We have finally gone on a pirogue tour. We took the boys to Fadiouth to have a look around and ended up being talked into going for a pirogue ride. It was hilarious when we were in the graveyard, in the Christian section because Babo (a young muselim boy) started walking closer to me because he claimed he was scared. I laughed, because it tends to joke with me but then when he didn't smile I realized he was genuinely scared. He cheered up on the boat, we didn't go very far but it still took me a moment to get used to the rocky motion of the way the boat was rowed/pushed forwards. We had haggled for what we thought was a good price before getting on and I double checked to make sure he was going to take us where we wanted to go. We got in the boat and he started going in the right direction and then he suddenly turned the boat and starting going back the way we came from. I protested loudly and he said no you didn't understand, I said I would take you a little way and then back. People tend to be so helpful out here that you forget that they are seeing us as tourists and are looking to make money from us. We got to the shore and I thanked him (I wasn't thankful but being raised in Britain makes me have some basic manners so I felt obliged to say it). We had a lovely ride, short but beautiful anyway. When we got back to the house Aicha said that we should call her before we do or buy anything so that we can check the correct price and also she can talk to the person who is taking advantage of the trusting volunteers. She also said that she has a friend with a boat who would be happy to take us out sometime for literally a 10 of the price we paid! Next time we get visitors we'll be sure to go with them! I felt a little angry because we had been here for so long and yet still got treated like stupid tourists but then I cheered up when Amadou informed us that we had haggled a good price because normally they charge up to 8,000 for a small boat ride.

The next major event was my birthday. I decided I wanted to invite some people over for some birthday food. I bought lots of drinks, cakes and fataya. We also prepared some pancakes and crevettes. I had invited about 10 friends so it wasn't going to be a big thing. The Monday night before my birthday Aicha asked me who I had all invited, I told her and then she explained to me that if I invite one member of a family, the whole family turns up. I assured her I hadn't invited that many people but inside I was thinking, WHAT HAVE I DONE? I decided to go to the market and buy some more supplies just in case. On the day of my birthday I opened all my lovely presents and then went and picked up my cakes and fataya. The birthday party was lovely, we had invited some other volunteers over who were teaching in primary schools for a month. When they arrived they were wearing short skirts (just above the knee) and also on the way in the door they handed me a bottle of wine. I slyly went and put it straight into my room. (It's actually still in my room, I'm waiting for an opportunity to drink it.) The other volunteers reminded me of the kind of clothes I had at home and how different my life is out here. It made me realize how much I've actually adapted to living in a Muselim family. It is a slight learning curve but it's fascinating to get a different kind of perspective on values. For example, boys have a lot more freedom then girls. They can go off and play football but you rarely see girls over seven playing on the street or even on the street. Most of them are expected to say in the house, some help with cooking and cleaning but even if there is a maid they are expected to stay in the house.

The next day I had a very busy day, I went and taught my two classes. I had my English one first and then had to switch over to German which is sometimes more challenging then I anticipate. The pupils asked me for a word and I could only think of it in English, French and Wolof, I got around it by telling them to look it up in my French - German dictionary. Then in the afternoon we had the first German club meeting. There was lots of students from all the schools that Herr Fall teaches in. There is only going to be one German club for the whole of Joal. We watched Mein Kampf in French… I can't say I understood much, but I got the general gist of things. (my French has improved but the sound quality of the video wasn't great and I was tired from my party the night before). I then had to rush home and pick up the cake I had made for Maimouna's first birthday party. She is the daughter of my best friend in the pharmacy. I arrived when the party was in full swing, was introduced so some people I couldn't really see because it was dark and then got ushered into a bedroom. I sat down not knowing anyone but a kid came and started sitting on my lap so I was occupied. Not too long afterwards some of my colleagues from the pharmacy came in and saw me so came over for a chat saying "you arrived very late". (I was late! Be African standards, they said between 7 and 8 and I got there just before 8). It wasn't long until food was served. Mame Diarra had prepared a lot of pasta and chicken. There was a massive amount of big food plates being carried out to all the children. I got given one and started to walk out balancing it on my head in true Senegalise Style. I was walking around the side of the house in the pitch dark when I tripped over a stone, stubbed my toe and almost dropped the entire food platter. I carried on walking as if nothing had happened and then someone told me to go back to the room. I got back to the room and realized my foot was covered in blood. I'd stubbed my foot much harder than I thought. I quickly went and washed it. Luckily, there was so many people around that no one really noticed and I cleaned it up quickly. It stopped bleeding and I put a plaster on it. (I permanently carry some around because there is always someone who needs one, normally me but the kids are forever getting scratches and scrapes. Then after everyone had eaten, they were all suddenly gone and the party was over. I felt like people only really stay for the food and then they leave.

My next week was even less successful. I got hit by a car, fell over my bike and almost crashed into a goat in the space of four days. I was cycling along on the way home from school when a suddenly car stopped in the middle of the road. So I braked. I forgot that Ciara's brakes don't work as well as mine so she ended up crashing into the back of my bike just as the car started reversing backwards. I couldn't move as Ciara was jamming my bike in from the back and there was other cars coming towards us and this white car reversing towards me at incredible speed. It luckily only crashed into my leg and I smacked my arm off the car and it stopped. I was so lucky that it didn't end up breaking my leg, I just ended up with a very brused leg.

The next day I was cycling along the road, giving Babo a backy home because there was a vehicle strike and we'd just been to watch the Genie en Herbe competition. (Mohammed's team won!), when these goats started walking across the road. I would have been fine but there was a motorbike that crashed into them and it made them run right in front of where I was cycling. I braked and luckily just tapped it's leg.

On Thursday's I work in the pharmacy so I have a little extra time in the mornings to get ready which normally means that I get Marieme ready and take her to school. I was heading straight off to the pharmacy afterwards so I had my bike with me. Marieme decided she wanted to ride it, she kind of sits on the bar with her legs on the peddles while I push it to school. We were going really, really well. I was getting a good arm work-out pushing the bike through the piles of sands. We got literally about 30meters away from the school when a car started coming along the road so I bumped the bike very slowly down off the road. Im not exactly sure what happened but the next second I was lying on my bike flat on the ground. I got up so quickly and checked Marieme was alright, she was fine, not even a single scratch. Someone else walked past us saying Masa Masa! (you say it when someone is hurt). We picked up the bike and Marieme got straight back on it and happily continued! I think I was still in shock by the time I had dropped her off at school and cycled to the health center. I got there and looked at my feet and legs. They were covered in bruses and scratches, I have no idea how Marieme didn't get hurt but I'm thankful because I'm not sure what I've have don't if she was hurt. We have a new system down now. I lean the bike against me and she leans it at an angle so if it were to topple it would fall into me. She still happily everyday demands to ride my bike, I like how quickly she forgets things. She can be screaming at me one minute and then she comes up and says Je m'appelle Johanna. (I got told the other day that I should go back to Scotland and Johanna should come out here.) She was very disappointed when she heard Johanna had to go to school and couldn't come and visit her.

A bizzar thing happened at school. They call it Crises! Basically, a student (normally a girl) get possessed by spirits, goes stiff as a plank and starts screaming really loudly. There is a lot of mystery surrounding them, no one really knows about it but it sounds like crowd hysteria to me. I got to school after there had just been a couple of cases and my entire German class was standing outside the school. I had planned a test for them so I was wondering what was going on. They explained it to me but when I asked why they said they didn't know, it just happens. I decided to go into the school and investigate. When I got to my classroom I was met by one of my students who's name I really should know but always seem to forget. He said we shouldn't do class today, its cursed was his reasoning. I said, I don't believe in any of this, it's all in the mind. He said you'll be the next one, jokily. I responded saying that I'm a teacher and these kind of things don't effect.

The 31st January was a pharmacy day for me, it was the first time I was left to fend for myself. I had a great time handing out medication for about 20-30mins and while doing so hoping that I was actually giving the correct instructions in Wolof. I sometimes get words muddled up but no one seemed confused and accepted my instructions happily. The next day Gill arrived just after lunch when we had finished teaching. I had some discipline issues that class so it was probably better she missed that. (only joking Gill my students are perfect angles…most of the time, they are definitely enthusiastic, especially the younger ones). We got some percy pigs and chocolate eggs and cheese! It was really nice to take her around Joal and show off our home. The day after our visit we headed to Thies for the Gamou. The Gamour is a festival to celebrate the prophets birthday. It was good fun. I got very cold staying up all night listening to prayers and songs in the mosque. It was about 10pm when we headed to the mosque. It was full of people all wearing nice boubous, the colours were fabulous. At certain points in the night people started clicking their fingers along to something the guy was saying, it is there way of showing their appreciation. There was a guy going around videoing. He spent ages video Ciara and the moved on to me. The camera moved back to Ciara and when he moved away from us she said to me "I'm so glad he videoed you first I'm so sure I was asleep a couple of seconds ago." I burst out laughing and said "There was me thinking that you'd been making funny faces at the camera or something because he was filming you forages before he moved on to me." She went to bed not long afterwards because she was tired. I managed to stay up until the next prayer call in the morning. I then crawled into a room, lay down on a bed fell straight asleep curled up under a blanket with some other random kids. We went home the next day and started work as usual on Monday morning.

I've been keeping busy! And we are thinking about starting a club in the Maison Eau Caritas for our neighbourhood to learn some songs, languages and just do something a little different like drawing or something. The idea is still new but I hope something will come of it. I've also started thinking about what to do my Project Trust report on but there are so many things I am interested in that it's been difficult trying to come up with a narrow idea! Senegal is just to amazing to pick one simple thing to sum up the whole country and my year here.