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.