Roof Top

As the sun goes down and the temperatures follow, we like to go to the rooftop and enjoy the sunset and evening breeze. The more I look at this land, the more it reminds me of what the Middle East must look like.

From front to back, Josiah, one of my students (more about my class later), Stephen, from South Africa, Lordienne from Cameroon, Taylor, student and daughter, and Merilyn, sister of Josiah and also my student. We are enjoying an evening on the rooftop while loud Muslim prayers are broadcast from all directions via large outdoor loudspeakers. The neighbors rooftop is home to a herd of goats.

Connie and Marie Cecile have breakfast work duty. Every morning they prepare breakfast which is comprised of French Bread, water tea and now Starbucks coffee. Connie used to walk to the bread store but now it is delivered every day. Marie Cecile is married to a Senegalese Pastor, so her proper title is Madame Pastor. Connie and Marie Cecile love working together. They try to wake up before each other in the morning to get the work done before the other gets up. Marie Cecile speaks very limited English but they seem to communicate very well together. The picture is of them doing dishes in the kitchen.






Here is breakfast, prepared by Connie and Marie Cecile. Eating breakfast from left to right are Tim Grey, husband of Lin Grey, fix it man, photographer, local celebrity and uncle of Dave Clary. Alisha from Edmonton Canada, Jean Baptiste, Senegalese and class interpreter, and Stephen from South Africa. Tim is drinking Kenya Bold Starbucks coffee. The steam to the left of Tim is from the brewing coffee.




The most interesting things happen outside our building. As I was shaving at the laundry room sink this morning, I noticed a herd of goats and what appeared to be a goat herder. I grabbed my camera and asked if I could take a picture of him with his goats. He graciously consented and here it is. The goats looked pretty skinny. We live in a residential area. But there is a lot of dry brush they can chew on.

Craig and Taylors Arrival in Senegal

Connie and Taylor in Thies Senegal

Craig and Taylor joined Connie in Thies, Senegal early this week. After over 24 hours of travel via San Fransisco and Paris we arrived on a late night flight into Dakar, the seaport capital of Senegal. All the luggage made it, and we had lots of "aggressive luggage handlers" that were looking for a job to push our luggage cart through customs and into the parking lot. Connie met us outside of customs along with Abduli, the driver of a vehicle owned by a local missionary service. We made it through town and were traveling a rural highway towards Thies when we were flagged over, by police at an police checkpoint. After 20 minutes of interrogation our driver was able to come back to the vehicle and take us on to Thies, our new home. The bad news for Abduli was he had to return to the checkpoint after dropping us off and spend the night under some form of arrest until he could pay for the crime of driving with a broken taillight. (The taillight worked, some of the plastic was broken). It was midnight by the time we arrived and were greeted by a classmate of Connie's - Lordienne, from Cameroon. She said later she always stays up if anyone is out late.

Thies is a city of 500,000 with all modes of transportation from cars to buses to horse drawn carts. The climate is hot and arid with very little vegetation.

The spoken language is French along with Wolof. Most of Connie"s classmates speak only French and so we are constantly trying to learn their language. The unspoken language of a smile and laughter seems to work well in most situations.