Why is it that so many of my comments are about food?

bonjour encore tout le monde... voila the view from the bathroom window of my first residence...
I really enjoyed the three days that I spent there. I was taken directly there from the airport on Wednesday morning. I guess I had no real expectations as to what to expect but was I ever blown away. When it is said thqt these countries are developing, they arent kidding. Everywhere there are buildings which are half built, there are actually horse drawn carts, which was something that I never expected. It was early morning when I arrived and there were people everywhere. There were women carrying buckets of water or food on their head and babies on their back. I guess for some reason Ithought that in urban areas one wouldnt see this but this was everywhere. I am not doing the scene in the streets justice unfortunately.

My ride from the airport was also interesting. it was a situqtion where it seemed as if I should be frightened but surprisingly wasnt. Essentially I have no right to ever complain about any American traffic or the quality of roads again! Cars come so close to each other and I have no idea how it is decided who has the right of way. And lane markers seem to be nonexistent. It appears that there are 3 lanes and the middle lane is simply used for whoever wants to pass on whichever side at whatever timethey want. But I have yet to see an accident and my driver said that he had never been in an accident; so I was reassured.

I arrived with my first family. There was Fatou, André the parents and the children Phillipe, a daugher zhos name I cant remember, Ahmed, and Papi. (See Papi and the girl daugher below). He was my little buddy there. I loved him. The first day essentially I slept all day long and he slept withme for quite a long time :) I thinkt hat this heat isreally making me tired because I want to sleep all the time.

The biggest breakthrough for me has been in eating. There have been a couple of new developments. Really I have tons that I could say about eating. I have successfullly eaten all of my candy and only today opened my Maria Galletas and from the looks of the food situation in my current home may need a truckload of Marias. If I was picky about what I ate and about cleanliness before that is going tohave togo right out the window if I expectnourishment forthe rest of my time here. The first breakthrough was the fact that I ate a fish. This wasnt just any fish. This was a whole fish eyes scales everything. However if I hid it inside of my baguette it was just fine. Next interesting point, apparently I, not as good of an eater as I had once believed. I went out to lunch in this room which was called a restaurant. Essentially they offered one dish of cut rice, a piece offish (which I decided not to eat) and random veggies. This was a ginormous plate of food and I could eonly eat half ofit. However my two eating buddies ate all of it.I was ashamed! They claimed I would be eating these portions in a months time as well.

Another intersting food note aboutthe place Iam staying now. If I had a problem with flies on my food before Im going to have to getover that because as 7 of us squatted around a large metal bowl eatingrice, veggies (and yes anotherhunk of fish) theflies were essentially everywhere. And there was no bread. I can only pray that the next meal will include bread!

Sorry to worry you mom but everything that I eat is hot so dont worry the germs are all gone!!

Another fabulous experience was riding on the Car Rapide. It was surreal actually. I went to work with the first woman that I stayedwith. There are 4 modes of transportation here: foot, taxi, Car Rapide, and Bus. Essentially the bus has predetermined stops and the car rapide doesnt. The Car Rapide is this dilapidated bus usually festively decorated and sporting the ever popular "al hamdililah" (thanks be to Allah). You must signal to it and it will stop to pick you up anywhere along its route. It was really quite fun as you essentially have to crawl over people to get to your seat at times andthen pass your money through the bus to the two boys who hang off the back and signal the driver to stop.

And now for an American Express commercial: transportation forthe day on the Car Rapide 300 cfa (60 cents), 1.5 liter water 400 cfa (80 cents), huge lunch that I couldnt finisheating 500 cfa (1 dollar), internet use for an hour 300 cfa (60 cents), unforgettable cultural experience priceless

Sorry! had to do it

Love you all, write to me, I may be lonely (alright I am, I admit it! :)