Sunday, October 01, 2006 So this is it. The end. Okay, not for me. But this week essentially all of the remaining elements of PSL-17 are leaving. It's crazy and scary to think that PSL-18 is now in charge. God help us!

So, that means Alison is gone, and the Borgou forever changed. No doubt we've not heard the last of her though. Courtesy of her mother I got 1lb of Garlic Salt as a parting gift! Yeah!

Carrie and company came back from their wild foray into Niger. Sounds like they had a very good, albeit interesting time. I'm jealous. I really want to go... just have to find a prime time.

Speaking of finding a prime time: I have a year left, but breaking it up into chunks makes it seem like it's really almost over. Observe:

Oct: Regional VAC, National GAD meeting, Whipping Festival, Halloween Party
Nov: National VAC, Thanksgiving, HTML Formations
Dec: Visit USA
Jan: Tabaski, National Voodoo Day (okay, "Traditional Religions"), IST
Feb: Possible visitors, FESPACO (Burkina Film Festival)
Mar: Relatively quiet
Apr: All-Vol, Gaani fete
May: Relatively quiet - Possibly COS conference
Jun: Camp GLOW
Jul: First possible COS dates start, people start heading home.
Aug: I turn 26.
Sep: Last round of people heading home do it. C'est finit, quoi.

Quite frankly, that's frightening. Throw in to the mix things like applications for grad-school, JET, and jobs as I stuggle to figure out what I'm going to do for the next couple years / rest of my life.

In other news I've expanded a bit in my work partners, and am now working with borgou.net. They win. They're all extremely technically competent, they have a lot going on and they can actually use some of my skills beyond the "website bitch" capacity. Right now I'm working with them on investigating and prototyping WiFi antennae made from locally available materials to extend their coverage in Parakou. That's the sort of project that I joined Peace Corps for! Freakin' sweet!

I've actually known about them for awhile, and Ben'dali has suggested on numerous occasions that I go talk to them. I'm glad I finally did. It looks like it could work out to be a fun cooperation. It may even end with Internet at my house. How awesome would that be? I don't have my fingers too crossed... but still the possibility is intriguing.