Off to training village soon!

So today is the first day learning about the culture sort of hit me. A guest speaker from GAMBCOTRAP (an NGO) came today to talk about Female Genital Cutting, a rich tradition deeply rooted in the African culture as part of a rite of passage for women into adulthood, or even earlier. Besides that, she reminded and informed us of partner violence, the super-importance of greeting people, forced marriage (sometimes even from birth). They also put it in perspective from the US stand point, such as when women we given the right to vote, etc. It will be interesting when we get into the village. I am loving learning the language, although it is tough because we are in training ALL day, then we still feel the need to practice. We also learned about Gambia time, which is a MUCH slower pace. Since most are Muslim, there are certain times in the day where setting up meetings will not work. For example, if you say, "let's have the meeting at 2pm", they may think, well, I must pray first, then arrange for care of my children, then go pick up someone that is going to the meeting, have tea at her house, then head to the meeting maybe at 3 or 4pm. It is going to be an adjustment, but of course it's all part of the culture and I'm excited to work with a slower pace.

We went to the market yesterday to practice language. Our LCH (language) teacher went with us to help a little. I was able to ask "how much is this" and "my change", etc. I bought detergent, earrings, bracelets, and a soap caddy. I'm going to buy fabric as soon as get a tad bit more compfy with the language, in order to have a skirt made. We also learned how to squat over a pit latrine and take a bucket shower.

The group I'm with is also pretty active. We've been doing all types of yoga. I've been leading a few Ashtanga classes in the morning and going on runs in the evening (on the beach!!)

Friday we are headed to Kaaif to spend a few weeks there in our training village and going back and forth to Tendaba, a training camp. Kaaif is a village south of the river, up country a little. It has about 3,000 people. This is where we will get a good impression of what life in our permanent village will be. We will live in a compound with a host family and work on Training Directed Activities (TDAs) in order to get to know the village and work on language.

On another note, here are some things that I thought of that would be helpful to have here to give to village children and for myself:

Colored pencils
Stickers
Coloring books
A soccer ball
Batteries
Mike and Ikes, candy in general
Travel size kleenex

Fo Natoo! Love and hugs.

PS check out the personal photos

Also, if you are planning on visiting me, please pack an extra duffel bag so I can send some things back with you. Packing for 2 years of the unknown is catching up to me!