Good morning!
Just had my last class and now only a few exams until freedom. School was put on hold on Tuesday for the Muslim holiday, Tabaski. It involves sacrificing sheep in celebration of the prophet Muhammed (I think), followed by eating those sheep, and then dressing up in gorgeous dresses (called boubous here) and visiting all your friends and family. The morning of, I woke up to my sisters happily clammering all over the kitchen, preparing the day's feast. I went for a walk around the neighborhood and tried not to stare at all the men dressed to the nines in their boubous, lined up shoulder to shoulder praying at the local mosque. The mosque isn't quite big enough so men lined the sidewalks as well, trailed by their sons wearing matching boubous. Precious to say the least. By the time I started walking back, I ran into my Senegalese Dad who was walking back from the mosque, faster then I had ever seen. He smiles at me and says "Time to kill the sheep!". Walking into the house, 2 sheep are tied up in our courtyard, unaware of what is to come. The past few weeks the whole city has been covered with sheep, imported from different areas of Senegal and neighboring Mali as well. You could even send a text message to win a free sheep. Apparently, this is a great deal because one sheep can cost as much as 400 US dollars. Anyway, my brother is sharpening knives and a few neighbors show up to hold down the sheep. My Senegalese Dad calls himself the "assasin" and insists we be the "paparazzi", encouraging us (my roommate and I) to take pictures through the whole act. My younger siblings come running out, laughing. Within 10 minutes, we have a sheep hanging from our tree, in order to skin it more easily. An hour later, "breakfast" is ready: french fries, onion sauce, and some bbq sheep. I have to admit, it was not as bad as I thought. I did feel a little lightheaded thinking about what I was eating, but I got over that by last night when we had meal number 5 in a row of sheep and some carbohydrate (if it is not sheep and bread, it is sheep and pasta, or sheep and rice).
In fact, I did my laundry yesterday (day after Tabaski) in the same basin that my mother had used to sift through all the body parts of our sheep, choosing which to give to our neighbors and which parts to cook. Don't worry, I have pictures. Despite the holiday not being exactly what I am used to, it was nice to have all our neighbors come over wishing us good tidings and asking for pardons (I guess you ask for pardons for sins over the year? in the dark on this one) as well as watching my family dress up. The night of Tabaski, I went to a concert (it started at 2 am- nothing seems to start earlier in Senegal) where a few local Senegalese artists performed. Senegalese are fabulous dancers as a rule and it was fun night (rather, morning).
In the next week, I will be wrapping up my work, maybe seeing some Senegalese wrestling, having goodbye dinners, harassing my tailor to finish up a few skirts I am having made, and hanging out with my friends and family.
Then the morning of the 21st, at 3 am I fly back to the US of A (like I said, everything has to happen in the wee hours of the morning). But lets not get ahead of ourselves, I still have another week!
Love
Banana
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Chere ma famille et mes amis
Less than 3 weeks left and I still seem to be having cultural "expierences" on a daily basis. Monday brought a visit to the doctor. Last week, I was feeling feverish, exhausted, and having bad headaches. I figured the 3rd world had finally kicked my butt and I'd be over it soon. But by Monday my arms were starting to ache and worse, I was actually wearing a long sleeve shirt from being cold (I still sweat regularly here). Trying to suppress thoughts of malaria, I finally made a doctor's apt. Of course, when I say made an appointment, I first called a local real estate office and got very annoyed when the receptionist did not seem to understand when i repeatedly said medecin medecin (doctor doctor). Finally got my hands on the right number and not only got an apt for that afternoon but the office was incredibly nice. The doctor was very friendly and after looking down my throat said Ahhh, une infection des amygdales. I starred at him blankly. You don't know the word "amygdale?" , "AMYGDALE?" (speaking louder and repeating it always helps). A few hand gestures later and with the help of another doctor, I realized I have a tonsil infection. Believe it or not, tonsils is not in my vocabularly. Words like "diarrhea" and "I'm sick to my stomach don't make me eat intestines" have been more necessary while here. Nevertheless, got some medecine and am now on the mend :)
Tuesday: went to HLM fabric market for retail therapy. Unfortunately everyone who lives in Dakar was there because big Muslim holiday, Tabaski, is coming up and everyone needs a new bou-bou (dresses women and men wear here). After buying something for my mama, the next time I stopped to open my backpack, my bag was in fact already wide open for me because I had been robbed. Clearly someone had seen me put my wallet back in my backpack and while I was getting tossed around in the crowd- someone reached in. Dakar is known for its pick pockets but I was just so bummed because I am usually so careful and had almost made it to the end with all my stuff. The good news- I only lost 40 bucks. In fact, 30 minutes later someone called me because they found my wallet on the ground, void of money but still had my ID cards in it. Retrieving it involved an hour adventure with the help of a Senegalese whose name was Monsieur Yess and greeting an entire family and sitting in their living room before I got it back. Nevertheless, it restored some faith and all in all, was only 40 dollars.
French class is calling, but I'll add that Wednesday's expierence was eating lunch at my house with a complete stranger. My family just sat me down with her and I prayed I had not met her before and was now being rude. She gave me an apple at the end so I guess I did not offend her.
Much love
Hannah
Less than 3 weeks left and I still seem to be having cultural "expierences" on a daily basis. Monday brought a visit to the doctor. Last week, I was feeling feverish, exhausted, and having bad headaches. I figured the 3rd world had finally kicked my butt and I'd be over it soon. But by Monday my arms were starting to ache and worse, I was actually wearing a long sleeve shirt from being cold (I still sweat regularly here). Trying to suppress thoughts of malaria, I finally made a doctor's apt. Of course, when I say made an appointment, I first called a local real estate office and got very annoyed when the receptionist did not seem to understand when i repeatedly said medecin medecin (doctor doctor). Finally got my hands on the right number and not only got an apt for that afternoon but the office was incredibly nice. The doctor was very friendly and after looking down my throat said Ahhh, une infection des amygdales. I starred at him blankly. You don't know the word "amygdale?" , "AMYGDALE?" (speaking louder and repeating it always helps). A few hand gestures later and with the help of another doctor, I realized I have a tonsil infection. Believe it or not, tonsils is not in my vocabularly. Words like "diarrhea" and "I'm sick to my stomach don't make me eat intestines" have been more necessary while here. Nevertheless, got some medecine and am now on the mend :)
Tuesday: went to HLM fabric market for retail therapy. Unfortunately everyone who lives in Dakar was there because big Muslim holiday, Tabaski, is coming up and everyone needs a new bou-bou (dresses women and men wear here). After buying something for my mama, the next time I stopped to open my backpack, my bag was in fact already wide open for me because I had been robbed. Clearly someone had seen me put my wallet back in my backpack and while I was getting tossed around in the crowd- someone reached in. Dakar is known for its pick pockets but I was just so bummed because I am usually so careful and had almost made it to the end with all my stuff. The good news- I only lost 40 bucks. In fact, 30 minutes later someone called me because they found my wallet on the ground, void of money but still had my ID cards in it. Retrieving it involved an hour adventure with the help of a Senegalese whose name was Monsieur Yess and greeting an entire family and sitting in their living room before I got it back. Nevertheless, it restored some faith and all in all, was only 40 dollars.
French class is calling, but I'll add that Wednesday's expierence was eating lunch at my house with a complete stranger. My family just sat me down with her and I prayed I had not met her before and was now being rude. She gave me an apple at the end so I guess I did not offend her.
Much love
Hannah
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Bonjour! I'm still alive (and doing well!) despite 2 weeks of no blog. Since my last blog, my Dad and Carolyn visited. I was so excited the day they arrived I actually ran away from a scheduled field trip to jump in a taxi and meet them. They meet my Senegalese family- including eating the national dish around a bowl with them- saw lots of Dakar, and the three of us traveled south of Dakar to stay at a pretty beach hotel for the weekend. I definitely expierenced a little bit of culture shock eating one good meal after the next, having a mirror in my hotel room, and being able to crank up the air-conditioning as much as I pleased. I even spent an evening watching MSNBC's special on 'Sex Slaves in America' just because it was in English. Carolyn and my dad brought me enough toilet paper for a small army and lots of great gifts for my family. During our beach visit, one taxi driver insisted on calling my dad "Le President" and asking him whether he wanted a second wife. It was less funny when someone asked me whether I was his second wife. Both my dad and Carolyn mastered the "walk away" when taxi drivers jacked up prices because we are toubabs (throw your hands in the air, act pissed, walk away from taxi until they lower their price). It was so nice that they came and visited - even my friends appreciated it when my Dad and Carolyn treated them to a nice meal out!
Since they left, I cranked out my first ever 10 page French paper (no thanks to the dodgy computers at school) and found a group of foreigners to play frisbee with! The group consists of Spanish embassy workers, some Frenchies, a British man with a fabulous accent, the occassional Senegalese, and some other American students. It has been so nice playing and very funny at points- especially when one French man says "H-up" every time the disc goes flying in the air.
I find I miss WashU classes while I'm here. Whether it be my economics teacher who becomes very defensive when someone criticizes anything Muslim or another professor who spends more time preaching to us then leading an effective discussion, it is an example of how different education is across cultures and often very frustrating. I have another professor who simply lectures the entire time, writing dates of wars on the board, instead of making interesting conclusions about those same wars. More thoughts on this for another day. Needless to say, I find myself going to the bathroom frequently just so I don't explode in class.
This weekend, off to the north to St. Louis with the program. Going to St. Louis, Senegal makes me feel that much closer to St. Louis, MO! Before that, Thanksgiving dinner at the local American club with proper turkey and all. Looks like it will be a good weekend. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Since they left, I cranked out my first ever 10 page French paper (no thanks to the dodgy computers at school) and found a group of foreigners to play frisbee with! The group consists of Spanish embassy workers, some Frenchies, a British man with a fabulous accent, the occassional Senegalese, and some other American students. It has been so nice playing and very funny at points- especially when one French man says "H-up" every time the disc goes flying in the air.
I find I miss WashU classes while I'm here. Whether it be my economics teacher who becomes very defensive when someone criticizes anything Muslim or another professor who spends more time preaching to us then leading an effective discussion, it is an example of how different education is across cultures and often very frustrating. I have another professor who simply lectures the entire time, writing dates of wars on the board, instead of making interesting conclusions about those same wars. More thoughts on this for another day. Needless to say, I find myself going to the bathroom frequently just so I don't explode in class.
This weekend, off to the north to St. Louis with the program. Going to St. Louis, Senegal makes me feel that much closer to St. Louis, MO! Before that, Thanksgiving dinner at the local American club with proper turkey and all. Looks like it will be a good weekend. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Sunday, November 9, 2008
For those of you in the forgotten corners of the world...
Hello everyone! I am back in Dakar, after a week on “rural visits”, for the final 6 weeks of the program. The rural visit was just that- quite rural and in many ways, our hope to “make a difference” was replaced with visiting everyone and their brother in a small village for a week.
As I said, six other students and myself arrived in Kaolack, a small city 3 hours inland from Dakar on Monday. Our director in Dakar told us we would be working with a local NGO, APROFES, that worked in the region on many projects involving the advancement of women (whether it be giving out credit, helping women suffering from domestic violence, or encouraging women to get prenatal care). We would be divided into groups to study microfinance, health, and gender issues. The first afternoon we did the usual round of greetings, ate two huge platters of ceebu jen (national dish of Senegal; red rice, fish, veggies- in my opinion, quite tasty), and sat around for a while. When a few of us started dozing off in a post-ceebu jen food coma during a presentation, they asked us whether we would like nap time and showed us to some beds upstairs. While I had a fantastic nap, I had to laugh thinking whether my first day at a US internship would ever consist of a large lunch, a short slideshow, and nap time. Later on, we headed over to their bank to learn more about microfinance. One of the women had actually worked with the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh (I would later stay at this women’s house and then share a mattress with her for three consecutive nights in some family’s living room in a nearby village). As I have learned at my internship here in Dakar, the biggest problem is not having enough international donors to be able to give out credit to all the people who want it. The woman who had worked in Bangladesh said microfinance has been more successful there because they have more money to work with and because the poverty is that much more extreme so small loans go that much further.
The next day we hit the road for the village of Paoskoto, an hour outside of Kaolack (yes, I was supposed to stay an extra night in Kaolack and in my mind, be able to see the election. I was not too thrilled when that turned out not to be the case…). The APROFES woman, Ramay (who worked in Bangladesh), came with us. We were also accompanied by 3 men whose professions we never really figured out, but they did seem to know everyone in Paoskoto. We toured the local health center, met the local government official, met the town leader and his wife, visited a local school, and to top it off, went to a hair salon! It was overwhelming in that every place we went tons of ambiguous people had to get involved (at the school, hundreds of children ran at us upon our arrival and then crowded around us while the teachers expected us to ask questions over the dull roar of all the children). We also kept facing impossible questions. We would arrive somewhere and with little explanation of where we were, the APROFES women and ambigious men would say : ask questions! It suddenly felt like the meeting was completely our responsibility and we struggled to come up with good questions that were also not offensive. When we asked a group of students if they had questions for us, one student asked us “Why don’t we have books? Where are our computers?”. Looking over to the APROFES woman for help with this impossible question, she looked directly back at us with the same inquisitive eyes. A group of men from another village could only come up with one question for us: “How can you fix our water supply problem?”. Hold on, let me consult my American-students-can-fix-the-world’s-problems manual. By the time we were dragged into a hair salon and asked to “pose questions” to the women who worked there, our patience had thinned.
Another day we took a horse drawn cart to another village (pretty fun, felt bad for horse- was right after we ate a lot of lunch, the people from the village fed us A LOT) where we got to see hundreds of cute kids and pull up water from a well. Some women started dancing for us and in return, we suddenly became a traveling chorus. I can’t tell you how many times we sang “Ain’t No Mountain High” (only song we all knew the words too) this past week. While frustrations ran high at some points, being dragged to unnecessary places and hearing “Toubab! Toubab” everywhere we went, I did learn more about development projects in Senegal. In some towns, it seemed like people needed more motivation and felt down-trodden by their struggles, where as in another village, a group of women had started a credit center to help pay for health related costs and spent their free time going around to other villages spreading the word. They said their biggest problem was transportation- for some people, just going to the credit center to pay their monthly bill involved taking a bus they couldn’t afford. Imagine getting to the actual health center in the time of an emergency! We met another woman, Viola, who has been nominated for top 10 “heroes” on CNN. Her program, 10,000 girls, has helped local girls stay in school and start their own businesses so they can be self-sufficient. Some days, everything seemed inefficient, while other days, we felt really inspired. Always a rollercoaster here!
The best part of the week had to be the election. On the morning of the 4th, despite being shipped off to the village, I was determined to find a TV. I am sure I probably seemed obnoxious asking everyone and anyone where we could find one. The good news is everyone seems to own a TV in Senegal, no matter how poor you are, and our family had a TV the size of my two palms put together. I almost cried when they switched to CNN in ENGLISH. Not only was Obama’s win thrilling, but as I sat watching the election, munching on crumbly madelaines, taking power naps under the stars at commercial brakes (by the time Obama won, it was 5 am Senegal time), with a donkey 5 feet to my left, and topless women in my family casually walking by in-between Obama capturing Pennsylvania and Ohio, it was a memorable night. In Obama’s speech he referenced people watching in the forgotten corners of the world. I decided I was in that category, never having been so proud to be an American and never having felt so far from America at the same time. Priceless.
Another long blog. Miss everyone comme toujours. My dad and Carolyn are coming to visit in just 4 days!
As I said, six other students and myself arrived in Kaolack, a small city 3 hours inland from Dakar on Monday. Our director in Dakar told us we would be working with a local NGO, APROFES, that worked in the region on many projects involving the advancement of women (whether it be giving out credit, helping women suffering from domestic violence, or encouraging women to get prenatal care). We would be divided into groups to study microfinance, health, and gender issues. The first afternoon we did the usual round of greetings, ate two huge platters of ceebu jen (national dish of Senegal; red rice, fish, veggies- in my opinion, quite tasty), and sat around for a while. When a few of us started dozing off in a post-ceebu jen food coma during a presentation, they asked us whether we would like nap time and showed us to some beds upstairs. While I had a fantastic nap, I had to laugh thinking whether my first day at a US internship would ever consist of a large lunch, a short slideshow, and nap time. Later on, we headed over to their bank to learn more about microfinance. One of the women had actually worked with the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh (I would later stay at this women’s house and then share a mattress with her for three consecutive nights in some family’s living room in a nearby village). As I have learned at my internship here in Dakar, the biggest problem is not having enough international donors to be able to give out credit to all the people who want it. The woman who had worked in Bangladesh said microfinance has been more successful there because they have more money to work with and because the poverty is that much more extreme so small loans go that much further.
The next day we hit the road for the village of Paoskoto, an hour outside of Kaolack (yes, I was supposed to stay an extra night in Kaolack and in my mind, be able to see the election. I was not too thrilled when that turned out not to be the case…). The APROFES woman, Ramay (who worked in Bangladesh), came with us. We were also accompanied by 3 men whose professions we never really figured out, but they did seem to know everyone in Paoskoto. We toured the local health center, met the local government official, met the town leader and his wife, visited a local school, and to top it off, went to a hair salon! It was overwhelming in that every place we went tons of ambiguous people had to get involved (at the school, hundreds of children ran at us upon our arrival and then crowded around us while the teachers expected us to ask questions over the dull roar of all the children). We also kept facing impossible questions. We would arrive somewhere and with little explanation of where we were, the APROFES women and ambigious men would say : ask questions! It suddenly felt like the meeting was completely our responsibility and we struggled to come up with good questions that were also not offensive. When we asked a group of students if they had questions for us, one student asked us “Why don’t we have books? Where are our computers?”. Looking over to the APROFES woman for help with this impossible question, she looked directly back at us with the same inquisitive eyes. A group of men from another village could only come up with one question for us: “How can you fix our water supply problem?”. Hold on, let me consult my American-students-can-fix-the-world’s-problems manual. By the time we were dragged into a hair salon and asked to “pose questions” to the women who worked there, our patience had thinned.
Another day we took a horse drawn cart to another village (pretty fun, felt bad for horse- was right after we ate a lot of lunch, the people from the village fed us A LOT) where we got to see hundreds of cute kids and pull up water from a well. Some women started dancing for us and in return, we suddenly became a traveling chorus. I can’t tell you how many times we sang “Ain’t No Mountain High” (only song we all knew the words too) this past week. While frustrations ran high at some points, being dragged to unnecessary places and hearing “Toubab! Toubab” everywhere we went, I did learn more about development projects in Senegal. In some towns, it seemed like people needed more motivation and felt down-trodden by their struggles, where as in another village, a group of women had started a credit center to help pay for health related costs and spent their free time going around to other villages spreading the word. They said their biggest problem was transportation- for some people, just going to the credit center to pay their monthly bill involved taking a bus they couldn’t afford. Imagine getting to the actual health center in the time of an emergency! We met another woman, Viola, who has been nominated for top 10 “heroes” on CNN. Her program, 10,000 girls, has helped local girls stay in school and start their own businesses so they can be self-sufficient. Some days, everything seemed inefficient, while other days, we felt really inspired. Always a rollercoaster here!
The best part of the week had to be the election. On the morning of the 4th, despite being shipped off to the village, I was determined to find a TV. I am sure I probably seemed obnoxious asking everyone and anyone where we could find one. The good news is everyone seems to own a TV in Senegal, no matter how poor you are, and our family had a TV the size of my two palms put together. I almost cried when they switched to CNN in ENGLISH. Not only was Obama’s win thrilling, but as I sat watching the election, munching on crumbly madelaines, taking power naps under the stars at commercial brakes (by the time Obama won, it was 5 am Senegal time), with a donkey 5 feet to my left, and topless women in my family casually walking by in-between Obama capturing Pennsylvania and Ohio, it was a memorable night. In Obama’s speech he referenced people watching in the forgotten corners of the world. I decided I was in that category, never having been so proud to be an American and never having felt so far from America at the same time. Priceless.
Another long blog. Miss everyone comme toujours. My dad and Carolyn are coming to visit in just 4 days!
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Blog Update!
November 1st. Apparently today is daylights savings, but Senegal has decided it is uninterested in all this clock changing business. After some quick research, it turns out Guam, Arizona and Senegal all have this in common. The explanation? All three have too much sunlight as it is and don't need the extra hour. Amen to that.
Monday morning I leave for Kaolack, a city three hours inland from Dakar. I will be working with APROFES, a women's organization that works on a lot of issues, including microfinance (something I was looking forward to studying here). 6 other students and I spend a day getting debriefed on what they do (will probably involve a lot of tea and pretending like we understand Wolof) and then get sent off to local villages to live with families and work in our respective fields (gender, health, microfinance). It turns out I made a fabulous life decision when I picked microfinance. The 3 students who are studying microfinance get to stay in Kaolack for Tuesday night as well: essentially, our chances of watching the elections on TV just went up exponentially. I'm thrilled. A bunch of students who are going to very remote areas have been told that hopefully someone in their village will have a radio. Before I heard about my specific assignment, I had a nightmare that I couldn't find out who won for three days. The dream wrapped up with Obama paying for my laundry and buying me a meal (my roommate commented on what a romantic dream it was, I thought it was more indicative of my priorities these days- food, clean clothes, and knowing I don't have to move to Canada at the end of my study abroad expierence).
Other highlights: Went to the DESERT. Jumped in a van (ok that makes it sound more casual than anything ever is- involved about 10 calls with the driver who still brought a van that was too small) with some fellow students last Saturday morning and went 3 hours north of Dakar to the town of Lampool. When we got there, we met a woman from Dakar who was doing work in Lampool. Turns out she and the local women make jewelry, baskets, statues, etc. and use the profits to buy birth control. Found it pretty amazing in a heavily Muslim country where many believe birth control is agaisnt the teachings of Islam. More and more women are taking birth control in Lampool and yet, it is kept very quiet and none of the men have been told. While the secrecy is unfortunate and I'm sure the men wouldn't be thrilled to know they have been kept in the dark, I was impressed and bought a necklace. Then a safari-like-car came, drove us out in the middle of the nowhere for 20 minutes and all of a sudden we turn the corner and miles of sand dunes were spread out before us. After dropping our bags in the spacious Mauritianian tents we stayed in and climbing around the sand dunes for a while, we realized arriving in the desert at 10 am wasn't our smartest decision yet. As it quickly became incredibly hot, we grabbed cards, food, and laid around comatose for the next 6 hours under a big tent. Around 5 pm, 6 camels came walking across the sand dunes and we got to ride the camels (only about 15 minutes actually on the camels in comparison to the hour we spent having a photo shoot with the poor camels) .That night we danced while men who worked at the campement drummed along(included making all the women line up and shake their "jaay fondes" for all the men drumming - can we say degrading?) and enjoyed the fact that it was COLD. But, there is always a glitch and we had to laugh the next morning when the campement tried to charge us for 3 of the 9 free sodas we were guaranteed with our "all-inclusive" fee. Their reasoning? We had drank 6 of them before 5 pm, but the other 3 after 5 pm. If you have them after 5, you have to pay. If you are going to rip of the Toubabs, come up with something better than that. We said no one told us this "rule", they said who is the person who did not tell you this rule? Umm, all of you? Ridiculous.
This week it was two of my sisters' birthdays. Birthdays really are not a big deal here - especially in my family it seems- but me being me and being American can't really stand for this. So, Hanna (roommate) and I blew up some balloons and bought chocolate bars and left them outside one of the sister's doors. When we saw her in the morning, she had tears in her eyes she was so surprised and thrilled. Everyone in the family was saying "oh wonderful surprise!". It was really nice. The other sister's, Bijou, birthday was yesterday and Hanna and I embarrassed her at her work by stopping by with balloons and a little cake. Equally fulfilling because Bijou is usually a little too cool for me and Hanna and she gave us big hugs and told us we were "tres gentille" (very nice). So, feeling good about the family. We are going to try to make smores tomorrow night with them. Should be funny, especially when I burn the house down.
Off to the gym and then a Halloween party with other American and Senegalese students. My friends Leanne, Caitlin, and I are going to be the Senegalese flag. In other words, we will each wear a different color dress and can casually take off the hideous jewelry we bought if no one else is dressed up (taking this precaution after wearing a garbage bag to a "Dress Up Like Your Favorite State" WUWU-Contra Party freshman year (New Jersey = garbage state for much of America) only to find no one else was wearing a costume and I was wearing a garbage bag... ).
Monday morning I leave for Kaolack, a city three hours inland from Dakar. I will be working with APROFES, a women's organization that works on a lot of issues, including microfinance (something I was looking forward to studying here). 6 other students and I spend a day getting debriefed on what they do (will probably involve a lot of tea and pretending like we understand Wolof) and then get sent off to local villages to live with families and work in our respective fields (gender, health, microfinance). It turns out I made a fabulous life decision when I picked microfinance. The 3 students who are studying microfinance get to stay in Kaolack for Tuesday night as well: essentially, our chances of watching the elections on TV just went up exponentially. I'm thrilled. A bunch of students who are going to very remote areas have been told that hopefully someone in their village will have a radio. Before I heard about my specific assignment, I had a nightmare that I couldn't find out who won for three days. The dream wrapped up with Obama paying for my laundry and buying me a meal (my roommate commented on what a romantic dream it was, I thought it was more indicative of my priorities these days- food, clean clothes, and knowing I don't have to move to Canada at the end of my study abroad expierence).
Other highlights: Went to the DESERT. Jumped in a van (ok that makes it sound more casual than anything ever is- involved about 10 calls with the driver who still brought a van that was too small) with some fellow students last Saturday morning and went 3 hours north of Dakar to the town of Lampool. When we got there, we met a woman from Dakar who was doing work in Lampool. Turns out she and the local women make jewelry, baskets, statues, etc. and use the profits to buy birth control. Found it pretty amazing in a heavily Muslim country where many believe birth control is agaisnt the teachings of Islam. More and more women are taking birth control in Lampool and yet, it is kept very quiet and none of the men have been told. While the secrecy is unfortunate and I'm sure the men wouldn't be thrilled to know they have been kept in the dark, I was impressed and bought a necklace. Then a safari-like-car came, drove us out in the middle of the nowhere for 20 minutes and all of a sudden we turn the corner and miles of sand dunes were spread out before us. After dropping our bags in the spacious Mauritianian tents we stayed in and climbing around the sand dunes for a while, we realized arriving in the desert at 10 am wasn't our smartest decision yet. As it quickly became incredibly hot, we grabbed cards, food, and laid around comatose for the next 6 hours under a big tent. Around 5 pm, 6 camels came walking across the sand dunes and we got to ride the camels (only about 15 minutes actually on the camels in comparison to the hour we spent having a photo shoot with the poor camels) .That night we danced while men who worked at the campement drummed along(included making all the women line up and shake their "jaay fondes" for all the men drumming - can we say degrading?) and enjoyed the fact that it was COLD. But, there is always a glitch and we had to laugh the next morning when the campement tried to charge us for 3 of the 9 free sodas we were guaranteed with our "all-inclusive" fee. Their reasoning? We had drank 6 of them before 5 pm, but the other 3 after 5 pm. If you have them after 5, you have to pay. If you are going to rip of the Toubabs, come up with something better than that. We said no one told us this "rule", they said who is the person who did not tell you this rule? Umm, all of you? Ridiculous.
This week it was two of my sisters' birthdays. Birthdays really are not a big deal here - especially in my family it seems- but me being me and being American can't really stand for this. So, Hanna (roommate) and I blew up some balloons and bought chocolate bars and left them outside one of the sister's doors. When we saw her in the morning, she had tears in her eyes she was so surprised and thrilled. Everyone in the family was saying "oh wonderful surprise!". It was really nice. The other sister's, Bijou, birthday was yesterday and Hanna and I embarrassed her at her work by stopping by with balloons and a little cake. Equally fulfilling because Bijou is usually a little too cool for me and Hanna and she gave us big hugs and told us we were "tres gentille" (very nice). So, feeling good about the family. We are going to try to make smores tomorrow night with them. Should be funny, especially when I burn the house down.
Off to the gym and then a Halloween party with other American and Senegalese students. My friends Leanne, Caitlin, and I are going to be the Senegalese flag. In other words, we will each wear a different color dress and can casually take off the hideous jewelry we bought if no one else is dressed up (taking this precaution after wearing a garbage bag to a "Dress Up Like Your Favorite State" WUWU-Contra Party freshman year (New Jersey = garbage state for much of America) only to find no one else was wearing a costume and I was wearing a garbage bag... ).
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Long Time, No Update
Long time, no update. Sitting here munching on Reese’s pieces from my roommate who received them in a “Halloween package” from her mom. Some students in my program are considering testing trick-or-treating in Dakar. They’d probably just be really full because every house they would stop at would demand they eat part of their dinner. The Senegalese sense of hospitality means even random people on the street offer to share their food with me.
Since my return to Dakar about two weeks ago, school has gotten more demanding, I am in the midst of having a tailor make clothes for me (they have beautiful cloth here- some people say Dakar gets the shaft for not being considered one of the fashion capital’s of the world; I agree for the simple fact that all Senegalese women walk around in very high heels on a Monday morning on the sand sidewalks), and running water has ceased to flow at my school. Apparently the neighboring school has also stolen our generator. Nevertheless, I have begun to think more about what I will miss about Senegal opposed to what I currently miss about the US. For one, the aforementioned classes at my local gym. One of the numerous awkward moments that seem to characterize everyday here was during a “Body Attack” class. This class is unbelievable. The room is always filled past capacity and is an hour of either jumping up and down, an obscene number of push-ups, or splitting the class in two and having everybody run at each other. By the end of the class, everyone is so exhausted people actually look pissed as the instructors continue to scream Allons-y! (Let’s go!). During one exercise they had everyone running around the room in circles doing high knees. An instructor was suddenly next to me and put his hand out as if he wanted to hold hands. In the scheme of things it didn’t seem too weird- we had already done some type of square dancing that involved interlocking arms. So I finally put my hand in his. Only to finally hear him say “genou! genou!” (knees! knees!). The hand motion was to get me to lift my knees higher. My face was probably the color of a tomato. He just let go of my hand and pranced off to the next victim.
The theme of being kind of lost continued throughout the week. This past Sunday, three other girls from my program and I headed off to the nearby “Ile de Madelaine”- an uninhabited island off the coast of Dakar- for the day. We paid for the 15 minute boat ride over to the island (fully equipped with life vests and a driver who was wearing a hard hat?) as well as a guide. Upon arrival, no sooner had we gotten out of the boat, it was gone. While there were some Frenchies with us, one sporting an entirely too small speedo, it wasn’t exactly clear where this guide was and we had just been deserted on the island. So, we decided to just started walking around. But, the Senegalese have a way of coming through and within 10 minutes a man just emerged from the brush and started walking with us. “Ummm, are you the guide?” “Yep”. Hey great! The island turned out to be beautiful and included hundreds of birds and some quality kodak moments inside a baobab tree (national tree of Senegal).
Then, yesterday, it had finally been set for me to have a meeting with the company I am supposed to be interning with (yes, I have been here for 8 weeks already). The woman who coordinates all the internship business is less than pleasant. She is very scatter-brained, rarely listens but prefers to bark in French over the phone, and has a tendency to ignore people for weeks on end. Nevertheless, she has lots of connections and has found me an internship at a microcredit agency, an aspect of economics that really intrigues me. When she and I arrived in the neighborhood where the company was, she realized she didn’t know exactly where it was. Unfortunately, neither did the 10 people we asked on the street. She had also forgotten the number of the agency. Solution? Go home and try again another day. Had to laugh when she told me I’d have to come back another day and find it by myself once she got the address and phone number. That sounds like that will end well. Oh well, all about patience.
Finally, I gave a presentation in my French class today on marabouts (heads of Islamic brotherhoods) in Senegal and their power in the government (HUGE topic). Despite being a secular state, marabouts who head some of the major brotherhoods have a lot of power in Senegal because citizens have deep respect for the marabouts’ opinions and will usually vote the same way as their marabouts. Today, the president, Wade, is a member of a major brotherhood in Senegal called the Murids. As a result, the government is essentially being run from the holy Murid city, Touba. Yesterday, my culture class had a speaker who works in Senegalese media. He talked about all the opposition media (against the government) and the emergence of private radio in Senegal. Given that 30 or so percent of the population can’t read, the radio in Wolof (most prevalent language in Senegal) has allowed many more people in Senegal to be more aware of what is going on in the country. As a result, more people, especially young people, now view the marabouts only as a spiritual leader, rather than as a leader on every aspect of society from religion to politics. Religion will continue to be a huge factor in the Senegalese state but it was interesting to learn about the influence of the media.
Ok, long update. 1 week until rural visits. Apparently we will be staying in villages outside of Dakar by ourselves and few people speak French (funny how at this point French is the comfort language; there is a sense of relief when you find out someone speaks French). Sounds like some quality time in my own head.
Since my return to Dakar about two weeks ago, school has gotten more demanding, I am in the midst of having a tailor make clothes for me (they have beautiful cloth here- some people say Dakar gets the shaft for not being considered one of the fashion capital’s of the world; I agree for the simple fact that all Senegalese women walk around in very high heels on a Monday morning on the sand sidewalks), and running water has ceased to flow at my school. Apparently the neighboring school has also stolen our generator. Nevertheless, I have begun to think more about what I will miss about Senegal opposed to what I currently miss about the US. For one, the aforementioned classes at my local gym. One of the numerous awkward moments that seem to characterize everyday here was during a “Body Attack” class. This class is unbelievable. The room is always filled past capacity and is an hour of either jumping up and down, an obscene number of push-ups, or splitting the class in two and having everybody run at each other. By the end of the class, everyone is so exhausted people actually look pissed as the instructors continue to scream Allons-y! (Let’s go!). During one exercise they had everyone running around the room in circles doing high knees. An instructor was suddenly next to me and put his hand out as if he wanted to hold hands. In the scheme of things it didn’t seem too weird- we had already done some type of square dancing that involved interlocking arms. So I finally put my hand in his. Only to finally hear him say “genou! genou!” (knees! knees!). The hand motion was to get me to lift my knees higher. My face was probably the color of a tomato. He just let go of my hand and pranced off to the next victim.
The theme of being kind of lost continued throughout the week. This past Sunday, three other girls from my program and I headed off to the nearby “Ile de Madelaine”- an uninhabited island off the coast of Dakar- for the day. We paid for the 15 minute boat ride over to the island (fully equipped with life vests and a driver who was wearing a hard hat?) as well as a guide. Upon arrival, no sooner had we gotten out of the boat, it was gone. While there were some Frenchies with us, one sporting an entirely too small speedo, it wasn’t exactly clear where this guide was and we had just been deserted on the island. So, we decided to just started walking around. But, the Senegalese have a way of coming through and within 10 minutes a man just emerged from the brush and started walking with us. “Ummm, are you the guide?” “Yep”. Hey great! The island turned out to be beautiful and included hundreds of birds and some quality kodak moments inside a baobab tree (national tree of Senegal).
Then, yesterday, it had finally been set for me to have a meeting with the company I am supposed to be interning with (yes, I have been here for 8 weeks already). The woman who coordinates all the internship business is less than pleasant. She is very scatter-brained, rarely listens but prefers to bark in French over the phone, and has a tendency to ignore people for weeks on end. Nevertheless, she has lots of connections and has found me an internship at a microcredit agency, an aspect of economics that really intrigues me. When she and I arrived in the neighborhood where the company was, she realized she didn’t know exactly where it was. Unfortunately, neither did the 10 people we asked on the street. She had also forgotten the number of the agency. Solution? Go home and try again another day. Had to laugh when she told me I’d have to come back another day and find it by myself once she got the address and phone number. That sounds like that will end well. Oh well, all about patience.
Finally, I gave a presentation in my French class today on marabouts (heads of Islamic brotherhoods) in Senegal and their power in the government (HUGE topic). Despite being a secular state, marabouts who head some of the major brotherhoods have a lot of power in Senegal because citizens have deep respect for the marabouts’ opinions and will usually vote the same way as their marabouts. Today, the president, Wade, is a member of a major brotherhood in Senegal called the Murids. As a result, the government is essentially being run from the holy Murid city, Touba. Yesterday, my culture class had a speaker who works in Senegalese media. He talked about all the opposition media (against the government) and the emergence of private radio in Senegal. Given that 30 or so percent of the population can’t read, the radio in Wolof (most prevalent language in Senegal) has allowed many more people in Senegal to be more aware of what is going on in the country. As a result, more people, especially young people, now view the marabouts only as a spiritual leader, rather than as a leader on every aspect of society from religion to politics. Religion will continue to be a huge factor in the Senegalese state but it was interesting to learn about the influence of the media.
Ok, long update. 1 week until rural visits. Apparently we will be staying in villages outside of Dakar by ourselves and few people speak French (funny how at this point French is the comfort language; there is a sense of relief when you find out someone speaks French). Sounds like some quality time in my own head.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Relaxing Vacances
Hello everyone, I am back at school after spending fall break in south-eastern Senegal. Let's just say, I am definitely looking at Dakar in a new light. As my friend Grant put it- before we left for fall break, I judged Dakar based on all the things it didn't have. Now, I am appreciating it for everything it does have. like toilets.
Last Friday, I left my house at 530 am to meet up with 3 girls and 3 guys from my program to take a sept-place (old beat-up station wagon that has seen better days with one seat in front, 3 in the middle, and another 3-seater stuffed in the trunk) to Tambacounda- the "hub" of Southern Senegal. 12 hours and miserably bumpy roads later, we arrived. For about 6 of those hours our driver swirved in and out of potholes as we drove through vast very green landscape and passed increasingly smaller villages with thatched huts, goats, pigs, and kids jumping up and down as we passed. By day two we had reached our "base camp"- the southern most "city" in Southeastern Senegal, Kedougou. It began to dawn on me just how far into rural Africa we had gone when the options for lunch at a local food store were canned lentils, tuna, or ravoli. That was when the game began: what do you wish is around the next corner? At the moment, it was a super Stop & Shop. By the end of our biking adventure, it was a spa.
By the third morning, we had run into a guide who said he charged 15 dollars a day and would bring us around to the local villages. My group proposed the idea of renting bikes to get around; our guide said we had to be "tres fort" (very strong) to bike the 75 km or so to get around over the next few days. We confidentely said yes, we are tres tres fort. It turns out it was not the distance, but the boulders we were biking across on one-speed easy-rider bicycles with occassional chains breaking and questionable gears that was the issue. That day, we biked for a while, stopped, climbed a mountain with stunning views across to Guinea (wasn't really planning on doing this but all of a sudden our guide was leading us up a steep incline and there you go), and then continued on to the town of Ibel. About 3 km away from Ibel, my chain snapped. So, we did the most logical thing: tied a string to the back of Grant's bike and had me hold on to the other end. Great video clip of that.
That night, we had climbed a second small mountain to the town of Iwol where we stayed for the night. Even when you know in advance, it comes as a surprise when there is no electricity or running water. I took a bucket shower behind a hatched fence next to what seemed to be the entire town sitting around, cooking. The next morning (post sleeping on wood bed = did awesome things for my back) I expierenced a little culture shock. We spent the morning walking around the village and any one- ranging from old grandmothers to small children- would just walk up to us, stick their hand out, and say "cadeau" (gift). We handed out tons of candy and kola nuts that our guide had instructed us to buy, but people kept asking for more and given this isn't the first time this had happened, it was overwhelming and disheartening that we were just seen as rich people who should give them stuff. Our guide sometimes had the same attitude- sticking out his hand during every meal we had, expecting to be shared with. Later on that day, part of our group got lost (to explained in a minute) and when we tried to recruit some people for help, their first question was - what will you give us? In some ways, sharing is part of Senegalese society- it is a communal society. Just today, a guard on the street offered to share his lunch with me. But, in other ways it is shocking, as I wonder how someone would react if I invited them over my house and immediately said "what did you bring me?".
We left the town around midday, climbed down the mountain, and jumped back on our bikes. We were feeling "fort" and ready to roll. Within 15 minutes we turned off the main road. Little did we know, we would be riding over what seemed to be a dried up river bed for the rest of the day. Trying to be good spirited, jokes were made like- good thing we are wearing helmets, glad my chain just fell off my bike again, gears would be awesome right about now. A few hours in, our guide said we were 30 minutes from a village where we could get much-needed water. A few minutes after, our group ended up on two different roads and being out in hot rural Africa suddenly got less funny. One group ended up forging 3 rivers and tramping through people's corn fields, going without seeing human beings for an hour at a time. Another guy ended up by himself for a while until our guide found him and had him bike through a stream to get to the village. Me and Grant- the only two people who had water-purifying sticks- managed to stay on the path the whole time and just thought the rest of the group was being really slow as we sat and waited at the village (in the meantime, we both got shit on by a bird- Amy, Paris take 2?). By the end of the day we all managed to meet up, looking quite rough and really shaken up, but fine. The next few days we saw a beautiful waterfall, met some peace core workers, biked on more ridiculous roads, played a lot of cards at various campements (little huts where we stayed), and trecking our way back to Dakar.
Driving home yesterday, I actually looked like a different person because there was so much red dust all over my face. My host family looked at me in horror and directed me towards the shower. The final stretch home had been scary because there had been a soccer game in dakar between Senegal and the Gambia. After the game, people were flooding the streets and one man actually reached into our car and snatched a friend's money purse right off of him. People were banging on the windows, starting fires, and throwing rocks. I have never expierenced any kind of riot and am happy to never be in one again. Needless to say, great week- what an adventure. So many more thoughts on everything, but this is enough for now. Back to school tomorrow morning and then three more weeks until "Rural visits". I think I am going to tell the director I already did mine and should probably sit by the beach instead. xoxo miss you all.
Last Friday, I left my house at 530 am to meet up with 3 girls and 3 guys from my program to take a sept-place (old beat-up station wagon that has seen better days with one seat in front, 3 in the middle, and another 3-seater stuffed in the trunk) to Tambacounda- the "hub" of Southern Senegal. 12 hours and miserably bumpy roads later, we arrived. For about 6 of those hours our driver swirved in and out of potholes as we drove through vast very green landscape and passed increasingly smaller villages with thatched huts, goats, pigs, and kids jumping up and down as we passed. By day two we had reached our "base camp"- the southern most "city" in Southeastern Senegal, Kedougou. It began to dawn on me just how far into rural Africa we had gone when the options for lunch at a local food store were canned lentils, tuna, or ravoli. That was when the game began: what do you wish is around the next corner? At the moment, it was a super Stop & Shop. By the end of our biking adventure, it was a spa.
By the third morning, we had run into a guide who said he charged 15 dollars a day and would bring us around to the local villages. My group proposed the idea of renting bikes to get around; our guide said we had to be "tres fort" (very strong) to bike the 75 km or so to get around over the next few days. We confidentely said yes, we are tres tres fort. It turns out it was not the distance, but the boulders we were biking across on one-speed easy-rider bicycles with occassional chains breaking and questionable gears that was the issue. That day, we biked for a while, stopped, climbed a mountain with stunning views across to Guinea (wasn't really planning on doing this but all of a sudden our guide was leading us up a steep incline and there you go), and then continued on to the town of Ibel. About 3 km away from Ibel, my chain snapped. So, we did the most logical thing: tied a string to the back of Grant's bike and had me hold on to the other end. Great video clip of that.
That night, we had climbed a second small mountain to the town of Iwol where we stayed for the night. Even when you know in advance, it comes as a surprise when there is no electricity or running water. I took a bucket shower behind a hatched fence next to what seemed to be the entire town sitting around, cooking. The next morning (post sleeping on wood bed = did awesome things for my back) I expierenced a little culture shock. We spent the morning walking around the village and any one- ranging from old grandmothers to small children- would just walk up to us, stick their hand out, and say "cadeau" (gift). We handed out tons of candy and kola nuts that our guide had instructed us to buy, but people kept asking for more and given this isn't the first time this had happened, it was overwhelming and disheartening that we were just seen as rich people who should give them stuff. Our guide sometimes had the same attitude- sticking out his hand during every meal we had, expecting to be shared with. Later on that day, part of our group got lost (to explained in a minute) and when we tried to recruit some people for help, their first question was - what will you give us? In some ways, sharing is part of Senegalese society- it is a communal society. Just today, a guard on the street offered to share his lunch with me. But, in other ways it is shocking, as I wonder how someone would react if I invited them over my house and immediately said "what did you bring me?".
We left the town around midday, climbed down the mountain, and jumped back on our bikes. We were feeling "fort" and ready to roll. Within 15 minutes we turned off the main road. Little did we know, we would be riding over what seemed to be a dried up river bed for the rest of the day. Trying to be good spirited, jokes were made like- good thing we are wearing helmets, glad my chain just fell off my bike again, gears would be awesome right about now. A few hours in, our guide said we were 30 minutes from a village where we could get much-needed water. A few minutes after, our group ended up on two different roads and being out in hot rural Africa suddenly got less funny. One group ended up forging 3 rivers and tramping through people's corn fields, going without seeing human beings for an hour at a time. Another guy ended up by himself for a while until our guide found him and had him bike through a stream to get to the village. Me and Grant- the only two people who had water-purifying sticks- managed to stay on the path the whole time and just thought the rest of the group was being really slow as we sat and waited at the village (in the meantime, we both got shit on by a bird- Amy, Paris take 2?). By the end of the day we all managed to meet up, looking quite rough and really shaken up, but fine. The next few days we saw a beautiful waterfall, met some peace core workers, biked on more ridiculous roads, played a lot of cards at various campements (little huts where we stayed), and trecking our way back to Dakar.
Driving home yesterday, I actually looked like a different person because there was so much red dust all over my face. My host family looked at me in horror and directed me towards the shower. The final stretch home had been scary because there had been a soccer game in dakar between Senegal and the Gambia. After the game, people were flooding the streets and one man actually reached into our car and snatched a friend's money purse right off of him. People were banging on the windows, starting fires, and throwing rocks. I have never expierenced any kind of riot and am happy to never be in one again. Needless to say, great week- what an adventure. So many more thoughts on everything, but this is enough for now. Back to school tomorrow morning and then three more weeks until "Rural visits". I think I am going to tell the director I already did mine and should probably sit by the beach instead. xoxo miss you all.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
African at Heart, Partying with Muslims
Think dinner is soon and since it may just be mystery meat, anxious to get home. Ended up having a splendid birthday. Highlights included: lots of great birthday wishes and letters (thank to you as well Teddy), buying and eating (correction: devouring) pasteries with my family from a place that was air conditioned and smelled like Paris, getting sung happy birthday in multiple languages multiple times, and hitting up a local restaurant/bar at night where not only had the other students bought me a cake but old senegalese men sung me happy birthday and told me I was an American, but African at heart... like i said, going to be a good decade.
yesterday was korite and all of the americans were super excited. some families gave their students bou-bous to wear (gorgeous dresses that are very colorful and apparently quite warm)and lots of food was made- it marks the end of ramadan. of course, as with everything unclear what was going on generally throughout the day. just basically sat and greeted six billion people who came to wish good tidings etc. had a big lunch and delicious baobob juice (baobob trees are the huge trees that are everywhere in senegal). turns out that no one really has dinner then (so not really our american idea of eating all day and stuffing your face- even lunch it was like i mean i could eat more...) and while i was fortunate enough to get some leftovers from lunch for dinner, some students were a little starved this morning. funny different concepts of holidays. we americans are like so where is the buffet? and we have to give food to every single person who comes over? who wasn't even invited and just showed up?
today had a european day. went to the center of town which was nice and quiet, ate at the institute francaise, went to probably the biggest grocery store in senegal (aka little smaller than average american one) to buy snacks for fall break, and then topped if off with some "nice cream"- delicious ice cream store. off to south eastern senegal tomorrow. someone's mom's friend is driving us in his station wagon...
sure to be many good stories upon my return :)
yesterday was korite and all of the americans were super excited. some families gave their students bou-bous to wear (gorgeous dresses that are very colorful and apparently quite warm)and lots of food was made- it marks the end of ramadan. of course, as with everything unclear what was going on generally throughout the day. just basically sat and greeted six billion people who came to wish good tidings etc. had a big lunch and delicious baobob juice (baobob trees are the huge trees that are everywhere in senegal). turns out that no one really has dinner then (so not really our american idea of eating all day and stuffing your face- even lunch it was like i mean i could eat more...) and while i was fortunate enough to get some leftovers from lunch for dinner, some students were a little starved this morning. funny different concepts of holidays. we americans are like so where is the buffet? and we have to give food to every single person who comes over? who wasn't even invited and just showed up?
today had a european day. went to the center of town which was nice and quiet, ate at the institute francaise, went to probably the biggest grocery store in senegal (aka little smaller than average american one) to buy snacks for fall break, and then topped if off with some "nice cream"- delicious ice cream store. off to south eastern senegal tomorrow. someone's mom's friend is driving us in his station wagon...
sure to be many good stories upon my return :)
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Birthday in Africa
good morning! been 20 for about 9 hours now and feeling great. in reality, the power went out last night and i woke up multiple times only to find i had sweated through my shirt (the same one i wore yesterday because ive run out of clothes) and this morning, both my host mom and my roommate forgot it was my birthday. BUT all about the positive attitude over here. for example, my host sister sent me a text message at midnight last night (yes, we do live in the same house) saying: 'Happy Birthday i wish to u happiness, success, health of diamond and all that u need and wish in your life. je fais beaucoup de fautes en anglais mais tu peux me corriger (i make many mistakes in english but you can correct me). so sweet dreams for u girl. i wish be the first". and she was. it made me happy :) also upon arrival at school this morning, totally snagged a computer within seconds and the internet was working. its going be a good day/ decade.
this past weekend, i went with 7 other students to a small beach town - pompingin- 2 hours south of dakar. highlights included: my friend having to push the taxi we took to get to the gare routiere (a large field with tons of old station wagons and buses that can take you wherever you need to go after an hour of bargaining with at least 20 men) because it broke down in the middle of a traffic circle, staying in a huge house right on the beach for like 10 bucks a night per person, paying the salaries of every person in the town for the month by buying lots of food from the local "grocery store" (read: hut with canned veggies, drinks, and eggs), eating dinner on the beach with candles and my friends surprising me with a cake made out of cookies welded together with nutella for my birthday, and seeing real-life huge giraffes and rhinos about 2 feet from me at a local reserve.
tomorrow is korite, the festival ending ramadan (well it could be thursday- depends on the moon). apparently it entails lots of eating and everyone wearing beautiful dresses- both those things sound good to me. then this weekend, off on a 15 hour adventure to south-eastern senegal to do some mountain climbing, see waterfalls, and hang out with the people of the bassari country. i read a travel humor book that says that "sometimes half the fun of going somewhere is getting there. most of the time its not"....
sorry i have not been as good at responding to everyone's emails of late- been away/power not working but i really appreciate all the birthday cards (mom, judy, and dad) and nice emails... love to you all!
this past weekend, i went with 7 other students to a small beach town - pompingin- 2 hours south of dakar. highlights included: my friend having to push the taxi we took to get to the gare routiere (a large field with tons of old station wagons and buses that can take you wherever you need to go after an hour of bargaining with at least 20 men) because it broke down in the middle of a traffic circle, staying in a huge house right on the beach for like 10 bucks a night per person, paying the salaries of every person in the town for the month by buying lots of food from the local "grocery store" (read: hut with canned veggies, drinks, and eggs), eating dinner on the beach with candles and my friends surprising me with a cake made out of cookies welded together with nutella for my birthday, and seeing real-life huge giraffes and rhinos about 2 feet from me at a local reserve.
tomorrow is korite, the festival ending ramadan (well it could be thursday- depends on the moon). apparently it entails lots of eating and everyone wearing beautiful dresses- both those things sound good to me. then this weekend, off on a 15 hour adventure to south-eastern senegal to do some mountain climbing, see waterfalls, and hang out with the people of the bassari country. i read a travel humor book that says that "sometimes half the fun of going somewhere is getting there. most of the time its not"....
sorry i have not been as good at responding to everyone's emails of late- been away/power not working but i really appreciate all the birthday cards (mom, judy, and dad) and nice emails... love to you all!
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Lot of Sun Little Power
Bonsoir (Goodnight)! It is actually only 3 pm here but everyone starts saying goodnight around 1 pm - maybe they feel like if they start saying goodnight earlier in the day, night will actually come faster and then they can break fast (one more week of Ramadan and counting).
This week has been a bit of a dousy (sp?). It started off well; my whole group went to this gorgeous Gaudi-esque hotel for the weekend and the door to my room actually opened up to the beach. We got to eat lots of vegetables (!! its usually bread for bfast, bread for lunch, and rice for dinner) and i made a batik (create art with wax and paint, felt like i was in 4th grade but it serves as nice decoration in my room here- i hung it from some rope i strung between random nails in my wall). When I got back I ended up getting a bad cold which resulted in 97 tissues per the hour and I was less than thrilled. What made it tough was that my mother here (my "Yaay" is what we call them in Wolof) was being less than helpful. Sunday night she told me to go get some rest but by the next morning when I replied that no I had not slept well rather than saying "ca va" she blew if off and said oh you're fine. only to tell me tuesday morning that if i hadn't showered the night before and left my fan on, i wouldn't still be sick (no id be sick AND sleeping in my own dirt and sweat). a guy at the cyber cafe told me not to use napkins to blow my nose but i should use cloth tissues. why do you care?? go bug someone else! just a few days of everyone needs to get out of my face and stop giving bad advice. all compounded by the electricity going in and out, computers all over school making loud consistent beeps for hours on end as a result of power outages, my yaay consistenly seeming to favor the other hanna (my roomie), and when i disagreed with her about bad advice, shes like you just don't understand what im saying. and then tell my roommate to explain to me what she is saying. one of those i am not an idiot im just trying not to flip out at you.
long story short, i realized i was expierincing some culture shock. im not used to being disagreed with over useless topics like showers and not having my own space. this is also a heirarchial communial culture meaning that i am supposed to listen to what my yaay says and realize everyone's constant advice is just part of all helping each other out. before i left i was like, ok be prepared for culture shock. of course i thought culture shock would be over dealing with the heat, cockroaches, and mystery meat for dinner. turns out to be much deeper and personal. makes sense retrospectively. i guess that is the nature of culture shock- it is a shock haha.
feeling better today and excited for another little weekend getaway with some friends here. we are taking a "sept-place" - 7 places- (a 7 person station wagon that acts as a taxi and may or may not have goats on top of it) to a town south of here to chill on the beach, wander around in some of senegal's signature trees- the baobab trees, ride a pirogue (what the fisherman use), and maybe see some animals. reminds me how sweet study abroad is :)
finally, just went to a little presentation by the us embassy. like reverse culture shock and i had to laugh as this muscle-man true "Ameri-k-en" guy gave us a talk on security. comments like "well dont be going to the casamance area, they'll cut your ears off". all of the students were like that was one true "Ameri-k-en" (aka something we are not and are embarrassed by) and made me understand more why so many senegalese intellectuals here will criticize their own country and its people. one of my directors is like the post office is ridiculously slow and annoying and im like hey this is your country- but i guess we do the same thing when we talk about different american sub-cultures.
ok thoughts for the day complete. off to do some work and then maybe go to another crazy gym class. miss you all.
This week has been a bit of a dousy (sp?). It started off well; my whole group went to this gorgeous Gaudi-esque hotel for the weekend and the door to my room actually opened up to the beach. We got to eat lots of vegetables (!! its usually bread for bfast, bread for lunch, and rice for dinner) and i made a batik (create art with wax and paint, felt like i was in 4th grade but it serves as nice decoration in my room here- i hung it from some rope i strung between random nails in my wall). When I got back I ended up getting a bad cold which resulted in 97 tissues per the hour and I was less than thrilled. What made it tough was that my mother here (my "Yaay" is what we call them in Wolof) was being less than helpful. Sunday night she told me to go get some rest but by the next morning when I replied that no I had not slept well rather than saying "ca va" she blew if off and said oh you're fine. only to tell me tuesday morning that if i hadn't showered the night before and left my fan on, i wouldn't still be sick (no id be sick AND sleeping in my own dirt and sweat). a guy at the cyber cafe told me not to use napkins to blow my nose but i should use cloth tissues. why do you care?? go bug someone else! just a few days of everyone needs to get out of my face and stop giving bad advice. all compounded by the electricity going in and out, computers all over school making loud consistent beeps for hours on end as a result of power outages, my yaay consistenly seeming to favor the other hanna (my roomie), and when i disagreed with her about bad advice, shes like you just don't understand what im saying. and then tell my roommate to explain to me what she is saying. one of those i am not an idiot im just trying not to flip out at you.
long story short, i realized i was expierincing some culture shock. im not used to being disagreed with over useless topics like showers and not having my own space. this is also a heirarchial communial culture meaning that i am supposed to listen to what my yaay says and realize everyone's constant advice is just part of all helping each other out. before i left i was like, ok be prepared for culture shock. of course i thought culture shock would be over dealing with the heat, cockroaches, and mystery meat for dinner. turns out to be much deeper and personal. makes sense retrospectively. i guess that is the nature of culture shock- it is a shock haha.
feeling better today and excited for another little weekend getaway with some friends here. we are taking a "sept-place" - 7 places- (a 7 person station wagon that acts as a taxi and may or may not have goats on top of it) to a town south of here to chill on the beach, wander around in some of senegal's signature trees- the baobab trees, ride a pirogue (what the fisherman use), and maybe see some animals. reminds me how sweet study abroad is :)
finally, just went to a little presentation by the us embassy. like reverse culture shock and i had to laugh as this muscle-man true "Ameri-k-en" guy gave us a talk on security. comments like "well dont be going to the casamance area, they'll cut your ears off". all of the students were like that was one true "Ameri-k-en" (aka something we are not and are embarrassed by) and made me understand more why so many senegalese intellectuals here will criticize their own country and its people. one of my directors is like the post office is ridiculously slow and annoying and im like hey this is your country- but i guess we do the same thing when we talk about different american sub-cultures.
ok thoughts for the day complete. off to do some work and then maybe go to another crazy gym class. miss you all.
Friday, September 19, 2008
greetings from efficiency friday! trying to do a million things today before the group goes away to Toubab Dialow (a fishing village where we get to lounge on the beach and do some West African dance, art, or drumming) tomorrow morning. so far have eaten delicious cereal, hand-washed laundry and hung on the roof for the world to see, and written the beginning of a french paper on child prostitution in the US! still to go: grocery shopping, lunch avec la famille et hanna (actually not with the family- they are all still fasting- about 10 days left of ramadan), going to a local market to buy more crap clothes for fall break trip to hot interior of senegal which is more lush and has mountains, and then the gym. probability that this will all happen? slim to none. but i am being very american today running around to try to do it all.
this week has gone quite quickly and floored that come sunday, i will have been here for a month. a highlight of the week: joined the local posh gym. tons of little french women elliptical-ing and foreign families lounging by the pool. i actually create puddles around every machine i use because despite the lovely fans the gym provides, its toasty. yesterday took an abs, butt, and thigh class (to get the jaay fonde - aka a big butt- that everyone around here wants. whenever i leave the house to go out on the weekends my sisters give me a nice tap on the butt and say oh lala jaay fonde. other girls have not been so lucky and their moms have said to them: oh you are so nice and fat. not exactly something we american girls want to hear). ANYWAY, the instructor really pushed limits and we did more squats than ive done in my life. he was singing along loudly to the american music in the background saying I WANT YOU and I LOVE YOU as we are all ready to fall over. amusing to say the least.
ok off to the grocery store. if anyone happens upon some articles on civil war in uganda feel free to forward them along. i have do a paper/presentation on it in french this semester and washu library resources are like you are in africa, no getting into our databases for you.
miss you all! good luck at sectionals wuwu! don't worry ive been stalking all the emails...
this week has gone quite quickly and floored that come sunday, i will have been here for a month. a highlight of the week: joined the local posh gym. tons of little french women elliptical-ing and foreign families lounging by the pool. i actually create puddles around every machine i use because despite the lovely fans the gym provides, its toasty. yesterday took an abs, butt, and thigh class (to get the jaay fonde - aka a big butt- that everyone around here wants. whenever i leave the house to go out on the weekends my sisters give me a nice tap on the butt and say oh lala jaay fonde. other girls have not been so lucky and their moms have said to them: oh you are so nice and fat. not exactly something we american girls want to hear). ANYWAY, the instructor really pushed limits and we did more squats than ive done in my life. he was singing along loudly to the american music in the background saying I WANT YOU and I LOVE YOU as we are all ready to fall over. amusing to say the least.
ok off to the grocery store. if anyone happens upon some articles on civil war in uganda feel free to forward them along. i have do a paper/presentation on it in french this semester and washu library resources are like you are in africa, no getting into our databases for you.
miss you all! good luck at sectionals wuwu! don't worry ive been stalking all the emails...
Monday, September 15, 2008
He Has Trouble Making Connections
I have decided that all Senegalese men have taken a class in the Art of Persuasion. Given that they all aced it, they have decided it is appropriate to practice their skills on innocent foreigners no matter the time, place, person, or appropriateness of doing so. Yesterday, I went for a run along the Atlantic and as the sun was setting, it was absolutely spectacular. This bliss was shattered when I ran by a man who had also been running but was taking a break. As I ran by him, he starts to run again and then miracously, it seems we are running the exact same pace! Aka new running partners. He seemed nice enough, chatting with me how good sports are for the "sante" (health) and isn't it nice out. We reached a beautiful mosque where there are many steps down to the ocean that I try to run up and down once (many of the soccer players in Dakar come here and run the steps) each time I come. He runs down them with me and asks me where I am from. Unable to come up with the French word for Norway, I decided to be honest. By the time we had gone back up the steps, he had complemented my French saying I didn't sound American at all and could he have my number. "email perhaps? it is so hard to make connections here. he has a friend in the U.S. who is married with a child and is happy. he can show me all of Senegal and be my tour guide." i should have known.
I was straight with him and said I didn't know him and I wasn't going to give out my number (all of this is happening in French while we are jogging along the water and I am wondering how I will get rid of him before he sees where I live and camps out in my front yard for eternity). He said he understood BUT and then another 20 minutes of every argument he could come up with. He said if he was in the U.S. and in my position and needed help he would give me his number. and you would also move into my house at the drop of a hat and marry me if you could sir. the answer is NO. ridiculous encounter but managed to get rid of him before i got home. the good news is: it was fun to use my french a little bit and i was happy i could carry a conversation and run at the same time.
monday morning at school now. have my first oral exam in wolof on wednesday. it is on the 89873498473 ways to say how are you. this weekend was nice between some beach time, going out (included being at a club with overly-sexual french military men who grind with each other and then try to dance with you and more senegalese woman dancing at themselves in the mirror- now wondering whether these women are prostitutes? it is legal here), and eating at the wonderful institute francaise where you can get away from the noise of the city and oily fish for one night. spent yesterday at home doing work and reading. i feel more and more comfortable here which is nice. and it is equally nice to know I can operate in a 3rd world country. off to read a little french article on negotiation. something all senegalese vendors know like the back of their hand.
I was straight with him and said I didn't know him and I wasn't going to give out my number (all of this is happening in French while we are jogging along the water and I am wondering how I will get rid of him before he sees where I live and camps out in my front yard for eternity). He said he understood BUT and then another 20 minutes of every argument he could come up with. He said if he was in the U.S. and in my position and needed help he would give me his number. and you would also move into my house at the drop of a hat and marry me if you could sir. the answer is NO. ridiculous encounter but managed to get rid of him before i got home. the good news is: it was fun to use my french a little bit and i was happy i could carry a conversation and run at the same time.
monday morning at school now. have my first oral exam in wolof on wednesday. it is on the 89873498473 ways to say how are you. this weekend was nice between some beach time, going out (included being at a club with overly-sexual french military men who grind with each other and then try to dance with you and more senegalese woman dancing at themselves in the mirror- now wondering whether these women are prostitutes? it is legal here), and eating at the wonderful institute francaise where you can get away from the noise of the city and oily fish for one night. spent yesterday at home doing work and reading. i feel more and more comfortable here which is nice. and it is equally nice to know I can operate in a 3rd world country. off to read a little french article on negotiation. something all senegalese vendors know like the back of their hand.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Naka ngoon gi? (How is your late-afternoon/night?) You respond with Ngoon gaangi nii rekk. (My late afternoon/night is here only. aka its fine. have yet to understand what the "here only" really means but just going with it) I have spent the last few weeks learning all the various forms of greetings in my wolof classes. the senegalese are all about the greetings. there are like 10-15 questions people rattle off about people's families, friends, your health, etc within like 7 seconds of greeting each other. as an american, when learning about them in class im like no one really says all this right? i feel like id be a totally annoying person saying all of it. especially because it doesn't matter if you are on your death bed in the hospital, you say "im fine" to everything. or "il fait chaud" (its hot). but just something you get used to- i leave half an hour before school starts even though it is about a 10 minute walk because you are expected to exchange greetings with everyone u see along your walk to school.
Had another week of classes. Interesting to see how the teach here. A lot of writing on the board (which is a constant issue because the white board markers work for about 12 minutes before running out- its weird) and every class has assigned presentations to all the students. kind of like students teach the class past week 4. have finalized my schedule and am taking, french, wolof, senegalese culture and society, economic development en francais, and international crisis en francais. should hopefully find out about an internship in microfinance somewhere on dakar on monday. so things are shaping up. i like having classes (always have) and its nice to have things to do everyday but i am definitely so american in the sense that im like how can i do homework if the light in my room doesnt even work and i cant access a computer.
took a west african dance class this week - wow i have never sweated like that in my whole life. everyone was just dripping but the instructor had some drummers come in and the whole bit, was pretty sweet. the class was after i spent 3 hours, no joke, going to the post office and back. it was quite a day. for all of u who were just about the mail me a package, please don't haha. my mom sent me some cereal and milk which has just been incredible to have in the morning but it was a the quintesential 3rd world expierence getting the package. i went to one post-office where they made me sign a bunch of stuff only to go to a 2nd one by taking a bus and walking forever. there, i literally talked to 15 different people about my package and had a piece of paper stamped by each of those people. when i had finally paid for my package and am about to pick it up to take it home a man takes it from my hands and makes me walk around to another desk where a 2nd man hands me the package haha. just like i dont think u need 15 people to help me get my package but whatever- it was one of those, glad i expierenced it but never need to again. interesting- i was with one of the directors of the program who is senegalese and he was so inpatient about the whole thing- more than me, the american. i have found some of the intellectuals here are very critical of senegal and i find it isnt just to impress we americans, but because they get very annoyed with their country. seems wrong in a way. guess that is the issue of the brain drain with all the intellectuals leaving africa....
this morning went with hanna and my two senegalese host sisters to HLM, a fabric market and bought some cloth to have a tailor make me clothes!! ahh. its like 10 bucks for the fabric and then not much more to have a tailor custom-make something for you- apparently this is quite common in 3rd world countries and i am psyched about it :)
tonight karoke at "le mex" in downtown dakar. mmm we are hoping for guacamole...
Had another week of classes. Interesting to see how the teach here. A lot of writing on the board (which is a constant issue because the white board markers work for about 12 minutes before running out- its weird) and every class has assigned presentations to all the students. kind of like students teach the class past week 4. have finalized my schedule and am taking, french, wolof, senegalese culture and society, economic development en francais, and international crisis en francais. should hopefully find out about an internship in microfinance somewhere on dakar on monday. so things are shaping up. i like having classes (always have) and its nice to have things to do everyday but i am definitely so american in the sense that im like how can i do homework if the light in my room doesnt even work and i cant access a computer.
took a west african dance class this week - wow i have never sweated like that in my whole life. everyone was just dripping but the instructor had some drummers come in and the whole bit, was pretty sweet. the class was after i spent 3 hours, no joke, going to the post office and back. it was quite a day. for all of u who were just about the mail me a package, please don't haha. my mom sent me some cereal and milk which has just been incredible to have in the morning but it was a the quintesential 3rd world expierence getting the package. i went to one post-office where they made me sign a bunch of stuff only to go to a 2nd one by taking a bus and walking forever. there, i literally talked to 15 different people about my package and had a piece of paper stamped by each of those people. when i had finally paid for my package and am about to pick it up to take it home a man takes it from my hands and makes me walk around to another desk where a 2nd man hands me the package haha. just like i dont think u need 15 people to help me get my package but whatever- it was one of those, glad i expierenced it but never need to again. interesting- i was with one of the directors of the program who is senegalese and he was so inpatient about the whole thing- more than me, the american. i have found some of the intellectuals here are very critical of senegal and i find it isnt just to impress we americans, but because they get very annoyed with their country. seems wrong in a way. guess that is the issue of the brain drain with all the intellectuals leaving africa....
this morning went with hanna and my two senegalese host sisters to HLM, a fabric market and bought some cloth to have a tailor make me clothes!! ahh. its like 10 bucks for the fabric and then not much more to have a tailor custom-make something for you- apparently this is quite common in 3rd world countries and i am psyched about it :)
tonight karoke at "le mex" in downtown dakar. mmm we are hoping for guacamole...
Sunday, September 7, 2008
hey all.merci merci for all the emails i have been reading them and thinking of responses in my head and then like the internet stops working or i start feeling guilty bc the other hannah is home more than me and i feel obliged to go home blah blah. will write back or call this week. anyway visiting my friend caitlin in her neighborhood right now which may or may not be somewhere in the sahara. it is hot as hell and the bugs are quite large.
anywho 2 weeks down. had thursday afternoon free and so went with some other toubabs - white people as we r called here- to a fishing village and artists market.aka awkardly took pics of fisherman and their beautiful boats and then went to this artist village where i bought a painting for12 bucks, instead of the 100 dollars the guy initially said it cost. was also cajouled into buying a hippotame -a little statue of a hippopatumus that makes me suprisingly happy.think the guy next to me just got electrocuted by his computer. the guys at the artist market know like 5 english words like special price for you and fan u while u r walking around = smart guys. rode in taxi for apx. 7 hours and then ended up in friends neighborhood where there was flooding and tons of traffic. it was around 6 so everyone was trying to get home to break fast =everyone is super cranky and caitlin and i ran across a highway to get home in a foot of water. stuff like that is starting to feel normal. that and sweat dripping down ur back into ur underwear all day.
friday went to the center of town where people flocked us and eventually u just start yelling i dont want ur stupid statue for only 4 bucks, or 1 cent for that matter. researched price of going to morocco for fall break- 1000 bucks. so xnay on that idea. in the afternoon got on bus for just forever and in total blind faith that it would bring us to the beach. and it did and when we got there some men sold us a little hut to sit under and protected us from artists who would come over to us and set up their artwork around us. just relentless but the beach was so beautiful it didnt matter. beach men even invited us to their fish party that night w french girls lol. fish?? hey thats new for senegal! rode home in taxi through a sea of cows. went to a club at night and felt like a freshman in hs bc when we got there at MIDNIGHT but no one was there so awkwardly walked around and then partied to american music w beautiful senegalese woman who dance in front of the mirror to check themselves out and old french men. great crowd. yesterday spent the day at goree island- an old slave island - very pretty and calm. obvi have more ppl selling u statues but beautiful color buildings that look like downtown new orleans. had a tour guide who was like hold my stuff for me and put all her shit in my backpack. and had friend albert hold her girly umbrella. oh ok sure,no problem. anyway off to research what to do for fall break in a month. im thinking spa.
anywho 2 weeks down. had thursday afternoon free and so went with some other toubabs - white people as we r called here- to a fishing village and artists market.aka awkardly took pics of fisherman and their beautiful boats and then went to this artist village where i bought a painting for12 bucks, instead of the 100 dollars the guy initially said it cost. was also cajouled into buying a hippotame -a little statue of a hippopatumus that makes me suprisingly happy.think the guy next to me just got electrocuted by his computer. the guys at the artist market know like 5 english words like special price for you and fan u while u r walking around = smart guys. rode in taxi for apx. 7 hours and then ended up in friends neighborhood where there was flooding and tons of traffic. it was around 6 so everyone was trying to get home to break fast =everyone is super cranky and caitlin and i ran across a highway to get home in a foot of water. stuff like that is starting to feel normal. that and sweat dripping down ur back into ur underwear all day.
friday went to the center of town where people flocked us and eventually u just start yelling i dont want ur stupid statue for only 4 bucks, or 1 cent for that matter. researched price of going to morocco for fall break- 1000 bucks. so xnay on that idea. in the afternoon got on bus for just forever and in total blind faith that it would bring us to the beach. and it did and when we got there some men sold us a little hut to sit under and protected us from artists who would come over to us and set up their artwork around us. just relentless but the beach was so beautiful it didnt matter. beach men even invited us to their fish party that night w french girls lol. fish?? hey thats new for senegal! rode home in taxi through a sea of cows. went to a club at night and felt like a freshman in hs bc when we got there at MIDNIGHT but no one was there so awkwardly walked around and then partied to american music w beautiful senegalese woman who dance in front of the mirror to check themselves out and old french men. great crowd. yesterday spent the day at goree island- an old slave island - very pretty and calm. obvi have more ppl selling u statues but beautiful color buildings that look like downtown new orleans. had a tour guide who was like hold my stuff for me and put all her shit in my backpack. and had friend albert hold her girly umbrella. oh ok sure,no problem. anyway off to research what to do for fall break in a month. im thinking spa.
Monday, September 1, 2008
And Its Getting Real
Good morning. Just had my first class - Wolof. Nice professor and feels like quite an accomplishment not only because it is a new language but because he talks to us in French to explain everything. It is nice to be at beginning of a language because people expect you to know oh 7 words. i guess see if ill have the same attitude in a month. makes me feel ambitious and im like maybe when i get back, ill take spanish or something!
quite a bit has happened since my last blog. on Friday, we went to a cultural center and learned about a lot of aspects of Senegalese traditions and beliefs. for example, if i complement someone's hair and it later falls out im considered a "demm" or a witch and will be outcast by society. of course, no one will tell me they think im cursed, they will just stop coming over and calling me. AWESOME. me being a-lets-talk-about-everything kind of person finds this frustrating lol. we then ate our first traditional meal which involves sitting around a bowl and eating with our hands (only use the right! exected to use your left for the bathroom)- needless to say i had sauce all over my face and it was heavy food. so started to feel overwhelmed for the first time, especially as the count-down to meet our host families was beginning. that afternoon, 2 girls - maryjo and deedee - picked me and my roommate (also named hannah - of course) up. they are both 19 (comme moi!) except maryjo is deedee's aunt. one of many confusing relationships. we took a short cab ride and arrived at a cinderblock house. our housing director had said our house was under construction- more like it is very simple and the family doesn't have much money and is considering construction. but we each got our own room and the family is really very nice, especially the mother, which is all that matters.
the first evening we literally sat for 5-6 hours and watched tv. the senegalese LOVE their tv. it is crazy - no matter how poor the family- they have a tv. it may be heroes dubbed in french or miserable soap operas. the family talked to us and such but people are glued to the set. we ate a traditional dinner again (as will be the rest of the trip- sitting on the floor around a bowl struggling to remember to not use left hand) but they gave us forks. i wanted to hug them. the mother told us we are like her children and when we are happy, it is like the sun is out for her (i think). i almost cried- i think because it was so nice, is something my own mom would say to me, and bc i was overwhelmed just generally. she asked us what we were doing the next day and in my head im like umm something with you? but no, senegalese make no real plans- just kinda hang. seems like one or two people work out of like 10 and thats about it. so hanna and i wandered around our neighborhood most of the day running into out students who were thrilled to see us (as were we to see them). you spend lots of time greeting people and people kept asking us if we were twins because we have the same name. why the heck would parents name their children the same name??? made sure to say busy etc to avoid loniliness and it seems like we have a nice neighborhood and a nice home. so in general, everything takes some getting to used to be a positive.
yesterday, we went on a little downtown outing to see more of the city. everyone was siked to see each other but then i think a lot of us realized what frustrating while traveling really means. suddenly it was super hot and we spent 5 hours looking at government buildings and entering markets where people shove stuff in your face (only 2,000 cfas!!! i give you for only 2,000 cfas! i dont want it for 1 cfa goddamnit- they tell you to be polite but by like 3 in the afternoon i was like go away lol). our guide insisted on stopping every 200 ft to explain where we were, how we got there, where we were going. tried to not lose it. but had a nice bitch-fest with others and we bonded. later went to the beach to cool down and there were apx 74979873 senegalese men there. trying to get into the water all these little boys kept grabbing our feet and older men were splashing us and they slowly start to be on all sides of you. really ends up being kind of miserable and it is just so surprising. never not been able to swim before but they make it a struggle. you are drying off out of the water and you realize 10 people are taking pics. the day before a man told me he is interested in me and kept following me. he said it was love at first sight. i bet they think we are rude but some men really push limits lol. have more sympathy for celebrities now- because that is kind of what you are as a white woman here.
anyway, off to go home and have lunch with the family. then back for 2 more classes- french and development econ. some people ate esphogaus at their homes for meals- im hoping my family can't afford that haha. love to all.
quite a bit has happened since my last blog. on Friday, we went to a cultural center and learned about a lot of aspects of Senegalese traditions and beliefs. for example, if i complement someone's hair and it later falls out im considered a "demm" or a witch and will be outcast by society. of course, no one will tell me they think im cursed, they will just stop coming over and calling me. AWESOME. me being a-lets-talk-about-everything kind of person finds this frustrating lol. we then ate our first traditional meal which involves sitting around a bowl and eating with our hands (only use the right! exected to use your left for the bathroom)- needless to say i had sauce all over my face and it was heavy food. so started to feel overwhelmed for the first time, especially as the count-down to meet our host families was beginning. that afternoon, 2 girls - maryjo and deedee - picked me and my roommate (also named hannah - of course) up. they are both 19 (comme moi!) except maryjo is deedee's aunt. one of many confusing relationships. we took a short cab ride and arrived at a cinderblock house. our housing director had said our house was under construction- more like it is very simple and the family doesn't have much money and is considering construction. but we each got our own room and the family is really very nice, especially the mother, which is all that matters.
the first evening we literally sat for 5-6 hours and watched tv. the senegalese LOVE their tv. it is crazy - no matter how poor the family- they have a tv. it may be heroes dubbed in french or miserable soap operas. the family talked to us and such but people are glued to the set. we ate a traditional dinner again (as will be the rest of the trip- sitting on the floor around a bowl struggling to remember to not use left hand) but they gave us forks. i wanted to hug them. the mother told us we are like her children and when we are happy, it is like the sun is out for her (i think). i almost cried- i think because it was so nice, is something my own mom would say to me, and bc i was overwhelmed just generally. she asked us what we were doing the next day and in my head im like umm something with you? but no, senegalese make no real plans- just kinda hang. seems like one or two people work out of like 10 and thats about it. so hanna and i wandered around our neighborhood most of the day running into out students who were thrilled to see us (as were we to see them). you spend lots of time greeting people and people kept asking us if we were twins because we have the same name. why the heck would parents name their children the same name??? made sure to say busy etc to avoid loniliness and it seems like we have a nice neighborhood and a nice home. so in general, everything takes some getting to used to be a positive.
yesterday, we went on a little downtown outing to see more of the city. everyone was siked to see each other but then i think a lot of us realized what frustrating while traveling really means. suddenly it was super hot and we spent 5 hours looking at government buildings and entering markets where people shove stuff in your face (only 2,000 cfas!!! i give you for only 2,000 cfas! i dont want it for 1 cfa goddamnit- they tell you to be polite but by like 3 in the afternoon i was like go away lol). our guide insisted on stopping every 200 ft to explain where we were, how we got there, where we were going. tried to not lose it. but had a nice bitch-fest with others and we bonded. later went to the beach to cool down and there were apx 74979873 senegalese men there. trying to get into the water all these little boys kept grabbing our feet and older men were splashing us and they slowly start to be on all sides of you. really ends up being kind of miserable and it is just so surprising. never not been able to swim before but they make it a struggle. you are drying off out of the water and you realize 10 people are taking pics. the day before a man told me he is interested in me and kept following me. he said it was love at first sight. i bet they think we are rude but some men really push limits lol. have more sympathy for celebrities now- because that is kind of what you are as a white woman here.
anyway, off to go home and have lunch with the family. then back for 2 more classes- french and development econ. some people ate esphogaus at their homes for meals- im hoping my family can't afford that haha. love to all.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Sitting in the computer lab with every article of clothing sticking to my body it is soooo hot and humid. It is air-conditioned in this room though and inchalla (a little wolof/arabic for you right there- it means god-willing), the power will not go out. Just made my first adventure into the busy downtown of Dakar with 9 other girls from my program. First we tried to waxaale (bargain) with taxi drivers in wolof - they immediately spoke to us in french but i think we got a pretty good price- about $3 for a 15 minute ride, = 1500 cfa (currency here). Our teachers warn us of getting ripped off because we are toubabs (white people). When we arrived we got some "nicecream" aka ice cream/gelato = delicious. then we found ourselves in one of dakar's biggest markets- sandaga market. it is like chinatown in new york except all the stand owners are much more aggressive and some followed us around for about 20 minutes. all of us were too overwhelmed to even buy anything and just walked around, clutching our purses to us (learned later from our handy guidebook that sandage market is one of the prime locations for pick-pockets- but we managed to hold on to our stuff!). at some points the carts are so close together people surround you on all sides and one man actually pinched my friend's arm and then licked his fingers and unable to get out of the way, he pinched me too. mmm you know that white sweat - deliciousssss. collapsed on the steps of some church and contemplated dressing like nuns in the future. was really glad we experience it though- where we live is a little ways from downtown and looks much less city like- turns out dakar is a def a decent size and we even passed "magicland" on the way....
about to go to a housing orientation. tomorrow we move in with our host families - i am living with a family nearby to our school. another girl also named hannah is living with me (i think the directors thought it was funny or something). anyway, apparently we will each get our own senegalese names and that should mitigate confusion. we are also supposed to call our senegalese parents mom and dad...that seemed weird. we will see about that. anyway my family is made up of a very maternal warm mother, a father who always smiles (just quoting what they told me here), 2 sisters and 1 brother my age, and then an older sister who is a widow who is back living at home with her 6 and 4 year old. sounds like party central :)
about to go to a housing orientation. tomorrow we move in with our host families - i am living with a family nearby to our school. another girl also named hannah is living with me (i think the directors thought it was funny or something). anyway, apparently we will each get our own senegalese names and that should mitigate confusion. we are also supposed to call our senegalese parents mom and dad...that seemed weird. we will see about that. anyway my family is made up of a very maternal warm mother, a father who always smiles (just quoting what they told me here), 2 sisters and 1 brother my age, and then an older sister who is a widow who is back living at home with her 6 and 4 year old. sounds like party central :)
Monday, August 25, 2008
hello again! day 2 is coming to a close. thank you for all the wonderful emails :) i am sorry i haven't written you back yet - i am using other girls' computers and feel bad using them for too long. supposed to be a computer lab but it is open at questionable hours and there are occasional power outages soo u know. will write back asap. please keep writing! it makes me very happy :)
took about 2 hours to fall asleep last night - unclear whether to jet lag or due to lack of air conditioning. would lay on one side and within 30 seconds my legs would be sweating and then would turn over- feel relief- and 30 seconds later hot again. i actually tried counting sheep- i got to 100 and was so pissed, i got my dorky head lamp and read my book. talked to a girl this morning and she was like yeah i couldnt sleep so i started counting sheep for the first time ever. made me laugh and it was nice to hear.
felt fine today though and we started orientation. met more people, ate more bread for breakfast and mustered eating an egg for protein, talked a lot about "culture" which was actually quite interesting, learned a few wolof greetings which i can tell will be a major struggle for me to remember, ate delicious lunch (flies enjoyed it as well), and then did much more discussion, talking about core values and realizing just how different senegalese values can be- like values of "time" and they prefer not to take risks, etc. thought the directors were good and lead good discusssion and at the end of the day, we got told where we would be living. they said there were 3 neighborhoods - one a 5 minute walk, one a "car rapide" away, and then one u have to take a taxi because its a 3o min walk. obvi living in the 30 minute walk away- its called the "sacre coeur 3" but i like a lot of the other people who will be living there. we all have to share taxis back and forth which will be hard but we walked around the area and it seemed pretty nice. find out later in the week who our families are and move in friday. gahhhh. i found walking around dakar today it already seems more pretty and appreciate it more. nervous abou t moving in w/ the families but i am feeling fairly comfortable speaking french so thats good. ok have stole this girls computer for 6 hours. love love
took about 2 hours to fall asleep last night - unclear whether to jet lag or due to lack of air conditioning. would lay on one side and within 30 seconds my legs would be sweating and then would turn over- feel relief- and 30 seconds later hot again. i actually tried counting sheep- i got to 100 and was so pissed, i got my dorky head lamp and read my book. talked to a girl this morning and she was like yeah i couldnt sleep so i started counting sheep for the first time ever. made me laugh and it was nice to hear.
felt fine today though and we started orientation. met more people, ate more bread for breakfast and mustered eating an egg for protein, talked a lot about "culture" which was actually quite interesting, learned a few wolof greetings which i can tell will be a major struggle for me to remember, ate delicious lunch (flies enjoyed it as well), and then did much more discussion, talking about core values and realizing just how different senegalese values can be- like values of "time" and they prefer not to take risks, etc. thought the directors were good and lead good discusssion and at the end of the day, we got told where we would be living. they said there were 3 neighborhoods - one a 5 minute walk, one a "car rapide" away, and then one u have to take a taxi because its a 3o min walk. obvi living in the 30 minute walk away- its called the "sacre coeur 3" but i like a lot of the other people who will be living there. we all have to share taxis back and forth which will be hard but we walked around the area and it seemed pretty nice. find out later in the week who our families are and move in friday. gahhhh. i found walking around dakar today it already seems more pretty and appreciate it more. nervous abou t moving in w/ the families but i am feeling fairly comfortable speaking french so thats good. ok have stole this girls computer for 6 hours. love love
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Le Premier Jour
Hey everyone! This is Hannah, updating you from Senegal. I have now been here for 4 hours and all in all, positive experience. Flew South African Air to get here and sat next to some Senegalese family. Right off the bat, a woman in an awesome colorful long dress was sitting in my seat. So had to do the whole pleasantly get out of my seat routine. She moved over and 2 seats down was some man she was also traveling with. An hour in, I look over at the man and he secured a napkin under his glasses so it covered his mouth and nose. Senegalese tradition? Pretty soon after long colorful dress woman put the face mask provided by South African Air over her mouth. Now I was wondering if the air was infected or something. Then another woman comes over who seems to know these two people and is like I'm going to sit in the empty seat. Great! where the heck did you come from? very nice people though, heard them speaking to e/o and prayed to god it was in wolof (local language opposed to wolof) bc i understood nothing. at one point i sneezed and they said oh you've got it too! got what? should i put a napkin over my face now? then the long dress woman gets up to go to the bathroom and decides she doesnt want to bring her glasses so hands them to me. sure, ill hold those for you. funny all these exchanges with minimal conversation. anyway, arrived at 5 am and was quickly asked by a man loading our luggage if i was married and told me he thinks he is in love with me. could he pleasssseee have my email? once we arrived the directors just kind of left us to get other people and there seems to be no plan for the day. breakfast was supposed to be at 8 or was it 8:30 or someone else heard 9? around 10 some bread arrived. :) living in dorms for the next few days and yes, the bathrooms have no toilet paper. but everyone seems very nice and have gotten to speak some french with a man who seems to be the gardener, or is he the garbage man? more soon! love, banana
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