The first 24 hours in Dakar...

Well, we've gotten through our first 24 hours in our new home in Dakar, Senegal!! Our sleeping schedule is completely backwards! Justin and I layed in bed lastnight, wide awake, and tried to talk eachother to sleep...practicing our french phrases! I've never had a hard time sleeping, so it was very strange to me to lay in a very dark room, tired, yet unable to drift off to sleep. I think its safe to say that we both have a lot on our minds...so the busy thoughts in our heads are winning over sleep.
We had a very full first day! Were picked up from the airport at around 5am, by an Army Major, (Delvin) and taken to our hotel. Thankfully, they were expecting our early arrival! We got all our bags to the room, then made plans to meet up with Delvin at 11am, so we could try to get some rest. It took us quite a while to get to sleep, but managed to get in a couple of hours. Delvin picked us up and took us on a driving tour to get our barrings...lots to absorb! Our first meal in Africa was Thai food!! HA! Very good, and just like home! The hotel is very nice, overlooks the water, and has a really nice pool and cabana area! I will try to attach some pictures soon! The weather is warm and humid, but actually very pleasant. It is quite smoggy right now, but we're told that its just dust that has blown in lately. It just looks sort of overcast. We've been warned to not drink the water...so we order bottled water wherever we go, and make sure that we are the ones breaking the seal on the bottle. Brushing your teeth with bottled water takes some thinking outside the normal habits! After lunch, we went to the US Embassy to meet everyone there, and were given badges for future access. All very nice people...just a lot of "butt sniffing" as Justin and I call it. Everyone wants to know where you came from, where you've been, what you do, etc. We were trying to play it off, but they could all tell that we were very tired! Our "Social Sponsors" are a couple that work at the Embassy...Brooks and Kate. Brooks used to be a Marine, (now works for the state department) and was actually in Justin's OCS and TBS classes in the beginning of the Marine Corp 9 yrs ago!! Small world!! His wife, Kate, has been a tremendous help to us. Her and I emailed back and forth with questions before we came over. After leaving the Embassy, we made plans to meet up with Brooks and Kate for a drink and a quick dinner. Thankfully they live right across the street from our hotel!... The street to cross is FULL of people trying to sell their good to you...so there was a lot of "No, Merci" (no thank you) as we crossed. And they are persistent! Reminds me of the Bahamas and Jamaica actually.... Brooks and Kate made a couple small pizzas and we had some of the local beer, called Flag, pretty good! Their apartment is very nice and spacious, and they have extended their offer to help us out in any way. (ie. to do our laundry, or just hang out there, if we get tired of the hotel). So grateful to have them close right now! I am writing this in our hotel room at about 11am here (6am East Coast, 3am West Coast time...so I'm a little off). Justin and I had breakfast here in the hotel this morning before he met with Delvin to go back over to the Embassy for some more meetings. A very nice buffet with lots to choose from...and sat outside on the patio overlooking the ocean...drinking a double espresso! Think I'm going to meet up with Kate, while Justin is off doing his thing...then dinner tonight with Brooks and Kate, and a get together on Saturday with the Embassy folks...

**Some observations and interesting facts:...cows wonder freely and eat whatever they can find...there were cats walking around inside the airport...there are horse drawn carriages, and the horses are really small compared to the US...there are no real driving rules...there is lots of new building going on...some buildings look like could fall over at anytime...its really bad to take someone's picture without asking because they think it takes their soul...and we've been told that we will definitely get sick at some point (meaning the runs), because everybody does when they move here...carrying 10,000 CFA bills which is actually only $20...don't drink the water...phrase of the day "sans glacons" (without ice).