Last night a bunch of us toubabs went out together in the Fann neighborhood (which is really close to the WARC where we take classes). It was fun, although we definitely stood out as a walking Little America. We went out to an ice cream parlor that served crepes, ice cream, drinks and...hookah (yup how random). Apparently the man who owns the shop is Lebanese and so he decided that would be a great combination. I guess it works for him though because there were sort of a lot of people in and out of there even though it was a Friday and it is still Ramadan. The group sat around being lazy and after a couple hours (and too many mean looks from our waiter) we headed next door where one of the girls had heard some good music being played. We were certainly the only foreigners around, but the Senegalese ladies were pretty funny and they got a kick out of watching us dance like white people. It was a really good time, especially because every third song was either by Akon or was made specially for the World Cup. Super fun. After that I took a cab home with two other kids from the program. I definitely got yelled at by random men as I was walking through my neighborhood so I straight up booked it to my house and was really happy that the outside door was open so that I could wait inside while my brother came to let me in. I got home a little after 2, so needless to say I am tired today. We woke up and came into school (on a Saturday!) to take a tour of Dakar. The best part was probably going inside the African Renaissance Monument. The Monument itself is pretty controversial and just opened officially in April of this year. We took an elevator up to the 15th story (look it up online, the thing is gigantic and sort of gaudy) and ended up standing in the man's head, looking out over Dakar and the Atlantic. Very cool. It has been raining a lot the past couple days, which can get pretty frustrating, especially when you have to walk everywhere. So it was obviously raining during many parts of our tour today, but c'est la vie! I have quite a few blisters that developed yesterday walking to and from school in wet shoes. My host mom thought that I was severely injured because I bandanged my feet before going out last night. My french was just good enough to assure her that I am fine. The good news is that even though you get drenched really quickly the sun dries you out so fast that you hardly notice after awhile.
Oh and yesterday we started our Wolof class! Our professor's name is Sidy, although he told us that his students have often called him Q-tip. He was amazing and looks exactly like his nickname suggests. Even in our class of 20 (which will usually only be 10), he kept everyone involved and basically did stand-up comedy for three hours. Really fun. I can already tell that will be a highlight. The women in my house were much more open and willing to talk to me when I spoke Wolof (or at least tried) last night. I think it makes people laugh to hear me butcher their language, but I am happy to try even though it is sort of embarrassing. We learned how to properly greet people, which is a really big deal in Wolof culture and comes in handy a lot. The class also included lessons in basic identifications and question words. I think it will be sort of cool to come home with a reasonably large Wolof vocabulary. It doesn't sound at all like English or French, although it seems as though a lot of French words have filtered into the Wolof lexicon. Many people also speak a sort of creole of Wolof and French, making it confusing to listen to sometimes. Luckily, Sidy seems like an awesome teacher and I have faith that I will figure it out sometime.
We also have to start thinking pretty seriously about what type of internship we want to pursue during the second half of the semester. I still have little to no clear idea of what I want, so I will really have to put some thought into that. After being here, I wonder if I really want to head to rural Senegal, but I think I still might try because how could I resist such a unique experience? After all, it would be difficult to come here and visit the villages. It is hard enough to manage Dakar. I think a rural experience would be very fun, if challenging at points.
I have hope that someday soon Steve will be visiting me from his Peace Corps site in Joal! Korite (the end of Ramadan) is coming up this weekend, which will have both of us very busy, but I hope that I get a chance to visit him in the near future! Speaking of korite, I am trying to get a traditional Senegalese outfit made in time to don it for the feast! Everyone gets a new outfit, or at least brings out their very best clothes, for the end of Ramadan, so it is a great excuse to go out and figure out how getting clothes made works!
Tomorrow I will have a full day with my family, or at least not have any class, so I don't really know what that will hold. My family has been doing a ton of moving stuff, so I wonder if the day will be doing a lot of that. I guess I will find out!
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