just some comparisons

so i have this personal philosophy that i am trying to live by to help me acclimate to this new culture. i have this notion that i am going to intentionally not miss anything about american culture so that i dont get sad. so when i see new things and have new experiences and i have any thoughts comparing them to america, i erase those thoughts. I wont do it for this blog though. i know people want to know how it is different. i'll give some of them

i don't have electricity at my homestay. after dark we sit in the yard and just lay around and chat. lots of mosquitos bites. there are flashlights passed back and forth, but they arent always on. my room is dark all the time. all of the rooms in the house are. i am getting used to going in my dark room to get something. i keep my flashlight on the corner of my bed. there is elecrticity in a lot of the houses in my village, but not mine. i always sleep under a mosquito net. i like it.

there is water at my house. a pump in the backyard. i use a filter given to me by the peace corps to sterilize the water i drink.

the toilets here are all those holes in the ground. i won't sit on a toilet for 2 years. i won't have a hot shower for 2 years. good ridence. the cold showers are wonderful in this heat. Well, there are showers at the training center but i have a feeling that is the only place i will be staying with showers. i will soon live on bucket baths. bucket baths are surprisingly refreshing. whoever said that people bathe once a month is silly. my family bathes from 1 to 3 times per day. i will also not get to use a washing machine for 2 years.

I got a bike yesterday. I love it! she is my new best friend, and yes, it is a girl!

food here. i think we eat really well at the training center. breakfast is bread and jam or butter or nutella. Milk and tea to drink. lunch is a big bowl of rice cooked in oil topped with veggies and meat. up to 5 people eat out of the same bowl. that is how it is here. the locals often eat with their hands. so far we eat with spoons. Dinner is always something new. something imitating an american dish.

very very hot every day. no ac whatsoever. I have been pretty good at ignoring the heat but sometimes it is hard and takes a conscious effort. there have been several occasions where i have been literally drenched in sweat while doing nothing with no way to cool off. here you just have to take it... i usually like to sleep in a room and make it as cold as possible. now i sleep in a sauna every night. this is taking some adjusting.

In France you arent supposed to talk to strangers. here we were advised that it is ok to greet anyone, especially if they look at us, and most do. i feel that we greet more people than the locals would, but we are obivious strangers here and it is good to make a good impression. if you greet people, whether they respond or not, it means that you respect them and they now know who you are. so if you are ever in trouble, they might be more willing to help. that is what we learned.

we have learned lots about how to stay heqlthy and how to stay safe. i will have to be conscious of my health here. that will be new for me. when i get home though, after two years, i may be able to combat any bug!

thats all for now

until next time

I'm part of a family!

this keyboard sucks. I know most of the keys but still make a lot of mistakes so bear with me. I have been here for 12 days now and so much has happened i don't know where to begin. We spent the frist few days here in the training center compound, learning about how to adjust to a new country. we weren't allowed outside of the compound until a few days later. i am in a city close to dakar, called thies. i think it's the second biggest city in senegal. i moved in with my host family three days ago. we are living with host families for our language training. this weekend, however, we are all returning to the training center for more training. basically all we do here is learn how to live and what is expected of us. Oh and we get lots of shots.

my host family is great. the language i am learning is called Pula Futa, it is a dialect of Pular. we have had two days of language training and living with our host families and i must say, it is a non stop learning experience! at school we learn things nice and slow and then when class gets out everyone talks fast and i can't understand a thing. it sure doesn't help that the city i am living in speaks wolof. the only people i know that speak pula futa is my family and i think they only do it when i ask them how to say something. i love my family. i have a dad, a mom, 4 sisters ages 16, 11 y/o identical twins, and 8. then i have a little brother age 3. He is adorable and follows me around everywhere. My family is very hospitable, which is normal in senegal. the culture here is very different and i often don't know what to do so for now, they do it for me. i think i am like a tall, pale, pet to them. when walking in the streets, ether alone or with others in my class, we are often given 'celebrity treatment.' we get lots of stares and lots of people shout greetings to us. they are generally very nice. the kids love shouting 'toubab!' at us, which means foreigner. the kids always want to touch our hands.

so, so far so good. lots of language training to do and lots of agroforestry learning to do. it will be hard work but also very rewarding. I like it here and think that i will have a nice, enlightening two year here.

until next time!
oh and sorry this is so bland.

Just the Start

Well I've left my old life behind and am beginning a new one. There is only one thing in my life that I left behind that is causing pain.

I'm in Philly. I would try to spell out the name of the city but I don't know how to spell it and don't want to seem stupid. I arrived yesterday at about 5:00pm. I checked into my hotel and showered, then met my roommate, who was also an early arrival. Her name is Michelle. She seems nice. . I think she will make a great volunteer.

Last night her and i wandered and found a nice place to eat a philly cheese steak sandwich. It was delicious, which is strange because I haven't enjoyed meat all summer.
Today I wandered the city alone in the morning which was quite refreshing. I passed a few parks in search of a place to copy some photos. After I succeeded I went back to a park and ate breakfast and wrote in my journal. I like writing, I hope to do it a lot in these next two years.
Training calss today was fun. There are about 40 people in the group. Most are white, most are in lower to mid 20's. 60/40 male/female. A lot of eclectic people and I think there are a few that are gay.


I can't wait to learn more

So, tomorrow is the last day of class.

Publish Post

The following day we get a bunch of shots and then head off to senegal, where the real adventure begins.

Later.

Sheila

4 days until departure.

Hi It's Sheila.

I finally got around to creating my blog 4 days before departure. That is better than never, right? People have been asking about how they will know what I'm up to in Africa and I've gone over several options, finally landing on the blog thing.

I chose to write a blog for several reasons. The most superficial reason, perhaps, is because thats what people DO these days! Everyone who is anyone has a blog, correct? Maybe I want to get in on the fun. Another reason is that, well, if you think about it hard enough, having a blog about throwing all familiarities away and living in another country for two years just seems kinda cool. There will be lots of things to say. I can write whatever I want, whenever I want and if people want to read it they can, and if not, they don't have to. I won't fill your inboxes with useless rambling and cultural misunderstandings. I'm not like a traveling saleman trying to sell you my life story. I'd much rather be a periodical that you have decided go to a bookstore to get because you want to hear the latest scoop.

So, log on once in a while. Maybe there will be a new post, maybe there won't. Maybe I will get a routine on writing, maybe I won't. But do know this, I will post and I will try to keep it interesting! Of course I welcome questions and comments of any kind, whether posted on my blog of sent to my personal email.


So I have 4 days until I leave. I'm not ready at all, I've been too busy with life. I know I will be ready though, so have faith in me. Now where is my "to do list..."