So the internet is down now, so I’m just hanging out in the disco hut writing a blog entry. What better way to spend a Saturday night in Senegal? The disco hut, in case I have yet to explain that, is the big grass-roofed gazebo that we all congregate in on a daily basis. It’s also, ironically, the best place to get internet access at the training center.
I’m perpetually itchy and covered in mosquito bites. They’re unavoidable. You can deter them a bit with repellant, but they still manage to find that one spot that you missed. Every time. It’s a way of life here. No worries, I’ve got the anti-malarials to protect me. I’m one of the lucky ones. They put me on doxycycline instead of the mefloquine (spelling??) because I have a health record of an adjustment disorder. This is due to chilling out with a counselor once a week in college to keep me sane (pretty much all of my friends did, I guess it was the cool thing to do) but to make insurance cover it, they diagnose it as an “adjustment disorder” and it goes on my health record. Peace Corps doesn’t want to give the meflo to people who may be prone to adjustment issues or depression or whatever it may be, so I don’t have to take the medication that gives people crazy dreams at night! And it’ll clear my acne. I’ve already noticed here that my face is actually clearer than it was in the states despite the fact that I sweat all the time. Doxy will help I’m sure, but it’s probably also due to the fact that I haven’t put on any makeup since staging in DC, and voila! Clear skin for Emily. Amazing what it takes to learn these things.
In other news, a fantastic event occurred today!! We got to leave the center! We have been on lockdown in the PC training center since we touched down on Wednesday morning and took the bus here, so today during the safety and security session, the security coordinator Etienne walked us through the entrance to Thies, and we had our first chance at interacting a bit with the outside world. We had to walk around the area called the “red zone” where a few abandoned run-down military barracks shelter scary people like drug dealers or rapists, so they had to let us know where that was so we could avoid it before we were allowed to leave. We had a chance to shout the occasional, “Asalamalekum!” to passerby, and a few taxi drivers drove by slowly with their phone cameras out to take pictures of the large group of toubabs walking through their town awkwardly. I suppose if I saw a huge group of people with an awkward skin color who didn’t speak English and shouting random things to people and waving walking through downtown Sharon, I would probably grab my camera too.
Later in the evening, we had a chance to walk around the corner with some of the current PCVs and go to the “stadium” which is basically a grassy field with some rusty soccer goals, a few cement bleachers, and a dirt track around it. Running again felt good, but I need to remember not to go out too fast in this humidity. It’s pretty killer. I can definitely get used to it though. And the good thing- it’s not supposed to be much more oppressive than this the majority of the year. It’ll get a little bit hotter in October because the rainy season ends, but then it cools down a bit during the American winter, and I’ll have a few months of refreshing, cool(er), dry, air. Also, I know for a fact that I will not be placed in the northern part of the country where it gets really bad because Agfo volunteers like me have not conducted many successful projects there. I’ll pretty much definitely be going south, which in Senegal, believe it or not, is a good thing.
Two other exciting pieces of news: We get to go out into Thies for real tomorrow. We have a block set aside before dinner to go exploring a bit with the help of some current PCVs, so I get to actually see the world outside of our little compound! This is going to be so funny to look back on in a year or two when I’m remembering the days when I was completely incapable of functioning in society, and walking around town saying hi to everyone and joking around with them in their native language seems like no big deal.
Exciting piece of news number 2: I find out my language tomorrow!!! Which will also narrow down the areas where I could be placed. Then, very quickly, we will have our homestay orientation and be on our way Monday morning after our first session to some random village to stay with some random family who speaks some random language. Funfun. Won’t have internet access during the week, so I will update you all via transcribed handwritten journal entries. That will become a common theme very quickly I believe. We’ll be back to the center on Sunday afternoon, so I am looking forward to a week of awkward, unintelligible conversations during which I will completely embarrass myself and probably end up laughing my ass off at myself. I’m pretty sure that’s the idea.
At any rate, I’ll take pics of Thies and have them uploaded for all of you lovely (3 or 4) followers that probably read through this. Stay tuned.
~Emily
No comments:
Post a Comment