Orientation

Hello again!

We spent our first three days in Senegal doing an in-country orientation with the RELO (Regional English Language Officer), Eran and his assistant Safi, at the US Embassy. We were 10 people total to partake in this orientation. 8 ETAs and 2 ELFs (English Language Fellows), one of which is actually going to Guinea Bissau, but since the US Government has no representatives there (no embassy or even Peace Corps), he is doing his orientation here with us before he goes down there. Eran (the RELO) met us at the hotel as we were having breakfast and took us all to the embassy in a van. Once we got there, he explained to the guards what we were doing there and we had to check any electronics at the gate, not to get them back until our departure. They even confiscate USB keys! One of the ETAs took a picture of the Embassy sign on the outside of the building as we were walking up, but they made her delete it.

Ambassador Zumwalt welcomes us to Senegal

Day 1 included being welcomed by Ambassador Zumwalt, being given an overview of the Senegalese education system, and having the Access program explained to us. We needed that explanation right away because the afternoon was spent in the field teaching a 2-hour access session at a local high school. The English Access Microscholarship Program is a program that funds 2 years of intensive after-school English classes for underprivileged youth. Students apply for the program and are in it for 2 years, at the end of which they are given a special certificate by the US Embassy. We spent the lunch hours preparing what we were going to do with the 16 students in the program at Yoff High School.

We had fun with them, having them do ice breakers, talking about the different parts of the US we were all from and having them choose where they’d want to go if they could go to the US with some of us. I’m sure it was a bit overwhelming for them because there were 10 of us, plus Eran, Safi, and their teacher, so there were almost as many teachers as students, and it was their first day back from summer holidays! They did fairly well though!

The school is right at the beach, so we stopped there for a few minutes before we headed back to the hotel at the end of the day. On our way back to the hotel we stopped quickly to have our picture taken on/hanging off of a Kar Rapide, which are fairly decrepit, albeit colorfully decorated, little vans with no safety features (such as brakes, for example) that are usually brimming with locals and which can get you from one place to another (the embassy advises us not to use them…) at a very cheap price.

Day 2 was all day at the US Embassy, learning about Senegalese culture from various presenters. For lunch we had a traditional Senegalese dish, which we ate in the traditional style, meaning that we were all seated on the floor around a large dish that we all ate out of together, and with our hands (but not the left hand, sorry lefties!). The rice and fish dish, called thiéboudienne, is the most well-known traditional Senegalese dish. It was very good, but it was hard to get used to eating with your hands without spilling all over the place! The afternoon we had representatives from the teacher training college where I’ll be teaching (FASTEF) and the ministry of education, so they could give us a more in depth understanding of what it takes to become a teacher in Senegal. We finished the day with security and health briefings from embassy staff.

That evening we decided to go fancy for dinner and went to the King Fahd Palace Hotel next to the embassy. It wasn’t as expensive as we were thinking it would be and my maffé (another traditional Senegalese dish) was amazing! We had ended up there because another of the ETAs had a friend who was going there for the live music their night club had going that night, so we went there afterwards to enjoy, especially the drummer who is apparently really well known. We had to be back at the embassy at 9am the next morning, so we didn’t make it too late of a night.

Day 3 was a Friday, so a half day for the Embassy employees (therefore for us as well). The morning was dedicated to learning about public diplomacy at the embassy, so we heard from the Public Affairs Officer (PAO), the Cultural Affairs Officer(CAO), the Information Resources Officer (IRO) and a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV). They spoke to us about the different US-funded programs and exchanges here in Senegal such as the YALI program (which I worked with in Delaware), Fulbright, and American Spaces. I was very interested in all of this because I will probably be working closely with all of these programs during my time in Dakar. We had lunch at the embassy restaurant and then the van dropped us off at Orange, the cell phone carrier where we would get our phones. It was a bit crowded, so I decided to wait until the next day to get my phone. Those who would be leaving Dakar the next morning had priority.

PAO Reception

The few of us who decided to wait walked the short distance back to the hotel to hang out until the van picked us up again at 4:30 for an evening reception at Bob Post’s house (he’s the PAO). The reception was for us to meet people from the English teaching community in Senegal. My counterpart from FASTEF (the teacher with whom I coordinate), Mr. Boye, was there along with other English teachers and facilitators. We had a nice evening chatting and meeting everyone. Most of the people there I will be working with again, so it was nice to get introductions in an informal setting.

And that was the end of orientation. Tomorrow morning everyone goes to their respective cities and I will move to my host family’s place. Eran (the RELO) let me know that there is a conference starting on Wednesday for Access program teachers (remember the class we taught on day 1, that’s an Access class) in another city and he’d like me to be there to help, so I’m apparently going out of town on Wednesday to Saly, a nice seaside town about an hour south of Dakar. Mr. Boye later told me that I am actually supposed to give a presentation on Thursday and that they’d let me know the topic soon.

… And we’re off!!!