Today was just too fuckin' awesome!
I'm currently in Week 6 of Pre-Service Training (PST) and the days are long. I think everyone, including myself, is getting a little worn out by the lectures and just anxious about finding out our placement assignments.
So today was D-Day. I've been joking around all week with Frederick telling him to blink once if it was in the North or twice if in the south and east/west etc, lol. Or move my finger around the map of Sierra Leone and ask if I was getting hot or cold, lol. We wanna know!!!
All of our host families here in Bo have been pushing the Mende on us. Rightfully so......we're in the south....Mende-land, haha.
It was really special how they announced our placements. After a full day of lectures, all of our LCFs (Language Instructors) were waiting for us by the door and started singing one of the songs we learned when we first arrived in Freetown.
Yanda yanda yanda
Wi de go de
Wi na Pisko Ticha
Wi de go de
(Over there yonder, we will go there, we are Peace Corps Teachers, we will go there)
And as they sang, we joined in and danced through the compound where they led us to a map of Sierra Leone outlined by charcoal ash with pieces of paper of all the villages we're being sent to.
My stomach was in knots, I felt like I was on the Price Is Right waiting for my name to be called out by Andrew & Isatu, the program managers. Why am I never the first one called??? I'm always like the last dwindling few. I'm dying here tell me where I'm going!!!
They finally called my name! Drumroll please...........
I'm heading north to Lunsar in the Port Loko District and will be speaking Temne!
Finally! I know! I'm so excited! It actually didn't really matter where, I just wanted to know for knowings sake. So as they announced my name, I screamed like I won the lotto and ran to my place on the map where Michael picked me up (he's really tall) and spun me around, lol. We're site buddies! So awesome!
I'm also located by a bunch of other cool people. Our yoga guy is only 18miles away in the Port Loko District Headquarters......yes! Yoga! One of the guitar players is in our district so I can hear tunes if I get sad and need some live music and a handful of double punches (baggies of cheap booze). And there's a girl not too far in the Kambia District (1hr away) and she's having a friend send her the latest season on True Blood. Awesome!!! Everyone is good peeps here so it didn't matter who was located close to me.
Ibrahim was was all excited with our Northside posse. He's a Soso man and is already inviting us to go to his village and meet his family. We have one PC guy going to his village.
There's a group of strictly males being sent over to the East, close to the Liberian border. No females were sent b/c that area is the most dangerous part of the country and most affected by the war. That's where my cousin Joe is being sent to.
A handful of folks were placed within a 15mile radius from Bo so they won't be going that much further. The 44 of us are pretty scattered all over the country into community clusters where we get a support system of nearby PCVs.
Overall, I'm just happy to finally find out. I broke the news to my family, they all started laughing when I said I was heading north to Temne-land. The Mendes and Temnes are the 2 largest tribes in the country so they are competitive with one another. My family was happy for me but they said that they would miss me and already made me promise to come and visit whenever I can. My papa drives a poda-poda between Bo & Freetown everyday so he said I just have to make my way down to Macheke where he can pick me up on the way back home to Bo.
Auntie Marianne, Joe's mom, almost brokedown into tears when she found out that he will be headed far east. Luckily for her, he will be speaking Mende but, She was a bit upset b/c her Salone1 volunteer is only 1hr away.
You really become part of their families here in Salone. The pul-na-do, our adoption ceremony, was the real deal for them, we are their children. My papa attended the host family meeting today and got up and was all saying "How do I know where you are sending my daughter is a safe place?!?!" And then all of the parents started applauding, lol. It's endearing to see how serious they take this adoption.
I'm happy and excited. I can't wait to do the site visits which will be this Sunday and we stay with our Salone1 counterpart for 3 days.
First thing tomorrow morning, I start my Temne language lessons :D
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