Today Sally and Natalie and I rented really crappy bikes for relatively little money (4000 CFA = $8) for 3.5 hours. This allowed us to tour all of Ile de Langue Barbarie and also the main island in fairly good time.

There is no question that some of the poorer people live on the peninsula and make a living catching and selling fish. This made for some very unfortunate smells along the ride but we were able to see how the fish are caught, cleaned, and left out in the sun to dry.

After the ride we went to a store called Exotica, which carries such provocative items as yogurt, laundry soap and tiny unappealing fruits and veggies. The girls were quite excited to have some laundry to do that afternoon, which led me to believe that life will soon take on a much different pace than I am accustomed to.

Both Nat and Sally are RNs working either for the Red Cross catering to the homeless, or with an institute which houses and cares for destitute boys. Some other volunteers are working for the local radio station, and others like myself are working at the Kindercare and primarily teaching. The Kindercare was set up by the PA program director Moctar and caters to children from some of the poorer kids in the community. I start work on Tuesday.

Otherwise, I am making an effort to form a relationship with the Mme of the house so as to garner her interest and perhaps even her respect. So far, as I have mentioned, she is polite and makes me eat lots but after a day of riding around hearing "Eh! Toubab! Donne moi de l'argent!" it makes me, much prefer to be called by my Senegalese name "Asslay" at home!