I swallowed a bug during the night on Wednesday. It’s still sort of stuck in my throat. Annoying. This happened to me last summer, and it took me a week to digest. Well, I’m on day 5.
I haven’t written in a while because I’ve been too busy to do so. Here’s a little summary of the past few days. Thursday night, a bunch of us decided to go out to celebrate a friend’s 21st birthday. Our coordinator suggested a place called “Just 4U” (kinda weird that it’s in English). So we went, and it was so much fun. It was a really posh place, outdoors, with canopies, brightly painted walls, two stories, and toilet paper in the bathrooms (I think a lot of tourists go there)! There was a band playing, and they were really good. Obviously they had a strong African sound, but I also felt that they had sort of an American, jazzy feel to them. In any case, they were really good – a lot of fun to watch. I got a few casual marriage proposals, but that’s to be expected. I did meet this reallllly nice guy there though. He walked by us at one point, and all of the girls were like “WOW!!!”. He was so good-looking. And then 10 minutes later, he was up on stage singing. Afterwards, a couple of us told him he was really good (he was sitting behind us), and we ended up talking to him for the next few hours. It turns out he’s a huge star here in Senegal! He has a girlfriend, so we didn’t feel like we were getting hit on either, which was nice. He was really intelligent, and we talked about politics and music. And then, at the end of the night, he put us on a cab. See, here you barter for almost everything, including cab rides. But since we don’t really know the normal prices here, and cab drivers obviously know we’re not from the area, they tend to double or even triple prices for us. So the guy, named Mamagou, bartered with the cabby for us and told him in Wolof where we needed to go. Very nice of him – he probably saved us a lot of money that night.
Friday was probably the craziest and busiest day I’ve had yet here in Senegal. We had our cross-cultural orientation at the Baobab Center. There, they taught us about Senegalese culture and gave us some hints as to what to do and not to do while living with our families. It was pretty helpful. But the highlight of our cross-cultural training was eating che-bou-jenn (sp?), a mixture of rice, fish, and vegetables in a fish sauce, for lunch. First of all, the girls all had to wear little sarongs so that we didn’t show off our legs during the meal. Then, we all gathered around a huge bowl. In Senegal, everyone eats out of the same bowl!!! One must imagine that the bowl is cut into sections, and the section in front of you is yours. Then, all the meat and vegetables are in the ‘common area’ in the center of the bowl. You’re supposed to take what you want from the center and bring it into your section. The tricky thing, though, is that you have to do it with only your right hand, and you can’t use utensils. So we spent the afternoon squeezing rice into balls with only our right hand!! I made such a mess. But it was kind of fun, and pretty tasty too. Afterwards, we drank tea. Apparently tea is a very common mid-afternoon happening, and can take up to two hours because people drink a series of 3 teas, each more light and sweet than the previous. We drank the first one, which was disgusting. It tasted like what I imagine a cigar or cigarette would taste like. The second was much lighter (no cigarette taste), but was really too sweet. I can’t even imagine what the third one would taste like! I’m not a big fan.
The biggest thing that happened on Friday, though, was that we moved into our homestay. I met my family at 5pm – a mom and a daughter. A very small family by Senegalese standards, but I’m really happy with them. They are so kind! The mom really likes to talk (which makes my job really easy), and the daughter, Moussou, who is 22, has already become my good friend. And they both speak really good French, so we are communcating very easily. And their house is so nice – much bigger and better than I expected. They have a really nice common area with big comfy couches, and I have a bedroom to myself. The bed is too mushy, but who am I to complain? They also have a shower, which not every Senegalese family has – many have only a bucket, which they have to fill with well-water (making the water much more precious). The highlight of the house, though, is the garden!! They actually have a garden!! And it’s a private space where we eat all our meals and where I can sit out and read or study. I really like it there – it’s what has made that house a home for me.
When I got to their home, after getting the tour, we chatted for a while, and then sat down to our meal. They have a maid (which most families do, so as to create more jobs). She’s very nice, but it’s kind of weird because she’s 22. I feel a little uncomfortable watching her clean or cook while the rest of us sit there. But I guess she has it pretty easy compared to other maids because she doesn’t have that much work, and the family is very nice to her. Anyway, for our meal, Elizabeth (the maid) made fish in a really spicy onion sauce (the Senegalese eat a lot of onion sauce) and french frieds. We ate our of the common plate with our hands, but Moussou helped me get the meat off my fish because I was having a little trouble doing it with only one hand.
Saturday, our program had scheduled a field trip to downtown Dakar. Oh man, that was an experience. The place is so polluted and crowded. There are markets on almost every street where you can buy anything from fabrics and clothing to shoes, jewelry, food, and artwork. The markets are really stressful, though, because they are overcrowded and the vendors are so in your face. I had two of them follow me for like 5 minutes, and they didn’t understand the meaning of NO (deedeet). I didn’t buy anything simply because there was too much to see, and I also didn’t want to go up to a stand for fear of attracting 5 vendors.
We ate falafels for lunch though, so that made me happy! After lunch, we attracted these 5 guys who followed us forever. Our tour guides, who were Senegalese, got a weird vibe from them, and figured they wanted to steal stuff from us. Often, thieves will be in groups, and will talk to you for a long time to gather your trust, then distract you while another grabs your stuff. Our guides ended up taking us into a store and keeping us there for more than an hour in the hopes that they would go away. But they didn’t – they stood outside the store waiting for us the whole time. So, we finally decided to call it a day, and took the car rapides home.
The whole experience was a little stressful. I don’t think I’ll go downtown too much, but if I do it will be in a small group. I think the fact that we were 13 white people walking together attracted even more attention. But it was certainly an interesting and cultural experience.
Yesterday, I went over to my extended family’s house. They lived a 10 minute taxi ride away, and the grandma, uncles, aunts, and cousins pretty much all live there. Apparently, my family goes over there every Sunday for lunch, so I guess that is what I’ll be doing as well most Sundays for the next four months. The family was really nice and welcoming, and there were a lot of cousins. Some of them are around my age and we have plans to go see Youssou N’Dour, the most famous Senegalese musician (I even knew him before going to Senegal, and he played at the Live 8 concert), next weekend. I’m really lucky that I have such a kind, easy-going family. “Mama”, as everyone in the neighborhood calls her, lets Moussou go out whenever she wants (as long as she lets her know the details), so we’ll be able to do as we please fairly freely. My closest American friend, Stephanie, has a really strict family, and won’t be able to see as much live music as me. I feel really bad for her, because she is as great a music lover as I am.
Update on the culture shock = hasn’t happened yet (although downtown Dakar was pretty close)
Realization that I’m in Africa = nope.
My family
