“If one has a tongue, one is never lost.”

Journal Entry : 15 March 2012

Uncouth as it may be, I challenge you all to learn how to wipe with your left hand and a cup of water in one week.

… while squatting over a hole.

Yes, these new ways of doing things are bizarre, but I guess one has to learn quickly in the Peace Corps.

It feels like I’ve been here for mere moments and months at the same time. It doesn’t feel like it’s been a week though.

This week was non-stop classes and the following 8 weeks of my pre-service training will be very similar. There are 65 of us here and that includes 19 volunteers who will be serving in The Gambia (a small country on the coast within Senegal). We are being trained in various skills but the majority of us, including myself, are Health volunteers. There are quite a few Environmental volunteers in the group as well. We have been given a detailed schedule as to how the next 8 weeks will pass. Our training home-stays started yesterday. We got here and each city has been arranged according to the language we’ve been assigned.

We have had one language class since we arrived. One.

So we arrived at the center last week. They assessed our language skills in French.

Then, they decided where we will serve for the next two years.

Before we arrived, they found home-stay families who speak the language within an hour or so of the center.

Then we move out. Over the next 8 weeks we bounce between our host families and the training center constantly learning job skills, safety, culture, and language.

As there are many languages in Senegal, they have to divide us into very small groups have been given a dialect of the Pulaar language called Pullo Fuuta. This dialect is spoken mostly in the very southern region of Senegal and Guinea.

Again, I got to my host family last night and I have had ONE class.

During that one class though, one of our tutors had a lovely little Pullo Fuuta saying to add,

“If one has a tongue, one is never lost.”

Only time will tell how true this will be for me and I have a lot to learn. My French can only get me so far here. I’m excited to say though that I will get to serve in the tropical south of Senegal rather than the deserty north. Albeit, I won’t know my actual site of service until mid-April.

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I will be sure to inform you. I arrived at my homestay last night and I must tell you that I cannot even tell you their names yet. I have a lot of Pullo Fuuta to learn. I have a lot of gardening to practice (more on that soon). I have a lot of listening to do.

Next time, I’ll try to explain the family dynamic… if I can.

Until then,

Jam Tuŋ – Peace Only

I can feel it coming.

Here it goes everyone. Sorry for the delay in posts. I must get in a better habit of writing  – aka New Years Res 2012 (along with read 50 books, which will be a ton easier with my new kindle *thanks mom and dad*).

I just got off the phone from scheduling my flight and I officially leave on March 5, 2012 at 10:30am from Detroit. I’ll be landing in DC and doing non-stop orientation until we leave for Senegal on March 6! Wahoo!

Four short weeks and I’m out of here!  The bags are currently being packed and the going away parties are all arranged. My last day of work is tomorrow and unfortunately that means I’ve been mentally checked out of my job for the past month. I mean, really, who actually works that hard in the last two weeks anyway. So here it all comes. So many things to think about.

My friends all seem to be in denial. I understand, they don’t like me talking about it. BUT IT’S HERE PEOPLE! GET HAPPY!

This month is going to be amazing and I hope to see everyone at least once before I leave.  Of course, I’m hoping that this blog gets much more interesting after I arrive in Senegal, but I’ll be sure to leave periodic updates over the next few weeks.

Until then – À Bientôt!