WAISTED...2011

     I just returned from my one-week mini vacation away from site…and it was amazing! Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy my site and most of the people in Dahra (plus I have an adorable little kitten to keep me company). However, it’s always nice to get away, take a breather and just enjoy some wonderful American pastimes :).



     I left site on Wednesday to travel to Thies for a gender and development seminar. It was actually the easiest and quickest trip I have had so far to Thies. Upon my arrival, I went out for pizza and beer (yay!) and then back to the training center to hang out for the night. The next day was full of presentations concerning gender and development work, a conference call with Dr. Joshua Busby, a speacialist on climate change, and a lovely dinner at Massa Massa with a small group of close friends.


     Friday morning started off early as we loaded the buses to head to Dakar for another All-Vol conference. For the morning sessions, each region and sector had a table set up to discuss current work projects in their area. The afternoon session followed the same format, but was with NGOs that are serving in Senegal. It was interesting to see what other volunteers and organizations are doing, but we had a little too much liberty and mainly took the time to catch up with friends. After the conference, I went to Casino (an actual grocery store- yay!) and then headed to the Atlantique Club where the rest of my time in Dakar would be spent :)

     So the main reason why I was in Dakar was for WAIST (West African Invitational Softball Tournament). WAIST happens every year, and I was kind of apprehensive about it, as most of the volunteers refer to it as WASTE (due to the insane amount of drinking that occurs). I will say though, I was pleasantly surprised :) There was a lot of drinking involved, but also just a lot of fun! This is the one time when all the volunteers (plus some volunteers from other neighboring countries) get to come together and enjoy softball, cheap beer, American food and swimming. So for WAIST, I had the pleasure of staying with a wonderful woman (RPCV Niger) who works at the U.S. Embassy, who was gracious enough to host 12 girls! 

Her only rule: make yourself at home! She was awesome, her cook is amazing (I ate soooo well!), her son was fun to play with (like a younger brother), and her dogs were amazing (they even slept with me!). She even went with us to one of the parties, cramming all of us into her Hummer. There was a talent show that Friday night, which was fun to see some of the interesting talent that resides within Peace Corps volunteers.

     The first day of WAIST started with me making some baked goods for our SENEGAD (gender and development group) bake sell. Afterwards, I headed to the club for some American food and swimming before our first softball game. Now if you know me, you know that I am very uncoordinated, thus I decided to remain on the sidelines to cheer my team on. One cool thing about WAIST that I forgot to mention is that the Peace Corps teams dress up each year. This year was the first year our “region” had a separate team and our theme was cows and cowboys (think Wild, Wild West because that is where we are in Senegal…nothing but sand, some livestock and herders).



Team Djolof a.k.a. PC Linguere/Louga


Unfortunately, we didn’t fare to well the first day. We lost both games; one to PC Gambia and the other to a Senegalese team that actually practices (they were very good and not very social). That night was the SENEGAD Date Action at the U.S. Marine House. It was pretty cool to see so many expats hanging out, enjoying themselves. I called it an early night though because the party was held outside and it was actually quite chilly.

     The second day of WAIST, I had to head to the club early to help out with the bake sell and then head over to our games. The first game was against the Kolda region, and we actually played quite well. We even thought that we had won, but it turns out that Kolda still had another inning to bat in which they scored several runs :). For the second game, we were to play PC Gambia again, and we decided to have some fun and just play kickball instead. I can play kickball, so I joined in :). I didn’t score any, but I did make it on base both times that I kicked –yay! Goal for next WAIST: kickball tournament on the side :). After the games, I decided it was time for some more swimming before heading back to my homestay for dinner. After dinner, we all headed over to a club that overlooks the ocean. I think I danced for over 5 hours straight that night! It was so much fun! Needless to say, I was rather sore and slow the next day – haha.

     The third and final day of WAIST involved the semi-finals and finals for each division, which my team did not make. So I spent the day relaxing by the pool and just hanging out with friends. That night was a pool party, but I was quite exhausted and just decided to stay in for the evening with some of the other girls at my homestay. I got to watch “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” which made me extremely happy :). Another bonus to the homestay…hot showers! Woo hoo!


     On Tuesday, I had to head over to the Peace Corps office to drop off some medical paperwork. After that, I made my way to the garage to find a ride back to Dahra. I was hoping to go back with one of the other volunteers in my region, but nobody else was ready to get back to site (I missed Punx). The ride back was pretty quick actually until we were about an hour away from Dahra. Our sept-place driver accidently hit someone. It was truly an accident on both sides. The gentleman didn’t look our way because it was supposed to be a one-way street, but due to construction, had been turned into two-ways. Our driver blew the horn and tried to stop in time, but he was going too fast and his breaks were not the best. Luckily, the man was able to walk to the ambulance when it arrived, so I pray that he is ok. That was my first experience with accidents here and I hope it was the last (doubtful though).


     Upon returning to Dahra, Punx greeted me as I came through the door :) She is so cute and I am so thankful that the missionaries were able to take care of her while I was gone. As much as I enjoyed my stay in Dakar, I am glad to be back “home” and to get some work done :).