My homestay

This is the street where I live. The tan wall on the right on the picture is the entrance to my housing compound.

Here is the street right outside my compound entrance.

Here are two of my newphews sleeping on a mat at night with Billy the goat.

This is my family getting ready to break fast (we're in the month of Ramadan). The white wall is the outside of my room.

This is what my room looks like when you enter it. I had to beg them not to take away one of my tables!!

My first week at my host family

Ok, so I just got done with my first week in my host family. There are about 30 people who live on my compound and I can't figure out who is related to whom. Please I think I live in the social hotspot so we have people who come in and out all day/night long and don't really know who is who.


I live in a town called Sangalkam and it's a pretty small town. I did find an internet cafe though, which is great on those days that we do have electricity. They usually turn off the power for the day and then we hopefully get it back on at night. I have my own room which is nice except for the fact that I can NOT get a cross breeze to cool it off!!! So I usually go to sleep in a room that's about 85 degrees. I am starting to get used to just sweating all the time!!


As for my family they are all right. The woman who they said is my Mom is younger than me and she walks around the compund like she owns it. She doesn't leave her room much and doesn't really do any chores with the other women. As far as my Dad he will sit down with me at night and work on my vocabulary in Pulaar (the language I am learning). When I got there they gave me a Senegalese name, Mame Coumba, and I am named after my 6 year old sister. She's great because she just hangs around me all the time so that means I have someone at all times who can walk me around town. The only bad thing is she doesn't really speak Pulaar, she speak Wolof, that's the national language, as well as most people do amongst each other. So with everyone speaking Wolof around you it's very difficult to learn Pulaar.


I think my family thinks that I am very weird because I use toilet paper, toothpaste, and go around naming the cats and our baby goat!! However, they have now learned that the goat's name is Billy and when my Dad gets home he will ask me where Billy is!!! As for what he does all day, I'm not too sure. I asked him if he works and he said no but he leaves the compound until dinner time. I think he just hangs out right outside the compound and chills under the tree there.

OK, long enough entry for now. Pictures and more details to follow!!!

In regard to my legs

To all of you who commented on the fact that I needed bug spray, this is AFTER bug spray and DEET!!!
Also, there may be fewer postings because I am going to my first host family tomorrow with limited access to the internet. however, when I do get to the itnernet I'm sure I'll have plenty of pics to post. keep checking for updates!!!

My legs

So after only 2 days here I have found out what mosquitoes favorite food is, ME!!!

I think I couted about 25 on one leg alone (Nika, you remember what this is like, but I feel like it's worse here)

And what do we do while waiting for dinner...?

We DANCE of course!!!!

Dinner

Dinner was a mix of pasta, cheese, and some onion-type sauce. Wonderful!!!

To accompany our meal we had a salad with my favorite dressing, the one my host mom in France used to make, mustard, vinegar, and oil!!

Lunch

Here is our first lunch. Apprently it's very common to share from one bowl!

It was a yummy mix of goat, vegetables, and a rice-like substance. I have to say, the food so far has been pretty good!

Our surroundings

This is the "disco hut" where we have our large group training.

This is on the way from my room to the eating hall

My bathroom facilities

Here is my shower, luckily 1 per cabin, however, there is no place to put your clothes in there without them getting wet.

This is our toilet, yeah, not fun. However, there are regular toilets in the girls' only bathroom, but it's on the other side of the complex.

And apparently they are not too fond of using toilet paper here and they prefer to use water and then their hand. I spoke to a few people about it and they say it's not as gross as it sounds because you wash away everything first. Don't worry, they have toilet paper for us and I plan on using it throughout my stay here if I can!!

Central air conditioning

We have three lovely settings, slow, slower, and slowest. Even on it's fasted setting I think it would be cooler if a fly was in the room batting it's wings.

The outside of our room. I somehow lucked out and I only share it with one other girl (most of the girls are six to a room), however, we do have to share our bathrrom and showers with the boys

My bed

So here is my bed mosquito net and all!!!

My cell phone number

You can now reach me at +221 77 673 00 67. If you're calling with Skype, just omit the 221 and choose Senegal as the country you're calling. Hope to hear from you soon!!!

Hello from Senegal

Hello everyone,
I wanted to let you all know that I arrived safe and sound in Senegal. I arrived at 5am this morning and have been running around ever since we touched down. A lot of information has been thrown at us and I haven't yet had the time to process it yet. However, my first impressions are that it is hot as heck here, it's dirty, and I'm mosquitoes favorite meal.
But I will say the people are friendly and the food so far has been great!! I'm wondering if I can truly make it 27 months here, but I sure hope I can because this is an very interesting place. If I can find my power cord and convert the electricity without blowing up my computer I'll upload some pictures and video I took today.

On my way to Africa

So I have officially left Raleigh, NC and after bawling my eyes out at the airport I have finally started to think about the new adventure waiting for me. It's a double edge sword because as I will miss everyone in the States I have so many new experiences waiting for me to enjoy. I want to let everyone know that I will miss you terribly. Thank you for helping me through the good and the bad times. Thank you all for making me smile and laugh. I appreciate each and every one of you and I hope you all know how much I'll miss you.
See you in Africa!!!

The countdown has begun!!

And so with one week from my departure date I have begun to FINALLY go through my boxes to see what I need and what I can throw away. So far I have learned through this experience that I am a pretty good procrastinator! I hope that I can all this done by this weekend so I can just relax and say good-bye to everyone.