Still kickin' it

Ok it’s been quite a while since my last post so I’ve decided to give an update using traditional test wisdom. So here goes, my last month (or two) in one hundred words or less:

I swore in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer on November 4^th, gave a speech in Seereer in front of the US Ambassador and other Senegalese dignitaries (I can die fulfilled now, I’m on YouTube), participated in my first Tabaski (Alhamdulillah I missed the sacrificing of the four sheep that became lunch), installed in my village, learned that you really can go crazy without any outside contact, became an aunt, celebrated a lovely thanksgiving, adopted (more like stole from their mother) two baby kittens, committed cricket genocide (sorry if that’s offensive, but it’s true) and developed microscopic amounts of patience. 

FYI, that paragraph is in fact EXACTLY 100 words, booyaah kashaah!

And finally here are a couple pictures depicting some of what I just described. 

This pretty much sums up Tabaski. FYI, she's cutting the head off the sheep.

Actually this summarizes it. Just walking around with a sheep's head, you know, no big.

Jaxat, Asaan, and I at Tabaski. Jaxat is beyond adorable, and do you see how much fabric is on my head!?!

My hut!

This little mouse got stuck in the bottle one night and kept me awake for ever. I was extremely brave and set him free outside all by myself.

This is the view from my backyard at site. Beautiful!

I found ‘Waldo’ in Ngoundian…

For the past month we have been herded around Senegal like a bunch of sheep. Every few days we go to a different site. From Thies, to CBT (our language villages), back to Thies, to volunteer visits, back to Thies, etc etc…it’s quite the merry-go-round we got going on. Except there are no clowns, so I guess that’s a good thing.

So quick update. While in Senegal my main language will be Seereer, so that’s what I’ve been studying for the past month. My CBT village is Ngoundian and although extremely hot, it’s a lovely town. I live with the Ngom family here and my name is Fatou Ngom. I have one father, 2 mothers, and at least 15 siblings (although I keep meeting new ones coming back from vacation every day so who really knows). In three weeks, after swearing in (that’s assuming I’ve passed all tests satisfactorily), I’ll be going to my permanent village: Darou Salaam, Tambacounda. FYI, not only am I the first volunteer in my village, I’m the first Seereer volunteer to be placed outside of the Kaolack/Fatick region. That’s a little bit of a shock let me tell you. It’s really quite funny though. Whenever I tell people that I’m going to Tambacounda they all say two things: 1) I didn’t even know there were Seereers in Tamba? And 2) Wow Tamba, it’s reaaaalllllyyy hot there! Yay for me!

My family henna'd my hand. 'F' for Fatou (even though it looks like the hebrew 'hei' which means life)

A great many things have happened in the past month as well. I’ve been to soccer matches (my team has won both times of course), been pooped on by a bat, learned how to wash clothes with my hands better than any washing machine, swam in the mangroves, eaten unrecognizable parts of a mystery animal, gained control of my face when people tell me I should get a Senegalese husband, and perfected the art of falling asleep while fanning myself. I’m getting pretty well-rounded here if I do say so myself.

Oh, as to how I found ‘waldo’ seeing as he’s such an elusive fellow. In Senegal greetings are beyond important (you get chewed out in public by the people you forget to greet) and so it makes sense that there are a billion different greetings that take place at different times during the day. In the morning you say ‘Waldo’. So yep, mystery solved. He’s been in Senegal the whole time.

I’ve missed two very important weddings in the past few weeks. First, my older brother, congratulations!! And second, Leslie. Again congratulations!! You guys have no idea how much I wish I could have been there.

This is my baby sister Jaxat. She's adorable!

Me with a couple of my sisters. From left to right: Absa, me, Ramatou, NdeyFatou

And finally, a picture of my mothers. Ya-Magat is sitting and she is the first wife/my main mother. Yatep-Jole is my second mother.

Alright I’ve rambled enough for now. So I’ll say boo ndiiki, inshallah.

From the top...

It's amazing that the thing I've had the least motivation to do this past week was start a blog. But here is proof that miracles do happen...

So this past week I started my 27 month long service in Senegal with the Peace Corps! It started with all 55 Senegal agriculture trainees arriving in DC last Monday. From there we made the not too long flight (8 hours 10 minutes) to Senegal to start our African adventure.

Since arriving we've been under compound arrest until we go through safety training. (You should be happy about that info parents :) ) However, this doesn't mean that we haven't had anything to do. Every day we've been in meetings and classes learning all about the Senegalese culture, the wolof language, and today we even did a bit of compost making. The most difficult cultural difference here is that they don't use their left hands, because there left hands are used for...this:

These are the really nice restrooms by the way. Where I'm going I won't have anything nearly as posh.

Senegalese food, much like the culture, is very rich. And delicious. It's so very very delicious. In fact most volunteers here gain weight. Senegalese women think they haven't been a good host if you you don't gain weight. Thankfully it is completely ok to not eat everything placed in front of you.

According to the sign in front you can tell by this elephants ears that it is alert and ready to charge...even though it's lifeless...

In closing here are two pictures of where I've been living the past couple days. 

Entry way to the hospital

View from our giant pagoda