Officially a PCV

This past week I said goodbye to my amazing training host family, pictured at left, and became a Peace Corps Volunteer during a lovely little ceremony at the new ambassador's house yesterday.  It has been a busy week and thus a fittingly demanding end to an exhausting, wonderful, and busy 9 weeks of training.

Here are some highlights of the past few weeks:

- I was and will continue to learn two local languages: Wolof and Pulaar.  Which means if I can get the languages down I could call myself quad lingual!  A big shout out to my awesome training buddies in Thieneba and my two Language & Cultural facilitators who patiently told me the verb for 'napping' at least twice a day.

- Overindulging in yummy laak, a traditional yogurt porridge, at a baptism can make my tummy feel funny.

- Kolda is my hometown down south. I visited my new site for a few days in the middle of training and I am so excited for the amount of fruit available year round as well as the work potential in the regional capital.  A thank you to Natalie, my ancienne, for a wonderful tour and also for a great example of what it means to be a Peace Corps volunteer.

- I can now cook pretty awesome beignets, thanks to my host mom.

- Going to help out on the family farm in the heat of the afternoon is a really bad idea.  Just because my little 12 year old host brother can do it everyday does not mean I can.

- Skippy Peanut butter tastes SO good and starburst can brighten any mood.

- Two months went by quickly. I want to really appreciate each of the next 24 months and not wish away any time, be it good or bad.  I hope to be invested in each moment here and I'm excited to get started this week as I officially install into Kolda this coming Friday.

En ontuma! (until next time in pulaar)

my aunt's parting gift - braids!