St. Louis

I had such a great weekend! School on Friday was fine and the party afterward was great. We stayed at the center for dinner. we ate fried chicken and french fries...yummy. We always eat a ton of chicken when we can because we dont have it often and we wont be eating it in the villages. After dinner, We had a talent show that both trainees and trainers preformed in. Some of the skits were really funny. We had some singers and dancers too. I didnt do anything. After we had another little dance party then I went out with a bunch of people in town. Saturday was really busy at school. I had a test on tree species here...got 100. I also got the results of last weeks assesment. I am doing well.

Saturday afternoon We headed up to St Louis. We went to the "gare" in thies an got into a "sept place" a station waggon that seats you guessed it 7 people not very comfortably. It took about 3 hours to get up there. It was hot. we sat in the way back where there are no roll down windows. the people in the middle can roll down their windows but most of the time they dont choose to do so. It is basically an oven. i have heard that they dont rool down too many windows because it lets in bad spirits. there is still a little bit of animisim mixed into culture here.

Anyway we made it there safely and met up with some volunteers. The have a flat that is about a block away from the ocean. it was unbelieveable. It is a third floor open air flat that gets a great breeze off the water and you can see forever over the atlantic. just so great. We didnt do a whole lot sat night, went out to eat, hung out and walked around the beach for a bit.

Today we got up lateish and made breakfast, eggs with onions on yummy bagette bread. Then we travelled about 4k south of st loius to a beach. well really it was this hotel that has a pool and is right on the beach. it is a very touristy place where lots of europeans vacation. it is still a little early for europeans to be coming down here (still really hot) so the place was really quiet. We could use the pool and the beach access if we bought lunch there. So for 2100cfa i ate, swam in both a pool and the ocean and i got to take a real shower. It was definitely a great afternoon!

We made it back to thies in another sept place which was equally as uncomfortable and hot as the first but this time we made it in 2.5 hours. well now it is time for me to go home(it is weird to use that word). I havent seen my host family in a couple of days. I hope all is well! oh, stop sending stuff to my thies address. I probably wont get it if you send anything from now on. It has been taking 3 weeks for me to get anything from the states and i only have 2 weeks left. I will let you know when i get my new address! thanks!