Yes, that IS my American name

So I went to WAIST.  And I got wasted, I guess.
Note: WAIST is the West African Invitational Softball Tournament, held annually for PCVs and other expatriates in Dakar, Senegal.  It took me three days to get there, I spent President's Day weekend (Fri - Mon) there, and then I spent three more days to go home.

I had to explain several times that while Pilar really is my American name, my Malian name is Anna (Americanized for my new friends' benefit) if they wanted to call me that.  No one bit.  Actually, I didn't make any new friends.  Correction, I didn't meet any new friends.

I did decide that I already had some friends I didn't realize were delicious awesome.  This led me to say some things like, "I didn't like you before, but now I think you're great."  If you've ever told a slightly drunk and possibly a little insecure friend (who was secure that weekend? I think we were all a little unbalanced) you didn't like them, you'll realize that the second half of my statement was negligible in the light of the first half.  ...Oops.  Still, we seemed to get past that, and I for one was focused on the now I think you're great part.  So maybe she and I will see one another again.  Because there's not a guarantee on that.  Anyone outside of my own region is a hit-or-miss-or-make-actual-plans kind of person right now.  This is sad.  I like these people.  But, the ones who matter the most to me will stay in my life.  That's how it goes.

Another new friend, again thanks to my stolen place staying in the Peace Corps Senegal Country Director's house, got us a free hour-long meander through the city of Dakar in some ex-pat's posh SUV after the club on Friday night.  She's in my region, so I'll see her again at then end of March.  But so many of the wonderful people here are on their way out.  You think 8 months is a long time, until you realize you went 2 months without seeing non-Koutiala types and didn't even notice... And it's not nothing.  Friends are so important, like water - good for the heart.   There's very little that is further from 'nothing' than a good friend.  For example, Owen, who finally finished The Little Prince, and returned it to my box in Bamako.  This is a good reason to go to Bamako (in April, because I'm going to San next month and that's enough travel for me for a while, even if it's only a few hours away), whereas I haven't had a good reason for that up until now.

Actually, I may go sooner if I'm to be money point-person for Koutiala's Take Your Daughters To Work day.  Then, if I put up the funding request, you will all rush to the web site to send us a few dollars.  We'll take your dollars to create a three-day conference where young women come into the city to learn about career options, see the technical school, and shadow women working at the health center, the artisan cooperative, and other good places.  But this is all theoretical at the moment.  When I come back to town next week to collect my new outfit (I can't stop collecting scarves or new clothes... it's a problem, I'm out of 'closet' space), I'll have a chat with the volunteer here to see what I need to do.  Won't you all be excited if I finally do something resembling 'work'?

I've actually been doing some work, at least the preliminary footwork on the way to starting up some kind of project.  There's a lot of different desires going on, and I need my new water and sanitation committee to unite behind just one idea.  Compromise is a skill that can be taught, right?  Well I'm going to use the tools Peace Corps gave me during training, like matrices to determine optimality.  That sounds appropriate, doesn't it?  Maybe I'll go with 'raise your hand if you want to fix wells'.  I don't have any flip-chart paper, anyway.

So, I'm tired, and all the witty things I thought of on the 3-day bus ride back from Senegal last week are gone, so goodnight.

Ala ka hεrε di.  Matigi k'i dεmε.