Anna
- Sep 20, 2021
- 4 min read

First week - done!

Updated: Oct 19, 2021

Many lovely welcome greetings and hot days

Just packing my suitcase and poof - I'm already thinking about what I want to report first. Caro and I have been in Senegal for over a week now and many processes already seem so familiar and normal, but of course we experience a lot of new things every day and learn bit by bit. We have settled into our rooms, met our mentors and can already speak the first few sentences of Wolof...but let's start at the beginning:

On Thursday, September 09, we flew from Munich to Dakar, with a stopover in Brussels. I have never had an easier trip, everything went like clockwork and before we knew it we were on African soil! Our mentors Abbé Ousario and Ferdinand picked us up at the airport and took us to our host family. My first two impressions were: Wow, Senegal is incredibly green and so beautiful! Whew, but it's also incredibly hot and humid....

At the airport of Dakar with Abbé Ousario

Our host family (me, Joséphine, Aliose, Abbé Ousario, Caro)

So the biggest obstacle this week was definitely the climate. Our host mother comments every day with "Il fait chaud, chaud, chaud!" - it's hot, hot, hot! At the moment it is still the rainy season in Senegal and the air is accordingly very humid with temperatures around 32°C, but felt around 35°C - 40°C. With a lot of water and running fans we fight our way through the day, but we have already gotten used to the heat and the sweating. From mid-October the temperatures are supposed to drop - Yay!

Caro and I are staying with the Ndiaye family with host mother Joséphine and host father Aloïse. They have four children, who have all moved out and come over occasionally, but there is still a lot going on in the house: The first and (so far) only grandchild "petite Jojo (Joséphine)" is one year old and brings a breath of fresh air into the house! Two nephews and the wife of our host brother live with us. Our host family has been hosting volunteers from Germany for 20 years now, so they already know a lot about our culture and German characteristics. It is very easy for us to integrate and settle in - the whole family is very nice and caring and we feel really comfortable here! As gifts we brought cheese and salami, which they liked very much. In addition, there was still schnapps, beer and two cups from my mom, which is a potter.

For many certainly also interesting to learn: What do you eat in Senegal?

I would describe my experiences with the cuisine here as not insanely spectacular but definitely delicious. For breakfast every day we have baguette and coffee (with sugar and milk powder). On the bread then come different things: cheese spread, a fish paste with lemon (super tasty) or "Nutella" but without palm oil and with lots of peanuts!

At noon or in the evening, the food is served on a large round plate from which everyone eats directly. This was a bit unusual at first, but it creates a great sense of community and I think it's really great! Often there is rice with fish/meat and vegetables, but also sometimes a pasta dish or salad. I always look forward to what's hiding under the lid of the big plate and also to the desert in the evening: there's often fruit and it's amazing! The best mangos I've ever eaten - nothing compared to the imported ones from Germany. I wonder what other great fruits I will try? I am curious...

So in our first week we have already collected quite a few impressions and visited the city. Thiès has about 300,000 inhabitants and is located east of the capital Dakar. The city itself is relatively large, but also quite manageable: We already know the center, the Place de France, and the important main streets. We live in the "Thialy" (pronounced Charlie) neighborhood and walk 5 minutes to the school (our workplace) and 15 minutes to St. Anne's Cathedral.

With our mentor Ferdinand we explored the city in the first days, bought SIM cards and changed money. In addition, we have already made our first contacts: at lunch with some of the priests of St. Anne and at the choir rehearsal of the youth choir, in which we would like to sing! All the people we met welcomed us with open arms and wished us a great year, we are not strangers here but part of a big family.

So all in all, the first week has gone by really fast and I can't wait to start working: at the Collège Saint Gabriel, where we will support the teachers in their German lessons. Until then, however, there is still about a month to go, which we want to use to get accustomed and to learn the language. French is the official language here in Senegal. You can get by with it, but there are 6 other colloquial languages: Wolof, Serer, Mandinka, Diola, Pulaar and Soninke. In our year we want to learn Wolof to get to know the language and the culture better. This will definitely be a challenge, as there are some different grammar rules and structures and you can't simply derive words, as for example with the Romance languages. But we are highly motivated and our family and our mentor are helping us well! Simple and short sentences already come over our lips and with every day it gets a bit better!

If you have any questions or want to know about a certain topic, just write me an email or use the contact form. My wish is to tell all interested people as good as possible about my experiences and how I experience life in Senegal. So don't hesitate to ask ;)

Ba beneen yoon! (That's Wolof and means: See you next time!)