A new post will be up next week about the Girls' Leadership Conference we just had in Tambacounda. In the meantime, here is another installment of the five senses.
If you want to check out the photographs from the conference follow this link :
http://liannareed.smugmug.com/Peace-Corps-Senegal-2014/Tambacounda-Girls-Leadership/
Sounds!
Goats sounds like children. When they cry, sneeze, cough, or are thirsty. It can be very disconcerting at times when you think a young child is in distress when really it is just a kid. The sound of getting a flat tire is one of the most disappointing sounds that I've heard so far. The air wheezing out of my tire, while on my bike, makes a pleasant bike ride into a relatively unpleasant bike walk. My uncle Daouda's phone speaks the numbers of the person he is calling...in English. So I often here 7-7-6-5-4-3-8-5-1 or some similar combination. It can be very distracting when you are woken up by the automated voice speaking in English but I have just used it as a teaching tool for my siblings. The French radio or the Senegalese radio with music is also a frequent alarm clock for me. Donkeys braying is one of the most identifying sounds of village life. I've gotten used to it while I'm sleeping so that it no longer bothers me. Although it does sort of surprise me when I walk by a donkey braying because they fart while they are braying...who knew? The donkeys did bother me at one point when my family started keeping them right outside my hut because I could hear them peeing, their stream is apparently very strong. The call to prayer is a sound that has become a sort of comfort, a marker of time throughout the day if you will. The other odd sound is that cows don't moo here. What is up with that? Babies cry a lot. And my other alarm clock is the sound of the pulley on the well. The sounds of Senegal and of my village no longer alarm me in the ways that they used to when I first arrived. But I wouldn't say that they are all comforting sounds.
Hi there, great blog, but looking for to the Conference one. I couldn't help but think after reading your books list that two go together. First is "Eating Animals", the second Leftovers! What's up with that? Had a great week with your folks and looking forward to going East to visit them. Love to you always, ME
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