saying goodbye...

i am no longer a peace corps volunteer (PCV).

i am a Returned peace corps volunteer (RPCV).

we love acronyms here. the R is a pretty big deal.

so last week in dakar. saying goodbye. sucks. but this is life.

some candid pictures to end my two years of service.

 

fellow volunteers that came with me. theyre leaving a week before i do but it's really happening...



baggage. we came with so much baggage. we're leaving with so much baggage. metaphorical?

hanging out with my brother and his friends watching the long awaited wrestling match between yikini and balla gaye 2. wanted to go see it live but tickets cost way too much and it may not have been the safest idea. too much fighting between rival fan clubs.

they're super intense about the wrestling matches. people cry, freak out, act as if possessed, throw themselves at walls and stuff. this really happens.

yikini loses. super sad because balla gaye 2 is a huge arrogant asshole. the world is changing. yikini, king of wrestling has been toppled. wade has been toppled by the new senegalese president macky sall. sarkozy is going to fall to holland-something. are we going to have a mormon president come november?



people celebrating or being depressed after the match




i think i really will miss this country...




thought this was a really pretty image. garbage and collapses concrete building, power lines extending into the horizon




africa is one big contradicting sentence. sharp contrasts. huge power lines next to what akon would call "the ghetto".



dakar's skyline at night. that bright blob is the monument that cost senegal some $27 million US dollars. and still, kids dont have books and pens for school and electricity is not always guaranteed.

happy that we're going home...

 

jillian is back!! but now she's extending. wont see her for at least another year...

getting chinese food with my region and other peeps... yes there's chinese food here. there's more and more chinese in dakar. it's weirder every time i return here. but then reading the times (or economist?) it seems china has been increasing their investments in africa. it was like 1 billion in 2001, then 10 billion in 2009 or something.

lazy susans exist here. and PBR. that traveled from america to china to senegal. world beers...

the people im leaving behind... at least for another year... and i seriously need a haircut

trying to readjust back to a western lifestyle with cocktails...

and shots in a fancy restaurant... dont know if i can get used to this again...

what is this weird utensil? it's called a fork? ive pretty much rarely used you in the last two years. is that how we eat in america?

chorizo and goat cheese pizza. absurdly delicious.

fancy mood lighting...

and fancy glasses...

i've always wondered how different my life would be if i was a city volunteer. having kids my age to hang out with. talking with university students. actually having intellectual conversations. but then i wouldnt be able to say that i had the real "bush" experience. i am bush. the dakar kids make fun of me because im so bush. the backwards countryside. the rural countryside. my home for 2 years.

i will miss them though. i really hope some (of the ones i like) can actually come visit me someday on the other side of the pond. they have a chance. study english. study hard. it's possible...

saying goodbye to the kids...

baba and gili were soo small 2 years ago! how they have grown...

mike toso took us to brazilian bbq. excuse me?! are we still in senegal?! did you just say they have caparinhas?

and all you can eat buffet for $12?

and delicious meats on skewers that dont stop coming? i feel guilty for eating this. but we've been starved for too long. trying to put back on some pounds so i wont look emaciated when i return

brasil, you were my first love. i will return again some day...

the delicious passion fruit ice cream... very emasculating...

goodbye senegal...

im coming home...