"If I was Bob Marley/ I'd say, could you be loved"

Well, dance yesterday was just as sweaty as I thought it would but, but infinitely more fun than I had anticipated. I forgot about those exercise-induced endorphins! It was pretty awesome. The rhythms are somewhat different than what we're used to so it was sort of hard. The whole afternoon of trying to keep your arms and legs doing very different things felt like an epic struggle of trying to pat your head and rub your belly, you know? Very worthwhile however.
Classes will re-commence next week, but tomorrow morning we're off on our first rural 'Village Stay'. We aren't going very far, just an hour or two from Dakar, but I think it will be very different from what we're used to. I'm a little worried just about the physical discomforts, but really excited about meeting my mini-homestay family. It sounds sort of silly, but it's going to be a really authentic experience (just in case we felt coddled here in Dakar, HA!).
Today I voted! Well, okay, I filled out the ballot, I'm going to bring it to the embassy in a bit. (You can just mail it, but it's free if you mail it from the embassy, and I want to check out the embassy anyway.) I bet you two dead cockroaches you can't guess who I voted for!

Last night I had a really long and intense discussion with my homestay brother, Sydee, about religion. I'm really pressed for time and don't know if I can do it justice, but it was pretty honest. I'm always on my guard about offending people here, and when talking about religion I'm always very careful to talk about 'religion' in general, and not just Islam. But last night it wasn't too hard to do, because we were discussing issues that are at the core of every major religious debate for religions with sacred texts. Such as, fundamental gender differences, strict adherence to the text, interpretation and modernization of a religion over time, and whether or not it's okay to ask too many questions. (Me = yes, Him = sort of).

I find that in discussing in the abstract what I think God and religion is, Sydee very much agrees with me. But when I start to get more specific about what God is NOT (i.e. rules and laws and sexism, etc), we find ourselves disagreeing. Still, he is the person I feel most comfortable talking to, because although he is very religions and very strict in his faith, he is intelligent and has enough of an open mind that I can discuss issues with him without fear of offending. (That's not to say that I have brought up abortion or gay rights, but we've skirted some pretty heavy topics).

Hopefully more on this later, these conversations are where I feel I'm making the most interesting discoveries about this country, and interestingly, myself.

Sweatily,
Robin