Pictures of the 'Frika House

I cannot even describe how annoying it is to format this amount of pictures in a single post. This is a job for...ME, cause no one else is here to do it. I'm always open to suggestions and requests for posts, and even through a bout of sore throat I have used this sick day to present you with pictures of the apartment. Also, count the pictures as a celebration of both the 200th site hit and the one month anniversary of the move. Enjoy-

This is our neighbors' death roof. Watch out for spikes!!

This is the amount of dust that collected on the ping pong table in about 4 days. And you thought Charter was bad, Mr. Boday

This is the upstairs, with the evil spiral staircase, 2 dirt view (the opposite of ocean view) balconies, and our favorite ping pong table.

This is looking out our largest balcony, down the street is Provigo, and past the rotary, DA (Dude Assassinators)

This is literally an entire section of the house I've never been to since we got here a month ago. Our 2nd largest balcony, it's even got a kitchen! (Shown above in its entirety)

The play area. Where our Wii proudly reigns and video games are played prosperously.

This is the parentaql units's room, otherwise known as the Sporoom (thats Spore and Room combined). It is also one of two rooms in the house with window air conditioning units, so it's usually where everyone is.

This is a part of my room. The Guitar Hero 3 sleeve, my Nightmare Before Christmas clock, and my DS all reside here in perfect harmony. Perfect, dusty harmony. You can also see a bit of the mosquito net on the right side, and marvel at the vintage Grateful Dead Lithuanian basketball t-shirt, gifted to me by Mr. Callahan. *sniffs* It hangs proudly.

We went to the "Altlantic Club" (American Club) on Sunday and I can't describe accurately the joy that in brought within a space that could be classified as a "caption." 3 words- American Double Cheeseburger. And, as if the happiness flowed from the facility, they also had 2 ice cold A&W root beers, which I am convinced are the only ones in all of Dakar, Senegal. They're names are Dave and Buster, and I will treat them like I would my childrens. Until I thirst and rip open their scalps and drink their life essence. And there will be much rejoicing.

You got the Root Beer! Set it to Y, X, or Z to use.




But when the sun sets, it becomes a very beautiful place. Maybe I'll like it here after all...

Sometimes I crack myself up.

-Will

"If you do this I will eat your face!"

Rant Time

Now, before I say anything in this post,I want to establish the fact that it's about the music, not the religion. Carrying on...



This is one of my major beefs with DA (for those of you who don't know, the Deffocation Association). The music. Now I can't say that everyone in the school listens to the exact same music, because I haven't met and searched the iPods of everyone in the school. But, I think I can make the assumption that a large majority of the school listens to: Christian rock. Now, here's the problem. I don't mind a couple bands, some of their music has even found its way onto my iPod, as Aunt Wendy and Uncle Pat can attest to. But the fact of the matter is that 60 percent of the entire christian music industry is bands covering popular hymns and songs. This is like if a little more than half of the bands you know did nothing but play Beatles and Zeppelin covers. If that was the case, then the music industry as we know it would be no more. Yet somehow, in this place and others like it, people purchase entire CDs without a single original song on 'em.



For instance, at the handball game-the rule is that the only music coming out of the speakers is christian. Again, not my preference, but not a problem. But actually, now that I think about it, that was the problem. Because, as you may know, there are three genres of that music. Basic rock, rap, and traditional. And apparently the sound guy/DJ wasn't a fan of Amazing Grace or anything like it, so we got a mixture of rap and half-rock for the whole evening. I heard the song "Indescribable" in 3 different forms. A decent song, in its original format, but I don't really like rap of any kind, let alone the kind with lyrics intended to be sung by a worship team.



And then again, in "Art Basics", the most useless class ever dreamed of. Instead of the usual Jack Johnson, which I always welcome with open ears, she decided to pop in a mix CD, with all our favorite songs we've heard 200 times. "Now sung by different people with slightly different pitches!!"





-Will





"You know Bruce Lee's not really dead, don't you? Yeah, it's in a book. What he did was he faked his own death so that he could work undercover for the Hong Kong police, inflitrating drugs gangs and the Triads. "

L'Escale de Maristes- A Restaurant Review

As I stepped into the dinery that is L'Escale de Maristes, I took a moment to breathe air that didn't smell like manure. When I opened my eyes, I had the sense of being at a friendly home, maybe about to feast on one of grandmothers' special dishes. This is probably because I was, in fact, in a house. But before I get ahead of myself, let me explain, to those of you who don't speak french, what the meaning of the name is. I have been led to believe that "escale" means "layover," and the sector of Dakar the restaurant and our apartment shares is called Hann Maristes. So this was essentially "The Layover of Where we Are Right Now"

Now, after the overwhelming feeling that I was breaking into someone's house passed, I took the chance to sit at one of the establishments marvelous plastic lawn chairs, of which there were about 15. This presented a bit of a problem, as I was in a group of 20, but if the Senegalese know anything, it's how to pack large quantities of people into small spaces. I next got the feel of the temperature, which had changed from outsides' blistering heat to a much more stagnant blistering heat.

This was about the time when our waitress, whose name I cannot spell or pronounce, came to take our orders. Chicken or Fish. As usual, it took me a while to decide what I'd choose, there were just so many good options. After much debating, I decided to be a little daring and choose the fish, expecting a small fillet with maybe a dab of seasoning or, dare I hope, barbeque sauce. I suppose I've never really gotten fish at a restaurant that is not called Long John Silver's, but I'm quite sure that it was not served like this.

But again, I'm getting ahead of myself. after I ordered the fish and exchanged pleasantries with several other diners, I realized a TV was sitting right next to me. As a turned it on I was greeted pleasantly by a video of a waterfall while several men shouted different things at the same time. In arabic. "Good," I thought, "my stories are on." I now realize the reason behind the name, for two hours and no food later, it was a whole lot like a layover.


But the food finally came, and I sort of figured out how to get the meat put of an entire fish, before loosing my appetite to the fish's lonely, black eyes. But, it was kinda of tasty, especially the parts without bones in them, and they even had a variation of ketchup to go with my side of the greasy potatoes they called "french fries." Overall, I'd give it a solid 2 stars, and would recommend another fan and a maximum occupancy of more than 17.

How I wish I had picked the chicken.



-Will







"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read."