End of CBT, Swear In, Kolda, etc

     I am currently sitting at the Kolda regional house as a newly sworn in volunteer!  The end of CBT was pretty emotional.  I got pretty close with my family and I think they liked me.  When we were thanking them I started to cry, and then my mom, grandmother, sisters, and dad started to cry too (Senegalese people don't cry- even when a child is crying they are vehemently discouraged).  So this continued all day; as I was packing up my room my sisters were just crying on my bed watching me do my thing.  I bought them some chickens as a thank you and they bought pasta and SALAD and soda for treats.  It was really awesome, one of the best meals I ate there.  My neene divided the bowl just like I did when I made American dinner for me and my language class but everyone else's bowls had salad on the bottom, then spaghetti, then the sauce with the bread to be used as a utensil of sorts.  Fanta was absolutely the best way to end the experience since it has been sort of a lifeline for me.  Why I never knew about Fanta before I came to Senegal will forever be a mystery to be and one of my life's biggest regrets.  But in all seriousness my CBT family was amazing and I am so grateful for all of their patience while I adapted and learned the language.

Me and all of the children

Me with my Babaa and Nenee and some neighbors

     So after lot's of tears it was back to the training center and in the morning we took our Language Proficiency Test.  I passed, and the next couple days we had random sessions like bike distribution.  Friday morning all of the PCTs donned their fanciest Senegalese clothing to make the trek to the US ambassador's house in Dakar for swear in.  It was a really nice ceremony and little bit bigger than usual since this year is the 50th anniversary of Peace Corps in Senegal.  We had Etienne Senghor, our Training Manager, speak, as well as the ambassador, who had us say the oath, and a PCT from each language group (Wolof, Pulaar, Sereer, and Jaxhanke) gave a speech thanking everyone and summing up PST a little bit.  Then they called all of our names and gave us a certificate as well as our new official Volunteer ID card. Then we got so much food and we were all really happy. So much wonderful food.  There was cheese.

March 2013!

     Saturday we had off to rest, pack, and buy things in the market, and this morning we all loaded up the cars at 6am for our respective journeys.  The Kolda trek took about 12 hours altogether but wasn't as bad as it could be since we only had 3 people and all of our stuff and my beautiful kitty.

Ajaramma!