We're Almost There

While we have been led astray several times about various things having to do with the camp, the availability of wifi was not one of them. If I am not too terribly exhausted I will try and keep you updated on the goings-on of the camp.

After a night of shivering in my bed with Tamar because one person thought the other was still hot and didn't turn off the fan, we got up and met Jackie at the garage where we had delicious village bread and hardboiled egg sandwiches. An hour later we were in Bombey and boarding charettes, aka horse carts, on our way to Katherine's house to pick up all of the supplies we've been storing there. Katherine and I were on the charette from hell. I think the driver was approximately 6 years old and his cohort in crime was probably around 4 and they really, really, really liked to whip their horse so he would gallop down the pot hole laden road. I begged them to reduce the speed because I was scared. They replied that they weren't scared so everything was OK. The best part of the ride was after I'd been pleading with the boys in Wolof to slow down for several minutes. We were forced to slow down because another charette cut us off and a little boy on the side of the road called Katherine and I toubabs. The youngest of our two charette boys turns to me and explains in French that another small child just called me a white person.

We loaded all of supplies onto the charrettes, well mainly the charette that the little boys were driving, and we all got on the other charette and held on for dear life the 2k or so from Katherine's house to the University of Bombey. The other 6 PCVs met us at the University an hour or so later to start the prep work. We had a group meeting, some people went to town to buy last minute supplies and I spent a couple of hours writing rules, schedules, and various other pieces of information on flip chart paper.

The women "cleaned" the rooms for us, but clean is obviously a subjective word since there are a ton of bugs, spiders, and cockroaches all of the rooms and bathrooms. The dorms themselves are actually really nice with desks and beds; they just aren't as clean as I would like them to be, or as they should be. It's a little bit disgusting so hopefully we can remedy that tomorrow. Unfortunately, we also discovered a mouse in our room, which we have yet to kill. Two Senegalese female maids mocked us for being afraid and then Brian waged a valiant war against it, but we ultimately failed. Hopefully it wont creep under my mosquito net tonight!

The girls arrive tomorrow so the fun will really begin then!