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