Salaammaalekum!
On a brief lunch break, but just enough time to tell you--Dakar is a total trip!
Hard to know where to begin. Goats are everywhere. On roof tops, in the street. I wake up in the middle of the night and hear them bleeting (bleating?) and can't help but respond with an explosive 'HA' everytime, no matter what time of day. So many things here I can't help but laugh at, very fun.
French speaking has been so wonderful and I've surprised myself with how not-shy I am using the language. What a great feeling to be able to communicate and make connections with people here, I absolutely love it! And finally for the first time since Normandale I'm in a place where everyone speaks French, too! Cloud nine, I'm telling you.
Wolof on the other hand... slightly different story. We had our first Survival Wolof class today--six other female CIEE students and our instructor Faatu. She was so gracious and patient with us, just a total dear. I thought I had the language figured out yesterday based on the few words I learned. We're meeting so many new people and learning new names, and Wolof seemed to conveniently fit that trend. Every word I learned in Wolof was just a combination of boys' names:
one - ben
thank you - jerry jeff
white person - two bob
Easy. Unfortunately not all words in Wolof quite follow that rule...it sounds cool but wow what a jumble of new sounds combinations. It will take some practicing for sure, but I'm excited to learn more!
I just got out of a meeting/consultation about my host family (!!) who will pick me up and take me home this Friday. Their last name is Sow (pronounced so) and I'm told there are a lot of them! :) Brothers, sisters, cousins--about ten or so. Some little ones, but a few my age, too, which will be nice. They speak French and Wolof and the dad speaks really good English, but I don't plan on tapping that resource too much I can help it. Apparently it's a really big, nice house and I will have my own room... it's in Sacre Coeur which is about a 25 minute walk from school, so I will most likely be taking a car rapide (these brightly decorated 30-40 year old buses with people hanging out the back yelling the destination... though there are no real set stops or routes ha) to and from school everyday.
The good friends I've made here are from Oregon and New Hampshire (go figure) and I'm finding all sorts of neat connections--people who are friends of friends (including my stepdad's doctor's daughter...weird). But the people here are so great, they're a good crew :)
Our campus is beautiful and very reminiscent of a Florida motel out of the 1950s... it's just one big square, baby blue and light yellow, two levels with a courtyard below with little walkways, palm trees and all sorts of beautiful, brightly colored flowers...and AC, thank goodness. Quite a pleasant place to be!
About to do my French placement test which will determine how many classes I can take in French and which level of French class I will be placed into. Wish me luck!
I'll leave you with my favorite Wolof saying I'm learned yet... it means thank God:
alxamdulilaay .... or al raam doo lee lie ... say it fast, you'll be smiling, too!
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Jerry Jeff for the news, Linds!! I'm so happy to know you're adapting with smiles and laughter. You're such a great writer ... you make me smile too! Looking forward to hearing more about your host family ... sounds like a fun group, al raam doo lee lie! Thinking about you all the time. Much love ... Papa.
ReplyDeleteBonjour Lindsay,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Kany Seck, I come from Sénégal (born and raised in Dakar) and now teach 4th grade at Normandale with Mme Miller. Laurie tells me you were a great student. She sent me your blog address. I admit I laughed reading your strategies to learn Wollof, they are great! I have never made the connections between Wollof and American first names but I guess it works. If you would like to be in different family settings, you can go visit my family and my sisters' families. One of my sisters lives in Point E which is not very far from Sacre Coeur. My husband can give you a ride. They are used to inviting visiting Americans that I know. It's fun to hear you talk about the cars rapides. Here is my classroom webpage: http://sites.google.com/site/laclassedemmeseck/ ,send me an e-mail and we can talk more. Diam ak diam Lindsay!