Isn’t it Ironic??

We made it down to Kolda!!! Yea! My new home for the next two years!  I love it down here.  We got here on Saturday the 16^th and stayed at the regional house for about 3 days.  We had to get situated and buy a bunch of stuff to move into our new homes. My ancien Dorothy is seriously the most amazing person in PC Senegal.  She left me so much stuff so I really didn’t have to purchase very much.  Here is a very big THANK YOU to my girl Dorothy!  She did some amazing work here, and it’s an honor to be your replacement! J Thanks to her I already had a bed frame, table, bookshelf, a trunk to store all my crap, and a gas tank that still had gas!! Wow! There were even a ton of goodies inside the trunk! Thank you! Jaraama buy!

I ended up buying a ton of buckets, a really good mattress, a cot, and some material to hang over the doors of my room.  There are still lots of things I want to buy, but I’ll update that on another blog. J  We left Kolda même on Tuesday and spent the night in Velingara (the closest city to me).  Ali, Curtis, and I had to stay at a hotel, which for Africa, was incredibly nice.  It was quite ironic though because when we got here we saw the sign that said air conditioning and wifi!  We were so excited! Unfortunately for us, the one night we would actually be able to spend in a hotel was like living in the village (Pretty much every night I’ve had since I’ve been to Senegal, not including the training center in Thiès).  Apparently the Velingara area was having trouble with electricity; it had been out for 2 whole days by the time we got there.  So we were unable to use the air conditioning L  Ali and I spent the evening talking by candlelight; we joked about how romantic it was. 





The best part about our hotel stay was that they had an English toilet with the option of a seat—check out the seat behind the toilet.  For the record: I made Ali pose for this picture with the toilet J haha! Love you Ali!  Oh and the Velingara area is still having issues with the electricity, I’m writing in the dark right now!  Haha!  Well I’m settling in here in Kounkané, I’ll put up a post about that soon!  I’m trying to get internet; my ancien Dorothy left me her internet device (Thanks again!) Unfortunately I can’t get it to work (hence the simultaneous blog posts).  Inchallah, I get this working soon!  Miss you guys!  Sending love from Senegal! Xoxoxo



Ko mi Wolunteer Corps de la Paix!

 Hey guys! So I’m officially a PCV!  Yea!  Training is finally over!  I seriously felt like this day was taking forever to get here.  But we swore in—on October 15^th.  We all had to dress up nice in our traditional clothing: that meant complètes for the women and bubus for the men.  Check out the photos!  We had such a great time in our Senegalese clothes (oh and BTW, my outfit was the same one I used for Korité).  So all of us volunteers went to Dakar and sore in at the US ambassador’s house.  The ceremony was about two hours and it consisted of numerous speeches including 4 from volunteers in the local languages: Wolof, Pulaar, Seerer, and Mandinka.  It was pretty cool to see some of our own present; they did such a great job.  After the ceremony we all had food.  It was primarily “finger food” because it was small individual sizes, but it was delicious.  I pigged out on desserts!  There were BROWNIES! (more of a cake-like consistency…I prefer the fudgy ones, but it definitely satisfied the craving!)  I seriously ate like 4 of them in addition to the apple tarts and what looked like a lemon tart but tasted coconut-y and a little like cheesecake dessert (not sure what it was).  So worth it!  When it officially ended we headed to the main office for paperwork and followed that with an hour or so of swimming at the pool in Dakar!  We eventually made it back to Thiès for a late dinner (I ate pizza), and most of us “new” volunteers spent the rest of the night dancing at a Senegalese discothèque—which was super fun!  I stayed out ‘til four am dancing then came back to the training center to shower and finish packing. My group left for Kolda 2 hours later…..it was an amazing day! J

Me and my Fulakunda group.  We've been learning the language with our two LCF for the last two months!

Me and my roomies at the Thies training center: Kelsey, Me, Meagan, and Liz

Thank you luncheon for host families!

So today in Thies we hosted a thank you lunch for one member from each of the host families who opened their home for us future PC volunteers.  My host mom Maryama came and she brought baby Binta :)
The lunch was delicious! It was by far the best meal I've had since I got to Senegal!! There was rice, chicken and beef, and a ton of VEGETABLES!!! They are rare here in dishes (of course I didn't eat the yucky meat, but I was so excited about the variety of things in the bowl) There were tomatos, carrots, bell peppers, onions, olives, the little baby pickles, and corn among other things.  The rice had raisins in it too! So delicious!  I ate til I had a food baby :( haha! But it was totally worth it!  After lunch we listened to a group that sang Fulakunda music.  My host mom is Pulaar and she loved it. Check out the video! :)
 

We also drank tea, gave out a thank you certificate to the families, and just spent one last day with our family member.  I'm glad it was my host mom; she was my favorite!  Tomorrow we are going to Dakar to swear in!!! Check back for an update! :)   xoxox

Hirande Americain pur Beyngu am Senegalnajo

Jaraama Yimbe fof!!! Hello Everybody!
So I'm back to the training center in Thies, and I just finished my last week of homestay with my host family.  The last week went by so fast :(  Today I said good-bye to my host family, packed up my room, and thanked my family for their support and assistance in learning Pulaar.  They have been amazing!  I do admit I've had my frustrations with them like I do my own real family, but the experience they gave me was unforgetable.  I was truly blessed with the best Fulbe family in Mbour; I was sad to say good-bye.  I even teared up when I gave my two moms a hug, and kissed baby Binta good-bye while getting on the Peace Corps bus.  It was hard :( I hope to see them again soon--maybe when my real mom in America comes out to see me.  They would love to meet her and I think she would like to meet them too!
Because it was my last week with my host family, my friends Pam & Ali and I decided to cook dinner for my family.  In prior weeks we cooked dinner for their host families too, but my family was last on the list.  We decided to make them an "American" dinner but it technically was Italien.  For Ali's family we made Chili, for Pam's it was fried rice--haha! not quite American either--and for my family it was Pasta!! :)  We went to the supermarche and I bought 2 bags of shelled noodles that looked kinda like gnocchi, a can of tomato sauce, onions, garlic, and fresh basil.  Also, because there is a gas shortage in all of Senegal I had to buy fire wood to cook dinner over.  Since we were cooking over a fire, Ali had the brilliant idea of making dessert for my family too.  We made SMORES!  The girls and I had fun cooking over a fire in the middle of my compound.  Once it got dark we had to use the light from the fire and flashlights because my family has no electricity.  The dinner was delicious!  My family seemed to enjoy it, even though they thought the fresh basil was weird and didn't belong in pasta.  Here in Senegal, people often put basil in their tea.  I know, I think it's weird too :) hahaha! Well, I know that the girls and I enjoyed the dinner too!  Any bit of "American" food makes us so happy here.  Just to have pasta for the night was amazing.  Something so simple back home means so much more here.  My family liked it and were happy that the Americans were going to cook for them. 

The best part of the night was definetly dessert.  We melted the marshmellows (which were Haribo brand and had weird flavors like strawberry and lime but still worked very well) in the fire and then used a "graham cracker--like" cookie and French milk chocolate to complete our dessert.  The dessert was a hit! The family loved them!  They had a difficult time saying the word "smores", but were fascinated with the combination.  It was pretty funny too because they had never eaten marshmellows before.  We let them try it for the first time, and they really enjoyed them.  I'm surprised we were even able to find marshmellows here in Senegal; I'm glad we did though! The smores were delicious! :)

So dinner and dessert was a success, and I'm happy I was able to do something to show my family that I appreciate them opening up their home to a crazy american and helping me become Senegalese!  Living in Mbour with the Djallo family was great!  I learned so much and I can't wait until next week when I move down to Kounkane to be with my new host family for the next two years. I hope they are as wonderful as my family in Mbour! 

Check out my FB page for more fun photos!  I finally got a chance to upload the remaining photos.  We are swearing in on this upcoming friday--like 3 days from now.  So check back for a new blog post about the ceremony! Love you guys and miss you tons! Hope you all are doing well! Sending love and kisses! :)

Popenguine: A little taste of Amerik

So this weekend was AMAZING!  All the volunteers from my stage rented a beach house in Popenguine for an overnight beach trip!  We had such a fabulous time.  Popenguine is not too far away from Thies, so we rented 2 big white buses that held like 30 people each and headed to the beach!  The beach house was so beautiful and it was literally right on the beach with a lovely view of the ocean.  We swam, tanned, drank, made some delicious food that was American and just got to relax for one day.  It was well deserved in my opinion.  We have been doing so much the last few months and it was great to just hang out for one day at the beach with great company! 

It was a little tight at the beach house, even though we had 2 of them.  But we all squeezed in for sleeping—sharing beds and sleeping out side.  I slept on the patio on a mattress with my amazing friend Rachel, and we were eaten alive by mosquitoes!  Moyyani L  Despite the tight living quarters and sleeping arrangements, I had such a fabulous time.  It felt like I was back in the States again for just one day.  Beach house, great view, American food, English speakers—what more can a girl ask for in a one day vacation??  Oh and in addition to such a great weekend, tomorrow we are going to Dakar for the day, and tonight I’m skyping with mi madre!  It’s been way to long since I’ve talked with the family L  Also, thanks to Mike for the package!!! I got it, and I already ate all the gummy lifesavers!  Sending love from Senegal! xoxox

I have braids and a side pony tail!

Check out my amazing hair!!! My host mom braided it and put it in a side ponytail! :) I love it!

So I forgot to mention that me and the Pulaar girls (Pam and Aly) got some pretty awesome pants made!  We went to the Grand Marche about 2 weeks ago and bought some material, and a few days later Pam's host uncle, who is a tailor, made us some pants!  They look like pajamas, but my family loves them.  They told me I now look Senegalese with my pants and braids!  My pants have elephants on them!  They are pretty bad ass, I'm not gonna lie :)  I love sportin' the side ponytail too! Enjoy the photos!

PST is almost over!!!

What's up guys?? So I'm so excited! Tomorrow is officially October 1st and we are swearing in on October 15th.  I'm almost there!  I'm back in Thies at the training center, we are doing our Counterpart workshop this week.  I've been super busy with that.  Tomorrow is the American cultural fair and my group is working on American Pop culture.  We are going to educate all of the small enterprise development (SED) counterparts on American culture; it should be interesting.  Like I said, my group has pop culture and I am specifically working on Fitness and Health in the USA.  Anyone of my Zumba students probably could have guessed that was the topic I was most passionate about :)  No free dance class though.  I'm going to educate the Senegalese counterparts on how health and fitness is important to a lot of Americans, and how eating a balanced diet is very important.  It's contrary to the white rice and oil I eat here everyday---ahhh!  Marro et lili (fish and rice) I'm so over eating everyday! haha!  Don't worry though, I will also talk about how many Americans are unhealthy and inactive.  I gotta cover all my bases: We have people who follow both types of lifestyles in the US.  It should be interesting :)
So the last week in Mbour was fun!  I"m getting slowly better at Pulaar.  We had a test last friday and I acheived intermediate low.  I need intermediate mid to pass out of training.  The next test is next week and I hope I get the level I need too.  I just want to go to my site: Kounkane!!! :)  Training is tiring and I'm tired of living between two cities.  Soon enough: 15 days! Oh and saturday we will be going to one of the Eco-tourism sites for a petite vacation: Popinguine--I think?  It's absolutely beautiful; right on the beach.  We are leaving saturday afternoon after language class and then returning on sunday evening!  I can't wait for the nice little break!  I'll post pictures soon! Also Monday we are going to Dakar!  That should be amazing.  We have to learn where all the important buildings are so it's more of an educational day, nonetheless, it's something new! I can't wait.

I posted some new pics on facebook about my homestay compound, you guys should definetly check it out!  The goats are in the album haha! I have so many more pics to post and will do shortly after PST (preservice training).  Oh and I have a great story to tell: So here we all have to have Senegalese names.  My name is Adama Djallo (currently, it will change when I move to Kounkane).  And the Senegalese have these jokes that they always say every time they see a friend or neighbor; they love to joke around with the last names.  With my Senegalese last name being Djallo I get to hear often the phrase: Djallo ko goodjo, which translates to Djallos are thieves.  Well last monday, my two little brothers, Buba Caar and Baille Cherno lived up to their last names.  I was just hanging out in the compound with my family studying some Pulaar when all of a sudden like 30 people just entered the compound yelling and screaming.  I not even kidding it was the entire neighborhood (Quartier Liberte).  I didn't understand a word of what was going on because it was all in Wolof.  There was one man in particular who was yelling and screaming and he was telling my host father the story of what happened.  He kept saying my brothers' names so I knew they did something....  Shortly after the man said what he had too, he left with the entire neighborhood following him.  My family started discussing amongst themselves in Pulaar and finally I was able to understand bits and pieces.  Apparently my two little brothers were corn thieves.  They stole from our neighbor two ears of corn, and it caused a giant fiasco in the neighborhood.  It was pretty funny, mostly because people are always calling me and my host family thieves due to the last name, and this time it was actually true.  My host brothers are goodjo tobaano aka corn thieves.  My family thinks it's hilarious that I was able to understand what happened.  They talked about it the entire week: "Adama asked if the boys were corn thieves! She understands!!!!"  :)  Yes! The Pulaar is slowly coming along :) Moyyi!  haha! Hope you guys are all well! I'm missing the US a lot this week!
Sending love from Senegal! Til the next time!
xoxox