Wow. Where oh where to begin. I am here in Senegal, but have yet to realize that I am actually in Africa. Where are the lions? Haha, just kidding.
Well, the flight was fairly normal. It was long, especially since we were on the runway for over an hour before leaving. There was a screen in front of each person where you could play games, listen to music, or watch any of 20 or so movies. I wasn’t expecting that, so it passed the time quite well. I got to sit BESIDE a fellow CIEE student named Jenise (from NJ), and I knew about 10 others were on the plane. It was nice to chat for a while, but then we each did our own thing. I ate dinner (forgot to order the vegetarian) so that was a little rough. But it was curry! I tried to sleep but dozed at best for maybe two hours.
When we got to the airport, everything was pretty straighforward. Went through customs, no problem, got our bags, no problem, found the CIEE representative coming to pick us up, no problem, got to the campus, no problem! There wasn’t really even the huge rush of people trying to carry our bags for us that we were warned of, so that was nice. Of course, it was overwhelming to see the coutryside, especially since one of the first things I saw was a large herd of goats grazing on the side of the road (not behind a fence). The scenery is pretty, but it’s not the same type of pretty as in the west, because everything is a little more rustic, a little more dirty.
We got to the university campus and met the 5 students that had arrived the previous day. Breakfast consisted of white bread with jam, and juice (that has been the breakfast every morning that we have been here, actually). Afterwards, many people wanted to take naps, and I could have slept too, but I felt the need to investigate the area. So, a few of us decided to find an ATM and then go to an internet cafe to reach our families. Finding a working ATM proved to be a difficult task. The first one we went to wasn’t working, so we kept walking down the road, asking people where there was another. But we didn’t know the French word for ATM so there was a little bit of a communication barrier. Finally we were directed to another one, but this was too was not working. At this one, though, was a guard, and he discovered that the ATM was simply empty of money. We waited around for a half an hour until the money came, and then took out some random amount of money (we had no idea of its worth). While we were waiting, though, we met a really nice man who actually is hosting 2 CIEE students. Small world!
The walk to and from the ATM was of course interesting. There are these colorful vans called “car rapides” as public transportation, and they are absolutely full of people. I’ll get a picture of one. Also, we were already getting looks from people, especially the men. And there were a lot of little boys begging for money. I later learned that they are boys that attend Islamic school and are basically simply trained to beg for money to give to their “marabouts”. It’s apparently a very controvertial issue here.
Lunch was chicken and rice. I ate a little chicken, but it’s still hard. Thankfully my appetite hasn’t been too large, because I don’t know what I’d eat! After lunch, a few of us decided to go find the beach. I’d decided at this point that I wasn’t going to let myself take a nap that day, but rather just go to bed early and get a good long sleep. The security guard, Samba, found out we were going to find the beach and asked his friend, 18-year old Lat (who washes the dishes in the cafeteria) to be out guide. He was soooo nice! I talked to him for probably the whole 2 hour tour. And he took us to 2 beaches, to an artisan village, and past the Canadian Embassy! It was a great tour, but the sun was hot hot hot, and even though I was applying lots of sunscreen continuously, I got a tiny bit burnt. It was a weird-feeling burn though – maybe because of the malaria medicine.
I had figured out by this point that I was by far the best French speaker of the group, and I think everyone else had too, so they started using me to communicate with the locals when they couldn’t say what they wanted to say. It’s kinda fun, and I’m definitely getting a lot of practice in already.
Dinner was beef, so I got a salad! Catherine, our coordinator, had asked about dietary restrictions, so I told her I would only eat fish and chicken. I was really happy to eat a salad. I’m surprised how many vegetarians there were, and how pretty much all of them had done what I did, slowly reintroducing meat into their diet. There is, however one vegan. Good luck to her.
I was feeling pretty tired after dinner, but the last 10 students were arriving around 9:30 so I decided to wait up to meet them. See, I’d met some cool people, but hadn’t had any crazy connections yet, so I was really hoping for a good last group. But honestly, I was so tired that pretty much as soon as I said hi, I went to bed. My roomate Angel (from Chicago, actually) and I were the only two that didn’t take some sort of nap that day, and boy did we feel it the next morning. I would have figured that after a 10 hour sleep I would have been refreshed. But when my alarm rang at 8, I was like “Are you kidding me?”. I could have easily slep another 3 or 4 hours. Easily.
I guess I was feeling pretty poor all day long. Actually, mid-afternoon, I had such a bad headache, and I was feeling dizzy and short of breath, so as soon as class was over I went and too a 3 hour nap. Now, don’t be too concerned, please, because I feel almost totally normal today. I think it’s a combination of jet lag and maybe even the malaria medicine. Also, that morning I had taken all my vitamins at the same time as my malaria medicine. At lunch, I was told my some students that you’re not supposed to do that because it blocks absorption, but can also make you sick. So, maybe that was it. But, yeah, I was hurtin.
It rained all day yesterday, and I guess it did the same on Saturday. Apparently that’s not normal though. It is the rainy season, but it usually only rains for a little bit each day. The rain made the streets soooooo flooded though, it was like a river. And then chaos begins. There had to be armed police directing traffic. It was all very surreal-feeling.
It’s been rather hot and humid, but I guess not as awful as my mind led me to think it might be. I mean, the sun is damn hot, especially mid-afternoon. And the humidity is brutal, but it’s different. It doesn’t make you sweat as much as in the west. Hard to explain. But I asked someone the first day if it gets any hotter than it has been, and he said definitely not – that, in fact, it’s hotter than usual, mainly because of the unusually large downpours of rain. That made me feel better. I can handle this!
Last night, after I woke up from my nap and started to feel better, a bunch of us hung out and chatted late into the night. It was really fun, and I started feeling really good about some of the people in our group. I think I’ll make some good friends. I also practiced Wolof with the guard. We took our first official lesson this morning, but I have been suprising intrigued by the language and have quite the thirst to learn it. So Samba, the guard, helped me with the pronunciation. He was telling me that he wants an american wife (ha!). I told him we were all too young, that we dont marry at 21 in the US/canada, and he was kinda bummed. Funny. But, as he helped me learn wolof, i told him about canada. He didnt even know that it was on top of the US… wow.
I just took my French placement test. There was a written part and an oral part. I was the first one done by far. I couldn’t remember any of the verb tenses, but I was using my intuition to help me and just writing what verb sounded good. The oral part was really easy. Actually, the guy who was testing me asked me if I wanted to skip the French class. But I told him that I wanted to take it because I need a refresher on my grammar and writing, and even a little bit on my reading skills. So, maybe after I get back, I’ll have my past skills back! That would be sweet!
Well, I’m pretty much up to date. I’m sure there is some stuff I forgot, but I’ll write again soon. Computer access is surprisingly easy here.
And just for the record, I’m content and well safe, although I still don’t think it has sunk in that I’m in Africa.
Wow, where to begin?
