Fearless

So it begins.

I passed my final language exam, went to the beach, attended the swearing-in ceremony and am now sitting in the regional house in Dakar waiting to move into my family on Tuesday, the 13th.  There's quite a lot to reflect on, so let me pick up where I left off in my last post.

We said good-bye to our host families and host towns almost a week ago now.  We had a party in Thies to celebrate their commitment and our making it through the homestay.  My good-bye, like most others I've had, was a fairly anti-climactic one.  There was no exchanging of large gifts or displays of affection.  However, I do have a profound gratitude for all the help that the Amar family and Bayax in general gave me during my two months there.  Despite my last name changing to Diop in Dakar, I will always be an Amar in Bayax.

The morning of the family party, however, we had serious business to attend to: the language exam.  In Peace Corps, their testing of the language is purely functional meaning that they don't care about grammar or the richness of your vocabulary.  They care only about how well you can understand what is said to you and how well you can express your own needs and ideas.  The test consists solely of a conversation, typically 15-25 minutes, in the target language.  The tester will chat, ask questions, and give a scenario of varying complexity depending on how well your know the language.  Trainees need to achieve a certain level of mastery in order to swear in, so there's a fair amount of pressure on that one conversation.  Luckily, I achieved that level and then some.

After our language exam, we went to Popenguine which is possibly the finest beach town in Senegal.  The conditions, by American standards, rough.  2 houses for 55 people.  By our Senegalese standards, though, it was a paradise.  The water and electricity worked (most of the time), there was good food nearby at a variety of price levels, and there were spectacular views to be viewed.  I'll give you a couple examples of some pictures that one of my colleagues took here: Picture 1 and Picture 2.  There was also a fancy restaurant right next door to my house that I went to with a few of the training staff our second night there.  It was fairly expensive by Senegalese standards, but it was well worth the price as it was as good as any meal I've gotten at a restaurant regardless of the country.  After 2 days and 2 nights in Popenguine, it was time to head back to Thies and then Dakar the next day for swearing-in.

The ceremony itself was well done and concise.  The country director of Peace Corps spoke a little, then the US Ambassador, then a Senegalese dignitary, then a few trainees in 4 separate local languages.  It could have easily been a several hour affair, but we were done within 2.  Afterwards, there was a reception at the Ambassador's residence which was fancy to say the least.  We, the trainees, stuffed ourselves together one last time and we all went back to Thies for final preparations and departure for sites.  All except for me who stayed behind in Dakar and was driven to the Peace Corps house to wait until Tuesday for the install team to arrive.

Since Friday evening, I've been left to fend for myself in Dakar.  So far, it's been an experience filled with lots of defeats and minor victories.  On Saturday (yesterday), I spent all day looking for the bank.  After several hours and 3 separate tries, I found a bank that I could use (not the one I was looking for) and was able to withdraw enough money to get me through the next few weeks.  Even though it took me all day to do a fairly normal activity, I still considered the day a success for 2 reasons.  First, I found a bank and did what I needed to do.  Second, I was able to find my way home despite getting completely lost on my first try.  I took a wrong turn and was in a completely unknown area, but I was able to use a variety of clues to figure it out, find a landmark I knew, and find my way home.  This was all repeated again today when I wanted to go to Ebbets Field to play ultimate frisbee with a group of Americans who have weekly games over there.  I was with a fellow PCV from Thies, so we took a taxi there which cost 750 each.  On the way back, though, she had to go back to Thies, so I was left on my own to get home and I challenged myself to do it without taking a taxi.  I walked for a bit, keeping in mind what direction I was going and in which direction my destination was.  Eventually, I found a large road with buses on it that were going in a good direction, so I hopped on one.  I paid for the ride and began looking for clues.  Where did people tell the ticket taker they were going?  What streets and landmarks are we passing?  What direction are we going in?  I eventually concluded that we must be passing by the area that the Peace Corps National Office is located in and I know how to get to the regional house from the office.  Sure enough, we passed by the office, so I got out, got on another bus, and arrived home shortly afterwards.  It wasn't the most efficient route, but I got home safely without taking a taxi.  All and all, even with an elongated route, the bus route was a third of what a taxi would have costed.  These are the things that a Dakar volunteer has to do.  I'm on a salary of less than $500 per month in a big city.  I can't afford to take taxis unless I have 1 or 2 people to split the cost with, even then, only occasionally.  I can't afford to eat lunch at the restaurant that seems more comfortable and familiar to me at around $3 per plate.  I have to eat where the locals eat in the tin shack with a tarp roof that's just two ladies selling bowls of rice and fish (basically the national dish) for $1 a pop or with my family, of course.  I've gotten so used to this country, though, (the good and bad parts of it) that I would go to the tin shack even if I had the money.  There's just so much more personality there.  Also, the food's better.  Overall, the theme here is that I can't be afraid.  I can't be afraid to get lost because it will happen anyway.  I can't be afraid to try new things, even if they don't look like I think they should, because I can't afford not to.  I can't be afraid to stare down a city of 2 million people in a foreign country in (mostly) a language I started learning 2 months ago and take it on because that's my job now.


Well, this turned into a very long post, so congrats to the two of you who made it all the way down here.  Fortunately, there's still more to come about my triumphs and defeats in my attempt to learn and conquer Dakar, so stay tuned.  Thank you for reading!