Certificates

Today I handed out certificates for the class and we took a class picture:


I also had a meeting with my scholarship girls and tried to arrange things for the summer. I asked a few of them what types of programing or things they would like me to try and organize over the summer. They all agreed on basketball and when I asked if they had anymore suggestions one said, "you mean we can do more than one thing?!" Things like that make my job easier. Two of the girls stayed after the meeting to help me grid the mural and one of them (the rest have class) is coming tomorrow morning to help me paint.

Other than things at the middle school today was more getting ready for leaving, some cleaning, laundry, and studying. Oh! The sheep now only bleat when someone walks by their area. If they start bleating when Youssou walks by he bleats back at them. These evening after the sheep and Youssou exchanged several rounds of bleating he yelled, "hahaha your mom is dinner somewhere!"

KO

Amazing Race: training

I think I've shared this before, but in June I'll be going to Ghana to take the LSAT (you can't take it in Senegal). While the LSAT is an exam that needs a lot of preparation it's turning out that going to Ghana requires about the same level of work. A few days ago I tried to by my ticket online but, given that I don't have a Nigerian credit card, I couldn't pay for the flight... we're flying Virgin Nigeria. I called the office and was told I could pay for it this weekend in person in cash. I verified a few times that the office would be open this weekend (yes, but only for 3 hours so make sure you're here between 9 and 12)!
Last night Alyssa and I hopped in a cab and made our way to Dakar. We got Korean BBQ with some other volunteers and had an AMAZING meal. After BBQ we went back to 6 (the regional house) and snuggled up to some Jersey Shore (the Dakar regional's show of choice).
The next morning we got up, showered, ate breakfast, and I called the office to get directions (as she had told me to do)... no answer. Crap. I called again... no answer. I called again... no answer. That's when it hit us... it was closed. Not open. Of course. About this time Alyssa proclaimed, "our luck will turn around at 10! let's wait." So we watched some more Jersey Shore. You can guess what happened at 10am.
We decided, because the office was closeish (we'd been given the neighborhood) to the garage we would check before we left. After being driven around and around we finally just got out of the cab. As we were walking down the street we saw a woman unlocking a travel agency door (not Virgin Nigeria) and accosted her. As soon as I said, "where's the Virgin Nigeria office" she said "they're closed today." We got the directions anyway and walked over to the office to see for ourselves. Yep. of course. closed. But! It was on the way to the office that I think I found my life's calling... I was walking through the streets of Dakar with a backpack on, and as we spotted the office, felt accomplished... AMAZING RACE.

Yep, Alyssa and I spent the rest of the trip back to Thies talking about how good we would be on the Amazing race after we finish our service. Eat something "gross"? YUM. Rainstorm? CLEAN! Sleep on the ground? COZY! Our only downfall would be our utter inability to handle cold.

So, in case I can't get to Ghana and take this test, I now have a fall back plan!

In other news, the SED kids are the only people left at the center (our training is a few days longer than everyone else) and we had a cute movie night tonight. We watched 500 Days of Summer and ate popcorn... it's like one big sleepover, minus the mosquitoes and the group projects we have to work on tomorrow.

KO