Stool Stat!

It’s been quite a while since I made my last post. But I have a reason. A day or so after Tobaski, my boss called me and asked if I would like to be a part of a conference in Joal-Fadiouth, a city on the coast. The connection was bad, so I couldn’t gather what the conference was for, but I agreed because I wanted to get out of my site and do something different.

Thursday the 3rd, I left for Kaolack to stay in the regional house one night and leave Friday morning on the Peace Corps bus that was too take us to Joal. By Thursday evening, all the volunteers who were going to the conference showed up. I asked everyone what we were doing and why we were asked to go and no one knew the answer to either! Again, not a problem.

Joal Fadiouth is beautiful touristic city on the cost of Senegal just south of Dakar. It where one goes to experience Senegal without actually seeing Senegal. So, it’s just a bunch of Frenchies. The hotel gorgeous and spacious enough, but there wasn’t running water for the first two days. As my time in Senegal increases, things like that become less and less of an issue.

Friday evening we decided to look around the area and go over to an island that is said to be the only mixed Christian and Muslem cemetary in Senegal. It was a beautiful island and many shirnes throughout.

The conference was Saturday morning and we got dressed up and headed over to where it was to be held. Upon walking in, I was met with a sandy football field with tents pitched to one side and a small covered stand on the other upon which the dignitaries would sit their rears on cushy lawn chairs. We found seats and prepared to wait.

And we waited……

Finally at 10:45, nearly two hours late, the dignitaries showed up and lumbered into the field, accompanied by the Gendarme marching band that could have made a middle school recital look like the Philharmonic. Included in the list were a bunch of Senegalese reps and the ambassadors from the US, Korea, Japan, and France. Then, they proceeded to give speech after speech in French. I enjoyed the French ambassador’s speech. Let’s jus say he spoke better than the Korean ambassador who was too short for the podium. Whoops!