I'm sorry to say that I'm leaving Senegal and going back home tomorrow, for medical reasons. Nothing really bad, and I'll be fine.

That was quick

Well, I'm afraid I'll have to leave Senegal. My acid reflux came back, probably due to a combination of the anti-malaria medication, diet, and stress. I first had acid reflux a decade and a half ago, and I've learned how to eliminate it with diet etc., so I'm completely confident that the symptoms will go away once I get back. In the past I went down the Nexium route, and vowed “never again;” the right thing for me to do is to go home now, before the symptoms get bad.

It's all good. Indeed, I'm very glad that I figured this out well before site selection, when trainees are assigned the sites where they will serve. Since I caught it early, I'm not disappointing a community that was expecting me to come.

So, a big THANK YOU to the Peace Corps, everyone at training, and to my training host family, Matar, Mattie and their kids Chex and Fary. Sorry it didn't work out.

I'm not exactly sure what I'll do next, but I like the idea of learning more about organic gardening. I'll probably do some traveling and bicycling, too. I might try WWOFing (where you volunteer six hours a day at an organic farm); many of my fellow trainees had done that. Anyway, we'll see - I'm looking forward to figuring it out!