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!