Learning New Lessons

I am in shock at how much I have fit into the last week of my life. It has been filled with an extreme amount of emotions that continue to challenge me. The training center is an awesome place and the staff is an incredible group of people. They are filled with so much love and are excited to better their country. There constant support is so important as training is quite overwhelming. I leave in about 20 minutes for Mhour. We are the lucky group because it is significantly cooler and on the beach! YA!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M'Bour

This is where i will be for 9 weeks living with a family and learning the language Fulakunda. It is a dialect of Pular which is found throughout West Africa. Here is some information about the history of the Fulakunda and a link to survival phrases.

http://www.jamtan.com/jamtan/fulani.cfm?chap=0&linksPage=288

http://www.pcsenegal.org/language.html

I pretty much know how to say I am good "Jam Tam" and that is about it. I am a little nervous about meeting my family but we have a good support group and will be meeting for language classes everyday.

Everything else is going well, Im learning how to squat in a hole and slowly weaning myself off toilet paper. Not super excited about this but when living in the bush you got to do what you got to do. I will be doing health and should find out the exact location soon. I will be headed to the region of Kolda. I have met a couple volunteers from this region and they are awesome. There is also a lot of rainfall so I am looking forward to having a kick ass garden. Downfall is that there are loads of mosquitos and it gets really hot and humid. Here is a link if you want to read more.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolda_Region

I will be writing in a week or so to share all my exciting adventures of living with a Senegalese family.

Love and miss you all

Jenae