I made it to Dakar!!! I have only been here for about 48 hours but I already love it! It is such a breather from Delhi. Where I have been so far is so calm compared to Delhi! I haven’t been here very long but there are already so many rules I have to remember! Like I can’t show my legs because that is being too sexy, so I have a lot of skin I need to cover up. Also when we eat everyone sits around a large bowl and eats from that but you can only eat what is directly in front of you and don’t even think of using your left hand! (yes for lunch we only used our hand). Another fun fact is that no one is ever allowed to see your underwear. So when you give the maid your laundry to do you cannot give her your underwear… how do I wash my underwear, you ask? Everyday we are supposed to wash the underwear we wore that day in the shower and hang it in the closet to dry… I’m going have to get used to that.
Today we got our host family! I am with a 67 year old woman and her husband and her nephew who is in his early twenties. There is also a Swedish girl staying here for a few months to study French. The woman speaks a good amount of English but the Swedish girl named Bellatrix is my savior because she is fluent in French and English and is happy to translate for us. The nephew named Lie has his friends over all the time, which is fun because we get to hag out with people our own age. The only problem is that they speak only French and I speak no French. It is so frustrating for me because all I want to do is be their friend and that is hard to do when neither of you know how to talk to each other. Luckily they are all very patient and love showing us different things. Today they took us to the beach, which is like a 10-minute walk away and beautiful. But I have to say the beach was very odd to me because the beach was packed but the only people on the beach were African men running and doing squats and pushups. When I asked if I could work out with them tomorrow I was told it was not the best idea. I guess I’m going to have to be aware that I am a white woman, just like I was forced to do in India. We were also told that Senegalese men will come ask us to marry them and tell us they love us many times a day so I will report back to you with my daily proposals. I am so excited for all that Senegal is going to teach me, I know I have many crazy adventures ahead of me.