I've arrived!

This blog is solely my opinion and does not represent the opinions of Peace Corps or the American government

To get logistics out of the way...

Training Center Mailing Address (for letters, no packages), where I will be until November 28, the date of swearing in:

Lisa Bruckner/Corps de la Paix Americain/B.P. 299, Thies/SENEGAL

Phone number until November 28 (if calling from US): +221 28 290 5784

(I receive texts and calls for free. No one knows how to set up voice mail here, so if you really need to reach me, send me a text if it’s possible).

I have been with the Peace Corps for a week and it feels like two. I arrived in New York for “Staging,” which is 1.5 days of “meeting” 59 other volunteers, filling out documents, and feeling anxious. Our airport shuttles were then 2 hours late, so we got to our international flight 30 minutes before departure (!) and hardly slept for one more night. But man, after we got to the training center, were greeted by dancing volunteers, ate amazing food and had a brief orientation, we slept like babies to the crazy rainy season storms!

It feels much better to actually be here; the buildup has dissipated and my mind is clearer. Not surprisingly, there are several yogis and healthy people here, so I’ve been doing yoga some mornings in a place called the Disco Hut!

  

Yes, our central meeting place at the Thies (“Chess”) Training Center is called the Disco Hut because someone hung a disco ball in the center of the roof. We take our shoes off before entering (as is custom) and sit on the mats to learn about how to slurp tea, eat from a communal bowl, contact important Peace Corps people, etc. We also have a couple small air conditioned (!) buildings where we learn with power point presentations, until sometimes the power goes off and then it’s learning in the dark time!

Our County Director says that Senegal has “thee best” training team and staff of all of Peace Corps. I heard highly of the team even before arriving, and meeting the people here gives me confidence in her statement. The people here are very nice and helpful, and there are a lot of smart, motivated, friendly fellow trainees from all over the US. And, North Carolina represents – we have five NC trainees here, and one of the current volunteers was on my high school field hockey team! The world can be so small sometimes.

A typical training day goes from 8:15am-6:30pm with breaks for tea and meals. During our down time, people play bocci ball, basketball, soccer (the most popular sport here), cards, hackie sack, or several musical instruments (we could probably make a Peace Corps band – “Toubab Krewe Numero Deux”). We sweat all the time. I have decided to not even bother with deodorant and to get to know what the Lisa smell really means. Luckily we have arrived in the “cooler” rainy season. My theory is that the Peace Corps lures you into thinking “it’s hot, but manageable” and then the really hot, dry season hits and you just have to deal. Many volunteers sleep in their nets or tents outside most of the year anyway.

Starting Monday, we will be at our temporary host family’s site, learning the local language of where our permanent site will be (Wolof, Bambara, Pulaar, etc). This is something the Peace Corps is doing differently, where they have you oscillate between the training center and your home stay instead of just being at your training site for two-three months. The idea is that this will speed up your integration process, which sounds great to me!

It’s very exciting to look through the training handbook and imagine that I will develop all these agriculture skills. However, we are encouraged to not start any projects until our more intensive technical training in late February. Peace Corps heavily focuses on integrating into the community for the first six months. I can’t imagine feeling capable of starting projects before this time, but I also anticipate that I will have to struggle through not “work working” in the pace that I’m used to for that long. Like with many things, only time will tell!

Internet is spotty and unreliable here, but until December, I will try to connect once a week.

Hope you all are well and I am thinking about you!