Day 5 - Adventure to Ngor

Welp, I’m sunburned!  My shoulders, neck and feet are all bright red.  To be honest I’m surprised it took this long.  Today was pretty cool though.  We didn’t have class, but we went on an optional trip to an island called Ngor.  Our professor basically grew up there, so he ran into a lot of people that he knew.  The island was beautiful, and the water was so clear.  The waves get really big here, it seems like it would be a decent spot for surfing.  I’ve also never seen so many crabs on the rocks of a beach in my life.  Four of us decided to pay for snorkeling gear, so we went out and took a look at some of the ocean life there.  It was pretty cool.  I’m kind of sad that I couldn’t find the charging cord for my camera in time (I was packing the morning that we left because I had come back the night before from a camping trip in Tennessee) because I believe it is supposed to be waterproof, and that would have been pretty cool.  Next time….  We got back to our houses pretty early, so Kenisha and I decided to text our African partners from earlier and see what they were up to.  It turns out there was a big festival going on for the English club, which Kikinette (my partner) was MCing.  They put on a series of performances, about African perceptions, both in Africa and in the occidental world, but it was all in English.  It was really cool.  The transition between performances seemed somewhat disorganized at times, but those who performed were really good.  I have some video, maybe I’ll be able to share it if I ever figure out how to force Blogger to let me upload videos.  I’ve been fighting that battle for quite a while now, and don’t seem to be making any progress.  I will say one thing for the African eating habits.  Although having everyone eat out of the same plate may seem somewhat less sanitary than American standards, especially as the matriarch is pulling apart the meat and sorting it out to everyone, it does work really well for feeding children.  Instead of getting bored and running off after a few bites the way American children do, the boys here sit quietly, waiting for the next piece of meat to be placed in front of them.  Honestly, it’s not a bad system.  I think one of my favorite things about this city (besides the fact that we are right on the ocean) is the cost of the taxis.  You can get across the city for roughly six dollars.  It’s wonderful.  Things in general are pretty inexpensive here, with the exception of the clothes – our professor explained that one to us the first day but I forget what he said, I think maybe the majority of clothes here are handmade or something?  Although during the performances today, one of the students cracked a joke about everything being made in China, so apparently that’s true here as well.  Of course.