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 18th 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.
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