Left Brained – not Handed!

Life is still wonderful in Senegal. I spent four days in Richard Toll to demystify the Peace Corps experience. Richard Toll is a large city of about 70,000 people and is on the Mauritania boarder up north. It was wonderful getting out of Thies and the center for a mini vacation, if you will. Mandi and I stayed with Bryn and she showed us around. Everywhere we went, kids would yell out “Bonjour toubab!!” which means hello foreigner!! It was really funny, but I know eventually I will like to be called by my name! We also got together with 2 other current volunteers with 3 demysters and played at a local hotel pool. It was wonderful!

So I have started my family stay. I am no longer Binta… I am Diama Gueye. (Di = J so Ja-ma… ) Yea, I can hardly pronounce it either! I was named after my host mother’s big sister. So my family in Thies is huge, and honestly I am having quite a hard time learning all of their names. Here’s why: My mom is Astou, but I call her maman or yaye in wolof. My dad is Daouda, or Papa. I have 3 sisters around my age – Nogaye, Khadi, and Astou. And I have four very young siblings: Ahmadou, Cher Dianjan, Maman Ami, and Cher Omar (who just turned 2). There are also other children who possibly live here as well, like Madi and one other. I also have an uncle Cheikh Ndiaye and an older brother whose name I don’t know. There are a few of us here! But I have my own room with 2 windows and a fan (and a few bugs that I kill and pretend are now extinct)! I have a twin bed, 2 chairs and a table that makes many other trainees jealous. Everyone has very different living situations. I live on the same street as two other volunteers and we are less than a 5-minute walk to the center. As for a bathroom, I do have a western style toilet (excellent!) that I share with my parents and all the kids use a Turkish toilet. Honestly, I would have no problem using that because I used it in France for 4 months, but I won’t tell them that!! Instead of a shower, I take bucket baths, which are better than you think. It’s not weird to take like 5 showers a day to stay cool, which is nice. Last night I actually slept underneath a sheet because I was chilly in the middle of the night! Crazy right? It was a first since arriving!

Food is still delicious. We eat a lot of rice and fish. Last night was the first time that I got to eat with my hands! It is quite common here, which is crazy with rice, but that’s not what we had last night. It was lettuce, something like French fries (just not potatoes) onion sauce with fish. It was very with bread. Oh, and about being left handed…so much for that in the next 2 years! That hand is considered dirty and only used in the bathroom, if you know what I mean. I am now a righty, which tends to be challenging at times! It is an insult and frowned upon to reach for something or give something with your left, not to mention eat! After 2 years of this, will I ever be normal again? Haha! But I can’t complain about the food really. I like the spice and haven’t been sick yet (knock on wood!!) Some people in the group have had some problems with the mefloquine prophylaxis that we take for malaria but I must have a tough stomach! It’s a good thing to have here!!

I have a cell phone now! 221 713 3897.... 6 hours ahead? We don’t do fall back.. so i think we will be 7 hours ahead soon... but hey! feel free to text me and then buy a calling card with international minutes!

Training at the center has started and it will be a lot of intensive learning. We start the day at 8, after breakfast, and go from 8-6 with a nice 2-hour lunch break from 12:30-2:30. It is mostly all language right now, and since I passed out of French, I am learning Wolof. This is also what my family speaks. I am able to use French with everyone except the young kids but I am trying to use as much Wolof as possible. Maybe I will be tri-lingual when I leave!

I will try to make sure you all can see photos on my facebook account. It is the fastest way to download them!

Send letters to me! I just bought stamps and should send some stuff out soon! For you, you can buy 90cent stamps at the post office. It is a bit more for me, but you are worth it if you write to me!