First Visitor

In one week, my first visitor will arrive!

Michelle, my friend from my old school in Scotland, is going to visit Dakar for approximately 8 days. She is on her half term break, and decided to come all the way to Africa for the first time to see me! I feel honored.

Besides being previous coworkers, Michelle and I attended a lot of concerts in Scotland together (Coldplay, Oasis, & James Blunt among others...) and had some fun nights out around town in Aberdeen (which incidentally, was just voted the "worst crime beat" around Scotland - yeah!!) and beyond.

I look forward to seeing you soon, Michelle!

To Scotland...With Love

It is amazing how a piece of you can ache for a place after you leave...even if you never thought you'd feel that way. Such is the case with Scotland.

When I left Seattle for Aberdeen, I missed Seattle everyday that I was gone. Now I'm in Dakar, and there is a part of me that pines for a glimpse of rolling green hills, men in kilts, and a harsh Scottish brogue. (Clarification - I don't miss Aberdeen at all, just the other bits of Scotland!) Of course I still miss Seattle, but at this point, Scotland is more of a recent memory.

The clean, lush beauty that can be found all over the UK is hard to top.

Sao Brasil

My new Friday night hang out is at a pizza place called Sao Brasil. Mmmmm....they make delicious, thin crust pizzas there! My favorite? The vegetarian.

So, I have taken a vow to wear the same dress, my blue and brown Hawaiian print, every Friday that I go there. So far, I have worn it 4 times (or maybe it's 5?). There's no sane reason for the dress fetish except that I simply enjoy doing things like that. Plus, I do like the outfit.

The I WILL WEAR THE SAME OUTFIT TO SAO BRASIL EVERY FRIDAY mania is catching on...some have promised to wear the same pants or shirt to every pizza get together. That just demonstrates to you how cool my new coworkers are!!!!

Il Fait Chaud

Funny thing here...a few people back home have asked me how warm/hot it is here. I usually reply, "80 to 85 degrees, but it feels warmer because of the humidity."

Weeeeeeelllllll, about a week ago, I started the weather portion of an AIR & WEATHER Science unit with my students. We are currently studying about thermometers, and I taped the science kit one on the outside window (to be easily read from the inside).

{Side Note: My new favorite pastime is checking the thermometer...obsessively. It would be very common around this time to hear me exclaim, "Ohhhh! The temperature went up 4 degrees from the last time I checked!" Yes, I am usually talking to myself as well.}

Back to the story - when we checked yesterday the temperature was 96 degrees during the hottest part of the day. Today? 100 big ones!

Now I can more accurately reply to people, "It's anywhere from 95 to 100 degrees here, but it feels warmer because of the humidity."

Shocking that my cold weather body (Seattle first, then Scotland) can handle it.