Captain's Log: Le Premier Semaine

Assalamualaikum!

I survived my first week in Dakar! And I finally had my suitcase arrive yesterday, it was so nice to have a different set of clothes after a week without one!

Um... So much has happened, so I am going to try and keep things in order, but I may get a little scatter-brained. I apologize in advance for any confusion, I will try and draw a flowchart later. And I know this post isn't very nicely done with photos of the things I'm talking about, I just don't have the battery power. I will do better on the next post I promise!

First off, my flight.
Going from Portland- Toronto - Montreal - Brussels - Dakar was insane, I lost my luggage between Portland to Toronto and was sick from Brussels to Dakar, but otherwise the journey went alright. I still can't wrap my mind around how far away I am right now from home, it is crazy!! We were lucky and got to stay in a hotel for the first week in order to get more acclimated to Dakar, which I must say helped a lot. I wouldn't have survived with being thrown in with school and my family right away.

Which leads me to... school
I love school! As a friend of mine here said, it kind of feels like we are at summer camp but learning and getting credit for it, which is awesome. For classes I am taking Wolof, French, Dance, Jambe, Tama, Batik, and Ceramics, all while preparing for my ISP. My Independent Study Project (ISP) takes place the last 4 weeks as I research and write a 20 page paper on the topic of my choice.
We only have each class 3 days a week, and the other days are spent studying Senegalese culture, having time with our families, and traveling around Senegal to different villages. I am super stoked for my first village visit in two weeks.
This past week in school we were going though orientation, so we spent time learning about money, taxis, haggling, and cultural nuances. Thursday was a blast as we were all sent downtown in small groups and we had to find a specific landmark, ask people questions, get lunch, and haggle for a gift for a classmate. My group was sent to one of the larger markets in town, and it was nuts. Words do not describe how hectic things were there!

Now the biggest part, family
I moved in with my family Friday night, and it has been interesting. Friday we had very bad storms in Dakar, and there were so many flash floods everywhere that what is normally a 15-20 minute cab ride took about an hour! It was nuts! I made it home, and it turns out one of my classmates is also in the same family with as I am, but she lives with my sister and her husband down the street. In my house is my dad, mom (who is gone every other week in france for work), three sisters, brother, three cousins, and my niece and nephew are at our house all the time instead of at home. We live in a lovely house with 4 goats in the back yard. I definitely live in one of the more sociable and active houses out of all the students here. I am also so thankful that my family has a semi-normal bathroom with a separate toilet, sink, and shower. I get my own room, which is nice, and we as a family eat lunch and dinner (well, dinner when I am at school).

But that's all I can think to write about now, I am keeping a journal you all can read/make copies of to read. If anyone has any questions email/facebook me and I will answer them in a post.
Anyways, here are pictures from this past week!