Salut mes amis! So after a week of getting back into the swing of things on campus I am feeling back in the groove of Sénégal life. With that comes the realization that in the face of writing a blog about my experiences with Katie here, I get a little overwhelmed. Thus, I made the executive decision to "skip" over that period of time and try to get back on track. I do promise however, that when I return to the States I will have a show-and-tell session solely on those three weeks of my life. I took a ton of pictures and had so much happen, that it would be more worth it to describe in person.
Yesterday I finally did it. After talking about getting "tressed" ever since my friend Annie did it, I went to the coiffure. 5 hours later I stepped out of the tiny little hairdressers room with a headful of long blond braids and a totally new look. (I'll put up a picture soon) Going to the coiffure is definitely a Senegalese cultural experience. Because black people in general usually don't have a lot of hair, the women get fake hair put in in all sorts of styles. You can get braids, wigs, hair that is braided into your hair but then looks like real hair. Curly hair, fancy updos, you name it, I've probably seen it. Thus the process of going to a coiffure is part of normal "things to do" from anywhere between once a month to once every 2 months. So, in the morning I went into town to get the hair. I got two packets of this blond/caramel colored hair. Gotta have more cause of my huge mane. It was one of two colors that the hair place had for white people. Awesomely enough it was pretty much the exact color of my real hair. The hair itself looks kind of like doll hair, but is actually pretty close to the texture of real hair; completely fake though. For each packet it was about $3. Sweet. So at 4:00 yesterday I showed up at the "salon" and two ladies went to town. I sat on a rug on the floor and divided off small sections of the hair and handed it to the "head coiffure" as she braided the fake stuff into my real hair. I did a little reading for part of the time and also watched the football game on TV (it's the African Cup!). During the 5 hours I probably got up 3 times, so you can imagine how sore I felt when I finally finished. I think my butt is finally forgiving me just now.
The final look is crazy. I must say I look pretty Senegalese now, but definitely in a more Rastafarian mode than I would have predicted. I am quite pleased by how they turned out and am excited to see how long I can keep them in for. Best part? I don't have to do anything to them, no washing, no hairstyling. No upkeep. That rules! I'm already feelin the love. Bet you can't wait to see them...Don't worry you will all soon see.
Until then, keep it real. Jamm.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
I'm ALIVE!
After my mother informed me that people have been asking about whether anything is wrong with me over here because I haven't written a blog for over a month, I figured I had better reassure everyone back home that I not only am alive, but had an excellent vacation.
To be technical about it, my winter break was supposed to last from December 15th to January 4th. However, with the long anticipated visit of my sister, Katie, I took quite an extension and didn't officially get back to my classes until the 15th of January. Because so much has happened since my last blog I'll try to block it out. Perhaps I'll do some installations...
Dec 15-Dec 20th: My first week of break was spent completely relaxing with my family in Dakar. It felt so similar to being in the States; you look forward to getting back "home" where you eat well and have less obligations. I ended up spending most of my days playing with Abdoul Aziz and baby Salimata, and helping my yaay do the cooking. It was great being able to learn a little about Senegalese cooking, but by the end of the week I was feeling kind of exhausted by the expectation that I prepare dinner practically every night because my mom was too tired. The eve of Tabaski came with the arrival of my friend Phil Paiement and his girlfriend from Holland. I picked them up from the airport and brought them to their hotel, and invited them to my family's Tabaski celebration when they woke up the next morning. The one thing I unfortunately forgot to tell them in advance was that because of the holidays the city basically shuts down. Everyone was celebrating, which meant that most shops were closed, markets were empty of vendors, and taxis became a rare commodity.
Dec 21st: TABASKI. So first off this holiday is similar to Korité in that the actual day is dependent upon the moon and some thing in the Koran (I say this in all seriousness because even most Muslims don't really get how the day is chosen, they only find out the day because their imam or marabou will tell them). It is interesting how the day is celebrated because there are debates each year as to why the mosque doesn't just choose one day and stick to it. For example, this year Mecca celebrated Tabaski on the 19th, then religious leaders in Senegal debated over whether Senegal could then celebrate it two days later, or if they had to do it the 20th...Needless to say, everyone gets confused and just picks the day that works for them. However, my Tabaski went rather smoothly. I got up around 9am and immediately was thrown into the process of preparing the meal. At about 10am, Douds along with Dass and 2 other helpers got the sheep ready for the slaughter. As is tradition for Tabaski, the head of the house does the actual killing of the sheep. Because my papa was on the Mecca pilgrimage this year, Douds cut the two sheeps' necks. I had thought I would be totally fine with watching everything, but I must say I was a little more than wide-eyed during the entire process. After what seemed to be enough time to get over whatever I was feeling, my yaay plunked me down in a chair on the patio and got me started chopping up all the meat. Pretty sure I could get a job in a butchers shop no prob after this experience! So covered in blood and guts I got a real firsthand look into the Tabaski festivities. The big meal and culmination of the day was late afternoon. I dug into that fresh meat like nobodys business, dressed up in my Tabaski boubou finery, and celebrated like a true Senegalese woman. [Looking at what I just wrote, this day sounds way more gross/ridiculous/melodramatic than it really was. In actuality my description is dead on, but during the moment it all seems completely natural; I guess that's part of the assimilation and adaptation to the culture that we are going through.]
Dec 22-25th: The holiday days...I will say that these were probably the hardest days I have had so far in Senegal. I had been feeling a little nostalgic for the Christmas season throughout the month, but it wasn't until right after Tabaski that I actually felt truly homesick. So in order to feel a little bit like I was back home I invited over the other girls from the program who were in Dakar, and we made "Christmas cookies", or snickerdoodles (this was one of the few things I could make with the ingredients here) Christmas Eve. That night I was able to go to the midnight Christmas service with the family of one of the girls and afterwards went to the soirée they hosted at their house. The service was probably the best reminder of how Christmas is spent in my family; the choir was in full glorious force, and oh yeah, they had a Christmas pageant! The party following the service is definitely one to remember; highlights include, eating an awesome (normal) meal at 2:30 am, staying up dancing until 6am, and singing Christmas carols to drums made of pots and pans while dancing in front of the entire Senegalese invites. Needless to say, after these crazy events I spent half of Christmas sleeping, and the other half making laax cause it sounded like the most Christmasy thing someone could make here.
Dec 26-28th: I decided to get in a quick visit to the petite cote before my sister came, so for the three days after Christmas I stayed in M'Bour with one of my friends. It was refreshing to get out of Dakar and see Senegal a little bit. M'Bour is a cute little town right on the ocean. My friend lived about a 5 minutes walk from the beach, so each day we took a walk along the coast. It was an interesting introduction to the role tourism plays in this country because along the beach there is a clear division of where the residential area stops and the fancy hotels begin. Living with the family was also another learning experience. The "house" was really more of a bunch of random buildings/rooms that enclosed a dirt courtyard and was shared by several aunts/uncles/cousins. Barely anyone spoke French so I was thrown right into using my Wolof...hmm, definitely need to work on my skills. They were all most definitely at a standard of living that was much more what I had expected of a third world country. Yet despite this semblance of poverty, everyone tried to cater to all of my needs. It was hard knowing the sacrifices people were making for me and knowing that I would only be impolite if I refused any part of their hospitality. My visit was short, yet it left many indelible marks in my memory. As I left to return to Dakar I will always remember how the entire family escorted me down the road, and my friend's mother took a bracelet off her wrist, put it on mine, thanked me for coming, and told me she hoped to see me again. Then the rest of the family did something that I have now come across several times; they held out their left hand to shake. In doing so I became a part of a powerful Senegalese custom, the expectation that you will see the other person again [in their lifetime].
Dec 29-Jan 17th: Katie's Visit. This deserves its own blog, so I'll save my travels with her for my next blog.
To sum up how I'm doing right now...I'm back on campus in Saint-Louis and have just turned a corner in my academic progress. I am taking one political science class now (African Regionalism), Wolof, and am starting to focus more seriously on my research. The director of my program in Madison just came for his yearly visit and I now have a more solid topic for my project. I will be spending the next 6 months comparing the efficiencies and inefficiencies of literacy programs formed by the government and NGOs. I'm pretty excited to discover Senegal in this light.
Hope everyone had a good holiday.
Jamm.
To be technical about it, my winter break was supposed to last from December 15th to January 4th. However, with the long anticipated visit of my sister, Katie, I took quite an extension and didn't officially get back to my classes until the 15th of January. Because so much has happened since my last blog I'll try to block it out. Perhaps I'll do some installations...
Dec 15-Dec 20th: My first week of break was spent completely relaxing with my family in Dakar. It felt so similar to being in the States; you look forward to getting back "home" where you eat well and have less obligations. I ended up spending most of my days playing with Abdoul Aziz and baby Salimata, and helping my yaay do the cooking. It was great being able to learn a little about Senegalese cooking, but by the end of the week I was feeling kind of exhausted by the expectation that I prepare dinner practically every night because my mom was too tired. The eve of Tabaski came with the arrival of my friend Phil Paiement and his girlfriend from Holland. I picked them up from the airport and brought them to their hotel, and invited them to my family's Tabaski celebration when they woke up the next morning. The one thing I unfortunately forgot to tell them in advance was that because of the holidays the city basically shuts down. Everyone was celebrating, which meant that most shops were closed, markets were empty of vendors, and taxis became a rare commodity.
Dec 21st: TABASKI. So first off this holiday is similar to Korité in that the actual day is dependent upon the moon and some thing in the Koran (I say this in all seriousness because even most Muslims don't really get how the day is chosen, they only find out the day because their imam or marabou will tell them). It is interesting how the day is celebrated because there are debates each year as to why the mosque doesn't just choose one day and stick to it. For example, this year Mecca celebrated Tabaski on the 19th, then religious leaders in Senegal debated over whether Senegal could then celebrate it two days later, or if they had to do it the 20th...Needless to say, everyone gets confused and just picks the day that works for them. However, my Tabaski went rather smoothly. I got up around 9am and immediately was thrown into the process of preparing the meal. At about 10am, Douds along with Dass and 2 other helpers got the sheep ready for the slaughter. As is tradition for Tabaski, the head of the house does the actual killing of the sheep. Because my papa was on the Mecca pilgrimage this year, Douds cut the two sheeps' necks. I had thought I would be totally fine with watching everything, but I must say I was a little more than wide-eyed during the entire process. After what seemed to be enough time to get over whatever I was feeling, my yaay plunked me down in a chair on the patio and got me started chopping up all the meat. Pretty sure I could get a job in a butchers shop no prob after this experience! So covered in blood and guts I got a real firsthand look into the Tabaski festivities. The big meal and culmination of the day was late afternoon. I dug into that fresh meat like nobodys business, dressed up in my Tabaski boubou finery, and celebrated like a true Senegalese woman. [Looking at what I just wrote, this day sounds way more gross/ridiculous/melodramatic than it really was. In actuality my description is dead on, but during the moment it all seems completely natural; I guess that's part of the assimilation and adaptation to the culture that we are going through.]
Dec 22-25th: The holiday days...I will say that these were probably the hardest days I have had so far in Senegal. I had been feeling a little nostalgic for the Christmas season throughout the month, but it wasn't until right after Tabaski that I actually felt truly homesick. So in order to feel a little bit like I was back home I invited over the other girls from the program who were in Dakar, and we made "Christmas cookies", or snickerdoodles (this was one of the few things I could make with the ingredients here) Christmas Eve. That night I was able to go to the midnight Christmas service with the family of one of the girls and afterwards went to the soirée they hosted at their house. The service was probably the best reminder of how Christmas is spent in my family; the choir was in full glorious force, and oh yeah, they had a Christmas pageant! The party following the service is definitely one to remember; highlights include, eating an awesome (normal) meal at 2:30 am, staying up dancing until 6am, and singing Christmas carols to drums made of pots and pans while dancing in front of the entire Senegalese invites. Needless to say, after these crazy events I spent half of Christmas sleeping, and the other half making laax cause it sounded like the most Christmasy thing someone could make here.
Dec 26-28th: I decided to get in a quick visit to the petite cote before my sister came, so for the three days after Christmas I stayed in M'Bour with one of my friends. It was refreshing to get out of Dakar and see Senegal a little bit. M'Bour is a cute little town right on the ocean. My friend lived about a 5 minutes walk from the beach, so each day we took a walk along the coast. It was an interesting introduction to the role tourism plays in this country because along the beach there is a clear division of where the residential area stops and the fancy hotels begin. Living with the family was also another learning experience. The "house" was really more of a bunch of random buildings/rooms that enclosed a dirt courtyard and was shared by several aunts/uncles/cousins. Barely anyone spoke French so I was thrown right into using my Wolof...hmm, definitely need to work on my skills. They were all most definitely at a standard of living that was much more what I had expected of a third world country. Yet despite this semblance of poverty, everyone tried to cater to all of my needs. It was hard knowing the sacrifices people were making for me and knowing that I would only be impolite if I refused any part of their hospitality. My visit was short, yet it left many indelible marks in my memory. As I left to return to Dakar I will always remember how the entire family escorted me down the road, and my friend's mother took a bracelet off her wrist, put it on mine, thanked me for coming, and told me she hoped to see me again. Then the rest of the family did something that I have now come across several times; they held out their left hand to shake. In doing so I became a part of a powerful Senegalese custom, the expectation that you will see the other person again [in their lifetime].
Dec 29-Jan 17th: Katie's Visit. This deserves its own blog, so I'll save my travels with her for my next blog.
To sum up how I'm doing right now...I'm back on campus in Saint-Louis and have just turned a corner in my academic progress. I am taking one political science class now (African Regionalism), Wolof, and am starting to focus more seriously on my research. The director of my program in Madison just came for his yearly visit and I now have a more solid topic for my project. I will be spending the next 6 months comparing the efficiencies and inefficiencies of literacy programs formed by the government and NGOs. I'm pretty excited to discover Senegal in this light.
Hope everyone had a good holiday.
Jamm.
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