a taxi ride

Yesterday I went out to lunch with a new friend. Her name is Sun and she is from Korea. Her son is in Abby's class at school. We went to a Koren restaurant downtown. It was pretty good. Different but good. Okay so I took a taxi because sometimes it is easier to do that than to try to find a parking spot and the place you are going. The taxi drivers here usually know where everything is. So I went out to get a taxi and we (Spencer walked with me to the taxi) turned down 2 taxis because they were charging us way too much. I ended up paying about $5 and probably should have turned this one down because he was a horrible driver. He was moving the steering wheel so much the car was moving back and forth. Not sure if he had a reason for that or not. I got sooooo dizzy.
Anyways, as I was sitting in the taxi I took out a piece of paper and began writing down things that were unusual to me. Since we have been here a year now I think we are overlooking the "different"things going on here. Okay so here it goes:

- there was a guy sleeping on the sidewalk (happens all the time)
- trash everywhere - apparently it is a cultural thing... whatever! cultural or not it drives me crazy. You can see a very wealthy person get out of their expensive car and throw trash on the ground. ahhh
- you can buy tissue, phone credit, prayer mats, sunglasses, clothes and lots of other stuff and not ever get out of your car... talk about drive up service
- you can not drive down the road without dogging something... there is always something in the road whether it is a block, tire, person or even someones leg (I really have seen someone asleep on the sidewalk and their leg was sticking out onto the road) ... now that was crazy and I don't even think he was... that is a crazy person - just tired I guess!
- there are either wires or spikes on most of the walls surrounding homes or businesses (we have spikes)
- every house has a block wall around it (ours is big with flowers)
- the taxi driver had several pictures of a man in his car (this is probably his marabo -Islamic teacher)
- everyone seems to be cold - they have jackets on like it is going to snow - hum... Africa winter
- there are little boys (ages 4-?) begging for whatever they can get... they are very dirty! Sometimes I wonder what Luke would do with all the freedom... he would be scared for sure
- women carry their children on their backs... even if they have a huge bucket of water or food on their heads
- men are just hanging out - it is a cultural thing... they just sit around and drink tea (i guess they may not have jobs)
- lots of the police carry big gun and do not have a car (there is a big truck that carries them to their working spot) i have heard that if you are doing something wrong they will get a taxi and chase you down that way... i wonder who pays for the taxi?

Okay there is alot different but this was just a 10 minute taxi ride. If you ever want to come over and check it out for your selves come on.

Okay bye for now... I love you all and always remember... the Savior of the world is here! - in Africa, American or where ever you are...

april -

oyeah the picture on the top is a picture of a new start church here in Dakar... notice the shoes outside the door... the people in the church took their shoes off before entering the room