Ndugu Ari!

The rains arrived! Well, not in their full force yet, but after no rain or just little sprinkles for 7 months the 1st big storm was wonderful!

I wrote in my journal: "Rain: Amazing, started June 6th, pink sky, wind, fire in the fields, then darkness and rain! I sat on the family's porch watching with them. Clouds: Today (the morning after the storm) there were clouds in the sky, big puffy white clouds 'just like America' as one Gambian boy informed me. Bugs: hewi (a lot) of varying sizes, colors, speeds, modes of travel, abilities to infiltrate my mosquito net or frighten me in the yard, and appear from seemingly dry, dead, rock hard clay and sand. Centipedes, camel spiders, big beetles, and mites that look like red fuss from a pipe cleaner."

I biked the 42 k into Basse this past Thursday for the 1st time in awhile and the trip was actually pleasant. Everything is starting to get green, and the foliage makes some of the long stretches of the trip shaded and pretty.

The birds around now are pretty adorable. Little tweeting gray ones with bright red eye stripes or green butts, big loud squawking colorful ones, and even some green parrots in the yard of the Basse Office yesterday.

My trip to Basse this weekend was to help facilitate a workshop on implementing the peer tutoring program started by Mimuna (PCV I replaced) and one of the teachers at the Fatoto Senior school. As we started the workshop, I sat in the front of a roomful of teachers and principals preparing to explain to them how to teach their students to teach, and realized how completely unqualified I was. Luckily they didn't notice and the 2 day workshop went well. The teachers seemed excited about the idea of peer tutoring and the changes seen so far in Fatoto, with students being more engaged in their learning and staying for extra sessions. Hopefully that means they will try to train some tutors at their schools!

I can always think of things to write when I'm not near a computer, but then it's gone by the time I get here in front of the keyboard. If any of you reading this have questions or ideas of things you want me to write about let me know!

For PC I completed a 'job description' that I'll post as well. It's concise buy will give you an idea of what I'm working on/ hoping to work on in the future.

Thank you for all your letters, packages, internet conversations (infrequent), skype moments (rare), and love! I miss you all and gobble up news about you like I would a bacon cheeseburger or a kopp's special!!