Just wanted to give one last shout out before I head into my village - I'll be going dark for several weeks, but I promise some enthralling posts upon my return!
Miss and love you all!!
P.S. I finally have an address and a list of care package suggestions...hint hint...
17.5.11
15.5.11
OFFICIALLY a PCV
I am now a real life Peace Corps Volunteer! How exciting!
We had our long-awaited swearing in ceremony the other day, Friday the 13th actually. The ceremony took place at the Ambassador’s residence, which inspired a new life goal of mine: become an ambassador. The ceremony was really great; we were all dressed up in traditional-ish Senegalese clothes, and the American Ambassador, along with our Country Director and a few Senegalese Ministry officials were there, along with a sizeable chunk of the ex-pat community in Dakar, including some former volunteers. Everyone gave some lovely speeches, in an interesting mix of French, English and some native languages, and then we all stood up and recited the oath of office, and presto-change-o, we were real volunteers!
In Senegal there are quite a few native languages spread around the country, but the four major groups are Wolof, Pulaar, Mandinke, and of course my favorite, Serere. Each group from our stage had one member give a speech in their native language, and the Sereres picked me! Writing it turned out to be quite the task, but I’d like to think that it came out ok :)
This is a clip from the ceremony - you can all watch it and pretend to understand haha.
We had our long-awaited swearing in ceremony the other day, Friday the 13th actually. The ceremony took place at the Ambassador’s residence, which inspired a new life goal of mine: become an ambassador. The ceremony was really great; we were all dressed up in traditional-ish Senegalese clothes, and the American Ambassador, along with our Country Director and a few Senegalese Ministry officials were there, along with a sizeable chunk of the ex-pat community in Dakar, including some former volunteers. Everyone gave some lovely speeches, in an interesting mix of French, English and some native languages, and then we all stood up and recited the oath of office, and presto-change-o, we were real volunteers!
In Senegal there are quite a few native languages spread around the country, but the four major groups are Wolof, Pulaar, Mandinke, and of course my favorite, Serere. Each group from our stage had one member give a speech in their native language, and the Sereres picked me! Writing it turned out to be quite the task, but I’d like to think that it came out ok :)
This is a clip from the ceremony - you can all watch it and pretend to understand haha.
Spring 2011 Swear In Ceremony
On a slightly related note, CNN had done a story about the Peace Corps turning fifty, and they followed a girl from my stage through the Peace Corps process. They just aired it, so here is the link if you want to check it out. I mayyyy be in the background somewhere.
On a slightly related note, CNN had done a story about the Peace Corps turning fifty, and they followed a girl from my stage through the Peace Corps process. They just aired it, so here is the link if you want to check it out. I mayyyy be in the background somewhere.
CNN - Peace Corps Turns Fifty
I am currently at my regional house in the city of Kaolack, where all the volunteers are helping us get ready for install. I will be here for a few days, and then Tuesday afternoon I will be dropped off in my village, eek! I am really, really excited to have finally reached this step. Almost a year and a half ago I began this process, and it has all been leading up to this! Village life! We have this five-week challenge, where if you stay in village for your first five weeks, which is really the best method for integration, our country director will host a dinner for us at his house with actual, real American food – probably the best incentive out there for a starving volunteer!
I really have no idea how often I will try to get myself to a computer, so for the next two months don’t expect too much haha, but I will find one eventually. After two months we go back to the training center for IST, which is where we get to learn some serious tech activities, and I will have lots of internet there and I promise to respond to every one of your emails :)
Love and miss you all!
I am currently at my regional house in the city of Kaolack, where all the volunteers are helping us get ready for install. I will be here for a few days, and then Tuesday afternoon I will be dropped off in my village, eek! I am really, really excited to have finally reached this step. Almost a year and a half ago I began this process, and it has all been leading up to this! Village life! We have this five-week challenge, where if you stay in village for your first five weeks, which is really the best method for integration, our country director will host a dinner for us at his house with actual, real American food – probably the best incentive out there for a starving volunteer!
I really have no idea how often I will try to get myself to a computer, so for the next two months don’t expect too much haha, but I will find one eventually. After two months we go back to the training center for IST, which is where we get to learn some serious tech activities, and I will have lots of internet there and I promise to respond to every one of your emails :)
Love and miss you all!
almost there...
Hey hey!
I know I have been a lil neglectful of the blog for the past few weeks, so I am going to attempt to update you all on what I've been up to here in Senegal.
About three weeks ago I went on my "demyst," which is a week long stay with the volunteer who will be my closest neighbor. It was really awesome to check out village life, and see what her job is actually like. Anddd I had to pull water from a well for the first time. It was super difficult and I still have the blisters to prove it haha.
We were also able to stop by my village briefly, where I was renamed Diama Ndaiye (pronounced Jemma N-Jai, rhymes with I). My father, who by the way is the chief of the village, informed us that he wanted to keep his sheep in my backyard...so that had to be fixed haha. We also had a workshop here at the center for all of our counterparts, who are the people in our villages who will be working with us for the next two years. It was alot of work because everything had to be done in the local language, but it was a really great opportunity to meet and spend time with my counterparts.
This past week was our last week in our training villages, so I had to say goodbye to my lovely family there. I had a great time there with them, and I am really going to miss them! They were so welcoming and so great when it came to having patience with my language skills. I took a million pictures with them my last afternoon there, which, inshallah, will some day get uploaded, but I will add a few here so you can see how awesome they are.
These are a couple of the kids in my family - the little mischievous one in the middle is named Jaxat (pronounced Jahat) and she is by far my favorite thing in the worldddd! She is so cute and such a little troublemaker - quick shout out, she reminds me for some reason of my cousin Meg when she was little, not sure if it's the look of her or her crazy rambunctious attitude, or both, but that is also probably why I love her so much haha. I also took far too many pictures of her :)
Swear In is Friday the 13th - so I guess we are the luckiest stage? Almost a PCV!
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