Bonjour mes amis

Hello everyone,

This would be my first entry from Senegal. *sigh*

After a long day of travel on Sunday, I met up with the other MSIDers at JFK before boarding the plane that would take us away from everything we have ever known. The flights were all fine, no one was sitting next to me for the long one, so I had a little space to stretch my legs. A couple of movies and naps later, we arrived in Dakar around 6 in the morning local time. Stepping of the plane was like walking into a sauna, before the sun was even up it felt like one of the hottest days we experience in Minnesota. Right now is the end of the rainy season, which means that not only is it hot, but it's HUMID. I honestly have sweat more so far than I ever have in my entire life. We piled onto a bus, took a short ride to the airport (we had gotten off planeside), and then found ourselves crowded into a little customs area. It took a while to get through, just for the shear number of people that had gotten off the plane with us. But we were all allowed to enter the country, and walked through a set of doors to get to the baggage claim. Yay! both my bags were there. In fact out of 15 of us, only one suitcase got lost, and Robbie finally got it yesterday.

Leaving the baggage claim, we found Josephine, one of the MSID assistants. She is a cute little Senegalese, who has been doing everything for us. The walk out to the bus was constantly being interrupted by men who wanted to help us with our luggage. After fighting the crowds, we met Waly, one of the MSID coordinators who was waiting with our bus. Much to some of the others' dismay, our luggage was all of a sudden being tossed on top of the bus. We piled on the bus, after being assured that the bags would be okay, and were promptly given bottles of water, bags of food, and our itinerary for the week. Thankfully, our first stop was the hotel where we were able to rest and shower until noon.

That afternoon we went over to the house of Maman Onorine, one of the other MSID staff. She's like our Program mother who feeds us, lectures us, and make us dance. We met three other students there who had come at the beginning of August for a Presession. Sitting under a tent on the roof, we listened as Waly and Josephine talked about MSID and so on. Then we took a break to drink a juice made from Hibiscus nectar, and dance african style with Maman Onorine. Then it was time for lunch. Meals here are traditionally served in one big bowl, and everyone eats around it. Each person has their own little section of which they are responsible to eat out of. The meal is typically rice or couscous with some sort of meat (generally fish), sauce, and maybe vegetables. You eat with your fingers and form the rice into a ball before tossing it into your mouth. This was the first lunch we had in Senegal. After lunch we listened as Mamah Onorine offered some advice of living with host families. Then we took a break to go to the beach before dinner.

By the end of the day, we were all pooped to say the least, and were happy to be returned to our hotel. The next day, Tuesday, would be the day we moved in with our host families.........

That's all I have time to write for now, but I will write more as soon as I can.

Miss you all tons!!