Long overdue updates:
1. I've been busy assistant coaching volleyball for Grades 4, 5, and 6. Funny thing is, I'm not a good volleyball player (note: my height). It's been an experience!
2. Dakar experienced a fuel shortage around two weeks ago. There was a religious festival in a place called Touba, and I guess this sort of thing happens every year around this time as everyone is heading out of town. Soon enough, these frantic emails starting shooting around the work place (Hey, you can find gas at the Elton station 30 miles out of town when the moon is full and the stars are in perfect alignment). Slight exaggeration, but some people on staff did run out of gas. The queues at the stations to grab the last dribbles of petrol were intense as well. That's what I was told anyway. You see, I couldn't risk the gas to go and witness the spectacle.
3. I hit a young guy (maybe 18 or 19) on a scooter the other day. Or, you might say he hit into the side of my car...as my blinker was illuminated...as I was slowly turning left (scooters and motorcycles pass on the left all the time here - grrrr!). Good news: He just had a few scrapes and wasn't seriously injured. It will take me awhile to get the picture of his scooter skidding out, and then his body sliding along the road, and then...nothing. He was motionless for a long time.
4. On a lighter note, the notorious WAIST tournament was in Dakar this past weekend. WAIST = West African Invitational Softball Tournament. This tournament has been running for 37 consecutive years, and Peace Corps volunteers from all over West Africa (well, at least those from The Gambia, Mali, Senegal...and those recently departed from Mauritania) were in attendance. Think Spring Break, West African style. That pretty much sums it up!!
