The American mission

10,000 CFA/night and I have me an apartment all to myself. Hmmm.

Rigged with a giant freezer, a huge fridge, 4 burner stove, microwave . . . microwave?!?, fully loaded rest of the kitchen, couch, TV, movies, games, books . . . wireless . . . man oh man. AC in the master bedroom. (there are 3 rooms here, with a total of I think 8 beds . . .). I am one man. hmm. I'll keep this in mind if ever my friends decide to visit me in Dakar . . . (you're all welcome. There's the 20 - 27 of October, for instance, when my sister plans on coming. Any one of you is welcome . . .

I've come home to Canada. Except, I'm smack in the middle of Dakar.

Oh, and how could I forget!?!: coffee maker, coffee, and the filters . . . ha ha ha. Jeez. I'm going to wake up pretty happy tomorrow morning.

For 20 USD a night.
Man.
I guess I'm not complaining.
. . .

Wireless. I can't get over that. I'm sitting in the kitchen, listening to Collective Soul playing on my computer.
. . .
Work has taken on so many unique dimensions. For better or for worse. In the sense of showing what I prefer or what I can handle.

I have 11 weeks left in Senegal. Already now, I'm telling you, this second half will go by much, much faster than the first 12 weeks, and especially much faster than the first 6. Mind you, the past 7 weeks, all in all, have flown by. I'm not sure how I'm going to get doing what I want to get done in only 11 weeks. There's a lot of ground to cover, but it's actually exciting because I can finally say that for the most part I at least know what I want to be doing. Whether I do it well or not is another matter, but it's less about that now and more about simply working at something, to become better at something. To learn.

By weeks, it looks like the follow:
Silane (village)
Dakar (week long conference)
Fatick (1 week of planning to make sure the next 8 happen well)
Two villages of other organizations - 2 weeks. Studying 'les Conventions Locales'
Fatick (1 week to plan the workshops)
Joal Fadiouth and the happy arrival of my sister . . . yaaaaa! Party time!
Village level workshops - 4 weeks
That's 11.
That's it.
I have 11 weeks left, and only 7 weeks left in the villages . . . hmmm.
. . .

Crystal posted that I forgot about the happy 2 hour discussion I had with her and John during my vacation. This would be true. It was a great conversation. I am glad for it.
. . .
What would be my goals for the next 11 weeks?
To not hold myself back much longer. I don't want too much more to regret.
I'm glad to be learning though, to be moving beyond my concerns.
It helps being more often in the city and more clear about what I'm doing with my work.
. . .
So, I'm not sure what to write, actually, at the moment.
. . . Stories from my vacation . . .

Anna and I 'dropped' our bikes once. We were going along just fine in the dark with 2 metres of illumination in front of us. So what that we couldn't see a darn thing. And then, whoops, down I went. The road was one level; the gravel pathway another. As much as I could totally see what was in front of me . . . (you had to be there).
So, down I went, and I'm thinking, 'Get up!!! You're gonna get run over. Plus you're spilling gas everywhere. My precious gasoline. I paid $1.20 for that! So, scrambling up I went. And over to the side in order to avoid getting smacked by Anna or by a car behind us. But Anna had gone over right after me too. So, whatever. And there weren't any cars, just my adreline pumping and myself laughing because the whole thing just brought back memories of 5 years ago in Florida . . . ah, once a dropper, always one, I guess!
. . .

Well, my friend William is arriving in a short few. It's funny. He and I are gonna have a fun time tonight (even though it's already 11:30!)
. . .
I'm out (listening to "Counting the Days" by Collective Soul)
. . .

Oh, and by the way:
Jolene: I've got your souvenir.
Crystal: your too
John: working on it although you and I have already talked a bit about things . . . smoke a little, you know . . . ha ha ha
Jozina: you'll get yours when you arrive.
Micah, Jordan, and the rest of the fam, I have ideas in mind.
The rest of you, I'm still trying to sort out. There's lots to go around. I'm just going to have to figure out how to bring it all home.