Asalaam maalekum!

Sorry it's taken me so long to update this. There's been so much that's happened since the last post I'm not even sure where to start.

THURSDAY night I spent some quality bonding time with my family - my brother and I stayed up until almost 2 in the morning playing cards and talking about a wide variety of subjects (everything from "was 9/11 a terrorist attack or a conspiracy" to "what kind of music do you like" to "what are some differences/similarities between Islam and Catholicism")


FRIDAY we ended up having a party at my house (it wasn't planned... it just sort of happened that way). Two of my sister (Mimi)'s friends came over and then my friend Rama from Suffolk came over too and we attempted to make crepes. They turned out pretty well - We stuffed them with eggs and cheese.
Then a bunch of my CIEE friends came over and we ended up watching "Love Actually" on my computer.
One of the girls had just gotten back from the post office with a package from her parents (it was her birthday on Wednesday) and her parents sent her a large variety of candy, including warheads.
That being said, let me just add that we introduced "Warheads" (a very VERY sour candy for those of you who don't know) to my Senegalese family and it was really funny to watch their faces after trying it.



YESTERDAY (SATURDAY) was an amazing day.
Helah, Rebecca, Julie, and I went to this market that my sister Mimi told us about. It's only open on Saturdays and they have all sort of things (including Western style clothing) for REALLY cheap. I even saw a Purdue t-shirt for sale! (NO, I didn't buy it). I did buy a really pretty skirt though. :-)

After going to the market we got a taxi to take us to the dock for Ngor Island.
There we met a Senegalese man wearing a Cincinnati Reds baseball cap who sold us a ticket to get on a pirogue (small fishing boat) to get to the Island.

The Island was georgious. We had an amazing lunch in this little bodega on the beach (I had shrimp pasta - I'm pretty sure the noodles had been soaked in butter... it was delicious). Then we went exploring around the island and found a rocky beach where we took tons of photos and collected sea glass and sea shells.





Later on in the day, Debbie, Anna, Ashley, and Sarah joined us and we had a fun time just chilling out on the beach.


I NO LONGER HAVE BRAIDS - I took them out last night (and had the BIGGEST AFRO ever before I got in the shower).




Last night was Katie's birthday so we all went over to her house for cake and pineapple. Then we went out to "Chez JoJo" (which is right across the street from my house) for a couple of drinks and some french fries.

That's it for now. Hopefully all is well back home.

Jaam ak jaam,
Kelly