One Year, Moringa Wonders and Hypnotized Chickens. Oh my!

So, March 9th marks my one year anniversary in Senegal! In some ways I can't believe I've been here so long, then in other ways I feel like I've been here forever. It's so crazy to think that this time last year I didn't know Wolof, was unfamiliar with the ways of the drop toilet and had never had anyone scream out "WHITE PERSON" when they first saw me. The one question that I have at this point is how exactly is it possible that it's been at least 13 months since I've set foot anywhere near Sesame Place and I still find Elmo and Cookie furs on my clothes? It will be interesting to see if I'm still finding them after two years.

I know it's been a while since my last entry, so I'll try to fill you in on what I've been up to and what the next year (that's right, there's still a whole other year) has in store for me...

Logistics...

Once you're sworn in as a PCV, you have a two-year service; but this does not count the two months spent in training before swear-in. So, although I am at my year-mark in Senegal, I'm not quite halfway through my service yet. I'll probably be coming home in late April of 2013, so the halfway mark isn't too far off! Today is a big day for all of us because making it a full year in-country is a big deal, but the really exciting day will be when I reach my year-mark in-village (May 18). After that day, it will feel like the countdown really begins. Instead of counting how many months I've been in Senegal, I'll probably start counting how many months I have left before coming home. Bottom line, once May rolls around I will officially be over halfway through my service and can start saying things like "next 4th of July, when I'm in the US," which will be exciting!

The only downside to me reaching my very exciting year-mark is that that means that the group of PCVs a year ahead of me is getting ready to leave. Pretty soon I'll have to say goodbye to four of my Team Djolof comrades: Emily, Ann Marie, Kim and Justin. It's going to be so sad to see them go, especially since Justin lives 10k away from me, hosted me on my Volunteer Visit and has basically been my Senegal "mentor". It's not going to be fun when they leave, but we'll all hopefully have Djolof reunions once we're back in the US. It will be a welcome change to see each other in cute clothes, with clean hair, not covered in a perpetual layer of sand or dust. These are the kinds of things that I dream about.

Justin making his last cup of Senegalese tea

On the plus side, a whole new group of trainees arrive on March 7th! There will be about 50 new trainees and I get to meet them at the end of March! Obviously, I'm unbelievably excited about this because my region will be receiving six of these new babies once they swear-in. I can't wait to meet which six people I'll be spending the next year with. It's always so exciting when new trainees arrive!

What's Been Going on with Me...

As usual, I've been pretty busy. I went into Dakar in the beginning of February to take the GRE. It was interesting to see how they conduct the paper-based exam. Definitely much different than exam proctoring in America. Then I headed up to Linguere because Team Djolof (the group of people in my region) had another tourney (touring discussion/theater/demo talk) planned! We had previously had a malaria tourney during Ramadan, which had been really successful, so we figured we'd give it a shot doing a Moringa tourney.

Moringa is a tree that is grown here that is basically a miracle tree. Once it's leaves are pounded into a powder, one spoonful of Moringa powder has as much Vitamin A as four carrots, as much calcium as three cups of milk, as much potassium as three bananas and as much protein as an egg. Considering we live in a place where veggies are scarce and people often eat rice (sometimes plain) for all three meals, a tree like this is amazing!

Theatre: Me bringing my underweight baby to see the doctor

Theatre: Hearing the news that my baby's malnourished

Theatre: The Doctor teaching me about Moringa

Posters displaying the nutritional benefits of Moringa

Like our last tourney, we spiced up our educational segments with little theatre pieces, chanting, and a lovely Wolof song-and-dance routine to the tune of Shakira's "Waka Waka" song. Hopefully our message got across loud and clear!

Jenn & I choreographed the Waka Waka dance...

And I may have thrown in some Sesame choreography

Blustery morning car rides can be fun!

And sometimes not so fun...

Enjoying a nice lunch out in the bush

And we all repped our Team Djolof shirts. Obvs.

And tried to knock fruit out of baobab trees...

And trying to spot white "toubab" camels in the bush

The only other big thing in my life is that this year marked the first year since I was probably ten (or how ever old I was when I first stayed awake through the whole thing) that I missed the Academy Awards. As my college friends know, Oscar night is a big deal to me. It's my Super Bowl, and this was the first year that I was unable to make appetizers, have an Oscar ballot, and judge celebrities on their dresses and speeches. Luckily my mom called me as early as possible the next morning to give me the highlights, but still. It was sad. And it made me especially miss my Aunt Terry (who always goes all out for the Oscars), Kyle and the Temple gang (who have a very intense ballot contest going) and Lindsey Kate (who, during commercials, would interview me like I was different actors and ask me questions in weird accents). Miss you all!

What's Been Going on with Senegal...

**My reports aren't the greatest, try Googling any of this stuff if you're actually interested**

I'm not sure if any of you have noticed Senegal popping up on Google News or CNN lately, but the political drama here has gotten very interesting. Our current president, Abdoulaye Wade, has been in office since the year 2000 (kind of a while, huh?). He's pretty darn old (reports say that he was born in 1926, but there's no real record of this, so he could actually be older), and he's been in office for quite some time already. But that did not stop President Wade from wanting to run again. So he petitioned for the length of the presidential term to be changed, so that he could run again this year. It was approved, so he became an official 2012 presidential candidate. Many rumors seem to lead to the idea that, should be he re-elected, Wade will make his son the second-in-command, so should he either step down or die, his son will then be president. And instead of going into all of the dirt, I'll try to keep it simple and say that his campaign hasn't been the cleanest.

On February 26th, we had our presidential elections. My village voted for Wade. Many other villages voted for another candidate, Macky Sall. As of this moment, I believe the votes for the whole nation are still being tallied, but it's clear that this race will come down to those two opponents. I believe we should be expecting a re-election in March. Most details are still unclear at this point, but it's interesting to watch how politics unfold over here.

And on a Lighter Note...

*I'd like to preface this bit by stating that:

 1) yes, these are the kinds of things that PCVs do for entertainment and

2) no, we are not ashamed of it

My friend Justin had learned from someone that it was possible to hypnotize a chicken. How does one hypnotize a chicken, you ask? Well, if you are able to catch a chicken and lay it on the ground on its side, then all you need to do is draw a line in the sand in front of its face. For some unknown reason, the chicken is then unable to get back up and just continues laying there.

This might not seem very exciting to civilized Americans who don't encounter chickens on a daily basis... but let me tell you, it's freaking awesome! Chickens hate being caught and if you do catch one, they squawk like crazy until you put it down. So this is pretty cool that there's a way to make the chicken just lay down and do nothing.

Obviously when the opportunity presented itself, I filmed it. So enjoy watching the poultry hypnotist show...

If this is too slow, search "Hypnotized chicken" on youtube and it's posted under my name.

That's all of the silliness that I have for now. I'd like to sent a huge shout-out to my amazing AU roomies Jess and Amanda for sending me some love! I was so happy to get the magazines and photos that you sent. Miss you both so much. And also to my Aunt Anne Marie, who continues to send the nicest cards and packages, and who is in Haiti right now.

Love and miss you all!

G-Force PCVs go to Gammou and get WAISTed

Greetings, Family and Friends!

So what has Fae Patton been up to this first month of 2012? A wholeeee lot.

New Years Eve

My friends and I kicked off the new year by going up to Saint-Louis, a pretty city on the water in the northern part of Senegal. It used to be the capital back when Senegal was a French colony. My friends and I took advantage of the holiday and got dressed up, ate out and went out to actual bars/clubs. Our group had a really fun NYE. We even met up with a group of Canadian surfers and hung out with them all night. Not too shabby for a bunch of dirty PCVs.

The highlight of the night for me was a conversation I had with one of our new Canadian buds, which went something like this...

Canadian surfer:  "So all of you girls, you're all G-Force?"

Me: (brief pause) "Huh? What do you mean?"

C.S.: "You said you're all G-Force?"

Me: "Sorry, I don't understand"

C.S.: "You're all here with G-Force, right?"

Me: (full minute pause) "Do you mean PEACE CORPS?"

C.S.: "Oooh yeah, Peace Corps. It's so loud in here I thought you said G-Force"

G-Force volunteers get really excited to get out of village

Dancing our way into 2012

So, naturally, now all of us call ourselves G-Force volunteers, because it just sounds so much better. We intended to go back to Linguere (where my regional office is) on January 2nd, but as luck would have it, all transportation in Senegal went on strike for 2 days. So we spent a bit longer in Saint-Louis than originally expected, but no harm no foul.

Gammou

Next up on the agenda was my village's annual Gammou. Technically, a Gammou is a religious "learning" meant to celebrate the birth of Mohammed. Unlike Christmas, which has a set date every year, Gammou changes. It's a different date each year, and different villages choose to celebrate it at different times. My village's Gammou was on January 7th.

Gammou's are a really big deal. If it's time for your village's Gammou, your entire family comes in from wherever they live. So my compound wasn't just receiving family members from Dakar and other parts of Senegal, but also family members from places overseas, like Spain. It was pure and utter insanity in my village the day before and the day of Gammou.

The actual "event" of Gammou is a religious learning that begins anytime between 1-4am. This means people "singing" aka screaming into microphones and very, very loud music all day leading up to the main event and then all night. Since I live directly next to our mosque, the entire day was comparable to being in the 1st row of a death-metal concert. And, my Gammou didn't even really get going in full throttle until around 3:30am. Needless to say, I didn't get a very good night's sleep that night.

LUCKILY, I didn't have to go through the insanity alone. My wonderful, wonderful friends Jenn, Justin, Aimee, Erin and Bonnie all came to my village and suffered through Gammou with me. They were great sports going around with me to greet people, being forced to wear head wraps by over-eager teenage boys who thought that they needed to be the Gammou "security," and helping cut and peel plenty of onions and potatoes.

Justin, me, Bonnie, Erin, Jenn, and Aimee in our day-time attire

The then for nighttime attire, just add a head-wrap!

I don't know what I'd do without my friends here! (For more Gammou pics, check out my Facebook!)

Summit, All-Vol and WAIST

The day after Gammou (and by that, I mean a few hours after the music had ended) my friends and I hopped on a bush taxi and got the heck out of there. A group of us went to Thies for our SeneGAD Summit, where volunteers from Senegal, Mali, the Gambia, and Guinea presented various gender-related projects. It was really cool to hear about what's going on in other countries.

Then for two days we had our All-Volunteer Conference, which was similar except there were presentations on all kinds of possible projects. Around this time, more volunteers started arriving in Thies. One night out at our local watering hole, I met a Cape Verde volunteer who's from Wildwood. We enjoyed chatting about our beloved Jersey Shore, trying to see if we knew people in common, and decided we should even write in to The Star & Wave to tell about our crazy meeting (who knows if/when that will actually happen, but it was fun to talk about doing it). So that was exciting. Shout out to Peter from Cape Verde!

Then it was off to Dakar for the big event... the West Africa International Softball Tournament... aka WAIST! Once a year, volunteers and expats from around West Africa come together in Dakar to battle it out in a softball tournament. Volunteers (especially Senegal PCVs) don't take it very seriously; but the expats do; so we're lumped into either the "social" category, or the "competitive" category. Clearly, my team (Team Linguere) was in the former.

And to make it even sillier, the "social" teams also pick costume themes. Our team did "Suits," so we all got suits made out of Senegalese fabrics. It was a lot of fun. Mine came out really big, so I kind of rocked an 80's look. Other teams from other regions had themes such as "South of the Border," (there was a taco, a piñata, a mariachi band, etc.) and "French," (a poodle, the Eiffel Tower, guys in speedos, Madeline, etc.)

Team Linguere getting down to business in our suits

WAIST was probably exactly what you'd imagine it is... an excuse for crazy PCVs to get together in weird costumes and gallivant all over Dakar. In the evenings we had events like a talent show, a PC prom and a dance party night. Unfortunately I managed to catch a stomach bug right as WAIST was beginning, so I wasn't able to partake in the events to the fullest of my ability, but I definitely enjoyed being a observer.

(I apologize for the lack of WAIST photos... they'll be more on Facebook later)

During WAIST, it's customary for volunteers to be placed in homestays with expats in Dakar. Some of my friends and I were lucky enough to be placed with a very kind Embassy employee named Catherine. She was unbelievably generous letting us stay in her home and we had a fabulous time. Thanks, Catherine!

So now we're making the trek back to site after what's felt like 100 years away. Team Linguere has a moringa tourney (explanation will follow in the next entry) in the works for mid-February, so I'll be back on then.

I miss you all and I hope everyone's doing well back home! I wish I could be home hanging out with all of you (particularly my new baby cuz, Emma Grace), and eating delicious US food (Girl Scout Cookies cough, cough) but I guess somebody's gotta save the world. No, but in all seriousness, I'm just gonna sit around tonight trying to download the latest episode of Glee and figure out how to make a song about the Moringa tree to the tune of "Waka, Waka" in Wolof. Oh, the life of a PCV.

Love and miss you all!

Patton Family Takes on Portugal

Hello, family and friends! I hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas/great holiday season. My Christmas vacation has been amazing.

I flew out of Dakar in the wee hours of the 22nd and arrived in Lisbon around 7am. I was so excited to see my parents and brother! I was descending an escalator near baggage claim when I spotted my family, and my mom had her IPad open and ready to document our reunion. It was so great to see them again!

Our first day was spent catching up, resting and exploring our area. We rented a flat in the Chiado part of Lisbon from an apartment rentals by owner site. For our first dinner we enjoyed traditional Portuguese paella, prawns and SANGRIA!

On our second day, we walked around Lisbon. We trekked up to Castle Sao Jorge, a Moorish castle overlooking the city. My dad, James and I climbed up the walls and checked out the view while Mom hung out down below and took photos (which became a recurring theme throughout the entire trip). I also ran into a few Senegalese guys selling jewelry on the street. My parents got a kick out of me speaking Wolof with them.

Reunited!

Hanging out at Castle Sao Jorge

Pretty Lisbon

Mom on her IPad... she's obsessed.

Castle at night

Castle at night

Castle at night

James being a GQ model

Lisbon nightlife

We took a few awesome day-trips. One place we loved was called Sintra, which was the home of a few really cool palaces, and possibly the best meal I've ever had (shrimp in a creamy lobster sauce and the best sangria ever- aside from Doreen Higgins' famous recipe). We liked Sintra so much that after our first day there we decided to go back again the following day. And yes, I did force my family to go back to the same restaurant the next day so I could eat the same lunch two days in a row. Yum!

Moorish castle

Pena palace

James at a Hobbit's door

Just chilling in the palace

Mom and Dad being silly

Hanging out in the castle walls

Loving the BEST MEAL EVER!!

 Today was my last full day with the family, and we had a great day. We decided to do a private tour to go see a bunch of sites that we were interested in seeing. Our driver/tour guide was so kind, helpful, and easygoing. If anyone's planning a Portugal trip and needs a recommendation, let us know; because he was awesome. Our first stop of the day was in Fatima, a city famous for apparitions of the Virgin Mary seen by three children in 1917. I was kind of expecting a grotto-like area that still looked like what it would have been like back then, but the area now has a huge cathedral and a small chapel where the apparitions took place. We saw people crawling on their knees around the chapel as part of a pilgrimage. We were told that this time of year is quiet there, but that it's packed in the summer. I'm glad that we were able to see it.

Cathedral

Fatima cross

After Fatima, we went to Nazare, a beautiful beach town. Huge cliffs overlooked the water, which had killer waves and was full of surfers. Then we headed to Obidos, a walled city decked out like a Christmas village. Obidos was charming and has some delicious chocolate for sale. I bumped into another Senegalese guy selling stuff on the street and chatted with him. It turns out that he met my friend Sarah, another PCV from my region, the day before. Small world!

Cliffs at Nazare

Awesome waves

Such big waves!

Two Patton beach bums

F & J

Obidos

Now I'm getting my act together to fly out tomorrow night. I'm hoping for one final amazing meal tomorrow, then it's New Year's Eve time! My friends and I are planning on heading up to Saint Louis, in the northwest part of Senegal. I'll let you all know how my first Senegalese New Year's turns out. All in all, my vacation was amazing. It was so nice to hang out with my family and it was so, so good for my mental health to get out of Senegal for a bit. And I was able to skype with a lot of my friends and family back home, which made my Christmas even better!

I was hoping that while I had this super-fast European wi-fi that I was hear the good news that my newest baby cousin arrived, but no such luck. Get a move on, Aunt Cindy! I'm dying here!

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MER!!! So glad I was able to talk to you the other day. Hope your b-day is amazing!!

Happy 2012, Everyone!! Love you all!

So I Guess I Dropped Off the Face of the Earth for Three Months...

So I need to apologize for the unbelievably long delay since my last entry. I'm sure by this point many of you have given up on me, but I promise I'm alive! Our internet modem in Linguere has been broken since before Halloween, and we still haven't gotten a new one yet. What can ya do? It's Africa.

October-

            I'll start way back in October, where I left off since last time. October was a busy month for Fae Patton/Mariama Diaw. I was just about  to leave for Thies for a Health/Environmental Education Summit, when the Diaw household welcomed a new member, baby Mariama! These photos are from the day she was born.

A few hours old

My baby!

            Unfortunately I couldn't skip my summit, so I had to miss her ngenti (Muslim baptism a week after the birth). I went to Thies for a few days and learned about possible future projects, best practice guides for existing projects and, most importantly, I ate like I'd never eaten before. One memorable evening the seven member of Team Djolof (the people from my region) who were in attendance went to Thies' fanciest restaurant and shared seven different entrees. Probably doesn't sound like much, but it was AMAZING!

            By that point it was October 27th, and I had to be back in Thies on November 1st for a SeneGAD (our gender and development initiative) training. So instead of going back to site in that short time (which, if you understood travelling in Senegal, you'd know that that would have been insane), I decided I might as well live it up a little. I went to visit some of my buddies in one of the other regions, Kaolack. I visited my friend Aimee's village, which speaks Seereer, another of Senegal's many local languages.

            For just a second, let me indulge myself by talking about the different regions of Senegal. As I've mentioned many times, my region is dry, sandy, desert-y and full of camels. Kaolack was green, not as unbearably hot, and was full of massive pigs. They say the grass is always greener on the other side, and whoever first said that was clearly living in the Djolof region of Senegal. Just kidding though, I wouldn't trade my desert for anything.

            So after spending a few days being jealous of Kaolack, I went down to yet another region, Tambacounda, to celebrate the age-old American holiday of Halloween. Some of my friends and I went as Nice Cream girls. Nice Cream is THE ice cream shop in Dakar; famous among PCVs and any expats. The girls behind the counter wear colorful aprons and hats with ice cream on them. Really not the most exciting costume, but hey- I'm in Africa. We had a grand old time at the party, but I'll spare you photos because we all look like sweaty messes.

November-

            Then I did a quick trip back to Thies for a GAD training, and then finally it was back to site for the biggest Muslim holiday of all, Tabaski! On the biggest religious holiday of all I did not expect to find myself participating in a mass murder, but that's exactly what I ended up doing. We slaughtered EIGHT sheep in my compound. Though it may seem weird, it was kind of fun and I actually took a lot of pictures. Again, I'll spare you the photos, but here are some of the non-bloody ones...

The women watching the killing spree

My brother Ada getting this poor soul ready

About to begin!

Baby Mariama in a the Tabaski dress I bought her

Little sisters looking great

Me with my turrando (namesake) 

My "beautiful" braids that hurt and itched a lot

After I took the braids out. I know I look great.

            After two days of eating way, way, way too much meat (especially for a girl who never ate red meat before setting foot on Senegalese soil), I managed to escape to Linguere for some vegetarian meals. All of us Linguerians came together to welcome our two newbies, Bonnie and Erin, into the family! I'm very excited to have two new members on the team, and I know that these two are going to fit in great.

            So then after about a week in-village, I went into Linguere to prep for a pre-Thanksgiving bike trip! A few of us from my region planned on heading "up north" for Thanksgiving, where the PCVs in the northernmost region in Senegal host a party. Some of us crazy kiddos decided it would be fun to try biking halfway there. And it was fun until it wasn't anymore. So instead of getting all the way to our desired destination via bike, we made it as far as we could and then took a bush taxi the rest of the way.

At least the view is pretty!

Bush taxi stuck in the sand. Of course.

Dirty, tired, and sore. But we're about to eat Thanksgiving dinner!

            Getting to Thanksgiving was quite the adventure, and the party up North did not disappoint. It was no Patton/Robinson Thanksgiving, but we did have turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole! (my fave), biscuits, and every kind of pie imaginable. So even though I was sweating my butt off and I wasn't with my family and friends, it was still a lovely holiday.

           

December-

            After Thanksgiving, it was back to village to get going on work. One project that I'm very excited to work on is a correspondence program between children in my village and students in the US. I'm currently working on a letter program with some elementary schoolers at Eleanor Roosevelt Elem in my hometown, and a French class at Pennsbury High School. Here's a big shout out to Mrs. Royal and her students and Mlle. Kiryluk and her French kids! I'm so sorry that everything is taking me so long here, but the school system in Senegal is slow, slow, slow. As is everything here.

            I also got going on a garden at my village's elementary school, went to a garden training that my friends Justin and Abby were doing, and witnessed a huge fire in my village (everything was fine, they set it themselves to clean up hay). Lots of excitement in my life. And my family also welcomed a new horse, which they decided to name it James, after my brother... except they spell it "Djims" haha.

"Djims" aka James

Jamesy Boy

            And right before I came into Linguere to write you all this beautiful blog entry, I went to visit my bff Jenn for her village's Gammou, which is a religious event. It was actually really fun, even though they had the speakers cranked up maybe 200x too loud for my listening pleasure.

            So that's what's going on in my world. I've been trying to watch Christmas movies to get into the spirit, but it's kind of difficult when you're sweating, surrounded by sand and camels, and no one else around you celebrates Christmas. But luckily I'm not going to be spending Christmas alone. I'm flying out in a few days to Lisbon to see my parents and brother!!! I'm so unbelievably excited! I can't wait to see my parents and James. Can't wait to eat seafood and sample the delicious wine and Port and sangria. Can't wait to walk down a street and not have every single person scream out "toubab," ask me if I have a husband, try to charge me 4x the normal amount for things, and criticize my Wolof. Can't wait to speak English with my family. Can't wait to be called by my actual given name. So, basically, I'm really excited.

            Right now I'm packing, baking brownies for my buddies here, and getting all of my stuff in order. Before I leave, I need to send a huge thank you to my Aunt Anne Marie, Kathy Royal's classes, the Hayner family, the Park family, and my parents for the wonderful and generous packages and gifts that I've received lately. You're all so kind!

Happy Holidays, everyone!!!!