So here in PC Senegal, we do this thing called community based training (CBT). Basically what this means is that I spent my first week in-country at the training center, and then I went to a small village with two other trainees and our Language and Cultural Facilitator (LCF), Babacar, for six days. This is an absolutely overwhelming experience, especially given that we don't know very much Wolof when we start CBT (nor when this first CBT stay ended... Or when the next one begins.). We got off the bus in our village, Ndombor, and there were people waiting for us. Mostly, our families, who gave us our Senegalese names. My name is Awa Diop; Abby is Mamati Djang; Emily is Xari Sek (an "x" sounds like an "h" in Wolof). Our host families led us to our separate homes, where we spent most of the rest of the day. Lunches (and dinners, for that matter) are communal, so my entire family of about 10 ate at one bowl. We had done this at the center, but that was hardly preparation for the number of people we had at my family's house! Speaking of, family dynamics are a very interesting matter. I have one father (Kène), a mother (Fatime), and a second mother (my father's second wife). I don't see my father very often; maybe twice in the six days I was there. I also don't interact with my second mother very much. There are eight children in my family. My oldest sister is older than I am, but I'm not sure by how much. Everyone else is younger. I would say that maybe two of them are about 14-16, and the rest are under 11. I also have a cousin that lives with us, and he speaks English. I think he's about my age. Keeping all of them straight is enough all by itself, let alone trying to learn a language and working on our demonstration garden!
