an extra two and a half weeks...

so it came down to the day before i'm scheduled to leave senegal, but i am extending my stay here by an additional 2 and a half weeks, now leaving tuesday 7th sept. after much deliberation and also pressure from francis, marian (the CRESP director), and our unversity partner, i've decided it would be in the best interest of the solar oven project if i stayed on for a little longer.

the project is at a tentative state right now. after francis, kassoum, samba (our university partners), and two transtech workers put in a solid 5 days of work, including working through the weekend, the mold for the solar oven box is close to being complete. at least at a state where transtech can finish it off (and we feel comfortable letting them do the additional work without our help/supervision). however, the reflector molds still need to be made (though this is much simpler) and work needs to be done in coordinating how the finished product will be assembled, distributed, etc. marian feels that she can follow up on things a little bit, but we really need one of us here as a presence to make sure things get done in a timely fashion. i expect (more like hope) that after an additional 2 weeks the project will be in a state that everyone feels comfortable it can be and will be continued by our seneglese work partners (with some checking up by marian).

realistically, i have my doubts as to how much i can actually accomplish in two weeks, because francis has been the one spending all the time in the shop, making the CAD model and drawings, and supervising all the workers. i know i will not be much help in the shop, but marian thinks that my presence will be enough, which i hope is true. there's also a few more insulation and temperture tests i can run, to verify our data, plus writing up a good report, etc.

in my mind i was all set to leave tomorrow, so the change in staying for an additional two weeks is throwing me off a bit. also francis is leaving tomorrow night (as planned) and nicole (the only other intern left) is leaving wednesday, so i will be by myself for two additional weeks. it's probably good though, at least i'll be forced speak more french, and hopefully pick up a little more wolof (more than the 5 words i currently know).