They now call me Alajie Bombo Mussa Ceesay, which roughtly translates to "Man who took a Hajj, Crocodile Man, Moses....Ceesay" I am no longer Seth, I no longer respond to Seth, I only respond to Alajie......I was absolutly shocked when I saw a white guy in my village the other day, I was thinking to myself "What in the world are you doing here?" Yep im pretty much Gambian now.
The langauge learning goes great, I can finally tell someone "I farted" "You are as fat as a donkey" and "I am the best dancer" so I am pretty satisfied with my progress.
I will admit that the food is rough. Rice, bread, and fish is what I have evvvveeerrydaaay, whenever I get a chance I will tell someone how amazing hamburgers are. Every once and a while when things are rough I will stare at the picture of a hamburger I have hanging up in my room. I will just stare at it and imagine what it tastes like, drool will slowly drip from my mouth....ya I am only a month in guys. No worrys though, I did something about my burger craving and went and got some beef grounded up and made some little burger sliders...twas great!
Got super sick last week, there was a point were I was afraid I would never experience a solid poop again. But yesterday morning I finally had a solid movement and you would not believe how excited I was, I seriously started dancing.
Training goes great, I found out my permanment site.....Dobong Kunda.....which is by Bansang.....for those who want to look at a map. I will be doing beekeeping, poultry managment, and really whatever I feel like taking on...maybe some teaching, hopefully sports....awesome right? I am really excited to get done with training and go to my site. Anyways all is well folks.....sorry it was so quick and dirty but I had a certain brother who was complaining and what not. :)
Once I get to my site I promise a nice and detailed post, until then I am off to practice my Mandinken!!! Cheers! or uhhh Fooooo Waaatido!!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Packing and other thoughts.
So I suppose I shall start a blog, apparently this is what people do when they join peace corp. I initially had no intentions of blogging, but my family and friends thought that was a terrible idea, so here I am.
Many of you are probably wondering whats going on in my head right now? Hows packing? Am I nervous? Excited? Terrified? Crazy?
Well packing goes pretty good, I have most of the big stuff but I am just trying to nail down all the little things I take for granted. Like toenail clippers or cue tips. I am semi worried I will forget something important but as long I got a good pair of shoes and clothes on my back I will be good. Oh and my ipod, if I forgot that I would be devastated. By the way I am still working on my 'music I wont get tired of after two years' playlist so any suggestions you guys have would be great.
As far as what is going on in my head, well it may not be what you think. At the moment my days are pretty much consumed with coaching. I have found it really hard to focus on peace corp when I am in the middle of assistant coaching both the girls and boys basketball teams. We are installing a new offense, which has been pretty time consuming for us coaches. My approach for this whole trip is that I am not going to seriously think about whats in store for me until I get on that plane and everything gets real. For me it is silly to try and predict what to expect over there. There is no precedent in my life for this event, ya I went off to college and lived on my own for four years but I was surrounded by my fellow Americans. Ya i went to Mongolia but that was only for one month. All I know is its going to be a life changing event and that in all likelihood times are going to get tough for me. I think knowing that much should suffice.
I like lists by the way so i will end this post with two lists:
Things I am excited for:
1. Learning a new language
2. Assimilating into a new culture
3. Meeting new people
4.Learning some new things about myself
5. Using my skills to help a less fortunate group of people.
Things that scare me:
1. Seafood
2. Giant terrifying bugs
3. Getting sick
4. Culture shock (its impossible to prepare for in my opinion)
5. Getting my ipod stolen
Many of you are probably wondering whats going on in my head right now? Hows packing? Am I nervous? Excited? Terrified? Crazy?
Well packing goes pretty good, I have most of the big stuff but I am just trying to nail down all the little things I take for granted. Like toenail clippers or cue tips. I am semi worried I will forget something important but as long I got a good pair of shoes and clothes on my back I will be good. Oh and my ipod, if I forgot that I would be devastated. By the way I am still working on my 'music I wont get tired of after two years' playlist so any suggestions you guys have would be great.
As far as what is going on in my head, well it may not be what you think. At the moment my days are pretty much consumed with coaching. I have found it really hard to focus on peace corp when I am in the middle of assistant coaching both the girls and boys basketball teams. We are installing a new offense, which has been pretty time consuming for us coaches. My approach for this whole trip is that I am not going to seriously think about whats in store for me until I get on that plane and everything gets real. For me it is silly to try and predict what to expect over there. There is no precedent in my life for this event, ya I went off to college and lived on my own for four years but I was surrounded by my fellow Americans. Ya i went to Mongolia but that was only for one month. All I know is its going to be a life changing event and that in all likelihood times are going to get tough for me. I think knowing that much should suffice.
I like lists by the way so i will end this post with two lists:
Things I am excited for:
1. Learning a new language
2. Assimilating into a new culture
3. Meeting new people
4.Learning some new things about myself
5. Using my skills to help a less fortunate group of people.
Things that scare me:
1. Seafood
2. Giant terrifying bugs
3. Getting sick
4. Culture shock (its impossible to prepare for in my opinion)
5. Getting my ipod stolen
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