Fun Times

Dakar, surprisingly, didn't produce the level of annoyance I was dreading and I actually had a really good time once we got there. Per usual I bought Jackie and seat in the sept-place and planned to pick her up in Pout. I was the first person in the sept-place so I obviously took the best seats for Jackie and myself. Three men approximately my age who were getting in my car told me that I had to sit in the back because I was saving a place. This is crap and everyone knew it. There are very strict sept-place etiquette rules and I was following all of them. Things devolved into an argument, which I refused to lose until I lost. One of the men picked up my bag, which was saving Jackie's seat, and threw it into the backseat. After screaming at him that he had absolutely no respect and was a terrible person, much to the amusement of the entire garage, I too climbed into the back seat and swore at him in English under my breath.

As soon as we left the garage I was worried about the car. We did make it to Pout to get Jackie, but after some off-roading in an attempt to circumnavigate traffic, the car broke down in the middle of an incredibly busy and congested intersection on the national highway. I gasped as semi trucks slammed on their brakes and I saw my life whiz before my eyes. After three of the male passengers pushed the car for several blocks as the driver pumped the clutch and we all prayed for the car to start, it kind of did and we made it to Dakar where the cab Jackie and I found to take us to the office also broke down.

The day, fortunately, passed without too much more trouble and I had a delicious lunch which made up for a lot. The main purpose for the trip was to have a camp meeting, which went really well. We did some reorganizing of the schedule and I'm really excited about my new role which will be planning the training day for our Senegalese counterparts. If you are interested in learning more about the camp or would like to help us found our endeavor, check out this link:

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=685-152

The camp meeting took place at our favorite happy hour place, which was followed by a new Mediterranean restaurant for dinner. The new restaurant was awesome and is definitely going to replace the previous favorite since the food is better and the service is head and shoulders above the old favorite. It was an extremely fun night, which only got better when we returned to the regional house to welcome the new volunteers from the Dakar and Linguere regions. I had entirely too much fun and stayed up entirely too late so I'm exhausted after another new place for lunch and a traffic plague ride back to Thies.