A Desk Sounds Good

Avoiding a desk job right out of college was one of the myriad reasons I joined Peace Corps, but a 9-5 with a schedule and deadlines sounds oh so good right now. I feel like I'm in a weird limbo period. Now that school is over I don't have Junior Achievement, which previously took up a lot of my time and Dioss is very busy striking an impending and incredibly cool deal (more on this when it's confirmed) and is in Dakar all the time. People are already starting to talk about Ramadan, it's hot and humid, and I'm spinning my wheels coming up with new projects.

This lead me to the unthinkable today: I went to see Diof. Yesterday my big accomplishments were reading the entirety of To Kill a Mockingbird, going to the post office, and watching the Lion King with Ahmed. I felt like spicing things up today. Especially after Dioss called to tell me that he had to stay in Dakar again today so we couldn't meet. As soon as Dioss comes back we will embark on what could and will hopefully be a big, time consuming, and awesome project, but for now I'm playing Simba and Scar. So, I went to see Diof. I had already gone to the post office and chatted with my friends there (shout out to Shirley for another letter! Thank you!), gone to the grocery store, and strolled through the market when I realized that Diof's office was in my path home. Usually this would mean I would run past the intersection in an attempt to avoid Diof, but in my boredom I decided he might be up to something interesting.

I stopped going to see Diof during the winter because he wants me to be his office bitch. He would love it if I would come in every day and fix his computer, type up his notes, and accompany him around town, but that is not why I joined Peace Corps... even if it did seem almost tempting today. When I blurted out I was looking for a project he was only too happy to suggest that I travel with him to surrounding villages, but that's not what I want. I don't want to hang out with Diof and I don't want to leave Thies, as I am the Thies volunteer. I attempted to explain to him the type of project I'm looking for and we are meeting again on Thursday so we'll see what happens.

This afternoon I gave my room a thorough scrub down and then sat in the courtyard reading as my family sat around in silence because the power has been out all day. This evening I proved my prowess at holding a flashlight while Deenba cooked dinner. A day in the life...