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.