Off to site

Tomorrow I finally I get installed in my site – after so much waiting its hard to believe that its finally here. I started the application process for the Peace Corps nearly 14 months ago and after months of waiting, interviews, waiting, medical appointments, waiting, and training I am now ready to go to site.
The last few weeks of training were an absolute whirlwind with so much going on in preparation for our departure. We had a two-day workshop with our site counterparts and supervisors which gave us an opportunity to meet people from our sites and have some expectations of what type of work I will be doing. I really liked both of my counterparts – one has worked with several Peace Corps volunteers in the past while the other never has. They both work for different development organizations in my site. One is a Senegalese government development agency and the other is a NGO that receives funding from the UN. Each organization conducts trainings and offers counseling for small businesses and entrepreneurs and I will assist them with these projects. It was great to meet with them and learn more about Nioro, but the whole experience felt like a really important blind date.
Last Friday we had our swearing-in ceremony at the US Ambassador’s residence in Dakar. The ceremony was essentially a graduation as representatives of both the US and Senegalese government gave speeches and we all received our formal invitations from our sites. In lieu of caps and gowns, all of the trainees wore traditional Senegalese clothing. The ceremony was also filmed on the national tv channel and a few people have already stopped me to tell me they saw me on the news. I guess I’m now kind of a big deal.
After swearing-in, I packed up all of my stuff from my house in Thies and took a station wagon taxi with two other volunteers from Thies to Kaolack. The car was overflowing with bags, medical supplies, water filters, a few small trees (one of the other volunteers bought them to bring to her site) and there were three bikes strapped to the roof.
I have spent the past week at a Peace Corps regional house in Kaolack exploring town, setting up a post office box, and buying even more things I will need for my site – a propane stove, a trunk, a fan, gifts for my new family and plenty of other small knick-knacks I will need for my house. From here, Peace Corps Officials take us one at a time to our sites to officially install us and drop us off with our families.
I am very excited to get to site tomorrow, but I think that Friday (my first full day at site) might be one of the longest days of my life. I hope you are all doing well – I miss you all.

Chris