January 31

Greetings from the WARC-
So we actually found our way to the Youssoou N'Dour concert without getting lost (too badly)...it was hosted by the Institut Francais, which is basically thios toubab safe haven in the middle of downtown Dakar.  I legitimately felt like I have never seen so many white people crammed into one place at one time.  Anyways, the show was great-especially sicne with N'Dour, as is typical of most African music, you get far more than you pay for.  He had about 14 other dancers, singers, and musicians backing him up at all times, which really added some depth to the performance, not to mention a sensory overload for all people in attandance.  Naturally, our group of students felt the need to dance afterwards, so we took the opportunity to explore the nightlife of Dakar.  Sketchiest part of the evening:  when we went to leave, we hailed a taxi and after settling on a price and driving no more than two blocks, our cab was stopped in the middle of the street by two rather unofficial looking men asking for our driver's license and registration.  Rather than produce the necessary documents, our driver opens up a secret compartment behind the steerign wheel and procures a wad of cash, which he attempts to hand to the men.  Naturally at this point, the four of us in the cab decide to make a run for it and head back to the club we had just left.  Good thing we're so aware of our surroundings and able to handle those situations...
We eventually did make it home, and even got to practice Wolof with our cab driver, repeating the phrase "begg uma joxe sama numero" (I don't want to give you my phone number) for nearly the entire ride.
Saturday and Sunday were some crucial family bonding days for me-I have started doing the laundry (by hand) with my host sisters Aminata and Tabara, which takes them each about 6 hours to complete on each day.  My arms and back are killing my, but I feel like this is the one way that I can actually contribute to the household and feel like less of a free-loading squatter. 
And, the most important part of my weekend; I have officially graduated from "toubab" to "blonde!"  After much bilingual confusion (apparently in Wolof, blonde does not refer to hair color, but rather an intermediate skin color between white and black), I am able to embrace my new title...I'm not sure if it's because I'm starting to tan or if they like me more now, but either way I'm happy to have moved beyond toubab status, no matter how subtly.
In further efforts to make me a "real senegalese women," my family has decided that my clothing is inadequate and that I need traditional clothing made.  Aminata and I went to the market on Saturday (which was completely overwhelming, with cars, feral animals, and people all pushing against one another in an attempt to cross the same single thoroughfare) and picked out some fabric, and today we will be visiting a tailor to make a dress (fabric costs about 5-10 dollars, andtailoring should cost no more than 5, apparently).  It's been really nice having host sisters to guide me with this sort of thing, because alone, I am completely lost.
Not too much else new for now...I'm off to class (with our Wolof teacher, who, according to his stories, was fired on several occasions from the Peace Corps as a teacher for smoking pot with the members) but I will write again soon.  Ba ci kanam