One month in

Well, today marks the end of my first month in Senegal. As people generally say in situations like this, I can't believe that it has been a month!! I had an wonderful week and an amazing weekend.



Here's my week in brief.

Monday we had two hours of French, a short break and then 2 hours of Wolof. It is becoming a little less overwhelming trying to absorb both languages at once. My French is pretty solid and Wolof is spoken around me all the time without me understanding anything so I am quite motivated to learn. Monday afternoon was 3 hours of dance, drumming and African singing with Gaby. He is pretty awesome and we drum in a big group of 10 on the roof of his apartment building in Ouakam.



Tuesday morning we had off so I went to a big fabric market called HLM with Rebekah and Leia. We bought some cute fabric so that all 9 of us could have matching skirts for our music presentation this weekend in a village north of here. We are going with Gaby and as I understand it the purpose is to teach children our routine and perform together. Tuesday afternoon we had an hour long discussion class and then 2 hours of History of Islam.



Wednesday we had our first Senegalese Literature class and we are reading "Cycle de Secheresse" (Cycle of Drought) by C. C. Sow. It is a very interesting collection of stories. After lunch we had History of Islam again. We are just passing into the 16th century, so we covered about 600 years in the last week and a half.



Thursday was another jam-packed adventure in academics. Wolof for two hours, and then a new class called Continuity and Change in Senegal for 2 hours. It looks like we will learn a lot about the culture and have some trips inland for this class. Finally 2 hours of History of Islam.

Friday was 3 hours of French. Our schedule has started to become more predictable and we even received our comprehensive program list which goes through the end of April. However, our weekends are generally going to be pretty hectic.

Case in point this weekend. Friday we left Dakar at 12:30 and it took us almost 3 hours to go 60 kilometers south to Toubab Diallo. The reason for this is because Dakar has 1 big road in and out of the peninsula and it is a perpetual bottleneck. Toubab Diallo is a cute little town that is not too touristy and it right on the beach. We stayed at the famous Ecole de Sable (School of Sand) which is a dance academy/retreat. We had 1 hour of dance Friday and then 1 hour of Djembe (traditional African drum).

Saturday was full of movement. It was exhausting but fun. After breakfast we watched the professional dance troupe warm up and it was an impressive sight. We had an hour of Djembe with Ndeye Seck who is a fierce little woman who plays the djembe like it is nobody's business. After that we danced Sabar with Cire for an hour (a Senegalese-style dance). After lunch was a marathon! 2 hours with Bertrand working on a dance from the Cote d'Ivoire. Then two more hours of Sabar with Cire. I am still quite sore. Saturday night we checked out the tiny downtown and saw a very cute but touristy hotel right on the beach.

Sunday was another non-stop adventure, this time at Accro-Baobab. There is a huge Baobab tree reserve with a ropes course up in the tops of the trees. We ziplined between trees and walked across wobbly little bridges and swung between big steps and had a blast! We were well-teathered and harnessed to thick cords the entire time. We even got to swing between two baobabs in a little boat. Then after a short break we climbed a baobab, rock-climbing style. It was hard because it went up about 15-20 meters and most of us didn't make it all the way to the top. The hand and foot holds were all small square blocks of wood. It was a workout. We headed back to Dakar and had good enough timing that it only took us two hours to get back.

Whew, I am exhausted just reminiscing about it! Anyway, I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day! This week will be classes and then we are leaving Thursday for the village to return Monday night. Another marathon, but who needs to sleep anyway?
Peace!