The Piscine Olympique is shut on Mondays, so we are already on Day 3, and only 5 days until the Ngor island warm-up.
I spent much of the morning on the phone to my bank in England trying to work out how I can open an American bank account so that all the useless dollars I get paid in can be transformed into something useful without having to pay $20 each time. Then it was time for swimming. I set myself 25 lengths but I managed 30, which is 1.5km. I'm going to try and do that every day plus my island swim ang hope that gets me into shape.
I am now back at the office, just getting around to lunch, and it's gone 3pm. I have a deadline looming for Thursday, and just found out I have to interview Youssous N'Dour tomorrow morning. I'm tired, hungry, wondering how the hell I will ever manage to swim and do my job and have energy for all the other stuff which takes so much time in Senegal, like finding food, moving around and paying bills.
I've been commissioned a piece by the Sunday Times to write about immigrants taking boats to Spain. I now have to find some of these guys, and get them to agree to talk. I feel nervous at the thought, but I know I will work it out somehow. I just wish I didn't have to spend three hours every day getting to the damn swimming pool, wandering around trying to find the woman who sells tickets, and then trawling up and down the pool as if I find it enjoyable.
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Hi, Rose. See if you can get the people who pay you in dollars to agree to pay bank charges their end. They usually have to fill in a form at head office in the US and it'll save you $$$$ if you can get them to do this. Otherwise, find a friend with a $$ bank account Sadly I don't have one as you need to keep $1500 in it to avoid bank charges, so I'm afraid it may just be a boring part of being paid in $$, as I know to my cost. However, the cheery part is that the $ is now worth almost £2! Love, Robin
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