I just had a great sandwich for lunch. I probably wouldnt have said that about the same sandwich in the US but it was the first lunch i've had here that I liked.

Thank you for all of your messages and emails - they are worth gold - for those of you who think it would be better to let me settle in first before blabbing in my direction - think again. I welcome all the emails and everything - the more the better - it can really turn your day around - even if you're just telling me about that delicious iced coffee you got today or anything. I can dowload everything on flash drives and read it at my leisure, even though I have to pay for internet.

I will be getting a cellphone - probably this weekend. I'll let you know the number when I do. It is super expensive for me to call out but free for me to receive calls. SO that means that if you want to talk to me or if you think i want to talk to you, please try to figure out a cheap international calling card situation. I know that PINGO (pingo.com) has calling card options to BF but not sure if its the cheapest. I dont have a lot of time or money to hang out on google and figure out the best option so help me out if you can. PINGO is also sposed to have some sort of PC discount but I havent asked. You should be able to get some sort of generic calling card i think too. Should come out to about 11 c per minute. Enough of that for now.

Training is really hard. Its strange though because - at least for me - it's everything other than what we're actually being taught that is hard. I meaning they're going pretty slow and very thoroughly through how to teach, we're getting lessons on health and safety, and language classes are, well, language classes. I'm in the top French group for the teachers which is reassuring but at the same time scary since I don't feel that i can speak that well.

The heat is really hard. The rain is late this year - but it keeps threatening every day. I sleep outside now and fall asleep listening to the 2 old women in the family chatting either to each other or no one in particular. Its about as stereotypical as it gets - old women missing half their teeth, speaking in a tongue i dont know yet; topless with breasts stretched down to their waists and their bottom half covered in a pagne or two. Still though sleeping outside i wake up drenched in sweat at 5 or 5:30 when the sun comes up.

Last night my mom here took me for a walk (I think she is proud she has a nassara) and we walked down the road and in the street there was a large gathering of people. I learned that there is not much water left for my neighborhood, so they are rationing it out till the rains come. Imagine if your concern wasn't over having clean water but having water at all.

The food is hard too. I like about 25 percent of what I've eaten here, but I've learned to eat dinner without tasting it if I need to and maybe i'll grow to like things. It's hard to convince yourself to like liver or sheep or goat or stomach when you see all the animals eating from the trash that lines the streets of the city here.

But my family is great. They are just so nice I can't even tell you. The kids do all the work here. You just say waka to someone younger than you and they come over and do whatever you want. Thats for your family. I could say that to any kid on the street though and they would do whatever i wanted. It strange to be able to call my family wealthy - I mean they are - but they really have nothing. They have some clothes and a 4 room house about as big as 3 tinycollege dorm rooms and then one larger one that serves as the kitchen and the dining room and the living room. There is a lock on my door (thank you Peace Corps) and there's a 14 inch TV in the main room and a small fridge. A gas powered camping stove and some chairs. The dust that is outside is inside too, and my little sister taught me how to use the little straw brooms to clean my room and tomorrow my mom will show me how to make To (TOE) which is this corn or millet tasteless play-dough textured thing that everyone eats and if you're not in the city you eat with every meal.

I've started feeling sick a lot. I knew it was coming. But today is a good day.

My mother here gave me a pagne and a top to match and i went to training the other day wearing them and it felt great. I'll send pics soon. It was so sweet of her. Everyone said it looked great. It felt great to be nassara but to blend in too. The hoards of kids screaming nassara as I bike home had to look twice. I got a flat tire on my bike already but so have many others. I also learned how to fix it : )

Peace out for now.