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MIKAEL, 26, WASHINGTONIAN, AVID COFFEE DRINKER, TELEVISION CONNOISSEUR

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Malaria Brunch/I Win/Malaria Stomped…and Goodbye Senegal, call me maybe?

With my last few hours in Senegal ticking away, I’d like to take this time (while eagerly waiting for Evan, Mike, and Emily to cook some delicious pancakes) to write a little something about malaria for April 25th aka World Malaria Day.

First thing. If you don’t know what malaria is, take a few shameful minutes to google it.

Working with malaria in Senegal can sometimes be a tricky business. Will my community like this?Maybe.Will they listen to what I have to say?Probably.Am I going to bore them to sleep?Most likely.Volunteers have to think of creative ways to share this information. In Tamba, our choice to keep people on their toes was to do a malaria theater tourney. Which is the fancy way of saying, slowly biking to different villages, dressing up in ladies clothing, pretending we’re mosquitoes, and dancing like hired clowns to keep the crowd there. But what works works right? I think there was a total of 9 villages on this tourney, sooooo we reached….5 billion people? Sure.

Also, since this is my last post in Senegal. I guess I’ve got to say something memorable or meaningful or profound. So…in the words of the incomparable Mr. Spark-DePass:

I was going to say something about potatoes, but you’ve got that instead.

(Referring to some guy I wasn’t listening to who was telling me something profound to say for this blog post)

Posted in Peace Corps Senegal World Malaria Day Spence Evan | 2 notes
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Typical Senegalese party picture.

Typical Senegalese party picture.

Posted in GPOY Evan Glovsky Jonno Eric Peace Corps | 2 notes
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To my fellow Super Stagers:

Happy 2 years in country!

Thank you for the best couple years this boy could ask for.

I’m so happy, I could just take a tumble.

Posted in Evan Paul Maddy jessica Spence Anna jillian jonno Emily
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Elections

To be completely honest…it’s too hot right now to type some shit. So here are a couple links to my friends here who are a) much better writers b) don’t resort to lame jokes to keep your attention c) don’t resort to pictures of cats or viral youtube vidoes to keep your attention d) don’t need to swear like a sailor to keep your attention & most importantly e) they’re much better looking.

Maddy & Paul’s pre-election day post: (click queen cat for the link)

Evan’s Election day post: (click fancy cat for the link)


Posted in Peace Corps Senegal Maddy Paul Evan | 1 note
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W.A.I.S.T. Deuxième

Another year, another round of well-played softball. Teams from around Senegal, as well as other countries (Gambia, Mali, and Cape Verde) made a showing to the annual Dakar event. Most teams (the PC ones), really stepped up their costumes.

TambaGou (Tamba & Kedougou): Baseball Corps, The North: Snorkel Corps, Kolda: South of the Border, Kaolack: Girl/Boy Scouts, Dakar: French, Linguere: Suits, Cape Verde: Weird Medical Gear

The magic wasn’t only found on the field. An incredibly competitive talent show was scheduled for the first night, followed by a prom themed masquerade ball the second night. The third night culminated in an all night, festive soirée.

A good time had by all.

Characters tested. Lives changed. Morals bent. That’s about the gist of it. Sooooo….here are some choice photos to sum up the event.

Posted in W.A.I.S.T. GPOY Andrew jessica Anna Jillian Evan Kourtney Glovsky | 1 note
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So so happy. Paul taps into his birthday baby keg.

So so happy. Paul taps into his birthday baby keg.

Posted in Evan Paul Peace Corps Ndioum
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A Very Northern New Year

After travelling for close to 17 hours, my car pulled over and let me off at a very quiet Ndioum intersection. It didn’t stay quiet for long (due to the loud uncreative swearing) because I immediately stepped on 4 or 5 thorny plant things that seem to be generously sprinkled across the entirety of Ndioum. And with my new foot piercings I hobbled to the regional house and passed out.

Things were perfect from then on though. Good movies were watched. Heineken was had. Cookies and cake were eaten. Paul, Maddy, Evan, and I were lucky enough to have the regional house to ourselves. So to celebrate the new year, we played the “What’s Up” He-Man video on repeat, cooked General Tso’s chicken, and fired roman candles at each other. Overall, a really wonderful celebration, largely in part of the company I kept (and maybe also because of the booze). But seriously, it was the company.

Once the fête was over, I had the chance to see Sinthou Diambo, Evan’s village. It was my first time getting to see a village in the north, so I didn’t know what to expect. What I saw was beautiful. It was like walking into one very large compound. There wasn’t really a clear division of houses, so each hut sort of ran into the next one. This all led up to the river, which you can see from Evan’s hut. Evan’s hut is pretty awesome. He’s got 2 windows and an attached toilet/shower area with a tall wall, so you can shower in peace (take a note Afia Seno, nobody wants their wiener exposed to every horse drawn cart that passes). His water table is also absurdly high, which made me blindly jealous at first but then I had to remind myself that…wait…nope, still jealous. Evan’s family are also all very nice, even though they did laugh at the way I spoke Pulaar, including Evan. (FYI - The dialect of Pulaar I speak is sometimes considered a little “country,” especially to northern Pulaars.) I was honestly impressed to see how comfortable and integrated Evan was in his village. The community there really does love him.

After spending a couple nights in Diambo, we headed to St. Louis for the night. There, we went to La Source, a pretty fancy bar/restaurant, drank a bunch of wine, and then stuffed our faces with warthog, chicken, and fish. Oh the excess. It’s beautiful.

Posted in Peace Corps Senegal Paul Maddy Evan | 6 notes
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2 of the best guys I know here. Cheers to you Paul & Ev.

2 of the best guys I know here. Cheers to you Paul & Ev.

Posted in Paul Evan | 12 notes
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A Conversation in French (Bakel Eye Clinic)

  • (A fancy looking lady comes to get her eyes checked. Evan's finishing up her exam.)
  • Evan: Now what's this here?
  • Fancy Lady: A hand.
  • Evan: What's this here?
  • Fancy Lady: A star.
  • Me: Good.
  • Fancy Lady: Actually, I have a problem with my phone. (Some inaudible French, something about her phone) Understand?
  • Me: Hey Spence, Jillian, come here. (At Fancy Lady now) Explain to them what you just told me.
  • Fancy Lady: Well. Sometimes. When I'm looking at my phone, I see 3 bars. But really...REALLY...there are only 2 bars.
  • Spence/Jillian: What?
  • Fancy Lady: The bars on my phone. Sometimes I think it says 3 bars, but it's really 2 bars. I don't know how much service I have.
  • Spence/Jillian: So,...you want glasses so you can see how many bars are on your phone?
  • Evan: You have 20/20 vision.
  • Fancy Lady: Yes. But I need the glasses.
  • Evan: No, they're not necessary. Your eyes are perfect.
  • Fancy Lady: It's for reading.
  • Me: Your eyes are perfect.
  • Fancy Lady: I would like the glasses.
Posted in Bakel Peace Corps Right To Sight And Health Evan Spence Jillian | 1 note
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The Bakel Eye Clinic had its fair share of interesting personalities this year. The most memorable being a Pulaar woman called Kumba Sow. After her cataract surgery, she busted into the post-op room shouting, “Kumba Sow is not scared. Your dad, he’s scared. You, you’re scared. But Kumba Sow, Kumba Sow is not scared.” This was quickly followed by volunteers and Kumba Sow herself chanting, “Kumba Sow isn’t scared. Kumba Sow isn’t scared.” I would also like to mention, Kumba was rocking a sweet lady beard.

Kumba Sow. A Bakel legend.

Posted in Peace Corps Senegal Right To Sight And Health Evan GPOY | 1 note
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