almost february (1/30/03)

i just realized it's almost february. things are going soooo fast. eeek. classes are in full swing now. i feel like i'm in class all the time but i'm enjoying all of them so no complaints from me. i'm spending extra hours at the art studio and the professor said i can come any time i want to paint of work on class projects. im getting into the routine of things. cutting down on going out. i thought spain had a night life..but nothing compares to here. good grief. i started my african dance class. talk about a work out. 3 hours of hard core moving, which i get to practice in the clubs. there;s a nice mix of traditional african dance and modern everyday club dancing at the nite clubs. and the music is amazing.

sorry i don't have any interesting animal stories this week. the animals are on strike for the moment. i do want to take time to explain the transportation, however. it's this strange system that is found only in dakar and works amazingly. we have these vans called car rapides that hold about 30 people at a time. don't expect to have personal space. it doesn't exist in senegal. you don't have set stops like you would expect. people just seem to know when to get on and off. there's a different price depending on how far u go so u always hear people arguing in wolof about how much their fare is. now that i learned my numbers and the monetary units (which are impossible) i'm much more vocal when i get jipped 25 cfas...which is basically all the time. but i'm on to their game. hehe. you have to try the car rapide to understand the full intrigue. i personally think they are a wonderful form of transportation.

anyway, i must go but i'll be back next week, with my reflections.

maya