3 more weeks of training!!!

I returned to Thies yesterday after a looong week of more language training. My language sky rocketed this week! I can have a conversation about anything now…its definitely not fluent but at least now I have a good grasp on the vocab and verb conjugations. The village was good last week but I am definitely happy to be back in the city. My sister Cuumbu is going back to school today. I am not very excited about that. She helps me with language more than anyone else. She is only 17 but I hang out with her a lot. EVERY girl my age is married and has about 3 kids we don’t really have much in common. I get questioned daily about why I don’t have a husband and children yet.
I finally have started be become more of a family member now instead of a guest. My sisters stopped cleaning my room and doing my laundry. It’s nice to finally have somewhat of a normal life. I will admit I miss them doing my laundry. Laundry takes hours and I can never get my clothes clean.
Today is the first day I have had to myself in a week. Most of the people from my stage went to Dakar for the day (the capital). I stayed back to get laundry done and chill for a day. It gets tiring living out of a bag and being on the go every day. After we get sworn in, I think things will slow down a lot. I will actually have a place I can unpack my clothes and call “home.” My hut in Dgiangle( my permanent village) is awesome too. Elizabeth is leaving tons of stuff there for me so I am hoping I will be able to just sort of move in and go.
This week we have a counterpart workshop. My counterparts from Dgiangle are coming for 4 days. I am unsure of what the counterpart workshop consists of but I am excited to spend more time with them to et to know them. I have only met them one time and I will be working with them for the next two years… if work goes as planned! I just found out we have to spend Wed, Thurs, and Fri night in our villages so our counterparts can stay in our rooms in the training center. We will be having class in the city but sleeping in the village. I think those days will be very tiring and long… it’s a lot of travelling just for sleep. My current village is about 40 minutes outside of Thies on a windy sand road. Hopefully the workshop goes well and it will be worth it.
It is finally starting to cool of…a little anyway. Two weeks ago it was 105 in the shade in my village. Now its about 95. Some days it gets hotter. I am still unsure of the weather pattern in Senegal but I think November, December, and January is “winter” here. I don’t think its fair to even use the word winter but you get my point. I have stopped sweating 24/7 and am getting used to the heat. I am reallllly looking forward to the cool weather that should be coming. The rainy season is slowly coming to an end. It has only rained twice this month and I won’t be surprised if we don’t get anymore until after the dry season.
I finally figured out how to upload photos…WOOHOOO. I am putting photos up at this very moment. I hope you all enjoy! I will be in the city for most of the week so I will be in touch very soon! Shout out to Angie and anyone else from HCH that tossed something into my package. I haven’t received it yet but the guard checks the mail on Mondays so hopefully this time tomorrow I will be eating goodies!!!!

new address

I have been trying to upload photos for a wek now and i cannot figure out what is going wrong. I would love to blame it on poor internet connection but that is not the problem.....Anyway, i will get photos up asap.

I am heading back to my village tomorrow for another week of intense language classes. I will be back in the city Saturday and will update the blog and add photos!!!! seriously this time.

Also, if anyone is interested in writing me, i have a new address. My new address will be
B.P. 64
Sokone, Senegal
West Africa.

That will be my permanent address here and it will take effect Nov 7. Mail takes a week or two so if you send anything after this week, mail it to my new address..please and thank you!!!
I just got back to Thies yesterday after spending a night at the beach in Dakar. All of th volunteers rented out a gorgeous house right by the ocean for a night. It was a much needed mini vaca. We were only there for about 24 hrs but it was well worht the trip. I have a nice tan now... Also, i got braids last week and now have long hair. :)
Back to reality and back to work. Hope to hear from you soon!!!

My new home!

I just got back to Thies yesterday. I spent the last week in Diangle (pronounced JOG lay). I will be moving there next month for two years. My village is the bomb.com. I really think I am one of the luckiest volunteers here. I am taking over for a girl named Elizabeth. Elizabeth has everything all lined out for me and I think I will be able to start working fairly early in my service. The first 6 months at site are usually spent just trying to build relationships with people in the community and volunteers often try to start looking for projects that have potential in the area. Elizabeth has done a great job in the last two years and there are several projects already in progress that hopefully I will be able to finish. After spending a week with her, I am really excited to get to my village. The set up there is GREAT! I will have my own hut with a fenced in backyard. The hut is about 4 meters x 4 meters and the yard is about the same. The family seems very laid back. I have two moms…Binta and Amie. There are A LOT of kids in my family. There are 5 children under 5 years old and my mother Amie is pregnant now. I think she is due in January/Febuaryish…. There are several other children in the family as well. I definitely don’t remember all of them but I think there are about 12 kids. I am slightly disappointed about the healthcare situation in my family. My little brothers and sisters are in serious need of medical attention. I think they are very wormy and lacking vitamins in their diets. After I move to my site, my first goal is the get my family healthy. My father is very intelligent. His name is Jokel. He is a great gardener. I feel that most of my work in the village will not be Ag related because many of the people there are great gardeners. My village has so much potential in other areas though. The young girls in my village have to grow up very fast. Many of them are sexually active or even have babies. Many of the girls are in their teens. I really want to get a women’s group started for these girls. I think there is a need for discussions about healthcare for their babies, STD’s/ HIV and most importantly contraception. Since Senegal is predominately Muslim (meaning very conservative), many of the above topics are never discussed.
Elizabeth also chose my counterparts for me. I met them both and am very please. My female counterpart is a woman around 50 years old. Her name is Janaba. Elizabeth worked closely with her and said she is very determined to get things done. As soon as I met Janaba, I knew I liked her. She is also a great gardener. My male counterparts is a man about 35 yr old named Ebu. He is a great gardener and is very intelligent. Ebu speaks English!! WOOHOOO!!! Elizabeth uses Ebu for advice about everything. He seems very trustworthy and I think he will be great to work with. Most volunteers don’t have their counterparts yet and usually it is just someone kind of random that is appointed. I am so grateful that Elizabeth took the time to choose counterparts for me that seem like they know whats up.
Also, a big international highway goes right past my village….so travelling is very easy. I live about 2 miles out of Sokone which is a town that has basically everything I will need including a post office and restaurants and such. There is a big campsite about a 15 minute walk from my hut. The camp site is a place for tourists. It has little cabin type buildings that can be rented out. There is a restaurant/bar there and also a beach. It looks like a great getaway from the village. There are mangroves all around the campsite and the village. It is so gorgeous. Mangroves are beautiful trees that grow in water.
Im pretty excited about what is to come. ….
Soo… last week I thought I had scabies.I had bumps that started out on my feet and continued to move up my legs and continue up my stomach and arms. After a week of trying everything, I am convinced I am allergic to something here and I just don’t know what it is yet. I have sensitive skin anyway, but this sucks. I have been downing Benadryl which has helped tremendously; however, Benadryl nocks ne out. If anyone wants to send me a package with some non-drowsy Benadryl and some Flintstone vitamins for my brothers and sisters, I would greatly appreciate it!!
Some funny statistics you may want to know about….
Number of times I had to get out and push the taxi I was riding in: 1
Number of times I have been lost in a taxi and the driver didn’t speak French or any other language I have ever heard of: 1
Number of marriage proposals: 4
Number of times I have thrown up: ZERO!!
Number of people from my group that have gone back to the States: Zero!!
Number of mice I have seen at any one time at the regional house: 4 LARGe mice and 2 babies

Sorry i have not responded to emails lately. I will be online sunday and will write back to everyone. until then..... Boojaklakes (goodbye in Sereer)

Village fun!

So many things to say dont knwo where to start. I just got back to Thies athis morning. We have had languag class alllll day here. Everything is going GREAT with my language class. I already tsted out of about half of everything i eed efore i can swear in. I only need to pass one more language test before nov 7th...i have a few more tests but only need to pass on more. I am kind of surprised at how wel i have done. The other guy learning Sereer has not been so lucky and is having LOTS of trouble with language.
Eveything in my village has been great...for te most part anyway. I have had SEVERAL bites on my legs and i cannot figure out why. I counted yesterday 78 bites from the knees down. They hurt and itch. I went to the doctor today and she thinks my room may be infested with something. Peace Corps officers are going there while i am gone to check it out. I think i will nd up getting a new atress out of it... mine sucks... so im pumped about that!!! I hope whatever i have clearsup in the next few days.

Yesterday wa Korite... a huge muslim holiday. Kind of equivalent to Christmas. Last night I went to a huge village party and EVERYONE danced all night. It was pretty cool to see some real african dancing in the village. It was outside in the middle of the sandy soccer field. They had one light that was working from a car battery. All the men played drums and other random home made musical instruments and the women danced. EVeryone dressed up in the nicest clothes possible. It was very cool. It wa like something you would se on national geographic.

Other than Korite, nothing too exciting has happened in my village. My parents are very nosy though...thats starting to get on my nerves a little. EVeryone know everything about everyone...if i stand up someone is always like...where are you going??? Its getting old but im getting used to it. My family has been very great to me and i think i eat better than most other trainees. I have meat a lot and many others never have it. I am happy Ramadan is over so now my family wont be fasting anymore. Im happy about that because they are in better moods and also i dont feel bad about eating breakfast and lunch. I am pretty happy in the village bt it is verrry good to be back in town and have electricity!!! :)

Tomorrow morning i am going to visit the village i will be living in for the next two years. I found out today tha i will be living in Diangle ( in Sokone). It is near the western coast of Senegal.... just north of Gambia. I heard that it is really great there and my village is right on a tributary!! WOOOHOOOOO!!! WATER! The girl there now has been very successful and will be leaving in a few weeks. I am taking over for her. I am excited about visiting her. I will be there until next Thursday...i think... I have been told i have a great site and should be happy... I am!

I will be back in Thies next week for a few days! Hope all is well with everyone reading this...take care!