PC service actually starts.

Well everyone……long time no update. Two weeks ago I was installed into my village and officially began the “real Peace Corps experience.” PC admin wants all of us in the new stage to cool our heels for three months before starting any work-related projects, but those who know me well will understand that this is simply something I am unable to do. I spent the majority of the first week at site working with the corn harvest and clearing up my backyard of overgrowth, and then spent the majority of the second week working down by my village’s rice fields where I’ve started a second garden. The work is physically demanding only because of the heat in my opinion, but entirely satisfying because I can just as easily improve my Pulaar in a cornfield as I could sitting in my hut staring at a textbook.

My family situation in the village is very similar to my situation in Mbour. Once again I have a gigantic family, but this time with 7 brothers. Some of the brothers love to work, some of them hate it, and several are currently attending school in a much bigger village 6k away. My “father” is the chief of the village and is as far as I can tell relatively conservative for Pulaars in the Casamance. He and I typically eat lunch and dinner together, which is a lot of fun because it provides time to pepper him with questions my brothers typically wouldn’t know how to respond to.

My living situation is about as close to perfection as I could have possibly hoped for. The hut is on the smallish side, but I don’t have that much stuff with which to fill it anyway. Since this is the first place I’ve ever been able to call my own I’m especially biased but I really think that waking up and watching the fog rise over the huts and fields of my compound is one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen in either Senegal or America.

……….and then there is the food in my village. I’m not going to waste your time or my time complaining about taste, texture, or ingredients. I will simply say that I have lost a little over 40 lbs now since arriving in Senegal, and that the food is plain but has lots of carbs for energy. I definitely had no idea what I was getting myself into when I was sitting in the DC airport, but it IS a West African country and the PC is here for a reason. End of story. Complaining about the food situation is counter intuitive to what I’m trying to do here. If I want to start eating more vegetables I’ll simply grow them.

And lastly, because I’m running out of time and random stuff to talk about, after the first week at site I was given a puppy by one of my host brothers. She is some sort of Senegalese mutt, but is extremely adorable and is definitely headed back to America at the end of my service. I originally thought about not Americanizing the puppy, but rejected the idea on the grounds that my service in the Peace Corps can still be entirely successful as long as I integrate into the community and have meaningful/sustainable projects. How I treat my dog, therefore, has absolutely no bearing on my effectiveness as a Volunteer. This dog is going to be clean, well trained, and is going to eat better than I do for the next two years.

I miss you all a ton. My phone number is on my facebook page if you ever have the urge to call (something I highly recommend doing from skype). I won’t update until I get back to Kolda in another three weeks so stay patient. If any of you have particular questions just post them in the comment section………..Until next time.