The Gods Must be REALLY Crazy!

Nanga def, everyone?!

That is the first sentence I've learned in Wolof here in Senegal, and it's probably not even correctly conjugated for second person plural. My ignorance is - for once - overcoming my grammar prescriptivism. Anyway, it means 'how are you' and it's part of the very important (and long) back-and-forth series of greetings and introductions that are part of every Senegalese salutation.

So, it's official: my Peace Corps adventure has begun. We arrived at the PC training center in Thies on Thursday after a very short orientation in D.C. and very not-so-short flight to Dakar. My group has about 55 people in it (which is huge; there are lots of displaced Mauritania volunteers), and the group seems very cool and interesting so far. We've spent the last few days getting accustomed to various African/Senegalese/non-

American details like the heat and humidity, the bugs (either incessantly biting or grossly huge), the birds (noisy, but usually hidden), the tam-tam drumming (which goes on well into the night) and the Moslem call to prayer five times each day. We've also had some interviews and orientation classes for our programs (mine is SED - small enterprise development) and for language. Very excitingly, I did well on my French interview and have been cleared to move straight into Wolof (many people don't have the French background and were not so lucky).

The details of what I'll be doing or where I'll be going are still up in the air; most of those decisions won't be made until the second month of our training. In the meantime, we're getting ready to head out to our Community-Based Training homestays. My language group (4 others), our Language/Cultural Facilitator and I will be going to a town just outside of Thies for the next week where we'll be staying with individual families. I'm nervous as all hell (you have seen the extent of my Wolof knowledge) - it's the first time we'll really be out in Senegal and we're all expecting horrible GI reactions. Still, I'm also very excited to hear Wolof in use, see how a real family cooks dinner, and just how one manages a pit latrine. (Eek!)

Bon, that's about the basics of life here in Senegal. After tomorrow, it may be awhile before I am back in the training center and have internet again. Please send me emails, even short ones, to let me know how you're all doing. Life at home seems soooo far off from things here; I'm sure in our villages, it'll be even more so.

Lots of love and hugs, kisses, bises, and nishikot,
Tamar

PS Holy sh*t! We also witnessed a third world marketplace during our tour of Thies yesterday. Lots of mud (because of the rain), lots of veggies, lots of flies, and lots of beautiful, beautiful cloths. The women here are always dressed impeccably and I can't wait to buy some fabric and have a skirt made, too!