Sangalkam

I have returned from my week in Sangalkam staying with a host family. So far I've been able to communicate in French but I study Pular every day. I also work with two volunteers to set up a garden at the local school, when we arrived on the site all we saw was sand and dead grass. It was a bit discouraging to learn that we were starting the fourth garden on the site. The local kids seem to love working in the garden so hopefully they'll maintain it after we leave, or maybe not... 

The family I'm staying with lives on a compound with a lot of their extended family. So many people came and go that I'm still not entirely sure who lives there. When I'm around the family we drink copious amounts of tea, practice Pular and eat fish and rice out of large communal bowls while sitting on the floor. I'm not quite used to the eating situation yet, I'm given a spoon at every meal but some people use their hands. Often people break the food apart with their bare hands and throw pieces to you across the bowl. Hopefully I'll get used to it by the end of my next stay, which begins tomorrow afternoon, and will last for two weeks. I'll be sure to take more pictures and update as soon as I get back.

Anna and Katie at our garden site

My room

Me at the garden with my host brother Suliman and one of his friends

Katie and some local kids after a day of work in the garden

Pular Fuuta

The title of today's post is the name of the language I am currently studying and will be speaking for most of my service in Senegal. If you know anything about this language, good for you, I only heard of it the morning I found out I would be learning it. Pular Fuuta is primarily spoken in the south of the country which has the most wildlife and natural beauty so I excited know what my future site will look like.
Tomorrow I begin community based training, for many people this is the most difficult part. I'll be commuting to training at a local site while staying with a host family relatively close to Thies (pronounced "Chess," by the way.) The family will only be speaking Pulat Fuuta and I will have to keep up, this will be particularly difficult considering I have only had two language classes. I won't have internet access for a while so don't expect any updates for about a week. I'll be sure to post more pictures and tell you all about my host family and community.

A few updates

It's really fantastic that I'm able to access the internet so easily here, I expect updates will be less frequent once I'm in my host community so I figure I'll post a lot now. Not too much to report at the moment. Today we began learning Wolof and had an intense game of ultimate frisbee. While walking around the center I found a concrete slab with some french writing on it which was left over from when the place used to be a french army base, I'll be sure to post a picture soon. Tomorrow we get to venture into the town of Thies for the first time, I'm excited but a tad apprehensive, the safety lectures made me just a bit paranoid. I'll stick with the group and I'm sure I'll be fine. 

Take care everyone!

I've Arrived

I arrived in Senegal yesterday morning around 6 am GMT. I managed to get a couple hours of low quality sleep on the plane and wasn't quite ready for the full day I had ahead. The flight was smooth and customs was fairly easy but after stepping out of the airport I was immediately struck by how different Senegal is from what I'm used to. Many people dress in traditional Senegalese clothing (Expect to see a picture of me wearing some in a future post,) there are herds of goats and cattle in the middle of the city, political billboards are absolutely everywhere and most surfaces are covered in graffiti supporting or denouncing different presidential candidates. After arriving in Thies via bus, about a two or three hour trip, we got settled into the Peace corps center and attended classes covering the basics of what we will be learning over the next several months. In the evening some local musicians came by, played drums for us and tried their best to teach us some local dances. A crowd of children formed at the gate while the music was playing, the guard let them in and even the youngest ones had dance moves that put ours to shame.

 The building where I currently stay

 The room I share with three other volunteers (My bed is the one in the right rear)

 Local musicians and children (There were a lot of PCV's dancing here as well and I'm not sure why none of them appear in these pictures)

 Today all volunteers went to interviews to determine where each of us will be serving. We also received two vaccines and and began taking our malaria medication, one of which lists "vivid dreams and visual disturbances" as possible side effects. I also had a proper conversation in French during one of my interviews to day and was pleasantly surprised how well I did. I'm looking forward to finding out which Senegalese language I'll be studying on Sunday. 
All my best to everyone in the States,
Until next time, take care!

It Begins

After much preparation and anticipation I am finally going to begin my Peace Corps Service in Senegal, I leave for staging in Washington DC this Sunday. I plan to update this blog frequently over my 27 months abroad so please check back and feel free to contact me with any questions or comments.