It's the final countdown, dah dah daahhh, dah dah dah dah daaaah

I leave for Saint Louis in 10 days where I will be moving into the dorms and taking classes at the University! It's kind of bittersweet because, as much as I like to complain about the challenges of living with a host family, I am definitely going to miss them. Isaa is so cute and fun to be around, and he's helping me with my Wolof because he doesn't judge me for not being able to pronounce something (mainly because he's in the same boat). This week was interesting because my host sister Nathalie returned to work, I'm pretty sure she's a receptionist at a conference center. Working crazy hours, from 7a.m. - 7p.m., and then having to come home and take care of a two year old and basically the whole family is wearing her down. I honestly don't know how she does it, but it's interesting to see because most women in Senegal do not work, or work formally for a business. There's alot of informal work like cleaning services or selling ice (which is interesting, they place bottles of water into the freezer, and then sell them), but not many women have careers.

This week was much of the same with regard to my wolof classes, although I have to say that my wolof skills seem to be coming around. I'm finding myself in an interesting position because from a social perspective, Wolof is really useful. Wolof is defintely the language of the people, and they appreciate it if you speak Wolof, it's like and instant friend maker. Plus, I like to impress my family with random phrases that sound awkward coming out of my mouth, like fanaan ak jam: meaning pass the night in peace. But, from a rest of the world perspective, wolof is not useful and I should really focus on my French. I guess it's not that important to figure out right now, but I do see myself advancing in both languages, so either way it's good.

Besides Wolof, we took an excursion yesterday between classes to the ecole de la rue, which is a school set up for street children. Sadly, there are many children who cannot afford to go to even public schools here in Senegal, and Public schools are by no means quality sources of education. Consequently, one man took it upon himself to make a school for children who can't afford to pay. They're known as street children because instead of going to school, they spend the day on the street playing and begging for money. It sounds pretty horrible, and I would say that it truly is horrible. Even with the huge heart this man has for these children, his resources are limited and their classroom space is limited to three very small, dirty, shacks that are not amenable to a learning atmosphere with limited books, black boards, writing utensils and about ten desks for around 150 children. It was a really powerful experience visiting this school because we traveled to some of the poorest areas of Dakar. When you think of an impoverished country, you think of people living in shacks made of anything they can find, animals roaming, mud floors and roads, people kind of sitting about because they can't find work, and the smell of lots of people living in close quarters. Basically, that is the reality for these people, it's like the shantytowns of the great depression but taken to a different level. It was really eye opening because I saw these terrible conditions, but I also saw the people living there, and they were doing the same things I do, washing clothes, cooking, listening to music. They're just the same, but they are trapped in sad conditions.

Yesterday was pretty profound, and it makes me excited to go to Saint Louis to settle down and find a place where I can give back to the community like the people who started the schools of the street. Today we had a seminar on aids, which was pretty interesting, but it was more orientated on how to prevent ourselves from getting aids (obviously useful) but not very informational. Plus, I was forced to eat lunch twice, once during the seminar and once at home, ahhhh, overeating is the story my life here. This weekend i might go out 'clubbin' which sounds funny coming from me, but sounds like a really long night as people go out between 2am and 6am, crazy! But, I feel like my family judges me when I don't go out at night, so I might as well. Besides that, I'm not sure what I'll do, maybe go to the market and buy some tye dyed fabric because I really like it, and then hopefully my host mother will help me from getting ripped off at the tailor.

Hope all is well back in the states, I'm trying to stay up to date with the news, but i'm kind of failing. All I hear about is the election because everyone here in Senegal loves Obama and they can't really understand when we say that there's a financial crisis in the powerful country in the world.