my site and other things

it's actually me this time. so though my father knows this, apparently he hasn't gotten around to the posting of it yet (maybe in attempts to be chronological), but i got my site announcement a couple of weeks ago. i will be spending the next two years in a smallish village in the logone occidental region of south, it's about 6 hours (or 12 depending on method of transportation) from the capital, halfway between kelo and moundou. it is really cute, with lots of trees (my friend rachel describes it as a shady grove). there are lots of fruits and veggies available in the market and there's a farmer who i can buy some stuff from directly who is apparently cool. my counterpart is getting me a cat and there are clouds already painted on my walls (a volunteer was there last year, but he left early for personal reasons.) my family is super chill and just seem like they will be fun to spend time with. i'm needing to learn some n'gambaye, the local language (beyond the 'y toban' and 'tomaji' that i know now), my French has improved a lot being here (i'm now an advance bas), but not everyone even speaks French.

my birthday was a lot of fun for being in chad. i feel old now, but 23 is okay, especially since i'm one of the younger ones here anyway. people made me really cute cards and ja-mes gave me a pineapple. and we ate that. i now also eat bananas which we all know i hated before. the next three weeks are model school, which i'm teaching at the ghetto fab CEG II here in n'djamena, while most people are teaching at nice private schools in the city, it's okay though cuz it's more like the real experience of teaching here will be anyway. plus, the school is right across the street from the american embassy (ie the swimming pool). i'm going to get a cell phone at some point this week, so i will text people my number if you wanna call me. i'll have a little more internet time just for these few weeks but after that none so really your letters are always the best way to contact me. i LOVE letters. and food, especially food that involves protein and candy.

so yeah, i don't know what else to say. i can't really describe chad, it's sort of impossible. mostly it is just a bunch of markets filled with such exciting crap as plastic watering cans and pitcher cookies and flip flops. and all of them are the same. and where there are no markets there are houses made of mud and lots of goats. and children scream nassarra at you and you scream it back. and you respond 'afe' to everything cuz who knows more chadian arabic than that? and there is trash in the street. but it is fun and there are lots of stars at night and people are so friendly and you eat bagnes and drink tea (charape chai). and you talk in franglish all the time to your formateurs who really speak english perfectly. and there is millet everywhere, and i love farms. and you eat boule which actually tastes good, but people think you are crazy for not wanting meat sauce with your boule.

and that's it. LETTERS PLEASE. i miss you all.