New country, new family

Don't know where to start. It's been crazy ever since I arrived. We did a bunch of admin stuff the first few days I was here, and then we broke up into pairs and piled onto a bus to drive to the southeastern part of the country to visit a Peace Corps volunteer and get a taste of volunteer life. We spent four or five days there, and I got to see some of the health projects my host was working on. I saw a health center, visited a junior high where she does a peer educator program, an NGO that does AIDS education, and a youth center that does free AIDS testing. Also went to a health talk or causerie, but didn't understand a word as it was in Pulaar.

Now I am back in Thies for the next seven weeks, staying with a host family while I go through Peace Corps training. They aren't kidding around when they say your family takes you in as one of their own. It's hard to describe the sense of welcome I feel in my host family; there is simply nothing comparable in the U.S. That isn't to say I am completely comfortable there yet, because it is a very different situation, but they are going out of their way to make me feel comfortable. They are all taking good care of me and are laughing at my pathetic attempts to learn Pulaar. That part of family life, at least, is familiar.