My family

January 24, 2011

This will just be a quick blog post since I only have about 45 minutes until I have to go to my first class. Things have certainly gotten interesting, all right. We’ve been with our host families since Tuesday, and it’s been kind of difficult for me. I live with Maman Elisabeth, who is about 64 and is a big part of the Catholic community. She has been very welcoming for the most part, but I am a bit intimidated by her. She’s a very opinionated person and you wouldn’t want to get on her bad side. Also living with us is her son, Loulou, and his wife Djeyna. Loulou is usually at work except for the evenings, but when he’s around he’s very nice to me. He always asks me, “Tu es en forme?” meaning “Are you in shape?” or “Are you doing well?” He also loves to put piment, which is a very spicy sauce, on his food, and teases me when I don’t have enough piment. Djeyna is a different story altogether. I get a distinctly cold feeling from her, and she barely ever talks to me, which is difficult when we are the only ones in the house. If I ask her a question, she will respond but won’t elaborate, and I always have to initiate conversation. This has been pretty hard for me, since Maman Elisa is almost always out of the house and I feel like Djeyna is the only person who I can talk to, but she doesn’t really want to at all. Loulou and Djeyna also have two sons: Arfin is about one and a half and Gigi is three. They are very cute and playful, but when Djeyna won’t talk to me, I have no one to talk to but the three year old, which is sometimes frustrating. We also have two maids, Fatou and Marie-Louise, who don’t speak French, only Wolof. I wish I could communicate more with them because they both seem extremely warm and welcoming, but we only have a few words in common. Marie-Louise’s daughter Martine lives with us as well, and she is seven. I really like talking to her, but sometimes I feel as if it’s not appropriate since she’s the maid’s daughter. Marie-Louise and Fatou don’t eat with us, and Martine kind of eats in her own little corner. I really don’t understand why she’s not as included in the family, though maybe it is a class or religion thing that I don’t understand. It makes me kind of uncomfortable the way the rest of the family treats the maids—it’s a very weird class difference.

There is also a young German couple that live with us, Regina and Simon. Regina is a student at the university and Simon is a computer programmer working from Senegal. They have been really wonderful and have made a lot of efforts to include me. I guess they went out a lot with Russell, the American student who lived in the house in the fall. On Friday night they invited me to go out with them and their friends, and we stayed at the bar talking until 4 in the morning! Needless to say, I was very tired the next day. Our host family is Catholic, which means it isn’t a problem to have the occasional beer on the roof and chat for a while after dinner. Also: the roof. It’s the best spot in the house, and none of the family even goes up there except to hang laundry. You can see all over our neighborhood, and especially in the morning it’s extremely beautiful. The Germans and I like to hang out there sometimes after dinner, since most of the rest of the family goes to bed. It’s just very strange since Maman is usually out til 10 or 10:30, Djeyna is not at all social, Loulou is tired after work, etc etc. I speak English with Simon and Regina, which isn’t the greatest for my French skills, but I have definitely connected with them more than anyone else in the family. Simon is fluent in English but barely speaks any French, while Regina is pretty competent in both. Simon’s leaving this weekend for Germany but will be back at the end of February, so I wonder if Regina and I will speak more French together when he’s not here.