Dakar

Today we had "Dakar Day". This is a day where we made a trip out to Dakar to get our visas and legal documents all together so we can be all squared away before we "install" (move to our sites). The one perk about today is that we were able to go to the "American Club", which is a really nice pool club that serves hot dogs, club sandwiches and beer. It was nice to have a little down time before we go back to our homestays. I will be in MBour for the next week, then back to Thies for our "Counterpart Workshop" where our counterparts from our permanent sites will be joining us in Thies to go over some of the things we have planned, see what our program is like, and get a basis for our service in village. I am very nervous about this time, because we have to do presentations in our local languages. Mandinka is still coming very slowly... so this is going to be interesting. However I did volunteer to be on the Tea-Making Committee.

I also got to meet the girl who was in my village last. Her name is Jessica and she did a lot of the organization for today in Dakar. She is extending her time here in Senegal, and will be living in Dakar. I hope this is to my advantage, so I can call her and ask her questions that both I and my site mate cant answer. She was very excited to meet me and had really great things to say about my town and the people there. I get more and more excited to move on to that part of my service. There is a part of me that wants this all to speed up so I can be at site and doing my own thing, and another part of me that cannot soak up enough of the time here at the Center, or "Little America". I am sure I will become more comfortable with the site placement as it gets closer and once I have been there for a while. Having the site mate will also be a lot of help.

I have posted a new address and more pictures on my Picasa site. I will try to make sure that site has all the pictures (more then I upload to Facebook), so keep checking it as time goes on. I will also try to include it in my posts. I hope the pictures are entertaining and give you a little insight to what I have been up to. I also tried to send out a batch of letters from the center yesterday. I am not positive when they will actually leave the center, but they are en-route. I hear that the mail going from here to the US is SUPER slow... so I guess I will be lucky if my notes get to their destinations by Christmas. I also added a book section to my blog, because I have a LOT of free time here, and will be reading much more then I did back at home. If you plan on sending me out any books (which I would LOVE LOVE LOVE!) take a look at the book list first. Just to make sure I havent already enjoyed it. ANNNNNDDDDD... I updated my wish list... people keep asking what I would like to have sent to me, and right now I just love pictures and things that remind me of home. I am sure once I am at site I will have a HUGE list of things I need or cannot get here, but even little letters are greatly appreciated! Thank you to all who have sent things thus far, it makes me feel truly loved!!!! You are awesome people!!!

My mom has really kept my mail box full! Thanks mom!

And I am currently waiting for my box from Cheese and my little sister! Cant wait!!!