Laisse! Ca c'est MA FILLE!

So right at the beginning, I was in love with my host mother. She is large and in charge. She is loud and protective and immediately loved me when I said hello to her in her maternal language--which her son taught me earlier. The family, however, was quite the shocker. Not in a bad way, in a...sooooooo whos in the family? whats his name? who is he related to? is this a polygamous marriage? where is the dad? WHAT is going on?
There is a little boy, Morris, my favorite who is 12, and who is probably one of the best dancers I have ever seen in my life. He trys to put on this tough guy attitude face, but when i mock him, he grins really wide, and laughs and stops that. He absolutely loves playing games--and loved all the toys i brought for him. We have now lost all three bouncy balls I brought, the gum is half eaten, everyone in the family loves the starbursts, and I have created numerous paper oragami planes and boats for him. This morning, since we lost all the bouncy balls, we went and bought a soccer ball for 3 dollars, which was a hit for not only morris, but the entire extended family. Morris's parents, however, are unknown to me still. I think the mom said that she is in fact, not his mother, that its her sister in laws brother, but he thinks she is his mom, and will tell him the truth when hes older...like our adoption system usually. I learned that there IS in fact, a father, but he is the chief in his village, Chon, and therefore he is there, hence why I still havent seen him. There are two other sons, and another guy who...im unsure of name or relation who lives there. The house almost feels like a dorm, because the mom sleeps upstairs, and everyone else down. I am in my own room with a big bed, and morris and utance, (again, unsure as to whether she is an aunt, a sister, a daughter, whatnot, and another girl, whooooo thinking about it, im not sure lives in that room at all.) Then the three boys live in their own rooms that are outside, with separate doors from the house. But in any case- they are all extremely welcoming and nice, and very fun to live with. Someone was bothering me outside the big doors the other day, and the mom was very insistant that he should leave me alone because i am her daughter, which was pretty great.
My family also owns a bar, which we live right behind. It plays really great african music, and the people are used to seeing white girls, because the have a host student each year, so I dont get QUITE as many stares. Liz, the girl from last year, used to have all the other students come over to hang out there, and so we are all definitely going to keep that tradition going.
Table manners here are awesome, the complete opposite from france and even america. It is considered polite and a symbol that the food was excellent to lick your fingers after your meal-since you eat a LOT with your fingers. And eating a lot is encouraged. heavily encouraged. And we all eat at different times, no real family dinner sit down-we dont have a dinner table even for that kind of thing, so its very relaxed and laid back.
Peter and I also like to get a kick out of our family's unusual practice of loud activities at, inconvenient hours. For instance, Peters family rev's their truck engine every morning at 7:00. to warm it up? its 80 degrees. please.
And my family is in the habit of chopping wood at 5:00 am, which just so happens to be right outside my window. They chop it to start making the food for the day, so i obviously am not complaining, but...really? haha its quite the change in lifestyle!

On a different note, we now have all bought beautiful material and given it to the seemstress down the street to make dresses. So by next saturday we should all have real live african dresses! wew! ill try and get a picture to upload of my dress when i get it.

We are also trying to set up a compost pile and a garden here at the dickinsn center, since a good majority of us are really environmental and sustainably interested.

Yesterday at the market Colleen was mistaken for Shakira, and the man was so incredibly excited by the fact that he touched her, he went down on one knee and shouted so loud and pumped his fist. At the markets, it is impossible to browse--mom would be annoyed. you have to make your decisions very fast (i am annoyed) and know exactly what you want and what size and how many. its stressful but fun--better if you are shopping for food. and the prices are all really cheap, and of course, bargainable.

Thats all for now, its hard to keep updating before I forget everything that happens since the computer access is limited!

--OH and jessica is a cameroonian girl who is here to help us with EVERYTHING. she is hilarious and we are constantly running into misunderstandings or cultural differences between the group and her. but she is really great, and we love her alot.