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!