I've now officially been in the Peace Corps for over a week and have spent almost a week in Senegal. I have become accustomed to the spiciness of the food and am enjoying the taste (even though I'm still drinking 4-5 glasses of water at each meal). While at the training center, the day begins around 7:30 when I wake up, eat a breakfast of beans on bread, and then head to my first session of the day. Sessions range from culture and language instruction to conversations about safety and medical issues to Peace Corps rules and assignment responsibilities. These sPublish Postessions continue until 5:30 with short breaks in the morning and afternoon as well as a long break for lunch (one of the large bowls with rice or couscous, vegetables, and meat or fish). Dinner (usually rice, meat, or pasta with salad) is not until 8:00, so there's plenty of time in the late afternoon to hang out, read, complete assignments, study languages, or walk into town. And of course there's time after dinner to continue to socialize.
I took this picture of the children dancing to the music. You can see how happy everyone is with music. Also, in the background you can see the buildings that we learn in as well as where we sleep.
I have been assigned to learn Wolof-the most widely spoken language in Senegal and also spoken in the Gambi and Mauritania. There area handful of minority languages spoken in Senegal as well-most notably Pular-that other Peace Corps Trainees are learning. All of the Senegalese languages are much simpler than Germanic languages and lack verb conjugations (though the pronoun conjugations can become a bit complicated). My teacher, Isatu, is amazing. She's extremely nice and helpful and tailors the class to our needs. (There are only 2 other people in my class.) I have now learned the alphabet, basic greetings, simple sentence construction, and some phrases. Greetings in Senegal are extremely important; it is impolite not to greet someone you pass on the street (except in cities) and rude if you approach someone to begin a conversation (even to ask a question to a stranger) without greeting them first. And greetings can last for awhile - sometimes ten minutes - as people inquire about every member of the family, pets, farm, etc. When spoken quickly, Senegalese languages sound like a bunch of random sounds mixed together, the words all just blend in. But after watching Peace Corps current volunteers bargain in local languages in the market, I see that it is possible to learn the language and speak it fluently; it just takes time, a lot of practice, and (of course) immersion.
I've been to the city of Thies 3 times so far, every day since we were first allowed out of the training compound and given our intro tour. I love seeing the mean and women in their traditional, brightly-colored clothes, and I can't wait to pick out fabric and have my own clothes made. (The first time in my life that I'm excited to shop and to get new clothes!) Thies smells like Ghana, Ecuador, and Peru - that lingering smell of burnt plastic that spreads everywhere. And without waste management, trash lines the ground. People literally just throw their garbage onto the street because there aren't even garbage bins anywhere. But the city is not without its charm. The market has booths selling fruit, cloth, shoes, bags, live chickens, etc. And carts pulled by horses or donkeys pass in the street next to cars and motorcycles. I have only explored a small part of the city so far, but I know I will see more soon.
I have also learned a few things so far. Firstly, I have learned to make do with 4 squares of toilet paper per bathroom trip (Peace Corps' way of weaning us off toilet paper), to drink bissap juice when I am constipated and baobab juice when I have diarrhea (luckily neither of these situations have happened yet, but the juice is delicious), to never interrupt someone praying, to never expect anything to happen on time, and as I said in my last post to never use my left hand for anything.
Ba beneen! (Til next time!)
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