Blogs from Saint-Louis Region, Senegal, Africa - page 3

Dear Family and Friends My trip to Dakar was quite eventful. Overall was not enamored with Dakar. It was big, dusty, dirty, busy, angry city. It was amazing to see hallmarks of western civilization in Africa though. There were high-rises, fancy cars, rich business men, paved streets and side walks etc. However, Dakar, much to my peers disappointment, had not yet truly submitted to western Capitalism, one last vestige of Africa was holding out. No McDonalds. It is amazing how many people from west, when asked what their first meal will be back is McDonalds, or a variant thereof. What drew me to Dakar were two things, a potential job interview and the Ile de Goree. I apologize for my lack of interest in the Ile de Goree, when you spend thousands of hours studying a ... read more

Dear Family and Friends Life is starting to settle down into some bizarre rhythm, thus last week nothing of particular happened beside things getting better as opposed to bleaker. I have been working with several different groups, thus my days activities change rather frequently and have little repetition. One day I have painted doors at a centre for talibe, met and interviewed potential host families for volunteers for a local volunteer organization. Others have been spend punching data into excel sheets and calculating stats. Thus things are still influx. Not all has been work, or the search for it. There has been a lot of RnR. Many intermittent days spent reposing by a pool or at a friends place playing drums and sampling smokable products. Thus I will take this opportunity to just attempt to give ... read more

Dear Family and Friends So for this last week I have been struggling to steer myself to some kind of purposeful voluntary work here in St. Louis. I am slowly recognizing people and making some friends here. I have met a bunch of fellow expats who are working for the Project-Abroad, which is interesting topic in itself. This may become a tangent that I will expand upon later when I have time, or rather I have run out of fun news bits to tell and feeling like filling cyberspace with my ramblings. During this last week or soI have had a rollercoaster of emotions. I have gone from moments of contentment to sheer panic as I attempt to throttle the frothing manic desire to call my airlines and rebook the next flight to bring me back ... read more

Dear Friends and Family I am alive and well (at least still kicking) in St. Louis, Senegal. So let us start this adventure from the humble beginnings: my tearful mother bid me goodbye at the Toronto International Airport. From there I smoothly navigated US customs and got to New York for my lay over. While at the JFK airport I thought it would be fitting to have one last proper North American meal before I set off Africa, in part to appease my mother who was concerned that I would starve in Africa there and also I really was quite peckish. After much deliberation and exploration of the international wing that I was confined to I came to the conclusion that Burger King was the establishment that best epitomized American cuisine. I might add that the ... read more

Well the camera hasn’t come back to life, although I hope it’s only the batteries. I met a Dutch family and we went on a pirogue trip to see the birds. The husband has a sweet camera, so he took better pics than I could anyway. Off to Dakar tomorrow morning if I get up on time! Other than that I did little today but eat mangoes (four) and read. Have you ever heard Dutch kids talking? You’d swear they’re making that s**t up! ... read more