27 Months

Top 10 Best Parts of My Job

2007-10-22T04:56:00.000-07:00

Its month fourteen, and I think my blog needs more (anything is more than nothing) top 10 lists. Here goes.

10.Getting to walk to work
9. Never having to set my alarm clock
8. Neving having to wear close-toed shoes.
7. Daily after lunch naps
6. Reporting to my boss once every three months.
5. Drinking tea counts as work.
4. Paid language training.
3. Lots of really cute little kids.
2. People (mostly) really appreciate it.
1. Being famous.

Little Kid Wrestling

2007-09-12T13:45:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXix57t91Kw

Trainings and Weddings...

2007-09-12T11:11:00.000-07:00

Trainings and Weddings

DAKAR GOREE!

2007-09-12T11:01:00.000-07:00

Who: Five peace corps volunteers, 650 total participants, tons of spectators
What: A 5km open water swimming race
When: Just after noon until the late afternoon, Sunday September 9, 2007
Why: Braving huge waves, swimming long distances without training, and getting lost in a nearly buoy-less course is a good time (ie I love random feats of athleticism)
Where: Plage Voile d'Or, Bel Air, Dakar to Goree Island, Senegal

The Photos to prove it:

Dakar Goree

Enjoy the Sénégalese Diet

2007-09-05T05:27:00.000-07:00

For those who wish to live a day in the life of Megan aka Aminata, here is her daily diet:

9am Breakfast
1/3 french baguette with butter
1 cup coffee, made with powdered milk, nescafe and sugar

2pm Lunch
chebu gen bu honk (rice and fish in red sauce)

Ingredients:
rice
fish (whole)
cabbage, carrot, potatoes, onion, eggplant
lemon
oil
small can tomato paste
garlic, salt, parsley, dried hot pepper, white bissap (if available)

Crush garlic, parsley, salt, pepper, and dried hot pepper.
Rinse fish and stuff with above mixture.
Heat oil in saucepan. Add chopped onions and salt. Cook till onion lightly brown.
Mix tomato paste with 1/2 cup water and add along with fish. Let simmer 5 minutes.
Add 6 cups water and vegetables, peeled and chopped into large pieces. Cook for one hour. Remove vegetables, fish and a little oily broth.
Use the remaining broth to cook the rice.
Serve and enjoy!

3pm Strong Sugared Green Tea

9pm Dinner (this meal varies but the these are the two favorites)
thiakry ie yogurt and a cereal made from millet (I've yet to find a recipe, the closest thing in America is grape nuts I think)
or
spaghetti with tomato sauce and fried eggs

Bon appetit!

Book I've read in the last year in Sénégal

2007-09-05T04:50:00.000-07:00

1. Zadie Smith, On Beauty
2. Tracy Kidder, Mountains Beyond Mountains
3. Janet Fitch, White Oleander
4. Graham Greene, Our Man in Havana
5. Jhumpa Lahira, Interpreter of Maladies
6. Carol Shields, The Stone Diaries
7. Louise Erdrich, The Last Report on the Miracles At Little No Horse
8. Abraham Verghese, My Own Country
9. Nevil Shute, A Town Like Alice
10. Charlotte Bronte, Vilette
11. Graham Greene, The Heart of the Matter
12. Joseph Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
13. Joseph Stigitz, Making Globalization Work
14. Ray Bradbury, Farenheit 451
15. Max and Charlotte Alth, Wells and Septic Systems
16. Lonely Planet, The Gambia and Senegal
17. Peace Corps, Culture Matters
18. French Grammar
19. La californie, edition francaise
20. John Jeavons and Carol Cox, The Sustainable Vegetable Garden
21. Kiko Denzer, How to Build Your Own Earth Oven
22. David Werner, Where There is No Doctor
23. V.S. Naipaul, A Bend in the River

Summer Activities...

2007-08-28T06:52:00.000-07:00

Package Wish List

2007-08-25T06:11:00.000-07:00

Top 10 Things you can't get in Sénégal that I love to recieve magically in my PO Box:

10. Magazines
9. Energy Bars
8. Powdered Juice/Sport Drink Mixes
7. Chocolate, hot chocolate or really any chocolate related product
6. Nice Soap or really any nice smelly products
5. Random food products that require only adding hot water and no use of an oven
4. Pens or art supplies
3. Burned discs of photos or music or movies (I now have my computer)
2. Surprises
1. Letters in English

Ross Béthio now has Internet!

2007-08-25T06:06:00.000-07:00

I feel like we've jumped forward here hundreds of years. Although I'm not sure how many other people here in my corner of the world feel the same way. All the sudden I have access to nearly unlimited not-that-slow internet. We'll see how this changes my experience in the coming months, and if it all improves my failure up-until-now blog attempt. The entire world is now at my figure tips. Bu the same question remains, why do very few of the people with whom I live have a very limited ability to acess the same world?

More pics

2007-05-20T05:54:00.000-07:00

America and Back

My Mom's Griot

2007-03-16T15:10:00.001-07:00

Recent fun

2007-03-16T14:16:00.000-07:00

IST to America

New Photos

2007-03-16T14:07:00.001-07:00

Newly found photos of my first days at site...

First Photos

2007-02-08T15:58:00.001-08:00

Tabaski

2007-02-08T15:55:00.000-08:00

Senegal To IST

2007-02-08T15:26:00.000-08:00

I've been in Peace Corps nearly four months now and if I don't start blogging regularly I never will. But where to start?!

I am a Peace Corps volunteer in a small town in Senegal, West Africa called Ross Bethio. The town has 10000 people, mostly rice farmers as well as miscellaneous businessmen. We are just 50km east of St. Louis, a big city on the Atlantic Ocean, and just about 20km south of the Senegal River and Mauritanian Border. If you want to Google Earth me, I am at about 16 degrees latitude, 16 degrees longitude. I am in the Small Enterprise Development Program, and my job is to teach business skills to organizations and entrepreneurs hoping to start, expand or better manage their businesses.

The Small Enterprise Development Program Goals

2007-01-13T03:03:00.000-08:00

1. Improve the organizational and business management skills of entrepreneurs and organizations.

2. Develop sustainable linkages between entrepreneurs and/or associations and markets, human resources, information technology and financial services.

3. Improve business management and information technology skills of women and youth.

4. Help communities develop ecotourism activities to generate revenue and conserve the environment.

The Peace Corps Mission

2007-01-13T03:00:00.000-08:00

1. To help the people of interested countries in meeting their needs for trained men and women.

2. To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.

3. To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

Peace Corps Timeline

2006-09-10T18:40:00.000-07:00

People often have questions about the Peace Corps application, training and service process, especially those interested in serving themselves. Here is a timeline of my application.

October 2005: I submitted the online application
December 2005: Went to NY for an interview, became an nominee and began the medical clearance process.
March 2006: Granted medical clearance.
May 2006: Received invitation to serve in Senegal, accepted two weeks later.
18 September 2006: Staging in Philadelphia
20 September 2006: Fly to Senegal, begin Pre-Service Training in Thies, Senegal
17 November 2006: Sworn in as Volunteer, move to my site, Ross Bethio
1 February 2007: In service Training
21 February 2007 - November 2008: Service in Senegal!

My First Post

2006-08-08T20:37:00.000-07:00

Just six weeks left until I leave for Peace Corps Staging in Philadelphia before heading to Senegal. I've decided to try and blog during my time to share my experiences with my family, friends and anyone else interested in reading my random thoughts.

I'm currently far away from West Africa, sitting in an internet cafe in Davis, CA with my dear friend and experienced blogger Kiyomi. So here are a few pictures of what I've been up to over the last weeks - triathloning! Thanks for all the good time to fellow participants. Keep checking over the coming weeks for more postings as my departure approaches!