Hey Everyone! Okay so here is an old email from last week that never quite made it to you, followed by a recent email.. Alight what is new and exciting in my life?? Well first of all I am an official Peace Corps volunteer now!! Yay! So my two years of service starte yesterday and I move to my village tomorrow which is super exciting but also a bit nerve-racking. I am in the mist of packing and am feeling a bit overwhelmed. We are moving all the stuff I came here with plus the things I have accumulated over the last 10 weeks and everything to furnish my house. But shopping for things has been fun overall and I am slowly learning to be a master of bargaining. haha The U.S. will definitely be a bit of a shock when I go back to fixed prices. Not sure the people at Meijers would appreciate it too much if I tried to talk the price of my groceries down.
So moving to the village is the main thing in my life right now. And part of that include taking my new puppy with me :) Yes I got a puppy but no I do not know if I am going to keep him. I got him as a gift so it was a bit unexpected and I was planning on waiting until I had settled into my new home and community before getting a pet so I am thinking about giving him to the other volunteer in my village. Although at this point I have gotten somewhat attached to the little guy but he is quite a handful since he is only a year old and definitely not potty trained. I named him Keba which means friend in Limba and he is currently sitting on my lap in the internet cafe as I type this email. haha But the poor little guy misses his mom and has worms and was covered in fleas when I got him but he is doing better now and seems to be a healthy young puppy. I figure I can give him to the other volunteer to take care of and I can just visit whenever I want to play with him.
So moving to the village is the main thing in my life right now. And part of that include taking my new puppy with me :) Yes I got a puppy but no I do not know if I am going to keep him. I got him as a gift so it was a bit unexpected and I was planning on waiting until I had settled into my new home and community before getting a pet so I am thinking about giving him to the other volunteer in my village. Although at this point I have gotten somewhat attached to the little guy but he is quite a handful since he is only a year old and definitely not potty trained. I named him Keba which means friend in Limba and he is currently sitting on my lap in the internet cafe as I type this email. haha But the poor little guy misses his mom and has worms and was covered in fleas when I got him but he is doing better now and seems to be a healthy young puppy. I figure I can give him to the other volunteer to take care of and I can just visit whenever I want to play with him.
And now on to the new info.. Soo life is going well. I have been at my house in Fadugu for approximately a week now and things have been good overall. Obviously, I have to deal with the usual readjustment period but it hasnt been too bad. Mostly involving a lot of sitting and chilling with people on their porches and making sure I have met and talked with all the important people in town (aka chiefs, elders, and the woman that sells acheke). My house is nice but I desperately need some furniture. Hopefully when I return to my house this evening the carpenter will be done with the shelves I hired him to make so I can move my clothes from the floor to some sort of storage unit. Keba (my puppy) is doing well although the sooner I can get him potty-trained the better. He has had one too many accidents on my bed and I think my house is kinda starting to smell like pee. Hmm there is just so much I could say I don't know where to start. Well, first of all, Fadugu (my site) is gorgeous. Hopefully pictures will be uploaded today but at the rate the internet is currently going don't expect too many. Chelsea (my site mate) and I found this awesome hike to little villages and rice farms from Fadgugu that is just amazing. Palm trees and forest everywhere. I am seriously talking about jungle of Africa type stuff here. haha So that was cool to see. I am actually very glad to have a site mate now too. It is nice to know that when life here starts getting a little overwhelming there is someone you can talk to that is just a 5-minute walk away. We have hungout at least once pretty much everyday, mostly just chilling, and we have actually started cooking some. Cooking over a coal pot is definitely an experience. haha But we have made some pretty delicious pasta and eggplant dishes so it is all good. My supervisors wife has been sending me food everyday though so I havent had much of a need to cook for myself which is nice sometimes but I would really enjoy experimenting a little. My neighbors and the community have been really nice so far, everyone here is definitely very hospitable and excited to have us here as volunteers. The kids are definitely excited and frequently swarm my front porch to just sit and spend some time with the white woman in the community and her dog. haha People here love that me and Chelsea treat our dogs like our children. They think it is hilarious/ ridiculous and weird but now everytime I leave my house without Keba they always ask where he is at. My supervisor has had me check out the summer school and I actually taught the other day which was nice because it was just me and 6 kids so it was pretty relaxed and a good way for me to ease my way into teaching in Fadugu. He also would like me to continue working with some students after summer school officially ends this week which is really nice because I think I would have far too much time on my hands if I don't have at least one activity to occupy a couple hours of each day.
Okay so gross Africa story of the week. Although I have had several large scary spiders in my house the bug situation overall hasnt been too bad until one morning when I wandered to latrine to discover approximately 25-30 dead cockroaches on the floor and probably another 15-20 live ones crawling around. I was absolutely petrified. I had no idea what to do but I did know I could not go in there under those conditions. So after about 5 minutes of just standing there, peering in absolutly disgusted, a boy finally walked by so I recruited him sweep out my latrine and kill the rest of the cockroaches. haha It was one of the worst experiences of my life. Bugs are probably the one thing about Africa that I will neveret used to but I think I am slowly getting better. But I suppose if having to live with some large insects sometimes is the worst part of my life here than everything else is going pretty well. And overall things are going well. I am very glad to be here and have enjoyed my time thus far and am excited to see what the future holds for me. Alright I think that is about all I have for now. And I dont know about the pictures at this point.. I don't have the patience for the internet connection here. lol But as per usual, love and miss you all! Sara
