Nanga def?

      The dominant sport here is soccer, well...futball. Many Americans have heard about lamb wrestling from Senegal (which I will get to later) but futball is king.  Arriving in Senegal the first things noticed were the people everywhere not necessarily doing anything in particular, the goats walking around freely, and the tons of people playing futball.  There were many fields along the highway; made of dirt and utilizing buried tires as boundaries. The biggest structure I saw was their futball stadium. It was something you would expect to see in the US. The PCVL (Peace Corps Volunteer Leader) in my van told us that futball games are huge events here and they also use the stadium occasionally for lamb wrestling tournaments. I fell asleep after that so the next thing I knew we were pulled over on the side of the highway with our driver taking a knee in the bushes while we waited for the other Peace Corps vans. We soon pulled into Theis and arrived at our compound. We are on lockdown until we get our safety and security briefing tomorrow. Many of us are getting stir crazy but I'm sure it would be worse if everyone here weren't incredible. Monday we are free! (Almost). We will go explore a little bit and try our hands at bargaining in Wolof. 

        Personally I am doing great. Sleeping has been a little hard because of asthma and trying to adjust to the new allergens. My immune system must hate me right now but I have not gotten too much grief for the abuse. The food is great! A lot of rice cooked with oil is typical. Meat is available for lunch and dinner. There is bread, salad, and coffee all the time. None if this will last for long.  When we get to our CBT (Community Based Training, with a nearby family to learn the language) there will not be so many options. The WAY we eat, which I actually love, is crouching around one large bowl and everyone eating with a spoon. At our sites this will be pretty typical, just without the spoon. There are countless more things I could say about this culture, it's nuances, and why I love it but the power and wifi might go out by then. I will get this post through while I can. 

    Pictures to come soon!

Good luck Stonehill XC at CodFish Bowl, do great!

       All is well,

                     -Tim