I apply to GCY without overthinking, it was a very spontaneous decision that I took. It took e time to start processing the fact that soon I was going to be leaving Uruguay and start a new life in Senegal. Once the process started the questions started to arrive
Am I prepared?
Do I really want this?
and by far the question that scared me the most: How am I going to communicate with them? As I do not spake any of the languages spoken in Senegal
Eventually the day I was traveling to Senegal arrived, and the language classes started. It was very fun at the beginning as I also knew that I was in a very safe environment where I could always spake english, but not the date to go to my town was arriving, and I still knew little to no wolof at all…. Just a simple “Hi”
Once with my host family, the adventure of language started. I really did not suffer at all. All the negative and conflictive thoughts I was having in my mind where gone. For me the fact of not being able to speak the same language the first weeks, made it very fun. There was a lot of hand and body movement to describe things, and it was like playing knock it out with mimi.
Eventually I got to the conclusion the language and communications are not synonyms, they are not the same thing. I was able to communicate with my family since day one, may be not in Wolof, or English or Spanish… But i had my hands, my body and a lot of imagination. Language is something that facilitates communications but it is not the only factor.
The day I realise that, I was able to learn more and more very day, being able to learn more of language and my family.
