Ca va bien

Well well well! I havnt posted in a long time for a number of reasons but I will not get into them here. New blog style, no pictures because my computor officially died like 2 days ago.

I have moved into the new place which is awesome and i chill with my roommates luc, cody and matt. we just took in two hilarious new roommates guillome and bertrand. They are french and are brothers and bring the funk. Bertrand is a great guitarist and guillome is a gentleman and a scholar (and works for tostan).

Today my NGO put on a training (basically) on gender in the security sector (RSS, Inclusive security) with another NGO DCAF. There were like 25ish legislators from the senegalese senate and national assembly. to be honest i hate capacity building. it has lost all meaning. the conference was entirely in french and wolof so i understood only like 1/4 of what went on. it was at the old club med and we had a delicious lunch. people snapped at me to hand them packets and the microphone and stuff and i was majorly offended. but its ok because i have a beard now, wore a suit, and knew i have chilled more in my 21 years of life than any of those politicians ever have. im just kidding but seriously hopefully when i am a senator i will be nicer to foreign interns.

the makeup of the people at work has changed. adia and bety (secretary and finance lady) have left and now we have Jenna (urber smart new intern who makes me look bad from amerrica) and Ouley (from amerrica/senegal, shes senegalese and speaks like a billion languages including japanese). they were fun to hang with all day but we basically had to be quiet and listen to these politicians go on and on as they built this capacity building out of words.

oh yeah, i went scuba diving for the first time last weekend, it was awesome. i went down to this shipwreck and saw tons of awesome fish. everyone must try this.

ok, on to the future plans
i plan to try to commit myself to learning how to surf with my last month here. first lesson is tomorrow. wish me luck. ill try to do 10 lessons.
this weekend i am celebrating the independence of les etas unis like the rest of america. 4 of july baby, should be fun. we are having a party at Akon's house on Ngor island. Akon, you know, Konvikt? should be great we have fireworks and such (thank you peace corps) then, on the 4th, i will travel to the gambia for my long vacation. i am staying with this really nice and welcoming peace corps volunteer named jessi. i think i am going to stay in her village and then maybe travel around to the sites she says are cool. i dont really know. i am winging it sort of. if it is not fun i will come back to Dakar but i am sure it will be an amazing time. gambia is not too far (like 5 hours by car) and is a whole different experience (so im told). i am ready to explore a little outside of dakar, i think, and no better way to do it than to leave the country and MIGRATE.

how im feeling:
as the title of the post says "ca va bien" after 4 months in Senegal i have kind of hit a little bit of a rhythm and am very happy here. i bought a grill like a week ago and have been grilling a ton since then which is great. in the new house i cook a lot which is good for my mental well being. i made bagles again, also good for the sanity. i am excited for my adventure to the gambia, ready to learn how to surf, nervous that i am leaving africa and may never get to come back, ready to continue my existence here but i also miss the comforts and people of home as any normal person would. i miss the fam and the squad both at tulane and in the 301. I miss camp and the freaks from switzerland. I miss minnesota but most of all, i am glad to be here and ready to roll for the last 20% of my journey to senegal.

this was kind of rambling and long but i know some peoples must read this because i can see the hits keep coming. i will be back online after i return from the gambia, hopefully with stories and recipes and tons of other good stuff to share.

btw, about my computer, i spilled water on it my first week here, and now it finally fried. maybe it will work again back in america but for the forseeable future i will be skype and photo-less. sorry yall. peace OUT and i will post again when i get home. lataaa

Taxis

Salaamaléékum,
Since I have no car, no moped (too dangerous), and sometimes you just can't take the bus I end up taking taxis more than I ever had before coming here. They are pretty janky but they make the city very safe because the maximum you pay to go anywhere in Dakar is 2000 CFA ($4). Even though they give me security, they are annoying as hell sometimes.

First, the fare. There is a mandatory argument at the beginning of every cab ride where you discuss where you are going and what the price is. Prices raise by: distance to be traveled, number of people, number of stops, presence of baggage, looking like a foreigner, telling them to go a certain route, being near a place where rich people go (airport, concert venue, beach etc.), or just about anything you can imagine. At some point you just cut your losses and pay a little extra or you tell the cab to move on and you wait for the next one. There are strategies for paying less, like: speaking a little Wolof, being a cute girl, having a Senegalese person argue the fare for you, lying about where you are going, etc. I get why they jack up the prices but they shouldn't get all mad all the time, yeesh.

Overall, I'm glad for the taximen. They are always good for french conversation and Wolof practice. Sometimes I have really great chats with them and we end up just parking and talking about politics, Dakar, sports or whatever. Other times they are mean and just trying to get another dollar out of me. So its a balance. Sunset ride home.
Anyway, glad to be in the new house. Pics coming.
Jamma Jamma (peace)