One Week

I left last Tuesday and now it is Tuesday here, although it feels like much longer since I left.  Lots of ups and downs today.  

The ups:

-I had my French oral placement exam today and it went well, although I was pretty fast and loose with the grammar

-I went into town and bought detergent (in French)

-Did my laundry

The downs:

-I felt really tired and fuzzy-headed all morning

-I have a bunch of mosquito bites

-We had a health lecture and heard a horror story about malaria, and then I realized that I hadn't taken my malaria pill the previous day

-I thought I had malaria

I felt a lot better after lunch though.  I think my problem here is that we eat such a light breakfast that by lunch I am having hunger hallucinations. So no malaria yet.  No one is sick yet either-I think that happens more when we go to our host families.  The heat hasn't been that bad.  We stay out of the sun during the hottest part of the day, and then in the evening it is cool and breezy.  

As far as adjusting, I think that it will get more difficult once we get to our host family sites.  Even though we are adjusting to the new culture and learning new things every day, our training center is still very American-friendly.  So far I think the hardest things to adjust to will be:

-The trash.  It is everywhere here.  In Rosso, where we are, it is on the side of every road-there are no sanitation or garbage services.  Before I came here I thought a trash pick-up program would be a possibility, but I don't know where it would go and just picking it up is not a sustainable solution.  The worst part is that once I get to my site I have to dispose of trash in the same way, since there is no other option.  It goes against my entire college major/assignment/environmental ethic, so we'll see....

-The long skirts.  I thought they were cool at first but I am slowly realizing that for two years I will not be able to show my legs above my ankles.

-The slower pace.  Even in training the meals and sessions always start late, and I am afraid that I won't get anything done while I am here.

-The culture. I'm not sure what to say about this yet, but it seems like the obvious one.

Overall things are going well though.  We are still in the planning phase of so many of the things that are going to happen during training, so I am excited for them to actually begin (home-stay, language, etc.).