One of the coolest parts about being here is waking up every morning. Half asleep, I’ll stay in my bed unaware that I’m not at home until I hear the unfamiliar cry of a goat or the call to prayer from the mosque across from my street. The first thing that I do every morning is walk up to the terrace. Still unable to comprehend where I am, how excited I am about being here, I sit in the baking heat of the sun looking over our neighborhood. There are certain qualities of life that exists everywhere yet here they have such a different and vibrant twist on them. I guess the best way to describe where I am to describe the physical differences, starting from the ground up.

The roads are composed of a mixture of sand and clay with a orange, red hue. Despite the fact that it’s the rainy season it’s only rained once since I’ve arrived. The lack of rain creates a red could, most apparent when the street lights turn on at night, that engulfs the city. It also makes staying clean very difficult. In Senegal they have a very interesting idea about cleanliness. My mother explained to me that there are certain things that people can and can’t control. You can’t necessarily control how nice of a house you live in or how well you eat but you can always control how clean you keep your body. Thus it’s a sign of dignity and respect to stay very clean. This means taking at least three showers a day. Sweating more than the average Senegalese person, I take about four a day and wash my feet around six times a day. Its especially important to keep feet and hands clean. When we eat we sit barefoot around a large serving dish and eat with our hands. Our program tells us horror stories about kids who didn’t shower frequently enough and were asked to find different families. Another things is that despite the stench of certain roads, everyone here smells amazing. Owning and wearing perfume or cologne constantly is a must.

Something else that quickly caught my eye is the architecture and the way houses are viewed. I read the sports section of the paper every day and I quickly remarked that there were no real estate advertisements. People don’t sell or buy homes here. If you want a home you have one constructed and thus a sense of attachment and permanence is created that we don’t have back home. Homes, like my own, start simply. The basic first floor has a living room, and two bedrooms, a courtyard and a kitchen. If one wishes to expand one’s home, which they all do as it seems every come is in a state of construction, one simply builds up. Thus most of the houses are skinny but have four or five floors. We have three and are in the process of constructing two more bedrooms and a bathroom. There are no roofs in Senegal, only terraces, as roofs would prevent later renovation. From each persons room protrudes several large television antennas. The room is also used for hanging laundry, water storage and just hanging out. The terraces are also very close to each other. I remember rolling my eyes when I was little when Alladian would jump from roof to roof but I see now that its fully plausible. Another thing worth mentioning is that all neighborhoods are centered around a mosque. Thus a mosque serves as the center point of any directions.

Power outages have become another part of daily life. I actually really enjoy when the power goes out. The Senegalese have a much more relaxed sense of time that allows for a lot of sitting around and talking. When the power goes out we all meet in the living room, sit around candles and talk about everything and anything. During the first power outage I had an embarrassing experience that involved a bucket and skinned knees so know every time the power goes out everyone shouts “ducement (carefully) Griffin!” Most of the time we talk about Senegalese politics. The president here is named Abdoulaye Wade. He’s very old and despite what we here on the news not very liked. The elections are coming up in 2012 and everyone is scared that his son, a government official, is going to be “elected.” If this were to happen my family thinks that Senegal would have a lot of problems that could potentially stem into a violent coup d’etat. What becomes apparent during this discussion is my family’s disdain for France. My brother Babakar’s twelve years in Metz made him very bitter.

I always talk to my mother about traveling because she’s been all over. She told me a very funny story about arriving in Hong Kong and thinking she was dead because everyone was moving so quickly. I’ve asked four people now on separate occasions where they would live if they could live anywhere to which they all responded Senegal. Interestingly enough, when I ask if they had to live in a country outside of Senegal where they would live they all say Saudi Arabi. The Islamic influence is very present here and when I asked my brother why they would chose Saudi Arabi he said its because they all want to live near the prophet. My entire family has made the journey to Mecca and the walls of our house are covered in photos of Mecca and the Prophet. Although I don’t understand it nearly as much as I’d like to, I admire fully their dedication. The entire family wakes up a five a.m. to pray and prays in total five times a day. This is going to church on Sunday morning just to come home and sin on Sunday night, this is the real deal. Complete dedication.