Its Wade Berkseth

Its always interesting (ie annoying) when the first thingk that the cab driver asks you is "am nga jekker?) Do you have a husband? That gets real old real fast but Im getting creative with my husband stories.

I also get very tired of people commenting on how fat I am. Obvisouly I know they are joking and most of the time I play along with it bus ome days its just too much. It was especially mean when the neighbor boy aked me if I weighed 400 kilos and what did I eat to get legs that size. Gratned he's 10 years old and all little kids (regardless of nationality apparently) are mean. Apparently that means IM integrating into the community if they are comfortable enough to make fun of me. Thats good I guess. But really I personally dont thik Im that fat. Im actually losing weight here. But i mean look at the pot calling the kettle black. People here seeem to be either emaciated (sadly many due to malnutrition but not all) or really fat with especially large asses. Mine is by far NOT the biggest that Ive seen. I get tired of my mother commenting on me getting fatter when I bring bread home. I may just turn anorixic or bulemic here wiht all the ridicule (ha justkidding mom). But really Im just whining. Im not reallly taking it to heart. It just gets tiring sometimes and am just noting interesting cultural differences. heaven forbid we ever criticize someones weight to their face, its exceedingly better to do it behind their back. I also found out the real meaning behind the term "jaay fondee" what all the women say about my butt. there are women who sell something called fondee and jaay means to sell. apparently this is stuff which women eat when they want a larger but (go figure) and there is a popular song about it. I would love to see this music video! (music videos here are another story all together)

Also got a new American housemate, also named Kristi and who just happens to be the former "Miss Virginia" and a copule of other pageant titles. She is very sweet and down to earth and its lovely having another anglophone next to me!

Research = blah. A guey that I met with today told me that I didnt have authoriwationto be researching in Senegal... and then I thought to myself hes right I dont have authorization (only from my university but nothing from the government which none ofus were aware we needed). But that got me thinking about what the f@@@ am I doing. Its just sometimes I feel so incompetent etc etc and incapbale of doing what I want to do here. My friend David and I were commiserating about the fact that generally wehave absolutely no idea what we are doing. But I guess in the end we manage, and we have tos tart somewhere :) What a lovely learning experience. they dont get much better!

But also on a positive note: was feeling confident in my transportation abilities after successfully navigating myself through 3 car rapide rides (which have terribly complicated routes) and negotiating a taxi in Wolof :)

In other happenings, went tot he beach yesterday with Miss Virginia

It rained today (2nd time this year woo hoo). Its the start of the rainy season and there was a veritable flood in front of my house. Will take a pic next time.

And I got my hair braided. All I can think of sometimes is its wade berkseth with long hair. Love you Wadie!