I’m not quite sure how to summarize everything that has occurred over the past couple of days, so I think I will just write some fleeting observations and first impressions of my new life as a full fledged Peace Corps Volunteer in Kedougou.

The ride down here is long, dusty and dirty.  I will never take the air-conditioned Peace Corps cars for granted ever again…

The Peace Corps Regional House in Kedougou is getting electricity.  Next step wifi?

My new home is pretty sweet.  I have two huts, once for sleeping the other for opening Senegal’s first Starbucks franchise.  Details to be hashed out at a later date…

My new family is awesome.  They don’t call me “toubab” instead they refer to me as “the new volunteer”.

We have a pet monkey.  He hangs out in a tree by my window.   

My monthly living allowance is less than 250 USD.

My new name is “Rokhaya”.  I really like my new name.  It is a somewhat unique name, which I appreciate in a country where it seems like the same 40 names are used over and over again.

I have been really sick for the past couple of days.  But making myself chicken noodle soup with chicken bullion cubes from a care package was a big boost to my moral.

I bought a fan.  It changed everything. Enough said.