There are days where I look west to the ocean and have to remind myself that it is the Atlantic and that I am in Senegal. These are times where I wonder if I'm living in a vivid dream where I will wake up and be in my room in San Francisco. I have physically been in country for over 7 weeks at this point and reality has yet to truly sink in. I know this may sound weird to most of you, but the "s***, I'm really doing this" moment hasn't arrived yet.
The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. It's been a constant state of movement, where i haven't been in one place for more than a few days (therefore no time to process...hence lack of I'm in PC moment). It's been back and forth between the center and my CBT (community based training) site with a trip to Kolda (and trips to the beach)! As some of you know via facebook, my site is called Mamadou Badjifa in the region of Kolda. My site was dubbed "the dwarf village", where it was rumored that the inhabitants had an average height of 5'0". Well....I visited my site and to my surprise, I wasn't the tallest person in village (there goes my hope of ever playing center on a basketball team). However, I wasn't a bit surprised at the hospitality and the enthusiasm that my new host family expressed. Oh! My host brother just had a baby! I get to watch this little boy grow up (so excited)! Also, My host father is the village chief and is the cutest old man ever. He even bikes better than I do!
Speaking of biking- Cliff, Joey, and Chris: by the time I'm done with PC, I will be able to kick your butts on the bike trail in Alaska =). It seems like I will be biking a lot. My village is 3 kilometers away from my health post and is 35 kilometers away from the city of Kolda, where my PC regional house is located. During my "demystification", I rode many kilometers and made enemies with deep sand. While I didn't fall off my bike, the deep sand made it difficult to continuing riding and i had to stop my bike. I also somewhat successfully pulled water from a well and carried it on my head (success is defined by not spilling copious amounts of water all over myself).
This entry is not done in chronological order. So much has happened that I cannot provide an accurate time line of my past few weeks. Ok, I'm backtracking to the journey to Kolda now. We ( the other Fulakundas and myself) boarded a Peace Corps car excited to see our sites. We were also excited about the fact that we were crossing the Gambia to get to Kolda. Looking at a map of Senegal, you'll see that you can get to Kolda from Thies by either crossing the Gambia or going around by way of Tamba. The trip was bumpy and I will never complain about potholes in the states again. We cross into the Gambia without a problem, but have crazy adventures waiting for the ferry. They include and aren't limited to: the 5 hour wait for the ferry, our driver almost getting into a physical altercation, almost driving into a mangrove swamp, and telling someone that Jet Li was my brother.
Along those lines, people are very confused by my ethnicity/nationality dichotomy. While waiting for the ferry, people attempt to sell you items ranging from fabric to movies. One persistent DVD salesman decided that because I was Chinese, I needed to buy the Jet Li movie that he had. He had this wide selection of movies for the "Americans", but singled out the Jet Li movie for me. After about the third time, I said that Jet Li was my brother. HA!! Then my friend Jenae exclaimed that I was American too. The look on his face was one of pure disbelief. He was flabbergasted by that fact. Then, when i went to my village, they asked if we were Americans. They were confused by my ethnicity and even asked if the other girls were Canadians!
Homestay
Back to the homestay now. My family is still amazing and I'm definitely going to miss them. I return to the village tomorrow for the last time and I already know that it's going to be difficult to say goodbye. I didn't think that I would become so attached to a family in 7 short weeks, but it happened. Last week, one of the other Trainee's host dad put together a Senegalese wrestling tournament for us (which was AWESOME!) that ended at 8:30pm. Usually I'm home by 7 at the latest and dinner is around 8:15. I felt so guilty that I was late and I was scared that I would be in "trouble". It was at that moment that I realized that I thought of myself as part of that family. If I didn't, I wouldn't have cared so much about being late (and my host dad called to see if everything was ok).
The language aspect is going. At this point, I'm at Intermediate Low and I have to reach Intermediate Mid as a criteria for swearing in. I feel like I understand so much more and my difficulties are in having confidence when I speak. Hopefully, I will overcome that (quickly) and reach the level that I need. I like learning new languages and the process that PC Senegal utilizes goes above and beyond classroom learning by ten fold. I'm learning new skills and to actively listen when others speak.
Diseased in Senegal
Here comes the not so fun part about Senegal.... I've already had an allergic reaction to bug bites. It's week 7 and I've already had to spend the night at the med hut in Dakar. On the good side, I went to this awesome Dermatologist who knew exactly what was wrong with me and didn't even have to put me on oral steroids! Woohoo! Although I trust the Doc, my body's reaction was extreme- and only affected regions of my body with eczema already. In my head (I'm no doctor), I have come to the conclusion that my body had a reaction to bug bites and produced high levels of histamines and whatever else which in turn aggravated areas of my body that were already fighting to heal. Who knows, but I'm much better now. Prior to talking to my PCMO in person, my roommate Web MDed my symptoms which turned up a long list of diseases, including Leprosy and Syphilis- which lead us to name my unknown "disease" Leprollis. While I spent the day in Dakar, my fellow stagaires spent time with our counterparts during counterpart workshop...
CPW
CPW: two days of awkwardness. Counterparts are those within the community that PCVs work with to create and execute projects. The role of a PCV is to facilitate projects with the help of their counterparts, so it's imperative that the counterparts understand what the PC is all about. The counterpart workshop is two days which educates the counterparts about PC philosophy, our PROSPERE project plan, Cross cultural issues, and Language acquisition. The language session is designed to show the counterparts how difficult it is to learn a new language. I was supposed to teach a mini Cantonese lesson, but I was en route from Dakar and unfortunately wasn't able to make it. However, the session was very productive and everyone thought it was helpful. CPW is awkward because we aren't fluent in our local languages and my French skills aren't the best. It's also strange to have to sit with someone you don't know and discuss problems you may potentially encounter. I am thankful that we had it and I'm excited for install in 16 days!
BEACH!
I'm fortunate enough to have a CBT site that has a gorgeous beach within walking distance. As a girl who never lived more than 20 minutes from an ocean, this was such a blessing. I have been to the beach a total of three times now. Each time I go, I feel like I'm transporting myself out of Africa. This last beach trip was with my entire stage and we rented out a house on the ocean. My life is so surreal right now and I don't know what to make of it.
Next time I post, I will probably be a PCV (fingers crossed!). Swear in is May 14 (same day as USC graduation!) in Dakar. PST has gone by so slow, yet has flown by. Till next time!
--Jam Tan
I'm super excited to finally unpack and settle into one place. At the same time, I'm petrified of what I'm about to embark on. The next time that I have internet access will be who knows when. I will have a lot more to say next post.
