Here I am!

So it has been a week that I've been here in Senegal. Things are going well, but there are lots of cultural adjustments, and I am learning new things EVERY day.

Today, we had our first day of classes at WARC (West African Research Center). We had our first Wolof language class, and I now know some basic greetings that I can practice simply by walking down the street or getting on the bus. Speaking of the bus, I take the bus to school every morning, and today was the first morning that I navigated SUCCESSFULLY (I got pathetically lost the other day) all by myself, which was quite an achievement. Then I walk back from school with my friend Ryan, whose house is on the way to mine, and then I take the bus from her house. It is quite nice.

My host family is also quite lovely. I live with an older woman (~65 years) and her daughter (~24, pregnant for about 7 months) and the woman's niece (12 years old). I get along with all of them in quite different ways, but I think I am growing on them in the same way that they are growing on me. At night, I play with the 12-year-old girl and she teaches me words in French/Wolof, and I teach her words in English. I also taught her last night how to make a cootie-catcher out of a folded paper towel, and we had so much fun creating fortunes in French. (My favorite was: "tu vas rencontrer Abdoulaye Wade"... very silly!) She is adorable, and she also helped to teach me how to wash my clothes, which is much easier with a convenient, American washing machine. Washing your clothes with concentrated soap powder and a bucket of water is EXHAUSTING, and definitely takes patience and arm muscles.

At my house, we also have goats and chickens, and I say hi to them every morning, which my family thinks is so strange because over here, people don't really have domestic animals that they treat as family, like in the United States. I also say hi to all the mangy dogs on the street, which they think is strange too. I teach the little 12-year-old girl, Marie, about the stars and the planets, though, which she thinks is very neat... so they probably just think I am some strange nature freak in general.

Yesterday, my host sister, Khady, took me to the market place to buy some African boubous (traditional cloth dresses). They are beautiful printed fabric, very fun and festive. The market places are SUCH an experience... such sensory overload with people EVERYWHERE. White people/foreigners are referred to as "toubab," and there are toubab prices in all the market places which are MUCH higher, so you have to argue and haggle, which is like a big game to me. Even to hail a taxi, you have to haggle, which is frustrating when all you want is to get home and don't want to deal with the formalities of bargaining for the price.

Speaking of sensory overload, taking the bus has been quite an experience. They are called the "car rapides," and they are these colorful, decrepit vans that fit about a million people, all squeezed together. To notify the driver that you want to get off, you simply bang on the ceiling until he slows down, then you jump out the back door, which the conductor hangs off of. It is all very amusing to me, and quite an experience!!

Another experience that I have now discovered, is that there are bed bugs in my bed. So all those times Mommy and Daddy said, "Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite," well I guess I didn't listen and follow directions, because the bed bugs certainly have been biting. My friend, Ryan, also has them on her legs, and is experiencing the same itchy feeling. Luckily, from my reading in the Senegal guide book, they are only an annoyance, not an actual health risk. Hopefully I can do something about them though, so I do not come back to the States COVERED in pox-like dots.

The weather here is HOT and HUMID, and Senegal culture is big into cleanliness and propriety, so I'm expected to shower at least once a day, if not more. The running water is only cold water, which has been an adjustment, but after being outside for even a little bit, it is entirely welcome to step under a cold shower. It is also not appropriate to show anybody your undergarments, so you are in charge of washing them yourself in the shower. Otherwise, there is a maid that does the laundry for us (!). The food here is also DELICIOUS... lots and lots of carbs, which is an adjustment, and very few fresh vegetables (oh, how I miss salads!), but there is plenty of fish and chicken and beef and RICE, with lots of spice and flavor.

Okay, this is one long entry, and I will save the rest of what I have to say for a later entry, so keep on reading and hopefully I'll update again soon!

Au revoir,
Allison