So we finally got to our apartment in Dakar and dinner was waiting for us (see picture).
Umm yeahhhhh. I had bread. Anyway, our apartment had air conditioning which was absolutely glooorrriiious. We left it on when we went to bed but by the time we woke up the next morning it was off. We later found out this was because there was a power outage. There have been six power outages since then (I'd venture to say you're just as likely to have power as to not). Incidentally, when the power goes out in Dakar your first instinct is to wait 30 seconds for it to come back on. Then you remember that you're not in America, you're in Africa and if you're lucky it'll be 4 hours until it turns on again. Yeah, it's going to be a long three-and-a-half months!
OK, so there are two seasons in Senegal, the dry season and the wet season (read hot and hotter). It's the wet season. I think they mean wet as in rain, but really it's wet as in that's what you are ALL day cause it's SOOOOO hot here. I personally enjoy being a walking bucket of sweat—it's good for the pores. It's kind of like the hottest grossest summer day at Georgetown multiplied by 10 with limited foliage cover and pretty much no AC. Our classrooms have AC but as I said earlier, the power situation is a crap shoot and more often then not there is none. I brought the materials for a double popped collar but clearly I will never be sporting that here, it's just too painfully hot to be fashionable (obvi I don't actually mean that, I've got plenty of light and breathable v-neck tees to look good fo
r a while. Thank God summer '06 saw the onset of suede cotton and lightweight linen or I don't know what I'd be doing right now.) And you know how they teach you in science that deserts get cool at night. That's bullshit, they don't. Or I'd be asleep right now and not up writing this two page single spaced e-mail.
OK, I think that's probably enough for now. Sorry if I've bored you. The next e-mail is already in the works and it looks like it's going to be reallllllly good. I'll tell you why you never use your left hand in Senegal (it's gross), my encounters with Wolof (the native language here that I'm studying in addition to French) and I'll explain my first meal with my host family, and how two of my host sisters (I'm pretty sure they're my sisters but to be honest I'm not quite sure who's who's child and what not) felt that knowing me two hours was enough of a buffer zone to wear their bras to dinner. Yeah. Until then!
-Chris
Oh yeah, Internet access here is, well, third world, so if you're going to reply, do so, but just remember that it takes like 2 minutes to load each new window so you better say more than just "it sounds like you're having a good time" and tell me how YOUR life is going and it better be entertaining! Or else I will make my new African friends summon the Gods by using their clicking language to align against you. And you don't want that to happen to you. Trust me, I knew someone who knew someone who it happened to and it did NOT turn out pretty.
Umm yeahhhhh. I had bread. Anyway, our apartment had air conditioning which was absolutely glooorrriiious. We left it on when we went to bed but by the time we woke up the next morning it was off. We later found out this was because there was a power outage. There have been six power outages since then (I'd venture to say you're just as likely to have power as to not). Incidentally, when the power goes out in Dakar your first instinct is to wait 30 seconds for it to come back on. Then you remember that you're not in America, you're in Africa and if you're lucky it'll be 4 hours until it turns on again. Yeah, it's going to be a long three-and-a-half months!OK, so there are two seasons in Senegal, the dry season and the wet season (read hot and hotter). It's the wet season. I think they mean wet as in rain, but really it's wet as in that's what you are ALL day cause it's SOOOOO hot here. I personally enjoy being a walking bucket of sweat—it's good for the pores. It's kind of like the hottest grossest summer day at Georgetown multiplied by 10 with limited foliage cover and pretty much no AC. Our classrooms have AC but as I said earlier, the power situation is a crap shoot and more often then not there is none. I brought the materials for a double popped collar but clearly I will never be sporting that here, it's just too painfully hot to be fashionable (obvi I don't actually mean that, I've got plenty of light and breathable v-neck tees to look good fo
r a while. Thank God summer '06 saw the onset of suede cotton and lightweight linen or I don't know what I'd be doing right now.) And you know how they teach you in science that deserts get cool at night. That's bullshit, they don't. Or I'd be asleep right now and not up writing this two page single spaced e-mail.OK, I think that's probably enough for now. Sorry if I've bored you. The next e-mail is already in the works and it looks like it's going to be reallllllly good. I'll tell you why you never use your left hand in Senegal (it's gross), my encounters with Wolof (the native language here that I'm studying in addition to French) and I'll explain my first meal with my host family, and how two of my host sisters (I'm pretty sure they're my sisters but to be honest I'm not quite sure who's who's child and what not) felt that knowing me two hours was enough of a buffer zone to wear their bras to dinner. Yeah. Until then!
-Chris
Oh yeah, Internet access here is, well, third world, so if you're going to reply, do so, but just remember that it takes like 2 minutes to load each new window so you better say more than just "it sounds like you're having a good time" and tell me how YOUR life is going and it better be entertaining! Or else I will make my new African friends summon the Gods by using their clicking language to align against you. And you don't want that to happen to you. Trust me, I knew someone who knew someone who it happened to and it did NOT turn out pretty.
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