Call Me Beep Me If You Want to Reach Me

10 points for anyone singing the Kim Possible song right now :)

Just wanted to let everyone know quickly that if you feel so inclined to call me or text (muchos cheaper) dial 011221 and then 77-118-1185. Its not crazy expensive to text so feel free to send me interesting texts every once in a while...but they must be interesting...or else. And if its the first time you send me a text say who it is because I don't have everyone's number in my Senegal phone and it would be such a waste of a text for me to ask who you are!

Also, I haven't actually tried this yet so if it doesn't work I am deeply apologetic!

For the next 12 days I'll be trying to learn Fulakunda (a language which is clearly not based in a written form and seems to morph depending on who is teaching) through French. Aka my teacher only speaks French so I'm trying to learn a third language through my second language which I never learned very well in the first place. Myself and the 3 other volunteers in my class like to joke that we speak fluent FrEnglAkunda (French English and Fulakunda) since we use all three languages together, almost always needing a combo of the 3 to form full or even partial sentences.

Obviously I'll probably be all kinds of excited for excuses to speak straight English...

Call Me Fatou Seydi

mbad-da? I am officially learning to speak Fulakunda (Pulaar de Sud or Pulaar of the South) Pulaar is the 2nd most spoken language in Senegal (after Wolof). mbad-da is essetiantially how are you? You should respond by saying Jam Tam (peace only) after which you will be asked about 10 questions rapid fire...and you just keep saying jam tan jam tan jam tan. In my case I have no idea what they are asking so I say jam tan until they laugh, which means they asked a question I wasn't supposed to say jam tan too.

Anyway, after spending some final quality time with the other peace corps volunteers at the compound and having a live guitar slash singing party we all set off to meet our Senegalese families (just our families for pre service training). My family speaks Fulakunda and I clearly don't yet...so the first night and all of the following nights were pretty ridiculous! I have a Dad and two Moms (my Dad's 2 wives). I have a 4 year old sister, a 1 yr old brother and another 10 yr old brother. The first thing the family does when the new volunteer arrives is give them a Senegalese name so they fit into the community better. I am named for my Dad's mother and am called Fatou Seydi (short for Fatumata). My family is so amazingly welcoming its ridiculous! Its considered bad for a guest to lose weight so they are constantly trying to feed me. I pretty much have to eat half a baguette every morning...but at the other meals I can just tell them I'm so full I'm going to explode and they let me get away with eating a normal amount.

And when I visit the other volunteers at their homestays you have to say hi to everyone in their family and then probably drink a shot glass of sugar with some tea in it. Diabetes is a pretty big problem in this country :)

Yesterday my host Mom took me shopping and I bought a new skirt/wrap thing and we got some crazy cried crushed cranberry cookies and peanuts and of course cold soda (since that is pretty much the best thing ever over here).

Anyway, I'll be back at the homestay for the next 12 days struggling to integrate but I'm sure i'll come back with more stories!

en burini han (see you later)!

Kelly

And Y'all Thought You Were jealous

Surprise Wifi! So after spending an afternoon playing hard core volleyball we passed out and woke up to learn some Wolof! We started out learning an Islamic greeting and then learned some survival Wolof! Nanga def? (Waaaaaaaazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzup?) Mangi fi rek (it's all good). I'll pretend like it didn't take me 20 mins to learn those to phrases...but really it did, glad our language teachers are so patient! Then had some seriousl gardening adventures...Learned double digging (a way to work harder that is apparently good for the plants) and seed garden production. Ate some plants straight out of the garden. Then we journeyed to the town and had a beer. Apprently lightweights who are dehydrated get drunk quickly...so we walked home. Had my first interaction with a "townie" clearly I was awkward. So...anyway, I saved the best for last. Toilet Paper is a delicacy over here...so yesterday we learned how to use a douche and our left hand. Don't worry, I show everyone when you visit :0

Thats all for now, I'm currently chillin in what we deemed "The Disco Hut" so...so long from the Disco Hut :)

Trains, Planes and Automobiles...And Dance Parties

After saying goodbye to everyone I've ever known I spent one day in Washington D.C. trying to make some new friends really quick! Luckily the 42 Peace Corps Volunteers seem like a pretty crazy bunch so that part wasn't bad! The 8 hour flight to Senegal wasn't even that bad since it took about an hour less than it was supposed to AND I got to see Blind Side...which is fantastic! We landed in Senegal this morning although I'm fairly certain I really got here about 2 weeks ago since settling in to the Peace Corps site has been pretty easy...so far. I had nutella and peanut butter on a baguette for breakfast and clearly that was delicious...since it contained nutella. Then we got to have nap time since all of us ahd about 6 hours of sleep in the last 3 days. Followed by a delicious lunch which involved us sitting on the ground around big roles of super spicy stir fry and eating beef with spoons out of the massive communal bowl. And then the best part of the day! Our trainers started drumming and then showing us Asfrican dance and then we literally had a 2 hour dance party! All the little kids were watching us from the gate after they got out of school and they came in to join us so we danced for another hour! Craziness...we all pretty much collapsed from exhaustion!

Thats it for now since my computer is running low on power! Our wifi gets taken away tomorrow for a while so I probably won't post for a week or two...or more, I really don't know!

Sorry if that post made no sense..I'm still rather sleep deprived! But so far Senegal has been a blast!