Oh…where to even begin. Our second (and sadly, final) WAIST weekend was - in a word - epic. Hosted by the American Embassy in Dakar, the West African Invitational Softball Tournament is known to many “serious” teams like the Embassy team and various Senegalese teams as a competitive weekend of softball. To Peace Corps volunteers it’s more of a dress-up-in-silly-costumes-and-hardly-get-any-sleep kind of weekend (read: zero percent chance we actually take it seriously). Although it was very bittersweet to say goodbye to many people that I will probably never see again and know that we won’t be returning to the softball fields next year, the weekend was extraordinary.
On Friday I still wasn’t 100% recovered from my weird esophagus ailment, but I said au revoir to my room at the Med Hut and spent all day at the Peace Corps office in Dakar for a PC Senegal All Volunteer conference. I manned the Dakar region booth with Katherine and we chatted with representatives from various NGOs about our regional initiatives and the type of work Dakar region volunteers do. Later that afternoon, Alyssa, Erin, Tamar and I headed to downtown Dakar to buy place tickets: Cape Verde here we come! After much discussion and input from other volunteers, we nixed a trip to Sierra Leone and decided on a vacation to Cape Verde the first week of April instead. I’m incredibly excited, especially since I spent a summer in college working for the Cape Verdean embassy in D.C. so I feel like this trip will actually mean something to me. And in case you’ve never heard of Cape Verde, which is entirely ok: Cape Verde is an archipelago of islands of the west coast of Africa. As a former Portuguese colony, it boasts an eclectic mix of Portuguese and African cultures, as well as beautiful scenery and a volcano which we plan on climbing! Check it out if you’re interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Verde
After our trip to the Cape Verde airline office and a delicious home cooked meal, the ladies and I headed to the Peace Corps Open Mic night. More importantly, this night served as the perfect time for the unveiling of our “Thiest Region” t-shirts. I feel like a little background info is necessary for you to understand the wonder that is the Thiest Region t-shirt. Many, many months ago, after myself, Alyssa, and Katherine first installed at our permanent sites, we were – unbeknownst to us - given the nickname “Thiest” girls. Thies - pronounced "chess" like the game - is the town where Alyssa lives and is right down the road from my and Katherine’s sites. The three of us are all short, brunette, tend to be confused with one another, and…well, let’s just say we’re all well endowed. Add a “t” to the end of “chess” and you get the picture.
I suppose this is far more entertaining to me than it is to anyone reading this, but I think our shirts were appreciated by the Peace Corps community. Many thanks to Alyssa for having them made in the States and schlepping them back to us. One talent show and many Thiest region pictures later, everyone headed to the bars and clubs downtown for a night of merriment.
The next morning we were up bright and early to start the actual softball tournament. For Peace Corps volunteers, this means finally revealing your team costumes. In true Dakar region fashion, we went all out and embodied our theme of "Bavaria" with matching wax fabric lederhosen and hilarious hats - plus a plastic beer stein that I brought back from Milwaukee. Thanks, Ellen! You have officially donated a crucial part of my costume every WAIST.
Huge shout out to Katherine who convinced her tailor to make over twenty pairs of matching lederhosen (and to Matar the tailor, who may or may not think we're crazy). Our first game against the combined Tamba/Kedougou team was a riot. Their theme of "Cops and Robbers" was made ever more evident by guys wearing cop outfits fit for 15 year old girls and various robbers stealing bases (literally) off the field. Our second game against Mali was slightly less fun because they actually took it seriously and we spent the entire time making them play leap frog from first to second base...obviously. That afternoon was spent lounging pool side and heading home relatively early. Katherine and I are lame and spent a romantic evening in together while Alyssa and Tamar headed to a party at the Marine's house.
Day 2 of the tournament had us up super early for a morning game against the Cape Verde/Niger team. We promptly lost...but more importantly, were able to take various "mountain yodeling" pictures on an abandoned stair case in the outfield. I think we had our priorities straight. Our second game against Kaolack was more of a free for all than a softball game, but everyone definitely had a good time and leap frog made a triumphant come back. Katherine and I braved the pool after our games which was ridiculously cold and we eventually made out way back home. We invited Joe & Steve - two new friends from Cape Verde - over for a pasta dinner before indulging in various duty free beverages and heading out for club Oceanium for an all night party. Poor Alyssa became super sick immediately upon arrival and went home early, but the rest of us danced til we could dance no more.
The final day of WAIST 2.0 was spent mostly lounging around recovering until the final pool/bbq party at the American Club. I was expecting to call it an early night, but ended up having a wonderful time and staying up way too late - so unbelievably worth it! Plus, it's probably the last time I'll be able to hang out with lots of PCVs who are leaving the country soon, thus making that last night somewhat bittersweet. The next morning we said our goodbyes and I headed back to Pout while the rest of the ladies went to Thies for an artisan training.
For now it's right back to work in Pout, teaching Junior Achievement classes, preparing for an urban agriculture gardening in a few weeks, and getting ready to head to Thies to greet the new Health/EE trainees who arrive on March 9th. I can't believe next week is March already! The return to Pout was a brutal reminder that the cold season is officially over as it's nearly impossible to breathe at the moment thanks to dry, hot wind. But - alas, that means I'm one season closer to the end of my service. Better keep on truckin'.
Pictures are up. Cheers!
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