First Days in Senegal!

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Well, we’ve been in country for 4 days now and things are fantastic, if not unbelievably hectic. Wednesday morning (aka my last day in the U.S), we woke up early and received yellow fever shots, as well as our first malaria pills. We then drove to New York and departed for Senegal right at 5:20pm. Some people slept on the flight, but I just watched movies on the awesome South African Airways TV system. Upon arrival (around 5 a.m local time), we were greeted in Dakar by some staff members and immediately driven to Thies, where we were given some breakfast and a few hours to sleep and relax. From that moment on, we have had about 8 hours of classes a day in addition to language and technical interviews to assess our skills in those areas. Thus far, the topics covered have ranged from Senegalese culture to diarrhea prevention/treatment/horror stories (an entire 3 hour session was devoted to the latter…).

Since we have not been allowed to leave the training center, we have spent most evenings as a group relaxing and playing children’s games in the biggest hut available (known as the “disco hut”). Ironically, we have spent the last two evenings playing a game called “Mafia”, which is a kid’s game that I played this summer at the tennis camps I taught. Our whole group is very cohesive and I really like everyone here. Unfortunately, a lot of us will lose touch as we get assigned to different parts of the country that may be very distant from each other. Today (Saturday), the training staff took us on a walk around the training center, and showed us how to get to different places in Thies. Our center is right next to a “red zone”, which we are never allowed to travel. Thus, after a brief lecture tomorrow, we will have the opportunity to go into Thies and buy necessities and maybe even use the internet.

On Monday I will find out what language I will learn, which will not only give me a strong hint as to where I will be posted (languages are very regional here), but also determine the language my host family will speak. I’m about 99% sure I’ll be learning one of the local language (instead of French like many SED volunteers will be doing), but we’ll have to see which one. The food here has been amazing so far. Lunches have been a large community bowl filled with rice, vegetables, and some type of meat. To eat, you take your shoes off, sit on the floor, grab a big spoon, and chow down as a group. It’s definitely an interesting (yet somewhat uncomfortable) way to eat. I’ve eaten more fish in my 4 days here than I have in my whole life and I’m actually very pleased. All the fish I’ve had has been very mild and goes very well with the rest of the food. Dinners have been even more impressive. We’ve had spaghetti, meat with French fries, and other fantastic meals. However, all of the current volunteers that stop by are quick to remind us that this is by far the best food we will have for the next two years, and that things will get MUCH worse very soon. By very soon, I mean Tuesday, when I move in with my host family for the next two months. So I’m definitely enjoying the luxuries we have here while I can. Despite that, I cannot wait to move into my family and start learning the new culture and language. All of the current volunteers seem to love this place and have great stories to tell. I have to head out, but this may be the only entry for a week or so as my host family will definitely not have internet (I may have to pull my water from a well starting Tuesday, so I feel pretty safe in making the assumption that their house lacks Wi-fi capabilities). We do get to come back to Thies here and there (mostly on the weekends) and so I will post then. Just wanted to say hi to everyone back home, and hope you are all doing well in the midst of hurricane season. A plus tard!

PS Sorry for the low quality of the picture, but that is right outside my room at the training center...