Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Monday, November 9, 2009

At this moment I am sitting on the balcony of a rustic old house a 10 minute walk from the warm Atlantic Ocean. The breeze is blowing through the banana trees and all day drums have been beating in the distance, no joke! On the way to the beach today some friends and I stopped and joined a drum circle dancing African dance and enjoying the 6 or so talented musicians.

I love my life! So I made it to Africa and every day has been like a dream. The food is great, people friendly, languages bizarre! There are 35 of us volunteers in country and for the past week we have been exploring Africa and going to classes learning language, culture, safety and may other things. The other volunteers are amazing and I feel like I am already making great friends! Friday we are breaking up into groups of 3 or 4 and going up country to our training villages where we will have a naming ceremony in our honor by the village and dance to more drums all night! Then we are there with a trainer for 9 VERY intense weeks of training where we are required to learn the local language and technical skills. (I’m still not sure what my job would be) I had an interview with staff today and it went well; they encouraged me to start a girls’ soccer team in my village because girls and women don’t really have opportunities to play sports...I’m so excited!!! I’ve already seen huge nasty spiders, the most AMAZING birds, and had a snake around my neck! I’ve been meeting a lot of current volunteers, and they are amazing and make me so excited for this experience. The Peace Corps crew is really tight here so it’s like a little family; it’s great.

Salamaleekum, (may peace be upon you)

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

It's 1:18 am in Phili and I am so excited about going to Africa tommorow it's not even right. These past few days of travelling in the states have already been epic; complete with a full-body seach at the Oakland airport, an interesting cab driver in Philidalphea who didn't pay any attention to lanes, red lights, speed limits or pedestrians, two phili-cheese steaks and many beers with my new buddies! Everyone of the volunteers is super cool and its awesome to meet people who are also going to The Gambia. There is even someone from Chico State, go figure! Tommorow we are headed to Jersey to fly out and should be in Africa by the 5th, this is all starting to feel very real and very right! I can't be more exicted! I hope all is well with everyone I miss my family and friends, it was so hard to say goodbye but let's keep in good contact alright?
peace and love!