Some Typicalities

I've been getting a lot of questions about the little details of my living situation. I suppose it is quite a deal different from my life in Oregon, so it is worth writing about.

CLASSES:

CIEE Study Center (where I take my classes)

I am taking 5 classes, all of which are taught by Senegalese professors at the study center for our program. We share the facility with a Senegalese law program, but we do not take classes together. Our classrooms are all named inspiring things like "jamm" (peace), or "jangeket" (study). It is right next to a pastry shop that has delicious quiche and is quite close to street-selling-peanut-lady with whose stand I am well acquainted. I am taking Advanced French, Beginning Wolof (the main language they speak here in Dakar), African Conflict Management/Law, Senegalese Culture & Soceity, and Environment & Development. All but one of those classes is in French. I'm getting quite good at listening and note taking during French lectures, but I'm realizing my verb conjugations are horrid. Room for improvement, right? A whole gymnasium size of room.

HOST FAMILY:
My Catholic Senegalese host family is a lot of fun. The household I live in is composed of the following: a mom, dad, 2 host sisters, a brother-in-law, 4 host brothers (one is away though), 2 cousins, a baby, another student from my program (he lives in the main house- I live in a side apartment with a couple other family members), and a maid (who basically lives with the family-- she only speaks Wolof, so we have fun trying to communicate). My shower is outside but connected to the building. Several sheep live next door and don't mind expressing themselves at random hours of the day and evening. You learn to drown it out. We have several rabbits and chickens living on our roof who roam free up there during the day beneath the clotheslines strung full of laundry.

My next door neighbor (the sheep are hard to see in this one)

In terms of my bathroom, the shower begins as soon as the toilet ends. No floor space is wasted! Just about every day I wake up and am greeted by cockroaches in the shower scuttling around my feet. They have become a sort of permanent installment in the bathroom. The door finally got fixed, too! I broke the lock after locking myself in the bathroom (doesn't have a light in it by the way) after dinner on my first night with my host family (everyone else was in the house). I tried in vain to get myself out of that small space for a good 5 minutes before finally deciding I should just try calling for help. It came, and they pried the door lock open from the outside. Because by that point the lock was completely busted, we had to wedge cardboard in the door every time we went in it-- not to lock it, but just to keep it from swinging open on its own and causing some scandals.  Sometimes I felt I was just holding that cardboard piece in place by sheer power of will. But now we have a lock and it is SO easy! The things we take for granted. Side note: I am borderline pro at snagging mosquitoes out of the air.

TRANSPORT:

Ouakam: a view of part of my neighborhood

I think I have mentioned this before, but I take the bus in the morning, and catch a "car rapide" home each day. As I was going to the study center today, I realized the rocking sensation of the bus hitting all the potholes in the road combined with the constant speed changes as traffic picks up or people want on/off-- this must be at least a bit comparable to how it felt on a real ship on the ocean. Real ship meaning one of the old ones with masts and sails. I've always wanted to get my "sea legs" but never had the chance till now! I think this is my golden chance.  A friend of mine who rode the car rapide home with me the other evening said that whenever he rides one he always feels hands patting down his pockets and can sometimes see hand prints on his pants after he jumps off...I can't say that I have ever had this experience, but it certainly adds a further element of fun to the day :) Getting the proper change is always a bit of a game for me. And if I do get it, I have enough to buy a delicious beignet from this lady who makes them fresh in the side alley I walk through on my way home.

BIBLE STUDY
Coming into this semester, I prayed that God would place at least just one other follower of Christ in our group or in country that I would meet. I wondered what it would be like to go for a whole 5 months without the fellowship of other believers. The sketchy reputation that study abroad students have racked up (with reason...) did not leave me with much hope of finding a strong community within my student body. But God gave me peace about it. We had our first Bible study last night on the roof of our study center (doubles as a cafe where we eat lunch)-- 7 people showed up, including one of our study center guards, a fellow missionary kid, and a pastor's kid. All committed believers. Each with a story of how God has been working in their lives and how we need fellowship. I look forward to hearing their stories. Thank you, Jesus. Amen. We are studying through Habakkuk, and I am enjoying getting a different sorta view of the passages by studying them in French (the language of the only complete Bible I brought).

A miniature Wolof lesson: when you ask someone about how they slept, how their day is going, how their morning was, etc. you always respond with: Jamm rekk, alxamdulilaa ("Peace only, praise be to God"). It struck me as profound: it is well with my soul, peace only, because God has given me that peace that surpasses understanding. I have such peace about where I am right now. I can be anywhere with anyone or lack of anyone and yet never be truly alone. He is with me. Always with me.