Your asking me for directions???

so yesterday i was riding into kedougou and because of the rains the bush path i take was pretty gross. there was one point where i was trekking through ankle deep mud and mid-calf stagiment, smelly, brown water. it was so gross and i just wasn't in a great mood anyways, i hadn't slept very good the night before. plus i have no music since my stupid iPod broke a while ago, but it's going back to texas with meg next month so i'll be getting it back when i meet my mom in portugal in feb. anyways, so i got the main road that takes me to kedougou and was getting in a better mood because i was almost there. everyone as i ride by likes to greet me, which is funny cuz they all act really surprised when i greet them in pulaar because they all tend to greet me in french. this one man kind of flagged me down a bit and started off with a big 'bonjour', well i greet him with a big 'wali e jam' and he goes oh and then started speaking in pulaar and asked me for directions! i always feel it's a big accomplishment when your asked for directions when your somewhere else, it's happened in paris, nice and amsterdam but serioulsy your going to ask the white guy for directions through the bush in africa?? but actually i knew exactly where he was going, it was another volunteers village and one i pass through. so i rode off feeling good, which was helpful it was a really rough week. just from the usual everyone and their mothers asking me for money or presents and the annoying ass children screaming 'cadeaux' or 'present' at me. it's the only french word they tend to know especially in my area where the education system is terrible. one of the hardest things now is dealing with this local celebrity status. i'm ready to go back to being just another face in the crowd, no one caring, staring or constantly laughing at everything i do. another volunteer and i were talking last night about all the stuff that drives us crazy about senegal and came to the conclusion that after this is all said and done we're probably not going to remember all these annoying things that make us crazy in senegal. i mean i could talk for hours about stuff that makes me want to rip my hair out here; children, animals(i was about to kill our dog at the kedougou house last night who barked for hours at absolutely nothing at 4a.m.), to trying to get a meeting with the village cheif so i can discuss my ideas for our health hut. he keeps changing the day on me, but it's ramadan now and nothing is going to get done because no one is eating during the day. but actually we've been eating really really well, some family member came from dakar with lots of money and food. so i'm enjoying that. another cool thing is that all the corn is so tall right now, it's so fun to walk through the little paths because the corn is almost two of me it's so tall. it also makes a good cover cuz the village can't see me when i ride down the main road through the village. well anyways, that's all i got for now. hope all is well back home.

james