I am secretly trying to compose this email in both English, French and Pulaar but I am not sure that I can even pull off the first one at this point. In the town of Thies they mainly speak Wolof which I know a VERY small amount of at the current moment. I speak English about 50% of the time, 30% I spend speaking French and the other 20% I am pretending to know Pulaar which I will use when I am at my site of service in south eastern Senegal starting in April. We are all so tense trying to figure out which language is going to come out of someones mouth at this point that we do not even recognize english half the time!
The family I am living with is so kind to put up with me as I stumble through every day... I am a little surprised that they have not sent me back yet. We are all just big bumbling idiots who literally do not know how to wipe our own butts yet... aah, the adventures of a squat toilet and bucket baths with the bugs!!!!
This is by far the single hardest and most amazing thing I have ever and may ever do and it is just getting started. Will add more later, but I am out of time for now.
A jaaraama
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I live between Kolda and Velingara
About Me
- Maggie P
- Thiewal Lao, Senegal
- See my adventures at http://peacecorpspav.shutterfly.com And see what other PCVS in Senegal are doing on our website http://pcsenegal.org/
Books I've Read in 2009/2010
- ... and I'm always looking for other good books to read!!
- >A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
- >My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
- >The Virgin Suicides by Jeffery Eugenides
- >Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
- >The Name of This Book Is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch
- >The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsoliver
- >The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter
- >All the President's Men by Bernstein & Woodward
- >The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
- >Banker to the Poor by Muhammad Yunus
- >Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
- >Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler
- >Freakonomics by Steven Levitt
- >Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
- >Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
- >While I Was Gone by Sue Miller
- >When You are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
- >Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
- >Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
- >Naked by David Sedaris
- >Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
- >The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
- >Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott
- >The Shack by William Paul Young
- >Cliff Walk by Don Snyder
Remember: Africa is a Continent. Senegal is a Country.
Senegal Country Map
I live between Kolda and Velingara
6 comments:
Maggieson!
You go girl :o) Terrell and I LOVE reading your updates -- it sounds like such an adventure. Potentially a very itchy adventure, but an adventure nonetheless. I hope you and the mosquitos have come to some sort of an understanding by now and are coexisting peacefully.
Overcoming the language barrier sounds like quite the challenge...it's incredible to think that you could be trilingual by the time you set foot on U.S. soil again!
I too have been busy trying to learn a second language of sorts. While studying the other day I made a comment about familial dyslipidemias and how I wasn't sure how to remember all of them for the test. Michele overheard and, thinking she could help me craft a mnemonic, she asked what I meant. I told her I didn't know if I would be able to recognize a hyperchylomicronemia from a dysbetalipoproteinemia, etc. and she replied, "Well, for starters, you could ask to take the test in English." Needless to say, I appreciated the sentiment.
Keep the posts coming...we love and miss you!
Any chance Thies got in on the Earth Hour action? Just curious how widespread the movement was...
Whohoo, Maggie! I'm loving the pictures and the update. Keep it up, girl!! :)
What an adventure so far, and I bet your post is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm going to try to google earth Thies and find out where you are exactly. I'm curious - does it feel like time move more slowly there? And that accomplishing simple everyday tasks can be exhausting at times? (I felt like that in Mexico, and I didn't even have the squat toilet).
all of us at the Lied are PROUD of you, Maggie! Hang in there, keep working hard... you're on an AMAZING adventure!! xxoo Laura
Aren't you glad that you are great at body language?
It is wonderful that we can now see a bit of your world there and keep encourage you through letters and comments :)
Hang in there! Soon you'll get all the routine down about doing more with less and these first challenging days will be just memories that will remind you that you can do it because you're already making a difference in people's lives!!!
Can we send you care packets? Or anything that could help the community? School supplies?
Praying for you:)
xoxo
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