Kristmas in Kaolack

No white Christmas this year...

While most volunteers chose to hit the beach for the holidays, I decided to take the budget option and spend Christmas at our regional transit house in the city of Kaolack. There were only three of us, so it was pretty low key, but we still managed to have a good time. We baked cookies while listening to Christmas music, watched all of the classic holiday movies, had a gift exchange for which we all raided our buckets and trunks to find random things we didn't want anymore, and of course we made a fabulous Christmas dinner that cost us a whopping $60. Totally worth it.

Christmas dinner! Green beans, roast beef, mac
and cheese, baked potatoes, yogurt dip with
cucumbers and of course, cookies!

  The worst Christmas gift I received this year was from Senegal itself...a fever, strep throat and an ear infection. I spent much of the day wrapped in a sheet and fighting to stay awake. On the positive side, the Peace Corps gave me one of the best Christmas presents I've ever received...the paperwork and manuals associated with my Close of Service! That's right, its time to start preparing to go home! Its still four months away, but with the amount of government paperwork, medical examinations and hoops we have to jump through before we can leave, we get to begin the process now. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Merry Christmas!

Neem wreath.