I'm alone in the execution line of a laser tag game.

Hello! Thought I would write a quick blog just because.
It's been a clusterfuck. Maybe it's the year volunteer thing. All kinds of things pouring in on all different sides.

I thought I'd be having a down moment in my village work wise, with all the tree planting done. Instead, something threw me into a whirlwind of different “jobs” coming in at all angles. It's then that you start realizing your limitations, your strengths, your weaknesses, and realize it's time to sort all that crap out or just get the hell out (sorry, had to say that cuz it rhymed). So, I've been playing my hand in starting up some new projects and seeing if it really is possible to get something done in a village that has a rather unique esprit. But the obstacles just keep coming in every angle and now I can't sleep!

So that is just my village. Lots of other things happening. A sort of change of pace for me. I'm going to be leaving my village for 5 weeks. I haven't been gone from my village for over 5 days in over 7 months! Yes, was being a homebody but boy do I know how my village works, vraiment!
What will I be doing for five weeks?

I'm going to be helping with a “summer camp” for girls for a week. I'm going to Dakar to take my mid-service exam (required) and have a few days off waiting for my family to get here. I'm going to pick up my family in Dakar and travel around with them for two weeks (we will go to my village for a couple of days, so I suppose I'm not “technically" gone for 5 weeks...but come on...). Then I'm going to slowly make my way back to my village.

Yay, my family is coming! Well, to be more specific, it's my mom, my brother and his guy. All amazing people. I've traveled with them many times but this is the first time that I get to make the itinerary. It's the "Sheila" test for how well I can plan a trip. Yay! Though I do have some obvious advantages seeing as how they are coming to visit me in my home.

Through all this stuff I've been doing another thing that all Peace Corps volunteers tend to go though. I've been thinking of potential paths to follow when my service is over. I've been considering things from grad school to hobo traveling, to organic chicken and pig farming on an uninhabited island, to getting a job, and thought about living in just about every country of the globe and every corner of the states as well. Oh and you can't forget the prospect of staying in your village for the rest of your life and becoming the third wife to a one-eyed, toothless old man and providing him with many children.
Well, especially after that last image, I've been driven to do some personal career counseling (Yes, I'm my own therapist... thats the way it is here), and have been surfing the internet lots and I think I found a future path!!!! It's like magic! It hit me like a light! It iluminated and then exploded right on top of my head! It all fits together and I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel that begins my next chapter in life! My future is....
To be continued (aka these paths change every day)... Hehe.

So I've been here about a year now. It's a great feeling. I kinda feel like I just recently started to really be ready to do some work while actually knowing what I'm doing. Prospects for this next year are bright, yet busy and evidently frustrating as well. I'm excited!
Because that year mark has arrived, that means there are new volunteers coming into our Kedougou mixture! In fact, they just visited us for a couple of days. We have four new girls and three new guy volunteers that will be installed into their villages in about a month. How exciting!




Ok, thats all. I didn't take many pictures recently. Just a few on a rainy day. Here ya go.

Oh and this little guy... he is a "bug" that has been living in my room for a couple months now. We have a symbiotic relationship. He eats bugs and never bothers me, and I let him hide under my trunk. we meet every single day when I sweep under the trunk, and he just kindly moves out of the way while I sweep, then goes back under the trunk when I'm done. Here he is on my bed. haha!

bye bye