Homestay

I found out where I'm going to be doing my homestay! I will be in a coastal town about 30-40 minutes from Thiès and speaking Wolof!  This won't be my permanent site but I will be with this family for the next 9 weeks or so as I bumble with the language and culture so it isn't too bad when I make it to my permanent site (which is still unknown to me except that I will be in a town within 4-6 hours of Dakar speaking Wolof).


I leave to my homestay tomorrow and will be there off and on through training. This first stint is for 5 days and then a come back to the training center for a couple of days for more cultural and technical training.  Don't worry though.  It isn't like they are just throwing us into the villages and towns with nothing to go off of other than some basic phrases.  I'm going to be in a town with 2-3 other volunteers and my LCF (language and culture facilitator). We meet together everyday to work on the language and do various activities.  Plus it will be a good support network in this crazy fun experience! :)

Needless to say, I have an awesome staging group  (staj), amazing trainers in all sectors, and fantastic staff and other volunteers around.  Last night was the first night we could really leave the training center and it was really cool to go and hang out with everyone at a local spot.  We were able to go around the local market today and I got a traditional Senegalese welcome gift of tea and sugar for my host family, so I hope that works.  It will be fun and crazy getting used to how different everything is here.  I guess that is what I get for choosing this as my debut to international travel. :)

I'll let you know how my first homestay experience goes when I get back!

Ba beneen yoon!