Mourning Pepito

In case you havent heard the news, Pepito (the baby duckling that Elizabeth found) has moved on to a better place. This is almost as tragic as karlas news that her ballet class has been cancelled and she will have to pursue her dream through a geriatric community class. All this is much more exciting than anything I have to say, so Ill stop...

I heard that groan. Ok ok Ill keep writing. I am currently listening to Batanga latin radios Bachata stream. i really shouldnt do this because on one hand it makes me so happy but then again on the other hand makes me terribly sad and missing home and dancing. im not sure if my attachment to latin dancing is healthy. I went to work with my host mom at a human rights organization and the man whose office I was sitting in was actually listening to african salsa and told me that there are places to go around inDakar but its more popular with the older crowd. I WILL find one ofthese places.

I have also been asked forthe weather report. i report that it has been nothing but sunshine since ive been here. It will be this way until july when rainy season stqrts. And rainy season only has a couple of days of rain a week and no tempests as many may believe. It is about ashot here as it is in Minneapolis but less humid and withmor breeze generally. So oftentimes it is quite miserable but most times very very beautiful.

Todays blog will be dedicated to my new home. I just arrived there yesterday afternoon just in time for the meal with the flies (as mentioned yesterday). Todays noon meal was better with much fewer flies but i must report that I had my first cockroach (cafard) spotting last night during dinner unfortunately. i think i handled it pretty well. I only screamed a little. JK i only commented on its presence and the brother/nephew (not sure what he is) looked like he was about tokill it whichi thought would have been exceedingly nastier.

Anyway the place Im staying in is really very unique actually. I live on the rez de chaussez which is the ground floor in my own room with a fan on the ceiling (very luxurious), a closet, and a couple of shelves, and a mosquito net. I hold the only key for the room and lock up every time i leave because there is a constant stream of random people through our courtyard. There is a mango tree right outside my door which is pretty neat.

The bathroom is two doors down from me and does not have a sit down toilet which was highly disappointing to me. I guess I will just have thighs of steel from squatting over that hole all summer :( Below are pics of my room which is the door on the very far left blocked by the pole with the mango tree in the foreground and the stairs up tothe kitchen and the family room in the background. The bathroom door is the far one. The other picture is clearly one of my dear little bathroom. It does however have a shower head. There is no warm running water but I have actually come to really love cold water showers as they are oh so refreshing when you are so hot and sweaty.

I am not completely clear on the family structure of my home yet. What is clear is that there are 2 parents who I believe are just aunts and uncles. There is a male cousin a few years older than me, a female cousin with a small child, and two young boys and im not certaint o whom they belong...

The best feature of thehome however is the terrace on the 2nd floor (which is actually the 3rdfloor) of the home. I sat up there last night and there was a beautiful breeze (which kept te bugs away) and it wouldhave been perfect except forthe faint garbage smellc oming from the next house over and the planes which fly directly overhead :)

There is another intersting feature tothis house. ONe doesntneed a rooster to signal when its time to wake up because hte mosque is 2 blocks away. They kindly broadcast the entire service over a loudspeaker at 5 or so int he morning and then there are 3 or 4 more services during the rest of hte day I believe. I amsure I will know exactly when they are by the time Im done here :) See picture ofthe mosque from my roof to the left.

And it turns out Im a footbol (soccer) freak! I am rather addicted to the Coupe du Monde (world cup) of which all hte games are broadcasted here. I spent 4 hours watching yesterday and was particularly happy to see that Ecuateur (ecuador) won! I am rooting for "les pays tiers-mondials" (third world countries) but am partial to Ecuador and Mexico in solidarity with my Latino amigos. Looking forward to the Mexico game tomorrow.

Otay y'all must run now. I thinkthat I may be going into thecity tonight (im essentially in a suburb right now) which should be fabulous!!! Im excited to get out ofthehouse, which i havent been able to do much yet as they are afraid ill get lost which is a distinct possibility. Ithink that I will get a pain au chocolate (chocolate croissant) tomorrow. can you believe that i havent gone togetone yet.

Merci mille fois to my loyal readers. Je vous aime!