Friday 10/26/07

ATTENTION! THIS WAS MEANT TO BE POSTED ON FRIDAY BUT BECAUSE OF THE POWER OUTAGE IT WASN'T UNTIL TODAY THAT I COULD GET IT ONLINE:

Today will be my last entry for my home-stay in Dakar. I am rather sad to be leaving my family and the big city. Although it has felt like a long vacation for the most part, I have learned so much from all aspects of living here. I have grown really close to my family; something not all of the girls have experienced. They are expecting me back for Tabaski as well as other weekends just for a visit. They are excited and honored to have Katie (my sister) come and stay with us at the end of December too! To top it all off, because both of my parents are from Saint-Louis, my yaay called her cousin, gave her my phone number (and me, hers), and Fatou Seck is now expecting a call from me once I arrive in Saint-Louis. As Maman told me, “you should call her if you have any questions, problems, or just want to eat at a home, they will expect you to stop by and visit”. I feel so fortunate to have such a substitute family here, I think it makes dealing with life here so much easier (to my family back home: you have not been replaced, I now just have a very large addition to my family tree). It is awesome to know that I have been privy to the Senegalese teranga (hospitality). I will miss them.

My week has been busy busy busy. I made dinner for everyone (Yaay, Papa, Douds, Sals, David, Asstou, Sally[cousin], and Dass) on Tuesday night. Basic pasta with a pre-made pesto sauce I got at the casino (supermarket) tossed with cheese, tomatoes, and roasted chicken. Don’t know how “American” it is, but it is something that I would eat at home, which was the point. It definitely was a hit, both with the family and me (I was able to cook, something I miss doing). Classic American/Minnesotan finish: Congo bars (chocolate chip bars for anyone not in my family)! Also went over fantastically, although brown sugar was quite tricky to find, and extremely expensive. The funny thing was was that they seemed rather surprised that I could cook; Maman has been telling everyone about it.

Yesterday after our Wolof “test” and Baobab evaluation 8 of us went with one of our former Baobab guides, Adema, to her studio to learn how to batik (ba-teek). Batiking is a type of design on fabrics. Typically one uses wax to make the patterns, but some batik is also hand drawings with paint. We learned what chemicals are used to make the dyes (all organic at this place): hydro sulfate and compound mixed with the dye and water. Each of us got plain white fabric and went to town using stamps dipped in melted wax and then pressed on the fabric, or a dotting technique, or free-lance painting on of the wax. After putting the designs on the fabric with the wax we wet down the cloth, then dipped it in the cold dye of our choice, and after some minutes (depending on how dark you wanted it) took it out, rinsed it in hot water to get the wax off, and then hung it up to dry. It was a totally unique experience and we all had a blast. I took a look at my patterns today and I feel so proud of myself for making my own of something very traditionally African.

Things just got better from last night. Today I went to Lac Rose with Annie, Natalie, and Douds. My cousin, Lune (means moon in French) is a taxi driver, so he gave us a good price to be rented out for the day and drive us up to the lake (which is usually about 2 hours away). We headed out about 9 (really equivalent to 10, since it’s on Senegalese time) and got there in less than the estimated 2 hours…I think we just got lucky with the traffic out of town. It was so nice to get out of the city. You don’t realize how much of a bubble you are in, and it had been so easy to forget that there is so much more out in Senegal. The lake itself is dubbed Rose Lake because of its color: it literally is pink! The reason for it is its salinity; it is ridiculously salty. Everyone in my family thought it was crazy that I wanted to swim in it, but we girls really wanted to see what it felt like to have super floating skills. It was every bit as cool as we thought it would be. The bottom was kind of gross because there was major clay lining the bottom and your feet would be all squishy, but it was completely worth it to be so buoyant. It was crazy, you could sit up like you were in a reclining chair and the water would hold you! And lame as it is, I tried a little synchro ballet leg and holy moly, I don’t think I have ever gotten such height, and with so little effort! Other than the floating part, it was interesting to experience the transfer of heat in the water. Seeing as how I am no science person I have no idea why this is, but for one the lake trapped heat like no other; I felt like I was taking a bath. The other was that it was exponentially warmer/hotter on the bottom with the clay, and grew cooler by the top. Overall, it was an excellent adventure and quite the gem. I now am basking in my pulsating sunburn and ready to take a nap.

Á Saint-Louis!