Wolof Woman

Right now I am sitting in the Peace Corps transit house, a house for volunteers to stay in when they come down to Kombo (the city).  In two days I will have completed my swear-in ceremony and I will officially be a Peace Corps Volunteer.  Where have the past two and a half months gone?  When I first got here I was told that the days are slow but the months go by fast.  This has truly been the case for me.  Sometimes it takes SO long for lunch to come.  Or I spend the entire day sitting under a mango tree drinking ataya, waiting for time to creep on.  But then all of the sudden pre-service training is over and I’m saying goodbye to my training village and hello to my new life as a PCV.  On Monday my little group of 15 new volunteers will be shipped off to our sites and we will begin our “3 Month Challenge”.  We will spend 3 months at site getting to know the people, the village, our school, and everything.  About a week and an half ago we all went for a 3-day visit to our sites.  I met my family that I’ll be living with for the next two years and they’re pretty cool—very little English, though, so my Wolof skills will be put to the test!  They are all very friendly and caring.  My host dad was always making sure I had everything I needed.  He even escorted me out to the road (about a 20 minute brisk walk) when I left to catch the gelly-gelly (van used for public transit) back to Kombo.  How cute.  My house is a little thatch-roofed hut in a family compound of about 6 huts.  I am really excited that there are cows up there and that means I will be drinking milk!  At site visit I had cerre (pounded cous or corn) with milk for multiple meals.  It may not surprise some of you that I didn’t mind this at all!  Yum. J  Enjoy the pictures and keep the mail and packages coming!  I think so far Alison has won the title for best thing sent to me so far—a box full of cookies, snacks, and drink mixes.  Thanks babe!!!  Love you!

After I move to site it might be a while before I get internet access again but I promise I’ll update ya’ll when I can.  Take care!