Host Family

I'm writing on my phone because the Host home has no WiFi. The bigger problem, however, is that my computer has decided to not work. It's a blank dark screen and nothing I did could turn it on. Therefore, I decide see to write here. Tomorrow, if the computer works, I'll email this post to myself and then post it on the blog. If my computer is still broken I will just post it on my phone. 

As I write, I'm lying in bed in my host family's home. This is proving to be very challenging, and my French is proving to be quite inadequate, at least for the quick, chaotic, heavily accented French spoken here in Senegal. The father, a friendly, if a bit scary ex-police officer, devout Muslim, and patriarch, speaks an almost incomprehensible French, and so I alternate between asking if he can repeat that and pretending I understand. My problem, however, is that after asking twice for a repetition, al I can do is give up and answer randomly. This isn't a huge problem with my host family, but in social encounters it proves fatal. I'm at the mercy of the goodwill of my peers. Today, upon being introduced to the family, the boy with whom I'll be sleeping took me to the beach to play soccer. Now, I don't think I could overstate how good these kids were. I've seen some talented players, but never such a huge group of immensely talented individuals. It was very interesting. However, truth be told, this trip to the beach was the closest thing to normal I've experienced in Senegal. We played soccer, and I was in goal. I am very grateful of the hospitality of Issa, the boy I'll be staying with. It takes courage to bring a white stranger to a crowded beach. I wasn't too bad but I was still the worse on the beach by a long shot. 

I also went to see ImagiNation Afrika. We had a training course which went very well. It seems very western, and I think just the biggest problem is that I'll have to work with kids. Appear from that, everything is fine.