8/8/10

8/8/10
So, today I met my family for the next years. Initially, I was disappointed that I wasn’t staying with my homologue, who is AWESOME! He is so forward thinking, he actually said the words “men and women are equal.” I was upset, because my progam director had told me that I would have two rooms, a hangar and my own nyegen. I get to site and I only have one room, I don’t have a hangar and people were using my nyegen! I accidently went to my family’s nyegen and at the moment, I understood why they were using it: it was filled to the brim with worms!!!!!! I was really in a bad mood, so I decided I should take a nap before I talk to anyone.
After my nap, I did feel a lot better, because I was literally running off of no sleep from the night before and all of my transportation ran late all day. So, when I walked out of my room, some kids were playing cards, so I sat down and joined in. Then, I took a yalayala (walk) around the village and introduced myself to people sitting outside. I immediately noticed a lot of differences between my homestay and site. My site is more urban. A lot of the women speak French, meaning they are more educated. My host mom and dad work together at the Mayor’s office, and my host uncle is a pharmacist. Not everyone is a farmer! So, this is really good because I can actually have more in-depth, more interesting and diverse conversation. I’m so impressed already!