Kaolack seems like such a long time ago now, probably because it was, therefore I have decided to skip it and go straight to Easter.

A couple of days before easter, Zoe and I decided to spend a few days in Cap Skiring. We were so excited to be going that we didn't even mind being allocated the back seats in the set places(fairly cramped, even if you are Zoe's size), we intended to spend the entire couple of days lying on the beach and were fairly succesful in this endeavour.

The beach was beautiful and peaceful and our entertainment was provided by the herds of cows ambling along the beach and middle-aged French holiday makers who were silly enough to try their hand at traditional senegalese dancing with two teenagers farther along the beach - all respect goes to the lady, who was not even put off by our laughter.

There are always people selling things on the beach, eg jewellery, fruit and clothes. Obviously Zoe and I were polite to them but when the inevitable young gentlemen arrive, asking to be your friend, walk with you, etc, Zoe and I have a tendancy to become Swedish, Slovakian or German - it really is amazing, until that is, the young man breaks into fluent German...

Zoe and I returned to Ziguinchor on the friday and made chocolate eggs for our host family on the saturday. This activity, although requiring a steady hand, helped us to forget about the journey back...

Stuck in the back seats again, squished up beside a breast-feeding mum and baby who, obviously started crying at one point, our attention was held by the middle three seats where sat: a cute older brother and little sister duo and a young couple, the man of which was just UNBELIEVABLY flirty. He would not sit still and although his girlfriend was clearly distracted by the fact that 1) they were in a car with 8 complete strangers and 2) there was an elderly, religious looking man in the front seat, he would not desist from throwing his arm round her and whispering in her ear every few minutes. Every time he threw his arm round her my knee was knocked and he recieved a few of my filthiest looks. It seems funny now but at the time I was not too pleased with this guy.

Easter was much more religious than I have been used to. We actually went to Mass on Easter Sunday! This was an interesting experience which involved lots of standing up and sitting down, studying everyones Easter-best(90% of the congregation had made an enormous effort and the others wore jeans) and beautiful singing. The church was absolutely packed with hundreds of people - not everyone could fit inside. An enjoyable accompaniment to the service was the toddler in our host family who refused to sit still and insisted that we sit down when we were meant to stand up, hold her and eventually started to cry because her dad told her to be quiet.

We wore our new boubous to the party in the evening and were encouraged always to drink more beer and not to bother with fizzy drinks. Our second host mum was pronounced to be a "bad catholic" because she does not drink alcohol.

I will soon do another entry on our school trip to the Gambia but right now I have to go and get ready for Girl's Club.