Today is my little brother's birthday... in the US. He is 18. Now all of my family are legal adults. Kind of weird. Noah, I hope you registered to vote. It's cool that you can vote this year. Don't buy cigarettes, they're gross. And bad for you.

Happy Birthday.

They don't celebrate birthdays here, but on my American mom's birthday, I told my family it was her birthday and I was going to call her. Their response was, "Her birthday!!!! Why didn't you throw a big party?" To which I responded, "Jigga what? You don't even celebrate birthdays and she's not even here--she's in the States. Y'all just want a party." It's true. They know it.

Been in Dakar getting a shot and "noss"ing. (That means having fun and/or spending money, for me mostly the former, as little of the latter as possible. Dakar is expensive.) I met some PCVs from Benin who were here to get root canals, and it was fun to hang out with them and do some exploring of Dakar. I still feel like I know next to nothing, but eventually I'll figure it out. It's just a huge city is all. While I was there I got to see Aaron from Tamba on his way back home... forever. He COSed this week. (COS = Close Of Service; It's what you do when your 2 years are up). I also saw Seth, from my stage, on his way out. He ETed (Early Termination) and plans on joining the Army to be a doctor. Sounds hard.

Had a great conversation with Laura, my current nearest neighbor, who just went home for a visit. She's a (very successful) health vol and helped me figure out the health system a bit, so now my first actions on the health hut revamp are a little clearer. I actually began talking to her about it a couple of weeks before the meeting with Mamadou, so it was really good to talk again post-meeting.

Thigs will progress, seeda seeda. Slowly and with patience, perseverance, and a lot of help from anyone I can find.

Out of time. Miss you all. Coming home for Christmas!!! (surprise!)