I need a warm bath and a back massage.

After a couple days of drums and dancing lessons my body is complaining. My arms and legs feel like they might fall off. While it's a new and interesting experience, the dancing especially is really hard and painful. The teaching methods are also different and at times frustrating. Rather than verbal explanation we are shown the steps and expected to follow and repeat. They don't really slow down either. They just keep repeating until we kinda get it. It's making us realize how differently we learn (with explanation and visuals and then acting). I hate to be culturally insensitive, but really, I think our teaching style is more efficient and less painful.

We got the low-down on our village stay next week. We leave on Monday and with one stop overnight along the way we end up in Kedougou on Tuesday. We're in our village stay Thursday-Sunday. We're in small groups in various villages near Kedougou. I will be in a village with people of the Bassari ethnic group. While we're there we'll be researching the ethnic minorities we encounter and will write and present on them when we return. On the other days of the trip we'll be staying in hotels/auberges and going on hikes and seeing cool stuff. We return on Tuesday, March 4. I was kind of nervous about the trip, but now I'm super excited. We're going to see some amazing sites (for example, a national park).

Marriage Proposal Count: 2

Yesterday was delightfully absurd. The morning was pretty normal with class and such, and then after an extra long lunch break we had a gathering with the president of SIT and various other guests and friends of SIT. The following recipe is for happiness in a ball (I ate approximately eight at the party):
Melt white chocolate and mix in coconut flakes (a lot of them)
Roll into balls approximately 1 inch in diameter
Refrigerate
They'll have the consistency of marzipan
Freakin' amazing.

Anyway, after school Emma and Amber and I did our Urban Arts Exploration project. We chose to interview an artist who sells art alongside the road along our bus route. Turns out he makes art by recycling stuff he finds (trash, drift wood, etc.). It was pretty cool. We asked him all sorts of questions and let him get on his soapbox where he talked all about loving nature and peace and nice hippy stuff like that. I bought a carved elephant from him (which it turns out he didn't actually make, but whatever), and he proceeded to profess his love to me and tell me we should get married here in Senegal and give us presents (bracelets and a necklace that he made on the spot). Apparently Amber got some great photos of me and my red face. I will try to chase those down. I guess you really had to be there to fully appreciate it, but it was pretty hilarious and my weirdest experience yet. Oh, and don't worry, I let him down easy.

This afternoon there will be more dancing and drum playing, which will be awesome, although it's been getting hotter (it was about 100 degrees yesterday). I also plan to visit the tailor tonight. Yay!

Oh, also I met a girl who goes to Macalester on the bus this morning. Small world, eh?

Sianara Comfort Zone!

I both sang and danced today. I don't do that. Like, ever. That's how great this trip is for me. I'm pushing limits and going with the flow. Go me. The singing happened because we had a guy come in who's a music teacher and mixes traditional and modern instruments and music. He also teaches kids about making instruments out of recycled stuff and teaches them about being nice to the environment. He's freakin' awesome. I might work with him for my Independent Study Project (ISP), which I'm thinking about doing on Arts, Culture, and Environmental Development. That's really broad at the moment, and I'll work on making it more specific, but talking about that guy as well as Leopold Senghor and Martha Nussbaum would be RAD. This afternoon we went to the Village des Arts and got a djembe lesson and dancing lesson. I also met the little guy in that picture up there. Wanted to take him home sooooo badly. Oy, I'm such a female.

This weekend was pretty good, although speaking so much French is exhausting. We went to the jazz club Just 4 U and heard Orchestre Baobab, which was a lot of fun. The Senegalese like late nights on weekends though! The music didn't start until about midnight and didn't end until three. Totally worth the exhaustion though. On Sunday I bought two fabrics, and plan to send one to the tailor this week to have a dress made. It'll be great. I'm super sweaty and tired so it's definitely time to stink up the bus and take a shower at home. I'm a gonna sleep well tonight and be ready for another day of dancing and drumming.

Woop dee woop

Taking the bus is officially my favorite pastime. Seriously. It's hilarious. It's like a clown car. There are so many people crammed on you wonder why no one passes out. It's also super cheap compared to taxis and you don't have to bargain with the stupid drivers who try to rip you off.
Having a cell phone is nice and it's been nice to talk to people from home (thanks Mom and Dad, and thanks Anne for the 2 minute conversation of a lifetime). On the other hand, it makes me miss home a little bit. Technology and I have a serious love/hate relationship.
Last night was pretty fun, but not for any special reason. I had fun drinking ataya (green tea with loads of sugar served in double shots) with the fam and just joking around and of course watching tv. Maybe it helped that the tea made me highly caffeinated. My sisters have decided that they're going to find me a Senegalese boyfriend. I'm skeptical, but it's funny.
Today we're going to an art museum, which should be pretty cool. Saturday I plan to go buy some fabric at the market and have some clothes made and they're going to be awesome. Also optimum family bonding time (at least with the female members). Sunday is a big day because I'm going to learn how to do...LAUNDRY. By hand. Apparently it takes hours.

Bureaucrappy

Good News! After three days of dealing with Senegalese bureaucracy I now have Senegalese cell phone service! This means i pay as I go and get FREE RECEIVED CALLS! That means that you all can call me, but you'll have to pay international prices. However, if you get a sweet phone card (check out http://www.ohello.com or see if your local gas station has an Africa phone card) to get a better rate. ALSO, if you have a Skype account you can add credit to it and pay 2 cents a minute (fabulous!). With that, my phone number (including country code) is: 221-77-737-07-15.

Hello World! It's been a couple days!

So here's the reason I haven't posted in several days: my computer bit the dust. I think it may have been zapped by the difference in voltage or whatever, even though it should have been safe. Long story... anyway great things have been happening in the meantime. I've settled in with my host family and things are going pretty well there. Like most Senegalese families they watch a ridiculous amount of TV (especially music videos and soap operas), so there isn't a lot of social obligation during that time. We all just kind of chill together. They're really nice and helping me with French and Wolof. We're getting into the swing of things with classes and I'm enjoying them. Especially the language classes. Sometimes I have class in the gazebo behind the school (I uploaded a photo of it), and that's pretty great. I love having class with bird chatter in the background. I'm having to get used to the Field Study Seminar class (an anthropology type thing), because I'm not really into that kind of formal observation stuff I guess. I've started taking the bus sometimes to and/or from school, which leaves me more money to buy fun stuff (bus is about a tenth of the price of a taxi). My host mother plans to teach me to cook some Senegalese meals, which I'm pretty pumped about, and I'm thinking I'm going to do some serious market shopping this weekend to get cloth to have clothes made and fun bead jewelry. Since it's the dry season there's some wind and a lot of dust and sand going on. That, combined with the car pollution has been somewhat rough on the throat, but the weather is generally perfect. I've uploaded some more pictures with captions to come later. I miss you all, and it's been great to here from you!

Downtown Dakar

Today was intense. We had the “drop off” where we had to take taxis in groups of three to designated parts of the city and walk around for several hours. There was a sheet of questions we had to answer, but it was mainly to get used to shopping and wandering around in a new city. There were tons of people, especially people selling stuff. We had to get a gift for a random person in the group. I tried my skills at haggling and got a necklace for half the price she said originally. I was pretty proud of myself for my first time at it. Oh, and our taxi on our way to our destination got pulled over for some unknown reason and we witnessed a bribe so that the driver could get his license back. Apparently that happens sometimes. It was pretty hilarious. Tomorrow we have our first real day of classes and after that I move in with my host family! I’m looking forward to it a lot. Walking around in the sun all day got us all exhausted, but I think we learned a little about Senegalese culture and practical stuff for getting around.

"I think I heard a goat just now..."

Title=quote by me on the first morning here. Turns out it was a sheep.

I met my host mother today! She’s a primary school teacher and she’s really really nice. I’ll have three “sisters” and a “brother.” I also had my first Wolof class too. It’s a repetition style of learning and it surprisingly works really well. I’ve got some greetings down now. I was so excited after that class. I’m psyched about learning Wolof. That set me up well for meeting my host mom. I was less nervous, which was good because there’s nothing to be worried about. The homestay is going to be great.

I’ve been so rushed other times when I’ve been trying to post that I feel like there are a lot of gaps. There’s also just so much to tell! The food is great, all bodily systems: normal (we got a talk about health and safety this morning so hopefully it stays that way), and I love walking around and absorbing everything. I’m speaking a lot of French with profs, fellow students, and random Senegalese. We’re all feeling comfortable at school and learning a lot.

I want to know how everyone is at home! We’ve been getting news and stuff on TV and internet (like about Super Tuesday—C’mon Obama, you can do it, all is not lost!), but how are things at school, home, barn, etc.? Feel free to send me emails or comment on posts or something.

The Land of Teranga

Asalaamaalekum! That's Wolof for "Peace be with you" or hello. That's right, I'm learning Wolof and I'm totally pumped about it. I'm finally feeling like a real person and not a zombie today. I finally got my bags last night, and I've never been so happy to see my stuff. We visited the school for the first time today. It's really beautiful and in a nice neighborhood. You can tell it's a better off neighborhood than that of the hotel. There are more businesses, schools, better condition buildings. We had to do an activity where the profs gave us an everyday object and we had to go out and ask people what it was. I was freaked about it, but people were unbelievably friendly. They had no problem pausing to tell us that the strange green powder and clump of straw stuff were henna and a Senegalese loofa. They truly demonstrated the Senegalese value of Teranga or hospitality. I meet my homestay family tomorrow and move in on Friday I think. People are breathing down my neck for the ethernet cord in the lobby because the wireless just doesn't work in the hotel. I've uploaded some pictures. Check them out! Link is this way---->

I'm smiling!

I'm here I'm here I'm here!!! I'm barely conscious after not much sleep and severe jetlag but I'm here! We got in last night on our delayed flight from Paris at about midnight. We're at a nice, clean hotel near the airport. This is good because they can deliver easily my bags that didn't make it :-/. Fortunately I've got a nice roommate while we're here who's helping me out. It smells like ocean here and I love it. I smiled the entire drive from the airport in spite of (or maybe because of) the fact that it was dark and I couldn't really see anything. I definitely had Africa-related dreams, which is funny (Anne--there were cute kids involved of course!). I have a sneaking suspicion that this is these are the most Western accommodations we will have here. They're easing us in slowly. This is good. We start orientation today. Eep! I'm so excited!

D-Day

Today's the day I start my voyage to Senegal! I'm fully prepared in the way of material goods, but I think my head still can't believe I'm actually going. After organizing this thing for so long, today kinda snuck up on me. Saying goodbye to all my favorite folks was rough, but I'll be back in no time to share some pretty stupendous stories. So anyway I'll be taking off from Minneapolis this afternoon and arriving in New York close to dinnertime. There's another girl from Minneapolis on the trip and she'll be on my flight, which is nice. In New York we meet up with the whole group and from there fly to Paris on an overnight flight. Hopefully I sleep lots. Either that or Air France better have some pretty great French films. We have a couple hours in Paris and then it's off to Dakar. Whew. Lots of airplane. Good thing we get along okay. Wish me luck and I'll update this thing as soon as possible once I get there!