10/24

So today was definitely an interesting day. we woke up in Pout as all our counterparts are sleeping in our rooms in Thies. We roll into Thies to a late breakfast thats almost all gone and probably double the number of people that are usually there. I know from yesterday that at least one of my counterparts is coming as he had been in contact with andy from Kédougou who was helping with the Counterpart Workshop. The other guy who works for the forestry agency is the one that he didn't know about. But i get to meet Karumba when we get there and he seems like a real nice guy. He's got a bit of a crazy lazy eye but he knows literally 6 languages. So hes really smart. We get to sit through a days worth of orientation basically. Great fun but it was for the benefit of Karumba as we had already heard all of this information. In talking to him, i learned alot about him, he works for trees for the future and helps missionaries with language learning so e picked up english. he likes volleyball as well which is cool, so all round he seems like a cool guy.
The trainees all have to introduce a different session in the language that they are learning and i get to introduce the interview session in pulla futa. Im still not very good at all that but i get on with it. Its during this session that i find out about Karumba and his family and the like. I think i can honestly say ive never been so happy to hear that someone speaks french. Never thought that would happen! But seeing as he speaks all these languages, I think he'll be a great counterpart, especially working with trees for the future. After this session, during the break,i also found out a little bit about my homestay. Evidently im getting a brand new hut. Being built as we were talking i was informed. Good times.
The rest of the sessions were more of the same, lunch was interesting as there was so many people. THey opened up the dinner room for people as well because there were so many people. I think i heard that if everyone showed there would have been 80 people plus volunteers staff and trainees. Thats a lot of people in the small center. I just relaxed after lunch and read the rest of my Flashman book. Great book by the way, check it out, great fun. Very Sharp-esq but with alot more funny. But that reading basically put me to sleep and i have a hard time staying awake in the next session. Luckily for me i kinda wake up before the guy talking calls out someone else for nodding off. kinda funny really. The rest of this session after lunch is on the project plan for Ag/Fo in Senegal, again something we already had a class on. Oh yea all these sessions are in French or Wollof so weve really only a small idea of whats going on. They stop and recap for us in english every now and then, but its tough going.
After this session instead of taking a nap like i should i go with Shelia up to the main road and to a boutique to get some cookies. delicious little chocolate filled cookies, hit the spot they did. Something about sugar these days, just that much better. We get back and hang out in the sitting room area just chilling a bit till we realize theres no one else around and that the next session has prob already started. luckily it had only just started so we really didnt miss a lot. This session was on the counterparts role in our objectives and what was to be expected form them. The cross-cultural teacher made them close their eyes and pretend they had been taken to Japan and then ask the what they needed and how they would have liked to be helped in that situation. This session runs a little long so by the time were done, we have to all scurry over to where the cars are waiting for us so we can be taken back to our villages. The wollof speaker and us pulla futa folk were all in the same car. The head agriculture teacher snags a ride with us as well. Hes a nice guy, Yussefa. Kevin from our group taught him chillaxing after he dropped chilling like a villain one day while he was inspecting our garden and our tree nursery in POut. The funny part is he evidently uses it alot now! Its kinda funny cause hes this older african guy, kinda goofy but ubber nice, and he drops chillaxing and chilling like a villain, too funny.
The wollof village that the wollof group is staying in is about 4-600 people, and i feel like it would have been alot better had we been in something like that instead of a 30,000 person town. Ah well, what can you do, under a month left now. Oh yeah our LPI's were graded. I ended up bumping up another level to novice high, just one more level to go, intermediate low. I think if i bust my ass this next 8 days we spend in Pout ill be ok, but ill have to really work hard.
So when we get back to Pout we find out that were being picked up at 615, so we have to get up nice and early, which sucks. But we'll at least get breakfast at the center with everyone else. I was actually able to convey this to my host mother in pullar tonight which was cool. I just have to keep trying i guess. But speaking of my host family, its been a little odd here the fast couple of days as my host familys uncle who lived across the street died. I had meet him a couple of times and new his family. I remember them telling us us training that we'd prob all end up knowing someone who would die while we are here, but i didnt think itd be in pre service training. One other trainee had a death in the family, his dad died in his homestay family, so thats a little different. But i didnt understand the funeral procedures here, and when i was told a couple days ago at the center that he died and the funeral was the next day i figured it would last one day. No try 8. So i just figured that id not have to do anything, and didnt get why they kept bringing it up and talking about the funeral. I finally asked my brother about it and he said it lasts 8 days. This is the one that speaks a little english. I felt kinda bad about this as i hadnt made any kind of move to go and give my condolences to the family, outside of my immediate host family. So thats what i did tonight.
So if you really didnt know someone that well and they die, its a little awkward, now imagine youve only meet the person a few times and dont really speak the language. that intensifies the awkwardness ten fold. I was able to get out je suis tres desolie and condolences. My Aunt seemed happy with this, im stil not sure if i was supposed to give her money or something as there was a basket with a bunch of change in it next to her when i came over. Ill have to ask the LCF's about that. Her son is real nice and hangs out with my brother a lot so thats kinda how i knew the family. So that was my night basically, since i have to get up early im hitting the hay early. En jango bimmbi law