Pics of the Mango Flies!!

http://txstate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2148073&l=4c6cd&id=29606259

here is a link to my facebook album of the mango flies after they were squeezed out of butt cheeks! it's pretty gross, so weak stomachs shouldn't look after eating a full meal!!!

Your asking me for directions???

so yesterday i was riding into kedougou and because of the rains the bush path i take was pretty gross. there was one point where i was trekking through ankle deep mud and mid-calf stagiment, smelly, brown water. it was so gross and i just wasn't in a great mood anyways, i hadn't slept very good the night before. plus i have no music since my stupid iPod broke a while ago, but it's going back to texas with meg next month so i'll be getting it back when i meet my mom in portugal in feb. anyways, so i got the main road that takes me to kedougou and was getting in a better mood because i was almost there. everyone as i ride by likes to greet me, which is funny cuz they all act really surprised when i greet them in pulaar because they all tend to greet me in french. this one man kind of flagged me down a bit and started off with a big 'bonjour', well i greet him with a big 'wali e jam' and he goes oh and then started speaking in pulaar and asked me for directions! i always feel it's a big accomplishment when your asked for directions when your somewhere else, it's happened in paris, nice and amsterdam but serioulsy your going to ask the white guy for directions through the bush in africa?? but actually i knew exactly where he was going, it was another volunteers village and one i pass through. so i rode off feeling good, which was helpful it was a really rough week. just from the usual everyone and their mothers asking me for money or presents and the annoying ass children screaming 'cadeaux' or 'present' at me. it's the only french word they tend to know especially in my area where the education system is terrible. one of the hardest things now is dealing with this local celebrity status. i'm ready to go back to being just another face in the crowd, no one caring, staring or constantly laughing at everything i do. another volunteer and i were talking last night about all the stuff that drives us crazy about senegal and came to the conclusion that after this is all said and done we're probably not going to remember all these annoying things that make us crazy in senegal. i mean i could talk for hours about stuff that makes me want to rip my hair out here; children, animals(i was about to kill our dog at the kedougou house last night who barked for hours at absolutely nothing at 4a.m.), to trying to get a meeting with the village cheif so i can discuss my ideas for our health hut. he keeps changing the day on me, but it's ramadan now and nothing is going to get done because no one is eating during the day. but actually we've been eating really really well, some family member came from dakar with lots of money and food. so i'm enjoying that. another cool thing is that all the corn is so tall right now, it's so fun to walk through the little paths because the corn is almost two of me it's so tall. it also makes a good cover cuz the village can't see me when i ride down the main road through the village. well anyways, that's all i got for now. hope all is well back home.

james

It's funny what boasts your confidence

so after the entire peace corps community found out about my mango flies, i was surprised to find that many others have recently suffered the same terrible fate. while in tamba for regional IST i was talking with another who had gotten them on his bum as well, and he asked "Don't you now feel like a badass, like you can do anything now?" oddly enough, i do! this has probably been the grossest thing i've ever experienced, the next closest is the whole leaking appendix thing, but we won't go there today. i kind of feel like now i can do handle just about anything senegal has to throw at me, i mean i squeezed 7 larva out of my body. regional IST was actually better than i expected. i got some good feedback from 2nd year volunteers on the big project i'm wanting to do. so i'll break it down for you here. in my village we have a really nice health hut, it was built by an NGO a few years back, but they failed to do any follow-up to make sure it was functioning properly. it's a very nice two room building, with two hopsital beds and nice cabinets for storage, plus a big nice desk. problem is my counterpart doesn't know how to run it, this was told to me by a few different villagers. so i'm wanting to work with him and show him how to manage and run this health hut so that we have a functioning health structure within the village. first i need to set up a health committee to make all decisions and formulate a plan of action. then we will need to raise funds. i'm not wanting to be just another white guy who brings in all this money for stuff, so i'm hoping to raise the money within the village. maybe a health tax, something small, that would raise money to by medicine and books for record keeping. then i would work with my counterpart teaching him accounting and inventory management. it sounds simple enough, but the problem is i'm going to work at their pace and i'm hoping my counterpart will down for it all. the problem i've noticed is that my village is so used to white people just paying for things, and they're not the most motivated of people. other than that when school starts i'm going to start a girl's health club, i'll do little health lessons, but i'm going to focus on gender development. in most of the research i've done, most found working with young girls has the greatest impact on development within a community.

so some people have been asking for care-package ideas. here is just a list of things i would like, so pick and choose from here for care-packages.
Aveeno sunblock, flavored teas, high protein bars(low carb), high protein drink mixes, cashews, raisins, turkey or beef jerkies, trail mix, mac and cheese, sour patch kids, mags(GQ, Details, trashy mags(we all love those), also any good books you might have recently read. that is about all i can think of now, but you get the idea of stuff i would like. i hope all is well with everyone, take care and send letters.

james

Remember, i'm eating for 7!

hey all, i hope all is well. so i haven't posted in a while because i've been waiting for something to happen that would be interesting to write on here. there were a couple of funny stories from my return to kedougou via public transport, but i'm not going to go there today. so wednesday these little bumps started forming in my butt region. thursday they were swollen and looked to be boils. i've gotten a few boils while in senegal so i know what they look like. friday they were really sore, so i started hot compresses, cuz those always helped with my other boils. the only difference was these really, really hurt. sometimes i was woken up at night because they were hurting so bad. well today while taking a shower, i was poking around at one of bumps that wasn't in a good spot. so while poking and squeezing, out popped this little white thing. at first it thought it was just a really gross blackhead type thing, then i took a closer look. it was ALIVE!!! it was a nasty little, white, fat LARVA!!!!!! i freaked out and yelled for my friend annie, the only other pcv at the kedougou house. i came running out in my towel and ran directly to the phone to call the PC medical officier. so one down, but i have 6 to go!! i'm so grossed out. but we figured out that i became infested with these vile little creatures from not letting my underwear completely dry out. i was still in Thies and we were leaving that saturday but it had been rainy and so after two days of hanging outside to dry my cloths weren't fully dry. so my lesson from all of this, always let your cloths fully dry after washing in Senegal.

another funny thing that happened, why my friend holly and i were making our way back to site after IST, we were sitting in this sept place(old ass station wagon, that is used for public transport in senegal) waiting to go. guess how the driver started the car?? just go ahead and think of the most absurd way to start a car. that's right, he pressed the Defrost Button!!!! plus also in that particular sept place, the middle windows didn't roll down, and holly and i were sitting in the very back. it was a very pleasant 7 hour car ride, along the worst road on the face of the earth. it is covered in potholes, i mean covered. holly and i renamed it the "Road to Hell." so that's about all the sitting i can stand for the moment, my larva aren't too happy with me for sitting for so long. so 'si allah jabbi' or 'if god accepts' these damn larva will be gone within the next day or two, or i'll be making my way to dakar to have them surgically removed!!! wont' that be a fun car ride.