Pictures

i've been at IST for the past two weeks so i've been in thies gaining back all the weight i lost in village. food is delicious and abundant here. i've been eating: salads, pasta, ramen, lots of chicken, paninis, and other various items. We were all so happy to see each other again yet unaccustomed to spending so much time with other american people so we all started to go a little bit crazy. this coming week i will be working at an embassy sponsored english camp. i'm looking forward to teaching english and working with motivated young people.

here are some pictures from july fourth in beautiful kedegou:

this is a really cute animal we made friends with at the campement we stayed at

look at how beautiful kedegou is:

this is the room we stayed in! cute hut + air conditioning

mika in all of his america gear

they put these goats in bags and then tied them to the roof of our car

i owe you guys a post

this was the goat that mysteriously appeared in my backyard. that's when i found out there was a wedding the next day.

i don't know why the rest of this is a link and i lost interest in finding out about five minutes ago.

a lot has happened since the last time i posted. i wish i had written a blog on each event.
here is a list:

1. vaccinated two hundred children door to door.

2. scrubbed the hospital sitting area alone while a group of three men looked on and commented. i asked one of them what he did for work and he said he played football and trained twice a day. that was his "job".

3. made a pepinere alone. while children harassed me. went door to door asking for people's manure.

4. traveled to tamba and kedegou where i spent the fourth of july in an air conditioned hotel room on a river. i had roasted pig! pork for the first time since march.

5. suffered a tonsil infection from the stupid fishbone incident hampering my partying ability. my tonsils were covered in white gunk and touching each other.

6. the wedding that happened seems so long ago. i didn't get any good pictures. weddings here are not like in america. there is not formal ceremony that is visible to the public. that all happens a the mosque. here there is just dancing and eating. i wish i had gotten a picture of the bride with her amazing make up and outfit.

7. funeral today. yesterday my grandma here died. she didn't live with us so i didn't know her too well. but its been somber around the house since its my mom's mom. yesterday we went to the house to sit. today i went again to sit. all the women sit at the house all day. the men gathered outside, took the body (at that point women started crying and making noises), went to the cemetery to bury her. only men are allowed at cemeteries here, i don't know why. then the imam talked for one seemed like a hours but only b/c i was crammed on a mat with 40 other women and my legs fell asleep. then people came by and threw money on a mat and i left. later i realized they had borrowed my shovels to dig the grave when they were returned covered in mud. spent the rest of day the in my hammock since my family was out of the house. very nice indeed.

8. giardia naming contest winner: wingiardiam leviplopsa. i think this is all kinds of awesome. i love harry potter, duh. will "anonymous" please come forward to claim your prize.





this is my compound. my room is to the right through that door.