I wanted to update you all on how things have been going during the last month, but I need to be quick because our favorite bar/restaurant in Thies just got WiFi so there's a long line of people waiting to use my friend's laptop. Needless to say, the fact that WiFi even exists says a lot about how much more developed this area of the country is compared to where I've become accustomed to living, and it's interesting to see how much my perception of this city has changed since I first came to it back in September.
It's been an educational few weeks in the village; I only just left about a week and half ago to come to Thies for our In-Service Training; also difficult to believe we've already made it to this point in our service. I learned a lot, linguistically and agriculturally, but most importantly, culturally, as I unfortunately faced my first Senegalese funeral. My counterpart's wife passed away after a long illness, and seeing the mourning of the villagers for their loss was one of the more horrible events I've experienced since coming here. She was a nice lady, who once brought me water when I got home from Thanksgiving, and swept my room for me as well, and though I got to visit her in the dispensaire before she died, I didnt feel like I got nearly enough time to get to know her. Without going much into detail, I did my best to express my solidarity to the family in the most culturally appropriate way, and I think everyone appreciated that at least I was trying. Despite how much I learned from it, it's not something I'd like to experience again anytime soon.
I mentioned learning a lot technically speaking, and a lot of that was thanks to the Director for Agriculture, Massaly, coming out to all the first year agriculture volunteers' sites to see how we were doing. It was an awesome opportunity to ask questions, especially with regards to my garden, which had some veggies taking a turn for the worse for no apparent reason which I was anxious to figure out. He seemed happy though; at least with how my site was working out, and not with the broken window his car suffered after the P.C. driver locked his keys in the car.
So we've been back in Thies for a little over a week now for training, and despite being tiring, it's been really beneficial. I'm staying with my same old host family in Pout that I stayed with for my original training, so it's been great to see them again. The downside, however, is having to get up at the crack of dawn to be picked up and brought to the center each day. I've started taking another language, though, called Wolof (probably the most widely spoken language in the country) and it's been difficult since I was put in a class with other volunteers who, despite having taken French during our first training, have at least been living in Wolof-speaking sites for the last couple months and thus have more experience. I've been holding my own, though, I think, as it's seemed to me over the last 5 days that Wolof is much more straight-forward than the Pulaar I'm used to speaking, so I've been picking it up much faster. I only have to reach the level of "Novice Mid" in order to "pass" this training, so I think I should be all set.
Before I get throttled by other internet-starved volunteers, I should probably cut it short there, since there isn't much more to specifically report. We'll leave at the end of IST for WAIST, which I mentioned at the end of my last post, the "West African International Softball Tournament, which should be an exciting and, hopefully, re-memorable time. I've been assigned a homestay for WAIST with an "ex-pat", the affectionate name given to Americans who work outside the country, with two of my friends, so that's a relief that I'll have a place to stay in Dakar without having to pay an arm and a leg each night.
Wish our region luck!
Love always,
Samba
Me in St. Louis
Me in St. Louis
St. Louis
A boat tour
The beach
