Just the other day I went to visit the "city" that I'm going to be living in for the next 2 years, and it is SOOO nice! i'm super excited to move there!!! The village is called Sokone, and it's about 35K north of The Gambia... There are about 17,000 people in sokone, so it's not overwhelming at all. There are donkeys and pigs within sight at all time in sokone, and there are some really lovely mangroves and a beautiful delta (we went swimming in it almost every day... which was AMAZING considering that it was about 120 degrees!!!) Seriously, after our 10 days just spent in sokone, i can totally understand why things are hard to get accomplished in Senegal- it is simply WAY too hot!!! From 12-5 at least, the only thing that you can do is sit outside under a tree (it's super stuffy inside the rooms- and the shade of the tree actually does make a MAJOR difference in how you feel).
The volunteer that I am taking over for in sokone has a really lovely garden, and I'm super excited to get involved there....one of the gardener's that I will be working with has an absolutely beautiful smile that lights up the room... i'm really excited to work with him... his name is Sabaly, and apparently he is well respected in Sokone.
I am actually going to be having my own apartment in Sokone, it's detached from the family's house, but only by about 10 feet, so it's semi- private. I have my own bedroom, living room/kithchen and bathroom (but apparently the bathroom is prone to get huge cockroaches at night- yikes!) My apartment has electricity, but no running water, so i have to get water from the faucet outside of my house, and i'll be taking bucket baths every day (I'm lucky that I don't have to pull water from the well!!!)