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Location Date Joal 
1369695600 Dakar 1347750000 Joal Fadiout -
Location Date Tue, 28 May 2013 1369779408 Fri, 01 March 2013 1362144332 Wed, 30 January 2013 1359552172 Thu, 20 December 2012 1356046537 Mon, 19 November 2012
1353354692 Sat, 03 November 2012 1351950985
After more than two months of form-filling, back-and-forthing, grass cutting and anticipative discussion involving 2 meetings of 4+ hours EACH, SCHOOLS HAVE FINALLY STARTED! I am now a proud teacher of two 4m (3rd year of middle school) and two 6m classes at the CEM, one premiere (penultimate year) class at the lycee, and one 5m (2nd year of middle school) at a local teacher-owned school called Kangame. On top of this, Katie and I are jointly running English and Art clubs at a local primary school, taking the lead on some IT lessons at the CEM, and also running Fasjom, a project providing evening classes in French and mathematics for local girls/women who haven't had the chance to get a full/any education. On top of that I am an avid singer (and often accompanist) of the Petite Chorale at church, and have joined a local basketball group, as well as working one morning a week at the medical centre! Already my days of leisurely mornings and afternoon napping seem a distant mirage, as lesson-planning and other wondrous things (e.g. Saturday lessons) take up rather more of my spare time than I'd like. That said, it's been fantastic to get fully started, the weeks are flying by and it's been four days since Katie and I celebrated our two month anniversary! It was a stupendous evening, complete with chlorinated water and bananas. Compromise, Communication, and Respect, says the Project Trust manual in the section entitled 'Getting on with your partner.' I'm pleased to announce we have great doses of these values in supply and all is going swimmingly.
Things are also looking up on the culinary front. Since our minor disaster of a meal involving spaghetti, double concentrate tomato puree and a 2am visit to the hospital, we have successfully baked a cake for Marieme's birthday party (She has now reached the grand old age of 5) and last night held off a non-functioning oven and general adversary in the form of my cooking skills (or lack thereof) to produce pizza and chips. The dish was cleared in record timing; success!!! Onwards and upwards. We've also been enjoying a number of ram-based dishes thanks to Tabaski. A particularly memorable one involved peanut puree (Senegal's cash crop), rice, and to top it all off, a large goats' head slap bang in the middle of the bowl. Deeeeelicious.
Other than that we've just been enjoying la vie Joalienne - I'm trying to learn how to buy fish at the port, however as this generally consists of standing around whilst Amadou enters into fierce and complex negotiations I haven't come on too far yet. Marieme now provides me with daily gossip from the underworld of pre-schoolers as she rides on the back of my bicycle to school and back, and the Wolof is slowly, slowly coming. Ndank ndank. This weekend we're looking forward to a swift visit to Dakar to see an Artisanal Exposition organised by Peace Corps and a catch-up with the Project Trust girls stationed in a bilingual school there, before returning for Tamkharite - the festival of cous-cous (so good they named it twice). These guys really do have everything covered. Apparently it involves cous-cous (who'd have guessed?) and cross-dressing. Will let you know how that one pans out. In the meantime, hope all is well in Blighty (or wherever you happen to be) aaaaand…have a beautiful day! It's on me.
Amee
P.S. Sorry for lack of accompanying photo. Technical hitch.
- comments
dad I hope that means five stars, though not sure about the ram's head and not cous- cous again - it seems to rear its head where ever we go. great blog
Katrina thwaites AMES, as usual a fantastic blog! Missing you loads and so happy you finally have a full timetable! and whats this about a basketball team? xxxxxx love you lots, your wonderful younger sister
James Larkin Well done Amee! Sounds like a great adventure!
Melissa Brilliant! I had to read out the last couple of sentences to the fashion girls around my desk I found it so hilarious ... not sure they quite appreciated the amee humour but I for sure made up for it by having a wee cackle! LOVE YA! XX
Jacquie "Salaam aleikum" - Amee , great to read your bogs over the last couple of months and fantastic to hear that you are embracing so many experiences and opportunities . So pleased School has started and you are enjoying some structure to your day , no doubt ! Can always remember arriving at Yundum airport in The Gambia and taking a deep breath as the pace of life ground to a virtual halt - have always had great admiration and respect for my Father who worked for 25+ years in Gambia .Keep up the great work and enjoy - its sounding like such an amazing experience .
jacquie great to read your BLOGS aswell !!
Karen Great blog as ever Amee. Makes me feel like I am living the experience with you all. Only wish I were. Makes Blighty life seem very ordinary - commuting on the M40...traffic jams and rain.. ummm almost forgot that one! Enjoy your time. You seem to be making the most of it for sure! Love Kx
berenice that made me smile so much! sounds amazing amee - hope you and katie love every day x
Fr Michael Delighted to be linked into your blog Amee and fascinated to hear of your adventures. Keep up the great work and take care of yourself. Love and prayers Fr Michael
Siobhan Fantastic blog - well done and great work, love the photos Siobhan xx
Mum Great Blog Amee, hope the trip to Dakar goes well x x x x xx
REMZ Amez you write in such a sophisticated and charming way! LOVE following this blog and it sounds like you're doing well. Hope you had a great birthday xxxxxxx
Mary Harrison Hi Amee, your Mum gave me details of your blog when she rang me to tell me yor results and plans for this year. It all sounds amazing! What a store of lasting memories you are building up while contributing so much to the community there. I am delighted to hear that you have turned the tables and are now doing the teaching and enjoying it. Yes it does mean a lot of preparation but that makes the lessons successful and effective. I am quite jealous of your experiences! By the way, how did the Olympics go? I will continue to keep up with your blog. Well done you!
Lucy For some sad reason I never read this at the time - I think life here must have been so crazy I missed it on my news feed. Anyway this sounds amazing too - and I am shocked to hear of your culinary knowledge improving. Don't get too good at cooking or I might not recognise you...the thought of you asking what 'simmer' meant when trying to cook baked beans in SA will forever make me smile. Miss you loads, keep working to save the world Ames, we all know you're either gunna save the whole world or none of it, you don't do things by halves do you? Caroline and I regularly comment on how much we miss you. So proud. Love you loads xxxxxxxxxxxxx
alexandre Bonjour Un blog pour récupérer le terrain et la maison que nous avions construit et que la mairie nous a volé.Le terrain avait été acheté a la Mairie de Joal au Maire Paul Ndong et Taffa Diouf son bras droit.Nous souhaitons qu un membre de la Mairie nous contacte.Merci lundi 1 juillet 2013 Joal Fadiouth Sénègal .L Arnaque de la mairie et du maire Paul Ndong! Bonjour Nous sommes le 1 er Juillet 2013 et nous continuons nos procédures pour récupérer notre maison et notre terrain à Joal Fadiouth Sénègal: Consultez notre 1 er blog ICI: Tous les documents officiels sont ci dessous: http://joalfadiouthsenegalarnaque.blogspot.fr/ http://joalfadiouthsenegal.blogspot.fr/ Nous souhaitons un arrangement à l amiable avec la Mairie de Joal Fadiouth. Pour tout contact voici un email : [email protected] Merci A vous tous pour vos informations.