Training Center Life

Training Center Life:
After arriving to Senegal, we have been in Thiès at the Peace Corps Training Center, training. Go figure, right? Our days are filled from the second we wake up until the moment we go to bed. Every day we have breakfast starting at 0700, and our first class session starting at 0815. The class sessions are 1-2 hours long, but usually after 4 hours we have go to the “Pause Cafe” to get some tea and/or bread. Rough life, I know. I won’t bore you all with the details of each class, but we are broken down between program (Health or CED) and we do technical training where we go over information that we need to know in order to be a successful volunteer in our sector and ideally a cross-sector volunteer. We normally have dinner around 1945 and are free to study, hang out, blog, go to “church” (Church will be covered later in the blog), or whatever we want.    The sessions cover in-depth statistics, facts, and ways that volunteers can help promote the Peace Corps initiatives. For health, our three main goals are malaria prevention, promoting proper and sustainable nutrition and fighting malnourishment, and clean water and proper hygiene techniques. (trust me, they go into way more depth than that simple statement. PC is very ambitious and highly motivated to promote capacity building and generate quantifiable  outcomes.) We have combined sector classes for safety and security and medical. All of which we will have a final exam that we have to pass with a 80% or higher in order to swear-in and become a Peace Corps Volunteer. For the first full week we didn’t do any language training. We had our interviews a few days after arriving to determine our language and technical skills and our medical needs. After the interviews, we were assigned a language and we started learning the language 2 days before going to our Community Based Training (CBT) site where we are dropped off with a host family speaking almost no language. (Literally, 5 hours of language class) My language is………. (I feel like I should make you all wait a hot second because I had to wait a whole week to know)………….. Fulakunda!  Fulakunda is spoken in the South, mainly in the Kolda region. It is a dialect of Pulaar, which is what I wanted! I am very excited about the language and I can’t wait until I can actually carry out a conversation in the local language. There are 7 other PCTs that are also learning the same language, and we are a realllllllly great, diverse group.

Room & Board:

    We live in rooms at the center with other roommates, some people are super lucky and only have one roommate, I have 6 other roommates, so we are quite crammed. There are only 4 armoires, so we have to share all of our space and can never really feel “settled.” The center has two main classrooms, the disco hut where everyone gathers to hang out and occasionally have a class session, several other hut classrooms, a lounge area and a big dining area. There are several other buildings for Administration, but we as PCT/PCVs don’t congregate there. How we live and interact with one another simulates a summer camp atmosphere. It is very surreal most of the time. When we are in the center we are very much in a bubble. It doesn't feel like we are in Africa... besides the heat.

    For breakfast we just have bread with beans or jam or peanut butter and tea or “coffee.” For lunch we eat the traditional Senegalese way were you take your shoes off and sit on the ground (on a mat) with 4-5 other people and eat out of a big bowl. There is defiantly a technique to eat this way. One has to eat with ONLY their right hand, unless picking out bones from the bowl then one can use their left hand. We use spoons, but typically people just use their hands. Hence, one of the educational behavior changes PC promotes is hand washing with soap to help mitigate the spread of diseases. Also, when eating around the bowl, you have to be conscious and only eat what is in your area and not impede on someone else’s area. If there is only one carrot in the bowl, make sure you cut a little off, give some to everyone at the bowl and put the rest in the middle. Oh, and what is in the middle is up for grabs. Eating here is very much a team sport. If you are eating meat, it is hard to get the meat off the bones with just one hand (or spoon) so other people at the bowl have to hold the bone so that the meat can be detached. It’s actually kind of nice. I’m not a big hand eater, but I am sure that will change as I install later in my service. The training center is really good about giving us variety of foods with couscous, rice, millet, complemented with different sauces, veggies and all kinds of meat. It is very good! For dinner, we get to get reacquainted with our American roots and eat things like french fries and salad. Overall, food at the center has gone way beyond my expectations!

Thiès:

    So, we weren’t allowed to leave the training center for 4 days, but it felt like an eternity. Once we were allowed to leave and tour the city we were also allowed to go to “church,” which is the bar close the training center. Since it is culturally inappropriate to drink because Senegalese culture is so intricately intwined with Islam, we call it going to Church. I mean, wine is served during communion, so it is very fitting, right?!
    Thiès itself is the second largest city in Senegal and it is booming! Most of my money has been spent on fabric to be tailored into some traditional Senegalese garb, buckets for showering and/or laundry, and get this.. ICE CREAM! There is this (new-ish) place that has AH-MAZE-ING flavors. My go to is a double scoop bowl, one scoop Kinder (I can’t even describe the mouthwatering chocolate and some other interesting hints of other flavors amazingness that is Kinder. YUMMMM!) and one scoop vanilla. But, a close runner up is a chocolate and strawberry duo.
    The markets here actually reminded me a mixture of Bolivian and Indian street shops. It is all sorts of chaos, but invigorating. I love that you can speak English, Arabic, Wolof, Pulaar and French all within 30 seconds. It is very common for the people to know 5+ languages here. What a different concept than what we are used to in America. It really motivates me to learn more and try to integrate as much as possible.

Senegalese Culture 101:

    Here are the three main (in my mind) to know what is culturally expected/appropriate:

1. Taranga! Taranga means hospitality. Senegal is allllll about being a good host and sharing. Literally, if someone is drinking something walking down the street, and doesn't offer it to people (even a stranger) it is considered rude. If anyone eats or drinks anything in front of anyone else, it is expected that they share. Lesson Learned: eat in your room quickly if you want to be selfish and eat an entire package of Biskrem.

2. Left Hand is a NO-NO! Because of the lack of plumbing and the way the latrines are set up, one washes her/himself with her/his left hand when s/he does … bathroom things. Yea..  Also, on that note, anything that is “bad” is done with the left hand. You can pick your nose with your left hand, cough in you left hand, etc. But, you have to shake hands, eat, take/give things with your RIGHT hand.  I didn’t think I was going to have an issue with only using my right hand because I am right handed, but I make left hand faux pas All. The. Time. The struggle is real. (Next blog I will talk about a few of my oopsies with my left hand..)

3. Greetings! You have to greet EVERYONE! And not just, Hey, what’s up, and keep walking, you have to ask: how they are doing, if they slept well, if they are in peace, how their family is, if they are in peace, how their wife/husband/children are doing, and so much more, just not to come off rude and to be respected in the community. Ergo, a short distance walk can take a significant amount of time if there are a lot of people on the street/out in front of their compounds.
   

Ok, My next blog will feature (and hopefully get me up-to-date with where I am during my journey) my Community Based Training (CBT) at my host family site and how I had my first O.M.G can I really do this!?! moment… ok, it was more like for 2 days. I will also tell a few funny stories. Stay Tuned!