a mini bitch session.. consider this your warning...

Today was our last day of Wolof. I'm happy about this, but only because now I have my days completely free. I was actually starting to enjoy it, somewhat. I certainly don't feel like I could say anything more than greetings and introductions, but I know a few more verbs and how to conjugate, and perhaps that'll motivate me to learn more on my own. Actually though, I feel it's more necessary right now to study my French, as I feel limited in my base of words and verbs to choose from. I notice this more when I'm with professors who speak French more than anything. In common, everyday conversations, my French is adequate, and I don't feel embarrassed to just say whatever comes to mind (which can then be corrected), but with professors, my inhibitions get in the way. This is normal, I suppose, but I would like to feel more comfortable.

We finally got our cable internet today, which is why I was able to upload so many photos and videos. Funny thing though- we only have ONE cable connection, and my computer is the only one it works on because everyone else has Windows VISTA and I have XP. Doyen, our "landlord," is going to get us Wi-Fi, which is what we thought we paid for initially. Short story: It's one big mess, but it's slowly getting cleared up. Vicki, our professor, was flipping out about it today, and I think I deserve a medal for keeping my mouth shut. That's a long story too, and not very interesting, but suffice it to say that she was just overreacting and treating the cable guy like shit, and it was really embarrassing for the rest of us. I haven't talked too much about Vicki and her craziness because I didn't want to bitch, but she really is getting to be too much. The last few days I've felt like I was living in a prison. It's like walking on egg-shells with her. She has never snapped at me, but she's just so damn temperamental. She wants things her way, and she's not up for negotiations. And the thing is, this wouldn't bother me so much if I felt like her suggestions and/or commands were at least helpful, but they're not. And, worse yet, most of her comments that are so irking seem rooted in her lack of trust in the rest of us, it ends up feeling like I've (we've) just been lectured by a parent who is not our parent. I have parents, and I didn't sign up for more. And, by the way, my parents are great in letting me live my life without managing it, so to have this kind of intervention by Vicki... I'm just getting tired of it. I didn't sign up to justify every little action or inaction. No, ma'am!

I've been willing to accommodate Vicki so far, but my patience is wearing thin. I'm beginning to feel taken advantage of, or at the least, I'm beginning to feel codependent. Well, maybe it's not codependency so much as just wanting to live in peace, so I try to just stay out of her way and do things to keep her from snapping. I don't know if I would be this accommodating if she wasn't such a source of help with my research. Because of that, I don't feel comfortable saying to her, "Look, bitch, you're getting on my nerves," and "No, no, I don't care that you're an old lady that can hardly move around, and that you get confused easily, you're still being a mega-bitch," and "You need to go to your room and chill-out until you're ready to be pleasant... bitch." Ok- there, I got it out of my system. That felt good.

Ok, that's it for tonight. I have to shower and read more of my book, "Wicked." You may have heard of it- it's the biographical account of the Wicked Witch of the West, from Oz, of course. So far I'm loving it.