Killer Bee for Tambaween

What do Peace Corps Volunteers do for Halloween? Spend weeks (or in my case a day) making fabulous handmade costumes and then head down to Tamba for the ultimate Halloween party, Tambaween. From Gaga to the Joker, N'ice Cream girls to Troll Dolls, and Black Swan to Tron we had all types of costumes represented. The nice people of Tamba opened their beautifully decorated house to us and we had an awesome time partying the night away.

These past couple of months haven't been too eventful. After getting sick again (super annoying) and spending another week in Dakar I was extremely happy to get back to village. Rainy season seems to be over, although it is still hot and humid. A lot of volunteers call this the "little hot season". Hopefully it will start cooling down a bit in about a month, although the evenings haven't been too bad. I have mostly just been hanging out with my family, helping them in the fields and playing with my adorable nephews 7 month old Ibou and 1 1/2 year old Pa Dam. School just started back up again and I am working with the school director to start a garden and some other projects at my primary school. My compound has also grown as two of my younger sisters, my 8 year old niece and a teacher who works at the school have all come back from summer vacation. It's nice to have a lot of activity and people to hang out with. Most evenings involve my sisters trying to get me to dance or sing Senegalese songs and end in hysterical laughter. I have started running regularly in the mornings. It is so nice and peaceful to go for a run along the bush road to Kaffrine with the sun rising and a slight mist in the air. It really clears my head and gives me new energy.

A few days ago we had our Health/Environmental Education summit in Thies for two days. My whole stage and the Health/EE stage before came together to discuss projects, best practices, and to bounce ideas off each other.  It was the perfect amount of time and we got a lot done. Of course it was not all work and no play, there was trivia and the fabulousness that is the goat cheese pizza at Pamandas. Overall it was a really good few days.

Since being in Kaolack at the regional house for a few days between the summit and Halloween I have been cooking quite a bit. My newest obsession is food blogs and I have taken some of those recipes (often altering them based on the available ingredients) and created some delish dishes. I have made a chickpea and tomato salad, potato salad, amazing tuna and cheese and salami sandwiches, pesto pasta with tomatoes, and wonderful spanish omelets. I can't wait to try some new recipes and make up some of my own next time I am in town. If you have any suggestions, be sure to let me know! (I also just updated my wishlist, hint hint.)

I cannot believe it is already November! Enjoy the fall weather for me and remember to send me updates! I love hearing about what everyone is up to. Thanks to my wonderful parents I now have a new camera and I promise I will post pictures of my village and family soon!

Infections, Esphogatis, Amoebas, Oh My!

It's been a while since my last post and a lot has happened in good ole Senegal. Ramadan was going well except for this infection on my foot that I had for the past month in a half. Luckily I got some antibiotics and it started to finally heal, however not soon after I developed chest pains and was not feeling too hot. After spending a week in Dakar at the med hut the doctors decided I had esphogatis. Apparently the fasting had perpetuated it, causing the acid in my stomach to come into contact with my esophagus which is quite painful. Thankfully after getting medication and rest it feels fine. I came back to village at the end of Ramadan, after an adventure in Senegalese transportation. I should have known not to travel the day before a Senegalese holiday, in this case Korite. Korite is the celebration after the end of Ramadan and people are traveling home to celebrate the end of fasting and eat delicious food. I took a "mini car" since there were no actual cars at the garage and crammed in a small van with 18 other people. After five breakdowns, the sliding door falling off twice (had to tie it with rope to keep it shut, then they just took it off completely and put it on the roof) switching vehicles, and 7 hours later I finally made it to Kaolack. After spending the night in Kaolack I headed to Kaffrine the next morning. I was so glad to be back in village to see my family and celebrate with them. I helped my sister and sister-in-law cook lunch, which is the special meal of the day. We had sheep meat, macaroni in a garlic and onion sauce, french fries and bread. It was so good, the best meal I have had in village thus far! The rest of the day was spent relaxing, listening to music on the radio and just joking around. Later that evening children went around the village and asked for small change, kind of like Halloween in the States, and people apologize to each other for their transgressions, making a fresh start for the new year.

After Ramadan I was happy to be able to start a few small projects. Since the moringa tournee was coming to my village I went to my Caste de Sante and had the villagers dig two intensive beds and plant three trees. In my broken Wolof I attempted to explain the importance of double digging, adding amendments to the soil like manure, green matter, and ash, and planting and watering. The villagers were very receptive and did all the work themselves. A few days later two Peace Corps volunteers came to my village to do the second part of the tournee. We had a good gathering of women, children and even a few men. Under the huge neem tree in front of my family's compound we talked about how to harvest the moringa leaves, wash, and dry them. Then we explained the nutritional content of the leaves and why it was especially good for children. We had visual aids to help explain all the information, which my host mom promptly asked for so she could make her own visual aids and teach the information herself. It was really inspiring to know that the people learned something and were really motivated to use the what they had learned. We then made moringa powder from the leaves and cooked up a simple porridge using ingredients that are easily accessible in village. The porridge was a huge success and everyone loved it! My family and community were so happy and enthusiastic the whole day and I really felt that they were interested in what we had to say and will hopefully use moringa powder in the future in their own households.

The next two days after the very successful information session I participated in a baby weighing at the Caste de Sante (village health post). World Vision, who has an office in Kaffrine, trains a local to administer the baby weighing and record the results. I hung out all day with one of the midwifes and another worker and we weighed the babies and took their arm circumference to make sure they are not malnourished. I was in charge of putting the babies in the harness for the scale that hangs from a tree provided by UNICEF. Some of the babies could care less and just dangled complacently, while others screamed and cried and swung themselves attempting to get away from the scary toubab (white person). Overall it was really interesting and I got to see first hand how healthy the children in my village are. While we only had two babies in the red out of about 50 we still had quite a few in the yellow. After the baby weighing World Vision hosts a week long nutritional session for babies that are malnourished or on the cusp. This offers the children and their mothers healthy food as well as lessons on proper nutrition and resources. It's really a great program that I hope to become more involved in.

After my busy week I spent time with my family just hanging out and doing some of their day to day activities with them. I went to the field with my moms and sister and I even carried my five month old nephew Ibou on my back, just like a Senegalese woman! Everyone loved it and thought it was hilarious! The main crops in my area are peanuts and millet. Everyone is busy trying to keep up with the huge amount of weeds from the rainy season and harvesting. Last Saturday however, I got sick again! This time I have amoebas, a stomach parasite that is pretty common among volunteers in Senegal. I am in the regional house on the meds now and recovering. It's been a tough month health wise, but I feel like I am finally getting to do some real work and it has been so rewarding. My next projects are to paint some nutritional murals at the Caste de Sante and start a garden at the primary school in October when school starts up again. It is hard to believe that I have been in Senegal six months already. The days are long, but the weeks and months just seem to fly past.

Thank you to everyone who has sent me letters, cards, packages, messages, love and good thoughts my way. It is very much appreciated.

Bismillah Ramadan

Ramadan is in full swing now. This means no eating or drinking from sunrise until sunset for a month. Let me tell you, it’s exhausting! I have been fasting with my family, although I still drink water, and I don’t do too much during the day. This is the busiest time of year for my family as they are planting and taking care of their fields. It is a lot of physical labor which is extremely difficult while fasting. Not eating hasn’t been too hard, it’s mostly the lack of energy. Breaking fast is a lot of fun, though. It’s like this exciting event that everyone looks forward to. As soon as the Mosque loudspeaker goes off at around 7:30 everyone rushes to drink water. The traditional way to break fast here in Senegal is with dates, bread, and café Touba. In my family we usually have these things and then we might have mangoes or a special fruit drink like bissap juice. We then eat “lunch” at around 8:30 or 9 and the food is extra special and delicious. My family then has dinner at around midnight but thus far I have not stayed up for that. Breakfast is at 5 am, before the sun comes up. I think my family views my fasting in a mixture of surprise and appreciation.  They love to ask me each day if I am going to fast and tell me how hard it is. I give them a lot of credit.

After IST ended in Thies I travelled to Dakar for a couple of days of relaxation. We pretty much spent those few days eating and drinking. It was fabulous to have good food, friends, electricity, running water, and even the occasional air conditioning. Going back to village after having these amenities and being away for so long was a little tough. Re-adjusting to the pace of village life took some time. I spend most of my time reading, doing laundry, hanging out with my family and chatting, helping in the fields, and helping with the women’s group. Last week an NGO that works with my village women’s group opened a brand new building with solar dryers for food production. I observed their training in how to properly use and maintain the dryers as well as food processing and packaging. It was impressive to see all these women working together and be so proud in their new white uniforms. Hopefully it will be a sustainable project and be profitable for the women’s group. I am eager to see what happens.

I am currently in Kaolack for a moringa nutritional training. The Kaolack region is doing a Moringa Tournee which means going to 25 different villages throughout Kaolack, Kaffrine, and Fatick in two parts. Part I, which was last month, was teaching the communities how to prepare and maintain two intensive moringa beds. Part II, in September, will be a nutritional training on how to properly use the moringa leaves, why it is nutritionally valuable, and to make something to eat then and there. Moringa is a native tree here in Senegal and the leaves are full of vitamins and other nutritional benefits. It’s actually quite amazing when broken down: 17 times the calcium in milk, 10 times the vitamin A in carrots, 4 times the protein of eggs, 15 times the potassium in bananas! We are really trying to get communities to utilize this type of tree more to help reduce malnutrition and other nutritional deficits. I am really excited to do this training in my village and hopefully get people to grow and use moringa.

*I lost my camera when I was in Kedougou, so no more pictures for a while :(

'Merica: Celebrating Independence the Classy Way



Celebrating American Independence



This pretty much sums it up



Got a little dirty on the way to the waterfalls...oompa loompa anyone?



Beautiful waterfall at Dindefelo





The fun car

 

Yes there are green, lushy parts of Senegal



For the 4th of July there is a big Peace Corps party down South in Kedougou. It was quite the event and a lot of fun. I came down with my stage mates from my region on the second, as it takes the majority of the day to get there. The farther south we went the more green it became. Trees, bushes, and hills oh my! It's like a different country down there. We saw warthogs and baboons too! We stayed at a "hotel", hut style, but hey it had running water and a pool! The third was spent poolside with an attempt at tubing down the Gambian river. No such luck with hippo sightings, but enjoyable none the less. May or may not have picked up a tropical disease though. Anyway the next day headed over to the regional house around noon. Volunteers from all over the country were gathered to celebrate our great nation's day of independence, in style of course. We had traditional American food including pulled pork, potato salad, baked beans, and cole slaw. Drinks included the lovely g-sap a concoction of bisapp juice and gin and of course beer. The party lasted into the night with a display of fireworks at the end, a true American holiday in Senegal.

The next day a group of us traveled to the waterfalls at dindefelo. When we got there three of us were covered in the reddish orange dirt that had sprayed up through the window from the road. It was hilarious. We looked like we had orange spray tans. Snooki would have been jealous. The walk to the waterfall was beautiful, so much vegetation! Once we got to the waterfall it was so cool and serene. The water was excellent, perfect for cooling off. Overall the trip to Kedougou was excellent.

Since the fourth I have been hanging out with the village still just doing the same old stuff. I snuck in a trip to Dakar to see my friend Emily before she left on medical release to the states. It was great to see her and hang out for a couple of days, but so sad to say goodbye. The food was glorious, however. Going to a real grocery store was like Christmas. Last Sunday my fellow volunteers and I who completed the five week challenge went to our country director's house for dinner. It was fabulous. Not only did we get to just hang out and relax in a nice air-conditioned house, but we had breakfast, lunch, and dinner. From coronas, quesadillas, and guacamole to mashed potatoes, fried chicken, and salad we stuffed our faces on so much food and dessert. It was the strangest combination but so good. After the dinner we all came back to Thies where we are currently doing our in-service training for two weeks. We have sessions all day on different technical trainings, which has been really great and motivating. I am excited to implement some of these ideas and projects when I get back to my village. Low and behold it is the start of the rainy season and let me tell you humidity and I do not mix, what happened to the dry heat? There are mosquitoes everywhere and everyone has these crazy rashes or infections! Yikes! One more week in Thies and then I am off to Dakar for some relaxation before Ramadan.

A Sheep Ate My Homework

Five week challenge accomplished! Its been a whirlwind since swear-in back in May. When I arrived in my village for install I was greeted by a large group of villagers in front of my family's compound drumming and dancing. It was a bit overwhelming at first to be thrust into a new village and new family, especially with my lack of Wolof skills. I am happy to say my new family is great and I really like them. After the first couple of weeks with them I felt comfortable and at home. I have a Dad and two Moms with siblings ranging from ages 30- 13, 2 nephews and 1 niece. There are 12 people living in my family compound with five huts people live in, one storage hut, one kitchen hut, and one new hut. We have a lot of sheep (including two new-borns), goats, chickens, ducks, pigeons, a cat, and a parrot. My hut is pretty large compared to the other huts and consists of concrete floor and walls with a thatched roof. I have my own private backyard with latrine where I have my tree nursery and eventually my garden. I have been doing home improvement projects to my hut: cement work, installing screen doors, painting, and decorating. My hut now feels like a home!

Most of my days are pretty uneventful and usually consist of me sitting just outside the family compound under the huge Neem tree. I either chat with my family, read, study Wolof, or just sit. The worst part of the five weeks have been lack of activities. The combination of boredom and unbearable heat have been killer. For meals I eat breakfast on my own which usually consists of bread with peanut butter or a bean sandwich. Lunch and dinner I eat with my family. Sometimes I go to the field with my brother or moms and do some gardening, which is nice. I have visited a few other villages nearby as well. I spend most of my time reading, which is really nice. My favorite time of day is in the evening when its breezy and cool. There's no electricity in my village so the stars are very bright and clear, very peaceful.

One day as I was sitting under the tree outside the compound my Dad comes over and hands me a chewed up corner of a paper and says that the sheep got into my hut. Apparently they just strolled right in scavenging for food and decided my Peace Corps security form looked tasty. They devoured all six pages! For once the excuse became a reality. The animals just seem to love me here in Senegal, first a hedge hog, now sheep and lizards, mice and assortment of bugs make daily visits.

This past week I traveled to my friend CJ's village to meet up with her and two other volunteers in my language group for a four day language seminar. It was nice to get away and hang out with some Americans. We worked on our Wolof, milked some cows, and pulled water from the well, all in all a good week. On Friday we headed to Kaolack to spend the weekend at the regional house to celebrate the end of the five week challenge. It is so nice to have electricity, internet, showers, and regular food! I have been stuffing myself with cheese and salami sandwiches, banana bread, and amazing calzones! I head back to village tomorrow after a relaxing weekend with my fellow volunteers.

 

Carrying water from the well





Milking my first cow




Not easy to milk a cow!




CJ with a day old calf




First storm of the rainy season in Kaolack




Calzones!



First Two Months (PST)

Here are pictures from my first two months in Senegal, for those of you that don't have facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100325764771682.2752788.10139051&l=dda972da0b

This is our swear-in ceremony in Dakar:

Rockin a Purple Bike

Not only am I now an official Peace Corps volunteer, but I also have a sweet purple bike. On Friday we had our swearing in ceremony at the Ambassador's house in Dakar. The house is huge and very nice. We left Thies early in the morning decked out in our finest Senegalese gear to get to Dakar by 10. The ceremony was two hours long with speeches from our Country Director, Training Manager, Ambassador, Assistant Peace Corps Director for Health & EE, as well as a trainee from each language group. There were a lot of people at the event including all us trainees, some current and returned volunteers, Peace Corps staff, all of our Language and Culture Facilitators (LCFs) and people from USAID. We took our oath as volunteers and then gorged ourselves on delicious cocktail food outside including quiche, mini tea sandwiches, meats of all varieties, fatatas, and dessert! It was epic (especially those chocolate drizzled cream puffs). After the ceremony we headed over to the American Club for pool lounging and drinking. White wine has never tasted so good!

These last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. We had our Counterpart Workshop, said goodbye to our PST families with a big party at the center, got our bikes, took our final language test, and packed up. It was hard to say goodbye to the center (food and internet) and my friends that will be going to different regions. Luckily we will all be reunited in July for our two week in-service training (IST) in Thies. Let the shenanigans continue!

I am currently in Kaolack at the regional house waiting to be installed into my new village on Wednesday. I will spend the next couple of days hanging out at the house and shopping for everything I will need for village life. I can't wait to pimp my hut! I have a lot of plans for that little mud house. I will also be staying in my village for five weeks (inshallah) in order to complete the "five week challenge" with the reward of dinner at the PC Director's house, and I guess integration too. We'll see if I can survive! I'll be going in the bush for a while so communication might be even worse than I have already made it, but feel free to call or text (or email) as I'll still have cell service!

A Note on Mail

Mail in Senegal is a bit interesting. Letters seem to take about 2 weeks or less, packages are another story. Usually packages take about 3-4 weeks to arrive, but of course that is not always the case. From talking to other volunteers the cheapest option for packages are the international flat rate boxes. Paded envelopes are also nice because they are cheaper and take only about 2 weeks. For packages be vague about what's inside like: papers, toiletries, candy, etc. If you are mailing something expensive hide it in something else. Packages coming into Senegal are always opened no matter what and I pay to pick them up. Ususally it is a set sum, but if it is really heavy or has more expensive items it costs more. I am leaving the training center in a few days, so don't send anything to that address. I am still trying to figure out what my new address will be in Kaffrine and I will post it as soon as I know. Thanks for all of the love, it is very much appreciated!

I'm going to Kaffrine!

These past weeks have been pretty busy going back and forth to the training center in Thies and my home stay visit ин Bayakh. There has been so much going on, including the unveiling of our permanent sites! We all went out to the basketball court in the training center where there is a map of Senegal and were blindfolded. Current volunteers and staff put us on a spot on the map, then we all took off our blindfolds and saw where we will be for the next two years. I am going to a village called Toune. It is in the region of Kafrine and about 4k north of the city of Kafrine. Kafrine (the region) is actually a sub-region of Kaolack that also includes Fatick, making the greater-region of Kaolack (Kaolack, Fatick, and Kafrine) the biggest region in terms of Peace Corps volunteers. There will now be over fifty in the region, which is great for collaboration. The regional house is in the city of Kaolack and Kafrine is about an hour and a half away by car, so not too bad. Last week we went on volunteer visits to stay with a current volunteer that we will either be replacing or that is near our site. I am not replacing a volunteer currently, however my site has had two past volunteers a while ago.

I stayed with a nearby volunteer for five days and saw where she lived, what she does on a day to day basis, and what kind of projects she is doing. It was a bit overwhelming at first to just be thrown in, but at the same time very helpful to get an idea of where will be going, how we will live, and transportation. There were definitely some crazy moments getting acclimated to everything and traveling in Senegal. Let me tell you, getting around is not the easiest thing to do. On one of the days my host volunteer and I took a charette (horse-drawn cart) to my village and met my new host family. I have a father who has two wives (very common in Senegal) and various animals around. I am not sure yet who else lives in the compound as we were only there for a short period of time and people are constantly coming and going. I did get to see my hut! It's a mud hut with a thatched roof. Pretty big actually (all relative of course). It has a cement floor, front door, back door, window, and that's about it! I have a decent sized private backyard where my douche (hole in the ground) is. There is no electricity or running water in my compound, which will be interesting!

My family seems nice, yet I did little to no communicating after realizing that my Wolof is terrible, plus they speak salam salam Wolof, meaning a southern dialect that is much different from other regions. Hopefully in the next month I will get better. I definitely plan to get a language tutor once I install in village. I am excited to set up my hut and paint to make it pretty! I think my family and community are happy to have a PC volunteer in their village. One of my host moms even gave me a hug! It was crazy to see the place where I will be living and working for the rest of my service. I am lucky that I am so close to a city that has internet, shops, a bar, and other amenities. While I am the only trainee from my stage going to the region of Kafrine there are a lot of current volunteers in and around the city of Kafrine. I am looking forward to working with them on various projects across all sectors.

Our regional house is in the city of Kaolack and is pretty big and nice. There are a total of 9 trainees going to the greater-Kaolack region, so we all got to spend the night and hang out at the house with the current volunteers. The house has a kitchen with refrigerator and freezer, there are showers and toilets, internet, and even a TV! It's a pretty sweet house and will be a great place to escape to when village life gets tough! The city of Kaolack, on the other hand, is intense. A lot of people, really crowded market, and a ridiculous garage. It was so overwhelming to go anywhere in that place! There are, however, two Toubab (foreigner) shops which is awesome. My volunteer and I were able to get the ingredients to make burritos! They were amazing! I am also happy that my region is so centrally located. Kaolack is only about 2 hours from Thies and about 4-5 hours from Dakar, which is really nice considering some people had to travel up to 12 hours to get to their sites!

Today we got to go to Dakar for the first time! It was crazy, so different than any other place I have seen since being here. A mix between poverty and luxury. We got to go to the beautiful PC office and had a tour and meet a lot of the staff. We briefly went out into the city with third-year volunteers working in Dakar and got ice cream (yum)! We then went to the "American Club", and exclusive country club for Westerners that serves American food and has a nice swimming pool. It was sweet! I plan to make frequent trips to lounge by the pool and have club sandwiches. We had a couple different sessions there and then headed to the police station to get work permits. It was cool to finally see Dakar, but we were there for a short period of time. I will be happy to go back and really explore the city. Tomorrow we are headed back to our home stay sites and will be there for 5 days. We only have a little less than a month left! Swear-in is May 13th. So much, yet so little time!

What a say say

Yes I have discovered the name for joker in Wolof (say say), the funny thing is its a common expression here. So of course I use it on a daily basis!
I am back at the training center after my first week at our homestay sites. My village is called Bayakh, it's relatively small, one main road with little stands and shops lining the sides. I am living with a Senegalese family and they are awesome! I feel so lucky to have been placed with them. I have a mother, father and nine siblings. My two older sisters no longer live at home, they are married with their own families. I have three older brothers around my age and then two sisters and a brother ranging from around twelve to sixteen. The youngest is a boy who is about five and so adorable even if he is a little bit naughty. The family was very welcoming when I arrived last Monday. I have my own room with a bed and desk. I even feel spoiled because we have electricity most of the time and running water, plus a shower head! No bucket baths for me (yet)! The "toilet" is a bit interesting to get used to, but so far it has been fine.
I have five other girls living in my village. We spend most of the day in class learning language, cultural customs, and working on our garden at the primary school. In Senegal people speak a number of local languages including Wolof, and those that go to school are taught only in French. Some people know a little bit of english, but it is usually just a few phrases or what they have heard through American music. The funniest thing is how much TV everyone watches, whether it be Indian soap operas, futbol, or Senegalese wrestling matches!
The biggest challenge by far is communication. I have retained little french and have barely began Wolof, so it is very interesting trying to talk to my family and convey what I need. Overall though, the experience has been positive. I learn more everyday and say a few phrases and words in Wolof to my family's delight. A lot of time I just hang out and listen to their conversations and try to pick up a word here or there. They laugh a lot and encourage me to learn more words. My main form of communication is a lot of thumbs up, nodding, smiling, laughing or shrugging my shoulders. It is hard, but definitely not unbearable. Our next trip back to the village on Wednesday will be the real test as we will spend 12 nights there before we come back to the Training Center. It will be a lot of back and forth from the center to village over the next 8 weeks.
Overall everything is going well and I will be happy to really learn the language and be able to communicate more effectively.

Officially a Toubab

I am officially in Senegal! My training group is Health/Environmental Education and there are 48 trainees. I am doing EE, but there is a lot of overlap with health. So far it feels like a weird mixture between kindergarten and college. Staging in DC was pretty quick with a crash course on PC policies, safety and what not. The flight over to Dakar was not bad, only about 7 hours. We are currently in the Thies training center, a large compound of different buildings within the city. Our first day we had different informational sessions about our three months of pre-service training (PST) which includes components in language, technical, health, and culture. We also had three interviews in tech, language, and health to help the staff decide where to place us for our permanent sites. The first couple of days we were not allowed to leave the training center and it was kind of like vacation. The weather is so nice, cool in the mornings and evenings (borderline cold) and warm during the days. Most down time is spent in the open-air "Disco Hut" enjoying the weather and hanging out. The food is awesome, but we are totally being spoiled, as the food will not be as good once we leave the training center. In the morningg it is a baguette and tea, lunch is usually some kind of rice with vegetables and a protein with the most amazing sauces. Lunch is served in a giant bowl on a mat on the floor where everyone crowds around and eats with a spoon. There are so many rules that go along with eating, I hope I don't offend anyone! Dinners are usually more americanized, but good. The dishes all have a little spice to them, making them extra tasty! Tomorrow we go to our homestay sites for about 2 1/2 months. We all found out today what language we will be learning and what village we will be in near Thies. I will be learning Wolof, the most popular language in Senegal and I will be in a village of about 700 people with 5 other volunteers. Our site is near the beach and a lake, so I am super excited about that! It will be very intersting being thrown in with a Senegalese family, with little French and hardly any Wolof. I know some of the many greetings necessary everyday, but that's about it! Wish me luck, hopefully I will survive the week!

Two Weeks

Well it is two weeks before I am on my way to DC for staging. I have stopped working at the Farm and BBW, it really just feels like a break. I am busy trying to get everything done before I go. I have a long list of what I need to buy from a netbook to a headlamp, it's an interesting compilation of what my life will be like living in West Africa. I am excited to start this new adventure, but it is hard to think about it with so much to do and so many people to see before I go. I am happy that I will be able to spend a couple days with Taylor in DC before I head off for Senegal. I am trying to eat as much as possible before I leave, especially mexican food. I guess I will get used to dried fish!