Interesting night life

Asaalam maalikum! (The standard greeting around here) Wow i cant believe Ive only been here for 1 and a half weeks. Its pretty crazy! Happily I think my bad bout of culture shock is kinda going away! I dont want to sleep as much (i actually dont have time to sleep during the day) and i dont cry as much (hardly at all actually :) I am starting to get into a routine here. I have Wolof class every day from 1-3 and then 5-7 and in theory, in the morning, I am working on my research. I hope next week will be better because it will be a normal week. This week we took a tour by van of Dakar which was soooo helpful because I had absolutely no idea where I was in relation to other places and I feel more comfortable now. And yesterday we had cultural orientation to Senegalese values which was so so valuable. I didnt remembe to bring my book where I took all of my notes but next time I will give provide a condensed cultural orientation here, which Im sure you cant wait for!

Things with my family are going better. They are really encouraging me to learn my Wolof better which I have to do. I must admit htat I havent been a very responsible student lately but I promise that next week I will be! But I have to try really hard to engage witht he family. I really love their kids. They are pretty shy but once you get them going theyre impossible to stop. The two boys Moustapha and Mamousa are maybe 7 and 11 Im guessing. But the other night I was their entraineur (trainer) and counted while they did various calisthenic exercises such as lying upside down on the couch to see who could hold out for 80 seconds... Im actually going running wiht Moustapha tonight which will be fab seeing how i havent really exercised in weeks!

But I guess the highlight of yesterday was when I went out downtown. It was a bit strange but a good time! I wentwith my two neighbors and Daouda (david) who is in my group, and Stephanie from texas. (Dont worry mama, I was with atleast 2 people from the moment I stepped out my door until I returned) First we went to this bar in downtown dakar on the 16th floor which was open and you cold see all of Dakar. I hope to go back during the daylight to get some pictures. but alas we were the only people there and they were closing right after we arrived. So we walked onto the next place with a little detour at the ice cream shop hmmm. We arrived at Le Mex and I heard them playing reggaeton inside so I thought that it would be afab place. When we went in the only women and Senegalese to be seen were the bartenders. It was really strange! So we got a drink (they had the standard drinks along with the Johnny WALKED... must have been a typo). And then we hitthe dance floor. It was rather small and came complete witha pole and mirrors. The only people dancing were these men who appeared to be having a very very good time. After observing for a while we determined that we must be in a gay bar because these guys were not afraid to dance, nor grind on the pole... after inquiring I found out that they were not in fact gay but members ofthe French military... hehe!! But they were having a good ole time. Ihave never seen men dance like that with each other before. Obviously they were building ummm, comraderie, maybe.

Anywho we danced a bit but it turned out to be a lot of techno Boo. But a good time was had by all and not a bad first nightlife experience.

Lots of fun future plans: leaving now to go to the HLM market where one buys fabrics mostly, and then tomorrow Im going to church downtown with my advisor. I have also planned an excursion to Linguere Senegal which is a village where I am working with lutheran missionaries on part of my project. That will be an adventure where I take a 7 place grocery getter (station wagon) for 6 hours northeast of Dakar. Guess how much that costs 3500-4000 cfa (7 to 8 dolllars) unbelievable!

Ill try to get more pics on here very soon! Ciao ciao mes amis