Antanarivo to Paris. We stayed in Paris for 14 hours with Nicola's dad who lives just outside of the airport area. After relaxing in Paris and getting a brief flash of familiar life we hopped on a plane and flew right in to Dakar. I was cold for the first time in months! This trip was so quick that we arrived at customs and they asked for an address of residence and we couldn't even answer that question... it occurred to me that I wasn't even sure who was picking us up! Talk about flying by the seat of my pants!After all of the madness of traveling for 36 hours, we finally arrived late on Tuesday night. I knew right from the start that this was going to be a lot different than I had expected, we drove from the airport to the hotel on a highway... something that does not exist is Madagascar. Dakar is a very big city and much more developed than I had expected, I even took a hot shower the first night. The next day we left the hotel and went right to our new classroom area to meet the other 21 students on the Senegal Arts and Culture program. We were greeted with a warm welcome and invites for lunch so the four of us slowly got to know everyone. That night we were whisked away by our new homestay families. This fast transition served as a serious shock to me - I had no idea what I was getting myself into. My homestay family is great but it is a very different situation than my last family. My family owns what looks like an apartment building right off the main street. One of the other girls in the program, Sally has been living on the second floor with them. I moved into a room that is located right on top of the building, accross from the room where the 12 sheep live, these are the family's pet sheep (a fitting place for a Shepard to live ;) .) Dinner was also something I was not expecting at all. We eat dinner every night at 9:30 off one big plate that is in the middle of the table. Generally, people in Senegal eat off this plate together with their hands so you can imagine my surprise when I sat down at the dinner table for fish and rice! After getting used to it, I think I like eating off the same plate, less dishes to wash but more body to wash instead :)
It has definitely taken a few days for me to get used to things around here by I am growing to love Senegal more each day. The Islam culture is something I never quite understood fully and living in the midst of it this last week has given me some new insight. There are announcements all over the city for the call to prayer five times a day and people will even stop on the side of the road and pray. Fridays are mosque days here so the whole city is dressed to the nines on Fridays. Also, my homestay family is polygamous so my homestay father spends half of his time with his other family. My homestay mom, Be, is a really great woman. She used to be a teacher and is so patient with Sally and I as we try to speak French and Wolof with her. She has nine children, one of which lives in the building with his wife and daughter. We have spent the last few nights staying up late talking and getting to know each other, maybe not the same situation I had with Eva but I love my family here as well.
Last week the program coordinator, Sara pulled me aside and asked me if I knew a man named Jim Gonia. I said yes wondering how she knew him (he was the missionary that lead the group to Madagascar in 2005). She explained that her husband is a Lutheran missionary and Jim is his new boss. He happened to be in Senegal for the last week to check on everyone so last night we had dinner, what a small world! There is a saying in Malagasy, Boribory ny tany, that means the world is round so we will meet again, very appropriate for this scenario.
On our way to the village stay and and excursion to Saint Louis, can't wait to see more of Senegal!
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