'Round here...

We had a Woloof lesson this morning. Learning a language that doesn’t have a dictionary is going to be difficult. It’s hard to pronounce, like most languages when they’re new to you. Lots of “naan,” “noo,” “gaa,” “waa,” etc smooshed together and said really quickly. I’m glad that we don’t have to concentrate on learning to read and write. We learned a lot about the Muslim religion today. Senegalese Muslims aren’t Suni or Shiite, they’re Sufi so rules are a little different. Interesting stuff. After lunch we had a “cultural fair” with 6 different stations, each teaching us something about life in Senegal. One was more stuff on Muslim life. The next was how to pull water out of a well, carry it on your head, how to bathe out of a bucket, how to poop over a hole and how to “wipe” without toilet paper. For some reason I didn’t think I’d ever have to actually do that last part. Some volunteers say that its possible to buy and use toilet paper the whole time but it becomes a pain because you basically have to burn it afterwards because you can’t flush it and there aren’t proper trash receptacles at the host families’ houses. I’m not opposed to having a small daily fire. It was fun to carry water on my head though. There was a station about how to eat properly with a family around the communal bowl, a station with random objects that are popular here that aren’t in the States i.e. teeth cleaning sticks, plastic netting that they use as loofahs, animal horns for good luck, etc. There was a station teaching us about the leaves they use for medicinal purposes, cooking and to make juices. We got to sample the juices. Most were good. Bissap was my favorite. Most have a lot of sugar. The last station was about the different fabrics they use to make formal Senegalese attire and what they all mean. Also, how to greet people based on gender, age and religious background. It was too much info to retain in one day but I’m sure we’ll pick it up on the way. The chick that talked to us about bathing said that she had Staph five times until she stopped shaving. Ay yi yi! All these things that aren’t big enough to discourage me from being here but just big enough to be really annoying. If you’re coming to visit me, let me know and I’ll make sure to shave the pits.

Oh, so right before the cultural fair I cut all my hair off! It’s not even hot here yet and it was already far too high maintenance. It’s the shortest I’ve been thus far in life and I think I might even go a little shorter once it starts to warm up. I may or may not post a picture.

I think that’s all the stuff that happened today that you would care to hear about…. Probably a little you didn’t care to hear about. Opps. Tomorrow we take the “official” tour of Thies. Then tomorrow we’re allowed to leave the compound on our own! Well, of course not on our own, but in groups without it being a supervisor led expedition… which means beer. There’s a bar less than a block from the compound and plenty others in town. Yes, we are allowed to drink.

Well, that’s all I have. Hope everyone is great, enjoying hot showers and gobs of Mexican food. xoxo