Cuevana 3 Gran Showman
3 years ago
Monday, June 22, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
i'm losing a turf war...(NOT for the squeamish)
June 17, 2009
Hola!
I've been gone for a month...haven't been here at all, and it took precisely 2 nights back with my host family before my giant spider friend realized i was home and came to say hello. Yesterday i found him waiting for me in my room when i woke up in the morning, just chilling there, like an old friend making himself completely at home, and this morning he was making his angry face at me through my mosquito netting at 6 am...waving his hairy legs all around and everything. My famiy has caught on to my "frozen with fear" look and when i stop moving and point they usually come and remove the source of my distress for me. Thats wonderful, don't get me wrong, but they never kill it, they just flick it away, and i'm convinced its always the same guy. His intimidation tactics are working, i'm moving out very soon and into an empty house that a COSing volunteer is vacating, but i have 6 more nights with this creepy crawly popping up all over the place. My dilemma is this, one well placed shoe or book and hes history but my host family keeps saying he won't do anything and they never kill him, so should i? can i justify killing something that apparently means me no harm? I mean he's big enough to qualify as more animal then insect and i wouldn't just kill a mouse or a dog if it intimidated me but did me no harm...but if he follows me to the new house hes dead.
Recent encounters have bolstered my courage enough to get a good photo so that i can share with you this handsome fellow...that shoe is a size 9. He's about the size of a mouse.
cheers,
shelby
ps. becky/merry...why are you reading this? i put that warning in the subject line just for you two!
Hola!
I've been gone for a month...haven't been here at all, and it took precisely 2 nights back with my host family before my giant spider friend realized i was home and came to say hello. Yesterday i found him waiting for me in my room when i woke up in the morning, just chilling there, like an old friend making himself completely at home, and this morning he was making his angry face at me through my mosquito netting at 6 am...waving his hairy legs all around and everything. My famiy has caught on to my "frozen with fear" look and when i stop moving and point they usually come and remove the source of my distress for me. Thats wonderful, don't get me wrong, but they never kill it, they just flick it away, and i'm convinced its always the same guy. His intimidation tactics are working, i'm moving out very soon and into an empty house that a COSing volunteer is vacating, but i have 6 more nights with this creepy crawly popping up all over the place. My dilemma is this, one well placed shoe or book and hes history but my host family keeps saying he won't do anything and they never kill him, so should i? can i justify killing something that apparently means me no harm? I mean he's big enough to qualify as more animal then insect and i wouldn't just kill a mouse or a dog if it intimidated me but did me no harm...but if he follows me to the new house hes dead.
Recent encounters have bolstered my courage enough to get a good photo so that i can share with you this handsome fellow...that shoe is a size 9. He's about the size of a mouse.
cheers,
shelby
ps. becky/merry...why are you reading this? i put that warning in the subject line just for you two!
home smelly home
june 15, 2009
Hello Everyone !
Just wanted to drop a quick note to let you all know that after 35 hours in planes and airports, 27 hours in taxis and garages, and a few minutes on a boat, I am finally back at site, safe and sound! I loved seeing everyone that I got to see, and those of you that I missed I’m quite sad to have missed you but when I come home for good I’ll have time to make the rounds and actually see everyone! Grandma, I’m so sorry I didn’t make it out to see you again, I really wanted to but towards then end I got quite stretched for time. Eleanor, I’m so sorry I missed you as well, again, time got away from me. Birdi, I really wanted to make it out there on my last weekend but with my brother coming home and other visitors coming and going I knew I didn’t have the time to make this trip, I’m sorry I missed you this time but I’m sure I’ll see you first thing when I’m back for good!
Dad, Mom, Cory: You guys mean the world to me! You made this trip so amazing for me it was incredibly difficult for me just to come back. I love you guys so much; I don’t know what I would do without you!
Save Sidi Staff: I returned to site to find my project team well into the study phase of the project with lots of new information for me. We have a new location and within that neighborhood have assessed the need for our center, determining that over 50% of the children are moderately malnourished and another 10% are severe (probably beyond the scope of the project, these children should be hospitalized). I have begun the proposal and funding application for Peace Corps partnerships funding, which I will send a copy of to you when it is complete along with other updates and pertinent information.
See you all again in a year! Love and hugs,
Shelby
Hello Everyone !
Just wanted to drop a quick note to let you all know that after 35 hours in planes and airports, 27 hours in taxis and garages, and a few minutes on a boat, I am finally back at site, safe and sound! I loved seeing everyone that I got to see, and those of you that I missed I’m quite sad to have missed you but when I come home for good I’ll have time to make the rounds and actually see everyone! Grandma, I’m so sorry I didn’t make it out to see you again, I really wanted to but towards then end I got quite stretched for time. Eleanor, I’m so sorry I missed you as well, again, time got away from me. Birdi, I really wanted to make it out there on my last weekend but with my brother coming home and other visitors coming and going I knew I didn’t have the time to make this trip, I’m sorry I missed you this time but I’m sure I’ll see you first thing when I’m back for good!
Dad, Mom, Cory: You guys mean the world to me! You made this trip so amazing for me it was incredibly difficult for me just to come back. I love you guys so much; I don’t know what I would do without you!
Save Sidi Staff: I returned to site to find my project team well into the study phase of the project with lots of new information for me. We have a new location and within that neighborhood have assessed the need for our center, determining that over 50% of the children are moderately malnourished and another 10% are severe (probably beyond the scope of the project, these children should be hospitalized). I have begun the proposal and funding application for Peace Corps partnerships funding, which I will send a copy of to you when it is complete along with other updates and pertinent information.
See you all again in a year! Love and hugs,
Shelby
Monday, May 4, 2009
whats worse than a dead rat?
May 4th, 2009
Hey-lo!
Hows everybody doing today? lovely i hope? Well i figured its been long enough since I've sent you all an update and though I have been busy with actual work (shocking i know) I have managed to have some rather more interesting experiences of late, one of which i would like to share...in case the creepy thing gets its way and eats me in my sleep. (sorry mom, dad, and cory, I know you've already heard this story)
Whats worse than a dead rat? Why a giant (alive) spider of course! About a week ago I was seated in my room on my mattela (foamy mattress thingy) minding my own business, writing in my journal, when from the ceiling beam above drops the biggest gosh darn freaking spider i have ever seen in my whole existence (not counting on tv). I knew they were here, i've heard tales of them, but this is the first i have seen and it drops from the ceiling and runs FAST around in circles next to me and then off the edge of the mattela and into my heap of junk that i call my room (due to a recent losing battle with clothes munching termites everything i own was at the time piled sloppily in the center of the room to keep those hungry little monsters out of it). That was my first mistake, in keeping my room so messy i had inadvertently created an ideal giant spider playground for him to dance and frolic in all the live long day and i would never be able to find him.
WELL i wasn't about to just leave him in there! I would be afraid forever if i did so (go me!) i decided this was one of those times in your life when you can face your fear and become a stronger person and yadda yadda yadda...so after i overcame my paralysis from fear i slunked back into my room and prepared to tackle my mild arachniphobia head on, and there he was, clinging to the side of my bath bucket, waving his big long legs at me as if to see come and get me if you dare! Paralyzed once again with fear, i stood in the doorway and tried to plan my next move. Eventually he got bored taunting me and retreated farther back into the room, taking up a hiding place under my mosquito net. Finally able to move again, i shook out each of my possessions one at a time and piled them on the other side of the room until all that was left was the mosquito net. Then it was show down time....i poked the net, nothing. i shook it a little, nothing. i shook it alot, nothing. i lifted it up and dropped it (its a tent style thing, like a little mesh one man tent), still nothing. I lifted it, turned it, dragged it, finangled it sideways, and dropped it and there he was, waving his little front legs in the air, staring at me with that weird little face of his...
so i ran away, figured that was enough fear facing for one day, i went and got my host sister (who might i add is terrified of little toads...) and she calmly scraped him onto a piece of paper with a flip flop and tossed him outside.
i knew he'd be back though...knew it all along. so i shouldn't have been surprised when i woke up the next morning outside in my mosquito net to find him standing on top of it, right over my face, staring down at me. OH IT'S ON NOW!
I flicked him off, hyperventilated for 15 to 20 minutes, and then went on with my normal day. 2 days later i had almost forgotten the whole thing (mistake number two...underestimated the sneaky little creep) and at 10ish one night i went in my room to start dragging my bed and net outside, i flicked on the light, and there he was. he scurried under my net again and stayed there...this time i got my host brother, who said he was harmless, laughed at me for my silly fear (he is afraid of hedgehogs), and using a piece of paper, picked the little guy up like one might use a paper towel to wipe up dog poo, carried him outside, and promised to put him far far away.
Nightmare over right?.....RIGHT?
WRONG. Last night i was sitting outside on my mattela, chatting pleasantly with my neighbor Amadou when the relentless monster runs right down the post next to Amadou and heads straight for me, much to my embarrassment i jumped up faster than i've ever moved in my life and squeeled like a little girl while the creature ran over my foot, saw all my reinforcements, and changed course off towards a tree to regroup and make plans for a later attack. To Amadou's credit, he jumped a little too, right before he and everyone else laughed at my macho display of bravado in the face of extreme danger.
yes...so now i live in fear of his next move. wish me luck!
On a lighter note, i'm going to be taking a little trip in a few days, leaving the beginning of next week for senegal to take a little break. I'll be out of mauritel service but if you want to reach me (mom, dad, cory...) you can try my orange number. which i forgot, but i'll give it to you later!
Love you all,
Shelby
Hey-lo!
Hows everybody doing today? lovely i hope? Well i figured its been long enough since I've sent you all an update and though I have been busy with actual work (shocking i know) I have managed to have some rather more interesting experiences of late, one of which i would like to share...in case the creepy thing gets its way and eats me in my sleep. (sorry mom, dad, and cory, I know you've already heard this story)
Whats worse than a dead rat? Why a giant (alive) spider of course! About a week ago I was seated in my room on my mattela (foamy mattress thingy) minding my own business, writing in my journal, when from the ceiling beam above drops the biggest gosh darn freaking spider i have ever seen in my whole existence (not counting on tv). I knew they were here, i've heard tales of them, but this is the first i have seen and it drops from the ceiling and runs FAST around in circles next to me and then off the edge of the mattela and into my heap of junk that i call my room (due to a recent losing battle with clothes munching termites everything i own was at the time piled sloppily in the center of the room to keep those hungry little monsters out of it). That was my first mistake, in keeping my room so messy i had inadvertently created an ideal giant spider playground for him to dance and frolic in all the live long day and i would never be able to find him.
WELL i wasn't about to just leave him in there! I would be afraid forever if i did so (go me!) i decided this was one of those times in your life when you can face your fear and become a stronger person and yadda yadda yadda...so after i overcame my paralysis from fear i slunked back into my room and prepared to tackle my mild arachniphobia head on, and there he was, clinging to the side of my bath bucket, waving his big long legs at me as if to see come and get me if you dare! Paralyzed once again with fear, i stood in the doorway and tried to plan my next move. Eventually he got bored taunting me and retreated farther back into the room, taking up a hiding place under my mosquito net. Finally able to move again, i shook out each of my possessions one at a time and piled them on the other side of the room until all that was left was the mosquito net. Then it was show down time....i poked the net, nothing. i shook it a little, nothing. i shook it alot, nothing. i lifted it up and dropped it (its a tent style thing, like a little mesh one man tent), still nothing. I lifted it, turned it, dragged it, finangled it sideways, and dropped it and there he was, waving his little front legs in the air, staring at me with that weird little face of his...
so i ran away, figured that was enough fear facing for one day, i went and got my host sister (who might i add is terrified of little toads...) and she calmly scraped him onto a piece of paper with a flip flop and tossed him outside.
i knew he'd be back though...knew it all along. so i shouldn't have been surprised when i woke up the next morning outside in my mosquito net to find him standing on top of it, right over my face, staring down at me. OH IT'S ON NOW!
I flicked him off, hyperventilated for 15 to 20 minutes, and then went on with my normal day. 2 days later i had almost forgotten the whole thing (mistake number two...underestimated the sneaky little creep) and at 10ish one night i went in my room to start dragging my bed and net outside, i flicked on the light, and there he was. he scurried under my net again and stayed there...this time i got my host brother, who said he was harmless, laughed at me for my silly fear (he is afraid of hedgehogs), and using a piece of paper, picked the little guy up like one might use a paper towel to wipe up dog poo, carried him outside, and promised to put him far far away.
Nightmare over right?.....RIGHT?
WRONG. Last night i was sitting outside on my mattela, chatting pleasantly with my neighbor Amadou when the relentless monster runs right down the post next to Amadou and heads straight for me, much to my embarrassment i jumped up faster than i've ever moved in my life and squeeled like a little girl while the creature ran over my foot, saw all my reinforcements, and changed course off towards a tree to regroup and make plans for a later attack. To Amadou's credit, he jumped a little too, right before he and everyone else laughed at my macho display of bravado in the face of extreme danger.
yes...so now i live in fear of his next move. wish me luck!
On a lighter note, i'm going to be taking a little trip in a few days, leaving the beginning of next week for senegal to take a little break. I'll be out of mauritel service but if you want to reach me (mom, dad, cory...) you can try my orange number. which i forgot, but i'll give it to you later!
Love you all,
Shelby
Sunday, March 29, 2009
war stories
March 29th 2009
Hey-lo Everyone!
I hope this note finds you all well and happy and keeping warm, thought hopefully not as warm as me. Maurtiania is coming into the hot season and I have a solid 3 months of blistering heat to endure…so far its not terrible, working its way up a little farther every day thought. At 3 in the afternoon its usually between 105 and 110 in the shade. Its not my favorite time of year to say the least…all metal everywhere is hot to the touch, shampoo and lotions and sunscreen come out of the container extra liquidy and warm, water comes out of the tap hot, bathing is only refreshing when theres wind for evaporation, otherwise you’re pouring hot water over yourself in the hot sun. Candles melt inside in the shade, chocolates not solid ever, and the ice we buy at the boutique next door (a liter of water in a plastic baggie frozen) melts in a shockingly short amount of time. I was drinking ice water from a metal cup the other day and the top of the cup was hot to the touch and the bottom filled with ice. Oh the joys of the Sahel!
So before I left on this grand adventure I remember reading a letter the peace corps sent to my parents about how to stay in touch with me while I’m here. It outlined all the methods and then had a little note about how volunteers tend to like to share their “war stories” and it makes their service sound extremely miserable (for an example see above) and it said that you should keep in mind that they are probably sharing the wort parts and not the happy parts and not to worry about them too much. I realized that I have not made my service seem nearly miserable enough to you folks…heck half of you have told me that my stories make you want to move to Africa so ready…here comes a war story to show the other side of things…its not all fun in the sun! (Not to worry folks, I’m sharing this story because in hindsight I find it hilarious and I’m still quite happy here…despite the heat)
So I spent three nights away from my host family recently with some other volunteers and when I returned home I detected a fowl odor in my room. I figured a toad had hopped in and passed away and I was smelling his or her remains, so I rifled through all my baggage, refolded all my clothes, restacked all my books, and peered under my mosquito net but I found nothing. My room is rather small and very hot so it was impossible to track down the most stinky spot and therefore the source of the odor, it all smelled terrible! I gave up and hung out with my family for the afternoon and evening and as darkness fell a few friends of my host sister stopped in.
Now, here in Mauritania when you have guests it is customary to roll out a plastic or reed mat, set out a few mattelas for sitting, and lounge around on the ground with them, take tea, and chat. Amineta requested the use of my mat and mattela and I obliged, entering mmy room and tossing them out the door behind me, and renewing my search for the stench. It got worse when I moved the mat and sure enough, on closer inspection under where it had been I found a gooey spot on the floor with baby maggots squirming angrily at my rude disruption of their home. Uh-oh…I ran outside to warn my sister…something on that mats not really appropriate for guests! But by the time I got to her it was all set up and the gentleman was lounging carelessly on my mattela. I searched frantically with my eyes and saw no visible signs of the grossness that must be there somewhere and it was a windy night so I sat down and hoped the wind would carry the stench away and there would be no problems, and fortunately it seemed to have done just that!
Unfortunately the moment they left Amineta laid down on my mattela and immediately told me there appeared to be a “mauvaise odour” emanating from it. Not the mattela! I though…its my only one! We searched and searched and found only a smudgy gooey spot that was particularly pungent but no obvious source. I crossed my fingers that whatever it was had been in between the mattela and mat and was now somewhere on the ground and therefore no longer my problem. I got some spray, some soap, and a scrap of fabric and went to work on the smudge but there seemed to be an awful lot of smell for just that one little spot…and low and behold when I lifted up the mattela to have another look I found nothing underneath it but just my luck that the very spot where I grabbed it to lift it up was where the unfortunate rat who had made his way inside the cover and died and then spent at least 3 days fermenting was trapped. Of course I didn’t notice at first, sitting there holding my mattela I thougt “my mattela seems squishy and fleshy today and is missing the dry pillowy texture it normally has…I wonder why…”
And then realization dawned. It’s a sad moment when at 11 pm you discover a rotten rat carcass inside your only bed and realize that you have no choice but to peel off the cover, dispose of the rodent, and sleep on it. Don’t worry…I covered it with a blanket and put the smelly side down by my feet but still….I hope to god I’ll never have to do that again. Yuckkkk.
The next day Amineta helped me wash all my clothes, my mattela cover, the mattela itself, all my blankets, pillow, sheet, mat, and the floor of my room. Then I set it all out in the sun to be disinfected by the uv rays and then I washed myself and then, just for good measure, I brushed my teeth and scrubbed my feet. I feel better now, but there you have it folks…my war story. The best part is that when I discovered it I made a eeeeeeewwwwwyughhhhhhhhckkkkk noise that would have been a fairly normal reaction in the states but here they don’t use that sound to indicate gross and consequently found it hilarious when I did. Now they do it all the time, and its hilarious for me.
At any rate I’m spent on staring at the computer screen so I’ll write more later…
Hugs and kisses!
Shelby
Hey-lo Everyone!
I hope this note finds you all well and happy and keeping warm, thought hopefully not as warm as me. Maurtiania is coming into the hot season and I have a solid 3 months of blistering heat to endure…so far its not terrible, working its way up a little farther every day thought. At 3 in the afternoon its usually between 105 and 110 in the shade. Its not my favorite time of year to say the least…all metal everywhere is hot to the touch, shampoo and lotions and sunscreen come out of the container extra liquidy and warm, water comes out of the tap hot, bathing is only refreshing when theres wind for evaporation, otherwise you’re pouring hot water over yourself in the hot sun. Candles melt inside in the shade, chocolates not solid ever, and the ice we buy at the boutique next door (a liter of water in a plastic baggie frozen) melts in a shockingly short amount of time. I was drinking ice water from a metal cup the other day and the top of the cup was hot to the touch and the bottom filled with ice. Oh the joys of the Sahel!
So before I left on this grand adventure I remember reading a letter the peace corps sent to my parents about how to stay in touch with me while I’m here. It outlined all the methods and then had a little note about how volunteers tend to like to share their “war stories” and it makes their service sound extremely miserable (for an example see above) and it said that you should keep in mind that they are probably sharing the wort parts and not the happy parts and not to worry about them too much. I realized that I have not made my service seem nearly miserable enough to you folks…heck half of you have told me that my stories make you want to move to Africa so ready…here comes a war story to show the other side of things…its not all fun in the sun! (Not to worry folks, I’m sharing this story because in hindsight I find it hilarious and I’m still quite happy here…despite the heat)
So I spent three nights away from my host family recently with some other volunteers and when I returned home I detected a fowl odor in my room. I figured a toad had hopped in and passed away and I was smelling his or her remains, so I rifled through all my baggage, refolded all my clothes, restacked all my books, and peered under my mosquito net but I found nothing. My room is rather small and very hot so it was impossible to track down the most stinky spot and therefore the source of the odor, it all smelled terrible! I gave up and hung out with my family for the afternoon and evening and as darkness fell a few friends of my host sister stopped in.
Now, here in Mauritania when you have guests it is customary to roll out a plastic or reed mat, set out a few mattelas for sitting, and lounge around on the ground with them, take tea, and chat. Amineta requested the use of my mat and mattela and I obliged, entering mmy room and tossing them out the door behind me, and renewing my search for the stench. It got worse when I moved the mat and sure enough, on closer inspection under where it had been I found a gooey spot on the floor with baby maggots squirming angrily at my rude disruption of their home. Uh-oh…I ran outside to warn my sister…something on that mats not really appropriate for guests! But by the time I got to her it was all set up and the gentleman was lounging carelessly on my mattela. I searched frantically with my eyes and saw no visible signs of the grossness that must be there somewhere and it was a windy night so I sat down and hoped the wind would carry the stench away and there would be no problems, and fortunately it seemed to have done just that!
Unfortunately the moment they left Amineta laid down on my mattela and immediately told me there appeared to be a “mauvaise odour” emanating from it. Not the mattela! I though…its my only one! We searched and searched and found only a smudgy gooey spot that was particularly pungent but no obvious source. I crossed my fingers that whatever it was had been in between the mattela and mat and was now somewhere on the ground and therefore no longer my problem. I got some spray, some soap, and a scrap of fabric and went to work on the smudge but there seemed to be an awful lot of smell for just that one little spot…and low and behold when I lifted up the mattela to have another look I found nothing underneath it but just my luck that the very spot where I grabbed it to lift it up was where the unfortunate rat who had made his way inside the cover and died and then spent at least 3 days fermenting was trapped. Of course I didn’t notice at first, sitting there holding my mattela I thougt “my mattela seems squishy and fleshy today and is missing the dry pillowy texture it normally has…I wonder why…”
And then realization dawned. It’s a sad moment when at 11 pm you discover a rotten rat carcass inside your only bed and realize that you have no choice but to peel off the cover, dispose of the rodent, and sleep on it. Don’t worry…I covered it with a blanket and put the smelly side down by my feet but still….I hope to god I’ll never have to do that again. Yuckkkk.
The next day Amineta helped me wash all my clothes, my mattela cover, the mattela itself, all my blankets, pillow, sheet, mat, and the floor of my room. Then I set it all out in the sun to be disinfected by the uv rays and then I washed myself and then, just for good measure, I brushed my teeth and scrubbed my feet. I feel better now, but there you have it folks…my war story. The best part is that when I discovered it I made a eeeeeeewwwwwyughhhhhhhhckkkkk noise that would have been a fairly normal reaction in the states but here they don’t use that sound to indicate gross and consequently found it hilarious when I did. Now they do it all the time, and its hilarious for me.
At any rate I’m spent on staring at the computer screen so I’ll write more later…
Hugs and kisses!
Shelby
Monday, March 16, 2009
Birthday Happiness and other Sadness
Hi Everyone,
I haven't been keeping up with my emailing lately but I'm catching up now! As many of you know my birthday was 2 days ago and I had a wonderful one! So thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes and happy thoughts for thinking of me at all when i'm so very far away. I had a wonderful day with lots of yummy american food and my wonderful sitemate Emily (my We! I don't know if you read this but I betcha at least one of your parents will so Dear Emily's Mom(s): You're daughter is wonderful, you should be very proud, as i'm quite sure you already are. She is a thoughtful and kind friend and I'm so happy to have her here with me in Selibaby!) spent most of the day baking for us authentic Dog Team Tavern sticky buns and the rest of it in the insufferably hot kitchen frying french fries because shes wonderful! So extra special thanks to her (and her family for mailing her the sticky buns makings!) having a heap of wonderful friends here makes it easier to celebrate my birthday on the opposite side of the planet from all of you!
But amongst all of the birthday happiness and celebration I have received some extremely sad news, fellow PCV Catherine "Kate" Puzey serving in Benin was found dead on March 13th, 2009.
You can read the Peace Corps press release here:
http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.media.press.view&news_id=1435
I can't imagine what her friends and family both in the US and in Benin are going through right now so keep them in your thoughts and prayers.
Love and Miss everyone!
Shelby
I haven't been keeping up with my emailing lately but I'm catching up now! As many of you know my birthday was 2 days ago and I had a wonderful one! So thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes and happy thoughts for thinking of me at all when i'm so very far away. I had a wonderful day with lots of yummy american food and my wonderful sitemate Emily (my We! I don't know if you read this but I betcha at least one of your parents will so Dear Emily's Mom(s): You're daughter is wonderful, you should be very proud, as i'm quite sure you already are. She is a thoughtful and kind friend and I'm so happy to have her here with me in Selibaby!) spent most of the day baking for us authentic Dog Team Tavern sticky buns and the rest of it in the insufferably hot kitchen frying french fries because shes wonderful! So extra special thanks to her (and her family for mailing her the sticky buns makings!) having a heap of wonderful friends here makes it easier to celebrate my birthday on the opposite side of the planet from all of you!
But amongst all of the birthday happiness and celebration I have received some extremely sad news, fellow PCV Catherine "Kate" Puzey serving in Benin was found dead on March 13th, 2009.
You can read the Peace Corps press release here:
http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.media.press.view&news_id=1435
I can't imagine what her friends and family both in the US and in Benin are going through right now so keep them in your thoughts and prayers.
Love and Miss everyone!
Shelby
Sunday, February 22, 2009
time flies...
Feb 22, 2009
Hey Folks!
Wow, so as of yesterday I have been in Africa for 8 months...and i have 17 more to go...thats so much and so little at the same time! So how is everyone? I hope you're all well! I've heard from a few of you, Aunt Jen and Sandi and Cory (Le garcon court...hahaha) and I love to get updates so keep them coming! Here's what i've been up to:
I just got back from my little mini vaca...a week backpacking in Senegal. We walked through the countryside village to village, swam under 300ft waterfalls in deep ravines, watched monkies play and saw baboons and warthogs out the car windows, slept in grass huts under giant mango trees, and made tons of new friends! After a week of non-stop walking i threw the towel in, admitted defeat, and went home on my own because of my blistered feet, while the others continued on foot to Guinea. I had a fantastic time though and I was starting to feel that "get back to work guilt" anyway, I'm not here to just abandon my projects and head out on vacation whenever I want and I needed to get back to do some actual work because I don't have mine quite as figured out as my traveling companions did and I felt like i had left some loose ends.
While traveling my cell phone was stolen so I have already gotten a new one but I need to buy a new SIM card for it for Mauritania before I can recieve phone calls, so mom, dad, and cory, when I get it I will call one of you to give you the number so we can talk again! I miss my weekly calls!
I'm trying to think of some fun stories from my travels to share, the whole thing was absolutely one of the greatest adventures I have ever been on in my whole life. I was seriously sad to call it quits early, not to mention terrified of traveling alone back to Selibaby but I ended up really enjoying the trip. When I opted to start back we were staying at a village campement in Dindefelo, Senegal, a little village with a gorgeous waterfall and a decent amount of tourism (for a small senegalese village) with no real regular transport into town short of renting an entire 4x4 which was way out of our price range. This was the leg of the trip that scared me to do alone, we had walked to 35k out there from the nearest city and I had absolutely no interest in walking it back alone. Fortunatly the manager of the campement found me an extremely nice french couple who were passing through on their own vacation and had rented a 4x4 that was planning on leaving the same day i was, the catch: they weren't going all the way back to the city. They gave me a free ride out to the main road, knocking 25k through barely there and confusing criss-crossing roads off my walk and deposited me on a wide well traveled roadway 10k outside of town. I started walking hoping to get picked up by a taxi brousse coming from somewhere else and heading into town but it was not to be. Only one vehicle passed me on my whole entire walk and he had no interest in picking me up, although there was steady bicycle traffic and i was offered several rides on the backs of those (i turned them down though, i had a big bag and walked seemed less likely to end in disaster). I reached town with much of the day left ahead of me so i continued on to the garage and caught a car to the next city on my route back to Selibaby. It was a hot, sticky, miserable car ride with a woman getting sik in a bucket in the seat behind me that left me feeling queasy and dirty and when I arrived at the garage in Tamba I grabbed a town taxi, climbed in and said "take me to a nice hotel, really nice, but not too expensive...preferably with a pool." The driver said he knew three and would take me to each until I found one within my price range. I splurged on the first one we stopped at, wasted no time booking my room, deposited my bags on the ground and made use of the first hot shower i've seen since new years. The hotel staff were incredibly friendly and fammilliar with peace corps. They all called me by my local name, greeted me like an old friend in Pulaar each time I saw them and were sad to see me go so early the next morning to catch my car to Bakel. I loved it there, I felt like i wasn't a tourist at all, just a friend passing through.
My car trip to Bakel was much more pleasant than the previous days voyage. Igot the first place in a car that i thought would take hours to fill (it won't leave until the 6 other places are all sold) when a family of 6 showed up headed the same diretion as me to attend a religious ceremony for a family member. Perfect! They were a friendly and fun pulaar family of the surname Diallo (the bean eating cousins of the Ba's so for the duration of the trip they changed my name to Amineta Diallo and would refer to me only as such). They shared their bread and I gave them all pieces of chewing gum i had gotten from the states. They told me that if I ever go back to Tamba I am to find their house and pay them a visit (impossible as Tamba is a huge city and probably 1/3 of the population are Diallo's, but the thoughts very sweet!) and we parted ways as I got my town taxi to the river and they got their car to their destination city. My taxi brought me right to the banks of the river where I passed through the police post more easily then it ever is when traveling in groups and bought my place in the wooden dugout canoes to Gouraye, on the otehr side of the river. Once in Gouraye I had an eaqually pleasant time with the gendarme post over there (unheard of in mauritania, they just love to give us a hard time!) and easily found my place in a car to Selibaby, without even trying, in fact my place came and found me before i had even reached the garage, the ticket man knew exactly where i was going.
When all was said and done, I was shocked to learn that I absolutely LOVED traveling alone, that said I probably won't do much more of it but it wasn't the scary experience that I had thought it would be. It was fun and easy and strangely empowering! I ate in a restaurant by myself, stayed in a hotel alone, haggled taxi prices, made new friends, crossed borders and rivers, walked 10k, and turned down 4 marriage proposals. If i can do that, i can do anything!
Now i'm back at home and completly out of internet time but I miss and love you allllll and i'll write more soon!
oxoxoxo's
Shelby
Hey Folks!
Wow, so as of yesterday I have been in Africa for 8 months...and i have 17 more to go...thats so much and so little at the same time! So how is everyone? I hope you're all well! I've heard from a few of you, Aunt Jen and Sandi and Cory (Le garcon court...hahaha) and I love to get updates so keep them coming! Here's what i've been up to:
I just got back from my little mini vaca...a week backpacking in Senegal. We walked through the countryside village to village, swam under 300ft waterfalls in deep ravines, watched monkies play and saw baboons and warthogs out the car windows, slept in grass huts under giant mango trees, and made tons of new friends! After a week of non-stop walking i threw the towel in, admitted defeat, and went home on my own because of my blistered feet, while the others continued on foot to Guinea. I had a fantastic time though and I was starting to feel that "get back to work guilt" anyway, I'm not here to just abandon my projects and head out on vacation whenever I want and I needed to get back to do some actual work because I don't have mine quite as figured out as my traveling companions did and I felt like i had left some loose ends.
While traveling my cell phone was stolen so I have already gotten a new one but I need to buy a new SIM card for it for Mauritania before I can recieve phone calls, so mom, dad, and cory, when I get it I will call one of you to give you the number so we can talk again! I miss my weekly calls!
I'm trying to think of some fun stories from my travels to share, the whole thing was absolutely one of the greatest adventures I have ever been on in my whole life. I was seriously sad to call it quits early, not to mention terrified of traveling alone back to Selibaby but I ended up really enjoying the trip. When I opted to start back we were staying at a village campement in Dindefelo, Senegal, a little village with a gorgeous waterfall and a decent amount of tourism (for a small senegalese village) with no real regular transport into town short of renting an entire 4x4 which was way out of our price range. This was the leg of the trip that scared me to do alone, we had walked to 35k out there from the nearest city and I had absolutely no interest in walking it back alone. Fortunatly the manager of the campement found me an extremely nice french couple who were passing through on their own vacation and had rented a 4x4 that was planning on leaving the same day i was, the catch: they weren't going all the way back to the city. They gave me a free ride out to the main road, knocking 25k through barely there and confusing criss-crossing roads off my walk and deposited me on a wide well traveled roadway 10k outside of town. I started walking hoping to get picked up by a taxi brousse coming from somewhere else and heading into town but it was not to be. Only one vehicle passed me on my whole entire walk and he had no interest in picking me up, although there was steady bicycle traffic and i was offered several rides on the backs of those (i turned them down though, i had a big bag and walked seemed less likely to end in disaster). I reached town with much of the day left ahead of me so i continued on to the garage and caught a car to the next city on my route back to Selibaby. It was a hot, sticky, miserable car ride with a woman getting sik in a bucket in the seat behind me that left me feeling queasy and dirty and when I arrived at the garage in Tamba I grabbed a town taxi, climbed in and said "take me to a nice hotel, really nice, but not too expensive...preferably with a pool." The driver said he knew three and would take me to each until I found one within my price range. I splurged on the first one we stopped at, wasted no time booking my room, deposited my bags on the ground and made use of the first hot shower i've seen since new years. The hotel staff were incredibly friendly and fammilliar with peace corps. They all called me by my local name, greeted me like an old friend in Pulaar each time I saw them and were sad to see me go so early the next morning to catch my car to Bakel. I loved it there, I felt like i wasn't a tourist at all, just a friend passing through.
My car trip to Bakel was much more pleasant than the previous days voyage. Igot the first place in a car that i thought would take hours to fill (it won't leave until the 6 other places are all sold) when a family of 6 showed up headed the same diretion as me to attend a religious ceremony for a family member. Perfect! They were a friendly and fun pulaar family of the surname Diallo (the bean eating cousins of the Ba's so for the duration of the trip they changed my name to Amineta Diallo and would refer to me only as such). They shared their bread and I gave them all pieces of chewing gum i had gotten from the states. They told me that if I ever go back to Tamba I am to find their house and pay them a visit (impossible as Tamba is a huge city and probably 1/3 of the population are Diallo's, but the thoughts very sweet!) and we parted ways as I got my town taxi to the river and they got their car to their destination city. My taxi brought me right to the banks of the river where I passed through the police post more easily then it ever is when traveling in groups and bought my place in the wooden dugout canoes to Gouraye, on the otehr side of the river. Once in Gouraye I had an eaqually pleasant time with the gendarme post over there (unheard of in mauritania, they just love to give us a hard time!) and easily found my place in a car to Selibaby, without even trying, in fact my place came and found me before i had even reached the garage, the ticket man knew exactly where i was going.
When all was said and done, I was shocked to learn that I absolutely LOVED traveling alone, that said I probably won't do much more of it but it wasn't the scary experience that I had thought it would be. It was fun and easy and strangely empowering! I ate in a restaurant by myself, stayed in a hotel alone, haggled taxi prices, made new friends, crossed borders and rivers, walked 10k, and turned down 4 marriage proposals. If i can do that, i can do anything!
Now i'm back at home and completly out of internet time but I miss and love you allllll and i'll write more soon!
oxoxoxo's
Shelby
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