February was my birthday party (in village with PCV friends and local ones) and the present to myself was going to Dakar, Senegal to see the beach. As you can see from the first photo I had quite an experience--I first fell and scratched my knees on these weird cement blocks called the sidewalk (hadn't seen any of those in months lol!), had amoebas (severe illness with frequent diarrhea) and then dislocated my knee and was carried off the beach in the pictured stretcher. However, my knees have since recovered, I received medication and have since felt my regular self and my wonderful site mate Elyse helped to put my knee back in place :) Plus, I just made it a paid, extended vacation in the PC Senegal Med unit for an extra week and instead of having to take the 36 hr. overnight-on-the-side-of-the-border I received a lovely 1 hr. flight back to Bamako on Ethiopian airlines (with a lovely breakfast served before landing).
Before March ended we had a third training, however, this time it was in our regional capital of Sikasso. There were small project ideas discussed, meetings for our counterparts to learn more about PC's mission and we met partners within our region.
Started out April visiting my family in Pittsburgh and celebrated my sister receiving her degree in Hotel and Resort Management from Le Cordon Bleu (pictured above). Spent the month eating the best food with some of my favorite people! Too much food and people and not enough time :) But, I enjoyed it immensely! Especially, going back to Bethany College and WHS to speak with students about my time as a volunteer so far (picture taken by Mrs. Fauber below).
