Wow, so… what to say? I’ve been here a few weeks, I’m living with a host family now, and I’ve had more ups and downs than I can count. Seriously every day is like a roller coaster. Language class is constant and I’m apparently slow at learning languages (compared to a lot of people here anyway). Sorry if this seems a bit discombobulated or anything, I’m typing on someone else’s computer (because I know where the keys are) and there’s kind of a time limit on here as well.
My family is nice, very well intentioned but they haven’t hosted a volunteer before so that presents some frustration for all of us, but I suppose it will be worth it in the end. They gave me a table last weekend for my room so all my stuff doesn’t have to stay on the floor, though most of it is anyway. Oh well. It was super nice of them to give that to me and they are being so patient with me, though I’m guessing their patience is running a bit low since I’m a slow learner.
One major plus is I bike to and from training every day, which is great for my body because I eat rice, couscous, carbs carbs carbs and sit in class a lot. It feels amazing, though with the wind blowing in my face the whole way, it’s a definite work out. Luckily for everyone here as well as myself, I can shower at the center in the morning. J This is all I have time for today, but let me know what questions you have and I’ll try to answer them next week. P.S. people here have started talking about American food and I’m starting to miss it… just letting you know in case you had a betting pool going as to how long that might take.
Oh, and I'm learning to eat with my hands... especially with my right as it is not culturally acceptable to feed yourself with your left. A challenge for a lefty like me but I'm learning :) We all eat out of a community bowl on the floor, washing our hands off before and after. Just a bit of info to give you a glimpse of daily life since I'm not sure what else to include. And to restate what my mom has already said, your words of support and just knowing you care have been very helpful on my hard days and I have those frequently... You guys rock!
One more thing; I know a lot of you have been asking what you can send, what I need, etc. so just to respond to that, pictures are awesome! I cannot print them here so e;mailing them is nice but sending them is better :) and letters, and drink mixes so I do not have to drink water that tqstes like a pool... um... i can get bug spray here but Deet is nice. And just anything I can keep with me to remember you by!
*hugs*
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
It Begins...
Hello! Assalah Naalekum! (na lay kume) Which is the greeting we’ve learned in our “Survival Wolof” class so we can talk with our families a bit when we move in with them for training. So far we’re at the training centre for the most part, though we did go to the market today, which was SO overwhelming. I’ll tell you about that in a bit, but let’s start from the beginning:
Our day of travel on Wednesday was incredibly long, especially since I didn’t sleep on the plane from NY to Brussels, but at least I slept some from Brussels to Dakar. By the way, my phone doesn’t work here and didn’t in Brussels either so I won’t be able to get calls until I get a Senegalese phone from one of their companies. I was going to change my voice mail to say I am out of the country, but that won’t happen since I can’t even get service now. Oh well.
Anyway, we got in around midnight to Dakar. It was pretty crowded, and the way to the training center was interesting, though I slept through most of that as well. We had a welcome committee waiting for us with some “spaghetti” which I use loosely only due to the sauce. It was sort of like chili, but good nonetheless especially after over 24 hrs of traveling. All of the food has been very tasty, though I’ve heard it can vary a lot once we leave the center. We slept in until about nine the next morning and Friday was… interesting. I was incredibly overwhelmed, but right before dinner they did a “tam tam” which meant we had drummers come to the centre drums played music. A boy was teaching us how to dance and teaching us songs to sing. It was an amazing feeling being involved (they wouldn’t let us just stand there) and I felt SO much better after that. I think everyone did. Everything’s been pretty positive since then and I know there will be more difficult times, but it’s nice to know that won’t last forever.
One of the things that had me all frazzeled Friday was my French interview to see what my skills are. I was nervous, she busted out a tape recorder and I couldn’t think! My vocabulary and sentence structure was incredibly juvenile but at least I’ll show improvement later. It’s actually hard to think when people speak to you here, getting used to the language, people, culture, etc all at the same time. I also had my placement interview with Malik, who is the director of the medical program and we discussed me possibly working with other volunteers who are working in other projects like agriculture. I’m stoked about this because growing a garden would be a great way to combat malnutrition! But I don't have much of a green thumb...
As I type this I’m sitting in the “disco hut” with a bunch of other volunteers, hanging out in the wonderful fresh air and will be saving this on my zip drive because I can type faster on this computer and I know where the keys are. This whole experience is pretty great and I seriously can’t wait to get started and know the language for real. We went to the market today and it was overwhelming, but our trainers and safety officer warned us about pickpockets and things to watch for. People look at us skeptically until we greet them, then they smile. Apparantly that is the best way to make friends and ensure safety, it’s as simple as saying hello to as many people as possible. I ate lunch with my right hand today… my left hand is getting a break from life for a bit as far as interacting with others. It’s hard to remember though.
I’m not sure what else to include, so if you have questions, let me know and I’ll do my best to answer them. I wish my journal had carbon copy pages… I’ve been writing in it every night so far and there’s too much to put down so I’m sure I’ve left out something interesting. I miss you, but trying not to think of home too much! We have Sundays off so I will do my best to check in each week or so. I can’t believe I’ve only been here 3 days…
Our day of travel on Wednesday was incredibly long, especially since I didn’t sleep on the plane from NY to Brussels, but at least I slept some from Brussels to Dakar. By the way, my phone doesn’t work here and didn’t in Brussels either so I won’t be able to get calls until I get a Senegalese phone from one of their companies. I was going to change my voice mail to say I am out of the country, but that won’t happen since I can’t even get service now. Oh well.
Anyway, we got in around midnight to Dakar. It was pretty crowded, and the way to the training center was interesting, though I slept through most of that as well. We had a welcome committee waiting for us with some “spaghetti” which I use loosely only due to the sauce. It was sort of like chili, but good nonetheless especially after over 24 hrs of traveling. All of the food has been very tasty, though I’ve heard it can vary a lot once we leave the center. We slept in until about nine the next morning and Friday was… interesting. I was incredibly overwhelmed, but right before dinner they did a “tam tam” which meant we had drummers come to the centre drums played music. A boy was teaching us how to dance and teaching us songs to sing. It was an amazing feeling being involved (they wouldn’t let us just stand there) and I felt SO much better after that. I think everyone did. Everything’s been pretty positive since then and I know there will be more difficult times, but it’s nice to know that won’t last forever.
One of the things that had me all frazzeled Friday was my French interview to see what my skills are. I was nervous, she busted out a tape recorder and I couldn’t think! My vocabulary and sentence structure was incredibly juvenile but at least I’ll show improvement later. It’s actually hard to think when people speak to you here, getting used to the language, people, culture, etc all at the same time. I also had my placement interview with Malik, who is the director of the medical program and we discussed me possibly working with other volunteers who are working in other projects like agriculture. I’m stoked about this because growing a garden would be a great way to combat malnutrition! But I don't have much of a green thumb...
As I type this I’m sitting in the “disco hut” with a bunch of other volunteers, hanging out in the wonderful fresh air and will be saving this on my zip drive because I can type faster on this computer and I know where the keys are. This whole experience is pretty great and I seriously can’t wait to get started and know the language for real. We went to the market today and it was overwhelming, but our trainers and safety officer warned us about pickpockets and things to watch for. People look at us skeptically until we greet them, then they smile. Apparantly that is the best way to make friends and ensure safety, it’s as simple as saying hello to as many people as possible. I ate lunch with my right hand today… my left hand is getting a break from life for a bit as far as interacting with others. It’s hard to remember though.
I’m not sure what else to include, so if you have questions, let me know and I’ll do my best to answer them. I wish my journal had carbon copy pages… I’ve been writing in it every night so far and there’s too much to put down so I’m sure I’ve left out something interesting. I miss you, but trying not to think of home too much! We have Sundays off so I will do my best to check in each week or so. I can’t believe I’ve only been here 3 days…
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