Sleepless

Bon nuit!

Here in Dakar it is 5h. With all the excitement surrounding the arrival of the other students, its hard for anyone to fall asleep tonight. What a relief it has been to meet everyone else! I realize that we have yet to discover our differences, but the initial energy has been extremely positive. 

After everyone had put away their luggage, one of the Wolof-French teachers ordered pizza and we were 'oriented' about not drinking tap water, women not drinking/smoking in public, the taxi system, etc. Tomorrow, we are scheduled to go on an excursion through Dakar. As of now, I'm not sure what that entails; I suspect that they (SIT staff) will drop us off with a scavenger-hunt-spirited search of the city. I can only think to myself, "Please let my French be functional, please let my French be functional." 

French-speaking skill levels among the students varies. Some are fluent, some speak only a little French. Of course none of us speaks Wolof. I've picked up one phrase, though: Nanga def (pronounced with a hard g) is like saying hello.

More to come

Love, Ryan