It's been awhile...

Sorry about the long absence here. It's been awhile.

A quick update of the goings on here:

Rich got pulled over again 'randomly' and had to bribe the officer, we both got pulled over by a 'fake' officer that we mistakingly gave our documents to and had to 'pay him' to get them back, we are currently going through some of the worst power outages we have ever seen, protests are going on around the city due to power issues, the ex-pat mother of a 7 year old boy who died of malaria has published an article about her sons case...her words resonate within all of us that have read it, 2 Al-Qaeda trucks have blown themselves up on the Senegal Mauritanian border which is a few hundred miles away from Dakar, but getting closer and closer... US embassy sent out this message:

February 10, 2011

Mauritanian authorities on February 5 captured members of Al-Qaeda in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) near the Senegal/Mauritania border. This occurred following attempted AQIM bombings on February 2 in Nouakchott.

While there is a distinct border between Senegal and Mauritania, the border is porous and the opportunity for such terrorist incidents to occur in that area exists. We warn U.S. Citizens traveling to or residing in the northern region of Senegal, specifically along the Senegal River, which delineates the border between Mauritania and Senegal, to exercise caution and to take appropriate steps to increase their situational awareness.

And the goings on with 'not 3rd world country' related: Laird and Dylan turned 1, the house we purchased in October will have no tenants as of May 1 which is a bit of a financial surprise and a bit of a hassle with overseas living, and the flu is running wild through our house.

We knew that moving here would be difficult, however one cannot prepare for how difficult it truly can be at times. I have yet to mention the language divide, homesickness, and all other things third world.

But, we are seeing and experiencing things we would NEVER have known about living in the US. We are making the most of everyday here and biting our tongue at times, if need be.

And as much as we think we are struggling, we are not. We are the lucky ones. We have a roof over our head, food on our table, electricity and water (ha ha!), employment, vaccinations from polio and other diseases, transportation, etc.

On those tough days of Senegal living, I simply look out my window to remind myself of how lucky we truly are...