Peace From Senegal: Goodbye Beach--Hello Hut Life

This past weekend my training group, or stage as we like to call it in this Francophone country, took a beach trip to Popenguine. As we were nearing the end of our eighth week of training, this beach weekend was much needed. We rented out two beach houses and spent the next 24 hours soaking in the sun and enjoying our time off. To save the integrity of my stage I will sum up the trip as being a great bonding experience while at the same time noting that we all made it back in one piece. Now with less than one week left of Pre-Service Training (PST) my mind is beginning to race with an infinite amount of emotions. I’m definitely sad to be leaving my home stay family in M’Bour. The concrete house that once looked uninviting and foreign to me is now one of the places I am most comfortable at. My host sisters who at first laughed at me for not knowing how to speak Jaxanke are now the ones I have dance parties with in the backyard. As sad as it will be saying goodbye to them tomorrow, I know that the door will always be open for me. I could have done without the mice running around my room and waking me up at night, but at the end of the day it was still worth it.

I’m also extremely nervous about moving to site. The lack of electricity, accessibility to water, and remoteness of my village are making my imagination run wild. But I think the thought of being so far from my friends is something that will be the hardest for me. I have spent the past 8 weeks alongside forty something other trainees and have become close with many of them. Next week we are being ripped apart from each other and sprinkled all around the country of Senegal with only our water filters and mosquito nets (and integrity that wasn’t lost in Popenguine). Okay, maybe I’m being a little over dramatic, but that’s how it’s being played out in my head. Luckily though, we all have cell phones with free calling plans to each other. And luckily there is a cell phone tower in my village that will allow me to take full advantage of that free calling plan.

With the nervousness about moving to site, also comes the stress of actually having to move. If you read my last blog entry, you might remember that I have the honor of opening up a new site. That means I will be moving into a brand new hut, a nice brand new empty hut. This translates into me having to buy everything I might possibly need to start out my new life in village, a bed, gas tank, food, cooking supplies, a refrigerator…oh wait, I won’t have electricity…buckets, storage bins, shelves, candles, more buckets. The list is endless, but I’m sure I am being a bit over dramatic as usual. Apparently pessimism is my forte.

So here’s me trying out optimism (see last blog post about the positive thinker text). I’m excited to be finishing Pre-Service Training and to begin my actual projects at site. I appreciated the approach Peace Corps had in easing us into our new environment and hope that I am at least somewhat prepared at being able to integrate. I am also looking forward to getting away from this summer camp feeling, following a schedule, and at times wanting more freedom. Many of my friends at home have asked me what I will actually be doing at site. The first three months will be mostly dedicated to me getting to know the community and work on becoming more fluent in my local language. This means I will be walking around my village and spending an hour or two at all the family compounds. After those first three months are over we will have what’s called In-Service Training. It’ll be another couple weeks of sessions at the training center where we will go into more depth about how to approach certain projects we want to start, write grants, begin a baseline survey, etc. For now though I am only focusing on getting through this last week of PST.

Feeding off my last paragraph and this idea of optimism, I will leave you with pictures from our beach weekend in Popenguine: