Mali

Hey guys! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

I just thought I'd give ya'll a little update on life in Senegal. Currently, I'm in Dakar staying with my host family, but tomorrow I live for Bamako, Mali. We are traveling via bus, which should take about 50 hours. The word sedative sounds really good to me when I think about 50 hours...But it will be an adventure. We'll be in Mali for the week, and the classes ... start?

I spent Christmas here in Dakar with my host family and with the Catholic family of one of the other Americans. It was a nice holiday, but because Senegal is a Muslim country it definitely didn't really feel like Christmas. Hopefully traveling to Mali with go smoothly, it's a little sketchy right now because I bought my bus ticket from a man sitting in a car in the parking lot of the train station. Don't worry though, it's the mode of transportation recommended by my host mother.

Happy holidays! I'll update when I return

what's new?

Ok, before I start on what's new with my life here in Senegal, I need to backtrack. I left off last week with my adventures two weeks ago in Dakar with my host family while we celebrated the Muslim holiday tabaski. I skipped one crucial portion of that day, dinner! I vividly remember hovering awkwardly over a pot of soup in the kitchen with Nathalie and holding a bowl while she ladled goat soup into it. More specifically, the vivid portion of my memory focuses on the large goat jaw that became the center piece of the bowl. I was slightly confused because Nathalie told me that the goat legs are good for making soup, but this was definitely a jaw complete with teeth and tongue. Consequently, i had a lovely goat tongue soup for dinner that night (and for lunch the day after) and Nathalie kindly shared the tongue meat with me...i don't think i will eat tongue willingly again.

After Tabaski, I spent the rest of the week in Dakar hanging out with my host family and visiting the malian embassy more times than necessary because I'm not the brightest knife in the drawer. Wednesday morning, Carlie, Maria, and I trekked off to the Malian embassy with hopes of returning with visas for our upcoming trip. When we arrived at the embassy, we realized that between the three of us, we only had enough money for one visa, plus, Carlie and I left our passport size photos at school in Saint-Louis, so we decided to return in the afternoon. Unfortunately, most of the people in Dakar were still recuperating from the holiday, so none of the shops that would take photos for us were open. We ended up just kind of wandering around the streets of Dakar in search of any shops that were open, and what we found was a really cool book store and a nice little crepe and ice cream restaurant...

Thursday, we eventually got our photos taken and began the process for the visas. I think that the people at the embassy found us mildly entertaining because they tried to force us to drink tea and told the security guard he was scaring us. I spent the majority of my time in Dakar with my host family. In general, I feel pretty comfortable there and Isaa is always crazy/trying to hurt me/being cute so I'm always entertained. Although, they may have been more nice to me than usual because apparently they had a nasty encounter with a bandit from Nigeria. Apparently, a few weeks ago, a woman from Nigeria knocked on their door and asked if she could stay with them because she had no money and no place to stay. Being extremely generous and trusting, my host family let her stay for five days, and then after five days they gave her the boot. Then, 9 days later, while I was there, she showed up at our house with police officers, and accused my host family of stealing her things. On top of that, she also took tons of fabric to various tailors throughout the city and is trying to cheat them out of their money by claiming that they didn't do what she wanted, so she doesn't have to pay. It's pretty messy and I feel bad for my host family because they were just being nice, but I think they like having me as a house guest much more now compared to a crazy bandit.

Besides following the story of this bandit lady, I didn't do much in Dakar. Friday I collected my visa, and Saturday we ventured into the downtown area to see what it would cost us to fly to Mali. Unfortunately, the travel agency only accepted cash, and I don't normally carry a few hundred dollars in cash around with me so...instead, we went to a very malllike building where Maria shopped for jeans and the shopkeepers handed me jayfonde sized jeans that were ridiculously huge. As usual, I got sick when I was in Dakar, I'm pretty sure this one was Isaa induced because the poor kid was coughing and crying much of the time I was there. Hence, I caught Isaa's cold, and it's been kind of dragging me down the last few days. I still haven't managed to shake the cold, but the doctor on campus prescribed me alot of strange things so hopefully I will heal right up. Speaking of which, I meant to catch you all up on what I've been doing since I left Dakar on sunday, but I'm feeling pretty wiped out right now. The week was low key like I said, because my classes never really happened until thursday. I think maybe professors were on strike during the beginning of the week, but I am definitely looking forward to January when we will be down to business.

Classes thursday were pretty good though. I was two for three on classes that day. In on class, the professor assigned me to write an essay on the economic crises in the US, hmm, well that could be challenging since I don't know much about it nor am I living in the U.S. right now. Oh well, at least it's homework! (I can't believe I said that). The week and weekend were a little rough in general here because of being sick and mainly because my Grandma passed away during the week. She was a really cool lady, and being away from home has given me a different appreciation and perspective on her life and on my family.

Tabaski

It’s been a while since my last post, and I have tons of stuff to share with you all. The last week has been really interesting and slightly draining. Last Monday the other Wisconsinites trooped back to Dakar, the capital city where I spent the first month, to celebrate the Muslim holiday Tabaski with our host families. We traveled via sept places, which for all of you French speakers out there is a taxi for seven people. Actually, it’s a fairly small station wagon that comfortably seats five, but manages to cram 8 (including the driver) inside. I got squished into the middle seat of the second row, which was pretty uncomfortable because I had nowhere to put my feet, and the women on either side of me usurped all available space. The other Americans got squished in the back row, which is also uncomfortable; I’m not sure which is worse actually. But, four hours later we arrived in Dakar at the ridiculously crazy bus depot, which is a bunch of other sept place vehicles, some buses, and lots of men chasing you trying to shove you in their taxi or carry your luggage for you against your will. It was quite entertaining, but I realized quickly that I wanted to be out of there asap.

Upon arriving at my host family, I rang the doorbell, and Nathalie came to let me. If you’ve been keeping track of my adventures here you would understand why I was slightly confused by her appearance at the gate. But I’ll remind you, my host brother Habib, Nathalie’s husband texted me a few weeks ago saying that things between them weren’t working anymore. I took that to mean they were splitting up, and since this is Habib’s mother’s home, Nathalie would be heading out. Not so much, the whole family was there, just as I left them. So I put on my game face like I knew nothing, and I kept it on the rest of the week. If you want more info on that story, we can plan a phone date sometime…

Moving on, I went in the back entrance of our house, and found 4 rams outside in the patio area, and my family about to sit down to eat. I was a little thrown off by the rams because I was expecting two, one for my host dad and one for Habib. Nathalie explained to me that they were the rams belonging to various other members of the family and one that my family bought for our maid I’m pretty sure and that there would actually be five because Habib had yet to purchase his ram. Needless to say, five goats were fairly noisy and messy, but nonetheless entertaining because Isaa liked to test the waters and see if the goats would bite him. Oh, and as a side note, I sometimes refer to them as rams (sheep) and sometimes as goats because they are actually sheep, but they look like goats. So yeah, I know that clears things up, but I’ll post some pictures so you can actually understand.

In general, it was really fun returning to my host family. I was kind of hesitant about going back there, just because I’m never sure how things work, and because one of the other girls called home and her host mom pretended that she didn’t remember who she was. My experience was very different, my whole family was there when I got home and they all remembered me. Sama yaye (wolof for my mom) gave me a hug/kiss because I am awkward and haven’t figured out Senegalese greetings yet, but she seemed legitimately happy to see me. Plus, later in the week, when I asked if I could stay until Sunday, she lectured me about how I’m her daughter and she doesn’t understand why I keep asking because it’s my house too. She was very sweet, and I felt much more comfortable the second time around.

I’m kind of skipping around, so I’ll get back to my time line. I arrived Monday afternoon, and I spent the rest of the day attempting to help with the preparations for the holiday. Basically, they let me chop potatoes for French fries, but it’s something so that was good. The next morning, the day of Tabaski, I woke up pretty early and put on my finest jeans and tee-shirt with hopes of helping around the house. I’m pretty sure the rest of the family besides Nathalie, Isaa, and the maid and I were at the mosque in the morning, so I spent a few hours watching some strange men washing each of the rams. Then, around 10, they started slaughtering the rams. Suddenly, my house was full of cousins and random family members I'd never seen before, as well of some very gory butchering. Unfortunately, my host mom wanted me to take pictures of all of the happenings, so I spent more time than I planned to watching them kill the goats. Hence, when they started serving food (goat meat and french fries) around noon, I didn't eat too much. It was quite and event, and once seemingly everyone in the neighborhood had eaten their fill and the women had cleaned up all of the mess from the goats, the party ended. People returned home around 3 in the afternoon. Nathalie told me all the women would be napping, because later in the evening they get dressed up and go visit friends and family. It's similar to what we did on the last Muslim holiday, but Nathalie, Habib, and Isaa and I went out and visited some of their relatives. I may have donned a fairly Senegalese outfit complete with a hair wrap that a tailor in Saint Louis made for me.

It was quite an interesting holiday, kind of like a strange version of thanksgiving. One of the most intriguing traditions, is that women bring the legs of their goats to various influential people in their lives, such as their parents, or whomever gave them away in their wedding. Consequently, I got to haul goat legs around Dakar for Nathalie because she was exhausted from all of the work she did that day. I'll fill you in on the rest of my week tomorrow, I have once again gotten sick. Part of my monthly routine here in Senegal, although this cold comes courtesy of Isaa, who got our entire family sick last week, poor kid.

Sing Sing Sing

Last week turned out to be quite an eventful week in terms of student/administration interaction.  I left you all with a lovely message about protests over student scholarships turning violent, which was I truthfully cannot deny.  I heard that two people were even severely injured from being hit by stones.  Plus, some of the other girls got some crazy photos of tear gas, which I'll try to get ahold of to post.  It was definitely eventful, and the students eventually got their way, I believe the strike officially ended Wednesday night.  Each wednesday night the some of the other Americans and I go over to our friend Ousmane's room (he's the grad student in charge of shepherding us around campus) to help him practice his English.  Hence, I was trying to figure out why he insisted on walking us home that night, and I realized it was because there were several hundered students gathered around this small building which is the site of scholarship dispersal. Apparently, that was the first time scholarships have ever been given out at night, and by at night i'm talking 11:45pm.

Unfortunately, when the students decide to stop striking, the professors don't necessarily run to campus to begin teaching, and I heard some rumors that professors were on strike Thursday and Friday of last week.  Ultimately, I had zero classes last week, but I got to tour several of the classrooms themselves wondering where everyone else was.  Some of the other Americans and I are worried that when we eventually have class, we will have forgotten how to be students. Hmmm, speaking of which, this week is includes the muslim holiday Tabaski.  The holiday is symbolic of when Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son Isaac, and then I think sacrificed a ram instead.  Consequently, each married male is supposed to purchase a ram, sheep, or goat to slaughter.  It sounds gruesome, but I'm planning on returning to Dakar tomorrow to spend the holiday with my host family.  Because 95% of Senegal's population is muslim, I believe that we have all of next week free from class so that students could return home to celebrate.  Although, it seems that most of the students do not plan on returning before January, because there will be one week of classes, and then the Christmas vacation will begin.  It's all pretty backwards to me, but at this point I plan on visiting my roommate in her hometown Mbour for Christmas, and then traveling to Mali.

My weekend was consumed by my much anticipated choir concert.  Friday afternoon we had rehearsal, and Carlie and I spent some time in town before.  We ended up coming home with some pretty wild looking outfits for the upcoming holiday and small travel bags.  We'll see how the outfits work out, but it was pretty entertaining, because we just went into this shop we frequently visit and said we wanted something for the holiday. As it turns out, she made a few outfits for some Canadiens who never returned to pick them up, so she sold them to us.  When I put mine on the tailor was beside herself because she said it fit perfectly and was meant to be...good sales tactic I think, but it will be fun to wear.  

Choir rehearsal Friday was short because only 3 other people showed up besides Carlie and I.  It was slightly disconcerting because the lead singer decided to go to Dakar and return the day of the concert, and the guy who was leading the rehearsal kept trying to add really cheesy choreography to the songs.  Saturday I spent 3 hours doing laundry by hand in buckets, I'm hoping that I will become really buff like all of the Senegalese women. Granted, I'm operating under the assumption that they are buff because of laundry, could be wrong.  After laundry, Carlie and I showed up at Celia's house at 4:30 ish for our "rehearsal." We were supposed to be there at 4, but we learned that you should always come a half hour late for rehearsal, and when we did, there was still no one there.  After talking with Celia, we learned that we still needed to get our outfits for the concert, so we headed off to the tailor in town.  Going into town was a bit more of an adventure than we expected because every vender in Senegal was out selling stuff for the upcoming holiday.  In addition, the tailor had to make several adjustments on our clothes, and it was just kind of a mess because they mixed up whose clothes were whose.  That was slightly problematic when I got stuck in Carlie's shirt, and had to yell aidez-moi (help me) at Celia and Valerie, the other girls with us at the tailor.  On top of that, Valerie's 7 year old daughter decided her new favorite game is to abuse me, she's a little bigger than Isaa, but it seems like i'm a magnet for abusive children.

The concert last night was really wild.  It was supposed to start at 9:00 pm, and we were still rehearsing at 9:15 when Celia's mom ran in and shouted that we needed to leave because everyone else was already there. So, we all hurriedly put on our outfits, and climbed into a bus that took us to the chamber of commerce.  When we arrived, we sat in the bus rehearsing and eating some random couscous concoction in a the usual large communal pan.  The concert eventually started around 11, and there were three other choirs besides us.  All of the other choirs had around 30 people, we had 8, but we still had a good time.  It definitely wasn't flawless, but seeing as I didn't know any of the people there, I didn't feel nervous.  Finally, the concert ended at 2 am with a crazy version of the Hallelujah chorus, and then Carlie, Jeff, and I road back to campus in Jeff's mom's car, which was a mercedes.  A little different than the usual taxi with doors that swing open when they turn.  Today we had church and were supposed to sing again theoretically.  Jeff and I arrived at Celias at 9:45 (we were supposed to be there at 9) to find no one else there and Celia still in bed.  Then, we walked over to the church where the service was to begin at 10, and found 3 people. You would think I'd get used to stuff just moving a little slower, but it still takes me by surprise.  The service was pretty long, and we never ended up performing, but it was fun to be around so many people who were dancing and singing so joyfully.  

AT 3:30 I caught a taxi home, and I'm pretty sure that upon arriving at the University the taxi driver pulled a goat out of the trunk.  All in all, it was a very interesting and fun weekend, and now I need to go pack so we can leave tomorrow morning at 7 and try to make it to Dakar. Happy Tabaski!

Just kidding

I ended last week with high hopes for my upcoming classes.  Thursday my professors never arrived, I'm not sure why really, I think they weren't prepared for the strike to end so they decided not to come teach.  Oh well, that gave us an opportunity to run into town and pick up our packages.  Apparently, due to strikes within the University administration, the person in charge of picking up the mail from the post office decided not to pick up the mail for over two weeks.  Hence, our Thanksgiving consisted of a much anticipated journey to the post office and then some time hanging out and munching on the American snacks we all received in our packages. The post office itself that day was an interesting experience because, the man who is supposed to examine packages before we are allowed to retrieve them, didn't come in until an hour after we arrived there. That was fun though as we had some nice bonding time with the post office crew, and the suspense made it more fun to receive things from home.  

Friday I had my usual Wolof class, but I believe that the other classes didn't meet because someone somewhere was on strike.  If my classes get going, I shouldn't have class on Fridays, which makes things kind of nice, although I will have wolof and french, so I guess that I means I do have class.  In the evening Carlie and I headed of to choir rehearsal, which was kind of rough because the choir leaders had differing visions for our upcoming concert. One of the leaders named Jeff is a fun, lively guy who loves to dance and sing and has told me multiple times that he aspires to be "a star."  He's pretty showy, which contrasts a little with the other leaders named Celia and Noa who are quieter and generally act like Jeff is crazy.  As usual, i spend a lot time during and outside of choir contemplating the connections between the various choir members.  For some reason I decided that Jeff and Celia are dating and that Celia and Noa are brother and sister, but after rehearsal on Sunday I began contemplating whether Celia and Noa are dating. Kind of awkward, let's hope they're either one or the other... Just kidding, but my point is that from the American perspective, relationships here are kind of cloudy and you never really know how to interpret your surroundings. 

After choir, the other americans and I celebrated Thanksgiving american style by going out to a nice restaurant and have chicken and bananas foster! It was quite delicious, and I especially appreciated the lack of intestines in my meal, which have become a staple of the lovely dishes served up at the cafeteria.  Saturday we ventured off on an excursion to Touba, a city inland of Saint-Louis and home to the largest mosque (I forget how to spell that in english) in all of Africa.  The journey to Touba was about 3.5 hours (one way) by our strange van contraption with a door that mostly closes.  I definitely enjoyed the excursion, the mosque was huge, and apparently ground breaking for Islam because it allows non-muslims and women to enter the Mosque.  Most of the beautiful decor is done by craftsmen from Morocco, and you can definitely tell that the Mosque has a moroccan atmosphere.  According to our tour guide, the Mosque was all (or maybe mostly) privately funded through fellow muslims, and the money they receive from donations contributes to the constant construction going on at the site as well as pays for all of the water in the entire city of Touba.  The entire tour of the Mosque took less than an hour, and then we jumped back in the van and headed home. I'm not sure that it was worth the several hour, slightly nauseating car ride, but now I've seen the biggest mosque in Africa and I can appreciate Senegal a little differently.

Sunday we spent the afternoon at our Wolof professors house, where his daughters prepared ceebujen for us.  Carlie, Emily, and I went early after church to attempt to help cook, but the most we did was smash some spices up in a little bowl.  Strangely, I loved the ceebujen we had on Sunday.  I think it's funny how by the end of my stay with my host family I was sick of ceebujen, and now I love it because it is so much better than the food on campus.  As usual, after lunch we all had a mini adventure trying to get home, because our professor's house was kind of in the middle of nowhere and we couldn't find a taxi to take us home.  Consequently, we walked home, which wasn't too bad except that it was in the 90s and we were walking alongside the highway in the middle of the desert.  Hence, it was a little hot.  Plus, I was trying to hurry home because my roommate lost her keys and needed me to let her into the room. Sorry Juliette! After I got home I left right for choir rehearsal, which was pretty fun, although a little different because Jeff forgot to come.  The concert is this Saturday, and it will be quite interesting.  In theory, we enter the room walking in two lines and dancing in unison.  Yes, I did say dancing, slightly problematic for me, but I'll try to find some rhythm in the short time I have left.  After choir I had to return home by myself because Carlie was sick, and that turned out to also be an adventure.  In order to get home, I had to catch a cab into town, and then take a car rapide to the University.  I'm pretty sure the taxi I got in was also carrying two prostitutes who were very friendly, but kind of creepy.

Classes this week still aren't happening.  The students decided to strike again, and this time they're going at it much more aggressively. They blocked the road yesterday and today, which is slightly problematic because I can't get to town to get an outfit made for the upcoming Muslim holiday next week.  Moreover, this morning after learning that classes weren't happening, Carlie and I attempted to run into town with one of our Senegalese friends. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the gate to enter and exit the University, we found the road block, hundreds of students milling around, and then suddenly strange projectiles being hurled at us.  It seems that the striking is becoming violent with both students and police throwing rocks and small explosives at each other.  I hope they get their scholarships tomorrow for the sake of classes and safety!

I'm not really sure what the rest of the week will be like at this point, hopefully classes will resume tomorrow.  I loaded some more pictures, it was kind of tedious, but hopefully you'll get a sense for what the University is like here. It's a work in progress.  Happy December!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Just thought I'd give a shout out to everyone back home, I'm thinking of you all today and always thankful for your presence in my life. I'll be celebrating theoretically with 8 hours of class, a pretty solid holiday I think.

Classes tomorrow!

I've heard rumors today that the strike is finally over! So classes start tomorrow, which is really exciting, relieving, and slightly stressful because I am slightly confused about the meeting time and place of several of my classes.  Oh well, whenever I can't find a class I just take it as a sign that I shouldn't be in it anyways.  Faulty logic?

Picking up where I left off last week, my roommate finally moved in Thursday night.  She is really awesome, and in my personal opinion, I have the best roommate of all the Americans here.  I say that because I like to brag, but also because my roommate is really friendly and social.  From what I hear, the other girls practically have to force their roommates to talk, and their roommates seem completely comfortable with one or two word responses.  In contrast, the moment my roommate (Juliette) comes in the room, she starts talking about anything and everything.  Frankly, I love that, because most women here don't talk much to me.  Juliette is a third year student in the Geographie department, she's also Catholic, which makes her part of a minority her on campus and in Senegal, and her father is from Cape Verde? so she speaks French better than Wolof.  Although, her French is extremely fast and I find her challenging to keep up with most of the time.

Besides hanging out with my roommate a little, I've been fairly occupied with this little church choir.  Little might be a bit of an understatement, because on Friday at our first rehearsal there were four people, including myself and Carlie (one of the other Americans).  Friday was slightly awkward as I was teaching the other two people songs in english and wondering why one the Senegalese girl there was asking if I had an arrangement for multiple parts.  We had our second rehearsal on Sunday, and there were about 6 other people there besides Carlie and I, three of whom are students at my University and are really good singers.  It appears that we could actually sound like a pretty good choir, I just need to be able to keep a straight face when the women singing the same part of me sings, "Open the eyes of my fart" instead of "open the eyes of my heart." I'm sure that what I'm saying when we sing in French is pretty far off too, but nonetheless, fairly amusing.  After a few choir rehearsals, I feel like I'm finally meeting making some quality friends, so that's definitely a nice feeling. 

Outside of choir rehearsal last weekend, I spent a little time in town bumming around a small little "grocery like store" where I found a jar of what the Senegalese refer to as peanut butter.  After trying said peanut butter I beg to differ, it just tastes kind of gross and is extremely liquid.  Maybe they gross peanut smoothie, I'll suggest my new name for their product.  In addition to visiting the downtown area, I hung out with some guys that Carlie met during dinner one night, and Carlie and I beat them in several rounds of scrabble (some in French, some not...).  The scrabble players are definitely a fun group of people. Campus here is divided into different villages, I live in village g, and I think there are villages from a to k or l.  Village A is an all male village, also home to the scrabble players, and is much livelier than the village I live in.  When I was over there, there were guys running around playing soccer, doing pushups, praying, blasting music, and being kind of crazy.  As of late, the excitement in my village occurs when one of the numerous cats jumps out of the bushes at me when I'm not expecting it and I scream.

Monday I had my usual french class, choir rehearsal (ok, so it's not really everyday), and then the other Americans and I went over to Baydalleye's house for dinner.  Baydalleye is the professor in charge of our program here as well as the head of the English department and the dean of the letters and sciences college.  Dinner was really fun because we don't get to see Baydallaye too often because he's so busy, and the food was a billion times better than what we eat on campus.  Yesterday after French classes Carlie and I trekked all over Saint-Louis with the rest of our choir to meet the tailor who is making our choir uniforms.  Yes, we are apparently wearing matching outfits during our concert, which is on December 6th, I expect you all to attend...  The tailor experience was interesting because we went fairly deep into the marketplace and down a row of what looks like storage garages, but are actually individual tailor shops with probably 50 people working on different garments.  Honestly, it felt kind of like a sweatshop because of how many people were crowded in such a small place.  

Today I had my first Wolof test, hopefully it went alright, I studied a pretty good amount of time for it, which I think amused my roommate who doesn't seem to do much studying.   The rest of the week I'll be trying to figure out classes, and then this weekend we're traveling to Touba, which is the site of the grand mosque here in Senegal.  

In reference to my previous blog, I said that people can be fairly assertive when buying things from shops on campus and in town.  I hate to say that they are rude, because that is my view of how they act from the perspective of someone from a culture very different, but I do spend a lot of time standing there looking kind of silly.  We'll see if I grow a little backbone!

So you're probably wondering what I do all day....

First, I'll give you an update on the strike...still going.  I believe that they're on strike until Monday now, but I heard rumors of the second cafeteria opening on Monday, and that is one of the main sources of the student unrest.  This week has been pretty good even though I haven't had my formal classes, at least I'm more aware of what's going on on campus and I don't go to each class and see if it's meeting and then go back home like I did last week.  There was a large amount of time wasting involved in my trekking across the desert several times a day last week. Besides not wasting time, I've had my usual French and Wolof classes this week.  Sometimes I forget there's a strike because I've had four hours of class each day this week, so at least my brain isn't turning to mush.  

My new roommate is currently in the moving in process.  She began moving in on Monday, when she kind of barged in with several brooms and disassembled her side of the room to leave it immaculate an hour later.  Since then she periodically drops by to unload some stuff into her closet, but I've only seen her a total of maybe 30 minutes since Monday.  I'm not exactly sure where she's been staying, but I think she'll be moved in for good by this weekend.  From the short conversations we've had, I gathered that her name is Juliette, she's Catholic, and seems really nice.  Although, she's a little shy and I definitely am the who initiates every  conversation, which I'm totally ok with because I have no pride when it comes to being awkward.  

The past few days I've had some nice forays into Saint-Louis! Friday I made my first trip to the post office, which was a much better experience than some of the other girls have had.  One day they attempted to mail postcards and the workers at the post office told them that they didn't have any stamps, hmmm.  The only hiccup I had on Friday at the post office is when the postal worker told me to come to his room so he could give me his shirt? Kids say the darndest things... I did venture back to the post office yesterday and that was more of an adventure.  If you're looking into some insight into how I keep my cool here in Africa, I'll let you know that I don't always. Frankly, I feel a little bad because, as most of you know, I'm not the most tactful person, and at one point yesterday I told one of the workers that the post office was a little disorganized after they sent me running back and forth and out of the post office without getting anything done.  Granted, after that comment I had about half of the post office trying to help me send one thing, so I think I maybe am just picking up a little of the Senegalese fayda (boldness).  For example, when I go to a boutique to get my almost daily can of pineapples, I stand in front of the counter for a few minutes until the boutique man feels bad for me and asks me what I want.  At the same time, I would estimate that 6 Senegalese people walked up, shouted what they wanted, through money at the guy, took their sugar or whatever, and left. Personally, I think that they don't really have much patience in, but I know that's just what they're used to in terms of customer service.

On Saturday Carly and Emily and I visited the museum in Saint-Louis, which is a very nice building on the end of the island with two floors of exhibits.  The first floor is filled with random exhibits ranging from the animals of Senegal, to geological history, to general history of humanity, to French colonialism.  Although the exhibits aren't the most informative, I think it's pretty interesting just seeing what they think is important to display in a museum and compare it to what our museums are like.  My new question is, do Senegalese people actually visit this museum, or is it more for tourists? I'll have to look into that. 

Sunday I went back to my little protestant church.  I think I'm gonna keep attending services there, at least for now because there were more people and there seemed to be a different pastor who spoke a little louder so I had more of a chance of understanding the sermon. Plus, there were African drums accompanying the music, which was really fun.  Admittedly, most of the music is very traditional hymns, but I gave them some songs in English so we'll see how if they use it.

That's a bit of what's new with me, temperatures are scorching hot, around 105 degrees between 11am and 4 pm, so it's tough to motivate myself to do to much more than read books and learn Wolof. with my fan blowing on me.

strike strike strike strike strike strike strike strike.....

Newsflash! students here are on strike until Wednesday (and by Wednesday, I mean, December?) That's not really a newsflash for me because we are nearing two weeks of student strikes because of difficult living conditions here at the University. Oh well, Senegal is as much a cultural exchange opportunity as it is an academic exchange program.  

sorry for the short post, i'll update tomorrow

when they say strikes....

Well, it's the end of my third week here in Saint-Louis and it was a pretty uneventful week.  You got the extent of my class experience from my last blog post because classes did not happen the rest of the week. To clarify, I did try to attend my classes, but no one seemed to show up for them, including the professors.  Actually, it was the students who were on strike this week though.  I think they were striking because of general living conditions being difficult here, like the cafeteria problems I mentioned before.  Instead of improving, the cafeteria wait has been getting worse and worse to the point that you can wait two hours just to enter the cafteria.  The other Madison girls and I are thinking about purchasing some cheapo plastic chairs and tailgating in line as we wait, any thoughts? Just kidding, but it could be fun.  Thursday night was by far the highlight of the week because just as we were about to enter the cafteria after over an hour of waiting, this group of about 20 huge men stormed the entrance and pushed their way in.  One of the girls with me knew one of the guys in rebel force and he told her he was busy and didn't have time to wait so he just went on in.  Sounds good to me...maybe people would notice if I did that though, hmmm.  Oh, and last night I believe there was a fight in the cafeteria. I'm not really sure what happened but people were crowded around the windows and the line did not move a single inch for over 45 minutes.  

In case you were wondering with anticipation about the resolution of my struggles from last week, I have electricity! More specifically, I fixed the problem myself after causing a minor explosion in the outlet.  As it turns out, all I needed to do was flip a switch in the tiny little box on my floor in my dorm and voila! Plus, today I went into town and bought another power strip, third times a charm I guess.  Besides the electricity, I'm pretty much over my cold/flu whatever it was, which is glorious!, but I have yet to fix my bed.  I've actually taken to sleeping on the other side of my bed which is almost normal, and I suppose I could turn my bed around instead of putting my head where my feet are.

With regard to my roommate situation, it's kinda back to the drawing board for me.  My roommate of last week was really a sweet heart, but she transfered to a school in Dakar and moved out on Thursday so I am once again roommateless.  Honestly, it's pretty nice having my own space, but I think it would be good for me to have a roommate because it would be easier to get to know other girls.  Boys are much more outgoing here, and I actually made a friend the other day.  I decided that I would only be friends with someone if I talked to them more than once and they seemed genuinely friendly both times, so it's kind of exciting and we all feel like we are starting to fit in here better!

Classes in Africa...

So I just started my second week of classes here at Gaston Berger University, and I have to admit that classes may be the most frustrating aspect of life here in Senegal that I've encountered so far. Picking classes was initially a challenge picking the departments would list classes such as history 110 or geography 301, so the only way to find out what the class is about is to go to class.  I suppose that doesn't sound bad, and it's not, except when you think that you're at French literature and the professor starts speaking in Spanish and then you have to stealthily sprint out of the classroom.  Side note: stealthy does not really apply to tubabs in Senegal, and I really did run out of the room because the professor was shouting something in Spanish at me and I didn't know what to do. haha, good times! Obviously, my class changed it's meeting time or room, but it took me an entire week to figure out when the class actually meets because all of the department administrations are on strike and Professors don't seem to exist except for when they arrive 20 minutes late for class.  

I feel the need to step back because I'm starting to sound like a crazy bitter tubab, it was just a challenging week.  Besides, not all of my professors are bad.  So far I have found two classes that I plan on sticking with the semester, so that's good right? One of the classes is geography of health, which has potential to be really great, if we ever move on from the history of the field. The other class I like is political history of Africa, which is the first lecture style class I've encountered so far. To clarify, by lecture style I mean that my professor speaks to our class with informative statements using the blackboard to clarify terms as well as occasionally interacting with the class.  Every other class I've attended was dictation style, where the professor reads their notes and we write what they say basically word for word.  In theory this should be easier with my mediocre level of French, but I find it quite difficult if they talk quietly or too quickly.  Hopefully I'll have some more success with classes this week, I'm planning on trying out some econ courses because that department didn't start last week due to strikes.

Classes were really the extent of last week for me.  Because I attended more classes than I planned on taking, and because I have my French and Wolof classes on top of those, I didn't really have any free time.  Although, I did have my three meals a day at the cafeteria, which became quite difficult because the rest of the student body decided to return last week, and with only one cafeteria open for 5000 people, we had to wait in line for 45 minutes each meal. It's not really a hardship, it's just another example of things I find slightly frustrating here and generally inefficient!

My weekend jumped off to a rough start Thursday night, when I learned from my host brother that he and his wife separated.  It's pretty sad because they have a little boy together, and I know that the family dynamic will have changed a lot by the time I go back to visit them in December.  After I received a text message from him, I proceeded to plop down on my bed and snap the board under my mattress in half, oops.  Admittedly, the last few nights have been fairly uncomfortable because my mattress sinks into this weird pointy hole now.  Friday was also fun because I woke up feeling pretty sick, and then later that night I decided to make tea on my hot plate plugged into my not so functional power strip.  Another oops moment occurred when a flame shot out of the outlet... now neither mine or my roommate's outlets work, but I did get a mosquito net on saturday so even though I don't have a fan, the bugs can't get me.  Saturday was an interesting day because I was hanging out in a friends room since they had electricity, and when I returned to my room there was a very small person sleeping in the bed across the room.

Apparently, the small person is my roommate, or was my roommate.  She informed me today that she is transferring to a private school in Dakar and is leaving on thursday, I hope I didn't scare her away! She's pretty cool though, so I'm a little sad.  Her name is toko san? I think, and she's not from Senegal, story of my friendships here, but she's an english student and doesn't really speak Wolof.  I'll be sad to see her go, she seems to understand me when I speak French so it's kind of refreshing.  Sunday I went to a tiny tiny church outside of Saint-Louis.  The church itself is the size of an old one room school house, and there were only five people at the service so it was a little different than what I'm used to.  Plus, after the service they asked me to teach their choir some songs in English so they can perform in December, I don't think they could hear me singing... When I got back from church, i noticed that the entire floor of my room was a puddle, and soon after my roommate explained to me she was cleaning, a little more intense than my usual sweeping, but much appreciated! After lunch, the Madison girls and I set off across the desert to find some hotel with a pool that we are allowed to use for free because the owner knows someone who is important or something.  The trek itself was interesting because we got lost in some village with the sun beating down and the sand burning our feet.  Not that I can complain though, we found the pool and it was wonderfully refreshing, even though I would describe it as tubabtastic.  That's about my weekend in a nutshell.  It was pretty low key due to me being sick and the internet not working, but I hope all is well in the states! 

Man senegalaise laa

As you can probably figure out yourself, the title of this post means, "What's for dinner?" Just kidding, it means, "I'm senegalese."  I'm not really sure why I decided to title my post that, because I'm definitely not Senegalese, but I guess I just wanted to show off my excellent Wolof skills :) Believe me though, I can say more than that, which seems to be a source of amusement, friendship, and problems here in Senegal.  Obviously, the Senegalese find my terrible pronunciation amusing, and they usually are more willing to be my friend if I try to speak their language.  In contrast, people that I think are just trying to be friendly and help me learn Wolof, such as the security guards, always seem to turn into creepers and invite me to come to their house or somewhere else awkward.  Hence, I've decided that anyone who is eager to be my friend is probably a creeper and I will treat them with alot of caution.  I'm not sure if that's judgmental, but the other girls on the program say that I'm the extreme version of friendly and I need to be a little tougher.  I've also been working on my game face to scare away the overly aggressive street vendors, maybe i'll post a picture of said face...

Moving onto more substantial topics, my roomate still has not arrived and I'm starting to think she's scared of me.  Fortunately, I have a few friends here at the University.  For example, Ousmane, who is a grad student in the English department and is getting paid to be my friend/tour guide/ go to person for everything, is very nice and helpful.  We had several meals with him last week because he was showing us how the cafeteria functions, and we frequently run into him and his girlfriend and force them to sit with us.  Speaking of his girlfriend, her name is Aminata,she is also a grad student, and I am just assuming that she's his girlfriend because it's taboo to ask him about her.  Aminata became my instant friend because I kind of made a fool of myself showing her this cute face that my host brother Isaa makes when he's doing something naughty.  Consequently, every time I see her she makes the weird face at me and goes on about how we are friends.  Besides those two, I talked to someone in my dorm building yesterday and she was nice, so that's good right?

Last week I visited Saint Louis a few times, which maybe sounds confusing because my University is theoretically in Saint-Louis.  Actually, the University is about 10 minutes outside of Saint-Louis, and to get into town you can take a taxi for 50 cents or a bus for like a dime.  The taxi drops you off at the far end of a fairly long market, and after you walk down the market and over a large bridge, you reach the actual island of Saint-Louis, which is surrounded by a river and the ocean.  For all of you who are coming to visit me (just kidding) I scoped out some very nice hotels with toilets, toilet paper, pools, restaurants, and of course lodging.  Oh, and did I forget, the beach! I just thought I'd share because I know some people out there believe that Senegal does not have any hotels, which is totally not true! Plus, you would be the only one on the beach because november through june are the "cold" months here in Senegal, and none of the Senegalese go to the beach then.  Trust me, it gets chilly at night, but during the day it is at least in the high 80s.  Besides beaches, Saint-Louis is home to alot of colonial architecture similar to the slave trade island I visited called Goree island.  The bright colors and generally cleaner streets make it, in my personal opinion, nicer than Dakar, but also a little more touristy.

My few visits to Saint-Louis have led me to the post office, where I did receive mail and a package unopened, hint hint (once again, just kidding).  Besides a post office, I was searching for a supermarket like the nice big, airconditioned ones in Dakar, but they don't exist here in Saint-Louis.  That's not really a big deal, you just have to shop around at various boutiques and smaller shops to find what you need without getting ripped off.  Yesterday the girls and I went out to lunch and spent the afternoon roaming the streets of Saint-Louis.  I definitely like it here, and with classes starting today I'm starting to remember what it's like to be a college student.  

I'll let you know how classes are soon, and share what life is like after the election results!

UGB = Gaston Berger University

Currently, I am sitting in the hallway of the library building at the university in Saint Louis where I am typing on my laptop and accessing wireless internet! Just thought I'd share because when I learned that I could use wireless internet here I almost hugged the random man who configured my laptop.  Wireless internet is just the tip of the sundae here though, Gaston Berger is truly an awesome place and it feels so nice to be on a campus.  

For those of you who are familiar with the university in Madison, Gaston Berger is ... nothing like that.  Honestly, I did not tour a single college campus before choosing to go to school in Madison so I'm not familiar with the feel of a small private school, but I'm guessing that is what the university here in Saint Louis is like.  Campus is basically in the middle of nowhere, and when I say nowhere I mean it! Landscape in this area I think is referred to as savannah, but to be more specific, the campus is sand with trees dispersed throughout.  It's pretty sparse looking and during the day there is very little shelter from the sun, but at night it is really nice!

Lodging here in Africa has its ups and downs.  On the positive side, my dorm room is much bigger than my dorm in Madison was, and it is divided into three areas including a shower and sink. Both my roomate and I have our own space for our bed, desks, and closets.  On the not so positive side, the shower and sink only work between 11 pm and 6 am, so I have to keep a bucket of water filled all the time to do normal things like wash my face, brush my teeth, and flush the toilet.  Haha, oh wait, there is no toilet.  That would be the other negative side of the dorms, the toilets I believe are referred to as turkish toilets, meaning that they are a hole  in the floor with some tile that funnels towards it.  After almost a week though, i'm pretty used to the water/toilet situation.

Besides checking out the campus, I sit and stare aimlessly at the empty bed across the room from me.  Just kidding, I don't sit around much, but the bed across from me is empty because my roommate has not moved in yet! That may not sound weird to you, but in theory, classes started last Monday, so I think it's pretty weird that at least half of the students haven't arrived at school yet.  Picking classes has been interesting and a constant reminder that I'm on Africa time.  I hope that doesn't sound rude, it's just that everything here moves alot slower than it does in the States.  Monday morning, as in two days from now, I'm supposed to begin attending classes.  Unfortunately, I am still waiting for the class schedule from the political science and economics department, so I guess I'll just wing it? I haven't totally been slacking this week though, we have Wolof classes and "remedial" French classes for two hours pretty much everyday.  French in theory is "remedial," but i'm finding it to be quite challenging because our professor had us reorganizing newspaper headlines into full length sentences for a really long time last week.  It sounds kind a random, and it definitely was, but I can kind of see the merits of the activity...

Otherwise, life here in Saint-Louis is pretty nice.  At night the temperature is in the sixties and it is gorgeous with the breeze and crickets and stars! We eat all our meals in the cafeteria, and I believe that each meal costs around 30 cents so it's super affordable because the meals are subsidized by the University.  In general, the food is edible.  Bread and coffee are the usual breakfast, lunch is something with rice, and dinner is very random.  One night we had potato omelets and tonight we had a ball of meet and bread.  Other random things to fill you in on: yes we have electricity! I bought a fan for my bedroom, which makes sleeping pretty much perfect.  Earlier in the week I attempted to buy a power strip, but it turns out that what I actually bough was a strangely deformed power strip that lights up aesthetic appeal but is completely ineffective.  Mainly, water is the source of most inconveniences because it doesn't reach many campus buildings and the classroom bathrooms kind of gross.

I'll update again tomorrow, it's been an interesting week!

Free time in Dakar

It seems I have fallen quite far behind on my blogging so apologies, but as you can all guess, computers in Africa are not always easily accessible. I left off last weekend, so let's see: Monday,
instead of Wolof classes we had a lesson on making Ceebujen, the rice and fish dish of Senegal. It was quite an interesting day, mainly because my host mother was asked to host us all for the day, so I had five other Americans plus a woman from the Baobab center and my entire host family at my house. The actual cooking of ceebujen is a long process that includes scaling fish, stuffing fish with spices (that I pounded into mash in a wooden bowl), boiling tomatoes and carrots and spices and mantioch and lots of other things and letting them simmer for a few hours. Some of the process was slightly disturbing because of the lack of hygenic cooking processes and in general, it was more of a watching my host mom do things than a learn how to do experience. But, it was really fun and I like my host family alot so it was fun to kind of show them off the other girls. Afterwards, my host mom asked me if I was happy, i'm not really sure what she meant by that, i think she meant if I was happy with how she cooked, but it's been really interesting to see the bonds you form with people after such a short time.

Tuesday was my last Wolof class in Dakar, and the day of our much anticipated final exam. The final exam was a list of phrases in French that we were asked to translate into Wolof and I gave myself a 12.5 out of 15 in case you're wondering... obviously, the test was not really challenging or important academically. More importantly, after the test our professor Thomas taught us a song in Wolof and it's quite fun to sing even though I don't really know what i'm saying. Wednesday the baobab center organized a trip to the West African history museum, which was really interesting. The museum has several diaramas constructed of rituals performed in various West African tribes, and when I say performed, I am insinuating that the rituals are very old but still practiced today. When I entered the museum, I was kind of creeped out by the sight of oversized models of people wearing strange and frankly terrifying masks. Furthermore, being American and fairly ignorant I assumed that the masks were some kind of party attire and the diarama was showing me how African taste in clothing and other attire is very different from mine. Fortunately, with the help of our museum guide, I learned that the diarama is showing a funeral ritual where the villagers wear savage animal masks to scare the deceased's spirit away so that they don't take anyone else with them. After hearing that, I realized that they think the masks are just as creepy as I do. As silly as this sounds, it was a bit of an eye opening experience because even though I think that the rituals I learned about are unneccessary, I understand the reasoning or emotion behind the ritual and I saw how alike we are as human beings even though we're culturally opposites. Other diaramas showed intiation rituals for young people, teaching them obedience and respect and many other tribal practices.

I almost forgot, before I go on with my week I need to rewind to Tuesday night when I had a traditional African dance class. Wow, that was a really good time, and even now I know you're trying to picture me attempting to flail my limbs in a rythmic fashion. It was quite entertaining and challenging; by the end of the two hours I could barely raise my arms above my head, which was an integral part of our dance routine. Our dance instructor was a really cool guy with dreads and some crazy colored clothing, and the music accompanying our dancing was two African drummers. Moving on to Thursday, we wrapped up our time at the baobab center wilth a party in the evening where surprisingly, I was forced to perform the dance we learned in front of all of the staff and my host sister Nathalie. Generally speaking, since I've arrived in Senegal, I'm aware of what my schedule of activities is, but not what each activity actually entails. It's kind of difficult to explain, but people here never tell you more than what they think you need to know, which I think is partially derived from their assumption that you understand Senegalese culture as well as they do. I bring this up because I knew we had a party thursday night, and I invited my host sister to come, but the party was really just an hour of people watching us dance and eating some fried things. But, it was very fun even though I was a little confused the whole time.

Friday and Saturday were just occuppied with hanging out with my host family and getting ready move to the University. Although, I did go to the olympic pool, which is one of my new favorite places in Dakar. The pool is in a parc (with grass!!! and soccer goals with nets!) and the complex itself has three pools. One pool is shorter and more recreational, one pool has lanes for swimming laps, and one pool has diving boards and platforms. I totally enjoyed the pool because it was refreshing, and because I bought a pair of goggles for two dollars (although the goggles proceeded to fall apart). Besides the pool I didn't do much else those two days because I'm slightly afraid of my host mother and because I became pretty attached to my host family. Isaa is so cute and I will unashamedly say one of my best friends here, haha, but Nathalie is around my age and she's very interesting to talk to being from Cameroun. I finally gave my host mom my gifts for here = sheets, a flashlight with batteries, and a box of pepto bismal! She immediately told me I could return anytime and stay for free, which is much appreciated although I did pay for an extra month and kind of felt like I had just bribbed her for her affection.

Sunday I left Dakar early in the morning for Saint-Louis where my University is. It was more difficult leaving my host family than I thought, they truly provided a safe environment where I would frequently forget I am a tubab, as most everyone else here reminds me of at all times of the day.

Lots to talk about!

Well, it's been a while since my last post, so I have alot to share about what I've been up to over here in the land of no shade. Last weekend I had some free time, so on Saturday me and some other girls on my program ventured off into the downtown area to do some exploring. Originally, we planned on taking a car rapid, which is a hilariously sketchy vehical painted bright colors with a few benches on the inside where you cram anywhere from ten to 25 people, keep in mind that this truck is smaller than a ups truck. But, after some thought we opted for the bus which is also not very similar to public transportation in the states, but the buses seem to have routes which makes them easier to understand. Costing 150 Fcfa, which equals 30 cents in US terms, the bus is an incredibly affordable mode of transportation. If you can get past the smells and general sauna like temperature, it is almost pleasant.

Our downtown trip was extremely amusing as we decided to get off the bus one stop past the huge market and we ended up in the middle of the many embassy buildings. The American embassy by the way is the only embassy for which the street it is on is closed to general traffic and has security guards everywhere. Maybe we're a little overprotective, but part of me liked the secure feeling so i'm not going to complain. So, brandishing our "extremely" helpful guidebook we traipsed through several blocks of Dakar until we ended up on the coast alongside a major highway. Turns out the downtown area was the other other direction, oops! Since we were there, we decided to go down to the water and enjoy the beachy atmosphere. Interestingly, the coast area we came upon was not an official beach, which made it have a more natural feel, but there were alot of signs of homeless people camping out there, which was sad. And a little upsetting as I saw and smelled garbage and piles of feces all along the shoreline. Senegal really does have alot of natural beauty, but because of alot of circumstances Dakar is trapped in this dirty, polluted, overpopulated cycle.

Eventually, we made it back to the downtown area and we had some amusing moments in the market with vendors chasing us and wrapping us in fabric. Sunday was another free day, and as I designated it cleaning day, I requested a broom from my host mother. She seemed to find that extremely entertaining, probably because the brooms they normal use are more like a small bundle of twigs tied together and seem fairly inefficient to me. So, she brought me some normal looking brooms and i set about with my housework. After housework and alot of trouble keeping Isaa out of my room and destroying my belongings, some girls and I headed out the beach. We opted for the car rapide this time, which definitely is no the most efficient mode of transportation, but 30 cents for a fifteen minute car ride, so inexpensive! The beach was relaxing, beautiful, and entertaining as usual because we were swarmed with people wanting to be our new best friends and one man told my friend Ariel that he wanted to see her jayfonde, tssk tssk.

So that was my weekend, it was fun and i enjoyed a crepe glace = ice cream in a crepe, so good. I'll update you on the rest of my week tomorrow! Take care

It's the final countdown, dah dah daahhh, dah dah dah dah daaaah

I leave for Saint Louis in 10 days where I will be moving into the dorms and taking classes at the University! It's kind of bittersweet because, as much as I like to complain about the challenges of living with a host family, I am definitely going to miss them. Isaa is so cute and fun to be around, and he's helping me with my Wolof because he doesn't judge me for not being able to pronounce something (mainly because he's in the same boat). This week was interesting because my host sister Nathalie returned to work, I'm pretty sure she's a receptionist at a conference center. Working crazy hours, from 7a.m. - 7p.m., and then having to come home and take care of a two year old and basically the whole family is wearing her down. I honestly don't know how she does it, but it's interesting to see because most women in Senegal do not work, or work formally for a business. There's alot of informal work like cleaning services or selling ice (which is interesting, they place bottles of water into the freezer, and then sell them), but not many women have careers.

This week was much of the same with regard to my wolof classes, although I have to say that my wolof skills seem to be coming around. I'm finding myself in an interesting position because from a social perspective, Wolof is really useful. Wolof is defintely the language of the people, and they appreciate it if you speak Wolof, it's like and instant friend maker. Plus, I like to impress my family with random phrases that sound awkward coming out of my mouth, like fanaan ak jam: meaning pass the night in peace. But, from a rest of the world perspective, wolof is not useful and I should really focus on my French. I guess it's not that important to figure out right now, but I do see myself advancing in both languages, so either way it's good.

Besides Wolof, we took an excursion yesterday between classes to the ecole de la rue, which is a school set up for street children. Sadly, there are many children who cannot afford to go to even public schools here in Senegal, and Public schools are by no means quality sources of education. Consequently, one man took it upon himself to make a school for children who can't afford to pay. They're known as street children because instead of going to school, they spend the day on the street playing and begging for money. It sounds pretty horrible, and I would say that it truly is horrible. Even with the huge heart this man has for these children, his resources are limited and their classroom space is limited to three very small, dirty, shacks that are not amenable to a learning atmosphere with limited books, black boards, writing utensils and about ten desks for around 150 children. It was a really powerful experience visiting this school because we traveled to some of the poorest areas of Dakar. When you think of an impoverished country, you think of people living in shacks made of anything they can find, animals roaming, mud floors and roads, people kind of sitting about because they can't find work, and the smell of lots of people living in close quarters. Basically, that is the reality for these people, it's like the shantytowns of the great depression but taken to a different level. It was really eye opening because I saw these terrible conditions, but I also saw the people living there, and they were doing the same things I do, washing clothes, cooking, listening to music. They're just the same, but they are trapped in sad conditions.

Yesterday was pretty profound, and it makes me excited to go to Saint Louis to settle down and find a place where I can give back to the community like the people who started the schools of the street. Today we had a seminar on aids, which was pretty interesting, but it was more orientated on how to prevent ourselves from getting aids (obviously useful) but not very informational. Plus, I was forced to eat lunch twice, once during the seminar and once at home, ahhhh, overeating is the story my life here. This weekend i might go out 'clubbin' which sounds funny coming from me, but sounds like a really long night as people go out between 2am and 6am, crazy! But, I feel like my family judges me when I don't go out at night, so I might as well. Besides that, I'm not sure what I'll do, maybe go to the market and buy some tye dyed fabric because I really like it, and then hopefully my host mother will help me from getting ripped off at the tailor.

Hope all is well back in the states, I'm trying to stay up to date with the news, but i'm kind of failing. All I hear about is the election because everyone here in Senegal loves Obama and they can't really understand when we say that there's a financial crisis in the powerful country in the world.

In sickness and in health

Over two weeks have passed since I arrived in Senegal, and I'm doing pretty well. Although, I seem to have caught kind of a nasty cold/flu bug and i've been feeling pretty icky since saturday. It just goes to show that even in extreme heat you can still get a cold (and for those of you who now think i believe that colds from cold weather, I realize they are unrelated). Unfortunately, my bout of flu kept me pretty subdued this weekend.

Saturday we went to a different beach called Goree. Goree is an island off of the coast of Dakar that has a bit of historical significance related to the slave trade in west Africa. To get to the island, you take a fairly large ferry for about fiteen minutes. While I was on the ferry, I made several new friends who all happened to be women with shops on the island and decided that as their new "copine" = friend I would be venturing out to their shops to throw all of my unlimited tubab resources at them. It is an interesting marketing strategy because at the end of the day you feel bad that you didn't go visit your "copine's" shop and buy her necklaces even though you don't even want a necklace. As a side note, the aggressive merchandise sales techniques that are prevalent in Dakar are really frustrating. I would love to be able to support all of these people and when they start telling me about their 500 kids who are starving I feel horrible, but at the same time, the more they hastle me the more reluctant I am to buy any of their products. Understandably, living in a country with a 40% unemployment rate, people are desperate to make money however they can, but it really is a sad testament of the lack of government involvement in the situation as well as the inability of the government to make a difference.

Back to Goree, the island is fairly small but beautiful. It has a much different architecture style because it was mainly home to Europeens from Portugal, France, and the Netherlands during the periods of mercantilism and the slave trade. With the island's location so near to land it was perfect for trade and yet gave foreigners the ability to maintain their own security. On the island are several restaurants, museums, and the historical markers. One of places we vistied was the "slave house," the house is a representation of the conditions that slaves were kept in right before they departed on the horrible ships set out for the Americas. It was an intense experience seeing the tiny rooms where many many people were kept, hearing about how families were split up, and then seeing the door that led them out to the ships. As I stood in the doorway I tried to imagine what it would be like if that was the last time I saw the continent that I was born on, grew up on, lived on with my family and was now being led away in chains to a ship. One of the curators of the museum gave a speech explaining about the house and he tried to lighten up the atmosphere a little by explaining that African American athletes in the U.S. are the best in the world because the slaves brought there were the biggest, fastest, and smartest people the traders could find.

It was a moving experience, and after visiting a few other spots, I spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out on the beach. Sunday I felt pretty sick and just stayed home. In general, being sick here really isn't different than at home, but I feel like my family is judging me because I want to just lie down on my bed in my room. That's pretty normal I think? So I don't really feel bad, but it would be nice if they were a little more understanding. All in all, it was a relaxing weekend and I hope I get better soon.

Oh, and I did laundry on sunday. That was quite an ordeal as I did the wash by hand, which meant scrubbing my clothes in soapy water, rinsing them in "cleaner water," ringing them out and hanging them up to dry. It's not that bad, but everything is more awkward at my homestay because no one explains things to you, so you just kind of figure out what to do by trial and error.

fish and rice

So, before I tell you what i've been up to the last few days, I have a confession to make.  After close to two weeks of being in Senegal, I've realized that the Senegalese diet is largely composed of fish and rice.  Actually, when i say largely, I mean 90% of meals are fish and rice, and I may or may not have gotten a bit tired of the fish and rice extravaganza.  Hence, yesterday, the other girls on the study abroad program and I went out to a Lebanese restaurant and had a fairly un Senegalese meal = hamburgers and crepes with ice cream. In all fairness, the hamburger had fries, eggs, mayonaise?, and some other ingredients that I'm not sure of inside it, so it was by no means a normal American meal either.  That was my splurge for the week because as expected, I'm dealing with a bit of culture shock and homesickness.

Before our feast yesterday, we got a tour of academic resources for research here in Dakar.  We went to an awesome bookstore, and I felt like a total nerd there because they had to force me to leave.  Obviously, most of the books are in French, which is cool, and I just love books in general so I plan on returning! After the bookstore, we went to the University of Dakar.  Over 60,000 students are enrolled at the University, so you can imagine that it is a bit overpopulated.  I think I only saw a small portion of the University though, but to paint a picture for you, the building for languages was about the size of a middle school and looked like it dropped right out of the sixties.   Classrooms were a normal high school classroom size and they had tables and benches.  It seems like a nice place and it felt really good to be back in academia for a few minutes, which makes me excited to get off to school.  After the University we visited the center for West African Research, which seems like it could be a useful resource for my field work project.  

Touring academic resources in Dakar was great, I got to see parts of Dakar that I haven't yet seen, and they were more up and coming areas, which is encouraging to see.  Last night at home was more fun than it was the rest of the week because I somehow managed to keep my host sister away from the tv for a while.  That was fun because she told me a little about herself, and I had a shocking revelation.  These last two weeks I've been thinking to myself, I like Nathalie because she's a little different than everyone else here.  Consequently, when she informed me last night that she is not Senegalese but from Cameroun I was disappointed in the fact that I still don't have any good Senegalese friends.  But, I thought it was quite funny and she and I had a good time talking about Senegalese culture and things that we find bizarre.  Another funny event of the night was when I learned that my two year old host brother Isaa is afraid of the stuffed crocodile that I brought with me.  This can be hilarious because he runs away and hides when he sees the crocodile, but this has also become a source of punishment when he's being naughty from his parents.  I feel a little guilty, but it is quite entertaining.

Today we had a gender orientation with a professor from the U.S. It was really good, and she gave us some helpful advice on dealing with cultural differences, awkward situations, and reminding us that we don't need to put up with inappropriate behavior.  Each day seems to become increasingly bizarre in the manner that Senegalese men treat me.  Random people tell me they want to marry me or that I should go to the beach with them and it gets old really quickly.  So I'm glad we talked to her.  Besides that, I'm just getting through the week and attempting to learn Wolof.  Saturday we are going to the beach again so that will hopefully be nice!

Hope all is well back in the states!

Finding a routine

This week I have been stepping into a bit of a routine here in Dakar. In the morning I have Wolof class from 9:00-11:00, and then usually another random class from 11:15-1:00. Then I return home for lunch and then I go back to the Baobab center for Wolof class from 3:00-5:00. Yesterday our random class was just a medical orientation, but today was a history of Senegal class. It was pretty interesting because the teacher was a professor from the University here in Dakar, and he gave us a really impartial view of the history of Senegal. He attributes Senegal's current state politically and culturally to three main things, and it was fascinating to me to gain an understanding for some of the practices I think are so strange. The three main actors on Senegal's history are the European influence, Islam, and a strong ethnic group that revolved around alcohol trade and violence. It will be very interesting when I go to Saint Louis because I will see more of the European influence as it was a colonial town.

After classes today, one of the men who works at the Baobab center gave us a short lesson on Senegalese dance. I thought the dancing was really fun although I'm told I had a pained look on my face during the lesson. Besides classes and dancing, I'm just kind of making it through each day. Between the heat and the walking and the classes and the heat I feel exhausted almost all the time. Hopefully I can spruce up my next entry a little, but until then, I'm just finding my niche. My host mother told me that tonight I have to make atayallah, which is this very sweet Senegalese tea that is a bit of a process to make, so that'll be interesting...Then I plan on getting some sleep and figuring out how to do laundry.

Adventures in French and Wolof

Well, I've been in Senegal for a a week and a day, and it kind of feels like a month and a day. When we need to, we can adapt to anything and do it quickly, at least that has been my experience so far. But, adapting doesn't always mean that you mix perfectly into the culture, not that I expect to, but I've had some funny examples of me not totally mixing in lately.

Yesterday, my friends and I decided to go to the beach. One of the girls from madison and I took a taxi out to Goree beach (with the help of my host mother in getting a reasonable price, because you bargain for everything). Once we arrived, we walked out onto the sand, and immediately a man was calling me over, and said i had to pay a dollar for a ticket. Since, I knew that some beaches you have to pay to use, we gave him the money. Next thing I knew, people were handing us bright orange life jackets and Carly (my friend) and are were thinking, what's going on, we know how to swim! Finally, we realized that the life jackets were necessary for a boat ride to an island across the bay with some more beaches. So, we decided that we might as well go there since we already paid and Senegal doesn't really "do refunds." The problem was, we were wearing long skirts and carrying beach bags, and the boat didn't come all the way to shore. Consequently, we waded out into the water, clambered onto the boat, and then stumbled all the way to the other side of the boat. It was really funny because we were offbalance and awkward, and all of this was going on with us speaking French mind you. Fortunately, there were two girls in Burkas right in front of us who were freaking out and making us look like we fit in!

Besides the boat adventure, the time at the beach was great. It was nice sand and I paid a dollar for and umbrella and a mat to lye on. It was relaxing, and a little touristy because I saw the most tubabs(white people) that i've seen anywhere since I arrived. But, touristy was nice, it's nice to have a bit of a change and see something semi-familiar. Speaking of familiar, last night my family had french fries and onion omelettes for dinner. The combination is strange i know, which is the general tendency with meals here, but the food was my favorite since I arrived. I'm guessing people are interested in hearing what I eat, so here goes:

Breakfast consists of a baguette smeared with butter (not so good for the lactose intolerance) and coffee (not so good cuz it's yucky....) but it gets me going i guess. Oh, and today I had a chocolate with my breakfast, I'm not sure why, happy Sunday I guess?

Lunch is rice with some type of meat or fish and some random vegies thrown in. In general, it tastes good, but as I'm eating I'll taste something that's a little sketchy or i'll bite down on a bone, and then I have to force the rest of the meal down.

Dinner is random, one night we had a porridge like concoction I assume due to the heat because it was cold. Sometimes its noodles or rice or omelettes.

Interestingly, lunch and dinner are served in large bowls, and we all sit around the table and eat out of the bowls. The women eat with their hands, but the men and I eat with silverware (I guess my gender is kind of ambiguous at times here). I think that's mostly due to personal preference. As we eat, my host mom or sister will pick apart the fish or meat which is in the middle (the rice is on the side) and distribute it. When I say distribute, I mean that they pick off hunks and chuck it into each person's section. We are expected to eat the pizza slice area in front of us, but I've noticed that everyone always pushes food into my area. Hospitality in Senegal includes telling your guest to continue eating even when they are full or have food in their mouth. Pretty much every meal my family says, "Sara keep eating. You need to eat. Do you like it. She hates it. Eat more. You're not full, keep eating." This is fairly entertaining to me, but after a while I'm like, ok, i'm full and then I shout something in Wolof and leave the table so that I don't burst. In addition, they don't drink anything while they eat, so you eat more than you normally would because your stomach isn't full of water or other liquids. Basically, I will be a Jayfonde the rest of my life.

Today I went to the market with two girls from Madison and we went fabric shopping. You buy the fabric there, and then you take it to a tailor to have something made for you. I pretty much got ripped off, I paid around $12.00 for something worth $7.00, but I liked the fabric, I can't bargain, and I figure there's an add on for being a tubab. After I bought my fabric, I kept looking around, because they have some beautifully tye dyed fabrics. Unfortuantely, I have no idea normal prices, so I went into a shop with two little boys working there, and they told me it was $100.00. After some haggling, I got it down to $30.00, and I had the money in my hand when my friends convinced me I was being majorly ripped off. I probably was, the boys went down to $20.00, but I figure I'll ask my family and then maybe go back. It was a fun trip though, the markets are full of life, but when I say market I mean market. The shops are little stands made out of whatever they feel like using and the street in mud, which was slightly problematic because some of it was wet.

Besides those adventures, I have been spending alot of time with my host family. I like them alot, especially my sister Nathalie. She thinks I'm crazy, which I can live with, but her son Isaa is very entertaining. The family situation is much easier to deal with than walking down the street or going places because I'm comfortable there. But, it is still awkward and I look forward to going to school!

Ma famille

Today is my sixth day in Senegal, and I have seen and learned alot! First of all, so you can appreciate why my post is going to be shorter and awkwardly worded, in order to use internet i currently have to go to a cyber café with international keyboards; meaning the letters are in weird places and i have to delete every other word and try again:

Anyways, my last real post was before I moved in with my host family, so I will fill you in on them. First of all, my family is both small and large. The people who consistently live in my house are my host mother Yassine, who is probably in her early fifties and her husband who is a bit older than her. Im not really sure their ages but i think that Senegal ages people a little faster because there is more wear and tear on their there bodies compared to the lavish American lifestyle. Besides my host parents, Yassines son and his wife Nathalie and their 2 year old son Isaah live there. Nathalie is my age but obviously has matured in different ways because she is raising a child and does most of the work for the household. There is also Yassines niece whose name I think is Nyra and she is a bit older than me and works in a couple of hotels and stays in our house during the week because its closer to her job. To the outsider it probably seems weird that I dont know peoples names, but heres the problem: if they have a Senegalese name with its roots in the Wolof language, I have no idea what they are saying when they introduce people.

More specifically, Im staying with a muslim family with whom i celebrated the holiday korité yesterday. Korité is the holiday in which muslims break their 40 day fast known as ramadaan. The holiday is focused on a large meal for lunch and then spending time with family. Younger members of the family are expected to go and visit the rest of the family, so last night i went with my brother and sister to several houses and saw some of there family. It was interesting to see the dynamics of family life, but I was a little overwhelmed by the mass of people I didnt know and the fact that they mostly speak in Wolof leaving me out of the conversation. Interestingly, in Senegal it is not considered rude to speak a language people arent familiar with in front of them. Im glad the Baobab center informed me of that because my family pretty much only speaks in Wolof unless they want to tell me something and then they use French.

Honestly, it was awkard the first night and morning with my family, but I moved past feeling awkard pretty quickly. It doesnt bother me when they speak Wolof and I will generally bring my journal or a book out into the common area and sit with them while they talk or watch tv. After spending the day yesterday with them, I really feel like im developing a good friendship with Nathalie and she pretty much only speaks French when im around her, which is a noticeable change and makes me happy. My french isnt great, but it is functional and getting better. My Wolof is essentially non-existent, which is truthfully debilitating but im taking in classes in it. When i say debilitating it is because Wolof is the language of the people, if i speak in French, most people will be able to respond in French, but they wont continue on. Plus, people are constantly shouting things at me and it would be nice to know what they are saying and how to respond.

My house is very nice, it is different than American standards, but i have my own bedroom and bathroom with running water! Although the toilet doesnt flush on its own, use your imagination on how to flush a toilet manually!

Thats a bit of news from me but by no means everything so I will be back soon.
à toute à lheure

Day something

Hi friends,

I dont have time to blog for the next few days because of the end of the Muslim holiday ramadan. I will fill you in soon on my adventures, but I am enjoying my time here! Senegal is different, but people are very open to helping me adapt and they are incredibly hospitable!

Day 1!

First of all, I made it to Senegal safe and sound. I arrived at 5:00 a.m. here in Senegal, which for reference is 5 hours ahead of central time. After a long day of traveling, I was tired and not reallyup to par with my French or Wolof, and found out that the airport in Dakar is not extremely user friendly. Example, after filling out the slip of paper that is required when you enter a foreignfollowing the directions that said the bottom part is for ministrarial use only, I was yelled at for not filling out the whole card. Then the lady asked me what my address would be, and being quick on my feet I said, "I don't know." Wrong answer! oops, but after she sent me over to this other guy who ignored me for a while, I finally just told him the name of my University and I made it through customs! I had some other interesting run ins at the airport with some overly aggressive workers and taxi drivers looking for a little money, but my ride eventually found me!

They took us to a wonderful apartment building with running water and flush toilets and someone to prepare meals for us. It's a pretty sweet deal, but I only get to stay there for one night and then I'm off to my family homestay. I spent a few hours chilling out in the apartment and trying to sleep, but I was kind of freaked out by the sights and sounds from the airport ride. Strangely, I was aware that Senegal is a developing country, but the first stretch of buildings I saw were pretty much the opposite of developing. So, as you can probably tell, my first few hours in Senegal did not give me the most positive outlook for the rest of the year. BUT,

someone from the Baobab center, which is a truly awesome center devoted to language and cultural orientation for students from abroad as well as advancing health care in Senegal, came and took us to our orientation at the Baobab center. The orientation was nice because I learned what the center is all about, and met some of the staff members who are really great, speak like a hundred languages (including English), and truly want us to get the most out of our experiences. Next Adama, a former student at the Univeristy I will be attending gave me a tour of the area of Dakar surrounding the Baobab center. Most of the street names went over my head, but I have a general sense of the layout now. Senegal is definitely a developing country, the streets are mostly dirt and the sidewalks don't always function, but the people so far are wonderful. They are very friendly, even to people they've never met before! Plus, I met my host sister and sister in-law, and they are really nice, and my sister speaks English, could be a good and bad thing.

After some afternoon rap up at the Baobab center, the other girls and I did some wandering looking for a telecenter and atm and cyber cafe. Right now, I'm truly enjoying Senegal and learning about it's culture. It's frustrating that my Wolof is too poor to communicate, but French will do for now.

Well, I am now totally exhausted, but it's been quite a day, and it's amazing how much you can learn and change in perspective in one day.

Let's Go!

I'm leaving for Senegal on September 26th! When I arrive I will be staying with a family in the capital city of Dakar for a month while I learn Wolof and try to gain a general sense of what life is like in Senegal.  Then, I will be off to school at the Universite Gaston-Berger in Saint- Louis where I will live in the dorms and see what it means to be a student in Senegal.