I'm beginning to realize how difficult it's going to be to maintain a blog! Let's see, what have I been up to...
Thursday we did the "drop-off," where we were put into small groups and sent to different areas of the downtown and given a list of questions that we had to ask people. We didn't concentrate so much on the questions as on our surroundings--we went to a traditional African market, which was, for lack of any way to describe the real experience, was AMAZING. Hundreds and hundreds of people selling their goods, which ranged from fabric, scarves, jewelry, shoes (soooo many shoes), and instruments to dried pounded whole fish, baobob fruit, crocodile heads, whole dead parrots, technological instruments, converters, books.....it just seemed to go on forever. I have to say that's in my top two or three favorite experiences so far!!
Friday we started French classes and then had a demonstration of African musical instruments: the djembe, kora, and tama, and a demonstration of traditional dance by a very famous dancer here. That was really fun and interesting, I took videos so depending on internet connectivity/my free time I might post a clip or two. We then departed for the Village des Arts, where I'm really hoping to live for my ISP period!! We saw a demonstration of pottery and talked to the professors of batik, bronze sculpture and sous-verre glass painting. I'm thinking that I'll do batik for my workshop just because I could learn pottery really easily at home, but batik seems like a really fun opportunity. Friday night we went to our homestay for the first time! My sister showed me around and then everyone kind of left, and I was left alone while everyone was (I think) praying, because Friday is a holy day. A couple people came back for dinner (my mom, dad and nephew) and we ate on the floor with our hands, which was great, and then everyone left again. When they were there, they all spoke Wolof and French only when (occasionally) addressing me.
Saturday we came to school (no, we don't have school every Saturday, we were just debriefing our first homestay nights), and then after our debriefing we went on a bus tour of Dakar. We went to the beach that's the farthest point to the West (hi America! I waved, I could see Florida!), to the Mosqué de la divinité, we saw a fish market and an art market, the president's house...just a lot of things, pretty quick. From about 4-11 I played with the kids: Badou, 12 (nephew), Dior, 8 (neice), and Fallou, 5 (nephew). They go CRAZY over bubbles, and just for attention in general! Man was that tiring. That night I went out with my homestay sister, Adji, which was an interesting experience...I thought she went without me because she kept leaving with her friends, but at like 11 or 12 she came into my room and said "Okay we're going!" And I was SO tired but I figured, it's my first real weekend in Senegal, I'd like to see what Senegalese night life is like...so we went outside and the second we got to the sidewalk she went and got in some guy's car and talked to him for a while, so a couple of her friends and I just sat and waited for her. After a while she came back and we walked a little ways down the street, everyone speaking in Wolof and me just kind of tagging along. It continued like this for several hours, until around 2 when we went to the dance party. It was 2AM and nobody was there yet!!! Apparently parties start really late here. It was a really exclusive, classy dance party (oh yeah, I forgot, my sister teased me about my clothes and said "is THAT in style?" and tried to make me wear her clothes...). We danced until 4 or 5 and then, slowly but surely, after many stalls and a very scary drive, finally got home.
Sunday I slept in and then hung around the house/in the town for the day. Nothing too exciting. And today, Monday, we started classes: Field Studies Seminar, Arts and Culture Seminar (in French, a presentation in French on the history of Senegal's politics), and Wolof.
So anyway I'm tired of writing. But hopefully pictures to come!!!
Ba beneen yoon,
Emily :)
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