Its 2:20 am. We were playing a game of poker earlier, in which I did quite well for myself, and then I came over to the computer lab to poke around, hoping some people would be online. The trouble with that is that they never are, and now I’ve been sitting around for an hour hoping they will be. This is why the internet is evil. Its like gambling. Each minute spent seems insignificant, but they add up to be a lot of time. There are two other people in here with me.

Anyway, today we went to get money from the bank, which was quite an experience, and then bought a bunch of foods and stuff, basically preparing for site. Tomorrow morning we swear in, which is exciting. I’ll be wearing some Guinean clothes that are pretty awesome, and I’ll make sure to post pictures when I get a chance on the computers.

What else…I bought a bar of chocolate and it was awesome. I took a nap. I did a crossword. We went to the ACPD’s house for dinner and it was amazing. She had real sour cream, guacamole, salsa with pineapple, and fantastical beans and rice. Cumin is an amazing spice. My stomach nearly exploded, not in the least because it has become severely shrunken over the past couple months.

Also I weighed myself, and am down 10-15 pounds. Not as much as some, who lost 20-25, but about 10 seems to be average. All of us feel like our arms and faces look thinner. Hopefully as we get to site and can make our own food we’ll get some of that weight back.

I don’t remember if I’ve talked about my plans for food, but basically when I think my food related future I get really excited. Its almost avocado season. Mango season starts in a couple months. I have tomatoes and onions and garlic and cucumbers basically year round. Pineapples are findable. If you can’t see where I am going with this, let me spell it out: mango salsa every day, eaten with varieties of fried dough, beans and rice, and other goodness. And lets not forget the guacamole. There’s also jam and pickling. Mango jam, pineapple jam, pickles, pickled mangos, pickled mangos and piment, etc… I also want to do some making of dried mangos and pineapple, and also cheese. I’m pretty sure I could spend my whole service just making food. Once I get chose set up to be able to cook, I will be pretty happy.

I have a vision for my day that involves drinking tea in the morning on my front steps, while I eat rice bouille, perhaps with some pieces of mango or banana thrown in, and converse with neighbors. Not sure what happens after that, but that seems like a pretty respectable start.