Three fiancees, one husband

Not a lot is going on right now. I keep going between being really happy being here and being really frustrated at how hard it is to live here. However the hard parts often turn into the most rewarding parts as well. For example, the past couple nights I have been trying to figure out how to interact with my host family more. They speak wolof amongst themselves which I don't understand, and it's always hard to just show up and expect to fit into a family, so I've spent a lot of time sitting awkwardly with them, trying to think of things to say. I tried playing cards the other night, and for some reason that too was really awkward too. But then, breakthrough, I have figured out how I canoke around with them and make them laugh: telling them that I have three fiancees and one husband, showing them how I've learned some African dance and practicing my horrible Wolof, for example.

Yeah, I have been taking dance classes. They are really fun and the teacher is very good. The only thing is that they aren't allowed to drum during ramadan, so we have to dance to his verbal drumming. The end of ramadan is Monday or Tuesday, depending on the moon and the religious leaders who decide when the next lunar month starts. The day is called Korite and we get the whole day off to par-tay. I had a new outfit (boubou) made for the occasion. I put pictures up on the site.

They say that the weather will cool down in November, but it's still very hot here. The day you Michiganders got snow, it was high 80s, low 90s and sunny here. I haven't actually been swimming here in Yoff, which is crazy since I live on the beach, but I have been running on the beach which is really nice. Some mornings we'll see huge groups of people pulling fishing nets out of the water, while women wait with huge plastic basins to collect the fish.

What else would be interesting... polygamy! Polygamy is all the rage here. You'd think that maybe since it's a developing country it would be becoming less popular, but everyone says that it's not going down in popularity very quickly at all. I have not talked to a single woman who supports it, but they actually have little to say in the matter. The guys I've talked to say that there is are too many women, so they're actually helping everyone to have a husband. Plus, it's better than just having a mistress, right? The society is used to it and their religion supports it. And they are very religious. The thing that is hard for me to understand, is how a man would marry a second wife when he KNOWS that his first wife doesn't want him too. Men have been known to get a second wife when things aren't going well for them, or when they're going through what we would call a mid-life crisis. In the past and in some villages, it was more appropriate. Women sometimes will have so much work to do around the house that it just makes more economic sense to have your husband get a second wife to help you do the work. But here and now, I can't see the sense in it. My family in Yoff is the second family of the father, who's only around a few days a week. I wish I could broach the subject with them, but I think it's rather touchy. That's my biased take on it. :)

Once again, I'm writing too much. I apologize.
Thanks everyone for your emails, they keep me positive.