First Week

Hey!

Its been an awesome first week and a half or so since I have been here. I have seen a bunch of cool things and met some really nice people (although I still wish I could speak french :-p)

Last week we went to Gorée Island which was so beautiful. It is a French colony which is a part of the city of Dakar and it is about a 15-20 minute ferry from the city.  It is somewhat famed because it is known as an island through which slaves passed a long time ago (although its actual role in the slave trade has been disputed...tourists aren't really supposed to know that though)  The landscape and buildings there are so picturesque it is unbelievable. I wish that so much heart break wasn't associated with the French colonialization of Africa because they actually did bring some really interesting and beautiful things to places like Gorée.

This is what the "port" looked like when I was coming in and where we sat and had beers while waiting to return to Dakar

As you can see the buildings are so colorful and there is so much nice vegetation. It is beautiful. The other side of this island, besides being the picturesque tourist destination that it is, is that it is somewhat or an artists commune.  There are there artists all over the island that just kind of live there and sleep where ever they make a home. (some travel back to dakar but there is definitely a large amount that live there).  This man took us into this weird little shaft about halfway up the hill of the island where they would load supplies (ammo) onto an elevator to the top of the mountain where massive cannons were.  He lived in this cave like thing with 8 artists and a musician.   His art, along with his fellow artists works, was really nice. His home was a bit sketch but it was cool that he lead us into it that we saw the train tracks and stuff. I didn't really get pictures of that sadly but I did get pictures of other peoples homes there. Since it is so warm and dry, 

This was on the back side of the Island - 

There are also a lot of people living on the island in the old homes of the French colonists.  It seems like a lot of the people make livings from their restaurants or from selling art, but there are also churchs, schools, and medical facilities on the island.  It is a really small place and often times tourists destinations like this don't have full communities on them, especially when it is so easy to commute from the city but there is definitely a village within the attraction here. This is a picture of the inside of the school- you can see that they also do laundry there which is why the clothes are hung across the balcony.

I also went to a wedding of one of my brothers friends siblings here. That was really cool. Although it was pretty strange as I wasn't wearing what everyone one else was wearing and I don't speak woolof (one of the native languages here).  It was cool to see how the Senegalese women get so dressed up and to see the how combination of western weddings and west african traditions work together.  All the men are wearing boubou's (which I am definitely getting made while I am here as they do look pretty fly ...) and women really went all out with make up and hair and really gorgeous senegalese dresses.  The people in the main bridal party wore more western style clothing like this (a bridesmaid)

and the men (although they all wore really different style and colors) wore something like this. This is my brothers friend and old landlord and his really cute and exhausted kid Papa. 

It was an awesome experience just being able to meet all these people and see how they get together to celebrate. It is a such a big deal in this society to celebrate marriage and they don't skimp on anything. Everyone looks like a million bucks regardless of what they have and the networks of people who know each other is unbelievable.  These families and huge and so close knit. You can really see and feel how they rely on each other.

Other than that we have just been hanging out and going to the beach. Eating a lot of delicious food and enjoying life.  This weekend we are going to St. Louis which is a french colonial town more inland. I will be sure to post about it asap and put up some pictures on facebook. I also started my french lessons which should help open me up to some more interesting experiences as I attempt to brave daily life in another language....

Till then

T.J.