I am officially all moved in with my host family! There are roughly 11 people including myself living in the house. The weekend at home was interesting and I am just beginning to get the hang of life with my new family. My mom, Rama, hasn't been around much. I rarely see her. I spend most of my time with Fanta, Baba, Mohammed, and Bébécheik. Fanta is my host sister and Mohammed and Bébécheik are her two sons. They are 9 and 7, respectively. I am not sure how Baba is related to the family, but he's 20. The two little boys are great. They come and hang out with me all the time. We sit in my room and take pictures on my computer. They love playing the games on my cell phone, too. On Friday night, they discovered my Sharpie highlighters, and they love to color with them.
The family dynamic is really relaxed. Everyone is friendly and calm. The little boys are very well-behaved and polite. On Saturday, Elise came by and a bunch of the CIEE girls who live in my neighborhood went exploring. We met so many people and visited some cool little stores.
Yesterday, Sunday, I was so sick. I woke up at 3:50 am and felt like I was dying. I spent from 6am to 8am throwing up. It was terrible. So, instead of going downtown with the rest of the CIEE kids, I spent the day in bed. The boys came and hung out with me for a bit, and the maid, Fatu, brought me food in my room. There was a wedding going on outside with lots of great music. Later on, I watched a couple football matches and a bunch of American rap videos with Baba. Luckily, I woke up this morning feeling SO much better.
I just finished up my first class in Dakar- Crises et Regelement, which is taught in French. I enjoyed it and I think that will be a super interesting class. It's all about conflict in Africa. I can't wait to really start digging in.
Your hair is adorable. So are those children.
ReplyDeleteHi Abbey, this is SO exciting to live vicariously through you! I am sure you had some kind of food poisoning, that happened to me once in Belgium a few years back. Hopefully it was just a fluke but you might want to reconsider whatever it was you ate that day leading up to the incident. All is well here. Everyone done with their college apps; now it's FAFSA fun in the neighborhood. Dave is hanging in; getting up in his chair pretty much every day. Can't wait to hear more about your classes, that'll be a real challenge to take them IN French! ttfn
ReplyDeleteI'm jealous of the things you saw in Paris. Sounds awesome. But really dear, we need more descriptions of the food. What's your favorite? While I realize that most of the food groups will be missing (gazelle etc.) there must some unheard legumes that have tintillated your palette?
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