This was our 4th straight day of student retreats with kids. The sessions were six hours long. Today was with 6th and 7th graders (lots of squirrelly energy). It was a great, great day. We did our best to play games and take long breaks. We worked hard to make this one worthwhile for these kids.
I had three girls come up to me at lunch and ask if I was on the Comedy Channel in the USA. I told them that topical middle school humor didn’t really do much to entertain the masses in the states. These 3 had a great day; they really understood Living Above the Line, Building Positive Culture, and Learning from Mistakes. They were all stars.
We worked out before school as usual. We are now known on campus and can visit with the kids during down times. We continue to enjoy watching the students play on their soccer and volleyball teams.
There are a lot of sheep and goats on the corners of every street in Dakar. These guys have short futures; they’re all going to goat/sheep heaven next Sunday night to be sacrificed in mosque for Muslim Tabaski feast. We are invited to Lase’s house to eat this dinner on Monday.
We had a crazy day after school with Almamy, our host’s go-to guide who took us to four markets. It was waaaayyyyy outside the Cody comfort zone. I cannot describe the chaos in the fabric market (and it was 100 heat index again). We also visited a clothing market, a beads market and a wood working market. Almamy did all the negotiating,…sometimes he’d spend 15 minutes haggling and saved us a lot of money. Sometimes he’d do 20 minutes and save us 34 cents. It was memorable, educational, wild, scary, and exhilarating all at once.
This trip is beyond words. Tomorrow we go again with Almamy to four more markets (including voo doo, don’t mess with me) and out on ferry to the Gorree Island museum where slaves were shipped from Africa.
It is sounding like it will be a decent day!
This Blog was written by Tom Cody of Top 20 Training.
