Saturday, January 31, 2009

The rigors of IST

The first week of IST is over! Since only the SED volunteers were at the center this week, all lessons were devoted to actual SED related material. We spent Monday through Friday learning about teaching business seminars, working with artisans, and working with farmers on marketing. In the evenings, we've been commuting back and forth from Tassette, where the Diop family was happy to see me, and also quite impressed with my Wolof. The only issue is that going back and forth from the village is absolutely exhausting, and that several of us have gotten pretty sick during this period. Despite that, being regrouped with all my friends has been great fun, and we've had a good time thus far. We've also learned quite a bit and have come up with a few project ideas for when we return to site.
We took a field trip this morning to see a farily well known monastary that makes goat cheese and bissap wine. After touring the facilities, getting free samples of fruit at the orchard, and discussing the technical processes involved, we were able to buy some cheese and wine. We have the rest of the day off, as well as tomorrow. Tomorrow night we'll be convening in the same hotel we saw the election, but this time to enjoy the Super Bowl. As for this coming week, it will probably be just as exhausting since the AG/AGFO volunteers will be coming and and we'll be starting language classes as well. I'm off to enjoy some wine and cheese, but hope everyone back home is doing well and still currently employed! A plus tard!

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