Il faut metriser le dialogue!

Sunday was move into training homestay day and I was really nervous. I had no idea what to expect, not to mention that I couldn't speak Pullo Fuuta. My LCF, language and crosscultural facilitator Pape, my two classmates and four other trainees were dropped off in Sangalkam. Sangalkam is a small village with a market, tailors, a mosque and few stores. ALl I remember seeing immediately after getting off the bus was sand and children. I got dropped off at my compound which had three buildings. I met my host mom, neene. Neene is a 50 year old woman who is a host mom for the first time! When i arrived she was sweeping the sand on my compound. Yes they sweep the sand all day long!Neene is pullar for mom and she gave me my senegalese name, Anta Sow. I had no clue that's what was happening but luckily my neene speaks a bit of french. After that I met all the women on my compound. I believe there are 10 including my host mom and my two host cousin children, neenee galle and oumo, who are sisters and 4 and 2. They're really cute! Neenee gallee is so smart and helps me filter my water everyday. she's been picking up french and repeating "bonjour" in my ear while I try to nap in the heat of the day. Unfourtunately, "sa suffit" has not entered in her french vocab yet.

Senegalese families are interesting and confusing because they're very big. My host family consist of either 17-19 people and my mom is the oldest sibling and the matriarch of the family. She lives with her four brothers, their families and some other nieces and nephews. She only lives with her "real" siblings, same mother same father. She has the nicest room because she is the head of the family.Her room has a fan and nice tv. I have a bunch of cousins on the compound and I still haven't figured out whose children they are. My cousin, Hali Matu, is awesome and speaks french...She is fascinated by all the Toubabs, wolof word for foreigner in town. She seems really funny. So, that's who I communicate with mainly. She's in a great position since she's a woman and educated. She is one of the few young women that I've met who is educated so she's in a really fortunate position. I don't know why she being younger than Anta Gee, my namesake and other cousin, is allowed to be educated. I've felt like a member of the family. I've been away for a day and a half back at the training center and my host family has called me three times. Conversation is really limited over the phone. Me: " Jara? Ca va" Jara" Ca va, Anta? Me: Ca va. and then silence. Luckily tonight Halli Matu was on the phone and conversation was a little more fluid. I talked to every girl in my family and they said how much they missed me. They're really sweet. They also made me a senegalese booboo from the tailor to take back to the training center with me.

At the homestay, I have a turkish squat toilet that smells slightly gross and I take bucket baths. The bucket baths are not that bad. It's interesting to know how little water you need to get yourself clean. The hard part has been trying to clean myself with a kettle of water after having used the sqautter. I haven't found the technique yet.

Bringing out the camera on the first night was pure insanity. They all got super excited about the pictures and I had to take pictures of all the members and their 10 different poses. Also, they love my body spray. They ask me to spray their arm pits and my first night, they lined up in front of my room with their arms in the air so they could get sprayed. It was pretty funny.

Class is interesting. It's really hard to stay motivated when it's hot, class is under a tree, goats are mating, and it's Ramadan. We moved into homestays in the middle of Ramadan and life is harder than normal. It is hot and our poor teacher of pullo fuuta is exhausted which makes him less motivated to teach. Our first three days of class, the first 18 hours of class. We have class 6 hours a day, we're spent memorizing the same dialogue which consists of saying hello, what's your name, what's your last name, what is your job, where are you from, and what do you do. After the third day, I couldn't handle it anymore! I wanted to learn either vocab or grammar something other than memorizing the same lines over and over and over which meant nothing to me. We demanded to change the pace of class but Pape was really adamant about "il faut d'abbord metriser le dialogue!" We lost the battle and I almost lost it. We have begun to learn grammar thank goodness but communication is really limited at home. I've become really content just sitting around, watching and napping in the heat of the day!

inshallah!