Back to M'Boro I Go

Okay, I just wanted to drop a quick line to let you all know that I'll be away at my homestay for 2 weeks... so most likely I won't be able to blog or answer e-mails for a while.

Not a ton has happened since I've been back in Thies, except for all of us trainees trying to get in as much bar time as possible. We've been playing a lot of the "person on the head game" that they play in Inglorious Basterds. Always a fun time. Here we play that everyone goes around and asks 3 questions to start, then you ask questions till you get a "no," and so on. We're perfecting the art of the game.

One thing worth mentioning is that I've been having some interesting dreams. I've always been a vivid dreamer, and one of the side efferects of our malaria meds involves crazy dreams. Luckily I haven't had any hallucinations, but the dreams have definitely been funky. In one of them, I was Kate Hudson's publicist and I was fielding all of these questions about her pregnancy...? And then yesterday morning, my roommate Anne told me that I was sleep-talking in the middle of the night and spoke English, Wolof and French all within one thought. I said "Now say it in Wolof. Waaw, nanga def? C'est fini." I'm hoping that means all of these language classes are paying off.

Also a point of interest- our group has dwindled down again. We lost another trainee yesterday. We're now down to 46. We were originally supposed to be 50. 48 actually came over with us on the plane. And now 2 have already left. It's definitely not for everyone, and I'm sure if I wasn't enjoying myself that I would want to be out of here ASAP. That first week with the homestay family was TOUGH and I'm really liking everything. I can't imagine how hard it would've been if I wasn't feeling great about my choice. I respect the people who decide to leave at this point. It's obviously not an easy choice, but it's probably better to decide now than to wait a couple months/a year in.

I've heard some mixed things from PCVs that have been through training as to what the hardest part of training is. Some say that the first week at the homestay was the hardest, and others say that this long 2-week stretch is. So I've either completed the hardest part or I'm just about to. Either way, it could definitely be worse.

I'm taking my camera this trip, so I'll actually have pictures! Until then, ba beneen!