Hola chicos!
Today was my first day in Louga! I started the day out with my first experience riding on a horse cart! This is a common mode of transportation here and although fun, it is not as easy to stay on as you would think. I definitely need to practice my cart riding skills because I let out a little scream every time the horse did something weird, we stopped, or the horse pooped while we were carting... it was scary! My co-teacher, Noel, and I took a tour around the town with our host teacher Mansour. Noel teaches French and ESL in New York. She has been super awesome in helping me practice my French and Woloof. Mansour is also one of the coolest teachers I have ever met. He has been teaching English for 22 years and went to the USA last year as an ILEP fellow and taught at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Mansour showed us around town and then introduced us to his family home. He has seven children and the kids were super excited to receive their welcome presents. We taught them how to play Go Fish, Dominos, and Old Maid in a mixture of Woloof, English, and French. Mansour has two wives which is not uncommon here but is a concept that takes me a little while to get used to as it is definitely not the common culture in the USA. One of Mansour's wives speaks some Spanish and I was able to communicate with her a bit. They were all very welcoming toward us and even though I could only communicate in broken French and newly learned Wolof, I bonded with the kids so much. I already know I am going to cry when I leave them.
The children loved looking at videos of my phone. One of their favorite videos was of some of my students acting out animals in Spanish. They thought Rachel's animal gestures were the best. Rachel, you are now famous out here! They also loved seeing videos of my dogs running around in the snow. They watched every single one of my videos on my phone. They can't wait to learn more about my students so FILL OUT THE FLIPGRID! I also was surprised by how similar the children were to my own students... they were playing with fidgit spinners and all had their own cell phones full of games. I felt like I was right back at CIS hanging out with my students there.
I also got to participate in a Senegalese lunch. We had Yassa which was AMAZING. We sat around on the floor and all ate out of one big dish. We ate with spoons but Mansour told us that many people eat it with their hands. Mansour's wife ate it this way and it was very interesting. When I get home I am going to try and make Yassa for my family and eat it the Senegalese way.
Lastly, I got to watch Mansour and some of his children participate in prayers. Mansour prays five times a day at certain times. He let me video him this time and said that if I want to join him next time I can even if I am not Muslim. He says that we all pray to the same God and want peace in the world so I can kneel next to him and pray whatever I want. In Senegal, Christian and Muslims get along very well. They even bring food over to each others' houses during religious holidays. Mansour says he has many Christian friends who like to bring him food on Christmas and Easter and he does the same to them on some of his holidays. It is amazing how these different religious groups respect and care for each other in Senegal. It is beautiful to see.
I can't wait to keep connecting you guys. Put up some more flipgrid videos and we will be responding soon!
Senora Traub
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