Last weekend I stayed in Ziguinchor since I had been invited to a wedding through Claudine’s family. None of us girls actually knew who was getting married. There were so many people, it didn’t really matter. This was the first Muselman wedding I’ve ever attended and there were certain aspects of it that I didn’t grasp such as: The husband wasn’t even there!(Image left: me in my wedding booboo)
The celebration took place at the bride’s home (she liv
es with her parents/family) which happened to be on my street. They had blocked the street and set up a tent, a sound system with DJs, hired traditional musicians, cooks and lots of people. Women who had been invited wore boubous in lime green.
es with her parents/family) which happened to be on my street. They had blocked the street and set up a tent, a sound system with DJs, hired traditional musicians, cooks and lots of people. Women who had been invited wore boubous in lime green. (Image right: MC, myself, the husband replacement/bride's friend, bride, Claudine and Tabaski - Claudine's sister in background)
Apart from that, there wasn’t any decoration. It lasted the entire day and night and mostly consisted of sitting around, eating, drinking pop, 
dancing and the bride opening her gifts.
dancing and the bride opening her gifts.(Image left: Claudine, Gaston (C's friend), Sabine and myself eaing supper at the Alliance)
She had a friend replace her husband for a part of the ceremony where she stands for about an hour and one by one, each invitee greets her and gets a picture posed with her. She changed hairdos and dresses three times throughout the day! At the end, th
ey apparently do a procession whereby they escort her to her husband’s home, dancing in the streets. By that time, I was in need of a real drink since I hadn’t been able to have one because of being on antibiotics. My Gazelle was a delight!(Image right: Claudine, MC, myself)
On Sunday, I made French toast for my family with the maple syrup Phil had brought. They enjoyed it very much and I subtly took in a couple raw tablespoons of the much missed Canadian elixir.
(Image right 2 : me working with the darling girl I 
helped start going to school)
helped start going to school)Later on in the day, I went for a bike ride with Daouda in the countryside. We ended up exploring an orange plantation. Highlights include me falling from a tree because I misjudged the distance (I thought I was higher up than I actually was when I set foot back on the ground).
The work week flew by and was very interesting. I finished plans for an access ramp and presented them to my patient, I got the patient to get into a pool for the first time in twenty years (tetraplegic), I got an eight year old girl with cerebral palsy to go to school for the first time in her
life, I met with a director of a nursing school. I started a project to form people in rural areas to make technical aids. I have so many things to finish up before I leave!
The work week flew by and was very interesting. I finished plans for an access ramp and presented them to my patient, I got the patient to get into a pool for the first time in twenty years (tetraplegic), I got an eight year old girl with cerebral palsy to go to school for the first time in her
life, I met with a director of a nursing school. I started a project to form people in rural areas to make technical aids. I have so many things to finish up before I leave! (Image left: teaching the sport of ultimate frisbee in a phys ed class)
On Tuesday, I gave the phys ed class on ultimate at a private school to young adolescents. It went really well. The kids caught on quickly and it was interesting to teach phys ed! On Thursday, I had the regular practice and people actually showed up! I’m not sure to what extent my ultimate introduction t
o this part of the world will take hold, but I’ll have certainly tried! What is encouraging is that Lou Lou, a friend, is really good with kids and plays regularly with the kids in his neighbourhood. I’ll be leaving a bunch of discs here as promised to my ex-team mates who donated them.
On Tuesday, I gave the phys ed class on ultimate at a private school to young adolescents. It went really well. The kids caught on quickly and it was interesting to teach phys ed! On Thursday, I had the regular practice and people actually showed up! I’m not sure to what extent my ultimate introduction t
o this part of the world will take hold, but I’ll have certainly tried! What is encouraging is that Lou Lou, a friend, is really good with kids and plays regularly with the kids in his neighbourhood. I’ll be leaving a bunch of discs here as promised to my ex-team mates who donated them. (Image right: Claudine and I doing pose Cachuane - notice the grey sky; the fi)
On Friday, us three girls headed to the road station for the last time to go to Cachuane, a Casamance destination neither of us had been before. Muc
h like Karabane, we took a car to Elinkine and from there, took a pirogue to the island. I didn’t like it any more or any less than Karabane.
On Friday, us three girls headed to the road station for the last time to go to Cachuane, a Casamance destination neither of us had been before. Muc
h like Karabane, we took a car to Elinkine and from there, took a pirogue to the island. I didn’t like it any more or any less than Karabane. (Image left: young girls transporting firewood towards the village)
There wasn’t a ton of stuff to do – except there was a windsurfer. It was very cold the entire weekend so it took a lot of balls for me to get my bathing suit on and surf. The winds were so strong and I’m so out of shape that my windsurf excursion was dismally short. Other than that, we exp
lored, ate, played Taboo and Scrabble, drank, slept, read. I know its hard to believe it when I say it was cold, but it really felt like a cold autumn day near Thanksgiving. I guess such weather will prepare me for the cold that awaits me upon my return to Canada (February 14, 2009).
lored, ate, played Taboo and Scrabble, drank, slept, read. I know its hard to believe it when I say it was cold, but it really felt like a cold autumn day near Thanksgiving. I guess such weather will prepare me for the cold that awaits me upon my return to Canada (February 14, 2009). (Image right: windsurfing in the mighty cold. I'm really glad I got do it at least once during this trip)
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