Diouf Diouf Diouf!

My hut..two doors, no windows, latrine in progress, fence and screens not yet completed...
Ndiomedi, my future village. You an see the well, mosque, garden...my compound is on the other side of the garden. The Delta is beautiful! I will be just a few km away from this super salty shisto-free river inlet.
In Africa, you wait a lot.
Befor we left...Simone, Chris, Khady...we had no ideawhat lay ahead!

Hi friends. Please forgive this post as I am not currently able to adjust thelanguage and properly write about my experiences without major typing errors I predict. Ok I hope it works now...

Awesome Things:

Seeing my hut and future village

Meeting my counterparts and future family

Learning about the Serere culture and meeting the King,even if he's just a crazy old man sitting outside his hut

Seeing my Poste de Sante and watching consultations, even if one was tying off a baby's sixth fingers to cut off a few days later, eww...

Dancing!!!! I totally gained cred from the women of Pethie the first day by dancing with them

Getting to know the people of Pethie who will be connections, friends, and family for the next two years bc they are only one km away from me

Really experiencing Senegalese "teranga" (hospitality) for the first time

My other Serere trainee and our substitute language trainer for the week were awesome

Learning to appreciate an afternoon bucket bath in the bright sunlight

Learning to really appreciate my Thies host family

My new dress and jewelry my Pethie family bestowed upn me

Experiecing village life and Africa Standard Time

Not So Awesome Things:

Being force-fed 5 lunches all the same afternoon, within an hour or two.

Having people complain when I didn't eat or didn't eat much and then harass me about it

The heat

Animals everywhere, esp roosters, goats, donkeys, etc. I may offer a reward to people who kill the roosters in town, and then serve it for dinner...

Having bugs crawl on me the same night that I took my mefloquine so I had bugs on me while also having crazy dreams about bugs...ew

Roaches by the toilet/in my room

Senegalese couscous everynight for dinner with milk

Our sept place running over a sheep while going through Kaolack and really, the entire drive to and from...septs places suck!