My Bambara is useless

Not surprising, but it's pretty true. Wolof is the language of choice around here.

I have the important phrases down though...

lege lege = right now (direct; now now)
tootie tootie = slowly (direct; little little)

I am currently in Saint Louis, Senegal. I highly recommend you look some info about the city. It is beautiful here. The ocean is a great temperature and this place has a cool colonial feel. I think I could stand spending some time here (Don't worry Mom and Dad, I'm not looking for any jobs).

This first week with the students has been pretty fun. We arrived in Dakar last Friday... West Africa is in full effect. I stepped off of the plane and onto the tarmac to a hot breeze and the smell of trash burning somewhere off in the distance. Dakar feels a lot like Bamako, but a bit more Western. People are just a little more in tune to Western culture and a bit more connected to the outside world.

The next day, we headed out to chage some money and get our things together to head up to the north where we'll be spening most of the month.

The kids are great... There are 14 kids and they range from rising sophomores to rising seniors. They're from all around the US... as far as California and as close as DC. There is even a student who goes to NCS, which is the sister school to Saint Albans. After the kids there is one other leader, Laura, who is great.

On Sunday, we took a private bus ride up to n'diawdoune, which is about 4 hours from Dakar and about 20 minutes north of Saint Louis. It's a very well put together community and perfect for a community service trip of this sort.

We are staying at the local school and sleeping on the classroom floor. We have mattresses and mosquito nets and then we have a couple local women cooking for us. They will make anything from local dishes (yassa and maffe) to derranged versions of American food (something ressembling an egg sandwich or spaghetti with boiled eggs all over it).

While the conditions seem weird, they are great relative to the Peace Corps. We have purified water coming out of a faucet, electricity, mobile phone connection and ice. It is sort of like a West African heaven.

I know the students would not agree with me, but that's OK, this is their first time over here... and I keep reminding myself what I was like for my first week in Yangasso. In case you have forgotten or I have never told you... I was basically insane for the first week. I felt terrible everyday and had no one to communicate with. I would sit in my hammock and talk to myself about how ridiculous it was for me to be living in Mali without being able to speak Bambara.

Anyway... I need to get back to the kids. We are all currently sitting in a cyber cafe and they need help to find the @ symbol on these french keyboards and someone's shoes just fell apart, apparently. I just became a parent for 14 kids.

Sorry... No photos yet because these computers are so slow.

Later folks,
Todd