What do I want to do with my life??? I feel like that is the most pondered question anyone has ever asked themselves. As my service is coming to a close I've started thinking about the big, scary future, and I'm not gonna lie....I'm stressing out. So many possibilities....Grad School? Work? or maybe I'll just eat myself into a taco comma?? Not to mention that I am terrified about going back to life in America, I'm going to be so weird! I am definitely going to miss my abundance of free time and the slower rhythm of life here. I'm going through that bitter-sweet stage again like I did almost 2 years ago preparing for my Peace Corps journey: sad to be leaving friends and family and familiar culture, but at the same time excited for a new adventure and the unfamiliar. Here I am again,but now preparing to return to my home country and leaving my second home. By the time I leave, it'll have been 2 years that I've lived in Senegal; it is my home. I have a family here, a group of friends that I visit frequently, and a daily routine at site. I get a little tear-y eyed just thinking about saying good-bye. But with the remaining time I have left, I plan on enjoying it :)
Now with about four months to go until my departure I have to start thinking about the future. What do I want to do? Where do I want to live? Besides finishing up the last few projects I have left, I plan on devoting my time to trying to get an idea about my future. Our close of service conference is coming up in mid-April, and then I'll have to start the exit-ing process. Scary. But with this conference comes a little fun. I'll get to be reunited with all of my stagemates with whom I've shared this Peace Corps journey, and a few of us are planning to travel around a bit afterwards (I'll do a blog update about that once it occurs).
As far as what has occurred in between this blog post and the last......well, I finished my Junior Achievement at école 2, and started another at école 1; therefore, making a grand total of three completed trainings at my site (2 more to go!). Also, two rounds of the Senegalese elections occurred. The first taking place on February 26th, where the number of candidates was reduced to two: Abdoulaye Wade and Macky Sall. The second round occurred about a month later on March 25th, where Macky Sall won the presidential election. My host family was a little upset because their candidate lost, but in the end it was a very peaceful election.
In March, the half marathon for girls education took place and lots of volunteers and Senegalese nationals participated to raise money for the scholarship project. Also, I assisted in an HIV/STD education project with several volunteers to talk about safe sex and teen pregnancy in a nearby village a few weeks ago, which was extremely successful in my opinion (great work Velingara volunteers!!!). And last but certainly not least, I've been meeting with my girls youth group twice a week working on an amazing project that will (hopefully) take place at the end of May or beginning of June. I'm, however, refusing to disclose any information about our "secret" project because I'm so afraid we will jinx all of our efforts up to this point in time. Once the project is executed, I'll have a full blog update with photos and video :) I'm sooooo excited about this though! It is one of the most rewarding things I've worked on so far, and the girls are the highlight of my week! So keep your eyes open for any of new posts in the next couple of months :)
So what's planned for the next few weeks???:
-Easter holiday in the Jolla neighborhood (where all the catholics live) I'm going to a rare mass service in my village, which is predominately muslim! I'm really excited about it!
-Journey to Lompoul village to ride Camels in the Sahara desert
-Close of Service Conference
-Travel Shenanigans with my partner in crime
-Economic Development Fair in Kolda
I'll update again soon! :) Bisous to all! xoxoxoxo
