Fulakunda!

Mbad-daa!

Today was so exciting!! We all received our site regions and the languages we'll be learning for the next two years! And guess what... my village speaks Fulakunda! Haha! So cool. A little background info...Fulakunda is a form of Pulaar. Pulaar is the second most popular language spoken besides Wolof and it has many different subtle forms depending on the region of the country. If you know a little Wolof and a little French, getting around in the country is very easy and pretty much everyone can understand you unless you're in a rural setting where villagers don't have formal language training. Some of the volunteers got lucky and are staying in a region where they'll continue to speak Wolof.

Here's the basic Fulakunda we learned today:

Hello: Musa mbad-daa!
How are you doing?: Tanaa alaa?
I'm fine: Jam tan.
What's your name?: Hono mbiete-daa?
My name is Chelsea.: Ko Chelsea mbiete mi.

Whew! yep. Its difficult. Theres actually about 10 letters in the alphabet that are crazy and weird looking and have a whole different sound! This may take a while to learn.

Anyways, for my fixed site area (meaning where I'll be for the two years after pre-service training) will be in the southeastern most region! This region of the country is really rain foresty, lush and green!! Its also considered a little less conservative area, so they're cool with women wearing tank tops and whatnot. I'm pretty excited about this, because the rest of the country is very much desert and hotter than the southeast. Also, there's about 10 other really great volunteers who are going to this region with me. yayyy!!

Starting tomorrow and for the next three months (pre-service training) we have a practice homestay with a practice host family who will also speak Fulakunda. Greatest thing of all? They're in Mbour, south of Dakar, right on the beach!!!!! You read right, I'll be on the beach for my pre-service training until May. Waaaaaahooooo!
I heard from my grandparents today, it was so sweet of them to call!
Erica, I'm sorry I missed you babe, but please skype me soon!

Anyhow, I'm sure I'll have a lot more to write about once I've stayed with my pre-service host family, just wanted to inform you all of my new locations! I will be there for a week at first before taking a break and coming back to the peace corps center in Thies, so its goodbye until then!

peace,
Chelsea