Hilary in Senegal.

So I found out my permanent site for the next two years-- Medina Afia! It is a small village (+1300 people) in the Kolda region. It is near the river, banana plantation, and has lots of trees. I couldn't be happier with the town. I am only 1-2 km off the main road and only 16km from my closest neighbor. I got to visit my site last week during volunteer visit. Volunteer visit is when current trainees go stay with current volunteers to "demyst" which means get a better idea of what you will actually be doing when you get to site. During the visit, I got to participate in baby weighings, "help" with gardening (i use "help" here very loosely as im not sure how much actual help i was), and i got to meet my counterparts in my new village. my counterparts seem very anxious to get to work so that makes me excited! Medina afia is about 7-8 hours from thies, where the training center is. i will be moving to medina afia probably may 15 or 16 after i am officially sworn in as a volunteer on may 13th. after i move there (which is what peace corps means when they say "install") i will just be getting to know the village and working on my pullo fuuta for a while until i can start my baseline survey. i am anxious to actually move into my very own hut and actually unpack my stuff. training is such a weird process-- at first, you get to thies and its not that bad, but you miss your bed and american food and the little things like your own bathroom. then you get to your homestay and you miss thies with its delicious food and english speakers. then you get to your village and you think "oh wow this is not going to be as easy as homestay." i understand more clearly now why they do training like this -- they wear you out in the beginning so that you are actually ready to go to village when its time. tomorrow we are going to dakar (the capital) for a tour and suprise suprise more shots! after that, we go back to homestay for a week then back to thies. next weekend we have a much needed beach weekend! check back for more details -- i will try to update again next week. thanks for all the prayers and emails and snail mail! i love it! also, i will be sure to let ya'll know when i get my new address in my village.