Weekly Blog Update

Did that title fool you? It sure fooled me. Also, I almost just spelled sure "shure."

So, sticking with my style I’m posting less than a week before I go home for the first time in many months. I am one of the worst bloggers there is. I post less frequently even than Mark Olivieri.

Anyways, I’ve been having America dreams pretty much every night now. That happened to me before I went home for Christmas as well, but this time I don’t get the weird meflyquin effect where I can taste the food even when I wake up (I switched to doxycyclin because mef was making me feel weird). Does anybody know if you can get bacon on a Wendy’s double cheeseburger? The friendly staff at the Wendy’s in my dream (that somehow was placed near the new video game section in Lowes?) didn’t know.

So Ramadan starts tomorrow. That should be exciting. Or rather not exciting in the least bit. Last year during Ramadan we were all still in training so I didn’t fast or participate in the least. Also, we spent most of it in the training center, where we were fed. This time, I will be mostly in America. America is the opposite of Ramadan. I will be allowed to eat to excess, dance, look at women, etc. I certainly plan to eat to excess. I haven’t decided the degree to which I plan to participate at site. I’ll only be there for three days, and I could easily fast for that amount of time. At the same time, fasting just for the sake of fasting doesn’t really sit well with me. I don’t do all of the other (more important) parts of Islam, so why fast? I guess it’s cultural, so it might make sense to do. The one thing that I’m going to really miss, however, is my host mom’s breakfast sandwiches in the morning. She shuts her stand down for the month of Ramadan, so even if I wanted something I couldn’t get it. There is another breakfast lady near our health post, though, and she says that she will be around. We will see.

I’m preparing at site for going home by letting everyone know that the reason that I am not doing any new work is because I will be on vacation. This seems to be working. Nobody thinks that going to America for three weeks is unreasonable, and my Christmas trip seems to have slipped pretty well under the radar. Only one person has asked me for something. I haven’t decided what gifts to bring back home. I brought “traditional” Senegalese things like fabric and fans when I came back for Christmas, so this time I’m thinking about things that more accurately demonstrate modern Senegalese culture: gaudy misspelled t-shirts in English, belts with holographic Barack Obama buckles, and hand-woven plastic bath scrubby things.

This girl’s camp meeting that I’m in Kaolack for is about to start so I will leave now. Any thoughts on food items that I may have forgotten about in my dreams and you would like me to include can be left in the comments area.

Oh, and Mom I got the book you sent me, but I didn’t bring my kindle, so I won’t be able to download it until Sunday.

Some quotes:

“Oh, I’m next, maam.” Lawrence (credited as Larry) Fishburne in Apocalypse Now

“What is the girl in the back even doing?” 21 Jump Street (the new one)

“              “ The Artist (get it)