A few more days...

Bonjour mes amis et ma famille;

So much has happened since my last update; I don't even know where to begin. Since "le drop-off" the students have moved in with their homestay families, had two Wolof classes, had one French class and taken a tour (en bus) of Dakar.

My homestay family is HUGE. This is very common of Senegalese families. That it is the month of Ramadan means that friends, cousins and acquaintances are always welcome in the home, at any time of the day. Thus my home has anywhere between 15 and 20 people in it at any given time. Since everyone is on Summer vacation and cannot eat or drink during the day, most people stay up all night and sleep all day. As a student who has to attend school during the day, I do most of my sleeping at night. This presents a mild conflict with the family because I am often too tired to eat the meal that has been prepared with me in mind (though, not entirely with me in mind, because the food will ALWAYS be appreciated by someone). 

The home is extravagant by Senegalese standards - which are not necessarily lower than those in the U.S. - but usually quite different. We have three living rooms, all of which have cable TVs. There are so many bedrooms that I haven't even seen all of them yet. We even have a hot-water shower (this is a huge luxury enjoyed strictly by the elite). 

Many of my colleagues live in one-room homes with one "bathroom," which is more accurately described as a room with a hole in the ground and a wall from which (cold) water drips slowly. In most cases, their bedrooms are indoors, but the living rooms and kitchen are outdoors. Often, families will have goats or chickens living in the kitchen.

Luckily, my family is extremely accommodating - upon arrival they had already set up a mosquito net above my bed, situated a fan between my brother's and my beds and purchased 10-gallon (litre equivalent?) bottles of Toubab (white person) safe water. They also found out, through their brother who lives in Montreal, that I prefer to be vegetarian. They have been cooking traditional Senegalese meals for themselves, but also making sure there is something meatless for me to eat. I appreciate this SO much!!! I love seeing the Senegalese meals and asking questions about their origin, cooking process etc, though these questions are slightly puzzling to them considering I am male and males here do NOT cook. They also don't do laundry. I prefer to do my own laundry but Mame (pronounced mommy = the oldest woman in the house) insists that my sisters do my laundry for me.

Last night I broke the fast (bread, butter and tea) with the family of another SIT student. Words truly cannot explain the open warmth and hospitality here in Senegal. When we arrived chez Melanie (whose Senegalese name is Fatou Binetou), the entire family welcomed us into their home. They said we were welcome there at any time, even if Melanie wasn't there with us. Her sister then proceeded to tell us that she would accompany us to the market to buy fabric. She said that Toubabs would never get the right price for materials. I was unclear why I needed to go to the market to buy fabric, until she told us that she was a seamstress and intended to make us traditional Senegalese clothing. Hours passes and it came time to leave, but the family kept insisting we stay. They all seemed so sad when we told them that we had to go back to our respective families. They all said goodbye and thanked US for visiting them, when it was us who owed them thanks for the offer to make clothing, the wonderful food, and the great times. This is not unusual in Senegal, which speaks volumes about the people here. 

As power outages are tragically common here in Senegal, I am running on battery power. For now I will leave you all with pictures of the bus tour of Dakar. Until next time...

The market Sandaga. Yes, they are cutting up a WHOLE cow in the midday heat. 
A smaller mosque from a few hundred yards back and above.
L'Isle de Serpent (Snake Island). If anyone's computer can zoom in, those little dots on the beach are actually sleeping dogs.
Ah the third world...the poor and the VERY VERY rich!
Graffiti art next door to the aforepictured mansion.