Korite weekend

Another interesting weekend come and gone! Can't believe I've passed the three week mark.

Saturday was full of adventure. I sent a mass text out to my fellow students to meet at a grocery store near my house so we could all pay Elke's family a visit. I walked there expecting to see only a few people, but there ended up being around 15 of us, a veritable parade of toubabs! Professor Sene had told us on Friday that it is traditional to give money to a family when they lose someone, so we collected around 7000 CFA and handed it over to Maman Binta, who accompanied us to Elke's house. We walked upstairs to find a room absolutely full of Senegalese women in traditional dress, all sitting around fanning themselves and cheerfully chatting. Not exactly what I was expecting, but interesting. We were ushered into the room where we had to squeeze our sweaty gross selves into the little space left on the floor. Maman Binta presented us to the mother of the household, who was sitting on a mat towards the front of the room. She gave her our money, and the mother expressed her gratitude. We then spent 20 minutes or so being stared at by the 30 women in the room, and practicing our basic Wolof skills. Not exactly the typical American wake, but I liked it- a house full of colorfully dressed people coming to talk and laugh with the family, share food, and simply be present seems a greater comfort than people in black crying and offering somber condolences. Maman Binta later told me that we had done a very nice thing, and that the mother was very touched by the gesture.

After visiting Elke's, a bunch of us decided to hit Ngor beach encore, which turned out to be pretty ... funny? Myself and friends Rachel, Britta and Amanda taxi-ed over and stopped at a gas station to pick up some snacks. We walked in and saw two other toubab dudes in camo hunter hats buying beer in the back, which didn't strike me as odd until they very nearly ran up to us and said "Y'all speak ENGLISH??" They were from Indiana and absolutely thrilled to run into some other 'Mericans, and gushed about their plans to drink beer and take in NFL Sunday the next day. I nearly peed myself with internal laughter. Things got a little fishy when we asked them what they were doing in Dakar. They said they live here in the city, and that they were "students". This didn't really make sense, as they obviously in their late 30s, at least. After a few more minutes of conversation, they told us they were actually here "doing humanitarian work". Then, just as we were about to leave, they told us that they really wished they could invite us over for football and beer, but that they actually worked for the U.S. State Department and weren't at liberty to discuss their work here, or tell us where they were staying. Ooookay.

Anyway, we left the gas station with our munchies just in time to see a Senegalese woman pull off her shoe and try to attack someone- it took 4 guys to hold her back! Not very important, but it reminded me of this one time when my high school basketball coach threatened to "take off his left shoe and whoop me Taliban style".

We made it to the beach, finally, where we met up with other friends Sean and his young host brother, Rebecca, and Jasper and his host brother Moustapha who's around 26. We played soccer and swam for a bit, and then who should show up but.... Our secret service spy friends from the gas station! I stuck around the beach just long enough to hear some of their favorite things about Dakar, ("You can drink and drive!") then went for a swim with Rebecca, Rachel, and Moustapha.

While we were bobbing around laughing about the weird secret Americans, Moustapha asked us if he could share a secret of his own. Of course we said yes, and then he turned to Rachel and said, "I want you." With a little splash. We bobbed around awkwardly for another few minutes, until Rebecca tried to break the silence, saying, "I think Rachel has a little smile on her face!" Unfortunately, the French words for "smile" and "mouse" are very similar, (smile = sourire, mouse = souris) and she ended up saying, "I think Rachel has a little mouse on her face!" Moustapha offered to kill it, and once I had managed to stop laughing I headed ashore. After saying goodbye to the American spies, ("If you were wondering why I only bought two beers at the gas station earlier, it's cause I have a lot more at home!") I caught a cab home.

Sunday was Korite! In the morning I went to pick up my outfit from the tailor, who was looking haggard after pulling an all-nighter trying to finish everyone's outfits for the big "party". I put that in quotations because the "party" actually consists of cooking all day, eating a huge meal around 3 PM, then snoozing through the late afternoon. It was fun to walk around the neighborhood, though, and see all the cheerful people preparing food and smell the smells of yummy cooking. Also, Maman Binta's food was pretty fantastic- we barbequed chicken and shish kabobs, and had it with a traditional Senegalese onion sauce and home made french fries. Yum!

That night, one of sister Raissa's good friends Nana had her 17th birthday party at Grandma Binta's house. Raissa and I headed over in the early evening, so I assumed the party would start around dinner time- wrong! The party didn't start until 11PM, so I spent around 5 hours sitting around, tying and re-tying my skirt. When the party finally did start, every one hit the dance floor, old and young alike. Young Senegalese can really move- there were girls as young 4 dancing their hearts out, completely confident and having a great time. Maman Binta made sure I was nearly constantly dancing, no matter that everyone else found my dancing hilarious. We left around 2 AM, completely wiped out.

Yesterday we had the day off from school. I went over to Elke's house for a late lunch, as her family is of the Mourite sect of Islam and celebrated Korite Monday rather than Sunday. The Mourites strictly follow the lunar calendar and refuse to celebrate Korite until the new moon has been sighted. The moon wasn't technically out until Sunday night, but the rest of the Muslim population was content to call 29 days of fasting good enough and celebrate on Sunday. Anywho, I had Korite #2 with Elke's family, who all laughed at my shameful eating-with-hands skills and fetched me my own special toubab bib. After another late afternoon siesta, I walked with my brother Pascal to meet Jasper, Moustapha, Rachel, Eben, Vu, Sean, and Rebecca to play basketball! We walked to a court about 5 minutes from my house and scrimmaged for a couple hours, which was loads of fun. Felt very nice to get some good exercise.

So, that's about my weekend! Here are some pictures, which include some of the cool animals I've seen since I've been here. Turns out there are two baby kittens living on our neighbor's roof! Other sitings include a praying mantis, a chameleon (this morning!! on the way to the grocery store!!) a dead rat the size of a house cat, really cool birds, a spider as big as my fist, a pelican (!!!), and giant snails!

Tomorrow morning we're taking off en masse for a field trip to Toubacouta, a village south of Dakar in the middle of the Saloum River Delta, a national park home to mangrove forests and such super exciting creatures as manatees, flamingos, and hippopatami! We get back Sunday. I'm going to take a bunch of pictures and have many adventures, so prepare yourself for another long post.

OK sorry I still haven't mastered how to put pictures in the right order, but here they are!

Elke and I in our Korite garb

Me and some people at Nana's birthday party- I adopted this baby all day so I wouldn't die of boredom

Little ones all dressed up- the girl in the green on the right and the one in blue in the back had some mooooves! They were all great fun.

Maman Binta in back, Raissa in yellow, and the house maids enjoying the Korite feast

Me pounding something or other into a paste. Mom, Maman Binta wanted you to see this one!

OBAMA FLAVOR

Emma and Claire in front of N'ice Cream!

Kitten on the roof!

Praying Mantis at WARC

Ngor beach


The island where Akon owns a house!


My street in Liberté 3

Maman Binta making her delicious samussas in the back yard

Le salon

The bedroom I share with Raissa. Mom, please note the mosquito net and the lack of bedding with which to make the bed every morning.

A very quick, upset stomach restricted hello

I was going to take some time to write a very long post with pictures, but my stomach is telling me that that is just not going to happen, so I'll keep this short.

Some bad news- a student named Elke lives literally just around the corner from me- she told me that one time she looked out her living room window and saw Papa Anicet taking a shower in our bathroom. Her host father was 78 and had Parkinson's, and last night he passed away. I met him once and he couldn't speak and didn't seem very with it- still was very unexpected and sad for her and of course her family, and certainly hard to know how to act and what to do to help them in such a situation. She'll stay on with them though, and Professor Sene told the rest of us that a visit to the house would be appropriate. I'll probably go tomorrow.

Happier things- today I went back to N'ice Cream, and tried Mozart flavor! He was delicious, though I think he and my stomach had artistic differences. Also, today is the day I'll go pick up my dress for Korite from the tailor! I can't remember if I already talked about Korite, but it's the big party at the end of Ramadan. Should be this weekend, though it depends on when the new moon shows up.

OK got to go-

I'm alive!

Hallo!

Sorry for the long blog absence- Joe, if you're reading this, I didn't drown in any floods, not to worry! I was sick for 3 or 4 days last week, which was dumb, but I'm fully recovered now (knock on wood.) I was concerned I had malaria, which my host family thought was hilarious, and went to a clinic, but I'm fine now, so no worries.

I've been here for exactly two weeks now, which is bizarre- some days it feels like I've been here for so much longer, others it feels like I've been here no time at all, but it definitely doesn't feel like two weeks.

We started classes last Monday, and they've been going alright- most of the professors are great and hilarious. Everyone has to take Country Analysis, which focuses on the history/culture of Senegal; International Development, a class whose sole purpose, as I understand it so far, is to make sure we all despise the World Bank and IMF; and Wolof. Wolof has been pretty ridiculous so far- all of us toubabs are divided into 4 groups, split between two professors. I think I got the short end of the stick professor-wise- Aissatou, while very kind, tries to teach us in one day what would normally take weeks to go over in any other intro language class. In a two hour class last Friday, we "learned" 3 different verb tenses, negation of verbs in all of these tenses, (every one is different,) and 5 different sets of pronouns. Try absorbing that much information when you're sick, the air conditioning is off because the power is out, and someone is smashing bathroom tile with a sledge hammer 10 feet from the open classroom window. I thought my head was going to explode!

Other than those three classes, everyone gets to take one other course of their choice, in whatever "track" interests them. I'm signed up for Environmental Studies, and am also auditing the Education track. I missed the Environmental Studies course last week because I was sick, but the Education class was great- the professor is really intelligent and thoughtful, and the class was really interesing. I'm excited to see what the Environment class is like this week!

Although we're in class for a lot of hours every day, we really don't have a lot of homework other than a couple papers thoughout our first 6 weeks in Dakar. It'll be nice to have an academically laid back semester.

Otherwise... This past weekend was pretty interesting. Friday afternoon my host sister Raissa took me to one of Dakar's markets to buy fabric so I can have an outfit (a boubou) made for Korite, the big party holiday to celebrate the end of Ramadan (this coming Sunday!) The market was absolutely jam packed with people looking to buy and vendors selling everything from baby clothes to shoes to fabric to bootlegged CDs to pots and pans. I ended up buying a dark turquoise fabric hand woven with hot pink ribbon for the pagne, or skirt, and pink fabric for the top. Last night Raissa took me to a tailor right around the corner from our house- in sum, I'm paying 16,000 CFA, or 36 dollars, to have a fancy outfit made just for me. That includes the price of fabric!

Friday night was this girl Melinda's birthday, so a bunch of us toubabs went out to a club called Just 4 U. They have live music there every night! Some of the kids brought their host brothers and sisters, and we all sat around a big table, talked, and drank West African beer. After a while we all got up and danced, which was great fun- some of the Senegalese guys were trying to teach us mbalax, the crazy knee jerking arm waving booty shaking Senegalese dance that makes all beginners look extremely foolish. It was pretty awesome. I'm excited to go out when Ramadan is over and more Senegalese people are out and about on the weekend nights!

Saturday I went with the host family to Grandma Binta's house. After chilling for a while, I made plans with some people to go to a beach called Ngor. I invited my host sister and a couple of her friends to come along as well, which turned out to be a mistake. In Senegal, everyone shares everything- food, clothes, belongings, etc. This is generally a really nice thing, unless you spend the entire day catering to my host sister Raissa, the queen bee of moochers. I ended up paying the entire taxi fare to and from the beach and the fee for renting an umbrella and a mat, which I didn't even want. On top of that Raissa asked to borrow my phone and used 800 of the 1000 credits I had just bought that morning, and "borrowed" money to buy food, which she has yet to pay me back for. After we met up with my friends Amanda, Emma, and Britta, she also promptly inhaled literally half of the pizza they had just bought for lunch. Last time I take her to the beach!

Moochers aside, though, the beach was absolutely stunning. The water was perfect, and the palm trees, grass umbrellas, floating pirogues, and the circle of men beating drums completed the scene. There is also a beautiful island a little ways offshore at Ngor that you can pay to take a boat to- apparently Akon owns a house there! Didn't get to go this time because Maman Binta made me solemnly swear I wouldn't "traverse the water" because of choppy conditions, but I definitely want to go back. We had a great time anyway, though, just lounging, floating, and people watching.

Yesterday, I went on an adventure with my neighbor Elke downtown. We successfully rode the bus, an experience unto itself, and then went to my new favorite place on earth, N'ice Cream. (YES.) They have Obama flavored ice cream there! It is delicious chocolate with crunchy chocolate chunks. If Obama really tastes like that I'm sure all of his Secret Service agents are constantly trying to lick him. They also had a flavor called 'Mozart,' but I just couldn't bring myself to mix the two. Next time.

Soooo yes that was my weekend! Right now I have class, but I hope you are all well. I miss home a lot, and love reading all your comments... Keep em coming!

Also, I had to buy a new sim card for my cell phone because the last one never worked, so here's my new number-
011 221 776107558
Please call! And if someone reads this and talks to my dad soon, could you pass the number along? I don't know how often he gets internet.

Baax suba

Heat Rash and Ramadan

If you think these things have very little in common, think again. The hunger that most of the Senegalese endure daily while fasting for Ramadan is incessant, as is the horrible itching of a heat rash that spreads all over your arms, chest, and neck. Moreover, Ramadan fasting and a heat rash tend to make all those involved irritable and tired. I think I'm going to try to fast one of these days before the month ends, so I will be sure to let you know the combined effects of fasting and heat rash.

Other things I have learned this past week:
1) "A toute a l'heure," which means "See you soon," in French, can be more accurately translated as "See you in 4-7 hours!" in Senegal.
2) The French word "legere" means LIGHT, not HEAVY, as I thought for the first week. This might have caused a few misunderstandings- the first morning with my host family, Papa Anicet asked if I slept well, and I nodded and answered, "Yes, I slept very lightly!" After our visit to Gorée Island, where the majority of enslaved West Africans were housed immediately before they were sent on ships to the Americas, I told my host family that the visit was "sad and very light."
3) Most probably, when you hop in a taxi, the "taxi man" won't know street names.

Un Tour de Dakar

OK! I'm back from our morning tour of Dakar, here are some more pictures pour vous! The first is the coast line near La Porte du Millénaire, a monument built in 2000, see third pic. Second is Emma and myself- Grinnellians en Afrique! Next we have Britta and I posing with a guard at the Presidential Palace. I automatically liked Britta when I met her because her name is almost Brita, my Grinnell roomie's name. Next one down is me and Adji, one of the program assistants- she's super duper! After the Presidential Palace we stopped at Cap Manuel, a military post left over by French colonists. Pictured beneath me & Adji is a giant pit where the French stored canons, and beyond the pit the ocean and the Madeleine Islands beyond. Some of us were planning a weekend excursion to the Madeleine Islands, until Professor Sene, the program director, (also a super hero,) told us that there was nothing there except "des reptiles et des plantes." Next we've got Claire saluer-ing a HUGE pelican we met on the beach at La Pointe des Almadies, the western-most point on continental Africa! The next few pictures are of beautiful beaches on or near the La Pointe des Almadies- we saw a little restaurant called "SECRET SPOT". Last, we stopped at La Mosquée de la Divinité. Super great!! Now I'm off to lunch with some toubabs. Some of the kids here did the presession, so they've been here for a month already. They have some Senegalese friends who are throwing all us newbies a party tonight, and apparently a pig will be killed in our honor. Don't worry, I'll take a video!

Pictures you won't understand!

I'll explain these later, we're about to go on a tour of Dakar and I have to go!

An Encounter with a Senegalese Death Pepper, and Other Adventures

HEY GUYS.

I am here in Dakar, at present sitting at my new found favorite place in the world, MyShop. We haven't had internet or phone access until this very moment, and it has been beyond frustrating. This post will be short, but I'm definitely going to come back here tomorrow and write more!

The plane ride was fine, South African Air is a pretty cush airline. They even gave us socks! I befriended this group of three older men who were on their way to go hunting for black wildebeasts in South Africa, and they helped me through airport security and to the gate. When I got there, there was a huge gaggle of kids who were obviously my group, so I sat with them until we departed. They are all nice, and I think I'll make some good friends here!

We stayed in a hotel (with air conditioning, thank Allah) the first night, and visited the house of a Senegalese woman, Honoré, who had worked with MSID for 10 years on our first day. It was raining BUCKETS, so we hung out inside, ate, danced, talked about things to do and NOT do with our host families, ate, ate, and then went back to the hotel.

At Honoré's house, we had the Senegalese national dish, chebujen, for dinner. We all sat on the floor around these huge communal plates and ate with our hands. (Only the right one! To eat with your left hand in a big no no.) Chebujen is really tasty- it's cooked millet, veggies, and fish, seasoned to delicious-ness. It was while eating this dish, though, that I made a near fatal mistake. I was eager to try everything in front of me, so when I saw what looked like a small harmless bell pepper, I grabbed it and offered to split it with the girl sitting next to me, Allison. What happened next I can only compare to a dementor attack (for the Harry Potter fans amongst you,) if dementors stuck flame throwers down your throat instead of making you feel cold. Immediately upon contact, I started weeping, shaking, sweating ALL over, and turning the most incredible shade of red. Allison was suffering a similar fate, and the other kids sharing our food were quite concerned. To make matters worse, the Senegalese don't drink any water with their meals, so to quench the fire we just had to shovel more food in our mouths. I can honestly say that is the most uncomfortable I have ever been in my life!

Anyhow- it is nearing 6 PM and I have to make my way home before it gets dark, but I will write much more tomorrow and post pictures! Briefly- we don't start classes til Monday, but we moved in with our host families day before yesterday! My family is great- Maman Binta and Papa Anicet are extremely nice, and Raissa and Pascal are a lot of fun. Pascal was thrilled that my umbrella opened with just a button.

In Senegal, white people are known as "toubabs"- with each passing day I feel like more and more of a big dumb toubab! It's become a running joke amongst us students- you bought that necklace for 6000 CFA?? You are such a toubab! You left your underwear for your host family to wash?? (big no no!) Tu es vraiment toubab!!

Things are so cuckoo bananas here, I can't even wrap my mind around it. Anyway, more later.