Ma famille accueillante

On my family...

Tuesday was the highly anticipated day of meeting our host families. We got picked up at our hotel in our original airconditioned bus (yes!), and went immediately to the bank. Seeing as all of us only had American dollars on us, this was very very helpful. Currency here is in CFA, and the exchange rate on Tuesday was 437 Franc CFA=$1 American. Let's just say it's been an adjustment to hear that a 1.5 litre bottle of water is 400 CFA...it sounds like a lot, but is really less than a dollar. That was actually the next stop: Mineral Water. One thing that has been stressed here is don't drink the tap water! I hear that you can try to slowly break yourself into it, and then be able to drink it all the time. But one of the other students tried taking just a sip, and in her words, "it was NOT a good experience". I think I'll stick to my bottles.

After getting water, we were dropped off one by one. One by one left in a stranger's home. One by one abandoned by the only familiar faces in the country. Waly and Josephine refused to tell us who was next until we arrived at each house, to prevent us from getting too nervous. It actually worked, because when my name was called, after 9 before me had been dropped off, I was not mentally prepared. As I stumbled off the bus, my luggage was tossed down off the roof and carried inside. I timidly walked inside, to meet my Senegalese mother two steps inside. Maman Jacqueline is her name, and at this point I only really see her when I come and go out of the house. She is the one to make sure I eat before I go every morning and that I locked my bedroom door before leaving. Next I met Marguerite (Margo), one of my sisters, who is probably in her early twenties. I found out on the first day that she's the one who does most of the housework and cooking for the entire family along with my other sister Marie-Therese. Marie-Therese is the oldest of all my siblings and she's in her early thirties (31 or 32?). Next in line is Leon, Bart, Benjamin, and Alexandre in some age order, Margo, and Eduoard is the youngest at around 13 or 14. The boys all live on the third floor, and I hardly ever see them at all. The girls live on the second floor with me (though I do have my own room). Beyond that, Grandma lives downstairs, but she's been sick and I've seen her maybe twice so far. There are also three others right now, who I hear are only here for vacation, but I don't know how they are exactly related to the family and I don't know when they're leaving... Ironically the two teenage girls and ten year old boy are the ones I see the most besides Margo.

My family is Catholic, which is really cool, especially since this week marked the beginning of Ramadan, so the Muslim families all fast during the day.

That's all I have time for right now, but I surely do miss everyone and appreciate all the emails and notes of encouragement!

Love always,
amb