Visit to a Daara

Yesterday, my Education and Culture class visited a daara in Pikine, a banlieu (suburb) of Dakar. Unlike the suburbs in the United States, the banlieus are really poor. They are the poorest areas of the city. We took cabs from our university to Pikine and then stopped at our professor's house. Professor Kane lives in one of the nicest homes in the entire banlieu. Then, we walked to the daara, which was located onthe other side of the train tracks. Daaras are koranic schools, where boys ages 5 to 20 are taught the Koran by marabouts (religious leaders). This was definitely one of the most interesting and saddening experiences I have had in Senegal.

The way that most of the schools are run, is that the kids all live there and only see their parents during Muslim religious holidays. At this particular daara, most of the kids come from the Touba region. This is a religious center for Mouride Muslims. They wake up in the morning and study koran until lunch time. This means memorizing passages in Arabic, even though they only speak Wolof. None of these kids, or even the marabout, spoke French. Therefore, most of the kids couldn't tell you what the passages that they recite mean. As they get older, the marabout and other students will help translate the Arabic into Wolof, so they can have some idea of what they are saying.

In the afternoon, the talibe (which means religious students) are sent out onto the streets of Pikine to beg for food and money. The marabout makes most of his money this way. The kids' parents don't pay for them to attend school, so begging allows the marabout to run the daara. Also, his adult followers will give him whatever money they can afford. Any marabout, or really any Senegalese person, will tell you that the purpose of begging is to teach the talibe to be humble. Humility is a very important part of Islam. However, in my opinion and in the opinion of most other Muslim countries, there are many better ways to teach kids to be humble. Really, I see begging as a way for marabouts to exploit their students and earn a living.

During our visit, we got to sit down with the marabout and ask questions, which our professor translated into Wolof. Many of the questions that people asked didn't provide us with any inight into this system, but it was interesting to see how he answered. For example, when we asked what most of the kids do when they leave the daara, he told us that many students end up working the United States. Really? These kids who cannot speak any language other than Wolof, have never been to regular school, and can't even write their names manage to acquire gainful employment in the United States? I don't think so. These kids have never learned math, history, science, or French. All they know is the Koran.

The saddest part of the whole visit was when the subject of beating the tablibe came up. This particular daara is well-known because a few years ago, the old marabout beat a child so badly that he died. When word got out, that marabout fled to Touba and has been there ever since. However, when we asked the current marabout if he beats children, he said yes without any hesitation. He told us that he has a cane that he uses if the children are misbehaving. He explained that beating is a necessary part of learning, and that if he didn't beat kids they would never learn the Koran. Even the public schools here still use corporal punishment. I don't know about all of you, but I was never beaten by my teachers, and I think I have done pretty well as far as education is concerned.

Recently, Senegal has come under international scrutiny because of the mistreatment of talibe by marabouts. Many talibe are beaten if they don't bring in enough money everyday while begging. Human Rights Watch recently did a report on this phenomenon, urging the Senegalese to do something for the 50,000 talibe in the country. The problem is the amount of power that is held by these marabouts. They are extremely influential politically, so the government is really afraid to take them on. If you're interested, the NY Times recently did a story on this problem that can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/04/15/world/international-us-senegal-streetchildren.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Senegal%20talibe&st=cse

I Am Worth Four Cows: A Week in Salamata

I spent this past week exploring rural Senegal. It was our rural visit week, where each CIEE student is placed with either a Peace Corps volunteer (PCV), and NGO, or a host family in rural parts of Senegal all around the country. I was placed with a PCV named Jason Haack, whose site is about 18km outside of the town of Kolda. Kolda is located in southern Senegal, in the Haute Cassamance. The specific village that we were in is called Salamata, and about 750 people live there.

Liz, one of my friends who also lives in Sacre Coeur 3, was placed with me. We left the neighborhood around 7 am on Sunday to go to the Garage Pompier and grab a sept-place down to Kolda. We were told that it would be no problem to get a sept-place anytime on Sunday and that the trip would only take about 6 hours. Neither of those things were true. When we got to the garage, we were informed that there were no sept-places going to Kolda that day, but we could take a bus. Now, the way public transportation works here in Senegal is that you have to wait for the entire bus to fill up before they will leave. Liz and I knew this could take a while, but we only anticipated waiting a few hours. Instead, we didn't leave the garage until 4:30pm! In order to get to Kolda, you have to go through The Gambia. The ferry in The Gambia stops running at 8pm, and we knew there was no way we were going to get there in time, so we called Jason. He hooked us up with some of his Peace Corps friends in Kaolack, about 3.5 hours outside of Dakar, who let us sleep at the Kaolack regional house. We arrived exhausted and dirty, to find cheeseburgers and American movies.

After a lovely night sleeping on the roof under a mosquito net, we grabbed a sept-place to Kolda and left around 8am. We got into Kolda in the early afternoon and Jason met us at the garage with David, another PCV. We went back to the Kolda regional house, where we spent the night. Liz and I were absolutely filthy from our trip. Since it's so dusty and so hot out, we were covered in dirt and sweat. So, after we met everyone at the Peace Corps house, we took long showers to get rid of all the dirt.

Jason convinced us to stay at the regional house Monday night with promises of fried chicken. Martin, another PCV, is an amazing cook, even if he is really socially awkward, and he made fried chicken and macaroni and cheese for us! We spent the night hanging out with the PCVs, talking about why they joined the Peace Corps and what their experiences had been like so far. I had a long conversation with David about what types of people are happiest in the Peace Corps. Basically, he said that people who come in with no expectations tend to enjoy the Peace Corps the most. If you come in expecting to do a very specific type of project and accomplish very specific goals, you are likely to be let down. Jason seemed to agree. When he reached his site 8 months ago, he met with the village elders to determine what they needed from him. He didn't go in with a preconceived notion of what he would be doing.

The next morning, we woke up early and took a taxi out to the village. Salamata is beautiful. There are woods and palm trees, animals everywhere, and the people are very friendly. Everyone in this area of Senegal speaks the Fulakunda dialect of Pular. Very few of them speak fluent Wolof, and even less speak fluent French. This made communicating very difficult. Luckily, we had Jason, who speaks pretty decent Pular, We pretty much only learned some basic greetings. It's really interesting how different Pular and Wolof are. Wolof is a really harsh language, while Pular is very sing-songy.

The four days we spent in the village were awesome. We met Jason's host family and stayed in his hut in their compound. There was no electricity or running water, but there was a well in the compound so we could take outdoor bucket showers. We got to explore neighboring villages, including Martin's village. We also went to see the women's garden in the village. This was worked on by Danny, the PCV who was in Salamata before Jason. He wrote the grant for it and helped the women set it up so that they could have some form of income and have better nutrition in the village. When we went down, the women asked Jason if he would buy them barbed wire to keep out the monkeys who eat their crops. However, one of the stipulations of the grant for the women's garden was that the women were responsible for its upkeep by saving some of the money they make off selling their crops. Jason did his best to explain this, and asked them to collect money from each woman so that he could go into town and get the barbed wire.

It was exceptionally hot in Salamata. I think it was over 120 degress everyday we were in the village. I don't think I have ever been as hot as I was while in the Kolda region. My daily outdoor bucket shower was fantastic. Also, because it's so hot this time of year, people don't really do much during the afternoon. So, everyday after lunch turned into nap time. Sometimes we would lay down under the mango tree, other times we would sleep in the hut.

On our last day in Salamata, we went on a death march through three or four villages instead of napping. We started off the day by walking to Sare Sarah (Martin's village), which is about 2 km from Salamata. Then we hitch-hiked to another village in search of palm wine. The two guys who collect palm wine in that village weren't in, so we ate lunch and started walking to a village that has electricity and, therefore, cold drinks. Once there, we bought some soda and bouy (baobab fruit juice) and sat in front of some government building to enjoy the cold. When we finished, it was off to yet another village in search of a man named Kobe who was rumored to have palm wine in his possesion.

When we finally arrived at Kobe's house, he was taking a bath. So, we sat in his beautiful garden until he finished. Then, he grabbed his gear for climbing and tapping palm trees, and we walked out into the woods. We sat down in a little grove of trees while Kobe climbed up on of these huge palm trees and tapped some palm wine for us. This was the second time I had tried palm wine. The first was in The Gambia, and I really didn't like it. The smell is really rancid and strong. But, this time I actually really enjoyed it. We sat in a circle taking turns drinking out of a calabash. It was lovely. Once we had finished, we hitch-hiked another ride back to the village.

One of the most interesting things about the village were the gender dynamics. Overall, men and women's lives are very seperate and different. In the village, the men build huts and do maitenance around the village, while the women spend all day cooking and pulling water from the well. The women get up in the morning and start grinding peanuts and corn. They do all the cooking and cleaning. It seems that the men only really work when there is something very specific to do. For example, the one time I saw the men working was when they were building a new hut for Jason's host brother, Ousmane. Interestingly, the village was the first time I saw fathers playing and interacting with their young children.

Overall, I really loved my week in the village. We met amazing people and had a lot of fun. Of course, it was also really interesting to see how so much of Senegal lives. Mostly, I really enjoyed talking with PCVs about their projects and their experiences with the Peace Corps. It was really eye-opening and they each had a story to tell about how they ended up in the Peace Corps and what they thought of the entire process.

La Jour de l'Independence

Sunday, April 4th (Easter Sunday) was the 50th anniversary of Senegalese independence from France. Naturally, the entire weekend was one big celebration. Saturday was the inauguration of La Monument de la Renaissance Africaine. This is a giant statue that can be seen from most places in Dakar. I have a perfect view of it from my roof, even though I live really far away from it. This statue has been really controversial. First, it is meant to represent Senegal and Africa. This is problematic because it depicts a man, woman, and child who are not wearing very much clothing. This has been really upsetting to the mostly Muslim population in Senegal. People here dress cery conservatively. Girls generally wear floor length skirts and dresses, and certainly nothing that is cut above the knee. Another point of outrage with this monument is the insanely high cost to build it. President Abdoulaye Wade spent billions of dollars building this huge, unsightly statue, when roads need to be fixed, schools need more funding, and people need to be fed. It would be one thing if the billions of dollars went to Senegalese workers, since there is a severe job shortage in this country. However, the money mostly went to North Koreans, who engineered and built the statue. Also, Wade is collecting a percentage of any money made by the statue for himself, claiming that he designed it.

So, due to the serious controversy surrounding the statue, I was shocked to see so many people out in support of its inauguration. The streets and hills around the statue were packed! Roads were blocked off so that hoards of people dressed in outfits made of this ridiculous fabric with Wade's face and pictures of the statue all over it could gather to watch the speeches. People were wearing t-shirts commemorating the event, and important leaders from all over the world, including Jesse Jackson, were in attendance. I sat up on a hill with two of my friends, next to a beautiful baobab tree, and just watched. I couldn't comprehend how so many people were happy about this statue. In the days leading up to the event, I talked with taxi drivers, my family, students, and random people on the street about their thoughts on the statue. Not one of them supported it. Later, I found out that many of the people who were out cheering for the statue had been paid to be there.

After a few hours of madness, I headed home to get ready for the evening. That night, there was an Independence Day party in Ouakam, one the neighborhoods in Dakar. There was lots of dancing, and most people from school were there. The whole night was a lot of fun until, at about 5 am, a man came up to my friend Jenna and me and started yelling at us in English. He was chastizing us for being white people in Africa, repeatedly telling is how ugly we were because we were white and that we were only in Senegal to find black men. This is not a sentiment that I have often encountered here. Most men respond very positively to white women, telling us how badly they want a white wife. I was so upset by this man, who I had never met before, yelling at me two inches from my face. Jenna eventually convinced me to walk away. I can understand why he might feel like that. A lot of rich, older, French women come to Senegal in search of attractive, young, Senegalese men. However, for him to assume that I am here because of some devious motivation really offended me. Not to mention, no one likes being called ugly by strangers.

The next day was actual Independence Day. My program took us to Stade Leopold Sedar Senghor, a large stadium in Dakar, to see a traditional wrestling match between Mike Tyson (a Senegalese man who has taken on Tyson's name and wears and American flag) and Yekini. This was a huge match that had been advertised on TV for months leading up to it. It was a rematch between Tyson and Yekini. In the parking lot while we were waiting in line, my friends and I bought whistles for 100 CFA (roughly 20 cents) and t-shirts for 1000 CFA (about $2.00). My t-shirt supported Tyson, who was making his comeback to wrestling that day. CIEE had bought us the expensive seats, which cost $10, and we got to sit in the first row. As usual, there was more dancing than wrestling. Each wrestler has a crew, and they dance together before the match. Unfortunately, Tyson lost the match. But it's okay, because Akon was there! Since he is Senegalese, Akon comes to Independence Day in Senegal every year. He drove around the stadium waving to the crowd before taking his seat to watch the match.

The stadium was crazy once the match ended. There was lots of yelling and cheering, and people started jumping from the crowd down onto the field. This is especially dangerous when the security, who are all military and police, have very large guns and aren't afraid to use their night sticks. We left before anyone got seriously hurt, but I did see the police going after a few people with their night sticks.

Monday classes were cancelled in celebration of Easter, so my friend Katie came over and we dyed Easter eggs! My mom had sent me an egg dying kit in a care package, and it was really nice to celebrate Easter with an American tradition. My Senegalese family did not understand what we were doing at all. We tried, and failed, to explain this bizarre Easter tradition. Eventually, my family gave up trying to understand and were just happy to eat hard-boiled eggs and play with the stickers. Explaining these sort of cultural things gets really tricky when you can only speak French.

A Long Overdue Update

I am currently stuck at home in bed with bronchitis, so I figured this would be a perfect time to update about the past 3 weekends of madness here in Dakar. I can't quite remember the order of what happened when, so I am just going to go through some highlights. A couple weekends ago was my friend Ana's 20th birthday. We celebrated pretty much the entire weekend. On Saturday afternoon, a bunch of CIEE girls that live in Sacre Coeur 3 came over to Ana's house for crepes, bissap (hibiscus juice), fruit, and homemade chocolate chip cookies! It was great. There is no such thing as brown sugar in Senegal, so Ana and her sister had to make due without it when making the cookies. Also, the heat in Ana's oven is on the top, so some of the cookies got a bit burnt, but they were still delicious.

That night, Ana and I took our younger siblings to Magic Land! Magic Land is, essentially, a permanent carnival in Dakar. There are a bunch of rides, mostly for small children. We had my two little brothers, who are 8 and 9, her little brother, who is 8, and her little sister, who is 15. Getting out of the house proved to be really difficult. My little brothers and I headed over to Ana's house around 8:30 for dinner. While Ana and I were in the kitchen helping cook, her brother spilled roughly 5 liters of bissap on the floor. Naturally, this being Senegal, his parents were so angry. Initially, they told him that he could no longer go with us to Magic Land and I'm pretty sure he was beaten with a belt. Corporal punishment is still really common here, even in schools. It's baffling. Then, my brothers started crying because we told them that we weren't going to Magic Land without Ana's brother. Eventually, Ana's mom convinced her dad to let her brother come with us, since his friends were already at the house. One would think that that would be the end of it and we would just eat dinner and go, but then Ana's sister, Aida, declared that she was pissed off at us and was no longer coming. So, we had to sit down and have a chat with Aida about why she was mad. She was upset that we were originally not going to go "just because an 8 year old boy couldn't go." The whole thing was ridiculous and she was being completely unreasonable. Magic Land is for kids! Obviously we wanted to take the kids.

Eventually, we convinced Aida to suck it up and come with us, ate dinner, and were out the door around 10:45 pm. We hopped in a cab and arrived at Magic Land ready to start having some fun. First, we had to buy tickets. Then, the little boys went on a ride on the train. It was so cute! Then we headed over to the haunted house ride, but everyone was too scared to go on that, so we decided to come back to it. We took the boys over to a game where they could shoot at eachother with foam balls, and the three of us went over to the pirate ship ride! It was so much fun. There were a bunch of young Moroccan kids on the ride who we started yelling matches with, and Aida was so scared. It was hillarious. Then, we went back to the haunted house. This was probably the cutest part of the night. Each little boy paired up with one of the girls. Ana and her brother went first. As soon as he was on the ride, he put his head down under the front of the car and didn't move it until the ride was over. I went on with my youngest brother, Bebecheikh, who hid his face in my side the whole time. I don't think either of them saw a thing the entire time. My brother Mohammed was supposed to go on with Aida, but when we got out we found out that he chickened out and she went on the ride with the owner's son. The whole thing was adorable.

By midnight, we decided it was time to get the kids home and put them to bed. Plus, there was a birthday party for Ana and a couple other people at Jenna's house in Ouakam that we needed to get to. So, we dropped the kids of in Sacre Coeur 3, got ready, and headed over to Ouakam. We got to Jenna's house and were greeted by delicious kebabs, chocolate cake, and gin. The night was really fun. We hung out with Jenna's brothers and a few other CIEE kids, dancing and drinking until around 4am.

We have also made somewhat of a CIEE tradition out of heading to this little hole-in-the-wall bar every Thursday night for what we like to call "j'ai soif jeudi." La Manguiline is literally a liquor store with tables, and they have the cheapest beer we've found yet in Dakar. It is in Mermoz and is within walking distance from my house. This is always lots of fun, and usually ends with us walking down to the hookah bar for a few hours.

This past weekend, the group Magic System was playing at this club called "Nirvana" on Friday night. Most of us knew their music, and those that didn't had at least heard it in the clubs, so we made a night of it. We started off at this guy named Harris's house. He lives in, by far, the nicest house I have seen in Dakar. It is absolutely amazing. His family has their own guard posted outside the house! Ana and I didn't arrive until around midnight, at which point everyone had already been seriously partying for a couple of hours. At around 1:30 we walked over to Nirvana. This club was amazing! It was beautiful and so nice. We had to pay 10,000 CFA to get in (roughly $20), which is crazy expensive, but I think it was worth it. We danced until 4:15 am, when the band finally went on. I love living in a city where it is perfectly acceptable that the band doesn't go on until after 4:00. They played all their hits (or about 5 songs) and then they were done. Even though they weren't on for long, the whole night was tons of fun and totally worth the money.

This update definitely makes it sound like all I do here is party, but that's not necessarily true. Yes, Dakar night life is crazy and I really enjoy it. But! I am also spending a lot of time hanging out with my family and in the neighborhood, meeting people and learning what is it like to live in Senegal. This weekend, on Easter, is Independence Day. It's the 50th anniversary of Senegalese independence! There is a big wrestling match that CIEE is taking us to and the whole city should just be one big celebration. I'm really excited.

In two weeks we head out into the villages for our "Rural Visits." This is where we get to spend a week with non-profits or Peace Corps volunteers living in villages and helping them with their work. I am really excited. Hopefully, I will get placed with a Peace Corps volunteer doing agroforestry work. I can't wait to get to explore rural Senegal! I'm also really hoping that I get to do something evironmentally related. I am working on getting a summer internship with a think-tank/consulting firm called EcoAgriculture Partners. They are based out of DC and run by a Wellesley alumna. Basically, they work to improve rural lifestyles through sustainable agricultural practices. It looks really interesting and I'm really hoping that this works out!

Dealing with loss in Senegal

As many people who read this blog know, yesterday my neighborhood received some really sad news. After years of fighting cancer, Dave Pratt passed away yesterday morning at 4:55 am. My younger brother answered the phone when I got the call from my dad, since I was up on the roof, and brought me my phone. Both of my brothers were there watching me while I cried as I heard the news and decided how to proceed with my day. Dealing with emotion is really different in Senegal. Crying is really only acceptable in the case of death. If people see you crying, they will assume that something really terrible has happened.

Explaining what happened to my brothers was really difficult. Mostly, it was hard to define my relationship with Dave for them, since I speak French with them. I still haven't told anyone else in my family here. Bebecheikh and Mohammed have been consistently asking me if I am still sad and trying to understand what I am going through. It's all very sweet and it's so interesting to see how 8 and 9 year olds process the idea of death.

If there was ever a time when I wished I was home with the neighborhood, this is it. I love you guys and I'm thinking of all of you, especially the Silverman-Pratts, constantly.

The Gambia Part Two- Tendaba Camp

The morning after our epic wild boar roast, we woke up and got ready to head to Tendaba Camp. Tendaba is located farther west along The Gambia River. It is close to two national parks- Kiang West National Park and Baobolong Wetland Reserve. It is also the only place to stay in the area and is, therefore really expensive. Bass drove us from Jangjangbureh to Tendaba and all we had to pay for was fuel. The trip was long and really dusty. In The Gambia, there are police and military checkpoints roughly every 10 minutes. We didn't have any problems at most of them, since there were 3 white American girls in the car for the armed officers to flirt with. The one time that there was a problem was when we encountered a female cop. Eventually, Bass gave her a bribe and we continued on our way.

Finally, we arrived at the camp and Bass helped us get settled. We could tell as soon as we got there that there was going to be a problem with money. We had started running out of money at this point, and this was a really nice camp. It had a big restaurant, two bars, and a swimming pool! Eventually, Bass convinced them to give us a 10% discount, since we are students, and we started to get settled in. We were all exhausted from traveling all day, and I crashed pretty early.

The next day, Wednesday, the plan was to explore the village. However, it's a tiny town with not a whole lot to see, so we ended up spending a good portion of our day figuring out our budget. Then, we went for a dip in the pool. This was the day we met Faye, who offers cheaper tours than the hotel and cheap(er) food. We made a pretty good deal with him for lunch Wednesday and Thursday and two boat tours on Thursday. We also decided to head home one day early, on Friday morning, because of our lack of funds.

The people in Tendaba were so different from everyone we met in Jangjangbureh. In Jangjangbureh, we made friends with tons of young kids. In Tendaba it was impossible to be friendly with the kids. As soon as they saw white people they started yelling "Hello! Minty!" Minty is how they say candy. Even the adults would immediately start asking you for money. The men were absolutely intolerable, although this was common in both towns. We are used to encountering sexual and romantic advances in Dakar, but the men in The Gambia were much more physical and persistent. It was really frustrating to be seen only as a sex object for a week.

Thursday was, by far, our most exciting day in Tendaba. We woke up at 6 am, while it was still dark, to meet Faye for a 7 am boat trip. We watched the sunrise from the boat on our way to Kiang West National Park. Once we arrived at the park, we got out of our boat and spent the next few hours walking. The landscape was beautiful. We walked through salt flats, forests, and fields. Eventually, we came across an entire herd of baboons. There must have been 40 or 50 of them, and they crossed the path right in front of us. A few of them started menacingly walking towards us, but we held our ground and they moved on. We also saw lots of bird. Birds were definitely the theme in The Gambia. It's a huge bird-watching destination, and there were lots of fat, European bird-watchers around, especially at Tendaba.

In the afternoon, after a nap and a dip in the pool, we met Faye again for a boat tour through Baobolong Wetland Reserve. On our way out to the reserve, we saw a whole bunch of dolphins! They were so cool. They follow the sound of the motor, so we got to watch them through most of the ride out there. One we got to the reserve, we spend the next couple of hours driving through the mangroves, looking for crocodiles. Unfortunately, we didn't see any. It's, apparently, a bad time of year to see crocodiles since it's so hot out. We did, however, so a whole ton of birds. We also had a lovely argument with Faye about whether or not all Americans are rich. It's really hard to convince people here that just because your are American, it does not mean that you have an endless supply of money. This argument was especially frustrating this time, as we were pretty broke at the moment.

After watching the sunset from the boat on the way back to Tendaba, we went back to the hotel to get ready for the evening. We had heard that Jaliba Kuyateh, the most famous mbalax musician in The Gambia, was playing in a village 2 kilometers away from the camp. We decided that this would be an excellent way to spend our last night in The Gambia, especially since admission was only 100 Dalasi (less than $4). Lamin, a guy we had met at the hotel, offered to drive us to and from the concert for free. After Ana and Jenna argued with the Tendaba Camp management about how much our bill was, we headed out to the village in Lamin's lime green jeep. We got to drive right into the venue, instead of waiting outside, since Lamin thought we would get hassled, being the only toubabs there. We got to sit right up front, and Jaliba was awesome. However, the concert didn't start until around 11:30, and we had been up since 6 am, so we were thoroughly exhausted. By 1:30, we decided it was time to call it a night.

In the morning, we woke up at 6 am so that we could leave Tendaba by 7. It took us way longer than it should have to get back to Dakar thanks to full buses, problems with the ferry, and a miscommunication with our sept-place driver. We didn't get back until about 7:30. By the time we got home, we were all so dirty. I can honestly say that this was the first time I enjoyed my cold shower. As much fun as The Gambia was, I am really happy to be back in Dakar, sleeping in my own bed, and hanging out with my brothers.

The Gambia Part One- Jangjangbureh

We left for The Gambia at 8 am on Friday. Ana and I took a cab to school where we met John, our sept-place driver, and Jenna and Matt. We had been a few minutes late, but we figured that wouldn't be a problem as everything here runs on "West Africa Time." Boy were we wrong. John was really mad that we were late, and he kept reminding us about it all through the 6-plus hour drive. There was also a ton of traffic because of the celebration for Mohammed's birthday, which happens to take place in Kaolack, a city we had to drive through to get to the Senegal/Gambia border.

Despite John's complaining and the intolerable heat inside the car, we made it to Farafenni (the border city inside The Gambia) without any real problems. Then, we had to find a car to take us to Jangjangbureh, a small island out in Eastern Gambia. Because of the holiday, we were charged double by the sept-place driver, but there was really nothing we could do about it since we couldn't spend the night in Farafenni and the ferries stop running to Jangjangbureh at 8pm. Eventually, we made it to the ferry, where we were met by Banna, the proprietor of Talamanca Lodge. He took us across the river in his boat and we got settled into the hotel. It was small, with a little bar and restaurant, but it was comfortable and Banna was really helpful. After we put our things away, we got dinner and crashed for the night.

The next day, we got up on the early side to go for a boat tour with Banna. We went out to Six Junctions, which is a part of The Gambia River where you can see a lot of wildlife. While we were out we saw a ton of different birds, some monkeys, lizards, and three hippos!! It was so exciting. Hippos are super cool... and dangerous. We spent a few hours on the boat and then came back to the lodge.

One of the coolest things we did in Jangjangbureh was go see a traditional wrestling match in a small village called Jamally Babou. We arrived and were taken into one of Banna's friend's compounds. There, we drank ataya (absolutely delicious tea that people drink in Senegal and The Gambia) and talked with some of the people that live in the village. Then, it was time to move to the wrestling arena. This was an outdoor ring, enclosed by a large solid fence. We sat down with a bunch of the village kids and watched as the women ran in with each wrestlers yelling and dancing and playing music. It was very exciting! Then, the wrestlers did a bunch of dancing and not too much wrestling. However, it was really fun to watch. The wrestlers all had great names, such as "Mint Fress" and "Passport" and these guys were HUGE. Passport was the best wrestler by far. He kicked a whole bunch of ass that night. Once it started to get dark things started to get a little bit scary. I am pretty uncomfortable with guns in general, and there were at least 10 armed military and police security personnel in the arena. Apparently, wrestling can turn really violent. Fights often break out amongst the crowd and the wrestlers, so the armed guards are there to scare people from misbehaving. People started getting a lot more intense once they could no longer really see anything, but we left before any real fights started.

On our last night in Jangjangbureh, we were sitting in the bar at Talamanca Lodge when our friend Bass showed up. He had come over to our side of the island to find some palm wine, which he drinks like water, when he had heard about a huge wild boar that some hunter had killed. Naturally, he thought of us and invited us to come over and grill up some bush pig. Of course, we jumped on the chance, and Jenna, Ana, and I got into Bass's car and headed over to the hunter's compound. There, we found an entire, enormous wild boar cut in two on the ground. We picked out our leg, watched the woman hack it off of the pig, and then threw it into the back of the car.

Then, it was off to get the rest of the pig-roasting supplies. First, we went by Bass's compound. Here, we met his mother, who we affectionately call "Mama." She was the sweetest woman I have ever met and immediately welcomed us into her home. After getting a brief tour and picking up the grill plate, we went to one of the boutiques to pick up onions, black pepper, Jumbo (a little brick of spices), mustard, and mayonnaise. We also met up with Matt here, and all of us went over to Maxé's compound together.

When we arrived at Maxé's compound, all I could hear was reggae music. We walked in and Maxé, apparently, had no idea we were coming. But it was fine. He and Matt immediately got to work butchering the giant leg, while Ana and I prepared the onions with Bass. Then, Jenna and I helped light the fire, and we all got cooking. It took an impressively long time to cook half of the meat, as there was so much of it, so I took this time to get to know everyone better.

First, there is Maxé. He is a 44 year old man who owns an amazing compound, where he is in the process of building a lodge, bar, restaurant, and stage. He is also an artist and performer, although his art isn't that great. Basically, it appears that he spends his days getting high, making art, working on his compound, and drinking palm wine. He was a really cool guy and he was lots of fun to talk to.

Then there was Keba. He is a musician who had just returned from playing at one of the camps in the area. When he arrived, he was clearly already drunk. He didn't stop drinking until he promptly passed out half-way through cooking. He was hilarious and, once he woke up again, was super fun to dance with.

Fodé was there as well. We had met him a few times, and he really, really liked me. But he turned out to be an okay guy. Although he was nowhere near as interesting as the other guys we were with, he REALLY wanted to be remembered. Every time I saw him, he would yell "Abbey! It's me! Fodé! From the other day! Remember?" to which I would reply "Yes Fodé, I remember you." He's also an entertainer. He dances and drums.

Lastly, there was Bass. Bassman was our best friend in Jangjangbureh. He was absolutely hilarious, constantly drinking palm wine and smoking joints, and is really one of the best guys I have met in West Africa. Most men we encountered in The Gambia were immediately interested in us as sex objects since we were white women. Bass, on the other hand, was interested in being our friend, protecting us from unwanted attention, and having fun.

So, after we had finished cooking, we all sat down to eat together. The meat tasted delicious, but it was so tough to chew. I discovered that the key to eating wild boar is to eat the smaller pieces. They are way easier to chew and your jaw wont hurt nearly as much. After dinner, it was time to "digest" as Bass called it. That meant we all had to get up and dance to mbalax music. Mbalax is really fun. Everyone should look up Youssou Ndour and Jaliba Kuyateh. After a while of fun dancing, the very drunk men we were with started getting a little too handsy, so we decided it was time to leave.

I absolutely loved Jangjangbureh. It was so much fun and we really met some amazing people. Plus, we got to eat wild boar and see hippos!

Going to the Gambia!

Tomorrow morning at 8am I am leaving Dakar to spend a week in Central and Eastern Gambia with 3 of my friends for spring break. We are spending half of our time in Georgetown (or Jangjangbureh) and the other half in Tendaba. The plan is to go visit a bunch of national parks, where we can see chimps, baboons, hippos, crocodiles, and a bunch of other animals. Hopefully it will be fun and beautiful and not (too) expensive. We are going by sept-place (aka a station wagon driven my a man named Doudou) and he says the trip should only take 3 or 4 hours. However, tomorrow is Mohammed's (the prophet) birthday and there are celebrations all around the region, so there will probably be a lot of traffic.

I won't have internet while I am in The Gambia, so expect one big marathon post when I get back to school on Monday!

Toilet Paper, Shower Curtains, and Hot Water

There are a lot of luxuries at home that I never really thought of as luxuries until they were taken away upon my arrival in Senegal. The bathroom situation in Senegal is interesting to say the least. First of all, Senegal is one of many countries in the world that doesn't believe in toilet paper. Instead, they use these little teapots filled with water, along with their left hands, to clean themselves off. While you can buy toilet paper in most superettes, the toilets aren't really equipped to handle flushing paper. Air drying after every time you use the bathroom isn't exactly what I call fun, so I have been purchasing toilet paper since I got here.

Shower curtains also aren't often used in Senegal. In fact, I have seen one since I got here and that was in our hotel at Toubab Dialaw. Every time I take a shower, the bathroom becomes covered in water. The first week we were here, while we were staying in hotels, my bathroom constantly had a couple centimeters of water in it. It was great. On showers, there is not hot water in Senegal. I have not had a warm shower since leaving France. It's not the end of the world but it is also certainly not comfortable and I am not enjoying showers at all. A lot of my friends of gotten used to it at this point, but I can't get used to the cold shower thing. I have been trying to determine the best time of day to take a freezing cold shower, and so far it is looking like directly after a long walk in the hot afternoon sun.

I also definitely take the ability to drink tap water for granted at home. Here, I have to drink only bottled water. My family is required to provide me with water that I can drink and they have been buying these huge 10 liter jugs of water for me. It gets awkward when I run out, though because then I have to ask someone to go the la boutique and buy me some more. And they usually take their time with getting me water, so I am stuck with nothing to drink for a while.

Washers and dryers are also a luxury that I miss. All laundry in Senegal is done by hand, which I knew coming into this. My maid washes my clothes every week, but I have to wash my bras, underwear, socks, and bathing suits by hand. This isn't the end of the world but it's definitely a pain in the ass, especially when I wait a few days and have to wash a bunch of underwear all at once. It is definitely better to wash your underwear everyday while you're in the shower. As annoying as hand washing is, I bet the ladies at Victoria's Secret would be happy to hear that I am finally taking their advice and washing all of the bras I have bought from them by hand.

Choice in what I eat is something that I definitely miss. Here, you eat what is prepared for you when it is prepared for you. There is no culture of snacking, or of not being hungry at meal time. Don't get me wrong, I love the food here. I could eat ceebu jen everyday for the rest of my life and be content. It's things like Sunday night porridge that I am not as stoked about. Every Sunday, every family in Senegal sits down for rice porridge with sweetened sour milk. Personally, I am not a fan. The texture and taste are both weird. But I don't really have a choice, so I suck it up and eat my whole bowl. I really miss being able to walk to the refrigerator and just grab a snack, so I have taken to keeping food stored in my room. Unfortunately, my little brothers have discovered this fact and Mohammed has taken to walking in and saying "Donne-moi des bons-bons" (give me candy). That got old real fast, and I have taken to saying no unless he says "si-te-plait."

As much as there are comforts of home that I miss, I am loving life in Senegal. The only thing that I am not sure I will ever get used is the lack of hot water...

Toubab Dialaw

I spent this past weekend at Toubab Dialaw with everyone from the CIEE. It is about a 45 minute trip outside of Dakar, although it took us well over two hours to get there (and back) thanks to traffic. Toubab Dialaw is this great artist colony right on the beach. It was paradise. The beach was beautiful, the hotel was amazing, and we met tons of great people.

We got to the hotel around noon and settled into our rooms. The rooms had mosquito nets and shower curtains, which was very exciting as my house (and most of the houses that CIEE kids are staying in) doesn't have these. After putting our things away, we headed down for lunch and then to the gorgeous beach. I spent a lot of time resting on the beach this weekend reading and hanging out. The people in Senegal are very friendly, so I talked to a lot of random musicians and artists while laying on the beach.

We also got to take some classes while we were at Toubab Dialaw. I chose to take dance and batiking. They were both so much fun! At batiking they gave us stencils and we got to make some really awesome tapestries. Later on in the evening was dance class, where we did traditional Senegalese dance. That was among the most fun I have had since I got here. I really loved it, and now I have signed up for a weekly class through school.

Overall it was really nice to just spend a relaxing weekend by the beach, reading, swimming, and napping.

Slam Poetry, Clubs, and Hookah

Ana and I had a ridiculous weekend! We made lots of new friends, saw a bunch of new parts of Dakar, and did so many things. On Thursday afternoon, after walking home from school, we met two men outside of the Mariama (right down the street from our houses) named Lamin and Daouda. They are (probably) in their 20s and work at a call center right down the street from where we live. They seemed nice enough and we talked to them for a while. It was Ana's sister Aida's birthday and we wanted to buy her some cake, so we asked the boys where we could go. They took us down the street to a place with DELICIOUS cake.

The next day, Lamin sent me a text message inviting Ana and me to a slam hip-hop/poetry event in Pointe E, another neighborhood in Dakar. At about 9:30, after eating some fish and french fries with my family, we met Lamin outside the Mariama. He took us back to his friend Cheikh's house before we drove to Pointe E. We ended up at an outdoor restaurant with a bunch of Senegalese people in their 20s and 30s. On every table their was paper so you could write out your poetry and rap. Then people started getting up to perform. It was amazing. There was singing, poetry, and awesome hip hop. It was also a sad night. The week before, a rapper had died from some illness, so a lot of the rap was about him and his life. After that, we went back to Lamin and Cheikh's house and ate fruit and hung out until sometime early in the morning, once they started getting a little weird and asking if we were allowed to spend the night out...

On Saturday night, lots of different things were happening in Dakar. There was an outdoor beach party that a lot of CIEE kids went to, a show by one of Senegal's most famous musicians, and lots of clubs. We decided to go to Le Patio, a club close to the airport, with a couple of girls from CIEE and their brothers. Clubbing in Senegal is so much fun but extremely exhausting. It was an interesting dynamic, as most of the people on the dance floor were men. At home, clubs are mostly filled with girls dancing, but here there were so many guys. Also, there were a lot of prostitutes. That was strange. They were dancing with really old toubabs. It was a bizarre mixture of people. The mix of music was great. There was Senegalese music, current pop music, and old school rap and hip hop. Ana and I left early, and we got home at 4am...

After sleeping until 1pm the next day, I got up and attempted to do some homework. I went over to the garden by my house to steal some wifi (pronounced weefee here, and I love it) and I read about 3 pages of the 50 pages of reading that I was supposed to do. Then, we decided to hit up the hookah bar over in Mermoz (the neighborhood that my university is located in). The hookah bar was a really intense experience. A couple of our friends that live in Ouakam, Kiersten and Jenna, were supposed to meet us there but ended up bailing by the time we got there. So, we ate some ice cream and ordered some shisha. While we were waiting for our shisha to come, we noticed a table of 3 Middle Eastern men who were consistently staring at us, both directly and through the reflection in the window behind us. It was getting really weird.

Just as Ana was saying "This isn't how I make friends!" they came over and sat down at our table. Their names were Nor, Reda, and Issam, and it turns out that they are from Morocco... I think. Only Nor spoke English very well, but they all spoke French. We spent the next few hours talking with them, smoking shisha, and eating cheeseburgers. We skirted around some tense topics, like religion and homosexuality, but it was mostly fun. I mean, Issam was a dick, but he admitted it. Plus he was beautiful. We discussed why the three of them don't like Dakar. Nor was forced to come here by his sister and he thinks that the people here are racist. I really didn't feel like getting into the whole reverse racism argument, so instead I tried to say that not everyone here doesn't like white people and that most of the people that I have met have been overwhelmingly kind.

At about 10pm we decided it was time to call it quits. It was at this point that Nor, unbeknownst to us, paid for our entire meal and shisha. When we were clearly uncomfortable about the whole thing, he explained "I know that it is weird for you, but this is normal for us. If we go out with friends, we pay for them." Not really wanting to spend my own money, I accepted this explanation.

Overall, I love weekends in Dakar. This Saturday we are heading to Toubab Dialaw, an artist colony about 2 hours from Dakar that is right on the beach. We're spending the night at a hotel there. Hopefully, lots of pictures and updates will follow!

Photos from Bamba's Wedding!

Faatu!

Griots singing and dancing.

Griots playing music at the wedding.

My brother Baba

Me!

Kym and her sister Amina!

L'île de Gorée

On Saturday, I went to L'île de Gorée with half of the CIEE students. We left Suffolk at 9:30 to take a 10am ferry over to the island. Gorée Island is just off the coast of Dakar and was a large slave port in the 1800s. It was the last stop for many slaves before departing for the United States, and many never even made it off the island. On Gorée there are 2 or 3 museums and La Maison des Esclaves. We started our day off at La Maison. La Maison des Esclaves is where slaves were held before being transported across the Atlantic Ocean. The rooms are small, cramped, and dark. Very little light enters through the tiny windows, and slaves were kept in rooms far too small for the numbers they held.

Being at La Maison des Esclaves really made me examine both my history and the history of Senegal. It is a really moving experience that gives you a tiny glimpse into the horror and suffering endured by so many at the hands of Europe and the United States. We also went to La Musée de la Femme, which provided a history of women in Senegal. Although the guided tour was pretty unbearable, it was interesting to learn about women in politics in Senegal. What I found most surprising, although it really shouldn't have surprised me at all, is 2 of the 3 presidents of Senegal had French wives instead of Senegalese wives. This really shows the desire for western women that is so present in modern Senegalese culture. Daily, we are stopped on the streets and told by strangers that they love us and want to marry us.

After we had finished in the museums, we were allowed to explore the island on our own. This was by far the best part of the day. My friend Matt and I went off by ourselves to avoid being a part of a huge group of Toubabs. Being with a bunch of white people always attracts unwanted attention from vendors and beggars. We met a guy who sells these maraca type instruments and he led us up to the top of the hill on the island, showing us great places to stop and take pictures along the way. Matt pretended to be my husband so as to stop the man from hitting on me. Then, he took us up a flight of stairs and through an underground space. He showed us ladder and told us to climb up. We came out in the middle of one of the huge cannon fortifications on the top of the island! It was really amazing. Then he showed us his family's art gallery, where they make paintings out of sand. They were beautiful and amazingly detailed. Had I had more money with me, I definitely would have bought some art on Gorée.

After exploring the top of the island for a while, we hiked down some rocky cliffs and met up with some other CIEE kids hanging out on the rocks by the ocean. It was so beautiful and the water felt so good on my feet. Unfortunately, I got massively sunburned. However, it is now beginning to turn into a lovely tan.

Pictures from Gorée and the wedding will be coming this afternoon!

A Senegalese Wedding!

Yesterday, my older brother Bamba got married! My mom and the other women in the neighborhood and my extended family have been busy planning since before I arrived, but the last week was crazy. Every night, there were large groups of women sitting around with notebooks making lists and planning out the day's events. Senegalese weddings are nothing like American weddings, and it took a really long time for me to grasp what was going on (especially since most of the festivities occurred in Wolof and I can only greet people...).

In the days leading up to the wedding I was especially confused. No one in my family, besides the maids, really mentioned the fact that a wedding would be taking place at my house on Sunday. I talked to some of my friends in the program, two of which had been to a wedding the first weekend, and got some idea of what would happen and hoped for the best. I didn't have anything to wear and I had no idea what was expected of me, but I figured it would all work itself out.

The morning of the wedding, I slept in (meaning I got out of bed at 8:45 am), took a shower, and went upstairs to greet all of the women who had been in my house for the last week. I sat down in the living room and was immediately given the job of helping to prepare wedding favors. The favors were bags of delicious fried pastries! We had to tie ribbons around a couple hundred of these bags, so this is how a spent most of the morning. Eventually, my mom came upstairs with another task for me.

My aunt, who is my mom's older sister, is disabled and confined to a wheelchair. Because my bedroom is on the first floor, she would be using it for the day since she spends most of her time lying down. So, I cleaned up my room and moved all of my things into the closet so that she would be comfortable. That's when I finally asked my mom what I was supposed to wear that afternoon and she told me I would be borrowing some of my sister, Fanta's, clothes.

In Senegal, there is no wedding ceremony. It is, essentially, just a big party with lots of food and singing. In the early afternoon, all the men left to go to the mosque. The women all stayed and ate and sang. There were well over 100 women at the house. The most interesting, and confusing, part of the wedding were the Griotts. Griotts sole purpose at a wedding or party is to provide "atmosphere" is the words of Ousmane, one of my friends here. They sing, play drums, dance, and generally liven up the party. Then, they demand money from people. It's not like normal beggars who ask a couple times and then move on. Griotts will hand you their scarf or drum and then stand there saying "Give me money!" Eventually, they will move on, but it takes a lot of work. However, they definitely made the party fun.

It was also strange to me that weddings here seem much less about the bride and groom and more about the family. First, there are two separate parties. One takes place at the groom's house and the other at the bride's. I didn't actually see the bride until about 11:30 pm last night because she had been at the party at her house. While Bamba was present and taking photos, most of the talk was focused around his mother and family.

Another interesting part of Senegalese weddings is the bride-price negotiation. Once the night started winding down a little, everyone gathered around the women of the groom's family so that they could negotiate a dowry of money, fabric, and other gifts. It's bizarre to see this tradition in action in this day and age, but bride-prices are a very real thing here.

The wedding was absolutely exhausting. By 11:00 I was totally ready for bed, but there were people hanging out in my room. At 12:30, my other brother Baba finally kicked everyone out of my room so that I could go to bed. However, the party was still going on and didn't get much sleep at all. However, it was very fun and definitely worth it. I really felt like part of the family yesterday. Once I had changed into my Senegalese clothes, Bamba and Baba both told me how beautiful I looked. Bamba included me in photos and I was really included in most of the activities of the night.

Oh! For Bill: There was SO MUCH food at the wedding. We spent all day eating. Since I've arrived in Senegal I have had to completely give up vegetarianism, as it isn't really possible here. Ceebujen (literally fish and rice) is the national dish of Senegal and it is absolutely delicious. The rice has all kinds of spices that I cannot identify, and the fish is great. It usually also contains casaba, this green tomato thing, and carrot. We eat it almost every day and I don't think I could ever get sick of it. I really want Faatu to teach me how to cook it! We also ate couscous with beef and onion sauce (which is equally delicious) and we drank lots of different fruit juices. The cans of fruit juice here have actual pieces of fruit in them! Mmm. There isn't much variety in food here, but it doesn't matter because it is all amazing.

Photos will follow tomorrow!

Faatu

Last night I spent most of the evening hanging out with Faatu, one of my family's two maids. The other, Awa, I don't think likes me very much. But Faatu and I are becoming good friends. She showed me how she cooks dinner and has been teaching me vocabulary in Wolof. I, in turn, have been teaching her how to say things in English. It's a fantastic partnership. She gets so excited when I say things to her in Wolof! We've exchanged cell phone numbers, and she told me that when I get married she is going to fly out to the US. Haha.

We also have had some interesting conversations about her thoughts on living in Senegal. She's not a fan. I was kind of surprised at first to hear her talk about how much she dislikes Senegal. However, after she explained herself I started to understand where she was coming from. For me, Senegal is great. I love the weather and the people. Plus, things are very inexpensive here when compared to American prices. However, as far as Third World cities go, Dakar is extremely expensive to live in. Electricity prices, in particular, are outrageous. Faatu is from Dakar and has lived here her whole life. Her family is here and her job is here. But given the opportunity, she would leave Senegal for Europe or the US in a heartbeat. When I asked why she didn't like living in Senegal, she spoke mostly of a lack of economic security. "Il n y a pas a'argent en Senegal" or "There is no money in Senegal." Her boyfriend, who lives somewhere in the area surrounding Dakar, can't find work.

In fact, 50% of people can't find work. This means that many people, Faatu's boyfriend included, have started to look outside of the country for work. While he hasn't had any luck finding a job yet, the chances of him finding work in Europe or the US are much more likely than here in Senegal. For someone like Faatu, who was not born into a wealthy family and didn't have access to a lot of education, the options for work and the ability to move up in society are limited. This is why she works as maid for my family. She works 7 days a week and her day starts at 5 or 6am. It doesn't end until we've all gone to bed, between 9m and 12am. While working as a maid is certainly preferable to being unemployed, I cannot imagine that this is how Faatu wants to spend the rest of her life.

I can't really offer a solution to this problem right now. I guess that increased education for the lower classes would be one answer. Hopefully, by the end of the semester I will have some more insights into the unemployment and poverty problems here in Senegal. Now, however, it's time for me to walk home and eat the lunch that Faatu is making.

Pictures from Campus and the Beach

Weekend With the New Fam!

I am officially all moved in with my host family! There are roughly 11 people including myself living in the house. The weekend at home was interesting and I am just beginning to get the hang of life with my new family. My mom, Rama, hasn't been around much. I rarely see her. I spend most of my time with Fanta, Baba, Mohammed, and Bébécheik. Fanta is my host sister and Mohammed and Bébécheik are her two sons. They are 9 and 7, respectively. I am not sure how Baba is related to the family, but he's 20. The two little boys are great. They come and hang out with me all the time. We sit in my room and take pictures on my computer. They love playing the games on my cell phone, too. On Friday night, they discovered my Sharpie highlighters, and they love to color with them.

The family dynamic is really relaxed. Everyone is friendly and calm. The little boys are very well-behaved and polite. On Saturday, Elise came by and a bunch of the CIEE girls who live in my neighborhood went exploring. We met so many people and visited some cool little stores.

Yesterday, Sunday, I was so sick. I woke up at 3:50 am and felt like I was dying. I spent from 6am to 8am throwing up. It was terrible. So, instead of going downtown with the rest of the CIEE kids, I spent the day in bed. The boys came and hung out with me for a bit, and the maid, Fatu, brought me food in my room. There was a wedding going on outside with lots of great music. Later on, I watched a couple football matches and a bunch of American rap videos with Baba. Luckily, I woke up this morning feeling SO much better.

I just finished up my first class in Dakar- Crises et Regelement, which is taught in French. I enjoyed it and I think that will be a super interesting class. It's all about conflict in Africa. I can't wait to really start digging in.

Orientation Week in Dakar

I have officially been in Dakar, Senegal for just over 4 days now. I arrived, along with the 50-something other kids on my program, late on Sunday night. The week has been an absolute whirlwind of meeting new people, learning new customs, and seeing new places. The night we moved here, we were taken to two different hotels. I am currently staying at L'Epicea. It's pretty fantastic, despite the cold shower that never fully stops running and has filled our bathroom with a centimeter of water. We have wifi, a tv, and a bed. What more do you need?

Senegalese culture is unlike anything else that I have experienced. Hospitality and greetings are exceedingly important. It is a serious offense if you do not properly greet someone that you come into contact with. This doesn't mean a simple "Bonjour. Ca va?" You need to ask about their family, their day, and exchange all kinds of niceties before you can continue your conversation. There are two main languages in Senegal: French and Wolof. I am fairly proficient in French, but Wolof is something completely new. There are a surprising number of citizens in Dakar that don't speak French, but only Wolof. Therefore, we had two "Survival Wolof" classes this week, in which we learned how to properly greet someone (Salaamaalekum), how to express basic needs, and how to bargain for a taxi. I love Wolof so much and I can't wait to begin actual classes on Monday! It is a very interesting language that is completely different from all the others that I have studied.

Yesterday, a group of 7 girls including myself went downtown to buy cell phones. It was pretty epic. We went down to the Sonatel store, but to get a good deal on a phone you have to buy it from one of the street vendors outside. So, all of us toubabs (white people in Wolof) went outside and were immediately surrounded by men yelling at us in French, shoving phones at us, and grabbing at us. I haggled with the guy and got a fair price (15000 CFA or a just under $30) and then helped some other girls bargain for their phones. I even got one girl out of a scary situation where two vendors were arguing over which one of them was going to sell her a phone. It was super intense and there was a lot of French being spoken really fast and lots of yelling. Over 50% of the Senegalese population is unemployed, so when there is an opportunity to make some money people take it very seriously.

That afternoon we watched a documentary called Democracy in Dakar, which is about the 2007 presidential election, mostly in relation to Senegalese hip-hop artists. It was SO GOOD, and a former CIEE student was one of the producers. If you can get a hold of it I highly recommend giving it a watch. It does a really excellent job of telling you about the political situation in Senegal, which is not as happy and peaceful as they try to make it out to be. Although Senegal is one of (if not THE) only African countries that have never had a coup d'etat, a majority of the country is unemployed and most people are really unhappy with President Wade and the pseudo-dictatorship he has going on. I am really interested to learn more about the political culture here as the semester continues.

I also got to learn about my host family yesterday as well. We all move in tomorrow afternoon. It was so exciting. My mom is named Rama Wade and she lives in Sacre Coeur 3 (one of the neighborhoods in Dakar). She is the second wife of a man, so my host dad only comes by once a week. I also have a host sister and a host brother, who are both older. My brother is 24 or 25, and my sister has two small kids around 5 and 8. They all live in the house together, and we have two maids! Weird. I get my own room and the housing director said it is a very nice and calm house. Apparently a lot of the women in Sacre Coeur 3 are second wives, so there aren't a lot of husbands around all the time, but all the women hang out and are close. There are also about 5 other girls on my street, including right next door to me and across the street.

Today was the most relaxing day we have had so far. First off, I got to register for classes. I placed in to French Advanced One, so I can take as many classes as I want in French. So, I am taking a course on international law in French, a course on contemporary Senegalese culture in French, Wolof, and an education and culture class in English. I honestly am really excited for classes to start because they all seem so interesting.

Tomorrow is a big day. Half of us are going to Baobab Center in the morning for a cross cultural orientation. This will be the first time that we eat "around the bowl" in the traditional Senegalese way. I can't wait. Then tomorrow evening we move in with our host families. It should be a really exciting and really important day and I can't wait to see what my new family is like!

I tried to upload images but it didn't work...

Last Few Days in Paris

After Versailles, we spent the entire following days at the Louvre. It was the biggest thing I have ever been in. I felt like you could have fit 4 of the MFA in there. I could have spent days in the Louvre. We saw everything from (of course) the Mona Lisa to Napoleon's Apartments. Amazing. Napoleon's Apartments were among my favorite things there. It was like walking into his house and they were the most lavish and extravagant things ever. I can't even imagine my house being anything like that. However, there was a huge long table that would have been super convenient for neighborhood parties. I think it held about 40 people, which is just big enough for us.

The next day was Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle, and Musée d'Orsay. It was the longest day ever. Climbing to the top of Notre Dame was exhausting but well worth the hike. The view was beautiful. You could see all the sights of Paris from up there. I took some sweet pictures of the city and all the gargoyles. I loved the gargoyles! It was like each one had it's own personality and they were really interesting.

I also absolutely loved Musée d'Orsay. There was so much Monet, Degas, Gaugin, and Van Gogh. Degas is probably my favorite artist, so I was really excited to get to see so much of his work in one place. We ate dinner in the restaurant at Musée d'Orsay, which was ridiculous. There were chandeliers over every table and it felt like we were in a super fancy restaurant.

The last couple days in Paris were spent walking around the city and seeing what else was around our apartment. We went shopping, walked through the Jardin de Luxembourg, and ate at an awesome creperie. Overall, Paris was a fantastic experience. Honestly, the only complaint that I have is that the apartment was small and smelled bad. But other than that, it was great and I would definitely do it again. Next time, though, it will have to be during the summer.

The French are Much Kinder Than One Would Expect

So, as the internet did not work in my apartment in Paris, I am making one post to cover the entire expanse of the trip from my hotel in Dakar.

Day one in Paris was rough. My flight arrived to Charles De Gaulle at around 6am. My mom's flight was scheduled to arrive around 9:40, so I went to the train station, bought tickets, and waited. After about 5 hours of this waiting I start to get nervous. Her flight was supposedly on time, but the airport couldn't tell me whether or not my mom had been on it. So, I did what any 20 year old young woman would do. I called my dad. I was pretty frantic and I think he could tell. He calmly explained that my mom had missed her connecting flight and was due in later in the afternoon. She had been attempting to email me, but they make you pay for internet at CDG. So, I checked my email and then checked on my mom's new flight. Which was canceled. She wouldn't be getting to Paris until the following morning.

This mean traveling to the apartment in Paris by myself, with no map. My mom emailed me directions and I was on my way. This was a very difficult task, as I was already exhausted from the day and had to carry my two huge suitcases, backpack, and purse with me through the Paris Metro. This is not easy and I do not recommend it. Once I was off the Metro, I set out to find the apartment. The Parisians were super helpful in pointing me in the right direction. Then, once I got to my street, a nice man in his mid-twenties helped me carry my bags all the way to the apartment door.

Then I slept until 4pm the next day, only waking up to let my mom in at 11am. She also promptly fell asleep.

Day two in Paris went much better. Once we woke up at the crack of sunset, we went out to see the Eiffel Tower at night. It was amazingly beautiful. We were there for the lights going off at 10. Then we walked over to the Seine and across the bridge. It was a lovely way to spend our first real night in Paris.

We slept in the next day as well. Then, we went shopping in the BIGGEST DEPARTMENT STORE I HAVE EVER SEEN. It was incredible. It was like an entire mall in one store. After that, we went to Champs Élysées to see the Arc de Triomphe at night time. At this point, we had only really seen Paris during the night. Most of my pictures from Paris overall are at night.

On our fourth day in Paris, we were determined to see some semblance of daytime. So, we woke up early and were on our way out of the city to the Palace of Versailles. Versailles was among the most magnificent things I have ever seen. It was absolutely phenomenal. There were more rooms than I could count, each one covered in paintings, gold, and chandeliers. The furniture was absurd. Each of the beds had ostrich plumes on all four posts. After touring the castle we went outside for a brief walk through the gardens. When I say brief, I mean that I was freezing and wanted to go inside, but my mom really wanted to see the statues. I really wish that we had been there during the summer, as the gardens were amazing.

Okay, I thought that I could put all of Paris in one post, but I need to study for my French placement exam tomorrow. So, tomorrow I will update with the Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, Notre Dame, and (hopefully) the first two days in Dakar.

Address in Dakar

If you want to send me mail while I am in Dakar, send it to this address:

Abbey Hargreaves

c/o CIEE Study Center

BP 16423

Dakar, Fann

Senegal

I really like postcards!

Leaving Forever!

Today is the day that my mom and I head out to France. Tomorrow morning at 6:05 am I will arrive in Paris. We'll be there for the next 8 days. So far, the plan is to go to Versailles, Notre Dame, The Louvre, The Eiffel Tower, and a whole bunch of other touristy things. Then, my mom is back to the States and I am off to Dakar! I get to Dakar on the night of the 17th.

I guess it is probably time to finish packing, since we are leaving for the airport in an hour...