Tomorrow It Becomes Official!

So it's finally the end of our 9-week training. I swear in tomorrow as an official Peace Corps Volunteer at the US Ambassador's residence in Dakar. Training has been a very intense time, if nothing else because the schedule is so packed full of sessions, activities, home stays, and tests that you have no time to stop and really process anything. It has been a whirlwind that I have loved.

Last weekend I stayed with my training host family for the last time. It was just a 3 night stay, so the time flew by, but it was great to visit with them again before I move to Tamba. There have been a few times during my stays with them that I get really irritated by the kids because they constantly want to touch my stuff, and a lot of times they do it without asking! But then I remind myself that they are just genuinely curious about almost everything I have because it is so new/shiny/intriguing. My parents sent me balloons to give to my host siblings during my last stay, and I have never seen a group of people enjoy balloons as much as these kids. After we blew them up, they wanted to untie them so they could save them for later. My language skills have been improving, but I had a really hard time explaining that balloons don't really work like that! It was a wonderful reminder to look at the pleasure in even the simplest of things, something this family has constantly been teaching me these last 2 months.

My Siblings and Their Balloons!

Saying goodbye to my host family the morning I departed their house was by far the hardest day I've had in country so far. However, I know I'll come back to visit them as often as I can. It was fun though because that afternoon, Peace Corps hosted a family party where a few members of our host families got to come to the training center in Thies for a thank you celebration. We had a great time eating, dancing, and listening to Senegalese drummers. My family even brought me a very incredible and humbling gift of a traditional Senegalese outfit. I put it on and my mom was so thrilled! I know my family doesn't have much, and this gesture moved me beyond words (especially trying to express gratitude in Pulaar!).

My namesake and me at the Family Party

My host mom, namesake, and me in my new outfit

In addition to saying goodbye to my host family, I also have to say goodbye to my language group in a few days. This may be even harder because I have grown really close with these people and they are my support system in this country that I see and talk to every day. I am pretty bummed to be living about 6 hours on average away from all of them, but it gives me lots of excuses to travel around other parts of the country. We all got matching clothes made that we wore to the family party on our last official day of language training, so I also have a skirt now to remind me of them!

My language group

I can't believe that 9 weeks has flown by so quickly. I'm beyond excited to swear in as a Peace Corps Volunteer tomorrow. Of course it's also daunting because, on the 14th, I get dropped off in my village with all of my belongings and that's where I'll live for the next 2 years. I feel like I've done so much already that sometimes it's hard to believe there is another 2 years to come!

Thanks for reading. Peace & love.