Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Dande Lenol!

Yesterday we found out our language assignments. While this doesn't really tell us anything about where we'll be for the next two years, it does help for the next two months.

I'll be in a small village (Jiroff, check google maps it's there!!) with two other PCTs Katy and Joanna, about 1km from another village of 6 PCTs (peace corps trainees). We are learning Pulaar, the language of the Fula (or Foola) ethnic groups. While it's not the most popular language in the Gambia (that's Mandinka), it is one of the more common languages in this part of Africa. I'm stoked!!

The past couple of days we've also had training on safety & security (how to avoid unwanted attention), health (take malaria pills and how to deal with diarrhea), and today we had some intro to gardening in the Gambia. We all will be creating our own garden plot in our training villages between now and Jan, so we'll see how that goes.

We head up to the villages on Friday and will be there or Tendaba from now until January with limited internet access. Not to worry I bought lots of stamps and will send out some letters very soon!

Love to all!!

also, Dande Lenol (with some accents) means one voice in pulaar.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Beach Day

After two long days of 7am starts and classes all day at the training center, we got a little break!! Today we went to the beach and a reptile center.

The beach was BEAUTIFUL!! Not too many tourists yet, and we got in a good game of ultimate frisbee. We didn't even see many bumsters trolling for european women. (I could explain what bumsters are, but I think wikapedia does a pretty good job)

The reptile center was set up to help inform gambians that they don't need to kill on first sight every single snake they see. I'm not sure how well it's working as all of the gambians with us stayed a good distance away anytime a snake was brought out. Although by the end one did muster the courrage to touch the cobra that was being passed around. (When I find a picture of me with it I'll post it.)

Tomorrow we have interviews for our site locations. We discuss with our program leader where we think we want to be placed (combos-city area or futher up country), what language we are interested in making our focus (Mandinka, Wolof, or Pulaar), and the job we see ourself doing while here. We should find out by tuesday what language we need to learn and a list of three potential sites.

Friday, November 6, 2009

28 hours 50 minutes later...

We made it!!!

We started a stop watch when the bus left our hotel and stopped it when we reached the training site. But we all made it, without too much trouble. It's hot and sticky here, supposedly it's going to break any day now and become the cooler season. I think the cool season might only exist in air condintioned rooms, which there are a few of (one is my bunk room.. yes!).

So far the wildlife I've seen includes several goats, a cat without a tail, some chickens, a really cute tiny puppy, and fruit bats!! They're hugh and all around the compound where we're staying. very cool. (for those of you who saw the background of my computer recently, that's a fruit bat.)

We got in last night and were met at the airport by several volunteers and PC staff. Today we started training with intros to the offices here, vaccinations, and our first language classes. We learned some basic greetings in Mandinka and Pulaar. Basically I learned how to say 'jam tan' (peace only) after every question.

I will hopefully have internet for the next week or so. I will try to update.

Love to all!!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Africa Bound

After some delay my departure date has finally arrived! And it’s a little surreal to think that on Thursday, November 5 I will be stepping off a plane into my new life and next adventure in The Gambia.

As many of you know, the trainee class to Mauritania was canceled and the volunteers were pulled from that country in mid August, which left me with 4 months wide open. I made the best of the delay though, visiting family and friends in 9 states and a district (Vermont, Michigan, Wisconsin, Colorado, California, Minnesota, New Mexico, Massachusetts, and New York), 2 countries (Costa Rica and U.S.A.), and 4 national parks/monuments (Rocky Mnt, White Sands, Carlsbad, and Guadalupe Mnt… thanks Margie!). I spent time with all of my nieces and nephews and couch/floor/bed surfed at each of my bros houses (congrats Ryan and Sara!). The love and support from all of you over the past few months, and years, provides me with the strength and desire to jump into the Gambia ready to learn and help.

Which is where I’m headed right now! Currently I’m on a train from VT to Philly where our training class has ‘staging’, basically a 24 hour meet-and-greet before we load on a plane Wednesday evening. Philly cheese steaks anyone? I certainly hope so!

Once in the Gambia, we spend a few days in Banjul, the capitol city, at the Gambia Pastoral Institute (GPI)… sounds nice. From then until the beginning of January I’ll be living with a family about 150k outside Banjul and training with a group of 3 to 4 volunteers. It’s called Community-based training (CBT). I’m still working on the Peace Corps lingo. I think they may have more acronyms than UW- Madison, though nothing so cleaver as SOAR or SOO. Hopefully during training (PST- Pre-Service Training) I’ll be close enough to the city to find access to the inter-webs and send out some updates!

For now I’m just soaking in the last of the fall colors and cool weather. Other than some packing dilemmas I’m feeling ready and excited. I mean who wouldn’t be overjoyed to go to a country with hippos, 32 different kinds of bats, and pangolins (super cute in and armadillo sort of way). I’m leaving my nomadic life behind and settling down in the Gambia.