My Site

So I have been at my site for almost three weeks now--I can't even believe it. It has actually been pretty stressful trying to get my house in order--they weren't quite ready for me. But I stayed through it, so I think I will stay a bit longer now that I am making it more of a home. My set-up is pretty similar to that of training, with my own house but on a compound with a family. The family is pretty nice, but it would be nice to have a little bit of space sometimes. I just need to establish my routine and set some boundaries, and I think it will be better. But I have been able to meet a lot of people in the area, and I really like the community. They are very hospitable, perhaps too much so. Whenever I go anywhere, people offer me food, so I feel like I eat the same meal three times in a row, so I am definitely not wasting away. But it was the day after having three different homemade drinks and two meals from different families that I got the worst diarrheal episode ever in my life. But it lasted only a day, so that was good. I also went to meet the chief of my area with another volunteer, which was also quite the experience. We asked around as to what sort of gift is traditionally given, and we ended up bringing a chicken, which my friend had to transport on her bike, but she had it in a cage so it was not harmed in the process...Anyway, it took a total of about 6 hours of waiting over the course of two days (and we even had an appointment!) for us to finally see him. But he is a pretty neat guy and seems excited to have us here. He wants us to come back to visit in the next month or two, but I don't know if I want to wait another 6 hours...We'll work it out...Anyway, back to my site. It is BEAUTIFUL. There are rolling hills surrounding it and it is all forested. I am also close to the paved road, which is very nice. Except there are anthills that have grown too close to the electric wires, so they have decided the best solution for this is to blow them up with dynamite, so I have been avoiding the road for the most part. I guess there have been no major problems...Anyway, more later...