First Impressions

I wanted to share some of the photos that Lindsay took while in Senegal.  There are so many that I decided to share some from the first few days they were there.

They arrived early in the morning on a Saturday so, after breakfast and a nap they headed out to take a walk.

 Brothers...

 Our niece Jen...notice the jacket.  She is always cold, but she lives in the southern portion of the country where the weather was already over 100 degrees.  The mid 80's felt cold to her!

Isn't this an unusal plant?  Pretty flowers, though.
 

Emily and our niece Nicole on a walk - around their neighborhood.
Tim said the contrast between buildings was interesting.  You would have a run down property or a vacant lot right next to a fancy building.  This place below was some sort of research lab.  notice the dirt road.  Any road that was not a main road is not paved.
 

Most properties have high fences around them for protection.  This fence has broken bottles embedded into the top - who needs razor wire when you have broken bottles?
 

This is the gate to the compound where our family lives.  They live in a house that is in the same compound where their African church meets.
 

Emily and Nicole hanging out in the house.
 

This is a common sight - people piled into vehicles.
 

They went to the beach for a few hours their first day there.
 

There were surfers, and people getting surf lessons in this area of the beach.  While they were there, two guys who were not surfing went way out, and the surfers kept telling them to come back closer.  Apparently they were struggling and the surfers tried to help them.  They got one guy, but the other guy was never found.  It was assumed that he drowned.
 

This is another common sight.  A bus with regular chairs in it, and guys hanging off the back.  These two are the ones who collect the fares from the passengers.  These buses are very colorful.
 

This is the U.S. Ambassadors' residence.  His daughter goes to school with Nicole.
 

Another interesting building...
 

At the top of a dormant volcano - their is a lighthouse up there, too.
 

After church on Sunday this man was cutting coconuts - they got to drink fresh coconut milk!
 

Fellowship time after the church service...
 

Their favorite ice cream shop!

This last photo makes me laugh!  Tim and the girls were teasing Dan and Sharon that they were going to tell people back home that Dan and Sharon frequent the Casino, and that is how they increase their funding!  Actually it is a grocery store! 

I will share more photos in the weeks to come.  Right now I am enjoying having them back home and we are working on a church event that takes place tomorrow!  I'll share that too...now back to sewing - 4 dresses down, 1 to go!