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.