Weekend Number 3

For my third weekend in Dakar, I was hoping to do something different and low-key.  But I was in the minority, so we went out clubbing again.  Some of the girls hadn't gone dancing with us the last two times, and they really wanted to go.  We went to Le Voyageur, the same club we'd been to the last two weekends.  I was way, way tired.  I danced a little bit with Youssou, and then with this creeper guy who started trying to feel me up after about thirty seconds (at which point I pushed him away), and then this middle-aged guy who was pretty awkward.  Then I danced with someone who asked me after a few minutes, "Why aren't you dancing?"  After that I danced with Youssou a little more and then sat down to rest.  Youssou sat next to me for a while and then I ended up leaning on him to take a nap.  He was really sweet all night and didn't even try to make a move on me!  All week he's been wonderful, and he's becoming a great friend.  I feel like, even with the snafu our first week, I've lucked out with him and my parents.

On Saturday, I slept in late.  In the afternoon, I went to Katy's house and we made attaya with her host brother, Amadou (who is in love with Alyssa).  Before dinner, Youssou took Alyssa and me to the tailor.  This tailor happens to be Mama's sister, so she was very friendly and gave us good prices.  I'm really looking forward to seeing how my clothes come out.  They ended up being $10 per item, which is awesome for custom-made clothes.  When we got back for dinner, Alyssa went home.  We sat down to eat, and Mama said, "Where's Alyssa?"  I told her she'd gone home to eat dinner, and she said, "That's not nice!  Call her and tell her she has to come here!"  I did as I was told, and Alyssa came over and we all ate a tasty supper together.  Apparently, Mama had cooked it herself.  I'm looking forward to learning her tricks.

At night, I went to Boobs's house and hung out with him and Galo and Youssou and Alyssa.  We played cards and then played "Je n'ai jamais..." (Never have I ever, aka Ten Fingers).  It was challenging to talk about risque stuff in French, since they don't really teach that in French class.  Through that game, I decided that Boobs isn't really a good person.  He's really into me, but that's just too bad for him.

I've been getting kind of mad at one of the girls on our program.  She's going out with this fabulous guy, and she's cheating on him with someone here.  I don't want to be seeing this happen and not say anything to her boyfriend, who I know vaguely, but I also don't want to go behind her back or anything.  I just hate it when people do nasty things just because they're so pretty they can get away with it.  I was complaining to Youssou about it, and he said, "She's not that pretty.  You're way more beautiful than her, I swear."  Awww.  But at least I don't abuse it!

Today was ungodly hot.  We had class at 9 in the morning.  We met at the Baobab Center and then took a bus tour of Dakar.  It was really cool to see all the different neighborhoods, especially now that we're more oriented.  Afterwards we were all exhausted.  I went home with a mild headache and serious sleepiness, but the power was out and my room was stifling.  I failed at napping and didn't have water to take headache drugs and it kind of sucked.  Then I ate lunch and opened my room up and got some air flowing.  Then suddenly the wind picked up and it looked like we were going to have a tornado (do we even get those here?) and there was sand blowing everywhere and the temp dropped 10 degrees.  And then I fell asleep and everything was more normal when I woke back up.

Tomorrow I have class for 6 hours.  This doesn't feel like college the way I'm used to it.  I am loving it here, though. 

Ba suba!  (Talk to you soon!)