It's Only Just Begun...

       I have been in country now for a whopping 63 days or a little over two months (not that I’m counting or anything)! The Gambia is such a beautiful country in a very unique way and I am excited to share some of my experience with my readers here.

         Training was the slowest, toughest, and maybe longest two months of my life ever. The emotional and mental roller coaster I went through was unlike anything I have experienced before. Each day was unlike the prior and nothing like what was to come. I feel so happy to be done with that part of the journey and thrilled to move on to the next leg of the path. Before I talk about life a little bit after training days let me share some of my favorite and least favorite memories.

         When I arrived in The Gambia on October 17, 2014 the country immediately sang to me with the hustle and bustle of Kombo life. We went to GPI, which is where we were to stay for the first week in country. My first night here was an adventure to say the least. Around 3am I awoke to swollen lips, swollen fingers, and a tight throat. I couldn’t breath or talk I could barely move. Luckily I happened to be roommates with the only nurse in our group of 26, Miss Cameron (also known as Kumba). She woke up to me stumbling around the room and quickly realized I was having an allergic reaction to the insecticide treated bed net. She dashed to her suitcase and whipped out two Benedryl. My throat was so closed I could hardly even swallow one of the two. Once the Benedryl started taking effect I tried to calm down and breath. The doctor on call came and picked me up and I spent the rest of my night in the PCMU (Peace Corps Medical Unit) throwing up and not sleeping. I was too scared to sleep under the net the whole rest of the time I stayed at GPI. I was not feeling very warmly welcomed to The Gambia that night. However, once I got to my training village things changed for the better.

         I arrived in Kaiaf, the training village I would stay in for the next eight weeks. When the bus pulled up to the village at least 50 children ran from all around the village chasing the bus and screaming, “toubab, toubab, toubab.” Needless to say I was a little overwhelmed at the first sight of my village. We loaded my things into the house and I awkwardly sat outside not understanding a word of anything anyone was saying. Culture shock was an understatement for what I was feeling. I received my dinner bowl from my host mom, which was the spiciest red sauce I had ever tasted, mixed with fish, and rice. I took one bite and cried with overwhelming feelings that I would never get used to the culture, food, or people (maybe I was being a little overly dramatic but you try getting dropped off in a place you don’t understand a thing). Anyway it got tons better day by day. I slowly started to understand some of the language, Mandinka. This was due to my nutcase of a teacher and language culture facilitator Bakary Camara. Without him I never would have survived eight weeks let alone two years. A normal day in my life consisted of me waking up at 7am and greeting my family members Babunding (Grandfather), Nyomi (Grandmother), Bakarimo (Grandchild), Bunja (Dad), Anna (Mom), Mariama (Mom), Howa (Mom), Ansuman or Ozzy (Brother), Isatou (Sister), and Bubacar (Brother). I would eat breakfast and head to school with Bakary, Garret, Sarah, and Rollin. We would have class until 1pm then eat lunch. We would break after 2:30pm for gardening, fetching water, and playing games. Then around 6pm we would go home, bathe, and hang out with our families, eat dinner, and sleep. Wash, rinse, and repeat.

         In this village I had my naming ceremony that was really crazy and super fun. My mom Anna dressed me in traditional African dress most people call a completo. I felt beautiful and the day was about me and my new name. My whole family walked me over to the ceremony and one by one every toubab got a new name. I took my turn to sit in the chair and the Imam symbolized shaving my head. They do this for newborn babies and then throw a huge party. My family chose the name Isatou (Ice-uh-two) Sanneh (Sawn-ay) for me as my new name after my brother Bunja’s mother and his daughter. When you have the same name as someone it is called your namesake or your toma. After we all received our names a dance party commenced around a drum (bidong). It was definitely a day to remember.

         I have many happy memories with my host family in my training village so I will only share a few. Looking at the stars with the children and teaching them about shooting stars. I told them when they see those stars they get to make a wish and they loved that! Walking with Bunja and Ozzy to the farm where they have cattle and seeing how beautiful the bush (bush is like another name for the country) actually is. I also got to milk a cow here, which has been on my bucket list forever, and pick my own watermelon. I learned how to pound coos from my mother Anna in a large mortar as women near and far laughed at my weak attempt to do so. I helped Anna was dishes with dirt and soap (I know my mind was blown too) washing with dirt actually gets the dishes really clean it’s like using a natural earth made brillow pad. Freaking out at an infestation of ants on steroids around my door as I opened it one morning. Once again Anna came to the rescue with a broom as I screamed and sprayed Bop (bug spray) everywhere. I got to pick and grill corn over charcoal with small boys. Starting my first garden, which was only successful because my family took it over after day one. Did I mention all the bugs, bugs, bugs, buggy, bugs. They are everywhere and I never realized how much of a sissy I am when it comes to them until I moved here. To be fair, when a spider is bigger than the shoe you are trying to use to kill it, that’s some scary s#!*. Not just spiders galore, but ants that can probably eat you, beetles that pee acid, and earwigs/pincher bugs that aren’t the least bit afraid of you, your shoe, or the bug spray you’re trying to use. One morning I woke up to 19 mosquito bites on my left thigh (mind you I went to sleep at 8pm before they came out, slept in pants, and under a mosquito net, riddle me that one). I built my family a tippy-tap, which is a device so they can have running water to wash their hands. I harvested and roasted ground nuts (peanuts), which may be some of the hardest work I have ever done in my life. I sat with many children on many a night and told them fairytale stories and listened to their stories. I went to a Jellybah concert (he’s a famous singer and Kora player here in The Gambia). As I was leaving in my American clothes my mother Anna rushed me into her house, stripped me down, and put me in the most beautiful completo I have worn so far (she sometimes felt like my fairy godmother). I played many a game under the cool neme tree with my classmates. I was able to read eight books in eight weeks which may be a new record for me. I bargained a jele jele (a super shady mode of transportation that everyone uses and is totally fine with in this country) from 50 Dalasi down to 15. I’ve told about 100 or more children my name is not Toubab and when they ask me for candy or money I ask them for their head (it’s appropriate in this culture…just don’t ask haha). I watched a colleague get a goat kick to the head and after making sure he was okay laughed hysterically for about 15 minutes. I watched another comrade trip a child with a stick (trust me if you knew this particular child you would have encouraged it as well) again we laughed for far too long. I never thought I would be one to encourage that sort of behavior and although I did not encourage it I did participate in the laughter to come. To be fair the child thought it was really funny too. The last memory I will share because this post is far too long is when I went to visit my site I made a new friend. I was walking around my compound enjoying the sight of my new home when a lizard above me lost his grip on the roof and found his new grip on my face. I screamed and flung him about two compounds over, he had the ride of his life, and I had two scratches on my face to prove my near death experience. I think it was a win win situation.

         Not everything I have written about was funny at the time or sunshine and roses all the time, but I am learning to go back and look at all the good and positives that came from it all. Let me tell you the good times definitely outweigh the bad so far, but it’s only just begun…

The views, thoughts, opinions, and reflections posted in this blog do not represent the beliefs of the United States Government and are solely my own.

Guten Tag Germany

FRANKFURT Finally, after a long Greyhound bus ride to LA from Visalia and a late 3am trip to LAX, a layover in Seattle, I arrived in Frankfurt Germany at ten in the morning. Everything went surprisingly smoothly, my bag was the first one out and my best friend was excitedly awaiting my arrival. I quickly walked through the sliding glass doors and heard her yell, "COLEEN!" After two months of anticipation we were finally reunited. We both could not believe it as we embraced eachother for about 5 minutes jumping around and laughing. We giggled and talked the whole way to her car and of course as soon as we got in started playing our tunes just like old times. I survived my first trip on the Autobahn and emjoyed going 165kph which is about 102mph. We weren´t able to check into our hostel until 3 so we went and grabbed a bite to eat by Lisa´s possible new apartment. So you know how in the US there are apple juice boxes and that is usually what size our milk comes in too, for kids right? Well in Germany the boxes are like four times that size and I was in heaven because if you know me you know I love my milk. I also had a delicious chocolate pastry. Mind you at this time I am fighting the worst exaughstion I have ever felt. We went to the river and sat and people watched another of our favorite past times together. Now at this point I am deliriously tired but Lisa pushes me onward to a pub. Here we have the worst and unfriendly service known to man, Lisa pleads with me to ignore this German because she does not represent all of them, of course I do gladly. After much waiting on my part we are allowed to check into our hostel A&O Frankfurt. Lisa is guiding me blindly at this point as I had no clue how I was still standing. We got settled into our room and I immediately took a nap. I allowed myself one hour for recovery, then Lisa and I got ready and headed out on the town. We strolled all over the place but finally ended up eating yet again (also one of our favorite past times). I tried schnitzel with mushrooms which is called Jagerschnitzel and it was life changing. We walked around more and found an Apfelwein Festival which Frankfurt is famous for. There was live music and tasty drinks to be had. We found an Irish Pub and stopped in there after I drank some beer on the streets in front of the polizei. Here we met the nicest bar tender who´s name at this moment I cannot remember but he was from Enlgand and told us a lot to see in Frankfurt. We found our way home after a long way wondering the streets because the metro had closed. We hit the hay and woke up the next day fresh for sight seeing shopping in Frankfurt. We hit H&M, New Yorker, Zara, Primark, and many many, more. Then we went to the financial district and went up the highest building to see the view, it was breath taking. From here we could even see the Apfelwein Festival, which I thought was awesome and Lisa laughed at me for. We stayed one more night in Frankfurt with nothing too crazy happening the second night and then packed up, got brüten, and hopped in Lisa´s car for the journey to her hometown. We stayed in Frankfurt from Sunday August 10- Tuesday Augsut 12. GOSLAR We arrived in Goslar and she took me to here village which literally means chicken village. It was the cutest place I think I have ever seen and I could not get enough of it, I am pretty sure I could live there. We dropped our stuff off and picked up Lisa´s best friend Lea and went to the grocery store so I could pick up what I needed to make American pasta salad (American because it was full of bacon and ranch.) When we got back I started to prepare because Lisa warned me her family is very timely so if they say 7pm is when the BBQ is that is when the BBQ is. Oh that´s what I forgot to mention her whole family threw a BBQ in honor of my arrival. I was in heaven, family and food I could not have asked for more. Lisa´s mom reminded me so much of my own it was uncanny. Gabby, Lisa´s mom was short, small, stylish, and adorable. She ran around the whole time making sure everyone had everything they needed. She was happiest when we were happpiest, and our plates and glasses were full. I met Lisaçs whole family, her mom Gabby, her aunt and uncle, two cousins Jannis and Julian, Julian´s girlfriend Marieke, her mom´s boyfriend and daughter, and her grandparents it was quite the hilarous BBQ. Of course they made me sing, so I sang If I Ain´t Got You and Ave Maria which, turns out was every woman in the family´s wedding song so they all cried. We laughed until dark throwing the english and german language around until we couldn´t breath any more. Then Julian scored us a ride to this club called something Factory but I am going to call it the weird factory. There were some interesting characters there but we had fun dancing and drinking anywayñ. Julian sat with me at the bar for a good hour talking to me about how the dark side of Germany was the East side and I should be cautious of them haha. He told me he hated to speak english but for me it was okay. We took the cab home and said goodbye to the cousins. The next day Lisa and I awoke and went to the public swimming pool and surprise surprise her other uncle was there and two cute cousins. We played with them in the pool and promised we would stop by their house later. Lisa gave me a tour of where Monument´s men was filmed and of the castle near her. We then had more food (Schnitzel for me yet again) and went to her aunt and uncle´s house. Here they made us eat more food waffles with cherries and ice cream (yes I know hard life for me.) We had a lovely time talking with them and I promised I would come back and be an au pair for the children there because I loved them. We booked it back to Lisa´s to get ready for this huge lake party in Hannover. We stayed in Goslar from Tuesday the 12- Thursday the 14. HANNOVER The Lake party in Hannover was an extreme night to remember. Ce Lina came to pick us up with Hannah and Samira in the car. We then added Denise to the group shortly after. The Lake Party was called Maschseefest Hannover and we were lucky enough to be there. It was a party fully and entirely around a lake in Hannover. There was endless food, live music, and drink. By the time we left the lake party we were well on our way to having a fabulous night. At this party I tried Currywurst which was heavenly also I had tons and tons of beer (I mean I was in Germany right?)Then we went to this crazy club where they were playing all kinds of German hip hop and music and I loved it. Danced with some great people and by the time we left it was very late. We got some McDonalds which remains far superior in other countries than the US still. By the time we got home it was 4:30am and we had a bus to catch at 10am...oops. I´ll sleep when I´m dead right? HAMBURG Her grandparents took us to the bus stop about an hour and a half earlier than we needed to be there, which I thought was adorable and Lisa thought was annoying. We relaxed in McDonalds and had a hilarious morning. Probably so funny because we were so tired. The Meinfernbus came and we got on for a six hour journey to Hamburg. I went to lean my seat chair back and had no idea how it worked so my chair shot back all the way into the guy sitting behind me. Before I could say anything he shouts, "Seriously, Are you kidding me!" Lisa and I die of laughter and he becomes the butt of our jokes for the rest our traveling time together. We arrive after what seemed like eternity in Hamburg and attempt to find our hostel. Lisa pulls out her print out with the directions and we take a metro to our stop. We walk about three blocks and arrive at A&O Hamburg...or so we think. The woman tells us with no help at all that we went to the wrong hostel and have to find our actual hostel but does not tell us where we are or where we are going. So we head three blocks back to the metro and get off at where we think we are supposed to go. We ask another woman where to go and she tells us some weird way. Once we exit the metro its pouring rain and we are already exaughsted. Finally, a man takes pitty on us and sees we are lost and cannot find our way anymore. He tells us we are quite a bit away from our hostel. We walk for about thirty minutes more and finally we see it A&O Hamburg. It was beautiful and glorious. The line to check in was huge but we survived that too and checked in. We went up to our room and had the whole thing to ourselves we were eccstatic. Then we slept for a good two hours. When we woke up we felt like new people so we went to the store and got groceries and had a picnic in our hostel on our bed, it was delicous. We started getting ready and went to the Reeperbahn (A street in Hamburg famous for the guilty pleasures of men kind of like the strip in Vegas but worse) I saw my first prositutes here and a secret red light district women were not allowed to go. I saw a ferris wheel and begged Lisa to go there so we did and surprisingly ran into some of Lisa´s friends from school. We drank and rode the ferris wheel which gave us a spectacular view of Hamburg. We left this festival and headed back to the hostel for a decent night´s sleep before our sightseeing the next day. When we got back to the hostel we sat at the bar for a bit and I met Swen (Pronounced Sven so immediately I thought of Frozen.) He had the most blue eyes I had ever seen and I asked his plans for the next day. He said he wasn´t sure but we exchanged numbers and spoke about maybe meeting. The next day Lisa and I got up and set out for shopping central of Hamburg. We saw many cathedrals, ate delicous donut things, and beautiful stores. We took a boat tour on the river in Hamburg and it was lovely. We had lunch at a place right on the lake and yes I ate a hamburger in Hamburg, I mean I had to. After we were ready to head back we tried on the traditional dresses of women in the South of Germany. We loved them so much we wanted to buy them but they were like 100 euro, so sad. We headed back to the hostel and got ready for Reeperbahn round two. We found a great place with live music and chilled there for some time. Then Swen said he wanted to meet so we met him and he took us to this amazing pizza place. Swen and I danced the night away until Lisa was ready to head out. We left around 4am and got back to the hostel around 4:30am. Then we had another bus to take the next day. We stayed in Hamburg from Thursday the 14- Saturday the 15. BERLIN Our bus from Hamburg to Berlin took way longer than expected but we finally arrived. Our hostel was relatively easy to find but was the worst hostel we stayed at. We were so exaughsted from Reeperbahn we slept the whole day in Berlin and did not go out at all even though it was a Saturday night. We woke up early and went to see the famous sights. We saw the Jewish memorial, the Berlin Wall, parliament known as Reichstag, where the Prime Minister works, the Brandenburg Gate, Siegessäule, and I watched an Imax film in 3D at the famous Sony complex. The film was about underwater life and it was in German but it was still amazing and beautiful. We ate a delicious lunch at a restaraunt that took three hours of our day. I almost missed my bus from Berlin to Frankfurt. I made it literally running and had to quickly say see you later to Lisa as I hopped on. The ride took 10 hours to get to Frankfurt and when I arrived the metro was closed so I had to take a taxi to the hostel. I literally just slept in Frankfurt and then bright and early set out for Barcelona. I truly loved every moment I had in Germany it is really hard to pick a favorite place here or a favorite memory. I was so happy to spend the entire time with my bestie Lisa, and to meet her whole family. I think if I had to choose the best and my most favorite I would say the family in Goslar, the partying in Hamburg, and the sight seeing in Berlin. Should I go back these would be the places I would visit again. Sorry this post was so long, I had a lot to catch everyone up on. Let me know if there are anymore details you care to hear and I will do my best to continue the stories. My next post will be all about my adventures in Barcelona!!!

The Peace Corps Craziness

TRUST ME I WANT TO KNOW AS MUCH AS YOU!

Everyone keeps asking me for a Peace Corps update, so I thought I would just write about what is going on. This way people will have a good idea about what is happening and I can write out what I know thus far! I have decided to place a timeline below because I think it is not only fascinating what a journey this has been, but also I cannot wait to look back at it once I am farther along in the process. I also hope it helps those of you out there trying to begin this journey with some of the same thoughts, questions, fears, exciting news, and hopes I have experienced.

The Timeline

May 20, 2013- I began the Peace Corps application process. I was asked many questions and gave many detailed responses. I had to provide a resume, transcripts, cover letters (of sorts), letters of recommendation (3 to be exact) I was assigned a candidate reference number. The application takes a great deal of time to complete so I recommend if you're interested in volunteering to work on it a little every day. If you are interested in volunteering I would be happy to answer any questions you have simply comment below. 

August 28, 2013- I officially hit the submit button for my application and received an e-mail confirmation. In this e-mail I was also informed I would need to complete a Health History Form which would shortly be e-mailed to me. A few minutes later I received the e-mail for my Health History Form and began working on that right away. I submit everything I needed to on the same day.

September 16, 2013- After the medical paperwork was pre-cleared I was contacted. Sarah Kassel, the Regional Representative for Oregon contacted me to set up a phone interview because I live a good distance away from the Portland office. We scheduled the interview for a few days later.

September 19, 2013- I had my phone interview with Sarah which lasted a solid hour and a half. Make certain when you schedule your interview you leave yourself a good chunk of time as interviews can last anywhere between one to two hours. She told me after the phone interview she had a pretty good idea of who I was, my strengths, and what she planned to do next. Meanwhile, I'm silently freaking out as I realize my dream is slowly becoming a reality. I was sent an e-mail with a Health Addendum form I needed to fill out and return proving more volunteer experience in a given area. I submit this form the very next day.

September 24, 2013- I was nominated for service! The sector I was nominated in was health and my tentative departure date month was August of 2014. I was told in this e-mail I would be receiving a legal kit in the following 2 weeks. I received an e-mail stating that my recruiter, Sarah notified the Office of Medical Services that I had been nominated for service and they needed no further medical paperwork from me at that time. 

October 1, 2013- I received my legal kit in the mail which had a fair amount of paperwork to fill out in it. The kit also required I send fingerprints. I called the local police station to get an appointment and they informed me they only perform fingerprinting on Tuesdays. They ask that you get your legal kit returned for processing within two weeks. I e-mailed Sarah today because my legal kit was dated September 27, 2014. I had the concern that I would not be able to get my legal kit back in two weeks and was requesting an extension. I got an automated response back. 

October 11, 2013- Went and got my fingerprints done, it took about 20 minutes tops. I went first thing in the morning on Tuesday and got in right away. The fee was $30 and it was quick and painless. That same day I sent my legal kit back to Washington for processing. 

October 1-16, 2013- Government Shutdown! I could not for the life of me figure out why every Peace Corps office was closed and I was getting automated responses back from my e-mails. Then DUH, lightbulb, the Government Shutdown. So I figured it would be a while for my legal kit to be processed, once again putting me in the hurry up and wait routine I have grown accustomed to =) 

November 8, 2013- I called Sarah to make sure my legal kit was received and my application process was still moving forward in a positive way. She informed me the next step would be the Placement Office giving me a call and chatting with me about some details and future placement. She told me best case scenario I would hear from them in December, worst case scenario I would hear from them in March. I thanked her and began the patiently wait game. 

December 2013- Heard nothing. No contact via phone or e-mail. Checked my status on my application portal and it still said "nominee." My patiently wait game turns into the antsy wait game. 

January 11, 2014- My antsy-ness got the best of me and I contacted Sarah via e-mail to check on the status of everything. I simply asked if my application process was still moving forward positively.

January 13, 2014- She replied to my e-mail that everything was looking so far and the placement office would be contacting me next and sometime soon (I realize soon is a relative term and slowly start to worry again haha). 

February 2014- Heard nothing again this month. No contact via phone or e-mail. Due to my stubbornness, pride, and the fact that I do not want to seem desperate for some form of contact telling me my fate, I do not contact anyone this month. 

March 3, 2014-  I could not take it anymore. I do not want to seem like a squeaky wheel, nervous Nancy, or a pest, but I was told by returned volunteers if you are nervous, just e-mail. No harm no foul. So that is what I did today. Sarah e-mailed me back right away saying everything is looking good in my file still, due to inclement weather DC was closed today, but that I am still looking on track. Whew, what a relief. You see I like my method one month of agony and torture not knowing what is going on and wondering if I am still in the running and then a month of relief.

April 2014- I heard nothing, zero, zilch, nada...

May 5, 2014- I got a call asking if I wanted to serve in The Gambia in the Health Sector... I waited 24 hours to respond to make sure I really wanted to commit.

May 6, 2014- I said, "YES!" and received my official letter of welcome to service in The Gambia!

June & July 2014- I had to do a bunch of medical stuff, vaccinations and such to be medically cleared.

August 2014- I was officially medically cleared!!! I started thinking about packing and such.

October 14-16 2014- I had staging in Philadelphia, PA for getting ready to fly!

Otober 17 2014- I arrived in The Gambia, Africa ready for service!

Back to Life Back to Reality

I cannot believe it has been ten months since I began this process and so far it has been a roller coaster of excitement. I will continue to update this post and Timeline as I receive more information. For now, I appreciate your continued prayers and support. Again, if you are thinking about starting the process of becoming a volunteer I am happy to answer any questions you may have below. 

I know the fear and anxiety is a healthy and exhilarating emotion right now because if my dreams do not scare me, they are not big enough...right?