The Reveal

When I have a million things to do I am super efficient and love checking things off my list and getting my tasks completed quickly. This is the person I know. Recently, I've been introduced to my alter ego who procrastinates the one thing I have to do and then never actually do it. Not cool. Today I was a waste of life. I attempted to clean my room, but it now looks like tornado hit it because I decided to deep clean and organize which meant taking everything out of my dresser and off the shelves. Everything came out and off, but nothing went back in or on. I listlessly shuffled the three steps that I can take in my room in between reading and watching Project Runway on my computer. Productive.

After a morning and afternoon spent unbelievably unproductive I went over to the center to hang out with Jackie and see how the new trainees are holding up after their first week in the village. Before venturing out to speak with other people Jackie and I watched another episode of Project Runway. Ramadan needs to end and I need to do some work! Anyway, the trainees look amazingly good and at least on the surface it seems like most of them really like their villages and language groups and that they are all adjusting fairly well to life in Senegal.

Jackie and I lead a big group of them to the infamous Catholic bar for a well deserved beer and to hear about their week. Some of them had some pretty hilarious stories and there were lots of questions to be answered. It is amazing how much you can learn in a year and how incredibly jaded you can become in a year. Stories of "really nice boys" our age instantly had me suspicious and stories of little kids wiping their left hand all over the food bowl didn't phase me. Many people claimed they were sad to return to the center, this is a completely incomprehensible idea to me, and the Tivuouane people said that my goody bags were lifesavers which made me feel good. I've also become the resident expert of long distance relationships as well as the guru for people who really don't like PST. Hopefully I give good advice and provide the kind of straightforward information that I desperately sought during my training.

Back at home the big news was that my outfit for Korite came back from the tailor's. Picture this: a 1980's prom dress had drunken sex with the worst bridesmaid dress of all time. This image needs to be reconciled with how it makes my body look. The top is so tight that it looks like I've had a massive breast reduction and the skirt is so tight my ass could be mistake for J.Lo's. Obviously my family thinks it's perfect. I showed it to Khady and Mami and told them that I thought it should be let out a little bit, so I can breathe, and they vehemently disagreed with me stating that the fit was perfection. They are also absolutely positive I will be able to attract a first rate Senegalese husband, something they talk about a lot and are very concerned with. The outfit is hilarious. The top, apart from being practically a corset, has three-dimensional flowers made of ribbon on it. Sparkley ribbon. I actually really like it because it is so Senegalese and my family loves it. The only bad thing to come of my outfit's arrival is that it started the discussion about braids. I do not want to get braids. It is a goal of mine to avoid braids for my entire service because I don't want to lose even more hair than I've already lost and I don't want to look even more ridiculous than I'm going to look. We'll see who wins this war. I would usually give the advantage to my sisters, but this is something I feel fairly strongly about.

I don't want to ruin the surprise of what my outfit looks like in all it's glory until you can see the full effect with makeup and head wrap so you'll just have to wait until Korite like everyone else.