Marathon Training

The night before I installed at site in Kedougou, I received an email about a marathon that is being put on by the Peace Corps in March in Tamabacounda (hot season, yikes!) to raise money and awareness for girls education in Senegal. Apparently Oprah is coming? Details to be announced.

Ben was really excited about it an immediately found a training schedule. A few people committed to participating relay style (running ~5mile sections), but I was sitting with the people who were looking to train for the full... sooo, as of tomorrow, I will be starting a week behind on an 18 week training schedule for a marathon. Should be interesting! Hopefully my body accepts village life and marathon training simultaneously.

Tabaski and off to Kedougou

So the night before Tabaski, I went back to my CBT village, Darou, for a mere twenty four hours. I socialized with my family in the evening and went to bed relatively soon after our 9 o'clock dinner. The sheep showed up sometime right before dinner and had a minor freak out while we were eating. In the morning, the men of the household put on their grande boubous and went to the mosque to pray. The women completed their morning chores and then started preparing food for the day (cutting up potatoes, onions, garlic, etc). When the men got back, another man came to our compound, said a prayer and then a sheep was "sacrificed." I missed the throat cutting since I was finally allowed to help cook! However, I did see them holding the sheep down in a hole that was dug while it bled out. I did peek over to see them skinning and cutting it up though. However, Robert showed up and then we went over to say hello to Kyle's family. After spending enough time there for a plate of food, we went to Robert's where, again, we were offered food. Nearly four hours later, I returned to my compound just in time for the main course- sheep in a pea and onion sauce accompanied by bread. I don't totally understand the holiday, but it was good to experience! We took a ton of pictures and then waited around to be picked up to go back to Thies. My neene (mother of the household) broke down crying when I left, it was so sad! My little sister, Binta, has been telling me how much she is going to miss me for the last month too... Our group was the last to get back and then Sarah, Caitlin, Brent and myself went to Les Delices for dinner (tradition). When we got back, I helped Brent pack and then socialized all evening and stayed up watching movies.

Our transport to Kedougou was there at 6am although we didn't leave until 7:30. Kyle packed in the morning and didn't feel well for the first three hours down to Koalack and ended up going to the regional house to go up to Dakar. It was really silly to have three sept places for now only six people. I can't complain because I slept pretty much the whole time so it didn't make a difference for me. Including a lunch stop we made it to Kedougou in just over 12hours. The following day we tried to go shopping, but most things were closed (because of Tabaski) so I just stopped by a tailor and got a wrap skirt copied that I had originally gotten in Nepal out of extra fabric from my swearing in outfit. I also discovered a frozen baobob juice that is served in a small plastic bag that I am obsessed with. I hope they have it in Salemata (the town that is 5km away from me with the weekly market)! Today, Chris Hedrick, the country director, came down and we did some shopping (I got a bed, bunch of buckets, etc) and then he left with Cameron and Kyle (who took an overnight bus to Kedougou from Dakar) to Dindafello to install them into their sites. Tomorrow I install so I am getting in my last bits of internet time and errands in the city (large village). I do not have electricity, cell service, boutiques, or running water at my site, sooo yah. Regardless, I cannot express how nice it is to be down here! Supposedly it is the most beautiful part of the country, and I think I will find it hard to disagree: the Guinean mountains to the south, a national park right to the north (Niokolo Koba), and it is lush and green everywhere (at least now since the rainy season just ended). Our bikes were delivered as well and even the simple act of having money and running errands is so nice. I am looking forward to settling in at site! I am going to be rather out of contact until Thanksgiving since I am going to participate in the "5week challenge." The idea of the 5 week challenge is to not stay at the regional house for the first five weeks after install in order to better integrate into your community. However, since Thanksgiving is within the five week period, our challenge has been extended to six, but with two days off for Thanksgiving. I am really excited because Caitlin and Brent are going to come down to Kedougou! There is talk about having a pigturducken for the main course... we'll see what happens. Then just a few weeks later a group of us are going to go up to Dakar for Brent's 25th birthday!

Officially a PCV!

A police escort led our three buses from Thies to Dakar this morning to the ambassador's house where our swearing in ceremony was held. Everyone was in their traditional African dress, and I must say, it was quite colorful! We had a short two hour program with speeches from the country director, the ambassador, and short translations into local languages by four volunteers. It was very reminiscent of a graduation in that we were called up one by one, given a letter (new ID card), shook hands with our program director, and were congratulated for the completion of our last nine weeks of training. Apparently is was televised here in Senegal as well. Afterwards, there was a short reception with juices and appetizers to socialize and take pictures. Today is also the day that I received my work permit and bank card too! I am a real person again (at least by Senegalese standards)! After that we went to the American club to gather up a bit more paperwork and celebrate our transition from trainees to volunteers! It feels so good to be done! There is still so much learning to be done once I get to site, but it is a relief to know that I made it through what is said to be the most difficult part of one's Peace Corps service. Another day in Thies, off to Darou to celebrate Tabaski with my host family, and then off to Kedougou!

A few more days as a PCT

Wow, what has happened since I last posted.... We had a day in Dakar where we went to the Peace Corps office, met a bunch of administrative people, signed a few papers, met a few volunteers that were in town, had an hour and went to a volunteer's house who lives in the city, some people got ice cream, went to the American Club (a private school with a pool that is open to expats), got briefed by a foreign service officer, signed a few more papers, and then headed back to Thies.

We had a night off where we rented a couple of "Alhums" (big, rickety buses) that we took to Popeguine, where we rented a huge house right on the beach about an hour away from Thies. It was soo nice! A great getaway and break from training. A group of us made salsa and guacamole too! SO GREAT. Later, a number of us also decided that it will be the first stop (obviously after Dakar) for people who come visit Senegal because it is a good introduction to some of the realities of the country without being thrown into village life right away (i.e. western toilets, a kitchen, a restaurant, but a town with a boutique, bean sandwiches, etc near by).

After Popeguine, we went back to Thies only to go to our CBT sites again for another week, where our garden got eaten by a sheep, I got a cold, went back and forth from Mboru a lot (the town 5km away with a few other volunteers training), got my outfit for Tabaski made and a great wallet, and (of course) we had language classes in preparation for our last language evaluation.

Coming back to Thies was really nice, particularly to see everyone, but also because we are so close to swearing in (which apparently is televised and then afterwards we go to the ambassadors house, etc)! I am so ready to be done with training and get down to Kedougou. We had our last language and technical exam yesterday, were assigned our bikes, and given a lot of free time to sort and organize ourselves. I went into town and bought accessories for my swearing in outfit! Following swearing in, we will go back to our CBT sites again for one more night to celebrate Tabaski (the Islamic holiday where goats are slaughtered and eaten commemorate Abraham for sacrificing his son Ishmael as an act of obedience for God) then come back to pack up and head to site!