Firstly apologies for yesterdays entry, had troublme with the internet as usual. I sat here for about 45 mins trying to get it to work and when it finally did I was out of time and now I can't delete it so I am starting again.

Stuff good here. New volunteers arrived. Theres a hottie - seems quiet but alas he is hot. Any shyness I once had is out the window and now am annoyingly loud so when we met them for drinks I woulmdnt shut up.

I must admit though when we came into town two nights ago to meet the new volunteers it felt like when you go to a housepqrty in yeqr 9 when you know literally noone. Anyway it turned out fine and everyone seems really nice so far.

Went swimming yesterday in the dirtiest pool ever but I really do need to get fit. I did forty lengths and almost passed out but it did feel good. Sadly the good work was all undone when I called into the patisserie on the way home aznd bought 4 pain au chocolats. But I did enjoy the swimming and despite being expensive (a shocking 3 pounds fifty) it was very enjoyable swimming in a pool right next to the sea - i didnt even mind the layer of dead insects.

Work is increasingly stressful although I still enjoy it cos of the little kidlets. On day one I thought the teacher asked me to go home and draw a big face for the board cos the children are learning the French words for eyes, nose etc at the moment (so cute when they repeat the words cos they have a little scottish accent, very bizarre but very sweet). Anyway I went home, drew this huge face, coloured it in and took it to school, extremely pleased with myself. Sadly she was not as thrilled and it turns out she wanted me to dram and cut out 50 pqirs of eyes, 50 noses, 50 mouths etc so the kids could make their own fqces on paper. I almost cried - the look she gqve me was terrible. But I got on with drawing the stuff and finally had enough. Today was the day for sticking the eyes down and colouring in the face. So I todl the kids to colour the eyes and went off to the office to get some glue. I came back and the kids had coloured the eyes all these weird colours like stripy pink and purple etc and the WHOLE eye not just the coloured bit (the technical nqle escqpes me). Teacher went crazy and the final straw was when she spotted that one of the kids had put the nose where an eye should have been. A couple of kids got slaps for that and it was terrible cos really it was my fault but its impossible to collunicqte stuff like that becquse they all speak Wolof and not French.

So 5 hours a day of kindergarten is hard work and I was right about it being distressing. Today this really creepy teacher cqme in and stqrted kicking this little boy for absolutely no reason. Then he smacked him over he head with a rucksack before walking out laughing (oh and he kindly told me I had a "gifondi" - unluckily for him this is the one Wolof word I DO know and it means GIANT ASS... truly offended). Then later on my favourite little girl who is sooo quiet and always holds my hand all day got smacked when I was out of th room and she was sobbing all day and when I cuddled her at break time, teacher again not impressed, but she just sat there with her head on my knee crying. And finally to top the day of Tata Adama (the teacher) left for about 20 minutes so I was left to supervise a craft table of 8 (NO easy task believe me - picture paper mouths, noses and ears EVERYWHERE) and a classrool of 30 others. When I was outside with the crafts I suddenly heard this screaming and I ran in to find about 15 littles boys kicking repeatedly this other tiny little boy and pulling at his legs and trying to rip his clothes etc. He was so upset and it took me about 5 mins to get the boys off him. When I finally did, the tiny boy couldnt stand cos he was so upset and I had to take him out and hug him for ten minutes to calm him down. I havent felt like crying since I got here but I seriously thought I would when I saw that. And I think they think its okay to do that because they see so much of that every day.

On the upside, it is very sweet to see the kids come to school as most parents dress them up beautifully - i.e. party dresses and tiny little kitten heel shoes. It is like school is a big deal and despite the violence, they do get a good education. They qre VERYROWDY though, but only the quiet ones seem to get punished. I was speaking to Seb (American Hottie) last night and he said that a lot of smacking/hitting/kicking goes on at his school too.

In Senegal I am not called Caroline and the everyone calls me Coomba. Even at school I am Tata Coomba. I was given this name my Maddys host brother and now everyone I meet knows it, so I might change it my depole when I return home.

Oh and the most exciting thing - yesterday we came home and we had FOUR POSTER BEDS. Admittedly they are singles but its the best thing ever. There are four wooden posts and our mosquito nets are draped over them. We feel like princesses! Though Lucys net is too small and I though shhe was going to cry but luckily the family had one big enough for her bed.

I think I al getting used to the cold shower. The trick is to leave it till the middle of the day so that the sun has heqted the water a bit. Though I must adlit I hadnt showered for 3 days until today qs it is just sooo cold.

Im meant to be meeting Simon today but absolutely no sign of him. Ive txt him but still no response. I hope he doesnt go without saying hi becquse my family want to meet hilm and his camp site is only ten minutes away so very convenient.

Well I best be off now, going to go for a drink with some of the others and eat cake and then g hole for dinner - praying its not lore tibasci mouton, I think Ill BE a mouton soon!

Lots of love as always and will put postal address up tomorrow.

xxxxx