Aissatou Konta

I'm back in Thies after my first week at my home-stay in Mbour. It was a tough week in a lot of ways, mostly because we went directly from this sheltered island of American culture at the training center, to living with Senegalese families and trying out our very limited language skills. My host family is very patient and welcoming. As soon as I set foot in the gate they dubbed me Aissatou Konta, which has caught on rather quickly with the people in my neighborhood. There are about 15 people in my house, most of them kids. My host dad is a Marabout and has two wives that both live in the house. Most of my host "siblings" are actually my nieces, nephews and cousins, although I'm still a little unclear about how exactly everyone is related. I spend the most time with 16 year old twins Awa and Adama who speak French and are helping me communicate when my limited Mandinka and hand gestures fail me. Its frustrating that I can't speak more of their language and I sometimes feel like I'm not learning fast enough, but then I remember that I've only been learning this language for a week (it feels so much longer). The fact that I can understand and respond when my host dad asks when I'm going back to Thies and when I'll come home to Mbour is really impressive for only a week.

I have my own room in the house, very simply furnished with a bed, a floor mat and a bench on which to lay out my clothes. I have a good sized window that faces the courtyard and which I keep open most of the day as Mbour is extremely hot in the middle of the day despite being a coastal city. The courtyard is home to a mango tree, an orange tree, a sheep that will continue to fatten until Tabaski in November, and a chicken family that will also be dinner at some point.

On the average day I wake up at 7:30 and enjoy my breakfast of bread and butter and tea in the patio/foyer/hallway/living room/dining room looking out at the courtyard while my host family goes about the morning chores. I have Mandinka class at nine at my teacher's apartment, a short walk from my house. We study for as long as we can, usually about three hours and then go home for lunch. After lunch I usually rest because its too hot to do much else; sometimes I sleep, sometimes I read or write in my journal. Then in the early evening, when it has cooled off a bit, I meet up with my fellow trainees at a school garden where we are practicing the technical skills we learn at the training center. This last week we prepared beds for planting and this week will take seeds back to Mbour to plant. After that I head home for a nice cool bucket bath. My host family eats dinner around 8 or 9 and I usually end up going to bed around 10, totally wiped from the heat and the effort of walking through piles of sand all day.

So far I've been to the beach twice, but have yet to swim. Mbour is pretty sprawling and the neighborhood where I live is a cab ride or hour long walk from the beach. So far we've all been so busy settling that we haven't gotten much time to explore Mbour, although I did see the market and the port where the fishermen bring in their daily catches. I'm definitely planning more beach time for when I go back this week.

Tomorrow afternoon we leave the training center and head back to our host families. The last couple of days have been a welcome respite from the trials of linguistic and cultural immersion, but I'm ready to go back to Mbour and keep working. This next stint will be close to two weeks and then I'll come back to Thies to find out what my permanent site will be and then I leave to visit it for a few days. We found out today that the three Mandinka speakers will be pretty spread out - one of us in Kolda, one in Tambacounda, one in Fatick. I was a little bummed about this, as I feel like Will, Nicky and I have already gotten fairly close, but we'll still see each other and keep in touch pretty well if we want. I have a hunch I'll be the one in Kolda, but we'll see; I'd be happy in any of those regions. So, the next time I'm able to post something I'll actually know where I'm going to be spending the next two years!

Wishing you all peace, health and happiness.

Fo saayin-saayin!

-Cibyl, called Aissatou

I'm at summer camp.

The similarities between life at the training center and life at summer camp are remarkable. We wake up early, have scheduled activities after breakfast, then lunch and some free time to rest (or update blogs), then more activities and then more free time around dinner. The other day some of us went with a few language trainers to a nearby soccer field and got a game going. I organized a game of sardines on the compound that same night and then a huge group of us fell into a sing-along led by the more musical trainees. Soccer, sardines and sing-alongs. It's summer camp. Not to mention the fact that we sleep in dorms, the meals are provided and the weather is sunny and beautiful... it's hard not to feel a bit pampered in this "virtual Senegal". I'm enjoying this for as long as it lasts because by tomorrow evening we will be at our CBT (community based training) sites in the surrounding regions, living with host families and speaking local languages, and our lives will be much harder.

I'm also looking forward to this though. We got our language and CBT assignments this morning and I hit the jackpot! I, along with two other trainees, will be learning Mandinka, which means that ultimately I will be living in the southern part of the country (yay!). During training the Mandinka group will work a lot with those learning Jaxanke and Malinke as they are all members of the same language family (Bambara is also part of this group) and are all spoken primarily in the south. There are 7 of us in this Mande language group and during training we will be living with families in Mbour, which is on the coast (yay again!). Basically I lucked out on two fronts - I'm getting the training site and permanent site that I wanted!

During training we will still have "center days" when we come back here for technical training. So for those of you who have written letters, don't worry, I'll still get them at the Thies address.

Off to more cultural training.
Heera dorong!

7 months, 6 airports, 4 time zones

This is what it took to get here. After months of planning and preparation I have officially started my Peace Corps training here in Thiès Senegal. Alxamdulilah! My journey began last Sunday with a series of airline snafus; my first flight was cancelled, the next one delayed, and I ended up at two different airports before even leaving the bay area. After a layover in Dallas I finally made it to Washington D.C. late on Sunday night with sore arms and quite an appetite. Luckily, my roommate arrived just minutes behind me and the two of us were able to split a midnight pizza and start getting to know each other.

The next day was full of many more introductions as our class of 48 new health and environmental education volunteers (a huge number for a single training class) met for an orientation to the Peace Corps. We have people from every corner of the United States, ranging in age from 21 to 31 and it seems to be a really great group. Seeing all these young, enthusiastic and like-minded people definitely renews my faith in my generation and reminds me that while I might not agree with aspects of our government or foreign policy, Americans on an individual basis can be extremely generous, open, and compassionate.

Our orientation lasted most of the day and afterward we dispersed for dinner around Georgetown. It was fun to see a part of D.C. I hadn’t before and I ended up having a very nice Thai dinner and then a few birthday beers at a nearby tavern. The next day we got yellow fever shots and headed to the airport (not my favorite way to celebrate my birthday, but the tradeoff was a trip to Africa, so I’m not complaining). We arrived in Dakar very early on the 9th and immediately got on a bus to Thiès.

The training center is beautiful with lots of big trees and flowering vines. I’m in a room with 3 other girls and our accommodations are pretty comfortable, although its going to take a few days before I get used to taking cold showers again. The food is good, the weather is perfect and I am having so much fun already. Overall, I’m just so happy to be here at last!