Hey everyone!
Lu bees? (What's new?)

Last Sunday 8 of us crazy students decided that it would be a good idea to go to a Monastery near Thies (just outside of Dakar). We left at 6am (before the sun was even up) and took a taxi to a depot in Dakar where we managed to fit 8 people into a sept-place (kind of like a taxi but with 7 seats) that took us to Thies.

We arrived around 8am in a remote village like setting and asked around for directions on which way to walk towards "L'abbaye Keur Moussa".
It was such a beautiful walk - there were flowers everywhere (along with lots of goats and chickens randomly walking along the street).

The Monastery is beautiful. Here's a picture for you:
























We were able to attend the 10am service and the closest thing I can compare it to is Gregorian chants mixed with African instruments (there were several kora players, and an occasional drum and flute). It was beautiful to listen to.

Afterwards we went to the gift shop, where the monks sell things like rosaries, perfume, jam, and (best of all) Goat cheese!
We bought a bunch of cheese and a jar of jam with the intention of buying some baguettes later on and having a wonderful picnic lunch.

However,
we were instead invited by one of the monks to a garden next door to the chapel. We had a wonderful lunch of rice and sauce along with the goat cheese, jam, and bread we bought (and some oranges for dessert).

In short: it was an amazing day.
Coming back was a little trickier because we took a jaagan jaay (spelling??) it's kind of like a car rapide. Anyways, we took that back into the city and then got on a car rapide that took us closer to our homes.


I'm also making some senegalese friends, which is really exciting.
I went to lunch yesterday with a girl named Rama who's a student here at Suffolk.

There's supposedly a Mardi Gras party going on here soon, so I'm going to go check that out.

Jaam ak jaam,
Kelly