Monday, December 8, 2008

Host Family

So I just received an email from Amber, the MSID program coordinator in Minnesota, about my host family. Turns out I will be living with another American, Melanie Kammerer. I didn't originally want to stay with an American, because I want to be forced to improve both Wolof and French - and immersed in the culture. I'm afraid living with someone else who is close to home (the U.S.) might hinder me from soaking up all I would be, if I were on my own. Oh well, we'll see - maybe it will be comforting to have another American close by. I've started talking to her on facebook, and she doesn't speak any Wolof, but seems pretty eager to go through my notes with me and to learn it.

Here's info on my family. Looks like it's going to be a full house...which is good because this means I'll have plenty of people to talk to - and there are quite a few who are around my age:

Famille Ignace Diatta: Sicap Baobabs # 673 B
Your host father papa Ignace and host mother Maman Leontine are retired. They have 3 children who live in the house. One daughter Cathy 17 and two boys Jean Marie and Antoine who are respectively 30 and 23. They are all are students. Two nieces of Maman Leontine also live in the house: Virginie 40 who is a teacher and Therese 24 who attend university. They don’t have a computer in the house but the students can bring their lap top.

2 comments:

Ms. Kloecker said...

Hey Danielle! Don't worry about living with an American too much. I had a roommate from California when I was in Mexico for 6 weeks and it was actually a relief to have her there. She was studying toward becoming a Spanish teacher, and so we mostly spoke Spanish anyways, and we talked with our host mom A LOT. I'm sure the person you're living with will want to improve their language skills just as much, but it's also nice to have them there just in case you're going through a tough time and need to speak English for an hour before bed or something. I'm so excited for you! Yay study abroad :)

Danielle Ciribassi said...

Thanks, Carolyn - those are good things to think about. I think you're right...and yea, she said she wants to practice her French - so that's good.
I'm getting pretty excited...:)