Kids Say The Darndest Things (subtitle: Toubabs Galore!)

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so i have this new thing where i like to walk. and it's working out quite well for me. after the internet yesterday i walked to the bank. i ran into two peace corps. one was named maggie, and i forget the other (oops!). they told me that a bunch of peace corps were coming in that day and would be around all week. we exchanged numbers. then i went to the bank and got D5000 ($200). on the way to my facial i ran into David and his girlfriend! we chatted for a while and parted ways. then i got my facial. it was incredibly relaxing. i had nowhere else to be so i just enjoyed it. i put my face in a hot steam thing and then i got a facial massage, mask, and lotion. it was so smooth.

then i went to la parisian and got chocolate ice cream (because they had it). then i went home. when i got bored of being home i went on a walk. i walked down to traffic light and kept going. i went past Timbookto and ran into Andy (one of the cute british guys)! he was with a girl (i suck at names) and i talked to them for a while. the girl is going to south america after this, so i was telling her all about peru and buenos aires. she told me they were going up to machu picchu, and she also told me machu picchu will be closed to the public soon! so everybody should probably go. right now.

after we parted ways i walked to the end of the road and realized i forgot to ask them which church they go to (i feel bad because i haven't been in forever). i turned around and a guy came up to me and said 'i want to help you!" with my headphones in and my music blaring, i ignored him. then i passed by another guy who was with his girlfriend. he was smoking a cigarette. when i walked by he said something to me, but i ignored him. then out of the corner of my eye i saw him turn around with his cigarette and yell (literally, yell) at me. afraid of being burned again, i quickened my pace. then he yelled to me at the top of his lungs. i didn't turn around.

then i went to Timbookto and bought the lord of the rings trilogy in one book (don't judge me). the price was D900 but the guy gave it to me for D600. i went home. dinner was custard and mango.

today was the first day back at school. i woke up at 7:20 and got to school by 8:35. i was with grade 5. mr jawo had a toothache, so mr gaye was teaching science. they were talking about pollution. mr gaye was talking about how chemical fertilizers are a huge pollutant. then i interrupted and said, "do you guys know a really good natural fertilizer?" the kids all thought for a moment and the one yelled "chickenshit!" but apparently swearing's not a huge deal here. but i thought it was hilarious. after science was french, which moussi taught. then mr jawo taught social environmental studies. then break.

i talked to mrs umweni for a while, but she was busy because one of her students had wet his pants. so i went back to the classroom to translate harry potter. after break, i gave the kids the topic of "what did you do over the easter holiday?" to write about for creative writing. then i corrected. then i taught math, which was adding decimals. at the very end of my creative writing class, african drums started playing outside somewhere. it was incredible. the kids were all complaining about it, so i started dancing around the classroom. when i stopped i told them "don't get distracted." they laughed. the drums continued for the rest of class. studies don't start until may 4, so i got to go home at 2.

i walked to the junction and saw a toubab! he was walking with a gambian guy and two gambian girls. i crossed the street and walked behind them. then he came up to me and we started talking. he's from germany and his name is christian. the people he was with just came up and started talking to him and he didn't have the energy to tell them to go away. he's 22 and has been here since september. he teaches 2 days a week (tuesday and thursday) and works in an office the rest of the time. he's here until july. i asked him where he's staying. guess what? pipeline! so he's literally on my street. he also goes to church with the british folk, so i'm gonna ask him to show me where it is next time i see him. we walked to the junction at pipeline and exchanged numbers. then he continued on to bakoteh. we talked about how we were both here by ourselves, so it gets lonely. i was like "well, we should probably hang out then." and he said "yeah. give me a call." unfortunately he's leaving on saturday to go to senegal for two weeks. but that's ok. i went home and ate lunch and then the power went out. so i decided to go for a walk.

i walked to the traffic light and met a toubab in the middle of an intersection. it was me. literally. her name is kate. she's from arizona (ok maybe not me, but pretty close). she's peace corps and has been here for a year and a half. her nose is pierced with a small diamond. she's my height. oh...and did i mention she went to cu boulder? yeah. i met me. we exchanged numbers and parted ways. she promised to call me to go out sometime. i <3 friends. after i met her i decided to come to the internet, and here i am! after this i'll probably walk to the end of the road again and back to pipeline. and that's all folks!

miss you lots.
Kate

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