First day... what day is it again?

So we landed in Dakar around 8 or 9pm last night. (One problem with everyone using their cell phones for the time these days is that no one has any idea what time it is since we got here and our cell phones don't always automatically adjust. I've already decided I'm going to buy a cheap watch first chance I get!) We were picked up by the director of the SIT program (the program I'm staying with and studying with here). Customs was long so we were happy to see the people picking us up. They brought us to a bus where we pickled in our own sweat waiting for one other person on a different flight, who thankfully got there very soon after us. Souleye, the program director, had to stay at the airport to meet other students, so he apologized for not being able to take us back to the hotel (where we are staying for our week or orientation before the homestay) himself. Bouna, the assistant director or something came with us instead. He talked to us about Dakar and the program and himself during the 15 minute ride to the Auberge Good Rade. He was really funny, telling us that he and Souleye had gone to school together when they were younger. He said that Souleye had taught him to smoke when they were young, but when Souleye quit a few years ago, he hadn't taught Bouna how to quit, so if we saw him smoking it was Souleye's fault. He's very funny, speaks almost as good English as Souleye does (his is impeccable). When he pointed out his Red Sox hat I gave him a fake dirty look so he apologized and told us we could think of the B as standing for Bouna. Today he came in with a Yankees hat and a big grin. He's really amusing and seems to be quite concerned with making us all feel at home.
Really, everyone here has been extremely nice and welcoming. It's exhausting, and we're all sort of out of it, what with the jet lag. Today was spent going over the 'welcome packet' they provided us with. Basically a list of cultural norms, rules, expectations, syllabi for the classes, health tips, etc. It was horribly boring and long, rather like the first day of classes at school, where the teacher gives you a huge syllabus and then reads every word to you. I always wonder why they don't assume that college students can read. Here they are trusting we will read the material on our own but spent a large amount of time explaining how the teaching style in the classrooms will work. We also wrote down all our fears and expectations in small groups and then they went through each one. Sort of fun, but not very comforting, since most of the fears are sort of well-founded. Sickness? Yeah, that's probably going to happen. Mugging? It's very safe, but it's like any other major city, so... it's possible. Making culturally insensitive mistakes? They didn't exactly tell us it was okay but said that it was obvious that we would make mistakes at first and have to learn from them. So basically, duh. But everyone is very nice and speaks a reassuring combination of English and completely understandable French.
Apparently, though, Wolof is the spoken language in our homestays and in the streets, so we will absolutely need to learn it. I think people speak French, but in order to understand most of what is spoken we will need to hurry and learn Wolof. The teachers gave a sort of demonstration of a beginning Wolof class today and I think it will be fine.

Lunch today was down the street at a restaurant. It was rice and fish. I have a feeling I'm going to just have to get used to eating a lot of fish. It wasn't bad, the rice was a little bit spicy which just made it easier to drink lots of water. (Bottled, of course). While we are here at the hotel, SIT is providing us with large quantities of bottled water. We all carry around these huge bottles with us, or our water bottles, filled from the bottled water. Can you tell I'm paranoid about accidentally forgetting and drinking from a sink?
The rooms are really nice and AIR CONDITIONED, which is lovely. My roomate was one of the ones whom Souleye was waiting for at the airport, she didn't arrive until 2am or so, so we ended up not sleeping until very late. Her name is Evie, and SHE IS A GIRL, MOM. (inside joke). She's very fun and has been traveling for the past two months around Europe and the Middle East so we talked for a long time last night until falling asleep. So I'm both tired AND jet-lagged today. (I already took a nap, though, so...)
Anyway, we're going to go explore the neighborhood a little before it gets dark, so I think I'll sign off for now. I guess I don't have much to say about Dakar since we've been exposed to very little of the actual culture and real life here yet. But it's VERY warm and VERY humid. September is apparently the worst month, and it will be perfect after that.

Bisous from Dakar,
Robin