I know it has been a long time since I posted anything, but I have been quite busy. I'll give you a brief overview of what i've been doing with my time and the people I have been hanging out with.

As you know, I have been teaching an English class. Its been a blast so far! 

All of my students are fantastic. Even though the school I teach at is only for girls, my class was opened for anyone. So, there are people in there from age 17-50!

The majority of the people here are raised in a bilingual home with Wolof as the primary language and French as the secondary. However there are a lot of multilingual households with Serer, Arabic, or different West African languages. All this to say, most of my students are learning English quickly.

Since the school I teach at is for girls, there is a lot of cooking. I got to help out one day and make some spaghetti and mini pizzas. I posted those pictures on the post before this.

Most of my students try to make the "th" sound with their bottom lip (regarless of how many times I tell them to stick their tounge out)! Also the "r" sounds are very difficult. The word "fork" quickly becomes very funny :)

After teaching the english class, we take a French course. Our professor Ibrahima is really awesome, speaks 4 languages, can read Hebrew and Greek, and is really helpful when teaching French. I am getting a lot better a French thanks to him. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of him.

NEXT DESTINATION:

On friday I leave for Mali. I will spend a few days in Bamako, the capital, and then head off to Timbuktu. I am really excited to see Timbuktu.

In general...

Jerk

Instant connection with all white people

The bus we take to work

Outside my room at night


Outside the school I teach at. She was so excited to take this picture!

English class (Gaston)

First day test... :)

Daily walk to the bustop.

The taxis!

Fatou!

View from the big road near my house

I live over there, behind the first row of buldings

Je suis un bon cuisineur!

Ils m'aident

This is what we made! ...

Humanity's fascination with photos.

cours à la plage quoi

This is Gaston. He is one of the coolest people I have met here. He makes his living as an artist; The clothes, bandana, and the bag he is sitting on he made. He showed me his room where all the walls are painted with fantastic elaborate paintings. There were dozens of beach-towel-sized cloths with fantastic colors and scenes made in the boutique style.



He has been teaching me d'jembe (this lesson was on the beach). He also signed up for my English class, so I will teach him English- c'est bon, n'est pas?

Where I Live

For my first three weeks here I will be living with this family. They are awesome! I don't have pictures of all of them, but at least you'll get the picture of where I live.

My room and bed. I share it with the youngest son (only the room, not the bed).

Behind the house- the laundry line!

The steps to the upstairs.

The bathroom.

Why invest in expensive fencing material? Just put some broken glass bottles up!

This is the mother of the family.

This is the youngest daughter. She doesn't usually carry around a ghetto-boom, but we dressed up like gangsters one night...

The oldest daughter with the oldest son.

This is Snoopy...

He is a noble dog.

This is where he lives

Fish is the new chicken. Bon Apitite =)

Funny Story

People don’t have the same sense of personal space here. I don’t mind, I actually really like it. And it makes for funny experiences. For example; the other day I was reading a book to practice French. The three kids of the household I am staying at (4-6 years younger than me, a boy and 2 girls) came up and sat in the chairs around me and turned on the television. They landed on a channel and were watching it while I tried intently to focus on my book. Since I cannot understand lightning-speed French, I was unaware what they were watching until I looked up to see a female torso spinning around, modeling extra supportive lingerie. Three kids staring intently at a bra infomercial seemed funny to me, but it seemed I was the only one. However, I now feel confident enough to discern between a flimsy bra and one with quality support!