I'm back

After a whirlwind trip to Thies for IST I find myself back in the village and in the midst of Ramadon. I headed to to Thies via a night in ST Louis and a couple of nights at Toubab Diallo hanging out on the beach and catching up with friends. My time in Thies was a mix of accomplishing important things like eating hamburgers and catching up on Project Runway and then sitting through sessions at the training center trying to figure out what my job actually is. After the three weeks of training were up I went to Dakar for an EE summit where I got to stay in the lap of American luxary at the house of someone who works for the embassy and while it was hard to say goodbye to the hot showers, cold air conditioninng and real ice cream I knew I needed to get back to village before Ramandon started.

Monday night the new moon was spotted so on Tuesday the fasting began. From sun up to sun down adults go without eating or drinking anything. Everyone enjoys asking me if I am fastinbg (I am not) so my new catch phase has become "mi wona juldo" ( I am not Muslim). Despite this being the month of the fast I find myself eating more than before, as I am still given lunch and then at sunset I am given food to break the fast. Basically my family tries to fit all the meals in after dark, as I am handed bread and coffee right as the sun goes down and then tea is made followed by rice and fish (traditionally lunch) all eaten before the time dinner is typically served. I am not sure if dinner is still made because I go to bed right after I eat the rice and fish, but it wouldn' surprise me if it was.

Now that I back at site and finished with training it is time to start working. My main job focuses around working with the teachers at the school to create lessons based on envioronmental problems in the community. I will also most likely start a youth club at the school focusing on projects such as gardening and tree planting. I also may try and help the school get a new classroom built, but all of this will have to wait until October when the school year begins an dthe teachers are back in the village. Outside of the school I the main thing I want to try and do is build biodigestors (google it) to reduce fuel consumption and lighten the workload of women but I will have to wai t and see how feasible this is in my village.