Sunday, December 31, 2006

Less than a month!


It's officially less than one month away and I have no idea how I'm getting there! I still haven't received my "Staging Kit", which tells me how to make my travel arrangements. I am starting to get emails more frequently from this Jason character, who informed me that he is looking forward to meeting me Jan 29th in Washington D.C. As I'm typing this, I can't help but feel like I'm flying off to meet a complete stranger; a match made in the Peace Corps world, with whom I've has so little contact with that I can't even decide if I should be excited about meeting him.

Yesterday, Jason sent me another email informing me about language resources. Turns out I should be freshening up on my Wolof, one of the many indigenous languages in The Gambia, but spoken by 90% of those in Senegal (which surrounds The Gambia on 3 sides), as opposed to French, which is only spoken by 20% of males and only 2% of females. Wolof is also a language spoken in Mauritania, Mali and a few other West African countries. I could also be learning Mandinka or Fula, but I looked at the consonants in the Wolof language and they seem pretty neat, so I'm pulling for Wolof.

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season, spending time with those with whom they want! (Does that even make sense?!) Happy new year!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Naga Def
Oh Gambia... I went there in 2004 and it hasn't left my mind since. I see you are in Norman, is that Norman, Oklahoma? I live in Oklahoma City. Anyway my 5 weeks in Gambia and one week in Senegal changed my life so much that I too have signed up to join the Peace Corps. I graduate in May so I've been nominated for a position leaving in June. You will LOVE Gambia.