So I've been spelling my name incorrectly for about a week now..

apparently it's actually "Khaadi" but who knew? It took creating the Diouf Family Tree to discover that my name has a silent K. I don't blame myself though, esp since I didn't actually know it was my name until the day after it was bestowed on me. It is pronounced "Haadi" though. I guess there are a lot of different letters in Serere that can create the "H" sound.

Heres some pics from around the house since Picasa still won't work...


The kitchen (pots and gas burner) in the forground, water spout in the back, toilet door is the blue one (pic of that will come with picasa...), open door is where the sheep sleep, and I think that the green door is the pantry, but I've never seen it open.
Two of my host sisters, Oumy (21) and Codou (26), and myself. It was the night of Easterd though I dressed up and put on make up in the morning, an afternoon in Africa made me kind of gross looking...
With Moussa, one of my 4 host brothers, though the only one who actually lives in the house.
My room...taken standing a foot and a half out the door. It's small, but mine. Notice the mosquito net...it's the same one frm my room duringtraining.
The courtyard. The kitchen and stuff are around the corner to the left. Babacar, another host bro lives in the room behind the blue door.

My water filter...this gets out the worms and then I bleach it to kill any parasites. I'm pretty sure I overbleach my water though...oh well.
The little box is my window. The screen grating is from the porch/common room where we eat and stuff. I'll try and take a pic of that soon. The sheep are around the corner, past my room.

To explain my frequent posting right now...I just happen to live right by a cyber cafe...ie it's in a building off my courtyard, so I'm taking advantage of frequent internet access while I have it. After mid May, that's another story... I'm trying notto get use to it, but my host fam wasn't around when I got home and I didn't feel like studying Serere right then.

This has been a week of ups and downs, that's for sure. It's comforting to know that most of my fellow trainees are in the same boat with this Peace Corps rollercoaster. Tuesday was rough for most of us after long weekends in our towns/villages with the hostfams, but the Center treated us to a meal of pasta and chicken for lunch on Wednesday. It was likethey knew that was the most welcomed meal ever...who thought when I complained about only being able to cook pasta and chicken a few months ago that I would celebrate having it here. Since Wes was asking, the food here is basically rice, rice, rice, carbs, bread, fish, fish, fish, fish, rice, fish, carrots, sauce, onions (mmm), potatoes, rice, cassava, rice, fish, and sauce, basically. There's also a lot of salt in everything and they load the coffee and tea withtons ofsugar. Milk is a treat that I make with my tea at the center for some calcium or it's given to me in powdered form by the fam with m Nescafe coffee on the weekends (and the barista in me cries...). Buying a small thing ofpasturizd milkand cheese from a supermarche this week made mylife, haha.

Well time is almst up, so I love you all! Esp thanks to Suz, Mom and Dad, Katie,and Kurt and Jodifor all of the mail! M fellow trainees hate that I've recived so much :)