CBT is over and I'm counting down to Swear-In!!!

Hey so it’s been awhile! And so much fun has happened! CBT round 3 for almost 3 weeks has come and gone. My language skills are really coming along. I can successfully discuss with my little sisters about what they did today, what they want to do tomorrow, and what they want to be when they grow up. I have had some interesting discussions with my mom about Senegalese polygamy vs American monogamy, the idea of women working and being independent in America, as well as the foreign idea of men cooking and cleaning in America. In Senegal, men would never do any kind of cleaning or cooking, so that blew her mind.

My days at CBT have been very relaxing as I have gotten into a lovely routine. I have so much time to study, garden, read, dance and sing with my family. It has been so lovely. Also, side note, I had this misconception that I would not be able to bath very much in Africa, but I actually shower twice or maybe 3 times a day. I love it! I feel so healthy and clean and productive all the time. And I am learning so much, so very quickly, it feels great!

Also the good times spent with the other peace corps volunteers have been so much fun. We all met at the beach, twice!! It was so beautiful and relaxing. We also had an amazing Halloween party and I was very impressed by the craftiness of the costumes created with minimal supplies by the volunteers. We had a talent show (so hilarious! And a bonfire! And we went to church (which is the name of the only bar. It’s called church because it is run by the Christians. Muslims aren’t allowed to drink or sell alcohol) and had a grand old evening! Us volunteers know how to have a good time. Today we all had our tech finals. Aced mine! Whoop! And we are working on our final presentations on our work objectives at site and we have to do presentations in our local languages. Should be interesting!

Also today all of our counterparts at our local sites have been pouring into the training center. I am so excited to see my lovely counterpart again (I met her while on VV). Her name is Rugy Cham and she is a doll, she reminds me of my wonderful grandmama Ruby! Fyi: A counterpart is a person in our permanent site who is not only a work partner, but they help us with language acquisition and cultural integration. They are the person who guides us in the community, who helps us find work projects, gain credibility and they will facilitate meetings and trainings for us. I am so glad my counterpart is such a sweet woman. The next couple of days we have counterpart workshop where we work with the counterparts of communication techniques and they are introduced to some of the common challenges the volunteer faces when at site (communication and cultural challenges primarily). It should be very helpful.

We swear-in in less than 2 weeks!!! I am so excited! The ambassador should be there, which will be really cool. I got a pretty dress made to wear for swear in. Then after swear in we will be having Thanksgiving at the beach, before we finally go off to our sites! I am sooo very excited! Ahh time sure does fly when you are working hard and having fun!

So some crazy stories/ highlights from the past couple of weeks.

·      I got super sick and was projectile vomiting. I reminded myself of the girl from the exorcist. Fourteen times in one day. It was insane. But I am much better now.

·      I sleep nearly naked, because it is so insanely hot here. And one night a lovely little cockroach scuttled across my body. It was terrifying! Then I got out of bed turned on the light and chased that giant monster around my room for about a half hour trying to kill him. I did that till I finally gave up, crawled back into bed and super tucked in my mosquito net. Then I listened to him crawl all over my mosquito net and ruffle through my stuff till I finally drifted off to sleep… He comes back every night… I have come to terms with my cockroach friend(s).

·      When we were all at the beach, a crowd of children formed around us and the kids distracted us with wrestling and of the Peace corps trainees had her phone and some money stolen. And some disrespectful little kid drank nearly half of my water!! Muyanni! (Not good!) I yelled at him!

·      A goat jumped on my friend Justin when we were studying pulaar one day. One minute we were listening to our teacher teach and the next there is a goat on Justin’s tummy! Hilarious!

·      Our water was out for 5 days. So we went to the well to get water. I carried the buckets of water on my head like a real Senegalese woman! Proud moment for me!

·      I learned a new Baba Mall song and dance (Baba Mall is the biggest singer in Senegal, look him up!!!)

·      When I was sick and in Dakar, I had pizza!!! And DONUTS!!! It was amazing!! Also I got to cook for myself!!! It was soo amazing. Cooking is probably the thing I miss doing the most.

Anyways I should go! But I hope all is well!! Ask me questions and I will answer the call!!!

Love,

Heather!

Galoyabe!! My permanent site!

Hiiri e jam (Good evening!)

So much has happened! I found out my permanent site. I am going to a small village of ~1,500 people called Galoyabe. It is in the Matam region which is in the North of the country. It is very dry and hot. It reminds me of Wyoming. But I absolutely love it there! I went and stayed at my site for 3 days with my predecessor and it was absolutely amazing! During my time at my site I got my new name, which is Isata (or Acca, pronounced Acha) Sen. I met my family, there are so many of them! I have 3 brothers and there 3 wives who live in my compound. In total they have 9 young children who are absolutely adorable. And my host mother and host father who are very sweet. And there are a couple other people that I’m not quite sure how they are related.

We visited my master farm, which has so much potential. Future projects, my predecessor and I discussed include: building a chicken coop, grafting some fruit trees, demo beds with field crops (chemical vs. natural pesticides, amendments vs no amendments, double digging vs topsoil tilling, etc). I met the master farmer, who I will work very closely with, his name is Djiibi (pronounced Jeebee) and he is very helpful and excited to work with me.

After we visited the masterfarm we visited the women’s garden that my predecessor worked very closely with (he actually acquired a grant to have it built for them). The women all greeted me and said the absolute sweetest things about my predecessor and their joy and excitement to work with me. I almost cried it was so touching.

I met the Jom Wuro (Village Chief) of my village. I met the vice principal of the school in my village. I hope to work very closely with the school; hopefully I can set up a school garden and do some classes on nutrition with the children. I met the Jom Wuro of the neighboring village, it’s called the Fulbe village.

The Fulbe village is actually a group of refugees from Mauritania, who left because of the violence occurring there. I don’t know much about it now but I plan on learning much more about the conflict in Mauritania. I am very close to the border of Mauritania. I am also very close (I think 15km) from the nearest city, Orisogea (not spelled right at all, also this is where my regional house is, so I am very close to internet).

Anyways back to village life. I ate with the women of my host family, one day we fit about 12 people around the bowl. At night we slept on the roof, which had an amazing breeze. The stars in the north of the country are unlike anything I have ever seen. The air is so dry, the sky is so clear, and there is absolutely no light pollution… It’s phenomenal!

I am so very excited to start working in my village after having visited. My predecessor did such and amazing job gaining the respect and love of the community and now they are very excited to have me and that is wonderful going into. I am excited for all of the projects I will get to work on. I am excited to get to know the members of my community better. I can’t wait to go back!

But right now, I am back at the training center, doing tech classes (which are super great and helpful) and Saturday we are going back to CBT for the next 2 weeks. I am excited to see my host family again. I called them twice since I have been away. Talking on the phone in Pulaar is so extremely difficult. But my nene loved hearing from me! Also finally talked to my parents back home! Please call me again and give my number to the family so they can call me too (It should be free for you to call me!) Anyways! I love you guys!! Ask me questions!