The Bottom Line

I can’t say they didn’t warn us about the fact that things just move slower in Senegal than they do in the US, let alone that for the first few month simply communicating would be difficult. This was all expected, one thing I did not count on contributing to the slow pace was being sick. It really doesn't make "integrating into the community" any easier when you are sick. My previous post provides my first, and rather major, example of that. I am now stuck with something less debilitating, but far less conducive to travel. I will call them ‘Digestive Issues,’ and as a result I have been stuck away from my village for a week now.

I am very anxious to get back, especially since I will need to leave once again for a long while for In Service Training (IST). I’m worried that I’m going to be spending more time away from my village than in it. The issue is getting back. From Kedougou there is one car a day that usually makes it’s way to my village of Khossanto and beyond. Unfortunately, this car is loading up and leaving at a time that does not agree with those digestive issues I mentioned.

My other option is to bike out which can easily turn into an all day event, but at the very least will exhaust me while I’m already not exactly in peak form. You might also question biking with digestive issues - Let’s just put it this way, it’s a lot easier to stop a bike in an emergency situation than it is to stop any kind of public transport.

There is my dilemma, between these couple events I feel like I have missed out on prime time to really get to know my village and its people. I’m going to need to be putting a much larger effort into getting to know new people in my village. A neighboring volunteer’s goal is to have dinner in every family compound in his village; I don’t know if I’m willing to set that goal yet, but maybe once a week (heck, that might even cover it over the next two years).

To throw a silver lining onto this as well, I’ve come to notice that these breaks (the one for the infection, and the ones from CBT families during Pre Service Training) have helped me to really notice my own improvements in the local language. Logic would agree with “you don’t use it you lose it,” but this situation for me I think there is something else going on. Here’s how I see it: I’ve been cramming a brand new language into my head, a lot of info in a short period of time, and doing my darnedest to make sense of it all. I think these breaks of not using Malinke have allowed it to settle into my mind in a more organized and logical order. Like in Dr. Mario when he starts throwing the pills too fast and you can’t keep up then eventually lose, but when you start a new game it’s SUPER easy and you kill all those nasty germs in no time.  On a side note, I do consider Dr. Mario superior to Tetris.

The bottom line is, I have two years here. My service is not going to be defined by these first few months here, so I need to continue to do what I need to do in order to stay healthy. No matter how much I want to be in Khossanto right now, I’m not doing any good if I am sick in my hut with a temperature of 102º (not that I’ve done that or anything).  These frustrations will pass in time.