Alys In Africa

Christmas in Senegal. For the most part I held myself together... and had a pretty good time. I, along with a few new friends, rented a hous...

Moving to Africa was like breaking up with a boyfriend. Let me explain. When I first applied to PC I wanted to change my life, do somethin...

Habits I think I'm going to pick up by default: 1) Shaking everyone's hand when I walk into a room. 2) Getting annoyed when someon...

Sister, I have an office in the mayor's building, which is really like a city hall. I share my office with the person whose rank, direc...

I decided to personalize my room finally. Granted I had realized that since Christine visiting was for Thanksgiving we'd have to share m...

I have seriously lucked out. I've spent a week on a very pleasant vacation of sorts. In my continued attempt to be a decent volunteer I ...

What I hate about living in a new house is that period where you know each other, but don't know everything that is kosher. When is a go...

Krystal, I honestly go back and forth between enjoying it here and not. The PC recruitment phrase is "the toughest job you'll ever...

My internet is still not working in my new house. I am basically used to having limited internet access for the past few weeks. But then my ...

My second whole day seemed almost less productive than the first, though that's not possible. I woke up early and had breakfast with my ...

Today is my first full day on my own schedule, at my site, as a volunteer. My successes for the day are reviewing my African finances (ana...

Installing was simultaneously uneventful and tiring. I haven't used French in a week, which didn't help. We started by parading Chri...

After leaving Mboro for the last time as a trainee, we began the formal end of training celebrations. For starters, we each invited one memb...

The anxiety of staging is over. I passed French with intermediate high, one step above where I needed to be (and already was) for PC, but al...

Going to mass has been quite the experience on occasion. The Catholic Church is the only one in town and we only have time to go on Saturday...

Sister, I found out that I'll be in the same town I'm in now, Mboro, for the next two years. The town is nice and I will likely hav...

Small talk is exactly the opposite from the US... with the exception of the weather. In the US it is appropriate to talk about things as the...

A typical day starts when my alarm goes off at 7a and I ignore it for as long as possible. I'm already sweating. I make a dive for the b...

Everywhere is hot. But it's hotter elsewhere. When I'm casually talking to a Senegalese person in town, and I happen to mention wh...

If I use my left hand I am controlled by Satin... according to Senegalese culture and religion. The simple task of not using this hand for a...