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So the curtain rail fell down this morning bringing both mosquito nets with it. We seem to be tearing this house apart, I just hope it can put up with us for a few more months! After our visit to Thies a few weeks ago we've been largely doing routine things, working hard and trying to complete everything before the end of term. The lycee had its Fosco which, in my opinion, was a good deal better than the previous one. The 20 girls hosting the ceremony all had red and black silk ballgown style dresses, the english club, Sedar theatre and environmental club all performed entertaining sketches, one evening they ordered a singer (for 300 000 cfa... expensive!) and of course the trusty "cocktails" of snacks and fanta. This weekend 2 private schools are having their foscos so it means yet more dressing up and wearing uncomfortable clothes. Last weekend in Mbour I bought some very bright and colourful sequined material which is currently with our tailor, Mbaye Kane, which should be finished today so hopefully I'll be able to wear that tomorrow and fit in perfectly.
Not much to say about teaching really. I've forgotten what might be interesting for other people to hear about. The 1e class sat a test I made on racism and culture which ended up being a great debate in class afterwards but I got a few interesting views in the essays which I was a little surprised to read about. They're participating a lot more these days, sometimes a little too much(!) but I think they're just looking forward to the holidays. Today we're doing some descriptive writing from natural disaster cutouts I found in an old times magazine so hopefully that should keep them occupied for a while. I also ended up organising the 5e composition which I decided to make a little different from usual and give a text based on Fantastic Mr. Fox. I think condensing the story actually entertained me more than it will them, a trip down memory lane! The art club continues making headway, slowly mind. All the kids drew portraits of each other so now we have a gigantic membership poster and last Monday they all get excited drawing lions, monkeys and camels for two animal parks which will decorate two of the very sparse classrooms. It's mainly just revision with the other classes now and I've wound up with the hospital, being quite busy with school and other bits and pieces. It was a shame to stop but definitely worthwhile for a time.
Last Friday Amadou's sister had a naming ceremony for her new baby boy: Mohammed Ba. There's always a new baby around somewhere! Her husband owns the ribbon shop at the market and always gives us free bags of bissap juice so it was about time we did something to help him out too. On Sunday there's a religious something or other down the street at Xadim's and soon after that most probably something else. Buso has begun selling mangoes opposite our house which are too hard to resist so that's where all my money has been going and we also made the mistake of buying a mirror after I smashed 2. So now I've got 14 years bad luck and an unflattering mirror. On a more positive note, I've managed to get a little time off at the very end of work to get to the St Louis Jazz festival in a couple of weeks time so I'm very excited about that and the holidays. Soon I guess we'll be out of Joal for a while so I might try and start emailing a little more rather than letters. Nothing quite beats a tasty packet of Tesco dried fruit in the post though!
I hope everyone's well and for those of you finished work or school for a while soon, enjoy the time off! Take care,
Kirsty x
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