Family Rivalry

The craziness continued today. Last night I experienced one of the most intense and violent storms I've ever seen. It rained for 10 straight hours in Thies and I was woken up multiple times from the vibrations of the thunder. The thunder was so incredibly loud it was amazing. The rain continued into the morning so when I poked my head outside to see if I could take a run I was met by a surging river of trash outside of my compound. Needless to say, I didn't take a run this morning. Instead I turned my attention to cleaning my room in preparation of Tamar's arrival. The rainy season has made absolutely everything damp, covered in mold, and horribly smelling. It sucks. I waged a valiantly war against the mold in my room which I'm sure will return over the week that I'm at the camp. Tamar was nice enough to tell me that my room didn't smell like mold - I'm pretty sure she was lying to me!

When I finally finished cleaning my room I ran over to Dioss' parents' house. They are probably the nicest people I have ever met. They are incredibly welcoming, always want to share their stories, tell me how much I help them, want to know about other PCVs... the list goes on and on. Today Samba, Dioss' dad, wanted to tell me all about all of the expositions he's showcased his work at and how A is better than B, but not C and how Canada has the best expositions. While all of this information is fascinating, I knew that Tamar was going to arrive at my house any second and I needed to cut to the chase, which was giving Madame Ly, Dioss' mom, a notebook so she can start accounting.

For the week that I'll be in Bombey for the camp I've asked Mme Ly to write down everything she buys and everything she sells. I told her the format isn't important and that whatever makes sense to her will work. It's all about helping her. I then told her that Dioss is absolutely miserable at accounting and that I'm sure she and her daughter Khady, aka Dioss sister, will do a much better job. They thought this was just about the funniest thing ever and agreed with me. Mme Ly and Khady are now all about doing better accounting than Dioss. It shouldn't be too difficult. I'm now going to call Dioss and tell him that his mom and sister are way more badass than he is. Hopefully a little family rivalry will help kick start Dioss' accounting.

This afternoon Tamar and I ran some errands and then met up with the rest of the PCVs, minus Katherine and Jackie, who are participating in the camp. They are all staying at the center tonight since we'll be leaving in the morning. I'm sure that the camp will be a success just because we are taking the girls out of their villages, expanding their horizons, meeting new people, getting to eat great food, and hopefully learning a little something. On a personal level I'm excited to see a major, long term project finally happen and I'm really excited to spend a week with nine other PCVs from my Stage. It should be a great time.

The camp runs until next Friday so I'll probably be incommunicado until then, but be prepared for a barrage of pictures, videos, and hilarious anecdotes. And again, thank you in advance for everyone who donated and supported us in this process. I'm sure it's going to be an amazing experience for the girls and for us! Thanks!