Hello from Thies

Hey Everybody,

I arrived safely in Africa yesterday morning bright and early at 6am. I was in DC for two days at staging, which consisted of a brief orientation about training, and discussion of fears/aspirations etc. It also included a rather painful Yellow Fever shot which I still have a rash and slight discomfort from.

For the next few days until Monday me and 48 other PCT (Peace Corps Trainees) will be in the Thies training center learning survival wolof and learning about the procedures for home stay which we will be going to on Monday. From Monday to the end of PST (Pre-Service Training) we will be living with a host family. I'm really excited for this experience, because I think it will be super rewarding and the best way to immerse myself into the culture.

Yesterday we had a dance party in the middle of our training center with some drummers from the community. There is one volunteer here who had some pretty hysterical dance moves. Some girls from the neighborhood came by and schooled all of us Americans on the art of hip and rump shaking. She was like 8 and seriously blew everyone away. At one point I was forced into the middle and had to perform this awkward routine, but all in good fun.

In other news, I peed in my first choo today. (A hole in the ground) Got to build up them squat muscles! My stomach has been iffy for the past few days and does not like the spicies they put in everything here. I've been living on my Tums. If your ever wondering what to send me send me ANTIACIDS or like PROBIOTICS or some soothing natural stomach remedies...aloe maybe. Me and the intestinal track battled it out when I fought nausea and diarreah yesterday. For the record, the stomach won. Things are better today though. THANK GOD!

Spirits are high at the moment. I miss home of course and my family and my friends terribly. But its a beautiful place here, and the people are so nice.

That's it for today. I'll have more updates once I learn more and interesting things. I'm sorry in advance for typos. The spell check is set for french so everything comes up red!