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!