Back to CBT

Going back to community based training (CBT) after seeing my site was a bit weird. However, everyone was so welcoming. It is amazing how much people miss you after being gone for a week! It was SO great to go to my actual site that coming back to CBT was anticlimactic. First of all, Kedougou is so much more beautiful than Darou Khoudoss! Secondly, I liked the language exposure, even though it was overwhelming at times. Nevertheless, it was nice to come back in the sense that I am going to completely appreciate the the amenities of my CBT site: the electricity, the water that is within my compound, the option of going to a boutique or market within walking distance, and the cell phone service. Below is my family with a few other volunteers who are learning Wolof in the next town, Mboru.

Ohh yes! We had our second language proficiency exam earlier this week, and I placed intermediate mid! That's the level that I need to be at by the end of training :) I'm really proud of myself too because I was the only person in my group who "advanced" a level from the last test!

This upcoming week is counterpart workshop (CPW); CPW is a time for our host country national work partners from our worksites to come to Thies, get updates about the Peace Corps, and an opportunity for us as volunteers to meet them, if we didn't already. Since I had already met my counterpart, Amadou Diallo, in Diarra Pont, when he arrived, it was kind of awkward- mostly because he arrived before everyone else, while we still had sessions going on in the morning, and then, I still have rudimentary language skills so there isn't much to talk about! We will see how it goes in the upcoming days. I have to introduce a speaker in Pulaar. YIKES. I don't like public speaking... particularly in foreign languages!