hello all,

today i finished up my interviews for my research project... i interviewed a woman writer here in dakar and it was an amawing interview!!! she had so much to say that was really helpful and really fun for me to get to talk to her...

now i just have to read all my research articles bah!! im going to start on that in a few minutes but i have to motivate myself... my motivation i think is hanging out with some people later tonight and getting to relax for an hour or so out of the house... i really really like my family butthe only way i can get work done is close myself in my room which is really no fun haha!!

in two days we leave for st louis and toubab diallo... well get to go to the annual music festival in st louis and get another taste for senegalese night life either there or in toubab diallao i forget where they said but its included in the program to go to a night club apparently... which i didnt know beforehand...

i bought some melons for my family for desert tonight since the papayas i bought last time were pretty flavorless... unlike the us apparently its because of the difference in the dirt... thats what the fruit vendor i buy from told me... i think its more about putting artificial things into fruits in the us and so they taste different...

i hope we have mangos tonight... the mangos are getting better and better every time we eat them... i really am falling in love with senegal in every possible way...

things are very different here at first glance, but my family here reminds me daily of family at home and friends here of friends at home... monica and i talk every day about whatever we are questioning here or wondering about... and often we mention the fact that we feel like we are leading another life here... that our other lives just dont exist at the moment and that is feels like years that weve been here and yet only a day or two at the same time... its a bizarre feeling... which ive experienced before but im not sure i can name it...

in any case i wanted you all to know that once i get back to the states ill actually post excerpts of my actual journal here in senegal so you can get a better idea of specific thoughts i have about other things... love and miss you all!!

-alma