In-Between Places

Things have been rather transitory in my world lately. Saturday and Sunday I spent over twenty hours transporting myself from Long Island to Dakar, 7 of which I spent wandering around the Madrid airport, dozing and people watching.

Travel is very strange. I don't feel incredibly far from home. Obviously I am no longer on Long Island right now: for one, its not cold even a little bit. Also there are baobab trees here. I think its just really difficult to conceptualize being on the other side of an ocean. Flying is more like going through a wormhole, with no idea how to mentally situate yourself on the other side.

And now once we arrived, the first week all 40 or so CIEE program students are living in two hotels very close to the university campus. Every day we have another helpful (albeit long) orientation session, in addition to Survival Wolof, a French placement exam (which was interesting), and exhilarating trips in taxis and car rapides. We move in with our host families on Saturday. Until then, I feel like I am in a surreal, transitory existence. Not quite in the program yet, but certainly no longer on vacation. I am living out of my suitcases, which is often frustrating.

I have to say, though, transitory places are incredibly exciting! Every day we learn so much and meet more people. I am definitely grateful for our brief orientation; it gives us time to get to know everyone else on the program before we are separated to our respective homes and neighborhoods. The students are placed in one of three neighborhoods in the general vicinity of the Suffolk University campus: Mermoz, Sacre-Coeur 3, and Ouakam. I will be living in Ouakam along with about 12 other students. Today I finally learned something about my host family! My father works at the airport (its very close to Ouakam), my mother stays home, and does not speak much French (mainly Wolof, which we are learning!). Her name is Mbengue, and the family name is Ndoye. My sister speaks French (as does my father), but I don't really know much else about her. Apparently lots of cousins are constantly staying in and hanging around the house, so there will always be someone around! Alain, the Housing Coordinator, says that Ouakam is a close community, and all the host families there are friends and live basically on the same block. Because Ouakam is further than walking distance from the university, we receive a transportation stipend from the program. I am so excited to regularly ride the car rapide and the bus! Car rapides are like mini-buses (but super decorated) that cost about 25 cents (50-100 CFA) to ride. They get very crowded, but not in a scary way, more of a communal way, or so it seems to me. The bus is slightly more expensive (150 CFA), bigger, and more regular, but not nearly as exciting.

We had our first Survival Wolof class yesterday morning, and it was so fantastic! So far, we've only learned the greetings, which are extensive and incredibly important here. I had some trouble with "Asalaamalekum, Malekum Salaam" at first because I am used to hearing a slightly different (slightly more Arabic?) pronunciation around campus (shout out to you Sarina K!). We try to practice our Wolof greetings when are are out and about, but I usually can't get past "Nanga def? Mangi fi rekk" which just means, basically: "How are you? I'm fine" and "Jerejef, Noko bok" (Thank you, you're welcome). Its certainly a start! And Senegalese so far have been very helpful and forgiving of my attempts to butcher both Wolof and French in conversation. Language skills, apparently also still in transit.

Once we move in with our host families, I'm confident this in-between feeling will pass, and I will be able to fully embrace the adjustment process!