Friday, January 18, 2008

Asalaa maalekum!

Before I go any further I would just like to say "jerejef" (Thank you) to everyone who has been praying for me. I can't tell you how blessed I am to know that I am being lifted up in prayer - thank you.

Yesterday was quite an interesting day. Half of our group registered for classes, and the other half went to the Baobab Center. I went to the Baobob Center where we learned all sorts of useful things.
For example:

We learned how to eat with only our right hands out of a big communal bowl. (We had ceebu jen - the national dish which consists of rice and fish and various vegetables... it was really good but VERY oily).
We also learned that there are certain questions you just don't ask here due to superstitious reasons. (IE you can't ask a pregnant woman when the baby is due. You are not supposed to comment about a persons physical characteristics (such as you have very pretty eyes). You are not supposed to ask how many children someone has or whether or not someone is dating someone else, etc...)

It was a really fun day and (as promised in the other posts) I WILL be posting pictures asap. I plan on putting them onto my computer tonight, so the next time I'm online I should theoretically be able to post them.

Today I got to register for classes - I've changed my mind a bit about which classes I'm going to take, so here are the classes that I am signed up for:

Wolof
French
Senegalese Society and Culture
Education and Culture in Senegal
History of the Atlantic Slave Trade

My schedule looks a little something like this:

Monday/Wednesday:

11:00am-1:00pm (6:00am-8:00am EST) Wolof
1:00pm-2:30pm (8:00am-9:30am EST) Lunch Break
2:30pm-4:30pm (9:30am-11:30am EST) French
4:30pm-6:30pm (11:30am-1:00pm EST) Senegalese Society and Culture


Tuesday/Thursday:

9:00am-11:00am (4:00am-6:00am EST) Education and Culture
11:00am-1:00pm (6:00am-8:00am EST) History of the Atlantic Slave Trade


No Friday Classes (again!) But that's due to the fact that Friday is a religious day of rest here. No one has class on Friday.


Today around 4:00pm (11am EST) our families are supposed to come to the hotel we've been staying at and pick us up.
I am living with Papa Sow and his family.
This is all that I know about them at the moment: The dad works for US AID and apparently speaks fluent English. It is a big family with lots of brothers and sisters supposedly around my age.

I'll be sure to have more updates on them and what living in a Senegalese family is like later on, but for now Ba beneen yoon!

Kelly

3 comments:

Connie said...

Your classes sound good. Did you get into the French class you wanted? Nice you have a lunch break on Mon. & Wed. since that is your longer day. Fridays off again..........always a good plan!
I trust your new family is wonderful. You many never really know how many there are in the family if it is not polite to ask. Interesting. Thanks for the update. We love you!

Dannielle said...

I am still looking for a good map of Dakar online... it is a lot harder than I thought, but I will persevere.
I am glad to see you have a good schedule. It looks like you will have a lot of time to actually see Senegal. Thanks for keeping us updated. Have a great weekend. Love ya!

Aunt Paula said...

What a wonderful experience. I hope you are all settled in with your family and enjoying your time. If they have Friday's as a day of rest, do they have a 3 day weekend or do they work on Sat or Sun?? I told Aaron I would only recommend an African study for him if he was considering a serious diet Fish does not pass his lips. Enjoy your classes and have a good week. Love...