Fun fun fun

I just still cant get over the beauty of the beach on Valentines Day
Alpha and I went for a walk to drink some Coca Cola
Me and my "little" brother Papis and I watching some Senegalese wrestling on tv in the living room
My sister Bineta and our maid making pancakes for supper
Devin and I drinking ataayah (Senegalese tea) with some new friends we made down the road from school


After school yesterday was pretty awesome. Devin and I left here with the intentions of going to one of our favorite eating places for a drink and to work on some homework, practice some language skills. But go figure, we got distracted by our new Senegalese friends! Our new friends invited us to sit and chat, giving us a perfect opportunity to do our homework of practicing our new language skills! This experience just encompasses the people here as a whole. And also, one of the boys that sells phone cards knows our names! We're known on the street! So, we're walking by and they say hi (a bit of an extended greeting is the normal process here) and say hey you should stay and chat with us. So we sit down and talk about all sorts of things. Its kinda unfortunate I'm from Minnesota because no one here knows anything about the state. I explain where its at, in the center of the country, south of Canada, its cold and snowy there and the conversation just stops. Then my friend Devin mention she's from California and the conversation is endless. Anyone got some good conversation topics for me to bring up? This experience is making me realize how most of my stories are really odd, or very difficult to explain in French. Such as camp, my photographing jobs, and so many other things. Oh well, I enjoy the company of people anyways. One thing my cousin Alpha taught me is a funny thing in Wolof that means "ten hyenas in the day ten hyenas in the night" There is absolutely no meaning to it but in wolof its like a tongue twister and people just crack up at it! In wolof its "fukki bukki guddi, fukki bukki beceegg" And you know I love making people laugh :) After we were finished with only two rounds of tea (there are three total, each one getting sweeter and sweeter), we had to go. It was getting late and I don't want my family to worry!

My family is wonderful, have I mentioned that? Every day I come home from school, my brother Papis tells me how much he missed me! Even this morning, he came up to my floor before he left for school just to make sure he would get to see me today! How adorable is that! My sister Bineta practices her english with me and she helps me with my french and wolof. Alpha and Fall have me meeting all of their friends (a ton of people..and I thought I was good at remembering names!) Its really fun when I'm not with Alpha or Fall and see one of their friends on the street and I recognize them or they see me first! And last night was a milestone, Alpha's friend Ibou (it was his birthday) is sooo terribly difficult to understand and last night I understood him! Tonight probably wont be as great since I've been in "english world" all day. I also did more intense journaling in french last night and when I read it outloud to Papis, he understood it! Supper was a interesting dish.. pancakes with meat crumbles on a bed of lettuce and onion sauce with baguettes on the side. Yum!

So Devin and I are pretty much sisters..after the pelican man insisted we were as such. After her terrible homestay placement, she is moving to my aunt's house, which happens to be right across the street from mine, tonight. The best part is our Senegalese names, mine is Oumy, her's is Amy. People think its really funny when we introduce ourselves and refer to each other as sisters. (or soeurs in french)

Today was a lot of learning. The best was this morning in Wolof (which I have with Devin and Sara) when our prof was trying to explain the word which means drunk in Wolof and acted as such!!! Oh so funny! Our first day of class with him last week was really straightforward but we've definitely got him out of his shell!!

We also had drumming and dancing this afternoon. Some of the dancing i felt like I was doing the chicken dance! oh la la!

Maybe more tea tonight, after I get my sis moved into her new place! Maybe we'll make tin can telephones or send each other smoke signals!

-Amanda