Tanna Alaa??

sorry for not posting in forever, i just find it difficult to get to the blog after writing e mails back to my mom and checking myspace and facebook. i'm doing great though, except for the stresses that come from training. tomorrow i have my 6 weeks language assestment and i'm pretty nervous. i'm learing one the hardest senegalese languages, Pullo Fuuta and its discouraging when everyone learning Wolof is excelling i just keep telling myself their language is really easy. it also doesn't help when my host family told me how bad i was at speaking their language last week. i only understood them because our only form of communication is french. my french has improved so much from speaking with them, plus i have to do alot of translation between my classmates and teacher. her english isn't great and they speak no french. it's pretty funny, plus for awhile there i was having to pick up my neighbor whenever we went somewhere because he spoke no french or local language. yesterday was my 24th birthday, which we started celebrating saturday night. we went to this hole in the wall place that was highly recommended by fellow PCVs and it was amazing. it cost about 4 dollars for the best meal i've had so far in senegal. grilled chicken and fries with ghetto salad. they grill it when you order it and was so tender and just perfectly burnt. yesterday for my actual birthday a few fellow trainees went with me to this french resturant which was also great. i had a salad with feta cheese, did i mention how much i miss cheese?!? well i do! it's hard to find the words to describe senegal or the people. but something that i saw today and have seen before that brings a huge smile to my face; people giving the goats a bath in the street. it's so bizarre and yet so funny!! we took a class outting today and went to a pullo fuuta families house for tea. while there i was offered 4 wives and a goat dinner whenever i wanted. the woman 1st offered me her younger sister, she was only 20 so i can only imagine how old her sister is. then she asked me to take her back to american when i leave in two years. i was pretty uncomfortable and didn't quit know how to repsond, so i just said 'mi faamaani' which means 'i don't understand!' i said that ALOT!!!

so i found out about my village and i'm so excited. it's just south of a regional capital which is called Kedegou. i'm not supposed to broadcast the name of my village for safety and security reasons. but it's really small, maybe 300 people and it's not the top of a big ol hill. there is no electricity and they have mango and papaya trees that pretty much produce fruit all year long. did i mention that they also have avocados in the south??? i'm really excited about that. plus i hear they have fruit that we have never seen and there are no english names for, i hear it's some of the best stuff i'll ever eat. also did i mention that there is a hippo reserve down by Kedegou, we're hoping to start hippo rodeoing!!!! it's going to be the next big craze in senegal. i can't wait. also i've seen pics of my hut and it's freaking cool, tons of fellow trainees are so jealous. i will post pics as soon as i can. i can't wait to get to site.

okay so sorry for not updating this sooner, but check out my friends meg's blog: neverbe6again.typepad.com she's got tons of great pics and her experiences are basically my experiences. by the way the engagement annoucement is a fake, we only did that because holly and i showed up at the training compound wearing matching blue polos. that's how bored we were on our two hour lunch break.

so send me letters and stuff, but i would hold off on packages until i get to my site. i'll have a new address in about a month. i hope the U.S. is good and everyone is doing well.

'HI' meg's mom, hope you enjoyed it!!!!

En Ontuma,
James