long time no blog

Chers amis, long time no blog! Sorry for the long wait, but Aziz and I are back to Dakar now from the village, which means I can finally write a decent update and fill you in on what we've been up to. Briefly, we had our American teacher friends, Bec and Andrea, out to visit us in Wassadou at the end of May. The visit went really well, and we even took them to the huge animal reserve near us (pics soon). After they left, we were incredibly focused on our research for a month (details soon), and decided to stay in Wassadou up until the open house at the NGO where we were volunteering. After the open house we rushed back to Dakar (in air-conditioned luxury, thanks to a doctor from the NGO who drove us back) to settle in before Mike's parents arrived. They are here now, and I think are having a great time in spite of their initial concerns (partially driven by heaps of advice on what not to do in West Africa). I promise more, and more frequent, news and pictures soon. Mike's dad is standing next to me, and has informed me that he can't go home because the Red Sox haven't lost since they've been away- coincidence? He thinks not.