So we've been here for over two weeks but it feels like forever! It's crazy going through such an intense immersion process. A two week vacation to a foreign country is super fun and relaxing, but this is nothing like that. When we're at the training center we're usually learning from 8:15 until 5:30 with some breaks and lunch in-between. CBT is a lot more relaxed physically but a lot more culturally testing, mostly because of the language. I feel like I've been here way longer, so if I call or chat you it's because I'm craving American culture and English. English is awesome. I've already broken into my food stash, and I bought a soda and an ice cream yesterday as a treat it I think that's what heaven will be like.
I brought crayons and coloring books to do with the kids. I was thinking we could color when it was hot out maybe a day or two. No. They went crazy. I brought two books and they were completely gone. I brought them out the first day and everyone's faces just lit up. We made a mess ripping out pages for the little kids, and for some reason Tulay and Moussa claimed the books themselves and didn't like sharing. Unfortunately I did not (and do not) know the word for sharing. Every time one of the little kids wanted a new page they would come ask me, and the American part of me was like "yeah duh you can have one, go get it yourself!" No matter how many times I said yes, duh, go take one, they would still ask me. This went on for three days until the coloring books were gone. They had been giving me the papers they colored and I'd just been piling them up, and then when we had finished the books I gave them to Tulay ang Moussa and the little kids claimed old colored random pages. Not even the ones they had done, just random colored pages. I was very upset because they didn't have a book so I gathered up all the pages, did a hole punch type of thing and tied it together with a string. Then I went to a fellow trainees compound for a couple hours and when I came back, it was ruined. I don't know how or why, but there were random pieces of paper and pages everywhere. Chaos. I was horrified. If a house looked like that in the US the mom would be so angry so I was scared the adults would be annoyed I even gave them the materials. They didn't even care though. They just cleaned it up. Tulay and Moussa still look at their books every day and showed everyone in the family at least 14 times each. I learned never to bring out a whole book and don't give children under 7 paper unless you want them destroyed.
My second CBT visit was great! It was five days this time. We had language classes in the morning, hung out during the day, and and sometimes met up again at night. I feel like I'm learning the language a little slowly, but I guess that doesn't surprise me. It was pretty similar to my first experience but extended. I helped cook and clean the dishes and my sister taught me how to do laundry in a bucket by hand, while simultaneously telling me I was doing it wrong and rewashing it. I guess she was right because I tried to do more laundry when I got back to Thies and I was much You're supposed to let them soak in water, rub them completely down with a bar of soap, targeting the neckline and armpits, wring it out, and then let it soak in unsoapy water before wringing it out to dry in the sun. They also have a very specific way to roll the clothes in their hands which I'm pretty sure is impossible.
We also went to the market near our CBT site with our LCF, language group, and a current PCV in the area. It was so overwhelming. We took a taxi and from the second our taxi pulled over until we left there were people following us around calling out to us. We had one guy follow us the entire time. Another trainee caught a little boy with his hand in her bag and people would come up to us just because we were clearly foreign, trying to get us to go with them and buy things. Our LCF was not amused. We walked through the market, not really stopping at all, all the way to the ocean. It was really pretty, but in the middle of a fish market in the late afternoon, so the smell was pretty rancid. We got to see the fishing boats which reminded me of the old, old wooden ships from Norway.
I can't really think of much else going on, just integrating, learning the language, etc. We go to CBT for 11 days (happy early bday mom!!!!!!!) and when we come back we get our permanent sites!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Things I've discovered about Kolda: there are really huge camel spiders. There are snakes. There are Green Mambas. It's really, really, really far.
Some responses to comments!
Yes, there are other forms of music here. Radios are really common. My family doesn't have electricity but they do have a crank radio and they all have phones that can play music and videos. My sisters are obsessed with Rihanna (sp???). I've also heard a lot of J Biebs, Psy, and Chris Brown. They don't know who Britney Spears is. I know this because my host sister has one of her concert shirts, and I got really excited the first time I saw it and just started yelling "BRITNEY!" and nodding a lot. She didn't understand.
I have not taken any pictures yet because I'm trying to focus in integration! Taking out my camera could also be a very long day of taking pictures and then being required to give them copies, which is really expensive.
Ajaramma!
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