Peace Corps Community

When I signed up for Peace Corps, I thought I would be alone in a hut for two years in the middle of nowhere. I imagined it to be similar to life on a desert island- a limited diet and no one to talk to, but unlike stranded boat wreck survivors, at least I had the opportunity to plan ahead and bring a lot of books. In case any of you are imagining me in a similar state, I thought I'd better tell you how different the reality turned out to be.

In addition to the Senegalese people whom I've started to get to know on a level beyond, 'Did you wake up? Yes, I woke up,' I've also gotten to spend a lot of time with my fellow volunteers, whom I've grown to rely on as a major source of emotional support. There are about thirty-five of us that all came to Senegal on the same plane, and spent about ten hours a day together for two months of training. Friendships spring up quickly in that kind of environment, especially considering the tendency to cling to anyone you can speak to on a level beyond, 'Where is your bucket? My what? Bucket. Huh? Bucket. BUCKET!' At the end of the first two months of training, I found myself upset that I'd started to care about these people only to be thrown out into the wilderness for two years, never to see them again.

But once I got to my site, my neighbors, who seemed so far away on paper, turned out to be much closer than I imagined. My closest neighbors and I manage to get together once a week or so for lunch at a hotel in a central town, eat spaghetti (it's not American spaghetti, but it gets the job done) or hamburgers (same goes), speak English, and also use the internet, while we're at it.

In addition, those of us in the northern region try to meet at the Peace Corps regional house once a month or so for a few days, a real haven that offers such amenities as a refrigerator, an oven, running water, an impressive library of books in English collected by volunteers over the years, a DVD player and American movies, and even an airconditioning unit in one room. This is a place where we can rest from the strain of constantly performing in a language and culture not native to us, and vent about some of the less pleasant aspects of life in Senegal, such as public transportation, and being constantly asked for anything from the t-shirt you're wearing to your hand in marriage from anyone you happen to pass in the street. Here too, we can share things that Senegalese people might not relate to- such as a fight with a significant other, or a three week craving for nachos that never gets satisfied, to name a couple of examples.

Another great thing about the regional house is the chance to vary our diets from the usual fish and rice every day, and even indulge in true comfort food- in other words, things that one might actually eat in America. We have to be a little creative with ingredients, but spaghetti, deviled eggs, pumpkin soup, chili, and banana bread are among the dishes we have managed to create based on what the market has to offer. If someone has gotten food sent from America recently, we can expand our options significantly- I'm remembering a batch of cinnamon rolls with walnuts with particular nostalgia.

The regional house has turned into a kind of home away from home- my closest friends are there, and I look forward to going every month to catch up. We just organized an impressively complete American-style Thanksgiving (which incidentally involved me carrying around a live turkey around by its feet for an afternoon on public transportation... but that's a story for another time), and now we're planning a Christmas celebration, which might possibly include going to the beach afterwards in another town and gorging ourselves on cheese (at least, that's my priority for the excursion).

I probably shouldn't mention the large, not-strictly-sanctioned parties the Peace Corps community manages to put on every so often, but they are undoubtedly part of the Peace Corps social scene, and remarkable for the sheer craziness of it all. Just imagine fifty recent college graduates, after several months of solitary confinement, have all gotten out of prison at the same time, and have all been put in the same room... with alcohol. If you can picture that, you'll probably be able to have some sense of what I'm talking about.

Peace Corps socialization isn't without its oddities (going days and sometimes weeks on end without talking to anyone and then spending twenty-four hours a day with ten people for four days is the number one thing that comes to mind), but overall, making friends with so many new people from all different states of the union has been an unexpected benefit of the experience. With whom else am I going to be able to share Pulaar in jokes, or turn to and say, 'Hey, remember that time that goat strapped to the roof of the car peed on the guy sitting next to you?' That reason alone is enough to make me think that I'll keep in touch with these wayward Americans long after our adventures in Senegal are over.