More on training...

Well, it has been brought to my attention that maybe a few of you want some more details on what exactly I've been doing in West Africa for 2 months....
Training kept me crazy busy! We split our time between training village and Tendaba Camp, this fanny-pack-wearing bird-watching tourist mecca with a swimming pool. We had language classes, cultural sessions, and technical training. I loved training village and my host family was so welcoming! I was really sad to leave and ended up trying to hide my tears. I hope to go back and visit sometime next year when I can actually talk to them and not sound like a child. I really enjoyed the language part of training. It is so different (and better) than trying to learn a language sitting in a classroom staring at a book. It is so amazing how much faster you can pick it up when you speak it everyday and actually have to use it to get what you want...like buying a slice of watermelon and filling your peanut butter jar at the bitik. I'm now at Intermediate-Low language proficiency, which pretty much means that I have basic survival skills in the language and I can express wants and needs (like watermelon and peanut butter). Our last big training event, at the end of November, was going to visit our permanent sites to meet with our host families, scope out the village, and, supposedly, stay 3 nights in our future house. But when we pulled up to my family compound my house consisted of walls and doors...no windows or a roof or a pit latrine! I ended up staying with my site mate, Allison, who will be living in a village about 10km away from mine. My family seems really motivated to finish the house though and I'm really optimistic (and curious) to see what it looks like when I arrive this weekend. I had my first real taste of long distance public transport here when we had to get back to Kombo on our own for the first time! It's looking like it will be a two day trip every time I want to come down to the capitol from my village! The distance isn't very far on a map but bad roads, waits at ferry crossings, and bush taxi breakdowns are big factors. Alison and I walked 2 hours from her village to mine, which is right on the south bank road. Since the the south bank road is so bad, we figured our best bet was to catch a vehicle going east to Georgetown, cross up to the newly built north bank road and head back west from there. Well....we waited at my village for 3.5 hours before a bush taxi came that barely had room for us. We spent the night in Georgetown with some fellow en route trainees. The next morning, after loading two sheep on top of a bush taxi, we took a ferry across the river. By 8:30 am we were well on our way down the north bank road. 8 hours, another ferry crossing, and another bush taxi change later, we rolled into Kombo! Well, that did include a stop for watermelon, roasted peanuts, coconut, bean sandwiches (AMAZING), and frozen juice in Farafenni, but still, it was a crazy long day!
The last few days we've spent shopping for our houses (and playing Scrabble at the beach, watching movies at the PC hostel,and eating Snickers bars). So far I've bought a gas stove, a foam mattress, a ton of food that isn't available upcountry (like lentils, juice, olive oil, pasta, spices, soy chunks, coffee creamer), toilet paper, and a CELL PHONE. That's right! Completely unexpectedly I'll have cell phone reception at my village! (If any of ya'll miss my sweet voice you can get the number from my parents...). I won't have internet at site though so write me letters!! I hope you are all doing well at home! I still miss eggnog lattes!

Much Love,
Mandy