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!

The Week in Review

My first week here has been fantastic- I have loved every second of it! There is so much I have learned I cannot even begin to divulge. Hopefully through my few words and pictures, I may convey the slightest image of the beatiful African culture.

THE MOST INTERESTING.......


...PEOPLE

~This is Parfait (pronounced like the frozen dessert). Parfait is what we call a bamf. Every time I talk to him, I learn something fascinating about him. He has been showing me around Dakar.


...PLACES

~Goree Island: It is an island right outside of Dakar. It was one of the largest shipping ports for slaves. Now it is a historic preserve in which the natives embrace the Rastafarian lifestyle: "It is better to have peace and be poor, than to have wealth with conflict." Many artists here as well as Karaoke Bob Marleys (unfortunately my batteries ran out before I snap a shot of "Bob Marley").



~Dakar: At a lighthouse overlook. The tip of land you see in the distance is the most western point of Africa.



~Pink Lake: As you can see, the lake is pink in the background. It is from salt. It is very similar to the Dead Sea, where you float on top of the water and don't sink. These people are collecting salt.



~Thies: The famous Baobab trees of Africa. This one is huge. It was hollowed out a long time ago and used to store dead bodies....kind of like the Sleepy Hollow movie....



~Soma: like in the book Brave New World as well as a song title by the Strokes. It was an awesome village where they wove these fantastic silos to store grain.


...PICTURE

These villages (like the previous picture) had no more than 3-5 families living in each one. There is so much I can say about them...but no one likes to read essays :)

Je suis en Afrique!!!

I arrived in Dakar, Senegal this morning at 6 am. It was a day of firsts....

First thoughts: It smells good. I like how I can wear pants and I t-shirt.

(Second thoughts): Everyone else is bundled in jackets and scarves...but its 62 F outside. I think i'm sweating a little bit...

First Scary encounter: I exited the airport in Dakar, but no one was there to pick me up. Good thing I can't use my cell phone. A dozen taxi drivers continually asked me if I wanted a ride. I told them someone was picking me up. And I waited there...awkwardly...in a foreign country...in the dark of the morning...A man kept urging me to follow him to a store just around the corner, where I could call my ride. For some reason it didn't sound appealing to me. especially when he tried to pick up my bag and take me there himself....Turns out my ride called the airport in which they said my flight was an hour late, and that wasn't true- it was right on time.

First Breakfast: Scrambled egges with bread, two croissants, orange juice. Delicious :)

First Blog in Africa: This one. But there will be many more blogs to come. thank you for reading this one. I'll post some pictures when I have adequate time.