Who is coming to visit me?

The following blog is being written after about three hours of sleep and because it has been so long since my last update is extremely random. Be patient...I miss you all.


So life in Mbour is almost at a close. My host family has been nothing short of amazing, but at the same time I'm extremely excited about getting the heck out of the North and getting to work in Kolda. Whereas Mbour is 200,000 and a fairly big tourism draw, my village in Kolda is approx 250 people. Whereas Mbour is nothing but sand, cars, and what seems like a million Wolofs, Kolda is all about clay soil, rice farrows, forests, and monkeys. Anyone who calls me might be subjected to more Kolda-awesomeness....so be warned.

Personal notes. I'm extremely happy in general thus far with my training with the PC in Senegal. Training is training, however. The sessions end up running a lot like certain classes at UR. But at the same time I'm learning a lot of about how Senegalese people go about things like meetings and trainings in general. Language training went from being a really miserable experience that I would dread each day to something I have started to really look forward to. My increased interest in Pulaar has definitely translated to better results. I went from Novice Mid on my first language test (terrible, and definitely at risk of not swearing in on time) to Intermediate Low on the second test, and a virtual lock, Incha Allah, for reaching Intermediate Mid and swearing in after the third and last test. Totally unreleated note, I've lost 25 lbs to date, and am growing a beard. The projection is to be down another 25 lbs by IST which will be in early January. At which time I will probably shave.


Random story/observation time.

Gatorade drink mix is absolutely incredible.

I paid an 11 year old to drive myself and some friends across a four lane highway with a horsecart. The total cost for 7 people to travel roughly 3.5 miles was a whopping $1.20

I dipped into my personal money for the first time to buy fencing for my own garden in Kolda. It wasn't cheap but I worked out a deal with my counterpart whereby I'm basically renting the land for the cost of the fencing. Since field crops extension work won't really be kicked off until the next rainy season which is 8 months away, I should have a good deal of time to work on my Pulaar and work in my garden.

I'm thinking about extending if I make it a full 24 months down in Kolda. If I extend it would be to work in Dakar for an additional 6 months with someone in the PC main office.

My compound was semi flooded with human waste about 4-5 days ago. It is an epic story and extraordinarly worth of a man blog, I simply don't have the space, and most of you won't have the stomachs to read it. Call me, and i'll promise to make you laugh or gag.

Lastly, cause i'm running out of juice. There are things I might have complained about in Amuuurika that I will not EVER complain about for the next decade.

Love you all.