academia

this is what we  found on our desk. it has surrendered to a chemical spray death.
welcome to africa.

today we had our  medical orientation. basically we are supposed to be paranoid and not do anything. we were talking about the water and how we should really just buy bottled water unless it is boiled at home. one person reminded everyone to make sure the seal wasn't broken, and then another person said "well what about when people take a lighter and reseal it by melting the plastic?"..............if you know me well, you know i laughed a little at that.

we also got cell phones today which is so bizarre. but you can listen to the radio! the phones came with one earpiece so everyone walks around with one little black wire hanging out their ear. the call to prayer is running on the radio and it is actually really cool to listen to. there is also french news and a ton of wolof.

good news of the day: i tested into advance french! super excited about that because i can take all of my classes in french and get all the credit i need to finish my minor. finally something goes right in my academic career.

we went to the beach today and a dead fish smashed into my leg. i was going to bury it, so i started pushing it down the beach but then i realized i rolled it to a rock right under a ton of senegalese men my age and they were cracking up at the fact that i was rolling a dead fish along the beach. so i smiled did a little bow and said salaamaalekum! and sauntered off as fast as i could.

also we had a banana with our dinner SCORE