I have been practicing this stress-free lifestyle here in Ziguinchor (south-west). 3 friends and myself came down on the boat from Dakar, taking about 14 hours, overnight. The boat was amazing! We had our own beds with pillows and blankets. There was a little bar with ham sandwiches and music. After an 8-hour night of sleep (thanks to a bit of dramaine - which really was not necessary since it was smooth sailing) we woke up and had some oranges and apples for breakfast and watched dolphins playing in the water! I didn't really believe Erin at first when she said she saw them since we were already pretty far in the river, but sure enough! There was probably a dozen feeding; small black dolphins. On the way out today I hope to get some pictures of them!
When we got here to Zig, we found our hostel and were not satisfied! It was a crappy room, ripped mosquito nets and the water was out all afternoon. So we upgraded. Right across the street, for 8,000 ($16) more a night, we have wifi, a pool, hot water showers... it's wonderful! Should have brought my cord to plug in my camera, but pictures will be coming soon. Zig, being close to the ocean, has incredible and cheap seafood. We went to get half a kilo uncooked shrimp yesterday for just over a dollar. They we had them cooked and seasoned for a dollar. Can't go wrong with that! The sunsets have been beautiful and the weather wonderful. Not really looking forward to getting back to site tomorrow...
But I have a few ideas on what to do when I get back. I need to talk to my family (about the dog). I need to organized a meeting to hand out garbage cans on the 12th. I need to run to Dakar and pick up those garbage cans on the 8th. And the organizing part will take most of the week, because I have lots of invites to hand out. I will be preparing quite the meeting, hopefully motivating, but also giving my neighborhood once last chance to get working. I am just not satisfied with the speed of this project and they need to know that. I will explain to everyone my role, since they call me their patrone - or boss. Nope, I'm a little ol' volunteer who wants to teach but can't do it all! That's when I start to break down and cry! I have asked seaonsed veterans, aka, volunteers who have already gone home, and advice has been to completely abandon the project. It's not sustainable if I am doing all the work. So I have some backup plans: going to a village to see about a bio-digestor (when I know all about it, I'll let you know), teaching English once a week at the high school, more work in Ndem, preparing,for planting a pepinere (tree nursery) in my back yard before the rains start.
So I will be busy. Which will be good. I hope to be spending most of January at site so hopefully less travel all over the place will also be a plus. I otherwise will run completely out of money: who knew Christmas, New Years, 4 weekends of softball in Dakar, WAIST and my birthday could all fit into a 3-month volunteer's pay period. Should be interesting the end of February!
Miss you all! Hope you all have attainable new year's resolutions! And even though this is my last 10 months of service, don't forget about me! Send cards and pictures otherwise I may just as well forget about you! ;-)
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