We have officially been in country for one month now! That is a crazy thought. My friend Katie and I were talking about how it has felt like one long week. It has been an emotional roller coaster. We began our journey to Senegal on March 6th in Washington D.C. The farewell to my parents and Gus was so hard to do. However, I still got to talk to them that night and I got to see Chris, my brother, in D.C. Once again though, very hard to say goodbye to him and Laura. Staging was good nothing to interesting but it was nice to finally be around people that were having the exact same feelings as I was. We left from Dulles airport on March 7th to start our adventure to Africa. Taking off was the most nervous I think I have ever felt, knowing that I was leaving the U.S. for possibly two years.
Landing was a mixture of emotions, excitement, nervousness, worry, joy, relief. We were met off the plane by Peace Corps staff which was all very surreal. We got on buses in Dakar just as the sun was coming off and drove off to Thies. We got to Thies, where the training center is, and had a very warm welcome. We weren't allowed to leave the training center for the first few days which was fine with me because I didn't know any of the local language at the time. I know a little bit of french but nothing that I was too confident going out by myself and using. However, we finally did leave the training center and current Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV's) gave us a tour around Thies. We went through the market and went to the toubab store and finally sat down at a restaurant where I used my french for the first time ever! I was completely overwhelmed by this whole experience. I didn't want anyone to talk to me because I wouldn't know what they were saying so I just didn't look at anyone on the street. Everyone was looking at us though.
The next big event was being assigned a language and homestay location. For most people, depending on your language you can guess the area of the country your permanent site will be. However, I got Wolof, which I am super excited about, I just don't have a clue as to where in the country I may be because it is one of the main languages and spoken all over the country. Wolof though, is one of the easier languages to learn and also more widely used in Senegal. We began classes that day. My LCF's name is Regina and she is fabulous. There are three other people in my language group Cristina, Maureen, and Margaret. All of which I like and have enjoyed having with me. We are currently living in Tivaouane, which is a beautiful town.
Two days after beginning our language we left for our community based training or CBT sites.
Landing was a mixture of emotions, excitement, nervousness, worry, joy, relief. We were met off the plane by Peace Corps staff which was all very surreal. We got on buses in Dakar just as the sun was coming off and drove off to Thies. We got to Thies, where the training center is, and had a very warm welcome. We weren't allowed to leave the training center for the first few days which was fine with me because I didn't know any of the local language at the time. I know a little bit of french but nothing that I was too confident going out by myself and using. However, we finally did leave the training center and current Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV's) gave us a tour around Thies. We went through the market and went to the toubab store and finally sat down at a restaurant where I used my french for the first time ever! I was completely overwhelmed by this whole experience. I didn't want anyone to talk to me because I wouldn't know what they were saying so I just didn't look at anyone on the street. Everyone was looking at us though.
The next big event was being assigned a language and homestay location. For most people, depending on your language you can guess the area of the country your permanent site will be. However, I got Wolof, which I am super excited about, I just don't have a clue as to where in the country I may be because it is one of the main languages and spoken all over the country. Wolof though, is one of the easier languages to learn and also more widely used in Senegal. We began classes that day. My LCF's name is Regina and she is fabulous. There are three other people in my language group Cristina, Maureen, and Margaret. All of which I like and have enjoyed having with me. We are currently living in Tivaouane, which is a beautiful town.
Two days after beginning our language we left for our community based training or CBT sites.
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