Two Week Anniversary

written Thursday, March 29, 2007


Today I have been in Senegal two weeks. It feels like three months. I am getting used to speaking in a combination of French, Mandinka, Wolof, and English all the time, to sleeping under a mosquito net (which I like but some other volunteers find claustrophobic), to using squat toilets, and to the food. Although I have to admit I am pretty sick of eating fish and rice, and would be willing to pay about a million dollars for a nice bowl of cereal with normal milk. But once I get to my village hopefully I will have a little more control over what I eat.

I think our lack of control and decision-making power is one of the hardest things all of us volunteers are dealing with right now. We don't get to decide for ourselves what to eat, when to eat, when to go out, what to wear (for girls, no tank tops and no showing the knees), or pretty much anything else. Peace Corps and our families make all the decisions for us.

So it's been an adjustment, and I'm still working on it. I find the idea of beng committed to being here for two years completely overwhelming. But to be fair, I find the idea of being committed to being anywhere for two years freaky. (I never intended to stay in D.C. so long, although now of course I miss it a lot). So I'm trying not to think about the next two years, and to focus instead on this: do I want to be in Senegal today? Yes. Do I expect to still want to be here tomorrow? Yes. I think that has to be enough for now.