I can't tell you her name just yet, but my aunt had a baby girl last weekend. They wait a wek before naming babies, and apparently the dad gets to name them. This is a stupid rule in this case because the mother is a second wife and her husband is hardly around. They actually live in two different towns usually. I get to go to St. Louis (in Senegal, the second largest city) for the second baptism. I am super super excited. Last night I got to hold her for probably 30 minutes... highlight of my life. She'll probably be named Aminata, like the majority of the women in the family, after Grandma. The good thing is that it can be shortened in several ways: Ami, Amina, Adja (somehow) but I haven't heard Nata. Probably for reason.
This weekend I have the vague assignment of checking out the tourism industry in a rural ecovillage. This basically means that I am going on a long weekend, and it's paid for! I'm going with one other girl from the group. The downside is that I am missing my host mom's coming home party, which is apparently even bigger than the going away party for the pilgrimage. I can't imagine her caring too much, as she'll be seeing everyone and their mother over the next few days and I myself don't REALLY mind avoiding the huge group and endless eating. I'll get to do that next weekend, which is enough for moi.
Other than that, things are going along. This week I had ALL 3 classes I was supposed to have, which is always a good but unforunately not usual thing. I started a project at a local clinic/public health organization, which is interesting, but it seems like all of my work is going to be jammed into the last 2 months. So if I don't write, that's why. Ask any questions burning in your mind. Jamm out. (jamm=peace)
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Killing Goats and Christmas Craziness
Hello all...It's been a while. Thank you for your Christmas letters and packages...they are making me feel so loved and I really appreciate it.
Christmas was much better than I expected it would be. We were walking around Ziguinchor a few days before when a woman called us into her house. Somehow we were adopted into their family, that just happened to be Catholic, and spent Christmas eve and Christmas with them. They were the most welcoming family I have ever randomly met, and we felt very comfortable there. There were people of all ages, like most big Senegalese families, so feeding a few extra mouths wasn't a huge deal. We made sure to bring dessert though, and despite our wishes, we sat at the table and ate with a bunch of the men, since we were guests. The women who made the food sat around the bowl somewhere else. NOT fair, but not our place to decide. The Grandma of the family was definitely in charge, despite the fact that she was in a wheelchair and couldn't see very well. She was very spunky and kept offering us more wine and told us we had to dance. So we all danced... a lot.
Coming home from our long and otherwise uneventful but relaxing vacation was nice. The 31st was the day of goat-killing, which I watched all of except for the actual throat-cutting. The disassemblage was fascinating, and I was amazed to be eating grilled liver while the rest of the body was still being cut up and divided into the appropriate places. I don't know if I can handle sheep again, and I am really looking forward to being a vegetarian again when I get home, haha. Despite the disturbing side of it, I enjoyed the holiday. It's not very often that you get to see the entire process of how meat gets into your hands. And we got to get dressed up in our boubous and visit the neighbors. I'm not very good at that type of thing...I can get dressed up but they visit to chit chat in Wolof, and seeing as I don't really like chit chat in English, I was a silent guest. I think holidays here are mostly about getting dressed up and seeing as many people as possible. The eating is important too, but only after the first two objectives.
I hope you all had a good holiday! I will be putting up pictures eventually, but for the moment I'm at a stand still on that beause I have a lot of other work to do online. My apologies.
Christmas was much better than I expected it would be. We were walking around Ziguinchor a few days before when a woman called us into her house. Somehow we were adopted into their family, that just happened to be Catholic, and spent Christmas eve and Christmas with them. They were the most welcoming family I have ever randomly met, and we felt very comfortable there. There were people of all ages, like most big Senegalese families, so feeding a few extra mouths wasn't a huge deal. We made sure to bring dessert though, and despite our wishes, we sat at the table and ate with a bunch of the men, since we were guests. The women who made the food sat around the bowl somewhere else. NOT fair, but not our place to decide. The Grandma of the family was definitely in charge, despite the fact that she was in a wheelchair and couldn't see very well. She was very spunky and kept offering us more wine and told us we had to dance. So we all danced... a lot.
Coming home from our long and otherwise uneventful but relaxing vacation was nice. The 31st was the day of goat-killing, which I watched all of except for the actual throat-cutting. The disassemblage was fascinating, and I was amazed to be eating grilled liver while the rest of the body was still being cut up and divided into the appropriate places. I don't know if I can handle sheep again, and I am really looking forward to being a vegetarian again when I get home, haha. Despite the disturbing side of it, I enjoyed the holiday. It's not very often that you get to see the entire process of how meat gets into your hands. And we got to get dressed up in our boubous and visit the neighbors. I'm not very good at that type of thing...I can get dressed up but they visit to chit chat in Wolof, and seeing as I don't really like chit chat in English, I was a silent guest. I think holidays here are mostly about getting dressed up and seeing as many people as possible. The eating is important too, but only after the first two objectives.
I hope you all had a good holiday! I will be putting up pictures eventually, but for the moment I'm at a stand still on that beause I have a lot of other work to do online. My apologies.
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