Waaw, man degg na tutti wolof.

Asalaa Maalekum! (Hello/Peace to you)

This morning soon after I woke up, the power went off. It remained off until the middle of the afternoon. I had power at the Center where I take classes, so I was lucky, plus we have air conditioning there (a rarity). At home before class and during lunch it was terribly warm inside the house. No lights is not a big deal, but no working fan in my bedroom means it's over 100 degrees in there. Not exactly pleasant. By the time I returned home from class it was back on.

During my afternoon class, I can always hear the sounds from the mosque. The center where I take classes is on a busy street. It's a divided street (kinda like the African East Beltline, for those of you from Grand Rapids). In the middle of the street is what one might loosely describe as a park area. There are benches, and people lounging around, and random cars parked in the middle as well. I believe one of the many men who spend their afternoon (and morning, too) in that "park" area has a radio from which he blasts the voice of the holy leader from the mosque. Throughout my lesson I hear the voice which lists of what good Muslims should and shouldn't do in Arabic for over three hours. It has already begun when I walk to class sometime between 2-3pm, and it continues until at least the end of my class at 5pm. It's a very interesting experience to hear that not only throughout my class but also overhead as I walk through my neighborhood in the afternoon.

Tonight, when I sat down in my room to relax, I heard the unmistakable theme song from Star Wars. Of course, I ran out to see if the children were indeed watching the movie, and they were. It was playing on tv dubbed in French. I'll have you know, Darth Vader was never supposed to be French. The voice they gave him was a higher pitched male's voice, instead of the low, raspy voice of the original Darth Vader. The French one simply wasn't very intimidating. But it did make my day to sit down for a half hour and watch part of the movie which I haven't seen it quite some time.

My meals here at home are typically millet (sort of like large couscous) and some type of meat with sauce and limited vegetables mixed in, or a few token vegetables laid on top. We don't all eat together, aside from breaking the fast around 7:10pm. At that time we all have bread, tea, and dates. During lunch, I eat with a few of the children, but they don't even all eat at the same time. The table we eat at is about 1 1/2 by 2 feet in size, and it's about a foot and a half off the ground. Needless to say, no more than four people can fit at the table. We all eat off of one plate, so there's plenty of room for that plate. The kids all drink out of one glass when they eat together, and I bring my own water bottle to drink out of. At night, I usually eat dinner with Layla (the student from Denmark who is also staying with us) and Pape (my "host father"). The food is always served to us by my "host mom" and the dishes are always cleared by the children. I'm never supposed to help with the dishes. The whole "being served" idea is a bit hard to get used to. I rarely see my "host mom" eat a meal, because she typically eats by herself in the kitchen. The niece who lives with us is the same. The food is almost always delicious. When it isn't, thus far it has always been because there was too much fish in it. I don't like fish too much, but with a fisherman as a "host dad," we have it a lot. I usually pick around it and let those around me eat the fish that is laying on top. Yes, it usually has scales and head and tale and everything. Fish is definitely not my favorite food, particularly when it is served that way.

The power just went out again. It's 11:19pm. It's pitch black (aside from my laptop). Now, it's definitely going to be a very warm night.

Ba suba. (until tomorrow)

Alhamdulilaay! (Thanks be to God)