What an amazing weekend. I feel as though it perfectly captured a typical Senegalese weekend, if that is possible.
To start with I invited the group of guys I’ve been hanging out with to the French Cultural Center for a concert on Friday night. The FCC is kind of pretentious with all of the Europeans who frequent it, but they sure know good music. The group playing was three brothers, supposedly playing a mix of hip-hop and traditional African music, which really just meant that it was mbalax. At first I was a little apprehensive bringing them to the concert because I wasn’t sure if they would be into the group (the last time I went to a concert there it was mostly the middle aged crowd), but as soon as we sat down my friend Babs told me that he had the group’s music on his computer. Apparently the group is super popular in Senegal and last year they visited the campus. I loved the music. I feel so privileged to have all these music opportunities at my fingertips. There is definitely a difference in music here; everyone-the musicians, the audience-puts their whole being into the music, it’s almost tangible. It’s a crazy feeling being so involved; I know that I have already developed a much greater appreciation for their music. So everyone had a good time and afterwards we returned back to campus to hang out and, surprise, surprise…make ataaya.
Saturday morning dawned and Annie, Maren, and I just spent it lazing around. It is awesome how close the three of us have gotten. While I am excited about having Senegalese friends, I appreciate having some other American [girls] around to relate to. We all have been having similar experiences and so it is so essential to talk to someone else about the problems, situations, and adventures we have been facing. After lunch we then headed over to the beach for some quality time in the sun. The beach is such a great time, but there are some downfalls to it. For one, as a white person you are automatically targeted by all of the walking vendors. It gets pretty annoying to have to get rid of these guys trying to sell you stuff all the time. Thankfully if we start using Wolof and then explain that we are students for the year they will back off, but every once and a while you get really persistent ones. Also, you get a lot of guys who ask you to join them in their little tiki huts on the beach for tea. So far we’ve been able to deflect their requests. There have been some creepy situations though that reminds us of why we won’t go to the beach at night without a few male Senegalese companions. Other than those few annoyances, the beach is amazing. It is enormous as it is the huge peninsula that connects with Mauritania to the north.
We then went back to campus for a delicious dinner at “the resto”. It was a hard boiled egg, french fries, onion sauce, sardines, and a piece of bread…SANDWICH NIGHT!!!! Sounds so gross, but seriously, this is my favorite meal at the resto. I’ve decided that I’ll probably be making them frequently when I return to the US. After that it was back to town where we (Annie, Maren, and I) went to Amadou’s house and sat around and made tea. Amadou lives in a typical (or not typical, depending on how you look at it) Senegalese family set up. He lives with his five young girl cousins, younger brother, aunt, and grandmother. It was a super calm, relaxed night, which I was all about. I played with his youngest cousin, Xady (the equivalent of Katie in Wolof) who can’t be more than 4 years old. She was actually the cutest little girl ever; I am starting to compile a list of small children that I am going to take back to the US with me and she is right up there.
Sunday was spent in town again, although this time at Tamsir’s house (Amadou and Tamsir are best friends). We went to the market beforehand to check out fabric (bassin) for our Tabaski outfits but only Maren found what she wanted. Tuesday I bought some for myself and brought it to the tailor. I went all out and am having it made totally Senegalese style with all the embroidery and such. I’m super excited to see how it turns out. Afterwards we went to Tamsir’s so that Annie could get her hair braided, “tressed”. Before they started, Annie and I went with Xadia to a boutique to get the fake hair that Xadia was going to add in to the braids, Senegalese style. While Annie was getting her hair braided the rest of us just hung out with the rest of the family, friends, and neighbors that were constantly coming in and out of the house. Mariam, Tamsir’s sister prepared the dinner all day, so when I showed interest in learning how she made everything, she showed me all of the steps that she went through. The grandma loved the fact that I was interested in cooking and so would look in with approval on how things were going. It was such an amazing feeling how comfortable everyone was with everyone else. I keep talking about Terenga, but the four of us Americans all remarked on how accepted we were and unreal our experience was at the time. No one treated us as anything other than a normal visitor; it was like a huge party the whole day. We talked about how different things would be in the US if there were four black girls over for a regular Sunday afternoon and evening. Everyone was talking in a mix of Wolof, French, and English. And everyone was helping each other with the other language they didn’t know. This is why I love Senegal. The family also went all out on the dinner for us, their special guests. There is no end to their graciousness. We got home by midnight; not surprising seeing as how we didn’t eat until 10 pm.
I’m still kind of riding on the high of the weekend. It serves as testament to all of the good things Senegal represents. And tomorrow all of us girls are going over to an American professor’s house to celebrate Thanksgiving. I can’t wait to make the family dish for everyone, it is potluck style. Happy Thanksgiving all!
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Ocean View
Us gals at Hydroplage, the enorm beach off the island of Saint-Louis. We brought a jembay and danced around on the sand.
Me in the ocean, I was all about the body surfing, the waves get huge!Animal Farm
Already it is the middle of November, how time flies. I have started to settle into a routine here, minus the class schedule. Things are feeling very comfortable now that I have started to make some Senegalese friends and have explored the city a bit. The campus itself feels small at times; it is the size of most small liberal arts schools in the US. It is also probably why I go into town so often, a habit from living in lively Madison.
The city of Saint Louis has about the same number of people as Madison, yet it has much more of a town feel to it. I was remarking to my friends the other day how interesting it is that we have only been here for two and a half weeks and already I can’t go into town without running into someone I know. The island and market place (on sol-or mainland) is where all of the action is at, although this is also where all of the tourists are. There are already some favorite haunts: best places to get a sandwich late at night, where the fair/friendly vendors are, and of course my aunt Fatou’s house. Fatou has completely taken me under her wing here; I sometimes feel like I am taking place of the daughter she never had. She certainly treats me like the aunts back home…always ready to send me home with food (shout-out to Aunt Deb, Sue, and Laura). I have also become the favorite “foreign cousin” of Muhammed who is 12. The other day I taught him and Fatou the head and shoulders, knees and toes song, it was hilarious. They loved it.
There are some interesting differences about campus which have come to my attention in the past couple weeks. The first thing I noticed was that people here are actually a lot more conservative than I would have thought of a university campus. People here dress so nicely; I noted the other day that 95% of the guys wear collared shirts and nice slacks everyday to class. Females usually wear a nice pair of pants or long skirt, and shirts that we girls would wear out to a club or bar at night. Sparkles and glitter is a common theme, and not only just for girls. The night life is also not what all us Madison girls expected. Things are really calm after 10:30-11 pm during the week, and even on the weekend most people are not out and about after midnight. This was surprising after hearing from so many people that the Senegalese go out super late at night and stay out until the morning.
Another cultural thing that I immediately noticed here is that guys hold each others hands. Hand holding is super common between friends or boyfriend/gfs. Walking to class, the resto, or just on a walk, guys hold the hands of their friends. I have observed that Senegalese are very physical; personal bubbles are pretty nonexistent. Although it took some adjusting at first, I am really enjoying how comfortable everyone is with each other, regardless of how well you know someone. A little anecdote on this subject: last week the power was cut for about two hours around 10 PM. I had ended up having a quasi-party completely by chance that night, so when the power was cut we all decided to go on a walk. There were three of us American girls and the rest were Senegalese. As I was walking along with the group I was talking to one of the guys, someone I had just met that night, and he took my hand to hold it like it was no big thing. I kind of freaked out until I realized hilariously enough that everyone else was holding hands if they were walking next to someone (female-female or male-female or male-male). Reading what I just wrote makes it seem so bizarre, and it is, but at the same time it fits perfectly with how people are here.
I would also like to mention the animal situation here. While it is rare to see someone with a domesticated pet, there are tons of cats around campus. Goats are also rampant. They are usually pretty skittish around people, but there are some really cute little baby ones that us American girls always try and pet. It gets better. For some reason there is also a herd of donkeys that hang out by the dorms and classrooms. Just picture walking to your class and almost running into a huge donkey crossing your path on its way to eat the leaves off some sparse tree! The last notable animals sharing campus are the longhorn cows. Some days they’ll shack up right next to the path to the resto (the cafeteria). I told one of my Senegalese friends that I wanted to try riding one and he just laughed and said I was crazy. Hey, I can always try, there are enough people around to help me if I get speared by a raging bull. So basically I am living on a desert farm.
Class is as of yet nonexistent aside from Wolof and now French. I am hoping to start my political science classes tomorrow…we’ll see how many actually end up meeting. I’m not really sure how we are going to be getting credit for anything other than our project and Wolof, but we’ll see. I consider hanging out with my Senegalese friends class enough. I am usually exhausted at the end of every day from trying to think in French and Wolof. I also am learning a lot about the culture from conversations I have with my friends. American pop culture is totally followed here. I swear the Senegalese have to teach me what’s what in US pop culture, it’s hilarious. My favorite is the words that they pick up and try to use in a different context. I have had some very humorous moments trying to explain some of the more vulgar words, things they definitely heard from American music. People here are way more aware of current international affairs than in the US. I am constantly astounded by how much Senegalese [students] know about the public policies of other countries. It makes for very interesting discussions.
Things as you can see are slowing down in terms of exciting adventures, so if I don’t write for a while it is only because I am becoming more integrated into Senegalese life and am probably making ataaya instead (the Senegalese tea which I LOVE). Much love to the States.
The city of Saint Louis has about the same number of people as Madison, yet it has much more of a town feel to it. I was remarking to my friends the other day how interesting it is that we have only been here for two and a half weeks and already I can’t go into town without running into someone I know. The island and market place (on sol-or mainland) is where all of the action is at, although this is also where all of the tourists are. There are already some favorite haunts: best places to get a sandwich late at night, where the fair/friendly vendors are, and of course my aunt Fatou’s house. Fatou has completely taken me under her wing here; I sometimes feel like I am taking place of the daughter she never had. She certainly treats me like the aunts back home…always ready to send me home with food (shout-out to Aunt Deb, Sue, and Laura). I have also become the favorite “foreign cousin” of Muhammed who is 12. The other day I taught him and Fatou the head and shoulders, knees and toes song, it was hilarious. They loved it.
There are some interesting differences about campus which have come to my attention in the past couple weeks. The first thing I noticed was that people here are actually a lot more conservative than I would have thought of a university campus. People here dress so nicely; I noted the other day that 95% of the guys wear collared shirts and nice slacks everyday to class. Females usually wear a nice pair of pants or long skirt, and shirts that we girls would wear out to a club or bar at night. Sparkles and glitter is a common theme, and not only just for girls. The night life is also not what all us Madison girls expected. Things are really calm after 10:30-11 pm during the week, and even on the weekend most people are not out and about after midnight. This was surprising after hearing from so many people that the Senegalese go out super late at night and stay out until the morning.
Another cultural thing that I immediately noticed here is that guys hold each others hands. Hand holding is super common between friends or boyfriend/gfs. Walking to class, the resto, or just on a walk, guys hold the hands of their friends. I have observed that Senegalese are very physical; personal bubbles are pretty nonexistent. Although it took some adjusting at first, I am really enjoying how comfortable everyone is with each other, regardless of how well you know someone. A little anecdote on this subject: last week the power was cut for about two hours around 10 PM. I had ended up having a quasi-party completely by chance that night, so when the power was cut we all decided to go on a walk. There were three of us American girls and the rest were Senegalese. As I was walking along with the group I was talking to one of the guys, someone I had just met that night, and he took my hand to hold it like it was no big thing. I kind of freaked out until I realized hilariously enough that everyone else was holding hands if they were walking next to someone (female-female or male-female or male-male). Reading what I just wrote makes it seem so bizarre, and it is, but at the same time it fits perfectly with how people are here.
I would also like to mention the animal situation here. While it is rare to see someone with a domesticated pet, there are tons of cats around campus. Goats are also rampant. They are usually pretty skittish around people, but there are some really cute little baby ones that us American girls always try and pet. It gets better. For some reason there is also a herd of donkeys that hang out by the dorms and classrooms. Just picture walking to your class and almost running into a huge donkey crossing your path on its way to eat the leaves off some sparse tree! The last notable animals sharing campus are the longhorn cows. Some days they’ll shack up right next to the path to the resto (the cafeteria). I told one of my Senegalese friends that I wanted to try riding one and he just laughed and said I was crazy. Hey, I can always try, there are enough people around to help me if I get speared by a raging bull. So basically I am living on a desert farm.
Class is as of yet nonexistent aside from Wolof and now French. I am hoping to start my political science classes tomorrow…we’ll see how many actually end up meeting. I’m not really sure how we are going to be getting credit for anything other than our project and Wolof, but we’ll see. I consider hanging out with my Senegalese friends class enough. I am usually exhausted at the end of every day from trying to think in French and Wolof. I also am learning a lot about the culture from conversations I have with my friends. American pop culture is totally followed here. I swear the Senegalese have to teach me what’s what in US pop culture, it’s hilarious. My favorite is the words that they pick up and try to use in a different context. I have had some very humorous moments trying to explain some of the more vulgar words, things they definitely heard from American music. People here are way more aware of current international affairs than in the US. I am constantly astounded by how much Senegalese [students] know about the public policies of other countries. It makes for very interesting discussions.
Things as you can see are slowing down in terms of exciting adventures, so if I don’t write for a while it is only because I am becoming more integrated into Senegalese life and am probably making ataaya instead (the Senegalese tea which I LOVE). Much love to the States.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
More pictures of the Rose
Look how much I'm floating! I'm not even doing anything, crazy cool.
Hey Hey, I'm Senegalese now! This is the mud/clay you find on the bottom of the lake. It's just like mudbaths on the St. Croix!
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