The BIG Move - Installation Day

Well tomorrow is the big day when I finally move into my permanent village site! I arrived in the regional capital of Tambacounda on Sunday with all of my belongings in tow. Peace Corps has regional houses in many regions across Senegal where Peace Corps volunteers can gather periodically for meetings, use the internet, cook an American meal, and just generally hang out. We have one in Tamba, so that's where I've been for the past 2 nights.

There is one other new volunteer, Dario, installing out of Tamba as well. When we got here on Sunday, we were met by a few current volunteers who have been in charge of taking us around to buy anything we need. For many of you, it will come as no surprise that I've already been made fun of for my incessant list-making: 1 shopping list, 1 list of furniture to get made in village, 1 list of things to do tomorrow, etc.  It has been pretty intense though trying to purchase everything you think you might need for the next 2 years, at least the big stuff. So GO LISTS!!!

Tomorrow morning, a couple of Peace Corps staff members will arrive at the Tamba regional house to take Dario and I to our sites. First we will go around to a number of important members of the Tamba community to introduce ourselves - the police chief, the equivalent of the major, the regional hospital chief since we're both health volunteers. Then it's go time! I'll get driven to my village with all of my possessions, introduced to my family, and then left.

My village is only about 10K from the regional capital, so if I forget something or want to use internet, it's only about a 30 minute bike ride into the city. In that regard, I have it much easier than many other volunteers. Dario is actually based in the regional capital so it's nice to have a friend located so close to my site. In my village, I will finally have my own hut and bathroom. After two months of living out of suitcases, moving around a lot, and sharing all of my space, I am excited to have a hut to call my own. It is in my family's compound, but I can paint it and really nest! No electricity, but my family does have a solar panel (pretty fancy for a village!) so they have a few lights around at night.

I think I should feel more nervous right now than I do, but honestly I am very excited! My language has a long way to go, but I'm a big fan of the immersion technique because I think it works, so I'm confident my language will just continue to improve! Also excited to start learning more about my village and gathering ideas for what I can do to improve the health of my community.

Next stop - Saare Aladji, population 750!

Thanks for reading. Peace & love.