Update on Life in Dakar (originally posted on facebook 10/7/2013)

Here is an update on the last few days in Dakar. Thursday I went out to a restaurant called Sao Brazil, hoping for some Brazilian ambience. The owner, who is part everything but Brazilian said she named the restaurant Sao Brazil because it sounds exotic, no? Their signature drink is Tequila based, I mean seriously. And it's not like they don't have cachaça behind the bar. 

Friday night I went to the US embassy to hang out at the Marine house with some Peace Corps volunteers and met quite a few cool people. The marines have a pool and a grill, so I think I will maintain this relationship. Since Peace Corps are government employees they are close to the rest of Embassy and USAID staff. 

Saturday I went to the US embassy's opening softball tournament/Oktoberfest day, at a baseball field right on the ocean. Hotdogs and Sam Adams, beautiful ocean views and a giant American flag tent. Peace Corp and some other development workers, all looking for friends, were in full force. Later that evening one of my colleagues invited me to a Senegalese party, which was my first. Discovered a new dance and music called Mbalax, while rubbing shoulders with some of Dakar's wealthier residents. 

Sunday was a lazy day at home. At one in the morning the electricity went out, and my fans turned off, and my god did it get hot quick. I was sweating and could not sleep. I spent the next 7 hours fanning myself until at about a quarter to seven the wind whipped up and it started raining buckets and everything cooled down quick. Since there was no electricity at the house or at work, work was cancelled and now I am downtown in a cafe having lunch and using their internet. Such is life. 

Work is progressing well. Working on my first quarterly budget for the donor and just received the field reports to start working on the quarterly progress report. So things have fallen into place a lot quicker than I expected. I have friends, and I love my work and have a pretty good idea of what I am doing. My Wolof classes begin tomorrow, and I am super excited to learn a new language, my first African language. Now if there were only running water and electricity everything would be perfect.