last full weekend in Thies

Ok, a lot has happened and i dont really know where to start. Friday Night was pretty incredible. It was a regular evening until about 930. I was about to go to bed and i got a phone call from Bryn and she said I had to see something. At our bus stop in the street there were a ton of people preparing for the presidents visit. He came here yesterday for a political rally thing. In the street there were huge pots (easily over 100 of them) with fires underneath to cook rice and meat. Where did they get the meat to cook? We saw that too. They were slaughtering cows in the street too. It was very organised, they had a fenced in area where they were bringing the cows to kill and clean. They were probably working on 10-12 cows at a time. They had 100 cows in total. I obsereved one trying to fight for its freedom and I also saw him fall ito its deat at the mercy of 5 men. Watching the minutes after death and before stillness were the most difficult. I will spare you the details, there will be photos soon but they are graffic and will be well labled so you dont have to look if you don't want. It was very interesting but something that i dont ever have to see again.

Now to get into the politics of the whole event... all of this preparation for the president happend all night long. There was a water shortage in town because of it and there were periodic black outs. gas prices for the weekend also spiked just because the president came. Also 100 cow are not cheap. Who exactly paid for them and what they expect to get out of feeding tons of people I am not exactly sure. All i can say is that there is supposed to be an election in Feb. and maybe a meal can buy a vote. it is hard to see such poverty and then know one man had the means to feed practically an entire town.

Any ways yesterday after school we werent really supposed to go out in the town because the president was around which of course means all the criminals were out too(thats what the PC told us) It was probably true...wasnt so safe for us to be out plus we arent allowed to go to political rallys of any kind. we are neutral(just dont ask any of us how we fell about the current US administration). So yesterday I just took a nap, worked on some photos. I am sending a USB key to the parents so you can see what my life has been like for the past 7 weeks.

Last night we went out for dinner and a drink. We had the best food at this little hole in the wall place. It was a pretty early night. This morning I went to a baptism of sorts. the mom and dad are not married so it was very low key. It was a pretty strange morning. Now I am here waisting time before lunch. going out for a bday party of another trainee. Happy Birthday Kristal!