Pre-Spring Break

Hey Everyone!
I figured I'd write a brief update for all those folks who are reading from back home. Nothing too important has happened since my trip to Toubacouta. It's been two pretty relaxed weeks in Dakar. I'm finally feeling comfortable with the city more than 60% of the time. Now I'm at like 85% settled and happy! It still amazes me that the time passes so quickly and I realize I'm really bad at updating this blog. Lately, I have spent a lot of time at Caesar's, a restaurant in Mermoz, where I can use the wireless. Internet has been crappy the last two weeks so I'll take internet wherever I can get it.

In more news, an update on my classes. As some of you may remember the University went on strike a while ago and I didn't have class for like 2 or 3 weeks. It's only once a week so I didn't feel I was missing much. The strike is finished at IFEE (a part of the university but somewhat autonomous) and I go back to class only to find out that I have a mid-term/final exam type deal. WTF?! I've been to a grand 3 classes and missed several weeks and we have an exam. Cool. Turns out the exam was oral and super easy because the professor doesn't want to be there. I did however receive two questions I couldn't answer fully and kind of made an idiot of myself in front of my classmates. I still speak french better than some of them so I wasn't too embarrassed. I then answered a third question kinda. So between all my bits and pieces I'm sure the professor will give me some random grade.

I then show up to class the following Tuesday. We are reviewing all the test questions. Great! I can learn all that stuff I missed in the beginning of their semester. Then the professor asked if I had taken the exam. How many white girls who mess up that hard on the exam does he have to remember? I mean honestly? So I'm convinced I will get a fully make-believe grade when I'm finished the semester. Yay African education systems! I honestly feel bad for the people who struggle through 4 years of this disorganization. It must take years off their life...well I suppose they never worry about it so I'm sure they're fine.

I have made some realizations about my habits and how they have changed in Dakar. I don't flinch when a  car passes me and it's mirror is about an inch away from my arm, I now cross traffic with the full realization that I may get hit but pushing your way through is the only way to get where you're going, I face construction sites like a champ when I shouldn't even be allowed near them, I throw my bus ticket into the wind like everyone else (only because in my conscious American thought process I know paper is biodegradable), I'm entirely too used to the strange groping and rubbing up on folks that is required for my daily bus ride. City life was hard but I suppose if I can face Dakar I can face D.C. this summer.

That's right folks! I'm going to D.C. for the summer to participate in the Fund for American Studies Live Learn Intern program at Georgetown University. I'm pretty excited except that I'm going from the prices of a third world country to the prices of one of the most expensive cities in the U.S. I will cry when I have to pay over a dollar for a bus ride when I pay 30 cents here. I will never take a taxi. Just on principal. It's $3 in Senegal. I don't think you can even sit in a taxi in a U.S. city without paying $2. Life lessons learned!

Since this is my pre-spring break update, I suppose I ought to tell you what I'm doing. I'm going with two fellow friends down to Gambia and stopping in two village/cities on the way back to Dakar. I will be in Bakau, Gambia (just outside the capital) for 4 days. Alice, one of my travel buddies, is going to stay in the little village outside of Toubacouta where we stayed for out trip. She really wanted to return so she arranged that. Me and Ioana, my other travel companion, will continue on to Banjul where we will meet up with a family her Mom here in Dakar knows. We kind of have our own little tour guide set up. I'm super excited for Gambia. There's a crocodile pool, a market, a forest reserve with monkeys, a beach, and our hotel is $23 a night for a double in a private hut and a pool. I love traveling cheap in Africa! Then on Wednesday, after Alice has joined us in Bakau. Her and I will continue to Kaolack, Senegal while Ioana returns to Dakar. Ioana has to be back for her internship but I really wanted to see some other parts of Senegal. Then on Thursday we're off to Touba, the religious hub of the entire country. This is where all the marabouts and mouride brotherhoods are. You should google it. I don't really understand the system entirely myself, but I hear it's a cool place to go. I also think it's somewhere my host family would approve of. Yay! Because I'm pretty sure I got a funny look from my host mom when I told her my travel plans. I couldn't really read her reaction.I hate when that happens!

That's all for now I suppose. Nothing too entertaining but that's the update. Off to Gambia tomorrow! Yay!

Sammy's big weekend out!

This entry is to tell y’all about my lovely trip to Toubacouta and the little village of Keur Moussa just south of Toubacouta. The trip was four days from Thursday to Sunday and it was exhausting but a lot of fun!

We started out at the bright and sunny hour of 8am at WARC. Alison and I shared a taxi from Ouakam to the research center. Once everyone arrived, we all hurried (and I do mean HURRIED) to the bus so we could avoid getting the obnoxious fold down seats in the center of the van. I found a window seat with the tire well jutting into my personal space but hey it wasn’t the middle seat. So let me tell you about our drive. Now in most parts of the world the drive is smooth and lulls you to sleep. NOT in Senegal. The roads are about as reliable as the electricity. There were times when the sand next to the road was preferred over the pavement. Besides that, there was also stop and go traffic all the way out of the city. Public bathrooms along the trip were also interesting. Gas stations had bathrooms but they weren’t usually pretty and one almost ate Jess alive by locking her in. Luckily she’s like MacGyver with a hair clip! That sums up the drive. Long and rocky.

Finally we reach our lunch destination, Sokone. This is where Professor Sène’s family lives. We went to his house for lunch (Chebujen – google it folks it’s the national dish of Senegal) and some dancing. The meal was great and we got to try the fruit that grows with Cashews. I’m not a big fan of them because the texture was a bit weird but essentially they look like mini bell peppers. The dancing was fun and the funniest part was that the women use shotgun shells as finger covers to play their bowl-like instruments. I thought that was super interesting and pretty funny especially since I bet my fingers would get stuck. Chunky fingers. I danced a bit, looked like a fool. We also got to use real civilized bathrooms. Very nice.

Off we go again into the deep sandy yonder. I forget what time we checked into the hotel but it was later than planned as is everything else in Senegal. We stayed at a really nice hotel called Kairaba (you can google this too! www.clubdevacanceskairaba.com) . It had nice huts for everyone to stay in with a TV and a bathroom and a functioning shower! The shower was my favorite part. I thought my favorite part would be the pool but there was a LOT of straight up bleach in the pool and two bees nests in opposing corners. There were two gazebo type things. One where we check in and can sit at some tables and one that counts as the dining area/restaurant. I got to room with Alison and Jozy. We made good roomies. The three beds were a bit close together so I have a few bruises from kicking them and such but hey they were good beds either way. We took a short walk around Toubacouta. We got to get our first look at the mangroves. Then a surprise! Let’s just say I was less than impressed with this surprise…the van left us all in the town and we took dirt bike/motorcycles back to the hotel. I had no choice parents! I know Kara would have been proud but I was terrified. I do not like going in or on any vehicle without a roll cage involved. It was fun and I kept my eyes open most of the time. I was also ready to take a digger at any moment. I got back safe and sound and it was kind of fun to be at the back of the pack and watch our funny little motorcycle gang of toubabs. Our dinner started off with a really good shrimp salad type deal and I think after that it was Yassa Poulet but I don’t remember the main meal. The best part was the fruit salad in yogurt after dinner! So good! Then off we go again.

At 9pm we left for le lute traditionnelle! If you want to see exactly what this is you should google wrestling and Senegal. I don’t even know how to start. We show up to this ring of people with one bright flood light and LOTS of men. There were women there too but the first thing I noticed is the amount of men. There are wrestlers dressed in ridiculous diaper type deals which look like they cause a man to become sterile. Wedgie of the century folks. The fighting was pretty cool. They did wrestle into the crowd a couple times. Almost into me a few times. The funniest time this happened was to Karla. The look on her face was priceless and although it shouldn’t be funny it was kinda funny. Unfortunately, the fights went on WAAAYYYY longer than we all cared to watch. We were cold and very tired after a full day of travel and activity. Waly lied and told us we would leave at midnight but we were so close to the final fight that we stayed. There was a dance competition in there too which was so cute. The boys thought they were the hottest thang and the women would throw their scarves in to them! Oh it’s such a spectacle the whole fight and the dancing. It was really amazing. So instead of midnight it was more like 1:15am that I got to bed. Honestly I don’t remember exactly what time but it was freakin late. That’s all you need to know.

Friday – 8:15am wakeup call! Yay for sleep deprived toubabs! We start off with breakfast. Bread and jam and chocolate sauce and butter. Pretty much bread and anything you could put on it. Then there was real milk! I got so excited then I realized it was hot milk…gross. Not sure it was real but it tasted real. I had it as hot chocolate. Milk and Nesquick! Yep they had nesquick! How weird. This morning we are off to the mangroves! Super cool. We start by touring where they dry the fish out and where the women cook the oysters. They aren’t exactly the kind of oysters I’ve ever seen in my life. Refer to my pictures on facebook. It was really cool because they had huge piles of oyster shell everywhere which they use for paint and things like that once they are crushed down. There is an environmental problem in the mangroves where they are cutting the whole root of the mangrove trees to get the oysters. This is a problem because it kills the mangroves. Instead, there is a project there to show them the proper ways to harvest and protect the mangrove. If memory serves me right I think this is the only government protected environmental site. It is illegal to harvest in many parts. We then took boats through all the trees and rivers. Unfortunately, Imani and Waly’s cameras both fell into the water at the bottom of the boat. Waly’s survived after rice treatment but Imani’s didn’t. One concerning note however…there was a boy scooping water out of the bottom of our boat the whole time. Not a very well constructed boat. It was a fun ride and the weather was perfect. Our boat lead some singing and shenanigans. And when people went pee there was a HUGE super cool lizard in the trees. I don’t think I got a good picture so that’s too bad but it’s still cool.

Lunch is served…really late. Yassa poulet definitely for lunch and it was really good. I enjoyed my lunch a lot. After lunch we had a Djembé and dance lesson at the hotel. A professional group who travels through Senegal came and showed us how to play this type of drum and two women showed us how to dance. It was fun and it was good to get some exercise! Kinda stretches you out after a day in the van and the next day in a boat. We got sandwiches to tide us over until our late dinner and headed out to see the troupe play in town. The show was really interesting. There were women dressed in men’s clothing who started off the night with their dances. They pulled us up to dance with them. They went around shaking our hands after that. One woman kept repeating photo to me and I didn’t get it. Finally I was like a photo with me?? Hence why I have a photo with a woman dressed all funny on facebook. She then wanted to be best friends and gave me a very soggy kiss on the cheek. It was cute though. Then the djembés started and the dance group began to dance. They had some really interesting dances and it’s not totally different than the stuff they brought you too in middle school at the Flynn theater in Burlington but it’s different because I’m actually in Africa. There was fire breathing and acrobatics and a guy on stilts. All of this seemed to be for us toubabs and a bit like a carnival. It was a lot of fun. I was also really tired once again. Two LONG LONG days in a row. We got back to the hotel and had dinner around 9:30ish. We started with some shrimp filled fried thing which was good. Then we had fish and mashed potatos of sorts. I didn’t eat the fish but I LOVED the mashed potato deal! I was so excited. It’s my favorite comfort food. We had the option to go to another lutte in the village but we were all tired. I went to bed after dinner and had the worst dream every. I had the most vivid dream of a house burning down…anyways that’s getting off topic. Although it is spooky that Ballard’s, a store from my home town, had burnt down the night before. I found that out on Sunday when I got back and read my email. Kinda spooky.

Anywho. Saturday was a serious change from the modern comforts of a cozy hotel to the real world of a small Senegalese village. Now when I say small I mean you can see all the houses. They are all centered around the mosque. These are the huts and houses you read about in National Geographic. Waly was born in the village so it was really cool to see how they received him with our huge group. It was also reassuring because it means he knows all the families. We left the hotel at 9am and drove south towards the village. On our way, each student bought bread as a gift for our village host family since they can’t make bread in the village and it is a long walk to get it. I think we got there around 10:30. There was a large group there to greet us. At first it was all women and children, but then some men joined the group as well. We danced once again with the women and children. A large group of children had to go back to school after the dancing. I was the first to get a family! I was a little shocked for some reason lol. After a few words with the chief woman and the chief man of the village, Waly told me I would be staying with the woman who is the leading lady of the village. I don’t know how to spell her name but I think it was something like Anta Chiop? I grabbed my backpack off the bus and three bottles of water from Korka and off I went. My first thought was that this was going to be a LOONGGG day and it was going to drag. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

My host mom lead me around their house. It was a cement structure that was fairly well built. It had a front stoop surrounded by about five rooms. She showed me where to put my stuff. Then she gave me a tour of the shower area and the toilet. Now by toilet I really mean a hole in the ground. At a young age I was traumatized from peeing outside or by squatting. On a trip back from the drag races with my dad and brother, I tried to pee outside and didn’t quite get the concept because I was pretty little. I peed on myself and have not been a fan of peeing outside ever since. I must also say that there was really nothing to lean against which makes this twice as hard. My method was to just sit on the damn cement. F*** it. And yes I used toilet paper. Totally biodegradable. Moving on….

Let me try and explain the “family” dynamic here. I had my host mom and there were two little girls and a teenage girl at first. There soon popped up several little boys and a baby girl with a name that sounded like Georgia. That’s the only name I really remember besides my host moms. There then was another woman about my host mom’s age and an older gentleman which I was told is my host dad. I figured out, and believe I am correct, that this is my host dad and these two women are his wives and these kids are their many kids. There is also another couple who live in a house in our complex of sorts. Her name sounded like Sona? She did most of the cooking which took most of the day.

I started out with introductions and such. Then Sona got me to help her cook. First we went to the field with something like a paint can with a hole cut in the side. She put a large stick (it looks like a giant cotton swab if cotton swabs were wood) into the can and shoved some wheat/hay looking stuff around it. This made an L shaped path between the hole in the top and the hole in the side. To cook, you shove burning wood into the hole in the side and the fire rises up the makeshift shaft. Me being terrified of fire wasn’t too fond of this method but it works. We cooked chebujen. Fried the fish, cooked the rice. I didn’t help with all of it because every now and then the family would pull me away to introduce me to someone or take a walk around the village. Lunch was good and simple. The men ate off one plate and the women off another. They tried to hand be a spoon but I told them “Begg naa lekke loxo” = I want to eat with my hands. I’m only in the village once so why not? Everything else was already so unsanitary I couldn’t see it getting much worse. They did have a bowl of water to wash our hands in and they gave me soap to wash my hands after the meal. I took a walk around the village. There was a large group of our students in back of one of the houses preparing a HUGE amount of food. We later found out it was for a wedding reception of sorts? Then I was told to go home and help cook. I sit at home for a while and help cut up onion. Dangerous without a cutting board let me tell you. As we are chilling in the front yard Sona catches a chicken, ties it’s feet and shoves it under a bucket. The chicken had been bugging some stuff so I figured that was why they put it under the bucket. Then they do this to a second chicken…it all starts to make sense to me now.

My dinner is now thrashing under said bucket. Lovely. Even better yet I got to pluck them once they were boiled a bit. Plucking the chicken isn’t bad. If I picked it up its head would kinda wiggle and the stuff in its neck would stretch out. Yucky. I also wasn’t too keen on picking their butt feathers. Just sayin. I don’t want anything to do with chicken butt. I also got to watch Sona peel the chicken feet. Yep I ate chicken feet meat folks. Not half bad if I do say so myself. As we’re plucking chickens the children are helping…mostly. They tore the heads off the chickens and plucked the heads so I didn’t have to. Then the small boy tried to eat the raw neck innards. That’s a no-no. Thank god I know how to say no in Wolof. Did I mention these families only speak Wolof? No French. Very difficult day as far as language goes. Anywho, I then get to help Sona cut the chicken up and I watch her rip out the not-to-be-eaten parts of the chicken. This whole time I’m thinking: as much as I loathed bird class with Prof Witmer at least I got to dissect a pigeon as a precursor to this interesting ordeal. And I was even able to identify the majority of the parts! Yay me! And I never thought bird class would come in handy.

After chicken innards, I got to wash an extraordinary and irritating amount of lettuce. This took forever and there were lots of bugs involved. I’m glad we washed the lettuce twice but it was a damn tedious process. No one helped me with that but I was glad I could help Sona. She had done the majority of this cooking on her own all day with just the help of me and a few of the kids. Also cooking in their cooking hut was a little piece of hell. When she fried the fish for chebujen I near about died from smoke inhalation and my eyes were burning. I was so thankful she cooked the chicken for dinner outside. I couldn’t stand cooking in that hut. So dark descends and it’s about 8:30ish and we eat dinner. It’s lettuce with chicken and onion sauce. It was really good and I enjoyed having the salad. The family is so funny they kept saying “lekkal lekkal lekkal” which is the imperative form for eat. Eat! Eat! Eat! I was fairly certain I was going to explode or turn into a head of lettuce. Jen and her host mom wandered into the complex and soon after that it was family meeting time!

The students got together in a group with Waly and Korka. We had some fruit over an interesting conversation about our families. I didn’t have any concerns but simply a question of whether or not the families were coached not to ask for our numbers. There was one boy about 18 years old who kept making underhanded comments about other students who had visited and how they had left their numbers written on the wall of the house (which is their version of a rolodex). He spoke French though so that was a nice break from the brick wall that is Wolof. Other people had some concerns but nothing major. I think it was a lot to take in all at once for all of us. I guess I can’t speak for others but it was a great learning experience but also very exhausting. 

After the family meeting we went back to my village house for all the women and children and students to dance again. I think we might have been the only house with electricity? There were rumors that other houses were getting or had solar panels. I thought that was really nifty that they have solar panels. We can’t even implement them in the U.S. but these village folks are doing just fine with them. Anyways, we were all tired and some people were feeling sick so the night didn’t last too long. We kicked up some serious dust and called it a night.

So my host house had rather large beds and I knew they had to be shared. I shared mine with the teenage girl in the family. Nana if you thought I was a violent sleeper you should have tried to sleep next to this girl. (My Nana always told me I kick a lot when I sleep over at her house as have other friends I’ve had to share beds with). This girl was like 5’10” and all skin and bones but she was bound and determined to take up the whole damn bed! I got in first and chose the edge which was the worst possible idea in the world! She would roll over and smack me, she’d kick me. One time I got an elbow to the face and then I almost got shoved off the edge! It was also really cold and she was a blanket hog. Good thing I’m pretty much equal to her at blanket hogging it up. So it wasn’t the most restful night of sleep but it wasn’t the worst either.

Breakfast was some questionable couscous stuff. Not like the couscous you’re thinking of. This stuff is like eating sand. Not very tasty either. We had some peanut type sauce on it which was a nice touch but nothing can make sandy couscous jazz taste good. The most exciting part of my morning was the REAL MILK fresh from the cow. Thank Allah for cows in the village! I am so sick of this powdered milk bullshit at home. I was thrilled to have real milk and they gave me like 3 glasses of it AND it didn’t make me sick…as far as I know.

As I was getting ready to change and head for the bus, my family surprised me with a lovely gift. They had me change into traditional clothing and I thought it was just to take pictures of me. These people loved taking pictures and having pictures taken. They were just tickled pink with my camera at their disposal. I say I am going to Dakar today because that’s the only way I can manage to say I need to change before I leave but they say it’s okay. I asked if it is a present in French. I ask “cadeau”? and they just sort of repeated me so I think that’s what they meant. They gave me a skirt and shirt that are white and green. They are a little tattered and the shirt was WAAAYY too tight over my boobs but it is a really sweet gift. They really have nothing to give and they gave me these clothes. I thought it was great. I did change on the bus though because I couldn’t really take full breaths my boobs were squished so tight. I’ll have to have my tailor fix that up. Maybe he can insert some fabric into the side seams. Off we go to the bus.

The bus ride was so long. It took literally all day to get back to Dakar. Well first we stopped at the gardens for the village we were just in. They have these gardens along the edge of the river. They eat some of the goods grown there but they sell most of them. It was interesting enough to stop quickly. Then we went to the Gambian border because we were already right there. It was good to see this because I’m going to Gambia for spring break. I got a feel for the amount of harassment I will get and where to check into the country and get a short term visa or whatnot. I was super tired at this point. We went on our way to Kaolack for lunch which was yassa poulet…again. It was good but I’m pretty sick of yassa poulet at this point. It was also good to see a nice restaurant in Kaolack since I will be there one night during spring break as well. Then all the way back to Dakar. The car rapide home was a crock of shit since the guy shorted us our change. He must have thought we were tourists with all our bags. He was a jerk about it but I think we were all too tired to fight to hard. I came home and stopped by the tailor. He finished my dress!!!! I had bought fabric at the social forum and found a faux wrap dress picture I like. He did a good job and it was a nice little treat to end my weekend. I promptly showered as soon as I got let into my damn house which took forever too because my host sister was in the shower and Muhammad wouldn’t open the damn door. I felt so gross…I took a shower and washed my hair and unpacked. It feels good to be home but it was also a really cool trip.

American idiots you have been voted off the island

Ile d’Ngor gets its own post. So some folks decided it’d be lots of fun to take a weekend in a beach house they found at Ile d’Ngor. First, let’s discuss how you get to the island. Terrifying. It’s this extra long dinky boat canoe thing with like 60 people in it. As my Dad read: it’s like a car rapide for the water. I had a crap ton of stuff with me so if our boat had capsized I would have sunk like a rock. YAY ME! Luckily the boat ride was only like 7 minutes. We get to the beach and wait for someone who had arrived earlier to come find us. The house walks out right onto the beach. This house is amazing. We have a front porch and a living room and several bedrooms. Two bathrooms and….a shared kitchen??? Uh oh. So the folks planning this trip thought hey we can pay less if we split the cost between more people. I like their logic. However, what we did not plan for is that we would have a shared kitchen and that the people who owned the place actually lived right out back. Awkward. We had like 18 people at the house which was only supposed to hold 8. Whoops! So they spoke to us that night and said we needed to be out by the next day. By noon. Morning comes and that changes too. We have to be out by 11am. We were all a little disappointed because we got to cook food we actually wanted to eat and we got to party it up a little. But morning came, we cleaned the house and shipped out. Luckily, Imani and Ali got us the rest of our money back! So it all worked out eventually. We spent the day on the beach (which we had to pay for a spot which is complete bullshit you know that guy don’t own this beach!). It was beautiful weather and there was a great little shack with cheap sandwiches.

We returned to the mainland a little sad but Alison saved the day for a group of us. We all got to cook at her house then a couple of us went out to this little dive bar in Ouakam and played cards. It wasn’t the island but I thought it was fun. I came home Sunday and didn’t do anything spectacular besides a spectacular nap which lead to a less spectacular night of sleep.

PS it’s getting EFFING hot in Senegal. YUCK!

How Sammy will eventually get locked out of her house...and some other stuff

To continue telling you about my daily grind in Dakar…Tuesday’s are my longest days with 7 hours of class. Yep count ‘em people. 7 Hours, 3 classes. So I began taking my course at the University and of course the professor always starts about 40 minutes late because being on time is so un-cool in Senegal. As I was standing outside the classroom waiting for other students to clear out, a super creepy dude asked for my number as always but today I had a trick up my sleeve. I have officially switched the ring to the left hand. Yep for my stay in Senegal I am married. Unfortunately the ring doesn’t deter many of the men. After blowing off the creepy dude, I found some girls to talk to and they were nice. They joked around with me in Wolof which I’m still terrible at and they offered me food which is the way to my heart as we all know. By the end of class, I had picked up a new male admirer and shamelessly used him to get a photocopy of the class presentation that I must have missed weeks ago. He took his sweet time doing it though. Meanwhile, I have an hour to eat and get back to WARC for another class. Stressful but when he asked for my number I said I would see him in class and ran off. Of course I forgot that Gender and Development class that day was a movie. It made my day though that we didn’t have real class.

This was the week of skype for me. I talked to Mom, Dad, Ryan and Rachael, Kaylin, Nana, and Kara. It was great to hear from home. I called Nana and got to surprise her so that was fun and my Nana is my voice of reason. Although it was nice to skype with everyone, I feel I’m missing out a bit on other things so I have to limit my skype time this week. I keep asking people to do stuff and getting turned down but that’s starting to change. I’m doing more and more so that’s good. Although the Wednesday of my skype week I came home feeling really weak and tired. I was worried I was sick but after like 12 hours of sleep I felt fantastic.

On Friday I went out to La Mermoz with a big group of folks. I only got to stay until midnight and I got there too late for the live music but it was fun to feel like a young person again instead of going to bed early. My host mom was kinda funny and gave me the don’t be later than midnight talk. I was home 5 minutes before midnight. Perfect timing. I was afraid if I didn’t make it I’d turn into a pumpkin! The Saturday I went with Ioana downtown to find a bookstore. Unfortunately, we went during lunch hour so they were all closed for the most part. The Sunday I went with Alice and Megan to Marche HLM and Sandaga. Both were absolutely empty because it was Sunday but it was a good way to go. Relaxing …as relaxing as a market in Dakar can be. Then we got ice cream at the place downtown that everyone has been talking about. SOO good.

Sunday was weird because I asked my host Mom about the religious holiday that is this week. Jess texted me that she was going with my host mom to the place they were celebrating (about 2 hours away) but this was news to me. When I asked her she told me she was going and maybe I could find another place to sleep Tuesday night. I was kinda pissed for two reasons. First, she didn’t even try to invite me to go even though Jess was going. I don’t know if I should take this personally or what but it felt like I was left out a bit. Second, when was she going to tell me about finding somewhere to sleep? Monday? Tuesday morning as she was shoving me out the door to lock up the house? Yea right. It turned out I stayed at Alison’s but still it’s not fair to shove me onto some other family just because you suck at planning ahead. The Tuesday morning when they were leaving to go I got shoved out the door with my half finished breakfast. My host mom knocked on my door. I asked what time they were leaving and she said 9. So 8:30 rolls around and there I am with my bread and cider jelly standing in the sand mound that is my street. Lame and not a good morning.

Monday was the naming ceremony for the new baby at Jess’s house. I suppose it’d be a niece or nephew of sorts to my host mom. It was pretty empty because most people had left for the religious pilgrimage/holiday thing. I see why she’s getting so good at French and Wolof. The kids are really helpful for practice. Hence, I will come home just as shitty at speaking French as I was when I came here.

Tuesday morning rolls around and BAM shoved out of the house half way through my breakfast. Don’t tell me you are leaving at 9 when you are really leaving at 8:30. Especially when no one is on time in this country.

Alison’s house was fun though on Tuesday night. Her host sister was there when I arrived and I sat with her and her husband and the baby. They have huge mirrors! So jealous. There are no mirrors in my house. Anyways, then we had vegetables with our dinner which is new to me! I slept on a real mattress instead of a piece of foam. The mattress was on the ground but it’s still better. The only issue was the trucks driving through the street below were really loud.

Wednesday was a day at the beach and now I am sufficiently lobster colored. Oh white folks in Africa. The beach had crazy big waves! It was super nice out and there were some French guys (we think military guys). Not a bad way to spend the day. Then I ate lunch at Le Regal and met some douche-y Americans who were on vacation here. These are the kind of Americans that make us look like the arrogant dicks of the world. Too loud, spend to look cool, don’t try to speak the language or even greet the locals. So nice.

Oh! I almost forgot. I told you that Aliou, the guy from Ouakam, would come back to haunt me right? Yep walking with Jess last night we run into him. He was all heartbroken he thought he did something wrong to me and that’s why I wasn’t talking to him. I mean he did do something wrong. He called a ridiculous amount of times in one hour while I was in class. Don’t be a douche just let it go and call me later. But anyways…now I have to find a new way to get rid of him. Rough life. 

What’s important in Dakar for Sammy? This was supposed to be a second blog post from the first half but I forgot to put both up so here they are at the same time. I promised I’d keep you updated folks. Well let’s see: Jess got pick pocketed at the religious festival. For those of you reading this blog before visiting: this is apparently the most common place for pick pocketing. Very strange since people are supposed to be enjoying a religious festival. I hear from everyone who went that the festival was interesting buuuttt perhaps they wouldn’t do it again.

My mom was sneaky and didn’t tell me about my Nana having surgery. She had surgery to remove a tumor on her lungs but the doctors have high hopes she won’t have to go through chemo or radiation. Although I’m happy everything went well, I’m also a little perturbed I didn’t know it was happening before hand. I’m glad they didn’t worry me but it’s also a different kind of worry when I’m all the way in Africa. In some ways, I can remain more calm here because I don’t have the constant reminders I would have at home. I love my Nana and I hope she’s getting better!! I hear good things from home and she’s one tough lady.

My weekend was good though. Friday night I went to Caesars for dinner with Jess and Jenn. We talked about a lot of girl talk I really miss from home. Then I met up with Alison and Jozy. We started our night at a quaint little bar somewhere in the Sacre Coeurs then went to a club in Point E. I danced with a Senegalese man who was actually respectful of personal space and didn’t talk to me much. Very happy about that. Of course while we were at the bar the power went out. Classy drinking beer by candlelight. Even though I’m not big on dancing the club was fun. There were a lot of locals there so it was fun to see how they dance and such.

I spent the night at Alison’s after an early morning Biskrem run. These are amazing little chocolate filled cookies. Much needed at 3:30am after dancing. I think the army men in the little boutique found us quite amusing. So funny story: I tried to sleep with just a pillow and my long sleeve shirt at Alison’s but it got cold. So I went into her room to grab her blanket that she wasn’t using. I almost died slipping in the water she spilled in a severely failed attempt to fill her water bottle from her 10 liter bottle. She also had the lights on, her laptop open, and was conked out for good. Come morning she told me she had been playing Solitaire? What? Lol it was a lot of fun. We made some awesome fried egg sandwiches for breakfast.

Saturday night I went to l’Institut Francais downtown to see a movie with Megan, Alice, and Abby. Me and Megan are in the African Literature class and we had read the book that the movie was supposed to be about. Turns out they are nothing alike. It was like an entirely different story just with the same characters. Weeeiirrdd. Anyways, we found some other students from WARC there and decided to all eat dinner together at the institute. 12 people at our table later and a long wait for dinner. I told my host mom I would be home at 10:30. So 10:22 rolls around and I call to ask if I can be home just 30 minutes late. My host mom starts ranting about how she has to go to sleep and my host dad isn’t here to let me in and can I stay at Alison’s? WAIT WHAT?! Can I stay at Alison’s? No I’m not going to stay at Alison’s for coming home at 11pm. What are you crazy? Instead, I paid (and paid extra because we didn’t have our change yet) and then paid up the ass for a taxi because I didn’t have time to bargain. My host mom was going to lock me out of my house. I was home at 10:43 and boy was I pissed. There is no reason for that shit. My host sister was up at least 30 minutes after I got home. But whatever.

Sunday was work day at Caesars. I had to work on my Gender and Development project. Sunday was apparently the day for folks to be at Caesars. It seemed like everyone was there. I also got to call Mom for the update on Nana. I’m a big fan of Caesars for both their food and their internet. Tuesday’s presentation in Gender and Development went pretty well I thought. We had a lot to talk about and I think we all did a good job with our research (even though ALL of us procrastinated lol).

Tuesday was also easier because STRIKE STRIKE STRIKE at the University! Uh oh! The teachers are upset. Not paid enough, bad conditions, etc. etc. My IFEE class didn’t exist for two weeks which was kind of nice. Back to it tomorrow though.

I almost forgot….another embarrassing Senegalese men story. So on Friday there was a big art exhibit at WARC. There were a bunch of people there setting it up and on Friday as I tried to skype my mom this one dude would NOT leave me alone. He kept trying to give me his email and he asked for mine and yada yada. So finally I was like whatever I don’t have to check email. And this dude won’t be around after today. I could not and I mean COULD NOT have been more WRONGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!! So he shows up Monday sitting at his little art exhibit table with a guest book or some shit. Won’t leave me alone about whether I read his emails or not. Hell no! No one actually emails me when I give them my email (which is usually a fake email). I check my email while I’m on break from my class. This guy is CRAZY! He sent me these crazy love emails. You couldn’t even imagine. I’m probably going to post them simply because you can’t believe how stupid this shit is. Not to mention creepy because apparently he had seen me a week earlier when they came to scope out the scene at WARC for the exhibit. CCRRREEEPPPYY and get a life dude. He looks at least 35. Awkward. Why aren’t you married by now? And no I won’t be your second wife. So to resolve the situation I told him I am married. This was after he circled me three times and getting the nerve to talk to me. He has since had to be at WARC every day to sell the art that’s hanging at WARC. Great! Aren’t I just so lucky! He’s there until March 18^th to stare at me awkwardly as I avoid him like the black plague.

A PACKAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY MOMMY LOVES ME! She sent me a package with everything my little heart desires plus some. It has/had noodles and pesto and little debbies snacks and books and Sudoku and candles for my host mom and markers for my menace of a four year old and sooo much lovely stuff!!! I had to go downtown to get it but Karla and I tag-teamed the trip downtown and then got the best lunch ever. I’ve never had such a good hamburger in my life and then I got to eat my Little Debbies snack too?!?! Oh I thought my heart would burst from joy.

Friday I kinda had a moment and had to get out of WARC. I took a long walk along the Corniche which is the highway that runs along the coast. I reminded myself how beautiful it is here and how lucky I am. Rocked out to some good music. And I got some new sunglasses for 800CFA ($1.50US) because I lost my other ones in the ocean. Pretty good stuff. Then I went shopping for the last of my groceries for my weekend at Ile d’Ngor.