My host mom’s husband died this morning. He got malaria three days ago. He was doing better yesterday. But today he’s not here.

I talked to my mom today on Skype. I told her about the situation here. Then she told me that my grandfather was diagnosed with liver cancer.

Today’s been kind of a shit day.

I’ve been here a week since yesterday.

I found out yesterday that three people I thought lived here don’t at all. But they do happen to eat, sleep, shower, and pray here.

I moved into my host home about 6 hours ago.

I am incredibly awkward at life.

Ibrahima (age 5), my host brother, is adorable. I guessed it.

Good news: I have wireless access to the internet from certain parts of my room.
Bad news: I still haven’t bought a plug adapter and I’m awk.

I recieved my homestay information on Tuesday.

I feel more excited after I got the information than I did before. Clearly I have some sort of disorder where emotions have been draining out of me for a few years now to the point where I don’t really react to things anymore. But maybe this is a good sign. The family I’m staying with is rather small. My host mother is only in her 30s and she has a 5-year-old son. The uncle (late 20s) lives in the house and there is a 17-year-old maid (which will definitely be weird for me). The father has another wife so he’s only there on weekends, which will definitely create an interesting dynamic. I’m really looking forward to meeting them tomorrow night and moving in. Obviously I’m not going to be able to replicate the family life I have home and I probably won’t be able to expect the same amount of freedom but the housing coordinator told me the family is rather flexible. So I should be able to work on my own schedule.

I’ve never lived with another family before. This will be interesting.