so life in africa continues through power and water cuts. the power only went off twice last night while i was talking to brian so that was a pretty decent go, and then sunday night we had no water at all. lucky because some people haven't had it for three days, ie at the volunteer house where there essentially isn't any. it was out at work all day yesterday too.
so other than burning my toast first thing this morning, nothing notable has come up. i'm securely exhausted from nothing in particular but i would really like to crawl back into bed. i got eaten by mosquitoes last night, so i think i'm going to have to return to the pre-bed insect repellent routine i had. i just don't know what the deal is.
over the weekend we went to the Atlantic Club (which i guess is technically the same thing as the american club?) which was super nice... yay the pool! and that was fun. interesting seeing all the other americans of dakar. made me weirdly (or not so weirdly...) homesick for middlebury. in some way i feel like i fit in there better than anywhere, but i think that that goes back to something i've said to brian before--he understands me so well that sometimes i forget i'm in a place where i feel really different. not that i feel the same here, or anything. i feel white and like i stick out like a sore thumb in most places.
after the atlantic club we also had a drive around downtown Dakar which was pretty cool. there's a big city downtown side to it as well which is surprising and some of the streets if you don't look too closely could just about be new york or paris. missing new york this summer as i'm thinking about all the other kids doing PTP and how unhappy i was last summer but how fun it was all at once. it was great being in nyc with brian because i felt like we were both the country mice come to stay to some extent. we both do so much better someplace smaller-but we will both be happy anywhere (especially if we are together).
saturday we went to the Ile de N'gor. its this little tiny island really close to dad's house, across a teensy bay from the plage de N'gor. because the water is all protected there weren't any waves or anything on the beach side but you could walk around to the other side and see the rocks and the atlantic. i'm thinking about going to a different beach on the atlantic sometime after work for a rest, but i might have to wait until i actually have the energy. its more like the beach in italy (as i remember it) where you hire your beach mattress and umbrella and it actually gets quite crowded. the beach was really small and people swimming in the water hadto compete with the boats coming in from the mainland, pirogues full of people in ill-fitting life jackets which are apparently mandatory to wear. I realized then how spoiled i'd been going to assinie with its long stretches of white sand and perfect waves and not a whole lot of people. i'm longing to find the equivalent beach out here but its definitely a wake up call to realize that not all beaches in Africa are quite that beautiful. I miss Cote d'Ivoire every day that I am here but hopefully eventually I'll love it here just as much.
in other news i am being devoured by mosquitoes RIGHT NOW and i just got bitten by one under the table i guess on my foot andi am trying extremely hard to ignore it but its on the bottom of my foot so it will itch every time i walk on it. gotta start bringing the repellent to work again, can't believe i forgot today. DAMN BUGS!!! arrrrghhhhh right now i'm in too much discomfort (itchy swelling on bottom of foot anyone?) to even begin to worry about malaria, but of course that's gotta be in the back of my mind every time i get bitten. i need to be more careful--about the sun too-i'm getting darker and darker by the day. I think i must have jinxed myself yesterday when i told eva that i had luckily not been bitten too much yet. they must have heard me and come to get me.
make it stop itching PLEASE!!!!
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