"a gray day in africa" or "the day janelle's intestinal troubles began"

This is the first page in my friend josh's journal:

Premier jour de classes: pas de classe. université en grève.

Translates to, "First day of classes: no classes. the university is on strike."

when we got here they told us, "we're a developing country. we just dont have any infrastructure yet." (josh says this is a cop out). in these "welcome to senegal" situations, we cope by going downtown to haggle with street vendors ("i'm not a tourist, i know this only costs a third of what youre trying to charge me"), buying jewelry, eating at fancy restaurants, drinking espresso at fancy coffee shops, perusing the french titles at the book store, staring out the windows of cafes and staring into the windows of boutiques. its the fabulous ex-pat lifestyle ive been dreaming of.

i dont know how to describe this city. words and pictures dont do it justice. it's five parts exactly like home, 3 parts glamorous existence, 2 parts barren wasteland. the streets are full of fresh fruit, women breastfeeding children old enough to stand, sand, goats, koranic chants, people selling cell phone faceplates, people selling brooms, people selling sunglasses, people selling paintings bathmats mirrors watches surge protectors canaries peanuts and coconut slices, gorgeous views of the ocean, people praying on their hands and knees and foreheads...

last week we found favorite local bars, attended mass at a catholic monastery, took a ferry to an island, got situated in our host families, toured the university, registered for classes, took our french placement exams... what else.. it seems like we did a lot more, i swear! last week felt like the longest week of my life. this ones just flying by...