Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Bienvenue à mon nouveau blog et joyeux Noël!

Hello again (or for the first time) and welcome to my new blog about my experiences in Senegal. Sadly, I forgot the account name and password to my old blog, riceinsenegal.blogspot.com, and had to start over again. Maybe this time I will remember to write down that information.

The other night, if only for ten minutes, it sank in for the first time that I was actually leaving for Senegal next month. What a strange feeling. I think no matter how much I read or research about Senegal it won't quite be the same as being there (yes, I know that sounds obvious). Still, maybe when I learn more about my internship or classes I'll feel less like I'm stepping into an abyss of the unknown.

I have gleaned some information regarding my housing, and it sounds pretty promising. Apparently I will be staying with la Famille Rokhaya Niang: a retired anthropology professor, his wife (a teacher), and their family. They have four "kids" in their twenties, one of whom is in Belgium, and two nieces, one of whom is a teenager. A part of me was looking forward to living with a slightly more average (socioeconomically speaking) Senegalese family instead of a family of intellectuals, but staying with this family should offer me a different perspective of Senegal from that of the family I will be staying with during my internship. I am also interested in education and Senegalese perspectives of it, so their scholasticism will be interesting.

I'd better get back to the orientation reading packet; it's quite long.

Until next time, here's a video featuring Orchestra Baobab:

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Joyeux Noël!