Alright.  Blog time.
So, I've definately adjusted more. It still bummed me out to leave my family to come back to the center, but its less frustrating to be here.  I finally got the package my dad mailed a month ago, and have had three letters in the past two days!! Soooo lucky :)

Letters are so wonderful, its hard to explain.  Even though things are good here, it sometimes still feels like my whole life back home is cut off... which isn't a great feeling. But also, I know its not really true at all, so... thats all fine. Point is, *hint hint* I love getting mail!

So, what can I add about my experience?  We're currently in the middle of the Easter holiday here. Even though most every one is Muslim, the holiday break is like, 2 weeks long.  Which means, I just gained two brothers and a sister!! Two of them are closer to my age, and they've both been great with helping me learn wolof.  My sister is really great at being patient with me, and speaking clearly and in simple words so we can have actually conversations.  Plus she crochets!! Its a big thing here, apparently.  Mom-- still working on your shawl here, and she actually did part of a row.  Figured you wouldn't mind.  It was a great bonding experience.  Closest to my age is my brother Medoun, who also speaks the most English of ayone in my family. He's also really sweet and patient with me.  He's the first one in my family to point out that even though their previous volunteer speaks Wolof better than me now, he did once struggle just as much as I am.  They will both go back to college at the end of the weekend, which is a bummer, but I'm glad to have met them.

In meta-news, this experience has been a huge afirmation of faith.  Heres an example:  I love me training site and and family.  But in about a month, I'll be placed in a new community with a new family.  Which can seem a little scary. And every time I chewed on that fear/anxiety for even a moment I was struck with such a powerful sense that it was all fine, that it was even going to just get better, that... there is no fear left.  And like I said, thats just an example.  Its really beautiful seeing old patterns come up about different things.  Noticing what's happening there, juding, realizing I'm juding, letting go, seeing the pattern loose its power, and just noticing.  Yeah, so I had been feeling kind of exhausted and fuzzy, but just kept up with my meditation, closed and open eyed, and sometimes it still is exhausted and fuzzy.  But something clicked last sunday.  We finally had a day off, and I think I gave myself permission to rest more than I had.  I just felt my awareness expand as I sank back into exactly what was happening.  ... This is hard to put into to words, obviously.  The point is, that permission to rest that I had been holding back from myself has extended into my daily activities here, just as it had back home. And that's been a huge blessing. Again, to just feel comfortable and assured that everything is perfect, and I can rest, because God is in charge of everything and God is good.  Thats a big paragraph to say something so simple!!

Okay.  Also, I've been bonding more with some fellow volunteers and just having a good time being alive.

'Nuf for tonight.

LOVE LOVE LOVE coming back to all of you back home. And thanks for all the love you're all sending.  I'm gettin' it :)


PS forgive the spelling errors.  Apparently this is in French and I'm just not fixing that right now.....
Also, soon I'll post more about what I'm actually learning about what my job will be for the next two months.  Cause its really exciting!!