St. Louis 8th Grade Field Trip

Today I arrived home from our 8th grade field trip to St. Louis (northern Senegal). It was a nice excursion. The hotel had cute little bungalows with warm water, a pool, and excellent beach access. However, I don't think the owners liked kids very much. Anyhow, Thursday we first went to an area called Guembeul Reserve where locals are trying to restore the area's natural habitat. My students and I were able to hold baby tortoises, see monkeys, some oryx, addax and gazelles. Then we headed for the Langue de Barbarie National Park for a pirogue ride on the delta. We saw many pelicans and other birds gathering to mate. We also stopped and played on the Grand Cote. Then we headed back to the hotel for some free time. After dinner, the students put on wonderfully funny skits based on African folk tales. Today we had breakfast and toured St. Louis on horse carriage and ate beef kabobs at small local restaurant. I enjoyed the trip and feel that the students got a lot out of it.

Popenguine

About 80 Kilometers (50 miles) south of Dakar is a great little beach getaway named Popenguine. Gabs and I were going to go to Saly but a friend of mine suggested that we go with her instead to Popenguine because Saly would be way too touristy and busy. I am so glad we took her advice. We rented a house that was right on the beach. We swam, fished (I didn't catch anything), surfed (mini beach break waves), and explored. The house had this wonderful kitchen that opened up to the ocean, it was great. It was also very relaxing and very close to Dakar. I have found my getaway. On the way home I leaned over to Gabbie and said, "I kinda like it here now".

Dakar Pub Crawl

Last Friday a good friend of mine decided to rent a car rapide (the main form of Senegalese public transportation) and go on a pub crawl. We started the evening by eating Chinese and then headed for the bars. I have stopped drinking for at least a month and as you can see my inhibitions are abnormally high. I also have a really nice cold sore which I love explaining to my students is herpes. So the pub crawl wasn't really a pub crawl for me, but I had a good time celebrating my friend's birthday.

The New Goods

Gabbie and I have been making it a priority to buy art work while we are here. We picked out some fabric and had some pillows made, we bought some antiques, we haggled for some cool baskets, and we bargained for a toy bicycle and car made out of cans. Next purchase, painting from the art gallery on N'Gor Island and bags to bring home as gifts.

Our Favorite Dakar Restaurant: Sao Brazil

Sao Brazil is our favorite place to eat. They have really good wood oven pizza, meat dishes, and sauces. The owners are nice and seem to know that we don't want to wait for three hours to get our dinner. Gabbie and I probably go here about two times a week.

N'Gor Island

A five minute walk and a three minute boat ride from our bungalow is N'Gor Island. It's a nice little get away but I recommend you get there early. By 3:00 is was starting to get packed. Luckily we arrived early, rented some mats, an umbrella, and then explored. Narrow brick bougainvillea streets led to us a terrific art gallery. We also discovered what seemed to be an old French army training center equipped with a crawling under barbed wire while we shoot in the air to scare you drill. Then we headed back for lunch and I enjoyed chicken and Gabbie fish.

Kites and Monkeys

Things are stable. It's getting warmer again and the pool is pleasant. It has been a long week and I am pooped. Worth mentioning: Gabbie loves the kite I bought her for her birthday. She flies it at school. It goes so fast and is a blast to handle. Also, our friend Curtis bought a monkey a few days ago and brought her over today. She is so cute. All in all everything is going well. I have been daydreaming about my summer fishing trip in Alaska and camping in the van in Sandy. June 12 is our last day of school, so mark your calendars.