the kedougou station and i couldn't help but get in a better mood because of the trashy american music being played. followed up by mariah carey and then michael bolton. then out of no where, All for 1's ' I swear' started playing. it took me straight back to 5th grade, cuz i had that tape and played it all the time. i started belting out the words to song as i lay under my mosquito net and couldn't get the stupid grin off my face from then on. i listened for awhile to more funny songs, really old and really bad. it was a little taste of america that i needed very much. the next day, thursday, was my weekly market. so i made the 9 k ride back to fongolimbi. i had two really good bean sandwiches and saw a new friend i had made the monday before when i had come in hopes of seeing my counterpart. we chatted for a bit and i chatted with some people i knew. i waited around hoping my friend robin, another pcv in the area would show up. by 10:30 a.m. i was ready to get of there, robin had made no appearance yet and i really wasn't in the mood for pulaar social scene that is the weekly market. as i was leaving i passed by the booth of a little old woman, who had pineapples. i was so very excited, because the following even i had dreamed about pineapples. so i bought 3, two for my family and one for me to eat in my hut. i rode home and the first thing i did was go inside and and eat this pineapple. it was so good, sweet and very juciy. i laid there, full of pineapple and extermely happy and took a nap. it was perfect. it's funny how it's the small things, like an old song and pineapple that make me very happy in this harsh enviroment. it's been very hot and humid lately, we have lots of rain which is good, because it's bring cools winds and cools the village down. i have been sleeping in my hut everynight and even had to cover up a few nights it's been so chilly. today i got to kedougou, i'm helping another volunteer prepare for a seminar he's holding and i will eat lots of good food. i'm very happy right now, althought i just went to the market here in hopes of more pineapple but with no luck. oh well. i hope all is well with everyone else, nothing new or exciting to report. my pulaar is improving which is good and i'm enjoying my family in the village more and more. they are very fun and we have fun laughing and joking with each other. i hope everyone has a great 4th of july. write me letters, i love showing up from the village and finding mail. take care.

james

Pulaar Wedding

Hello all, i hope all is well in the good ol' U.S. of A. I have had a very interesting almost two weeks in the village. From accidently calling a town meeting, i had intended it to be just myself and the mid-wife of the village, but because i don't speak pulaar very well she misunderstood and told the entire village i had called a town meeting to discuss future projects within the village. i'm definately not going to use the word "reno" anymore, because apparently it means a meeting for everyone, not just a simple meeting between two people. but this past sunday the women of my village insisted that i go with them to a wedding in a neighboring village. so myself and 20 or so women/young girls made our way in the heat of the day the 3k to this wedding. at events like these men and women are separeted and since no men from my village or family came i was forced to sit with a big group of men and drink tea. after exhausting my pulaar with them i decided to take a nap since i had just walked for an hour and half with the hot blazing african sun overhead. after i awoke the men took me to watch the actually ceremony. it was quit interesting. everyone gathered in a circle around the two men playing these odd looking instruments. everyone sang songs for a big and this man with a big stick was making sure the circle was kept big enough by slapping the ground and peoples feet when they moved in to closely. this did this during the entire ceremony and was really annoying about. i kind of wanted to take the stick at times and beat him with it. i stayed on the outside of the circle. they sang for about 30 minutes and then the presentation of the gifts was made. they announced what everyone had given as gifts and made the people who had given the gifts come out into the middle of the circle. after this the music continued and women took turns coming into the circle and dancing around, it looked like something similar to the helicopter. they would hold both arms out and dance around in the circle waving their arms about. at times there would be two women facing each other doing this dance. this took place for almost an hour, while i watched i ate mangos and drank bissap. bissap has become one of my favorite drinks here, it is bright red and very sweet. it is something similar to hibcus in the states but much sweeter and very good, plus it was cold which made it even better. after the dancing the couple was brought into the circle. i think the funniest part was that there was a guy video taping the whole thing. i had the groom beforehand and he seemed very excited to have a toubaako at his wedding. he wore a brand new white compte and the bride looked like an african prom queen. her dress was blue and her hair was done up very big. she had on full make-up and looked very pretty. all the women from my village joked that i needed to get myself a senegalese wife that looked like her. the bride was maybe 16 or 17, she had too much make-up on to really tell. the guy was fairly young, maybe in his early 20's. they sat on two small benches facing each other, while the music played and the women of their families danced around them. this went on for about 20 minutes while everyone in the crowd sang this beautiful song. after this the newly married couple departed and the helicopter dancing continued. they returned with the bride wearing a different white dress. there was so much detail on the dress it was beautiful. they then walked around posing with everyone while the guy video taped. the new groom brought his new wife over to greet me, she didn't seem to excited to have this toubaako at her wedding. the guy video taping then turned the camera to me and gave me a full up and down. i looked like a complete bum. my sister had told me that green t-shirt and dark brown pants looked fine, i was covered in sweat, was dirty because lets face it i live in a small african village and am always dirty. so forever on this couples wedding video there will be a toubaako looking like a big dirty bum. oh well, i don't know how they're ever going to watch the video considering there was on electricity in the village, so probably no tv or vcr. it was very beautiful, my family asked me that night to explain an american wedding, but after thinking for a few minutes i told my pulaar wasn't good enough so i would have to tell them later. but it was a cool experience and i'm sure i will be attending many more pulaar wedding in the future. i had left my camera at the kedougou regional house so there were no pics taken. but like i said i will go to many more and make sure i have my camera to take pics. i hope everyone is doing well, take care and send me letters, my address is in the previous post!

Village Life!

Hey everyone. so i've survived my first two weeks in the village! i was dropped off on the 16th of may and it wasn't as bad as i had expected. i didn't even watch the peace corps car drive away. my hut is cool just very very small. i have a small fenced in backyard where i bucket bath myself. outside of my hut is small shade structure where i sleep at night because it's far too hot in my hut. everyone i start the day by listening to the BBC and making myself some breakfast and tea. then i go greet the family and go get water. our spring is a little more than 1/4 a mile from my house so i have go instead of having the women do it. down at the spring i see monkeys sometimes, which is pretty cool. i get my water and carry it back to my house on my head. it's hard carring a 15 liter bucket of water on your head for over 1/4 of a mile. but i've gotten the hang of it. the food and heat have been the hardest parts so far. not much nutrition in the village, alot of peanut sauce which is like runny peanut butter soup on rice or cous cous. this week has also been the week of strange meats in my food. i've given my own bowl of food so i haven't been eating the gross things. example of weird meats, the other night i uncover my bowl to find wild deer testicles!!! my family had killed a wild deer that day, we ate the perfectly cooked meat that afternoon. but i wasn't about to eat his testicles. my family is really really nice and always tell me how great i speak pulaar, which is absurd because i don't speak pulaar. a funny thing about the pulaar people is that they always state the obvious. when i wake up i'm asked "you woke up?" and i always say "yes, i woke up." then when i'm going to get water everyone woman i pass askes "your going for water?" and i reply "yes, i'm going for water." then i'm carrying it on my head home i get "your carrying water on your head?" and again i say, "yes i'm carrying water on my head." so i've started to take action. i ask them silly questions before they can ask me. before they ask me if i woke up i always ask them, and they laugh when i do it, almost like i always laugh when they do it to me. they also make me tell the same stories over and over and over again. so now i get way into it and just act stupid and i usually have everyone rolling around laughing. it's pretty funny. our main conversations revolve around calling each crazy and "players". it will be interesting to go back there tomorrow morning, but i'm looking forward to it. i have alot of visiting people to do this week. i've kinda of just stayed around my house the past two weeks, just getting used to the shock and living in a small african village. but i've had lots of people asking when i'm coming to their house for tea or lunch. the tea they drink here is really bad, it has so much sugar in it i can barely stand it. imagine a shot glass of tea that has 5 cubes of sugar in it. it's just awful but they love it and i haven't been able to tell them no yet. anyways it's been a long day at the cyber, i've uploaded photos and am posting the link. also my address has changed. this is my address for the rest of my service.

PCV James Hardin
B.P. 37
Kedougou, Senegal
West Africa

photo link: http://txstate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2125769&l=2dcf5&id=29606259

so send letters, funny newspaper articles or magazine articles, those are always fun. also care packages of food would be great. not alot of candy but some is always nice. Dr. Pepper jelly bellies would be excellent along with trail mixes or granola. magazines would always been nice too, Details, GQ, National Geographic, trashy celebrity mags always make our days. be creative and also if anyone wanted to include some kind of good hair stuff, the sun is frying my hair and there really isn't conditionar in this country. i have a trashy european style mohawk/faux hawk which i think is great and i'm going to grow my hair out cuz i think it would be funny. anyways i hope everyone is doing well in america. take care of yourselves!!

James