100km in 2 days

Yesterday around 7am I left Bambey for Thies... on my bike. The ride to Thies wasn't too bad and I had the sun at my back which made it easier. As soon as I hit Thies, however, it was hitting a wall of pollution. Unfortunately I got a little lost but eventually Alyssa found me and we went back to her house. After a refreshing gatorade (provided by my outstanding host), I took a bucket bath and we ate an AMAZING lunch. Then, of course, we watched some Gossip Girl. A little later we met up with Jackie and had Chicken Dibi. Unfortunately after dinner my dehydration (totally my fault) hit.

Alyssa and I got up this morning and, even though everyone in her house thinks I'm crazy, I got on my bike to get back to site. The way back was a LOT harder than the first time. It took me about 30mins longer and I got burned on my forearms. No matter, it was a good trip and I'm glad I did it.

The rest of the day was just continuous re-hydrating. Tomorrow I'll get back to work!

KO

Dawal Welo

Tutoring was the only thing I had today and it went well. Other than that I went for a bike ride (dawal welo in wolof) to Ndem* and back. The road to Ndem is a "red road" which means that it's compacted dirt/sand (that gives it a red color) and fairly easy to ride on. It's surrounded by fields of bissap (a plant you can make juice and sauce out of) as well as millet. There are a million Baobab trees (the tree Rafiki lived in in the Lion King) and a few very, very small villages. There are, like always, kids yelling at my but I turned my ipod up loud enough (not too loud for all of the parents reading my blog) so I couldn't make out what they were saying and I pretended they were cheering me on! Someone, who I think might have been named "Suzy" taught one village to say "bye-bye," so I did hear those kids yelling "bye-bye Suzy!" I also had some chickens cross the road in front of me, had to ride through some cows on their way home, and helped a shepard herd some stray sheep.

I don't have anything on schedule for tomorrow other than doing my laundry but I'm going to Dakar Saturday to play softball (no worries, I'm returning Saturday night - I'm determined to stay every night in Bambey until Thanksgiving like we were challenged to do)!
Ba Suba,
KO

*If I haven't talked about Ndem before, it's a village 11km from Bambey. I'm supposed to be working with the artisans there. I'm actually going to the village Monday to introduce myself.