Believe it or not, I am actually still alive!! The funny thing is....Ive been at internet more in the last couple months than I have the rest of my service. We finally got an internet cafe in my town! It's so great. Not only can I check my email and feel connected on a regular basis, it's a nice hang out spot. Before the internet cafe opened there wasn't really a place to sit and hang out and chat with people...but there is now! There's really only a handful of people who come in to use internet, but it is also a phone store so a lot of people are in and out dealing with their cell phones. It has fairly dramatically changed my daily life...and for the better! Alhamdoulilahi!

I just got back from vacation in Italy, which was awesome. My parents and my brother met me, and we had a great time. We spent some time in Cinaque Terre, about a week in Tuscany, and then Rome for a couple of days. May/June is the hottest time of the year in Senegal, so it was super nice to be in Italy and be able to wear jeans and long sleeves (not to mention the good food, wine, ice cream, beautiful scenery and great company!) It was a much needed break, and I'm definitely ready to handle my last five months (and it is really weird to say that I only have 5 months left!)

Ok now I have some moderately humorous...

Random Africa Moments:

One weekend I had another Peace Corps volunteer visit me at site, right after the internet cafe opened. It was a Sunday morning and we both decided to bring our laptops. However, after we set up and tried to connect we realized it wasn't working. I asked one of the workers what was going on and he just replied "I don't know. It's Sunday though, internet doesn't really work on Sunday." What?? Internet doesn't work on Sundays?! That's a new one. I never new that the internet needed a day of rest. I guess it has just been too overworked recently and finally put its foot down and demanded a day off a week.
Psssshhh. Not to sound incredibly cynical, but if that doesn't demonstrate people's work ethic I don't know what does. Yeah of course internet isn't working, it needs a day off too, just like the rest of us. And half days on Friday...


Last night I sat down with my family for dinner and my sister took the lid off the bowl to reveal mushy rice...but no fish or meat (we've never had a meal without at least some meat of fish). She caught me looking at it in a confused manner and she asked me if I knew where the fish was. I said nooo but I know you do and you're about to tell me. She started laughing and said that the cows had eaten the dinner fish!! Haha. I was all "really?!?" and she just nodded her head. I turned to my mom and she was shaking her head and started explaining that if you leave the kitchen door open the cows will come in and eat everything. I asked if they beat the cows to teach them a lesson (because that's what they do to children when children misbehave). My mom didn't really get the sarcasm and just said no. My sister got it and laughed. Anyway, I just sat there eating my mushy rice trying to imagine cows eating humans' dinner anywhere else but Africa...and I couldn't.