The Weekend

We arrived Saturday in our host community of Theis (pronounced Chess) for the week.

Our host teacher, Lamin, took us to his surrogate family’s home for a traditional Senegalese lunch. His family is in Dakar, but he was placed as a teacher in Theis, about 70km away, so his wife and child live in Dakar with his family, and he lives in Theis during the week.

The food was delicious! Their family was lovely and oh so welcoming and kind.

After we had tea, which is made 3 times, 3 different ways, all tasting delicious!

We walked back to our hotel that evening though the streets of Theis, and it was charming to see how the city comes alive as the heat goes away and the sun goes down.

Sunday, Lamin took us to a traditional market. Our driver bargained for us on bracelets and fabric. Then he took us to a seamstress who is going to make us traditional Senegalese dresses.

We had a great lunch and got to meet a lot of the kids in his neighborhood who seemed nervous, but came over and said hi. Some middle schoolers posed for some pictures for us as well.

One interesting thing here, is the people don’t keep pets. My co-teacher, Carmen and I, keep taking pictures of the donkeys, goats and kittens, and they think it is kinda funny. But they always point them out to us so we can get our photos. They tell me that animals live around them, they share their space with them, but they are not pets. Some are food, some are scavengers and pest controllers, but none are pets. They do not name them. In his host teachers home, they keep goats, sheep, chickens and there are cats that roam freely in through the house and yard. But none are pets, all have a purpose or are just there. So different from America, I just kept thinking how I bought my cat a jacket...hahaha.