Well, I am home. Have been for about a week now. It's rather entertaining and the most frightening thing I've done in a long time. I know what y'all are thinking. "Erika, you just spent 2 years in Africa! How can coming home be the scary part?" But it is a little scary. It's disconcerting. I haven't left my neighborhood alone since I got home. At the same time...I'm lonely. How does that work? So now the plan is just to goof around and help my mom in her garden and mess around on the computer and be my father's Mandinka-speaking party trick (Just kidding, Papa! I know you are just proud of me and I'm grateful for that.) until I go visit family in May. I miss my people in Gambia and I miss all my PCV people and the whole RPCV gig is a little...unsettling. At the same time I know that Domanding, domanding. Wo le ka suloo muta wuloo kono. (Slowly, slowly. That is how you catch the monkey in the bush.)

So I am on my way!!!! I was supposed to fly out in 20 minutes but my stupid flight was postponed so instead of sitting at the airport in Banjul I am in Fajara checking my email and posting a final hasta la pasta to the Gambia! I cannot believe that I'm finished with my service! I just went to the same restaurant that I went to when I first arrived 2 years ago. It's very bookends and all those things. It feels like closure and all that jazz. Well, see y'all soon! Lots of love!

I am so frustrated! I will never ever complain about traffic or driving in the states again! I hate that randomly taxi's will decide that the side of the road where I am walking is the road and nearly run me over! I just now barely got out of the way in time. Scared me half to death. Then when I am shouting at the driver about how he's on the side of the road and he should be ON THE ROAD, he swears at me! I am shouting but all I am saying, "The road is over there!" And I get a, "Hey, F*** you, man!" I will also never take for granted when a man curbs his speech because I am in the room. I'm not really a prude when it comes to language but I like being treated like a lady. It is nice when my presence is acknowledged by refraining from the use of an offensive curse word as opposed to some man trying to impress me by using it. The worst part of this whole story is then when I am muttering under my breath about stupid men who can't drive there is a guard over by the bank who witnesses this whole situation and he says, "What's your problem?" To ME!!! I barely escape being the victim of vehicular manslaughter and I get "F*** you!" and "What's your problem?". WHAT!!! 99 more hours of this insanity.

The Mandinkas always just say a word twice to emphasize it so when you hear me saying now-now, soon-soon, etc. it's just the Mandinka musoo(woman) in me begging to be free. Well, as of Monday I am in the process of getting all my thing together and doing all my paperwork and buying gifts to come home. Frankly, this is all for the birds! I'd almost extend my service if I'd know leaving would be like this. So I say to all you PCVs throughout the world. Don't ET. Don't do it. This leaving part le sucks. I'm amazingly, phenomenally excited to come home but Monday was horrible! I left my host family about 1130a and watching my host mother's face made my heart break inside of me. It was so funny to me how everyone asks, how was it? How was leaving? Are you ok? I want to shout. "It was crap! It was horrible and i want to scream like a banshee!" But, no. I say, "Oh, it was pretty sad, but I'm ok." So now I'm on my way home next week. I'm ready for it. I know we are all going through that same bit of "It was horrible and we want to rip out our own hair so I'm just going to be facetious and be done with it." Oh well, life goes on. Anyway for those of you who care: I will be leaving Banjul at 745pm on April 8, 2007 and arriving in Spokane at 705pm on April 9, 2007. That's right around 30 hours of travelling with the time change.

From To Date Dep ArrBanjul Brussels 8 Apr 1945 0530Brussels Newark 9 Apr 0955 1155Newark Seattle 9 Apr 1415 1700Seattle Spokane 9 Apr 1810 1905

Last week I had a bit of a trip upcountry. I got myself into taking a copy of my hospital's medical record database up to the hospital in Bansang so I decided to make a week of it. Monday I travelled with my friend Ernie almost to Basse. I dropped to visit a friend in Bakadagi for that night. The next day I travelled down to Janjanbureh and the next day to Bansang and then down to Essau. From Essau I traveled back to Kombo and now I am in Kombo getting antibiotics for the sinus infection I've contracted on this particular trip and then back to Bwiam for a few weeks. It's a little bit of a bummer because I don't really have anything to do up there for 21 days except listen to how much people will miss me when I go. It all makes me want to just hide in my house! Anyway, the plan is to try and get stuff packed and my house clean so my replacement can move into a clean house. My replacement is a guy which is kind of going to be an adventure to tell my mother. She's wonderful and I'm sure all will be well but I also know that she really wanted another woman to be place there. I also hope to be able to get my sitebook finished so that all that I've bother to learn about Bwiam doesn't get lost with the changing of the guard. I am amazed at the fact that my time here is almost up. It frightens me a little but I am so excited to see all of my friends back home!

Fo naato domanding! (Until a little later!)

Ok, so they way that they say that is literally "I do years twenty and five have" but seriously, who's keeping track? Not to mention that the momentous occasion occured a few days ago. It was a little scary. I was very apprehensive about being 25 but I think I'm coming to terms with it. It makes me feel like I should be somewhere in my life and I'm not sure that I'm anywhere. I'm a Peace Corps volunteer about to be a returned PCV with no money, I'm single (which is actually probably a good thing) and I'm going to go home and live with my parents. *shivers* I'm more or less ok with all of that until you throw in the 25 part. Anyway speaking of birthdays yesterday was my cousin's birthday and I suck and still haven't emailed him, but I'm doing that this very moment! Promise!! So, all the new health trainees have arrived and it's really kind of scary looking at all these people and know that one of them (I'm hoping my boss keeps in mind my request that it is a woman) is going to be replacing me in my village and in my home and with my family. I feel a little possesive and I know I'll be ok with sharing when the time comes but right now I'm just scared. All these what if's are flying through my brain! What if whoever it is doesn't like my family or my sitemates or what if they don't like her! What if my house isn't right? What if I can't find a job? What if...what if...what if!!! I know that I'm working myself into a tizzy for nothing but I can't seem to stop myself! I think I blame Kombo. If I spend my time in Bwiam I know that all will calm down. I have a new friend and she's coming up to visit me after my med exam in 2 weeks. Time flies. Only nine weeks until I'm home. As frightened as I am, I am also so very excited to see my family! I'm already mentally seeing Spokane airport in my head and it is so beautiful to me! I'm ridiculously excited. I'm so excited to see my friends as well and go to all the weddings that are going on this summer. The count is at 4 right now so that's pretty exciting and I think I'm going to be a bridesmaid for one to boot! I am so honored that she would ask me and I'm excited to play bridesmaid again. It was fun the last time and now I kinda know what to expect! So, I'm back to the emotional rollercoaster that has been the last 2 years but at least I'm used to it! I'll see you all soon! Back upcountry for a couple more weeks and then my med exam and then up to Bansang for a week then back to Bwiam for 3 weeks and then I get picked up and go to Kombo for a week and then onto a plane. The time is a-flying and before you know it you all will have to deal with my stories. You thought my camp stories were bad, wait for duh, duh, duh Peace Corps stories.

Ok, to understand the title of this particular story you have to read the entry. Neener, neener.Well, my youngest host brother is 3 years old and has begun asking every question and commenting on everything under the sun. He is usually very upset on the amount of cow dung on the ground and always points it out. When my host mother tells him to just walk around it, he very delicatley picks his way around the edge of it. It's rather hysterical. Anyway, the most humorous part of Koko these days is some of the things he insists on. Koko's given name is Muhammed Salako Davies. The family all calls him either Koko or Boy. When we talk about him we usually say Koko or Boy. His name is, however, Muhammed. The other day someone called him Muhammed and he refused to answer.

Boy, I danku. Boy, Answer.

N te danku la. No to manke Muhammed ti. I'm not going to answer. My name isn't Muhammed.

I tondii? What's your name?

Boy.

The other thing that Koko is having trouble with is wetting the bed. Of course, he behaves like he does it on purpose. This, of course, gets him thumped, but he'd rather get thumped than admit he can't control it. How masculine of him. Anyway, so it has become a joke in the compound. When someone says Taling taling they have a story to tell. Another person then responds with Taling diimaa for them to start the story. So the other night Tobo (my host mother), Sarata (host grandmother), Koko and myself are sitting outside. Sarata and i are sitting by the bantabas(which is just something you can sit or lay on) and Tobo and Koko are laying on the bantabas. Koko is laying by Tobo and then crawling on her and then laying down and then wiggling around and pretty soon he is laying on her side and passes gas in about the noisiest fashion there is. Gambians call this act "blowing bad air". I find this much more agreeable to the American farting. It sound so much more delicate. Or at least less vulgar. So the point is Koko passes gas and all three of us are sitting there in hysterics.

So I say, "Taling, taling."

Tobo says, "Taling dimaa."

Kambanoo do lem. There was a little boy. Aning a ye foosi. And he passed bad air.

***More laughter***

Tobo: Taling, taling.

Me: Taling dimaa.

Tobo: Kambanoo do lem. There was a little boy.

Me: Uh, huh.

Tobo: A ye surna larang kang. And he peed on the bed.

Koko: I YE BUU!!!!!!!

Well, I ye buu is a rather rude way to call someone a liar. Buu is poop, so he was telling his mother she was full of shit! This of course set Tobo, Sarata and me into more laughter which egged Koko on as the three of started telling varying stories in which poor Boy was the butt of the joke. He kept yelling at us I YE BUU!!! or Diyamoo bula.(Stop talking.) and my favorite I de. I de. I de.(Be quiet. Be quiet. Be quiet.) Boy was rather annoyed by all of us and he finally put his little hand over Tobo's mouth and repeated his three little phrases. He did finally calm down and go to sleep but the funny part of all of this is if I try to tell this story in English most people don't laugh. When I tell a Gambian the story in Mandinka or half in English and half in Mandinka we are all laughing just fit to kill.

This may be a sign of my deteriorating sense of humor.

76 days to go!

I have spent the last three months in Bwiam with 2 sitemates, Katy and Sara. My newest one, Sara, is an amazing individual and she often reminds me of why I felt called to Peace Corps in the first place. I realize that I can be a little cynical at times but I see myself overall as an optimistic person. I love the world around me even on the dark days and Sara is an amazing reminder of that. As I have walked around with Sara it is amazing to me to see a little bit of where I may have been in comparison to where I am now. I feel as though I just got comfortable here. I am familiar with so much more than I used to be. At the same time I am excited to close up my service and move on to the next phase of my life. My heart aches to imagine saying goodbye to the family that has taken me in this past two years but I know that it is time. I can feel that it is time to do something new. Haven't I always been that kid though? The one who walks out on the limb and doesn't look back? I'm so much better at being the one jumping than being the stationary one for someone to push off from. I hate being left. It is so hard for me to remember that it is more difficult to be left than to leave. So, here I am again. I'm the one leaving. The one who goes onto the next adventure. I am, of course, a little nervous due to the fact that I have absolutely no idea what that next adventure is going to be. I told my one of the newbie volunteers that I was thinking of just going home and living in CDA for a year(either with my parents or on my own) just to try and figure myself out. Something in myself is different. I can't put my finger on what it is or exactly how different it is but I know it's there. Crazy, huh? Anyway, I'm doing well, COS conference is coming up. So, my entire training group will be converging on the same hotel for 3 days and nights and starting the process of finishing stuff out. My friend who just COSed told me that once that conference hits the time just flies by. I'm kind of wondering when time didn't fly by? Only 100 days or so left and wow. It's crazy to me to realize that I didn't just get off of the plane yesterday.

Anyway, not too much is going on these days except for the countdown to COS. I'm trying to get stuff all hammered down for the rest of my time so that's all I've got for now. I'll be back in Kombo for the conference in a few weeks. Woot, woot!! This was time well spent but I'm pretty glad it is almost spent.

PS. Merry Christmas and Happy 2007!!!

Yes, the cold season is upon us. Crazy to imagine isn't it? The other day was something like 65 degrees F when I was at my friend's house and I was amazed at the fact that I was cold!! Yes, I'm a wimp but we already knew that....moving on. My mom just brought it to my attention that I haven't update in awhile and seeing how it is rather late here in the land of Kombo and I plan to head home tomorrow bright and early you get old updates that I've never up up here, but they are still valid. Just started awhile ago. Oh, and I have a myspace account now, yo. Same id as here. First here's a little thing I wrote about the rainy season last year:

"It is raining today. That doesn’t truly describe what is happening but it is indeed raining. I sit eating peanut butter with a spoon which my mother told me never to do but I am hungry and that is all that sounds appealing and I figure it is my body crying out for protein. So I sit and lick the butter off the spoon. The wind smells clean and wet. It is like the rain water has washed the air around me. I was listening to music but I turned it off when the rain began. All you could hear was the rain pounding on the roof. It is like being inside a waterfall or at lease what I imagine being inside a waterfall would be like. I went out to move a bucket for watering the garden late and realized I could almost shower in the sudden downpour. I laughed at the idea as I stood in the cool falling water. The thunder rolls and rumbles around the sky as if it really were the angels bowling in heaven."

And second a cute story from right after I arrived at site:

"I’m walking home from the hospital and a young man about my age greets me and introduces himself. His name is Lamin and he is an orderly at the hospital. We had the following conversation:

Lamin: What is your religion?

Me: Sorry, My religion?

Lamin: Yes.

Me: I am Catholic.

Lamin: The late pope was a Catholic.

Me: You mean John Paul II.

Lamin: Yes, he was Catholic.

Me: Yes, he was. The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church, but there is a new Pope now. Pope Benedict XVI.

Lamin: Pope Benedict...and he is also a Catholic?

Me: *laughs* Yes. It’s sort of a prerequisite for being the head of the Catholic Church.

Lamin: Hm...it is?

Now if only I can figure if a bear does indeed shit in the woods."

Alright, I realize this is a bit of a copout entry for the blog, but I'm cold and I'm sleepy and that's all you get!! Oh, I'm trying to get home for Easter Sunday so y'all can stop bugging my mom with that question!

Well, My mom arrived in Gambia-land and then we all went to Italy-land and um...wow? I loved being in Italy. I loved hanging out with my mom. I loved meeting a new friend. I hated being so cold. It wasn't as cold as I thought it would be outside of the night that it rained and I got soaked to the skin but I was chilly. Brr. Ugh. It was entertaining drinking too much wine and eating too much food and walking a bunch and being in awe of the what was around me constantly. I saw the tomb of Galileo Galilei!! How nerdy am I that that floats my boat? Anyway, I got some wine for my girls and am making plans for a Thanksgiving/Christmas party with Brenna and some others since Brenna and Terra will be gone for Christmas. We're gonna Tuscan wine it up. Maybe I'll try my new recipe for Carbonara sauce that I found online. We'll see how it goes. I saw the Vatican and St. Peter's and the Colosseum and Roman Forum and Venice and rode in a Gondola and a saw a medieval town and ate lots of gelato and saw Michaelangelo's David and did I mention eating lots of gelato and pasta? Mmmmm..... Anyway. I had an amazing time and am ready to get back to work in Bwiam. I have to go see how bad my office got messed up. Le sigh. Well, I'm happy and healthy and more homesick than I have been in a long time. If you try to convince to come home early right now I will beat you with a stick. I'm going to finish and I'm seeking encouragement from my friends and family with that comment. I have 6 months left. Completing my service is important. I don't see leaving early as quitting necessarily but it would be quitting to me. If you don't understand why it is important try talking to another PCV or RPCV about it. I can do it. I will do it. Please tell me that. Hugs to you all.

My mother will be here in 5 hours and 50 minutes and I'm flipping out! I'm so excited and PC is erring on the side of caution and telling me I can do this and I can't do that so I have to completly rearrange my plans for what to do. Urg. On the upside this means that I get to cook for my Mom. Woo! I'm so nervous. I feel like I'm going to vomit.

Ok, my title is a combination of jokes. It's a Gambia joke cause it's in mandinka but it's a summer camp joke because I had a camper say this to me. That was a funny summer....

Anyway the translation of it is "My stomach hurts. But I think it's just gas." This is true but I am making a joke of it because that is the way Peace Corps goes. Everything that has to do with your body falling apart becomes a joke. Like this one. I'm coming apart at the seams. Literally. Due to the rainy season and lots of moisture being in proximity to my body I have heat rash in most of my joint type areas. Behind my knees, my elbows, and on my neck being a few of the mentionable areas. A few of these areas it is even become fungal heat rash. Yes, I have a fungus growing on my body. I'm so grossed out. I can't shave for awhile so I will be wildebeest girl until this goes away. It better go away in 19 or fewer days or I'll knock some skulls! I have anti fungal stuff and bad ass amounts of baby powder so I think I'll be ok, but damn! What's this bullshit?(prounounce bool-sheet...)

On the total upside I am being allowed to go home today! *does a happy dance involving a few twirls and a leap* I'm actually being taken home by Peace Corps today! *does another happy dance involving a lot of side to side movement and rear wiggling* The car is supposed to take us to get our bags and head out of town in about 20 minutes! *does yet another happy dance which is mostly head bobbing* I'm aware it is difficult to tell my level of excitement and happiness at returning to site by mere words but you'll have to take my word for it. *grin*

Anyway, Petemus. I read your post and I love you and am praying for you. To you all...be safe. I love you all a lot. I have 7 more months here and then I want to travel in Europe for a couple of months. The idea is to travel most of April and May and fly to Boston at the end of May or the beginning of June and bum around with Chenine and then go to see Matt and Karie and Sarah in Minneapolis. Woot, with the woot woot. I should be home by Father's Day 2007. Not to long now, can you believe it? You can do anything for 7 months....even if you do have gas.....

I am safe and not hurt and in no danger. This is a disclaimer for the adventure that is this story.

How's this for exciting? I've been evacuated to Kombo. For a few weeks I've been hearing this strange rumbling and seeing some strange flashes at night. The sweet naive little Erika that I am simply thought it was some strange heat lightning or something. It's been hotter than nothing else these days. Not so much fun. So on Friday night I am sitting with my host mother and we chatting about this and that and there is a particularly bright flash.

"What strange lightning," I say.

"Erika," my host mother says. "That isn't lightning. It is the people in Casamance."

Finally, what's going on dawns on me. The rebels in Casamance which is an area of southern Senegal that wishes to be its own country is fighting against the Senegalese government. Action is heating up between two factions of rebels and there is artillery fire south of me. The whole thing is strangely exciting and a little scary. “Ok,” I say to myself. “Time to call Peace Corps on Monday.”

The next morning I wake up to my host mother telling me that my director is on the phone. I take the phone and he tells me that one of the Peace Corps drivers is on the way to pick me and two other volunteers in the area up to be evacuated to Kombo for a few days. I’d been in Kombo for the weekend and was called to a meeting with the Country Director, Safety and Security Officer and RSO from the Embassy Monday morning. I still have no idea what is going on. The meeting began with the five volunteers present telling what has happened in their area and then it went downhill. I was beyond disgusted with the behavior of nearly everyone in that room but life goes on. The end of the meeting it was nothing was really decided.

The next day there was a meeting and it was decided more or less that we would wait for everything to settle down before returning to site. So, I'm in Kombo for the foreseeable future. Or at least a week and a half. I went to site to pick up a few more shirts(I had 3) and have been in Kombo for awhile. There is another meeting today and depending on what is said today there will be a meeting next Wednesday. That day it will be decided if we stay for another week or if I get to go home. It's all very dramatic and I'm spending my time attempting to entertain myself which works sometimes and doesn't others. Woo, boy. We'll see how this goes and I'll keep y'all updated. I just want you all to know that there is fighting about 10 miles south of my village and more 10 miles to the west of me but I'm not in my village until it all calms down.

Well, last weekend I went on the coveted position of mail run. I'm not sure why people all say it is so terrible because I had so much fun it wasn't funny. Of course, I am a ridiculous individual who can entertain herself with something as simple as the fact that on the 6 days of mail run we saw one squirrel everyday. Who knew there squirrels in Africa!? Not I, said the fly.

Anyway, the way it works is that every month all the packages and paper mail for upcountry volunteers is loaded up into one of the PCTG Land Cruisers and a driver and 2 PCVs ride around to every single volunteer's site in The Gambia delivering the mail. It's a 7 day trek around the country. We ride on back roads and nice roads and paved roads and dirt roads and way out into BFE roads. My friend, Tina, and I were the PCVs and my very favorite driver, John, spent 6 days in a car together and shockingly I wasn't ready to kill anyone when I got out of the car everyday. I counted the number of times John said the word donkey when he wasn't referring to actual donkey: 130 times. This guy is a donkey-boy and that girl is a donkey girl and That guy's site is so donkey are-ous. I'm not quite sure what that all means but whenever John is around I know I'm going to laugh. And laugh I did. Some of John's phrases of the weekend were: "No sleeping!", "Thank you very seriously.", "See you next year.", and my personal favorite, "You caused it!". I also saw a sign that read, "Maggi and me, the secret of goodness." A Maggi cube is like boullion cube. My friend, Andrew, said, "Deny, deny, deny. It's not just a river in Egypt." He did realize his oopsy when Tina and I broke into raucous laughter and has begged me not to tell anyone about it. I should be nice because I'd rather not be teased about the stupid things I do, but I can laugh at the idiot things I do. So, moving on.

Tina and I saw many things in the middle of the road on trip 'round The Gambia. We saw monkeys, squirrels, lots of goats, sheep, chickens, cows and donkeys. We even saw a mongoose and a duck. Not in proximity but we did see them. Most of these creatures were running pell-mell out of the road to try and avoid being hit by the car and there were a few times that I was pretty sure that we were going to run into a large animal and I was going to die in a traffic accident. I have a bad habit of saying aloud, "I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die." when I think it is going to happen these days but I'm pretty sure Tina didn't like that particular habit. That's alright we had one tape to listen to the entire trip and part of it was French and part was Fula so Tina made up the line, "Don't be a douche-ball." to go along with it. I didn't like it. I threatened her with the Peanut Butter and Jelly song after awhile and we just listened to our tape. *grin* We serenaded John with 80s music and he turned the radio on. We called him "John, Donkey-In-Training". We were very dirty by the end of each day and we ate a bunch of chicken and some fish and some coos and it was all very entertaining.

Anyway, so I've seen the entirety of The Gambia now and I think I am safe in saying that my favorite place in the whole country is still the wonderful village of Bwiam in the dearest Foni Kansala. Ooh, aah....

Oh, and the scary whatever rash that was on my hip for a week and then on my shoulder for a week has finally dried up and I'm going back home after 3 weeks away. Woot, woot, woot. 43 days until Mom comes to Africa and 47 days until Rome!!!!! Bigger Woot, Woot, WOOT!!!

So, I have a crazy story about something that went down a couple weeks ago.

There is a place called Churchill's that is a karoke bar every Wednesday and Saturday night. The backstory of this story is that my best friend, Terra, and her mom and another good friend of her's, Allyson, and I all went out to this bar on Wednesday and lived it up and had an all around good girl time. We harrased some drunk boys singing What's my Age Again but saying What's my name again. They commented on the size of Terra's tatas and overall we were thouroughly entertained. I wore my very first spaghetti strap dress ever. Empire waist and ankle length Old Navy-ness. Very un-Me. I had a good time though. So here's the big part of the story.

I went out with a big group of Ag-fo's(that's Agriculture/Forestry volunteers) first to dinner and then to Churchill's and was waiting for a bunch of my beloved health voluteer colleagues. Well, the Agfos trickled and then it was just me and my friend, Ashley, waiting. So as this story unfolds keep in mind that between dinner and Churchill's a few of us went to get ice cream and I had classily dripped chocolate ice cream all over my shirt. As we waited we sat and chatted. All of a sudden there was this kinda older scary guy who walked up and talked to Ashley. We looked at each other and laughed since we couldn't understand a word this man said except for the fact that he was from Liverpool. Wow. A minute or two into this a very, very, very good looking guy came and leaned over and looked at me and Ashley and said, "Are you drinking?" I was slightly confused at this remark because there was an empty drink in front of me but then he continues, "Would you like a drink?"

Ok, I'd had a little bit so my inhibitions were a little bit not there so my response was, "If a man is going to offer to buy me a drink I'm not going to turn him down." Next thing I know this guy has bought both me and Ashley a Julbrew and has taken the chair next to me and we are chatting about this that and everything. We talked quite a bit and exchanged names and why we were in The Gambia. His name is Adam(last name removed as always...this is the internet, after all). He's from Kent near London, has a degree in Architecture and works for the Royal Navy as a surveyor. In my head I'm thinking, "Is this a application process?" The best part of this story is the fact that as we chatted I mentioned that I had been at the bar the previous Wednesday and he looked at me and said, "I know you were." Wow. Talk about an ego boost. Pretty boy noticed me in my spaghetti strap dress. Wow.

Well, I'll remove details that certain family members would like to be kept oblivious of and leave it at I did kiss him but there was nothing too intense that went down and really the very un-Erika of it all was the fact that I got picked up at a bar. He was very, very pretty though and that English accent was just so very hot. Wow. Anyway, he was shipping out the next day so I knew I had no interest in continuing on with whatever was going on so that night after running around on the beach and laughing and chatting and...smooching a little we parted ways and I'm sure I'll never see him again but whatever. I had a good time and it makes for a great Africa story.

I kissed a guy in the Royal Navy that I met at a karaoke bar in West Africa. Fun, huh?

Title translates as "You can do it!!"

So, the story is that I was walking home from the hospital the other day and I came across a group of women who were doing laundry.

"Naa Maakoy." says one to me. Come help.

I laughed and said, "M maa kuro no." I can't wash laundry.

She laughed at me and continued to jibe a little bit about. Binta Ceesay, I manke tubab ti. I mu Gambia musoo le ti. Aning i ma kuro no? Binta Ceesay, you are not a tubab. You are a Gamiban woman. And you can't do laundry.

So I said, "N jube." Watch me.

After a few seconds of scrubbing the woman jumped up and with a little surprise said.

"I yaa no le!!"

Yes, I can...I can do it.

So, it's evening and I'm sitting with Sarta, my host grandmother, in the middle of the compound relaxing. Not a whole lot is going on or being said for that matter since she doesn't speak any English and my Mandinka isn't that impressive. All of a sudden loud shouting starts to come from a neighboring compound. I have no idea what's going on so I just stay sitting and relaxing in my chair. My whole host family seems to be heading off to see what the commotion is and Sarta and I just sit their relaxing.

Moments later a teenager runs into the compound in tears. She starts to go on and on in Mandinka and all of a sudden I realize I understand exactly what she is saying!! It was all very simple stuff but she was going at top speed and I was incredibly excited about the whole situation. I felt bad because I felt like celebrating and she was going on and on about how her head hurt and she went to the hospital and she's been sleeping all day ad isn't well and so and so wanted to beat her and had a stick and I was so excited!! I understood!!

And now, a harrowing tale of wit, courage and PCV solidarity. It is time to share the Grand Escape from Dakar, Senegal! Ooh...aah... Intrigue!

Yeah, so a bunch of people went to Dakar for W.A.I.S.T (West Africa Intramural Softball Tournament) in the middle of February and I went along on that grand adventure. Getting there was easy enough considering that going from Gambia to Dakar we spoke in English, but coming from Dakar was a little bit of a different story.

My friends, Brenna and Terra, and I decided to stay in Sengal for an extra day to go to Goree Island which is a tourist spot in Dakar with a bunch of museums and such. I wasn't terribly impressed but I had a great time hanging out with the girls. So Lauren and Andrew ended up staying an extra day as well so the day after Goree Island we set out to get a vehicle to return to the beauty of Gambia.

Important side note is that everyone in Senegal speaks French or Wolof. I speak English and fairly decent Mandinka. Lauren and Andrew speak Mandinka but I'm a little bit better. Brenna works in Kombo and doesn't ever need to use local language so she can speak very little. Terra speaks a little Wolof but she struggles. She says all she knows how to do is curse in Wolof. This is not 100 percent true but it is what she says.

So, we finally get a taxi to the carpark with cars going to Gambia and we find people who are speaking English.

"Wonderful," I think. "We're home free." How wrong I was.

So we start to be hustled by these guys who tell us if we take this set plas(a seven place vehicle) it will be 6000 CFA per person and we can leave without waiting for more passengers. Before we get in, we verify. 6000 CFA per person. 30,000 CFA total. We will not be charged for our bags? "Yes, yes," they claim. "No problem." So we get into the car and the man in the driver's seat gets out just as we get settled and a new driver gets in. He tries to charge us for our bags and we say "No!" and start to get out. So many people see, "Toubab...money..." and this makes getting fair prices for anything so very difficult. Especially since the drivers in Senegal are the scum of the Earth. Urg!! Anyway, this 2nd driver(who looks like he's about 14) drives down the road a skip and gets out! A third driver gets in and this guys doesn't speak a lick of English or Mandinka and I'm sitting in the farthest back seat praying we get home today since I am carrying rabies vaccines for the health unit. This guy drives about 20 minutes through Dakar and we are all completley turned around and lost and he pulls into a petrol station and asks for fare. This is the part where the drama begins.

We give the driver the 30,000 CFA and he turns and says(in Wolof), "It's too small."

What!

So, the attendant says, "I speak English." This is, of course, the only sentence he seem to know in English and long story, short...we end up on the side lot of the gas station trying to argue with the driver, trying to communicate with the gas station attendant and refusing to pay a more outrageous price then the slightly expensive 6,000 CFA per person. We ended up with the driver standing there, two attendants who claimed to speak English but couldn't understand a word we said and a rather matronly woman who was (i think) the manager of the gas station. At this point I'm still trapped in the back of the set plas with Brenna figuring that Lauren and Terra will eventually get us where we need to go. Finally I hear Lauren asking in Wolof for someone who speaks Mandinka. Another gas station attendant comes over and Lauren says, "Erika, come out here and help me listen to this guy." This, of course, turned into Erika explaining the situation in Mandinka...listening to the situation the driver was claiming went on in Mandinka and praying that her skills in speaking and listening to Mandinka were strong enough to get us all out of this mess.

Finally, I realize that the driver is lying to this guy!! He's claiming that we said that we would pay more money and then were backing out.

What!

I became rather perturbed...I mean, hot under the collar...I mean, totally pissed off!!!! I busted out the cruelest thing I could say in Mandinka.

"Ning cambandingo mu wuloo le ti!!!" This small boy is a dog/liar!!!

Them's fightin' words to a Mandinka...and I turned Mandinka all of a sudden. I was shouting, complaining, insulting. Ooh, I was angry. I keep saying we will not pay more, we can not pay more. We live in Gambia and do not have money. I tell him this boy was not even present when we made our agreement and the driver has no brain. Finally, this man asks me how I learned to speak Mandinka.

"M mu 'corps de la paix' le ti aning m be sabatiring Gambia."

I am a Peace Corps Volunteer and I live in Gambia.

"I ko Corps de la paix?" he says.

You said Peace Corps

I nod.

eruption. explosion. words. shaking fists. complete ire. confusion.

The woman and the Mandinka man had turned on the driver and I haven't a clue on earth what they were saying but I heard the phrase "corps de la paix" over and over which is French for Peace Corps. This culminated in a very meek faced driver accepting money the woman took from her own pocket to supplement his greed. He paid for the petrol and into the car we get.

Once we reached the border the man tried to screw us over again, but that portion of the story makes me feel like this Senegalese woman's kindness gets overshadowed so it will sufficient to say that the driver tried to cheat us again and Lauren stole his car keys until he gave us the money he owed us since he lied saying he would take us the whole way to the ferry and didn't mention he couldn't cross the border. We finally made it to the ferry, onto the boat, off of the boat and to the Peace Corps hostel. We were a little cynical with some Gambians we came across but could you blame us?

It was an 11 and 1/2 hour ordeal. We were so tired and I kept thanking God the ice in the cold box for the rabies vaccines was still frozen. Whoo... I'd rather not go back there. Good ole Gambia.

As promised, here is the next story in the grand installment. My host grandmother is a woman by the name of Sarta Defay. She's really nice, but very loud and teases a lot and is in your face and well....she's a Mandinka, what do you want?

To date, I've been very much considered "Toubab Guest" so I'm in the hierarchy in a strange way. No one tells me what to do and I'm encouraged to send the children to the shop instead of going myself. This was a very hard thing to get used to at first, but now it's easier and if I ask how to get something myself my 12 year old host sister, Rita, just kind of does it for me so I might as well just make it easier on both of us and ask her from the get go. So that is what I do. I will never send someone to fetch water for me though. I feel like that is something that connects me to what I'm doing. I can't explain what I mean but I love getting that bucket of water up and my head and moseying on home.

The hierarchy is that the younger person does things for the older person. Even if it is just pumping water. The youngest person at the pump tends to pump everyone's water. Especially if it is family. I went with my 6 year old host sister, Rohey, the other day and she was very distraught when I tried to pump water while she played. Ok, whatever. I don't get it in reverse though, generally. I'm the "toubab".

Boo.

Anyway, so I head off to the pump to get water for a bath the other day and I take the back road. As I get there the girls sitting around chatting at a nearby bantabas see me.

"Binta Ceesay! Somanda be naadi!" Binta Ceesay! How's the morning.

"A be jang." It's fine.

"I naata jibiyo la?" You came to fetch water?

"Haa. N naata jibiyo." Yes. I came to fetch water.

"Sarta naata jibiyo fanang." Sarta came to fetch water too.

"Sarta jumaa?" Which Sarta?

"Sarta kebaa. Ala bidongo be jee. A fele." Old Sarta. Her water jug is there. It's there.

"Sarta Defay?"

"Haaday." Yes

Then I looked up and up is walking my host grandmother so I set her water jug under the pump and I start pumping ahead of my bucket and when she got there, she simply greeted me and let me finish pumping her water!! I was part of the hierarchy properly. Yes, Rohey pumps my water, but I pump Sarta's. It all fits. I love it. I felt so at home. I felt like I belonged. All from 5 minutes of pumping water.

Who knew?

Hmm...Geckos are not just to save car insurance anymore. No, no. Now they save my sanity as well. I'm sure all who know me are aware of my utter disgust and distaste for spiders. Hate them, hate them, hate them. Hate. Spiders. Eww. Anyway so a little while ago I realized the spider content of my house had begun to drop. I wasn't sure why but I figured my host mom was sweeping them out for me every now and then. This was exciting because I didn't have to deal with the creepy crawly eight legged freaks but I was worried my hierarchy of arachnid was being disturbed. I worried that if the daddy long legs were being swept away the scarier ones would come out to play. As I became more and more concerned...that's when I saw him.

The love of my life was there in my doorway.

I decided on that moment that he would never be thrown from my 4 walls as long as I drew breath.

It was a gecko and I called him Salvation. Ahh......spider turmoil at a standstill. Every now and then is see I my tailed friend and I smile. "Hello, there." I say to him. "How's supper going for you?"

It is important to know that Gambians hate lizards with the same passion I hold for species of the exoskeletal arachnid variety. Eww.... One week the side of my bed collapsed as I woke up in the morning and I asked to borrow a hammer to repair it and ended up with a host brother repairing it for me. Oh well. Just as Saul stood up mid repair, my friend made a grand appearance!!

"Wy!" Saul exclaimed.

This is usually a comment of surprise, pain or fear in Gambians.

My heart stood stock still as I hoped for Mr. Gecko to disappear. He did not so I decided to explain to Saul that the lizard was a good thing and I wished for him to stay right where he was. I figured I'd give him a name to make it easier to explain. I blurted out the first male name that came to my head that didn't belong to any Peace Corps Volunteers I knew. Steve. Who knows where it came from but from here forth the gecko in the ceiling shall be named Steve to explain that the lizard is my friend and he eats my scary spiders and please, please, please....don't. kill. him.

Saul gave me a look that said, "Whatever you say, you crazy American." He finished the repair and moving on with the day.

I have two other stories to tell, but I will make more shorter posts rather than one LONG post for two reasons. One, it's less complicated for you. Two, it's less complicated for me. Done! So it shall be. But here are the stories to come so that I'll remember to tell them.

The story of the host grandmother and the water pump.

The Grand Escape from Dakar!

Wait a second...did I just understand that?</font?

Title translation: What happened?

Arg with the arg, arg...and a moo, as well

I'm tired and I think something is wrong with me but I can't for the life of me figure out what it is. I keep thinking I need to go talk to someone at the med center about not feeling right but I haven't a clue what to say. Uh, I'm feeling off and am not sure why. That's a good conversation beginner. They'll wack-evac me and then I'll have on my record that I have mental issues....I don't think so. Suffer in silence I guess. Maybe it's the malaria medication. Maybe not. Maybe I'm just going crazy. Anyway, just figuring stuff out.

It's 100 degrees outside at 130p. It's crazy hot and this is the cold season? What!? Anyway, that's what the headline means...The sun is hot. Ug. Well, Merry Christmas y'all from the Dark Continent. I'm not sure what my news is these days. Tobaski is coming up and I'm nervous about it. They kill a critter and y'all know how much I like blood. My host mom says she will warn me to go inside when it comes time for ram slaughtering. Hurrah for Tobo. Anyway, I really have so little news so I'll just leave it at Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I had a decent holiday and made some new friends. I've behaved for the most part...promise. Watched a new friend do a fire dance which was kind of just a guy with a baton on fire on both ends but I was impressed. This guy's name is Hi...for real, and I've been chilling with him and a few other VSO people these days. It's nice to see faces other than Peace Corps faces at the Green Mamba. Went dancing quite a few times this past week. The burn! Oh the burn. Yup, my legs complained quite a bit. Anyway, I want to try and get home today so I've got to go and catch a Gelegele here with the quickness. I love you all. Please say a prayer for my sanity as I return to Bwiam. I'm a little stressed out and need to figure some stuff out. My emotions are on freak out mode and work is a little difficult, but all should be well. Just need a few prayers. Peace out.

Translation: I'm going home. Well, Home to Bwiam anyway. I've been down in Kombo for what now feels like FOREVER!!! I will be heading back up to Bwiam today hopefully. *crosses fingers* Have mad stuff to do. Got a few presents for people back home. It's insanley expensive to ship stuff right now so I've got to keep super low. Doh!! Anyway, I love you all I just wanted to say hello and tell you that I'm heading back up country. I'm going to the kungkunjang mariama pilgrimmage next week which I'm very excited about. I've been wanting to go to this thing since I found it existed way back in May. Whoot!!! Well, I've been in Gambia 8 months. Isn't that crazy? I know that I can't believe it! Love you all. I'll be back in Kombo around the time for Christmas so I'll make sure that I jump on and post a Merry Christmas note!!

Sorry about the corny ass title, Will, but I'm in an internet cafe instead of the Peace Corps office today because Gamtel makes me a sad panda and I had to go somewhere that had wireless internet. That being the story here comes the story of the All Volunteer meeting. Went to the meeting and spent much of my time being sarcastic as most people are when they go to meetings like that. Thought the country director was going to drop the f-bomb when all that came out was "I haven't the fff...oggiest idea." It was fun. I also got to sit by a pretty cool guy by the name of Chris P. I don't put last names and I'm not positive how to spell it so we'll leave it at an initial. But he's a cool cat. We laughed and that kind of stuff and we went out to dinner/late lunch yesterday and laughed and chatted about stuff. He also comforted me Saturday when I thought my world was coming to an end. As I said he's a cool cat.

Went to a party on Friday night and Saturday night. I behaved myself...mostly. Hee, hee. I've been paying for it with sore dancing muscles this week, but eh, whatever. Anyway, met more cool cats. Like Joe and Will. Ended up hanging out with Joe...a lot... Not sure what's occuring there but I like him and I'll let y'all know if it is anything important. Met Will that night and hung out with him the next night since I'm not sure what is going on with Joe and I was in the process of wigging out central. Anyway, Will seemed pretty cool and can swing dance. I have to say nice things about him since I gave him the address to this blog and he will read what I'm saying. Anyway Will is Peace Corps from Mauritania and really cool. He's got great hair and a really big flash drive. Now take your minds out of the gutter that I have purposely sent them too and we'll move on. A group went to ice cream, Churchill's(which is karaoke), The Green Mamba(bar), and Aquarius(dance club). Will and I chatted and hung out lots and by the way, Will, you can find the song I told you you should listen to at www.shimmerrock.com. Are you proud of me, Kris? I'm trying to recruit more Shimmer fans!! And, Will, another GREAT book is Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. More about my personality to analyze, huh?! *wink*

So, now I am back in the training environment with my Reconnect. Every time somebody says "How's reconnect." Lizzie says, "I'm really reconnecting." Hee, hee. *snicker* It was funny. We had to write positive things on paper taped to each others back and there was some funny stuff. My friend, Elizabeth, said, "You are always sweet and compassionate even when your manic!" I laughed. Anyway, so other than that I'm just chilling with my training group and watching movies at the hostel and trying to relax and refresh a little bit.

So that's all my news for now so I love y'all and hope to hear from everyone soon. Hope Thanksgiving was great and hope the taco feed at Chenine's was killer! Hugs!!!!!!!

hyphen

You scored 46% Sociability and 52% Sophistication! You are comfortable around others. While you don't have to go out every night, yet you take pride in being easy to get along with. This should not, however, be misconstrued as believing (as many do) that you are without subtlety. In fact, you have the power to inform the anal retentive that, indeed, they are discussing an anal-retentive issue. Who else can do that? Quotation marks intimidate you a little bit.

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 37% on Sociability

You scored higher than 43% on SophisticationLink: The Which Punctuation Mark Are You Test written by Gazda on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

I just pulled Werther's Originals and a bag of gummi bears out of an envelope....Yum.... Thanks, Laura! Sugar is always good. Just came down for a couple days due to the Inspector General interview that I had to go to...sounds exciting and intense doesn't it? Only since I woke up at 640a and needed to be at the car leaving Bwiam around 654a. That was fun. I have fascinating bedhead today. Thank God for the PC volunteers right hand man...the Bandana. Yes, my bandana is green today, it was yellow yesterday and I have an orange one in my bag for tomorrow! (Thank you to Katy P and Joy) Just thought I'd share my plight with y'all. So, I went on a grand adventure last weekend. Thursday I traveled upcountry around 45 minutes to Kalaji and chilled with a PCV there. Friday it was on to Soma(around 3 1/2 hours) and then to Janjanbureh(6 hours in the gelegele and 2 ferries). Wow. That part sucked. But JJB was pretty cool. Hung out with some other PCVs. Drank enough beer that my current budget would allow (AKA one). Rode on a boat. It was good times though. I then returned home via a twelve hour gelegele ride. Yes, I got out a few times...to transfer cars! Gelegele occurences of note. My traveling companion was first kicked in the face and then urinated on by a very upset goat being transferred a ways down country. I ate my first guava. Told several small children that no, I did not want any bananas...you just watched me eat 4 of them! I also was hit on by a man who looked 19. That was fun. He told me I was more than the word beautiful. Damn these Gambians like the caboose. Or maybe it is just the fact that I am white and if he marries me he'll get to go to the States. This is a very real possibili...er likelihood. Whatever, yo. Makes little difference.

Well, I'm doing well, having fun, feeling fine in the land of Bwiam. Just received a package from Katy P and Joy and fambly. It was a kick ass package and I am thrilled to say that 5 months in a rubbermaid container didn't make for stale peanut butter cookies at all!! Or maybe they are stale and I'm so used to stale that stale tastes good.... This is also a very real possi....er likelihood. Since I'm discussing packages I must note that I am getting requests for "What do you want?" Here is a fun wish list: Duct tape(shut up PJ, I just want normal stuff not that scary uber-stick that weighs 20lbs), AA batteries, crystal light type lemonade(generic brand stuff is wonderful), face wash...I like the St. Ives peach kind but dude anything will do, solid deoderant(this is a dire need, I can't get this in country), Bandanas(they have a million uses!), trousers(if you decide you love me a lot, a lot...I'm size 18 on my way to 16 at the moment with all my old 22s. But only if you decide you love me a lot, a lot...I don't think even my parents are extremely willing to do this so I'll get over it if I don't get any), new mixes for the walk-man(it plays CD files and mp3 files), dried fruit, trail mix, gummi worms/bears, jelly bellies. Um, I think that is about all I can think of to put on the list....Perhaps I'll have to make a list I can add to periodically somewhere....

So, Thanksgiving is soon...I'm actually going to get a turkey dinner. How exciting is that? I didn't think it could get better than the occasional chicken leg and we get turkey?! Wow. Of course, I do have to come to a meeting with a jack load of PCVs at the same time, but eh...maybe I'll try and get here early...no problem. Anyway...enough yammering...I love you all...even though I suck and haven't gotten any letters written in a long time. Scott, Erin this shout out is specifically for you! Well, I'm hungry...I haven't eaten since 8p yesterday and it's around lunchtime so, Peace out!

Well, folks I have officially finished my 3 month challenge. I'm down in Kombo for the weekend so I can come and update at my leisure and all my relaxation of speedy quick internet! Woot, woot with the woot! Now, I feel like I have the time and the forum to say all of what has happened in the past three months and I can't think of anything...Doh!! Anyway, Bwiam is wonderful and I love it and yeah.

Family: My family is great. The little boy in my compound who will be 2 in October has finally decided that I am not scary and in fact, kind of a fun playmate. He enjoys being picked up and actually came to me when a dog started barking outside the compound. He ended up falling asleep on me. It was pretty damn cute. Tobo took me to tailor the other day which was kick ass since her prescence got me an Africa dress and two skirts for D175 when my friend got just a dress for D150. I'm stoked. I'm actually wearing one today and I think I'm pretty cute. I have to eventually get some pictures to my family but time has run away from me and I haven't really taken many. In fact, most of the ones in the compound are of Koko, the 2 year old. I was looking at my pictures and I realized that it looks like there is one person in my compound when there is actually around 15. I'm entertained.

Work: Work is alright. I'm teaching at Fatima Senior Secondary School on Monday-Thursday for two class periods since the power doesn't come on at the hospital until 10a. There isn't a lot to do at the hospital and I'm pretty frustrated with the entire situation. I've reached a "why am I here?" junction in my service which is frustrating, but my friends that have been here for awhile say it's pretty normal so I think I will survive. There is a new education volunteer who just arrived and we were talking about the fact that work is only 1/3 of the point according to Peace Corps. The rest is sharing who I am and learning from those around me and sharing that back home. Madness and irritation but I'll live. So I am teaching English and Literature to a grade 10 class in Bwiam. It makes me want to throw things when I ask if something is clear and they say yes and then 10 minutes later I realize they haven't understood a thing I've said for 20 minutes and I have to backtrack and nothing in the world seems to get accomplished. This is taking some getting used to. A volunteer who just went home is working on getting reacclimated with the US and she seems to be more confused about the way people do things there than I am about the way things are done here so I think I may be on the the easy part of this roller coaster ride.

Friends: So, really speedy there needs to be something said to a certain two of my beloved friends back home

Congratulations, Scott and Erin!!!!!!!

I am so thrilled for you guys I can't even stand it. I am saying beaucoup prayers for you and I think of you often. I was so excited to hear about your engagement!! Anyway, so I feel really out of sorts with the PCVs back in Kombo. I'm not sure how I fit into all this situation. I've been upcountry and feeling special and all that jazz since I'm a token tubaab and whatever but now I'm in Kombo and I'm back to being non-cool in my training group. Oh, well, I suppose I'm used to belonging to the "non-cool" declension but ...I still feel out of sorts. Yay, Joy and Nick!!! I got pictures from Mom of little Miss Brenna Marie and she is beautiful!!!!

Well, I suppose that's all I've got for today so I'll just head out and go feed my tummy at some juncture.

Hugs to you all!!

My sister's baby has come!! I'm so excited I can't say. Mom sent me pictures of baby Dane, Aimee. He's too cute!! Give my nephew and niece my love and I'll send a dalasi coin for him so that he will have one, too...I hope Claire received hers.

Well, life is going well. I have been in Bwiam for a little over a month now and my work is finally getting some direction. I'm pretty stoked. I went to Mass yesterday and talked to Brother Con, the headmaster of the highschool here about helping out at the school. I think I've gotten myself in pretty deep but I'm ok so far. It looks like I'll be teaching at english and biology at the school. So, my day will begin with teach the two periods at school and then continuing on in my health realated work. I don't how health related it is but the work is at the hospital and GFPA(Gambia Family Planning Association), so that is good. GFPA is actually an affiliate of Planned Parenthood but it is more like what it was when it began. It is more into the aiding mothers in their pregnancy and children spacing than anything else. They do provide care for women suffering from botched abortions but they don't do them(they are illegal here). So, my sensitive morals and aversion to hypocrisy can cope with that. I know, I know...get off of your soap box, Ross.

Yesterday, I was invited to come help with MCH clinic when they go on trek once a week. I'm pretty excited about that. It's chaos and I wonder how much aide they actually are but immunizations are indeed given and that is a very, very good thing. MCH stands for Maternal and Child Health, so they weigh babies to track their weight gain and to help the mothers watch out for malnutrition and there are nurses to give immunizations and a doctor to look at the children who are sick but the families are too far from the hospital. They go on Wednesday's and I think I will ask to go with them either this week or next. Sometimes you just have to get away from these infernal machines!! *grin* Hee, hee.

On the Gambia family front, the little bitty guy in my compound has finally stopped being afraid of me. That absolutley made my day yesterday!! He lets me pick him up and he actually came to me when he was upset! The 6 year old in my compound sat on my lap when she was mad at her sister and I really have started to feel like a member of the family. A strange one, to be sure, but a member nevertheless. I am elated! My mandinka is improving I'm starting work on learning wolof and I'm enjoying myself so much! Mom is telling me of packages that are on the way and I'm hoping you are all getting the letters that I write. Well, the ones I have time to write anyway. I'm sorry I'm not better about writing to all of you but I am making sure to respond to everyone who writes me! Petey, I want to write you and Megan but I need your new address!! Congratulations in 4 days!! I'll be thinking of you guys on the 30th! Well, take care of yourselves and until next time!