Update

Sorry I havnt been putting up many posts recently ive been really busy the past couple of weeks. But here are the top ten most interesting things that have happened this week.

1.       Last Saturday was Georgina’s last weekend so we started off at the French Cultural Centre in town where a jazz band was playing. One of the volunteers actually wnet up on stage with the band and sang a couple songs with them which was really cool. We proceeded to go out to several bars before going to a night club in town. Returned to chez moi at around 6 in the morning.

2.       I have a roommate now. His name is Dan and he’s from London. He’s cool.

3.       I bought a Bou-bou. A traditional Senegalese outfit. It resembles a set of nice pyjamas.

4.       I started lessons with a French professor. 2 hours every afternoon. Really think my French is improving (at least the listening part)

5.       It rained again on Sunday. My room got slightly flooded, but because there is a slight slant, most of the water went onto Dan’s side of the room. We filled three buckets of water up while draining the room. I was literally scooping water up with a dustpan.

I’ll try and upload a bunch of pictures sometime this week.

Mal au ventre

I woke up on Sunday morning with an upset stomach, and my Dad always said I was overly dramatic when I was sick so:

7:00 First thought, “too much to drink last night?” No, only had two beers, couldn’t be that. “Dehydration?” Could be, better drink some water.

9:00 This isn’t helping much, ughhh my stomach.

9:30 Huuuuughhhh, huuuughhhhh. Head in a Senegalese toilet. This Can’t be very sanitary.

10:30 Ugghhh still feel like shit. What if I have something serious? Appendicitis? I heard that you get a sharp pain in your gut – ughhhhh – sounds about right. Do they even have surgery places in St. Louis? Maybe I should call a doctor.

11:00 I’ll call Sara firt and ask her what I should do.

“hey sara, hows it goin”

“Yeah Im not feeling so good”

“No clinics open on a Sunday huh, great”

“Yeah I don’t wanna wait till Monday”

“Meet you at the hospital in town? Okay”

“pay up front huh? Okay I’ll bring some cash. See you in 20 minutes”

11:07 Okay stand up now – No, no, no, back down, back down

11:10 Okay slowly this time. Okay open the door. Damn its sooo hot out – ughhhh – don’t pass out in the road.

“Psst, Psst, Taxi!”

“En ville, a l’hopital”

11:20 “merci”

Now where do I go? And is Sara here yet? I’ll call her

“Hey are you here yet?”

“10 minutes okay, so where should I go?”

“Right after the gates, okay, see you soon”

So is it this right or this one... Ughhhh, maybe I’ll ask this guy.

“Bonjour, ou est-ce que je peux trouver un docteur?” (Hello, where can I find a doctor?)

“ah d’accord, merci” (ah okay, thank you)

Now what the hell did he say through the doors over here? Arrgh where the hell is sara!? Hmm maybe this is the place to go.

“Bonjour, J’ai le mal au ventre, est-ce que je peux voir un docteur?” (Hello, I am having stomach pain, can I see a doctor?)

“D’accord, j’attend pour un moment” (Okay, I will wait a moment)

I guess I’ll just sit her – Uggghh  - I better not puke in the hallway…

11:30 Ah finally.

“Hey Sara”

“don’t worry, they don’t have an open bed just yet, so im just waiting”

“Yeah my stomach hurts pretty  bad and I keep getting this sharp pain in my stom– uggghhh”

“Yeah I think its gotta be the fish from last night as well, is anyone else sick?”

“Just me, of course… Hey looks like they have an open bed for me.”

11:40 So I guess I just lie down here. Doesn’t really look like they cleaned it or anything after that other guy used it. Maybe this plasticy stuff on it makes that okay…

“Est-ce que le docteur viens” (Is the doctor coming?)

“D’accord” (okay)

“Elle ne peut pas rester ici? Mm D’accord…” (She cannot stay here? Mm okay…)

I guess Sara’s not allowed to be in the room. Ah this sucks, why did I eat that stupid fish!? Krista and Kate are gonna have a laugh when they find about about this. All that bullshit about the dangers of meat, damn vegetarians. Uggghh where’s this doctor!?

11:50 Finally this must be him. White coat, stethoscope, looks pretty official I guess.

“Bonjour”

“Oui j’ai mal au ventre depuis cet matin et j’ai vomi plusier fois” (Yes, I have stomach pain since this morning, and I have thrown up several times)

“Pardon?”

“Je ne comprends pas. Est-ce que ma amie reviens pour umm translater?” (I don’t understand, can my friend come back to translate?)

11:52 “so they wanna know how long I’ve been here, umm about 3 weeks right?”

“No I’ve taken my malaria pills everyday”

“no this is the first time I’ve felt sick”

“haha oui je mange le thiebodienne”

“He thinks it was the plates at the beach, ah I  see.”

“Yeah okay I’ll give you the money and you can go buy the drugs, thanks Sara”

11:55 ugghh so now what? Is this my nurse? Oh damn that’s a big looking needle – are they hooking me up to an IV!? Uggghhh I don’t know if I can handle this. Phew she’s just cleaning the top of my wrist, maybe this will numb it as we – ARGHH FUCK!

“Je voms, je voms, non maintenant!”

Huuuuughhh, huuuuuuuuuugghhhh, ugh shit. Huuuuughhhhh.

Ugghh I guess she doesn’t want me puking in the sink. At least the needle is already in. Will it hurt when they put the actual tube in? Wait whats she doing with my fing – AH FUCK – Agh what the hell did she stab my finger for? Blood sample maybe? Okay this must be the actual IV drip that shes about to attach. Okay that didn’t hurt. Good. Uhhh I hate having needles in me – am I gonna faint? Okay just lie down, close your eyes.  Don’t think about it….

2:15 ugghh how long was I out for? What time did I even get here? Looks like the IV bag is empty, so what now? Wheres that nurse? Is Sara back yet? Looks like the nurse is gonna take the IV out now – Agh could this lady be any rougher? Hey looks like Sara’s back.

“Hey”

“oh wow theres a lot of stuff”

“You had to go to 3 different pharmacies! Wow thsnks a lot”

“Yeah I’m feeling a little better, my stomach still hurts a bit, but im not puking or anything. I am really light headed though, do you have any water?”

“Haha yeah thanks head Toubab no more fish on the beach, I’m warning all the other volunteers about this excursion. Hey here comes the doctor”

“D’accord donc je prends les medicaments et je serai bien?” (Okay so I take this medicine and I will be fine?)

“Merci beaucoup”

2:20 “Okay lets get out of here. I’m just gonna try standing up first – nope, nope lets wait a couple minutes”

2:23 “I’ll try again – nope ah-ha maybe I need a wheelchair for now…”

“you’ll go get one? Cool, thanks Sara”

2:26 Okay I can do this, just sit down in the chair. Okay there, not so hard.

“lets really leave now”

Good Samaritan

Today me and some of the other volunteers cleaned a Daara. A Daara is a home for Talibe (the street children of Senegal. Normally I do not even clean much at home, so this experience was somewhat new to me. The Daara was a four story building painted in gray (A somewhat cruel color that seemed to serve only to emphasize the bleakness of the Talibes’ living conditions). We started cleaning from the top floor down, first sweeping and then washing and scrubbing. It probably would’ve taken all day if not for the Talibe who decided to join in and help us clean. We worked from about 9-1. To be honest, even when we were finished cleaning, it still did not seem that this would be a very sanitary place to live. The odor of feces floated throughout the second floor where the bathrooms were situated, and I saw cockroaches the size of an iPod Nano. It’s really a shame that there wasn’t much more we could do for them.

As I was walking back home, I saw a little boy in a wheelchair trying to get over the curb. I went over to help him, but he stood up. I quickly realized that he was bringing the chair to an old sitting against a wall. The man started shuffling himself over to the chair with his hands, so I asked if I could help him. He replied with a “wah” (yes in Wolof), and I carried him to his chair. He thanked me with an appreciative handshake. As I turned around to continue on my way, a few older Senegalese women who had seen the whole ordeal thanked me and gave me looks of respect and commendation. Now all I need to do is help an old lady cross the road and I can join the Justice League or run for a political office. I can see the slogan already: “DJ Riefler: Teacher, Volunteer, living cliché”

“This is just so Cliché”

Today was the last day of classes for adults. Because some new volunteers had come in last week, I was no longer teaching an adult class. I went to school anyway though because I had to practice for the ceremony on Thursday. I am doing a song with Katie (an Irish volunteer who can really sing) and Bashir (a Senegalese guy who loves to play guitar and make music) about AIDS. As it was so hot on Tuesday, we decided to go up on the roof to practice. This was my first time on a roof in Senegal, and the view was simply spectacular. It was about 6pm, so the sun was just about to start setting and you go to see this beautiful orange glow. Bashir, Katie, and I started practicing our song. Because the night classes don’t start until around 6:30pm, a bunch of the students and teachers came up onto the roof to watch us play. Soon we had everyone singing with us for the chorus “Take care, of your life, anyway. If not, AIDS will take, it away.” After our performance I handed over the guitar to Bashir who wanted to practice a new song with Katie. I walked over to the side of the roof to watch the sunset with one of the other volunteers, Krista. The sunset looked absolutely stunning. Krista turned to me and said “Look at us! We are playing guitar, on a roof, at sunset. This is just so cliché.” I laughed, but she was definitely right. I must have seen a scene like this in at least twenty different movies. But then again, who actually gets to live out those scenes in real life?