I got two more weeks!

I will miss this place, in a perverse sort of way. It is starting to feel normal. I changed my ticket from July 29 to July 10 and I'm glad I did. That will still give me about 8 weeks here and a substantive internship experience. I've got pics up on fb and I hope y'all have checked em out. I've observed first-hand how big an industry "aid" is. I've seen how an embassy works. I will have used two things that we learned in the etiquette dinner- usage of cutlery and next week I will be a "pusher/puller" at the end of the receiving line at the July 4 party. The AFRICOM general is in town right now, and they had a press conference at the amb. residence, but I didn't get to go. I didn't know about it, actually. The FCS office doesn't get too involved with the more traditional parts of an embassy- we don't send cables or deal with public affairs, but we do a lot of work with trying to get US business here and/or increase exports to the region. It's been challenging, especially in a business climate like Senegal's. But also fruitful, I think- we had a USA Week event at the beginning of June where we highlighted the US businesses in Senegal- Coke, UPS, Ernst and Young, Phillip Morris, and drew attention to them through the media and the ambassador's presence. We organize buyer delegation to go to trade shows in the US- right now we're getting ramped up for a cosmetics show in Vegas July 19-21 and a trucking show in Dallas in August. I've also done research on the private security industry in Senegal and written up a study, to help guide US businesses that may want to export to the region. And I've made a minimal number of copies and have only had to fetch tea a couple of times for my coworker. I guess it's only fair, seeing as I was her opponent in tennis when she took a spill and messed up her ACL. I make for a "unique" lunch gofer when I run over to Magic Cafe to pick up the "dejeuner du jour" for me and my coworkers. I no longer look up, or even flinch, when I'm walking along the side of the road- not on the sidewalk, mind you, because they don't exist outside of "le centre ville", but either in the sand or on the shoulder, always against traffic- and the taxis honk at me. I've figured out that haggling, although an enervating pain in the ass, is always easier and more successful if you do it with a smile. I was dragged on stage to bump-and-grind (I think the dance is called "mbala") a Senegalese woman in front of 150 people. Check it out here.
So that's a run-down, and still more to come. The July 4th party will be a good event, a chance to, in the words of Stempel "get a whiff of the diplomatic grape." Then back to the states to earn a little scrill before school. Hope everyone's getting on well in their respective corners of the globe and I look forward to our reunion in August.