Senegal is all about sitting in plastic chairs feeling awkward

I need to thank Maren Johnstone, a former PCV from Senegal for this skillfully crafted quip-- it really sums up a lot of things about living here and now as we are completing our 3-week training and preparing to head back to site I find myself thinking more and more about this.

We just completed the development of a 6-month work plan for our return to site and I realized that I am going to go back to where I am the only white person around (and even more alienated by the fact that I actually do understand the local language) and I will once again be the center of everyone's attention. I have enjoyed so much peaceful anonymity among other Americans that I think I need to start bracing myself for the worst. So this may include going to several baptisms, marriages, ceremonies for pilgrims retunring from Mecca, sitting in a plastic chair for hours on end while wearing a stiff damask curtain and a scarf shaped into a fruit bowl on my head.

The scary part is that I am not nearly as afraid of it all as I once was.

I've learned a lot at this training and I am anxious to get out and start working (which will hopefully help distract me from other, more negative sentiments like "Senegal Breaks Things!"--such as my ipod, my computer, my solar battery, my flashlight and all of my clothing) but first I just need to eat one more hamburger in civilization. And the real kicker is that I am about to experience real real civilization when I meet my family in Italy next week (I am such a lucky brat!) I have sent a list of "necessities" t be brought to me that is as long as your tax documents. not to mention the full wheel of parmesan I plan to buy upon arrival in Rome.

so this leads me to the next question-- what really qualifies as civilization? I'm so numb to everything here now that it doesn't at all seem strange that I eat with my hands, I share public transportation with livestock and occasionally see the driver take the key out of the ignition while still driving in order to clean his ears with it, that there is trash everywhere and little talibe begging on every corner. But here's the deal, people are not necessarily starving, there is a system of education (though it is far from acceptable) and every other basic need has at least some provision-- and to be honest, compared to a lot of African nations; you might think that Senegal is on the up andup; and then you have the discussion about female genital mutilation, or about the negotiation of dowries for marriages, or about the concours that elementary students must participate in just to have the chance to go on to middle school! there is a long long way to go. am I being clear on this? When we say "development" I think it has so little to do with what people have-- it relates more to the way people think--

One example; my closest female friends in this country are our language trainers. They are far from Louga and I see them rarely, but they are the first individuals with whom I can carry a conversation that does not include hair extensions or cooking ceeb u jen. on the other hand, these particular women are so educated (meaning university degrees) that they can rarely find a senegalese boyfriend who is not terrified/intimidated/who knows what by their intelligence. Until we can see educated people who can succeed, hold a job and still fit easily into the traditional family structure we are not seeing development.

this is a bad example but I am feeling scatterbrained and will have to come back to revise it later-- someone help me by asking some questions, then I will know what direction to go in next time. Thanks, miss you all , love you to pieces!

Meryl