Well, it's been a while since my last post, so I have alot to share about what I've been up to over here in the land of no shade. Last weekend I had some free time, so on Saturday me and some other girls on my program ventured off into the downtown area to do some exploring. Originally, we planned on taking a car rapid, which is a hilariously sketchy vehical painted bright colors with a few benches on the inside where you cram anywhere from ten to 25 people, keep in mind that this truck is smaller than a ups truck. But, after some thought we opted for the bus which is also not very similar to public transportation in the states, but the buses seem to have routes which makes them easier to understand. Costing 150 Fcfa, which equals 30 cents in US terms, the bus is an incredibly affordable mode of transportation. If you can get past the smells and general sauna like temperature, it is almost pleasant.
Our downtown trip was extremely amusing as we decided to get off the bus one stop past the huge market and we ended up in the middle of the many embassy buildings. The American embassy by the way is the only embassy for which the street it is on is closed to general traffic and has security guards everywhere. Maybe we're a little overprotective, but part of me liked the secure feeling so i'm not going to complain. So, brandishing our "extremely" helpful guidebook we traipsed through several blocks of Dakar until we ended up on the coast alongside a major highway. Turns out the downtown area was the other other direction, oops! Since we were there, we decided to go down to the water and enjoy the beachy atmosphere. Interestingly, the coast area we came upon was not an official beach, which made it have a more natural feel, but there were alot of signs of homeless people camping out there, which was sad. And a little upsetting as I saw and smelled garbage and piles of feces all along the shoreline. Senegal really does have alot of natural beauty, but because of alot of circumstances Dakar is trapped in this dirty, polluted, overpopulated cycle.
Eventually, we made it back to the downtown area and we had some amusing moments in the market with vendors chasing us and wrapping us in fabric. Sunday was another free day, and as I designated it cleaning day, I requested a broom from my host mother. She seemed to find that extremely entertaining, probably because the brooms they normal use are more like a small bundle of twigs tied together and seem fairly inefficient to me. So, she brought me some normal looking brooms and i set about with my housework. After housework and alot of trouble keeping Isaa out of my room and destroying my belongings, some girls and I headed out the beach. We opted for the car rapide this time, which definitely is no the most efficient mode of transportation, but 30 cents for a fifteen minute car ride, so inexpensive! The beach was relaxing, beautiful, and entertaining as usual because we were swarmed with people wanting to be our new best friends and one man told my friend Ariel that he wanted to see her jayfonde, tssk tssk.
So that was my weekend, it was fun and i enjoyed a crepe glace = ice cream in a crepe, so good. I'll update you on the rest of my week tomorrow! Take care
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sara, i was SO disappointed because i wrote a very long and interesting (probably to nobody but us) comment and then POOF the internets got hungry and ate it. =[
but basically i was just saying that i was so glad that your adventures thus far are proving to be once-in-a-lifetime ventures and i'm glad you have a great attitude about the small things that might get annoying.
ps. the book was called Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris.
also, if you ever feel like you might want to call me again, i will recognize that wacky number on my caller id and i'll make like a bananananana and split out of my classroom (unless its a test) to talk to ya (if you do call during class, haha) because YOU are way more important than monotonous teachers go on about why old people are so messed up.
ps again. if you want to know something interesting i came up with from intense thought about what i learned in my aging class: die before you get old because being old sucks.
i LOVE you my precious baboon! don't do anything i wouldn't do (if you do, take pictures!)
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