Where did I leave off last? Ah yes. My host family is really nice. There is my host Mom, Madame Ndiaye, and my host Father, Papa Ndiaye (sounds like Jai just fyi), and the sister Aïssatou, and the housekeeper. Madame Ndiaye works at the Université Cheikh Anta Diop in the registration office of Faculte des Lettres so she is super busy until the end of the month when registration is over. She doesn’t get home until 8pm. Aïssatou comes and goes around the same times. She is in her 5th year of medical school and wants to do pediatrics or work with mothers (so an OB/GYN type deal maybe). My host Dad is very quite but I believe he is a retired civil servant from the info I got from Wells. He kind of reminds me of both my grandfathers: keeps to himself and says what needs to be said. He is nice though! Not quite as intimidating as that comparison may lead my family members to believe. Oh and I got to talk to their son on skype because he lives in New York and speaks English. He was pretty could too…I think you spell his name Ousseynou but don’t quote me on that.
Thursday came and went without much fanfare mainly because I was superdy duper tired and the next day…BAM like Emeril…our first test. I was for sure I failed this French efficiency test mainly because I haven’t had to write anything in French for a seriously long time so grammar is not my strong suite, then again neither was speaking French until I got here. So we did that at the University and dang is that place big with lots of people. WAY bigger than Wells folks. We’re talking like a city within a city it seems to me and there is construction everywhere…so I don’t really know how to get to anywhere besides Faculte des Lettres and the library. Two solid places to know I suppose. Online registration with the embassy blah blah blah….
Back to the fun stuff! Our first Wolof class. For those of you who missed this piece of info, Wolof is the local language. And our Wolof teacher is probably the most fun to learn from haha. He’s a riot he likes to joke around and he’s really good at making us stay alert. He wants to make sure we pronounce everything right because if you mess up you probably say something dirty…oops.
DRUM ROLL PLEASE…….TA DA!!! I got my luggage Friday night! Oh man was that the highlight of my day. I felt bad because Jess’s family is my family really so I had to make my host Mom’s brother wait to take me home until I got my bag. His name is Issakha. He was a good sport about it though. No one is ever really in a hurry here…I think it makes them live longer honestly. It’s a very nice atmosphere. I met my host Mom’s sister’s family…I guess the family of my host Aunt. It’s a BUSY house over there. Lots of kids and such running around the house but they are really cute and funny.
Now see, I was excited to get my luggage Friday so I could have some nice new clothes for our visit to Île de Gorée. This was a fun day. I have lots of pictures to put up soon, but in short we got a grand tour and it was beautiful there. I could have done without the vendors. They were really persistent and annoying. I know it’s just them trying to get a bit of money but jeez man talk about a buzz kill. Oh and we saw this really cool sand art stuff being made. It’s really cool. They use all different shades of sand to make these really cool pictures. We had a really great lunch and enjoyed some witty banter with the men sitting at the table near the bathroom. One asked to marry Jess. It was interesting that’s for sure. The House of Slaves was definitely the highlight though. It has a sad history but it is an amazing place.
I believe it was either Saturday or Sunday night I had this awful encounter with a quick ass worm. Sooooo story goes I was just trying to plug in my fan and of course instead of turning on the big overhead light I just tried to use my led flashlight block that I use for the power outages (yep Dad you did your research…crap ton of time with zip zero nada for power). Anywho…I see something squirming. Of course, I freak out a bit but try to remain calm. I figured it was probably harmless but I really wasn’t going to plug in my fan if that thing was going to land on my hand. HECK NO! My next option was to kill the little sucker. I thought “oh yea I can take you worm”. Wrong idea. I tried my toilet paper method. Toilet paper + pinch = dead. Little did I know that Senegalese worms are FAST MUTHF******S. I knocked it to the ground and it wiggled EVERYWHERE. Ew. So I called for my host Mom. She asked me what was wrong and of course I had to think about how to phrase this…worm/baby snake? She had me sit in the couch…and what am I wearing? Preeettyyy much nothing. I mean my shorter shorts and a little tank top sans bra. I felt so awkward but to sleep around here I had to sleep in very little at first because it was so hot for me. It ended like this: My host Dad came in and killed it with a broom after tearing my whole room apart. They continued to spray my room with a crap ton of bug spray…so I had to sit in my embarrassing outfit until my room aired out. I’m appreciative for the help though…that was one quick worm. I haven’t had many bug problems besides that... there was this one time I saw a roach/grasshopper type deal in the shower area while I was peeing, but he didn’t try to attack. I let him live in peace…that might not have been the best idea but I haven’t seen him since.
Sunday was probably one of the yuckiest days for me. My room was sweltering yucky hot and I was super lethargic. I think I got dehydrated but who know. I just slept like 12 hours my family must have though I hated them. It wasn’t true. I just couldn’t get the energy to do anything. What I really wanted to do was join Jess and her host sister to the Statue de Renaissance I think it is. It’s a cool statue close to our house and it’s HUGE! It looks really cool. I still have 3 and a half months to get there though so I’m not worried. For a while I was really sick. I couldn’t eat anything and even the smells of food just made my stomach turn. I hope I didn’t offend my family by not eating but it was really tough for a few days. Instead of just letting my body try and fend it off I took my antibiotics for Travelers’ Diarrhea and they seemed to have helped because I totally have my appetite back.
Monday we had a presentation by all the professors about our classes that we could take at WARC. It’s a bit tough though because there are classes we can take at three places. WARC, IFEE, and the University. We didn’t know our placement test levels for IFEE and we still don’t have the schedule of the UCAD courses. I think everyone is a little frustrated but the staff is great so it should work itself out in a few days. Too bad I can’t just ask my host Mom since she works in registration haha. Then after trying to pick classes we walked around the University. I was going to buy a notebook but they have funky French imported notebooks that look like graph paper. I said screw this and I really shouldn’t have because I tried to find it again Tuesday on campus and totally failed after I decided I really needed one even if it was just paper without any lines at all (which they do have).
Then Jess, Jen and I walked all the way up La Corniche to Mermoz and that felt like a long ass walk to start with. Then Jess and I had to finish the walk all the way to Ouakame. That was a really far walk. Then I had to walk the last 20 minutes all alone, but low and behold I found an admirer. A guy about my age maybe a little older started talking to me a bit and in all fairness they are nice people here no just creepers. So, since I usually avoid eye contact and ignore people, I decided to be nice this time because he was so nice. He joked around a bit and introduced himself and his quiet friend (not going to lie his friend was a bit strange). He tried to ask me how I was in Wolof and I explained how I had just started but I was really proud of myself for understanding what he asked. I was able to answer too! That was cool. So I started to get a little lost and at this point I had had to use a bathroom since Mermoz (remember this has been a while since then) and I think he realized I was a little worried. So he asked where I lived and tried to help. I found the place myself and walked up to the door. We said our “it was nice to meet you”s and he turned around. Now if he had left it there I would have though “oh what a nice guy” but nope he had to turn around and ask the creepy question. He asked when I leave the house in the morning. He seemed a bit like he could be my protection detail but it was more creepy than not. It’s nice to be admired but luckily I haven’t seen him since.
I think Tuesday night was my scariest walk home yet. Exactly a week after leaving home here I am walking home in the semi-dark. Allison, Jess and I decided we wanted to know where each other lives. So after scarfing down a sandwich (found an awesome deli yay!) and talking to the love of my life Kara Rublee on skype, we took the shady bus home. Oh btw this is the same type of white bus I saw ass of tea kettle in the ditch this morning in front of the big blue bank. I don’t know how exactly this bus managed this because by all means the pile of dirt is a pretty good barrier…I know you don’t believe me but if you saw it you’d understand. It looked like a freshman shoved in the trashcan. Butt end way out in the air. I only wish I had had my camera. I tried not to laugh as I walked by because I bet they didn’t think it was funny. Anyways…that was a side story. Us girls took the bus home to Ouakame and hey it turns out we all live really close. Allison and I walked to Jess’s house and then when we got to the gas station we went our separate ways. It was a little after 7 at this point. Sun sets at 7:30 sharp folks. So it was dark by the time I arrived home. I though about taking a taxi but by that time I was already so close…turns out I’m here just fine. I didn’t die! YAY! Or get robbed! Double YAY! Haha.
So there it is. My first week in Dakar. Whew. Seriously a solid milestone for me. The first week was rough and I haven’t ventured much but I can’t wait to go out and see lots more of the city! Until next time…
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