Hit the Ground Running

I've had sand in my toes, dust blown in my face, been proposed to, inadvertently drank tap water to wash down pills for the parasites I've acquired from drinking tap water to begin with, killed mosquitoes, woken up to the call to prayer at 5 AM, and bargained for the price of a taxi ride.

I AM BACK!

It's realativly cold here at night and hot during the day. I am trying to set up a lot for me to do the first month just to help ease the transition back to the non-amenity lifestyle. The nicest parts of Senegal will never compare with the chic lifestyle of Parisians so I just have to accept that. It's a lot harder than it seems...

But, this week, I'm going to a meeting about a radio project that an NGO is about to launch. They want volunteers on the ground level to encourage people in the village to listen to it on a consistent basis. This weekend we have our Regional Strategy Meeting, which makes it seem like we are actually important...but that should be a good time to voice concerns and make progress on what the volunteers up North can accomplish during our two years in the village. Then at the end of the month, a volunteer in Podor is having a concert to benefit people living with AIDS. So I was going to go help out with that.

Then, next month is our All Volunteer Conference and at the end of February the new volunteers come!! I am going to help out with their training etc.

I can't believe that I have already been here for 10 months!!! Can you?

Thanks to everyone who sent me a Holiday card, they are all hanging up in my room! I miss you guys a lot, but I feel this is the right place for me to be at this stage in my life. Also, I'm not so sure I could land a job with the current economy back in the States...hehe.