hello all!!!

we returned last night from our four day excursion to saint louis, toubab diallao, lac rose, and the dunes...

it was really a lot a lot of fun but a considerable amount of time on a bus, with a small amount of leg room etc... which is never fun but im really glad we did most of the things we did... i say most because i really did not enjoy our visit to a "traditional" village outside of saint louis. not to say that it wasnt quite an experience or anything, it didnt even feel artificial the way that i imagined it would... instead i was bothered by both our groups' enormous display of exoticism... as well as my own negative reaction to it. there were a few other folks in the group bothered by the way that people dealt with the "villagers" and we all reacted in different ways but i realized that i needed to keep a positive attitude and be a good visitor so that they wouldnt think that i was unhappy with my visit per se. im not sure if that makes sense but im not sure how else to explain it...

while in saint louis, we also visited a really poor section of the city which is called the "fishing village"... fishermen and their families live in thsi section of the city... the number of women per children in this section of the city is much higher than the rest of the city and even most of the surrounding areas (9/woman) including the fact that we are talking about a largely Islamic region of the city and one that is very polygamist... that means a LOT of children per household. adding to the fact that the "houses" really arent houses... you should get the point by now i think.

accompanying our group on this four day trip were some folks from the naval academy... at first we were all a little skeptical but i have had some conversations with them that actually give me hope for peace in the world and for a more cultured united states in general... they will be here the week i am here after everyone leaves and four days ago i never would have said this but i think i might tag along to some of their day trips or something...

everyone is going out for (for most) their final senegalese beer and night-time experience and i think the naval acaademy folks are gonna join us... but the mood of our group is gettign more and more sombre...

its weird to me... most times that i have been away from home, i have felt an urge to get back to things familiar, while i miss everyone a lot, i dont miss the place at all, and i feel really unprepared to leave and go back to the states in, basically a week from today. i am thanking myself for taking an extra few days in this amazing place, the likes of which cannot begin to be explained verbally or through pictures...