Je m'appelle Amina

I moved into my homestay yesterday. Hmmmm...it is going to be a long 6 weeks living with them. Don't really know if I can handle it, but I have to! I am not sure how many people actually live there. Around 15, plus about 5 people on vacation who will eventually leave. Too many people with too many names all at once. The first day was very overwhelming.

I have a room to myself which is nice. It is VERY small with cracked and stained walls. It has one light bulb to light the room and the only other things in it are a bed, a small table, and a chair. Yesterday my family brought me fan, and I am very thankful because it is flippin hot and humid!

For dinner, at 8:30 , we ate in a circle on the floor around one bowl. You just eat the food in front of you. The mom of the house got all upset and said I did not eat enough. I serioulsy ate a lot more than most of the people. She then told me she would not eat anymore cause I was done. She was pretty rude about the whole thing. Then she demanded that I help her up and get her some water. Another difficult thing is that they only speak Wolof at home so I feel very left out of all conversation.

Today I played the jembe underneath the baobab tree and also learned some traditional African dance. I think that is what we are doing the rest of the week. Oh, my family gave me a Senegalese name... Amina. Not a bad one.

I am afraid to take a shower. The bathroom is soooooo gross. There is no toilet seat and there is this sour nasty smell in there. And, no toilet paper. The Senegalese use their left hand to wipe. Interesting...

Oh, I almost forgot! I live on the second floor and guess who lives right above me on the roof? Yep, that's right. A goat. A really noisy annoying goat. OK, I gotta go. Running out of time at the internet cafe. I don't want to go home though. It is stressful.