Hi friends,

again apologies for not getting more up more often, the cybers in Thies have been having some power difficulties as of late. I'd say things will get more consistent on the communication front, but training finished up yesterday and, assuming all goes as planned, I'll be heading to Kedegou early Sunday morning. As electricity seems to be something of a rarity down there we might all just have to be a little patient when it comes to the life and times of Willie.

It's pretty wild preparing for my site. There has been so much prep and talk and training over the last 2 months and I've been so antsy to get out there and now that it's staring me in the face it's a little overwhelming. At the same time I am incredibly excited. A couple teachers from my village made it up here last week (800 k treck) for our 2 day "counterpart" workshop. They will be my village liasons so to speak and the idea is that I will work with them and through them on things like curriculum development, lesson planning, environmental clubs, etc. They were extremely cool, and open, and excited for my arrival, and this eased my anxiety a lot. I also got a chance to check out a bunch of pictures from my region and it seems to be a pretty incredible place. I'll be arriving just at the start of the rainy season which is nice for the most part as the vegitation will explode and it will cool things off a little, although when its not raining I think it's gonna be pretty humid and could hit 130° or more.......sweet.

Got a couple pics here, I realize that it pretty much looks like I spend all my time at the beach, and how I wish that were true as it is truly amazing. However in all honesty we've done a few weekends out there and that just seems to be where I take my pictures. I really have had to go to class from 8-6 everyday during the week and spend most o my nights hanging out with my family.

As for all this subscribing to the blog confusion I apologize, again this is a little new to me. But I took down the false directions (those were meant to help ME set this whole thing up). I might appeal to the talents of Mr. Austin Evers and either ask you sir to just post some directions here on my blog or let me know what to do and I'll do it, thanks bud.

Hope all is well with everyone and for all you school types best of luck with the end of the semester.

Much Love,

willie

Pics: Jaxanke hangman with chalk on the basketball court, Leigh and kids, Lauren and me, patio view at Toubab (yes Toubab) Jalau, Ping Pong (and yes for all who are wondering I dominated the PC center tourney)