Dakar!

It's been a really crazy few weeks only about to get crazier for the rest of April... hence why it's been a month since I've posted and might take a while for me to post again. My dad visited a few weeks ago which was great to see him and show him around Madrid. Then spent a week getting everything ready for Semana Santa and headed to Dakar for this past week. I got into the airport early this morning at 4:30, waited for the first train to my neighborhood at 6 and then finally got in bed by 7:45. Been trying to rest today and do a little work because my mom's arriving here in a little bit. I'm totally exhausted and a bit overwhelmed with all I have going on, but I can't complain because almost all of it (with just the exception of the hideous amount of school work I'm putting off) is really great.

Dakar was super awesome and I'm really glad I went both to visit Hal and to see the city. Nearly all of my friends on my program went to Italy for spring break and I'm so happy I had the opportunity to see something totally different instead. I got in last Saturday night and spent the night hanging out with Hal's friends since that was the only time I'd see them before they left for their rural visits during the week. The rest of the week, we didn't rush around a lot to see all there was to see and it was nice to not feel that need. Dakar is a cool city, but it doesn't cater to tourists at all really. We got to spend a lot of time with his host family instead, which was great especially because they're a huge part of his life that I got to see and because he won't get to see them much now that his parents are visiting this week. His host mom, Maman Coumba is the best. She has the warmest smile, makes really good food (and spicy!) and teases Hal for just about everthing he does. We had a great connection and at the end of my stay she gave me a some Senegalese bracelets and kept saying how much she loves me even though we only spent a week together. Hal got very lucky with his host family too, although of course, his attitude has a lot to do with it. She seemed to really appreciate that we spent so much time with her, even though we weren't staying at her house.

Maman Coumba making delicious spicy fried fish balls

In general, Hal is super thoughtful about the way he spends time with his host family, even if it's just sitting around while they watch TV in Wolof and it makes all the difference in the world. We also spent some time with Hal's host brother, Papice, who came downtown with us and Hal's 12-year old host nephew, Ahmed.

Me and Papice

Ahmed is hilarious and it was too funny to see him sing the same clubby songs that Carlota sings nonstop. I liked eating around the bowl with all of them a lot (the Senegalese way of eating where everyone eats with spoons or hands out of a communal bowl)- always a ton of rice with some sort of fish and/or stew or curry. Because eating is how you show politeness and appreciation, I ate A LOT. It was such a unique opportunity to go there and spend time with a Senegalese family and I'm really glad I did it. This past Saturday we even saw part of the neighbor's wedding celebration because Hal's whole street was packed with ladies all dressed up and dancing.

Maman made Hal a silly headwrap for the wedding

Wedding dancing!

Kids hang out and watch the activities from in front of Hal's house

The rest of the week we also saw a few different markets, went downtown, saw Ile de Goree (an Island off the city that was a slave trading post) and spent some time on the beach. Yesterday morning Hal's parents arrived and it was nice to overlap with them for most of the day, even though they were a bit jetlagged and I was getting ready to leave.

 Hal in front of the African Renaissance Monument

 Les Almadies beach

 The westernmost point in Africa! So cool!

 Me and Hal in front of his house

 Car Rapides are one of my favorite parts of Dakar- they are the brightly colored buses that function as transportation. The cost of a ride depends on where you're going, but it's usually around 75 franc or 15 American cents

  Marché HLM where we bought fabric for Hal to make himself some African pants

Okay off to pick up mom from the train station! These pictures were taken on Hal's camera but I'm hoping she brought me a charger for mine so I can keep updating with some quick photos at least.

Besos,

Anj