A warm welcome to Peace Corps Senegal!

Most people say that the days here move slow but the months move quickly. That is something that I can completely relate to as I can not believe that I am done with training, sitting at my 'regional house' in Tambacounda, and preparing to move to my village in a few short days. But, when you are sitting, sweating and the only entertainment you have is watching other people sitting and sweating, time seems to move pretty darn slowly.

With that said, the past few days have been a whirl wind of dance, fun, and good-byes.

Me with my Mandinka women. My family in Mbour gave me the outfit I am wearing the day that I left. They had the tailor come take my measurements the night before and then in the morning- voila!!!

It all started with a 'Family Reception' for our host families at the Peace Corps training center. One member of each family (or 3 for those who decided to not listen and just show up) arrived around noon. Because a number of the Gambia volunteers were in Mandinka households, but the volunteers have moved to the Gambia, I ended up being in charge of 8 women.

I ushered them around the center as they marveled at the garden, poked around our fancy bathrooms and greeted other families. After sitting under the heat producing tent listening to numerous speeches graciously thanking them for their support, lunch was served.

Now this may surprise some of you but I can be pretty aggressive when it comes to shoving through a crowd to find a good bowl to eat at, and then eating as much as humanly possible (that was all said sarcastically). But these women showed me up. They pulled me through the crowd, pushing through to the back of the lunch room to take over two massive bowls filled with rice, meat, canned veggies and some other mystery items. We claimed our corner and then these women went to town. They just ate and ate and ate like it was their duty to make sure that not one grain of rice was left on that platter.

After lunch we stepped outside where I set up some chairs and mats under the trees for them to sit and chat and make attaya tea.This is always one of those interesting cultural barriers where I feel so awkward just sitting, not saying anything, and just watching the trees but people here love it. After 5 minutes of quite, the woman began to tell me 'Seynabou beteyata!' 'Senyabou lafita' (english translation- Janet is good!). Thus reminding me that the seemingly awkwardness is always worth it.

Soon the beating of the drums began and a group of 7 Senegalese performers began to play. They lured our mothers in to dance, showing off the dance traditional dance to each language group. My Mandinka mothers went up there, moving their butt like I have never seen before, hunched over and shaking to the music. Soon we were all making fools of ourselves, dancing and clapping to the beatings of the drums and the other eclectic Senegalese instruments.

After the star Senegalese performer did his fair share of flips, tricks and back-bends off the body of another performer, it was time to say goodbye to our families. With purses full of cold coke cans and fresh benyas (fried coconut donuts), I said my goodbyes, shaking with my left hand which symbolically states, ' we do not know when I will see you next but Inchallah it will be soon'.

The next morning we all woke up bright and early to slip into our Senegalese complets and put on the first dabs of makeup in 2 months. It was wonderful to see everyone in their colorful outfits, embroidery everywhere and already sweating from the heat trapping fabric.

My lovely purple gown with shiny pink décor was said to be the 'disney princess' gown of the group. While it was not what I had asked for, nor was it really 'me', it is quite fun to wear and I am sure it will come in handy for every wedding and baby ceremony I attend.

My Jaxanke language group and our instructor, Falaye.

We showed up at the American Ambassador's house looking better than we had in months, excited to gain the title as an official PC volunteer.
After shaking hands with the Ambassador and important Senegalese officials, we sat down, bracing ourselves for the journey that was about to begin. The 'swearing in ceremony' impressively spanned over 6 languages. Starting off in French,with our PC staff speaking about our hardships,  triumphs and how proud we should be to be joining the largest PC group in Africa and known world wide as one of the best. Vanessa Dickey, our Training Director, spoke frankly about her PC experience in Guinea and emphasized the importance of figuratively building bridges between people and cultures. 















After 4 of my fellow volunteers went up to the podium to speak for a few minutes in the native language that they had been studying for the past 2 months, the reality of the situation hit me. We are all finally doing what we came here to do!- Move to a small village without water or electricity to speak a strange language and integrate into a culture where one eats with their hands, the men marry more than one wife and poisonous leaves are eaten to cure malaria. ARE WE CRAZY?!

After inhaling over 25 delicious appetizers that were the closest thing to American food I have eaten in 2 months, I collected my bank cards, took a few final pictures and got back on the bus. This was when the nostalgia really hit me, yes we are crazy but we are all in it together and I am sad to be leaving all these amazing individuals that I have gotten to know over the past few months! But with that said, the five of us going to Tambacounda region are awesome, and we are joining such a laid-back, welcoming group of 20 girls. Because of this, my nerves have disappeared and I can not wait for the next two years!

Went and got amazing ice cream after swearing in (not that I was not already stuffed to the brim). Cafe+chocolate hazelnut, gotta love Dakar.