Le Blog: First week in Village des Arts

Hello all:

I've been a bit removed from technology for the past week, so I haven't been able to chat with anyone about what's been going on. In the past week, my life has changed quite drastically. On Saturday, I moved into a workshop at the Village des Arts with two friends. We have this box of a room and we are practically camping...There are a lot of bugs, a lot of sunshine, and a lot of wood carving.

My typical days starts around 8:30. I walk a ways down the road to the little boutique by the high school where I buy a plastic baggy of juice and baguette for breakfast. I return to our little house where we make eggs and eat out baguette with Nutella. At 10 or 10:30, I walk over to the tree where my advisor works carving wood. I spend the rest of the day there, sanding, rasping, carving drinking tea, trying to speak Wolof, speaking broken French, and making wood sculptures. It is a little tolling on the body, but only because I spend the entire day on a little wooden stool.

At 2 or 2:30, the wife of the security guard brings me my lunch. This is by far the most looked-forward-to part of my day. Normally, it's delicious fish and vegetables with rice and in giant portions. And the best part is, it costs me $1.20.

After lunch, I keep working, normally until 5 or 6 in the evening. Elsa, Alexa and I leave the village again and hunt for something we could make for dinner. By the time we finish cooking and cleaning up, it's time to go to bed.

There have been a few bizarre happenings though: every weekend night, there is a concert just outside our door at the restaurant. They blast heavy bass until 5 am. We don't sleep a lot. Another favorite was the disposal of the enormous pile of trash by our house. We were in our workshop when we heard an enormous bang. It continued, and we looked outside to see what it was. The restaurant owner assured us they were just burning the trash that was there. We watched as spray paint cans engulfed in flames and the fire violently kicked garbage in our direction.

The most bizarre part of where we live, however, is the fact that next week is Tabaski, the largest holiday here in Senegal. This means that each family buys at least three giant sheep and slaughters them in the street. Currently, vendors are in the process of selling the sheep.There are giant fenced-in cages of moutons running a mile down our road.

There are plenty more things to write about, but they I would have any good stories to tell when I got home. Hope all is well in what I hope is becoming winter wonderland....