What took me so long?

Sorry that it has been awhile. I've been waiting for this momentous day for quite some time. I now have DSL at my house. Now I no longer have to deal with internet cafes with their old computers that don't have all of the necessary programs to support a good "web experience." Anyways I can now watch streaming video at my house with no problems. I'll also be looking to keep up with American TV by downloading episodes weekly. Anway here are some random pictures to look at. As for work...it's still coming. I will admit my last post was quite ambitious, but such is the nature of this kind of work. I'm still striving to reach all of my goals, now the hard part is mapping it all out.


Here is the famous bridge in Saint-Louis that connects the mainland to the island. It's a couple hundred years old (as St. Louis was the first place in Africa colonized by the French in the 17th century), and it's orgins are still being debated by historians.



The bridge upclose




Here is a picture of a Giraffe at a National Park that I went to while I was at IST (In Service Training). It was a pretty cool park because for once we got to see (giraffes, rhinos, water buffalo, and gazelle) which no longer reside in nature in West Africa...I have yet to see a lion though.




Here is a picture of my second concert at the French Cultural Center in town. Things are going well musically. I'm getting alot of opportunities to play here in town (in Burkina all I did was practice which got frustrating so more or less I stopped playing regularly). So I met a French pianist (the guy on the right) and we play/practice together weekly now. He composes most of the songs that we play. Currently we are looking for gigs wherever we can find them. We've got one coming up next weekend so that should be fun. The other three guys are senegelese. You may be shocked to see a contrabass (surtout en afrique), but that was the doing of the french guy. He's got a awesome house with a "studio" that has a grand piano, a contrabass, and various percussion equipment not to mention AC. He tought an electric bass player how to play the contrabass. Additionally he tought the two percussionist the jazz form. They are excellent drummers but they had to learn the layout and structure of the jazz form. Such as the concept of an 8 measure intro. Anyway, if you would like us to come play at an event for you, the name of the group is "African Touch" (must be said with the proper French accent, btw the group was named way before I showed up on the scene), we will be more than happy to come provided that you pay airfare and accommodations, lol. Believe it or not the bass player (who has "toured" in europe before with his senegalese afro cuban band, if you've been to West Africa believe me you know the type) is sending a recording of this concert to his friend in Belgium to see if we could play in a jazz festival. I must tell you that at best we are an amateur group that couldn't stand up against a band of professional muscians. That said however the music that we play is so niche that not many people play what we play. Also remember the mindset (partially drive by guilt of the vestiges of colonialism) of a person in Europe, "Let's get an African band from Africa to come play at our festival." Look, I doubt that it would actually happen, but wouldn't it be cool to get a free plane ticket to go to a jazz festival? The odds are not favorable but on ne sait jamais....