I am sitting at a desk with the air
conditioner on and with high speed internet. I have come a long way
from the village. After my first week on the job, I enjoy the
opportunity to be a part of a team and to have a more structured day,
however, I miss the pace of village life. This was a weird time to
start a job, as the majority of the health team had workshops in
Dakar and Kolda. I took this opportunity to meet the other members
of the World Vision staff and to settle into a new schedule slowly.
This week, I've been reading a lot of project descriptions and case
studies (in French), to get a sense of what everyone is working on
and what my role can be. The team has been super helpful and they
recognize that I've lived in a village and that I have a deeper
understanding of the inner workings of a village than many of them
do. It has been a slightly difficult transition adhering to a work
day and to sit all day (I miss running around with the kids and
eating mangoes), but I do enjoy the a/c.
I'm back to being a city girl. When I
first arrived, I thought about how it was strange to be in a city
again, but I realized that this is the norm; living in a village was
out of the ordinary. Velingara is not a bustling metropolis by any
standard, but it's big enough and has everything that I need. The
down side is that I'm starting all over again, but this time, I don't
have a built in family structure to take care of me. I forget how
difficult it is to put yourself out there and make new friends. It
definitely helps that there are two other PCVs here, but they're
located on the other side of town and have their own lives.
It's early in my extension and I will
be here for another year, so I'm just settling in, buying furniture
and taking it one day at a time. I have a three bedroom apartment
that needs to be furnished and once that happens, I can play hostess
all the time (hint hint: come visit me!). I've started to go to
aerobics class, which gives me something to do and to keep me active
now that I'm not biking everywhere all the time. It's the beginning
of a new adventure and I'm excited to start working on projects and
to find my niche in Velingara. I'm confident in myself and am not
worried about life this next year.
My Roommate... (more apt pics to come, after I decorate)
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