Richard Toll

I am currently on demystification up in the north of Senegal visiting a current volunteer to figure out what she does and if were up to the challenge these next two years. Its such a great experience. Ive read so much about what I am supposed to be doing here but anyone who knows about the Peace Corps knows that our job descriptions are pretty vague and its frustrating trying to figure everything out at times. Watching this volunteer work in her community and interact with them makes me believe in the Peace Corps as an agent for change and I am so happy to be a part of this!

Not that I only think positive thoughts because in this heat its hard to remain optmistic. I hate life most of the day. Yesterday however it rained and at night we sat on the rooftop looking across the Senegal River into Mauritania and talking and it was so amazing and relaxing. I almost forgot about the allergic reaction that my face has had to something that I cant identify and how horribly ugly I look at the moment. Almost.

Amusing/horribly embarrassing story of the week: last night for dinner we ate with a local family who cooked us this awesome meal called cheb? I dont actually know how to spell it. I was eating out of the family bowl and picked something up and ate it and immediately regretted that decision. It tasted like feet. I told the volunteer that I just ate something horrible and didnt know what it was. The host father then told me I had eaten a snail. Yep, they had thrown one in. Not only had I eaten a snail, I had eaten the one snail they had put in for the whole family by myself which meant that no one else got any. I felt so horribly embarrassed. We had a good laugh but it was definately at my expense.

More tales to come as I further embarrass myself.