Downtown Dakar

Since I don't have any school work and I'm really enjoying that the power has been working so well the past few days I thought I would post again...Yesterday night we were all able to hang out as a group in the off-campus dorm and try some Senegalese beer. It's nothing special...but it's cheaper since it's local. It was nice to get everyone together to hang out on our roof until we decided we were being too loud and went inside. Today we were able to go into downtown Dakar for the first time. We tried to bargain with the cab driver in Wolof but really just stood and said numbers in French until we were satisfied with the outcome. If one doesn't accept our price there are many more taxis willing to pull over. We went to the Sandaga Market which has everything from boxers and bras to q-tips. We were swarmed wherever we went since we were a group of Americans but we were lucky in that no one was pickpocketed. We later read in the Lonely Planet Guide that this is the biggest market and most overwhelming. We aren't really sure how reliable this guide is since it's a bit outdated, but it's the only one on Senegal. We also went to N'ice Cream which is apparently the best place to get ice cream in Dakar; it's really more like gelati. It wasn't as good as ice cream in America but I'm sure we'll get used to it. We chose our classes today too and I'm going to be taking all of my classes in French except Wolof so hopefully I'll make some progress with my French skills...We're going to the cross-cultural orientation tomorrow and we get to meet our host families!

Aslaamalekum!

That is 'hello' in Wolof, more accurately peace be with you...I think. We had our first Wolof class yesterday so we've been trying to practice by greeting the people on our walking route on the way to the university. One fellow student has taken to talking to a man who charges people to take pictures of his monkey. We found this out after someone tried to take a picture and he popped out demanding money. Since we hadn't been to the bank, we didn't have any local currency and now he's forgiven us. He gives the monkey oranges so you can take action photos of it eating. I'm pretty sure that's his entire job...We also went to the beach and the water was warm. The beach was a little rocky but that's because it wasn't one of the more popular resort beaches, it's just very close to Suffolk University; which is where we take our classes. The food is amazing! It's very flavorful and a little spicy. The other day we even had french fries. All of the students from our program have devoured the few jars of the Senegalese version of Nutella the cafeteria managed to get us. There's always plenty of bread readily available. Today we learned about our host family. I'm staying with another girl from our program in a large family with a lot of small children, I'm really looking forward to moving in with them on Friday. I haven't taken too many pictures, but I'll post some when I do.

I made it!

I arrived here Sunday afternoon and I was dropped off at off-campus housing for Suffolk University. I couldn't get wireless and the power is very tempermental, so I haven't really been able to get online. The accomodations are no where close to the five start hotels I was staying in in Irleland, but that's to be expected. We were all pleasantly surprised that they gave us toilet paper and large bottles of water. The shower is not so much a shower as trickling cold water, but it's so hot that's all you really need. We've all come to the realization that we're going to be sweaty the whole time we're here. I've come to the realization that I'm going to have a constant layer of suncreen, sweat, and bug reppelent on my skin. Yesterday, we started orientation and just learned some basics about differenent cultural values, etc. The most exciting part was finding out where we're living. Some local Senegalese students took us on a tour of our respective neighborhoods, mine is called Mermoz and it's within walking distance of campus. There's a cute little bakery, a mosque, and a school. It's close to a bank, and Ceasar's restaurant, too. The Assistant Director of our program said her favorite tailor is there, too so I'm excited to get some authentic clothing made. Our guides put a large emphasis on land marks because even though the streets are numbered no one knows which streets are which so they use landmarks to indentify locations as opposed to street numbers. They showed us the gym too...everyone was very excited; it has a lot of equipment, tennis courts, and a pool...and it's full of Europeans. We sat around playing cards in the dark last night because our generator ran out of gas, but being in the dark just made it more interesting. We talked about the reactions we got when we told people we were coming here. Most people got "Where is that?" and "Why?" It's nice to be around 50some people who actually understand why you wanted to come here. (I'm not saying that in a negative way, it's just nice to have it in common and we all understand each other to a certain extent even before we begin talking.) Everyone in the program is great and I cannot wait to move in with my host family on Friday...maybe they'll have a more reliable generator.