Host family

Meeting the host family(June 17)

I’ve been sweating like crazy the whole day from the Goree island tour when I realized that I would meet my host family in the evening. Before the trip, I had this idea of looking good and clean to make a good first impression but I guess that's not an option:(

My roommate for next 3 weeks is going to be Shalini from Union whos going to be a senior in fall. She speaks little French so I have a strong feeling that I'm going to depend on her A LOT when communicating with the host family.

Our host mom came to pick us up and we took a cab to get to home. She tried to talk to us but it was really hard when she barely speaks English and Shal can only speak broken French. When we got to the house, it was actually better than I thought it would be except the sheep. YES.. I'm talking about the real sheep.... I don't know what I was expecting but I was not clearly expecting sheep family in the house for sure...haha :(

A kitchen, a bathroom, and one room were on the outside of the main house, where the family room and 3 other rooms were. I was really glad when our host mom took us inside to show our room. There were 2 bunk beds with mosquito nets, a drawer, a mirror, and a fan in the room. We started unpacking, took a shower, and met rest of the family before the dinner. The dinner was served as exactly as what Mariame from WARC told us. The food was served in one big plate and we each got a spoon to eat it with. As soon as we finished the dinner, the power went out and our host dad gave us a flashlight and told us how it is normal in Senegal to have power cut at nights. With no power, there was nothing we could do so we went to bed super early that day right after the dinner. 

Mango tree in the house

The door to the main house and theone on the left is the bathroom

sheep

The tea table that's used for everything

the bathroom and the buckets...

the shower booth...??

To be honest, I was shocked by the bathroom. There was no toilet seat and no toilet paper, which was replaced with a big bucket filled with water. Yes...they use water instead of toilet paper to clean themselves after using the bathroom. It's their culture so I have no say to this but to accept and respect it the way it is.However, thanks to Indira Suggula for warning me to bring toilet paper, Shal and I was able to use the bathroom without having to forcefully accept the culture:)))

the bed with mosquito nets