Back from Dakar

I sort of fell out of the habit of writing on my blog.  I don't know how others do it everyday. But I will be retiring this blog as I return from my adventure of living and teaching in Senegal for three years and retire myself in a small town in Western Massachusetts.

My last month in Dakar was totally focused on finishing up everything, packing the classroom for its move to new site, final visits and meals with friends, selling or giving things away, getting the paperwork completed to bring my dog home with me, preparing shipment and final packing to go.

I arrived in Boston, June 17th.  My second week back I went to Vermont for a family vacation with my siblings. I spent two weeks unpacking and setting up my new apartment.  Mid July, I gave myself a 70th birthday party with about 30 family and friends. How quickly one finds a new routine, making new connections, stop speaking, reading or writing in French, and Senegal is feeling very far away.

Cape Verdi, Noel, 2011

Click on the link for the photo album, then click on slideshow to view.  Karen

https://picasaweb.google.com/110387364778470538731/December302011?locked=true&feat=email

Provence with Lucette, Summer 2011

Lucette and Serge are the grandparents of Kim, an assistant teacher at ISD.   Kim grew up in US but spent every summer with her paterial grandparents in Provence. She is truely bilingual.  Kim shared my apartment her first fall in Dakar, 2010. Lucette loves to travel and came to visit Kim in Senegal for two weeks before Christmas, 2010 and stayed in the apartment.  She is delightfully adventurous with an optimistic sunny disposition.  She invited me to visit.  Towards the end of the week I spent at their place, Kim's stepmother and twin 5 year old boys arrived for a summer visit.  Here we are at the shady table--breakfast was always at the sunny table on the other side trees.

Imagine my surprise and delight to find they had a pool in their front yard. 

Their place is close to the Pont du Gard, a roman bridge and aquaduct.  There are several  rental places up river--the signs say canoes but they kyakes.

Olive tree, over 1000 years old and me, a mere 68.

At the Saturday market in Uzes. 

Passed this field of sunflowers to and from the market in Uzes. 

Swimming beach on Mediterrerean with Lucette, Serge and the twin grandsons visiting from  the  US.

Les Baux de Provence Summer 2011

You can read more about this town at 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Baux-de-Provence, It is a beautiful region and two things that I interested me was the hospital for lepers--one of the few for 100's of years and the other was their "fortications" and defenses.  It seems that civilization has not evolved to a more enlightened cooperative coexistence--that the focus is always on defending our own.  Visited here while staying in Provence with Lucette and Serge.

Hospital for lepers

Santos, began as carved figures for creches--now a popular craft.  The figures around the creche as typical pesants of the time period.  

The most progressive defense system of the day. 

Walls around the hospital, lavender along the path.

Ate at one of the restauants, you work up an appetite doing all this sightseeing!  Couldn't resist  this fabulous dessert of chocolate and fresh raspberries.

Kenya Safari

Entrance to the National Park, which is just 12 minutes from downtown Nairobi, and the first  park of its kind in Kenya. We went early Sunday morning.  There were five of us, plus driver and van. We saw every kind of animal that we had hoped for except hippos. 

Metal statues of animals at the entrance. 

The ISD staff, except Santha, on the safari, our driver-guide, took this one.

I've already forgotten the name of this bird, something bill. 

I printed one of these zebra pictures for my class and asked them "how many zebras do you see?" I got a different number myself each time I counted. 

At one point we passed a herd of zebras,  They were walking single file and when the leader--pictured above--stopped the whole line stopped.  Totally unlike kindergarteners, no pushing or shoving, no yelling hurry up. 

Just follow me!

Giraffes necking.  Is this where the expression comes from?

I had to get this picture of what looks like a two headed  giraffe.  Our class is learning a song to perform  at assembly next month, "Working together" and it has line "two heads are better than one"

You can see how close we are to the city.

Zebras walking in line. 

Impala

lioness

Mother monkey holding onto baby, or maybe the baby is holding on to her. 

Rhino

Love these signs--Be observant & patent for a better cameras results.

How would you like to find one of these bufflos in your front yard?

Elephant Orphanage

The elephant orphanage cares for babies who are motherless.  One of the  elephants was only 3 days old and was rescued  as it was being attacked by lions.  The mother had been shot for the ivory tusks.

Marje liked petting the elephants, who look up at you with their big eyes. 

Baby bottles all lined up for feeding time.  Visitors are only allowed in in one hour per day to view the feeding time. Elephants are very sensitive and can become very attached to caregivers.

The "babies" sleep in these stalls.  The bunk is for one of the caregivers to sleep with them.  The babies need to be feed every 3 hours.  They are kept here until 3 years old when they are ready to be reintroducted into the wild. The care givers rotate sleeping in the stalls with different animals, again to prevent them becoming too attached to just one caregiver. 

Look how well they line up!

Oh how I love reading the signs. 

One of the older babies, about 2 1/2 years, will make a good mother.  She takes  on a protective role with  new comers.