Friday night had my first uncomfortable experience. Moussou wanted me to go to a friend’s birthday party with her, but when I got there it was me and 30 Senegalese people. In principle this is not a bad thing – in fact, I kind of like surrounding myself with non-Americans. But, the entire night, not a single word of French was spoken, and so I couldn’t even understand what was being said, let alone partake in conversation. Since I have been here, I have consistently been conscious of my skin color (which is an interesting experience), but I have never felt truly uncomfortable or left out until Friday night. Thank god we had to be home by midnight, because I was ready to leave within an hour of our arrival.
Saturday, in contrast, was a very pleasant day. As my lastest pictures describe, I was in Goree Island (read other Sept. 5th blogs to find our what Goree Island is). We walked along the entire island, ate lunch (I had a salad – finally!), swam in the water, and listened to beautiful Senegalese music. The atmosphere of Goree Island is so relaxed and pleasant – sure it’s a little more touristy, but it was such a nice break from the fast pace of Dakar (I hadn’t even realized it was fast paced until I went to Goree – this is because, in comparison to any large US city, Dakar is still slow-paced!).
A bunch of us then went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant, and boy, did I love eating pasta that night! Not that Senegalese food is bad at all, but man my body is on “normal food” withdrawal. We sure treated ourselves that night – I think I’m going to need that every couple of weeks.
After dinner, we were off the a club called “Chez Iba” to see Orchestra Baobob, an internationally known Senegalese musical group that I actually saw in Milwaukee a couple of years ago. I learned how to dance the salsa and the mbalax (traditional Senegalese dance/music). I had such a good time!
I think in all the fun of Saturday, I forgot to drink enough water, because Sunday I felt really dehydrated, and, consequently, kind of weak all day (and no, it wasn’t due to alcohol people!). I still kind of feel a little iffy, but I’ve been flooding my system with water since yesterday. And it was kind of nice to sit around and vegg all day – I’ve been doing so much since I’ve arrived that I really appreciated a break and a chance to breathe.
Maybe I’ll get good at doing nothing while in Senegal. People here are really good at doing that. I’ll be sitting around at night, looking over my Wolof notes, and Moussou will sit beside me and do ABSOLUTELY nothing. I’ll make suggestions, like “Don’t you want to read?” or something, but she’ll always say that she’s content. I’m not very good at doing nothing – I get bored, and also, I always feel like I could be doing something productive. But I guess just sitting is a good skill to learn…
The most annoying thing I’ve experienced while here is the sheer number of flies around all the time. At every meal we have to continually swat them, and even if you’re just sitting outside, you’ll have to deal with them landing on you all the time. When we were at Goree, and all of us were eating lunch, I would estimate that over 100 flies were swarming around us. I hate it, especially since it tickles/itches when they land on you.
People in Senegal are very clean and yet very dirty at the same time. Maids will sweep the entire house EVERY day, even outside on their paths/sidewalks/porches. I find that kind of strange… And yet, for the amount of sweeping they do, their homes never really get all that clean, especially the kitchen. Mom, you wouldn’t be able to handle it, ha!
Another strange thing about this place is that their showers don’t have shower curtains. They showers are just located in a corner of the bathroom, open to the entire area. So, when you shower you get water everywhere, but at least you don’t have to clean it up after – you just have to watch where you step so that you don’t slip.
My weekend
