Peace Corps Senegal

Training

Hi friends! I finally have a minute to breathe and chill, and just barely enough motivation to sit down and write about the beautiful chaos that was my life over the last couple months. I think I’ll just list out some of my most memorable moments. Since my last post, I went back to my community based training (CBT) for 16 days to focus on learning Pulaar, went back to the training center for about a week for more training, and our “counterpart workshop” (where are local work partners from all of our sites came for 2 days to learn about the Peace Corps), went back to CBT for 3 days to say goodbye, and then had a few last days at the training center for mostly bureaucratic stuff, celebrations, and swearing in.

Some highs:

- When I just said “a jodotaako”

This was so simple, but oh my goodness, did it make me smile. I struggle so much with putting verbs in the right tense in Pulaar, and knowing how to negate them. I have it all memorized, but I still have to think about it for at least 3 seconds before anything comes out. About half way through my 16 day stay at CBT, one morning I needed to ask my host sister if she was using a chair or not, and without thinking, I just said “you’re not sitting?” (“a jodotaako”?). I think that was nearly the first time I said anything in Pulaar without thinking about it at all first. It felt great. I should also say that right after that, my sister started trying to tell me something that I should have understood… but didn’t, and it was right back to the frustration of square one. My amazing friend Kimler texts our little group of friends a song title every morning. One day it was “hot and cold” by Katy Perry in reference to language learning… so very on point.

By the way - if you want to hear the language I'm learning - just lookup the famous Senegalese singer Baaba Mal on Spotify. Anything that's not in French or English is Pulaar. He's from a city very close to my site!

- Dancing with Soka at our CBT celebration party

The day after we finished our last stay with our CBT host families, one member of each of our families came to the training center for a little ceremony and a party. My tokara (namesake) loves to dance (as do I), so we spent the entire hour and a half break after lunch just chilling near the speakers and dancing to whatever was playing – from Senegalese pop, to jazz, or Michael Jackson. My language still wasn’t great, so we ran out of things to talk about, but the music helped, and it was a lovely way to say goodbye.

- Meeting my counterparts

Each of us has 2 local counterparts who have volunteered to work with us throughout our service – help with cultural integration, language, and deciding what projects to do. Both of mine came for our 3 night counterpart workshop at the training center, and I adored them. I did have moments of frustration in not being able to communicate, but I was grateful to have met them, and see how motivated and kind they are. One of my counterparts went with me to the soccer game many people were having, and we talked the entire time…. Even though I maybe only understood a tenth of what he was saying, he just talked and talked, and I just kept smiling, telling him I didn’t understand, and laughing. I can’t wait to start working with them.

- Passing my LPI! This was our final language exam that determined if we would get to swear in at the Ambassador’s house and head out to our sites, or stay an extra week for intensive language learning. It was such a relief to pass after so many moments of doubt during the learning process. And as an extra sweet bonus, everybody in our cohort passed, which hasn’t happened in 7 years.

- The food at the swearing in ceremony…. The ceremony itself was lovely. We all felt very important…. But I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that was a highlight. The snacks at the reception may have made me smile more…. Brownies, mini pizzas, delicious cheesy potato things…. You name it.

- Talent show the night before swearing in

Our second to last night at the training center our whole stage gathered in the disco hut (nice outdoor hut for meetings) for a very casual show. Only about 7 people performed, but it was a beautiful way to say goodbye to the friends I’d grown so close to. Cason used his incredible stand up comedy skills to playfully make fun of nearly everyone in the stage… James wrote a song about us to the tune of American pie… our very musically talented crew got together to “jam” for us, Jordyn wrote and recited a very sweet poem, and I played a simple song on the guitar.

- Playing in the waves on beach day.

We had a total of 1 day off in the past 2 and a half months. It was just before swearing in, and we all used it to spend the night in a lovely beach house about an hour from Thiess. For a day, we were all completely American again. We danced, played cards, swam, and ate good food. I particularly enjoyed swimming in the massive waves. It felt very cathartic.

Some lows

- There truly haven’t been many specific moments that were “lows.” Other than the heat I'm currently experiencing in Fouta (I intentionally slept in a wet t-shirt last night to try to cool off.....) it’s more so been just general exhaustion. Training is crazy – especially for an introvert. You’re socializing all the time, whether it’s with your host family, Peace Corps family, or in my case now, your regional friends. And during training, something is always scheduled. If you do have some free time, you’re using it for things like laundry, organizing your room, or brushing up on Pulaar. I wouldn’t have had it any other way, but I’m very much looking forward to getting to site and having a little more time to breathe. I'm also looking forward to having a bit more time to reflect. During our celebration for our CBT families, a friend of mine turned to me and said that it had just hit him that he was in the Peace Corps. This was 2 months in... and I was shocked because it hadn't even hit me yet. It's important to take your service day by day, because you'll get completely overwhelmed, but at the same time I wish I'd taken a little bit more time during training to look at the big picture. This has been a dream of mine forever, I jumped through a thousand hoops to get here, and it's HAPPENING. It's important to take some time to soak that in.

- I would have to say though, that while they haven’t been “lows” the past 2 days have been the hardest in Senegal so far. Saying goodbye to the comfort of my friends at the training center hit me harder than I thought, and getting to the regional house in Fouta made everything feel very real all of sudden, and I started to get scared. This whole time I’ve definitely had moments of wondering how in the world I was going to do this, but these past couple days I’ve had fleeting thoughts that were more along the lines of wondering if I could do this. I know I can. I just have to take a deep breath and dive right in. It’s all going to be great. I head to site tomorrow. Wish me luck!