Embassy, School, Concert, and Little Sister

Last week I visited the US Embassy to check in with them and get some questions answered. I went with a friend of mine who had never been there before either. The taxi dropped us off at a corner and insisted that the building we were in front of was the US Embassy. I looked up at the building and although there were police outside of it you could still walk right into the building so I kinda figured it wasn't the right one. So we walked down the street, which we realized was blocked off and that's why the taxi dropped us where he did. Anyway, down the blocked off street, next to the Lebanese Embassy, is a giant fortress of an embassy… the US Embassy. Tons of guards and the tightest security I've seen anywhere. I've been told that the US Embassy has much more security than any other building in Dakar. And that the Senegalese were annoyed when the US Embassy was allowed to close down the street in front of it for security reasons, cause it was a major street in downtown Dakar. The security process to get into the building was equally strict. But although it took way too much time, all went well. The Americans get to walk by the 50 or so Senegalese who are waiting around probably asking for visas and walk straight to the back where there's a special waiting room for US citizens and the waiting time is less than 10 minutes. I ran into the woman who runs the organization 10,000 Girls at the embassy and talked to her a bit more about the libraries, so that was convenient.

Thursday I visited a school (Ecole Point E II) where a group of former Rotary Scholars started a school lunch program a few years ago. It's a school in a rich neighborhood but the kids who go there come from the surrounding neighborhoods and most have hardly any money. There were many kids who didn't have anything to eat for lunch. Since the program started, the scores of the students have improved and the attention span in the afternoon has increased. The kids at the school were so great. We almost started a mini riot when we got a picture taken with them because they were so excited and basically started trampling each other… but no one was hurt. The school started an organic garden last year and it's located on the roof. The students help out with it and all the food gets used in the school lunches. They are typically given rice, beef, and some vegetables. The program was originally financed by Rotary clubs and private donors from the states, but now the students who are able to pay 150cfa per meal (about 60 cents American). Those who can't afford it are able to eat anyway. But the 150cfa per student does not come close to paying for the meal, the rest is still financed by people in the United States. They are concerned about having the means to keep the program going. So if you or your group or your organization or your church would like to get involved in a meaningful way of helping students who have nothing to eat… let me know. Many of the students who eat through the lunch program get most of their daily calories from that meal because their families don't have the money to nourish them well. The three Rotary scholars who started the program are still helping manage it from the States and are in constant communication with the project manager here in Dakar.

Friday night I went to a live concert downtown Dakar. It was a Senegalese band who broke up 7 years ago and Friday night was their reunion concert. They want to put together at least two more albums. The theater was packed with people. The chairs were filled early and there were tons of people standing all around as well. The group is called Misaal. All their songs are in Wolof. They played for about 2 1/2 hours. They were absolutely incredible! The crowd was involved immediately, and all the Senegalese there knew all the words to the songs. The first song began with a chorus that had the lyrics "Asalaa Maalekum! Maalekum Salaam!" which is the basic greeting here in Wolof. So the singer sang the first part, and the audience replied with the response. It was fabulous. My Wolof is extremely limited, so I didn't understand what most of the songs were about, but I was able to pick up on some things and that was great! People from the audience came down and started dancing in front of the stage facing the rest of the audience. I wish I had a video of the way they dance, cause I can assure you it's not at all anything that you're used to. There are a few clips on youtube from the concert… they're not very good but you can get an idea of the kind of music as well as the noise of the crowd…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXaVdzpaeH4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQNPLlyjV_s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1eNAMYGnlE

My host sister just walked up over to me singing a song that can be translated as… "There is a girl in the living room, working, on her computer, and her name is Shannon." She has been whining about everything all day, not seriously, but she thinks it's joking. Every time something doesn't go her way she says "It's not fair!" (C'est pas juste) really loudly and flails her arms and proceeds to hide her face and fake cry. It may sound cute or funny, but I assure you it's extremely annoying. Right now I promise you that she just changed her made up song to "I am sitting here singing, and now I'm going to sing a phrase that Shannon doesn't like me to say, it's not fair, it's not fair, it's not fair." She is so starved for attention. She just decided that because I'm working, she must work to, and started counting really fast.

Someone was knocking on the front door to the compound about 2 minutes ago. There is a doorbell, but they were knocking. Marianne called "Ko Kan La" (who is that? In wolof). No one answered. Fatou ran over and called the same thing. No answer. So then she walked away muttering something and headed to go answer the door. Mohammed and Marianne (who are on the couch by me) quickly knocked on the wood table and Marianne insisted that I do so as well. I asked why, and Mohammed explained that when Fatou walked to the door she muttered that it was probably a sorcerer that made the knocking sound on the door. So, because sorcery was talked about, they had to knock on wood and I had to as well. Oh, Senegal.

I found a way to quiet Marianne's singing. I started quietly singing "Away in a Manger" and she was quiet so that she could hear me. Perfect : ) And now she has started singing a real song, not a made up one, which I can live with.

Various Things

Last Friday night (the 2nd) I went to a concert downtown. It was jazz rap, incredible. A four piece jazz band (drums, guitar, bass, keyboard/other percussion) and a rapper. I've been told that they're very popular in France. I guess the guy was very popular about a decade ago, when he was more-or-less a gangster and sang about nightclubs and violence. But since then he has reformed and become a religious Muslim. He still sings a lot of his old music, but his new music has a completely different message. The guy is West African but the band is all French. It was completely packed with people, Senegalese and French, all singing along and dancing.

The first Saturday of every month the owner of the Oceanarium in Dakar throws an outdoor party, so on Saturday night I decided to check it out. It didn't happen last month due to Ramadan, so this was my first experience. It started around 1am and got busier as the night went on. $5 got you in the door with a ticket, a few steps in the door there was a table with an 8 year old passing out cds for free that actually had good music on them. The setting is right on the coast, so it was beautiful. But the temperature was so warm! And of course got hotter as more and more people showed up. The party is known for being a more casual affair, which means the Senegalese women are not completely decked out as they normally are when they go out at night… but they still would've upstaged anyone out for a Saturday night of dancing in the States.

I've gotten to the point where I'm quite fed up with the proposals of Senegalese men. I've been brushing them off for almost two months now, and I'm so sick of it. I can't have a conversation with a guy here without him asking whether or not I'm married and going on from there. This includes relatives of my family, neighbors, men in the neighborhood. But it doesn't stop there. My taxi driver on Friday evening repeatedly told me that he loves me and asked me to marry him. He slowed down the cab and asked me if I wanted to come meet his family instead of going to meet up with my friends. When I refused he requested that he accompany me to hang out with my friends. He promised he would marry me, we could move to America, he would work hard, and then he could buy me a big house. It was such a ridiculous situation, and yet sad, because I know that if I gave that guy the opportunity he would want it in a second. Life here in Senegal is very difficult and I'm seen as an instant ticket to America. Often I have to tell guys that I live here in Senegal now, suggesting that I will not be returning to the States. And then they usually complain, since their "free ticket" doesn't want to leave, and they give up.

I've started teaching my six year old host sister ballet. She saw a commercial for some ballerina Barbie and immediately begged me to teach her because she knows that I dance. So that has been interesting. She has absolutely no patience, but it usually ends up with her "fluttering" around the room on her tip-toes and me telling her that she's doing it just like the ballerina. Because when I actually try to teach her stuff, she copies the motions incorrectly for a little while and then begs me to teach her how to flutter around the room. But it's fun and at least it gets her away from the television for a little while. It's always on now, and the kids are glued to it when they're not at school.

The heat has been uncompromising this month. Which also means the electricity has not been cooperating. When it's really hot outside, everyone tries to turn fans on, and then the electricity gets cut. We've had quite a few days where it has hardly worked at all. I'm very lucky that the school where I study French has a generator. It is supposed to cool down next month, so I'm interested to see how cool it will actually get. It's well over 80 degrees no matter what time of day it is now.

Clips of My Life in Senegal

One of the live music places that I've gone to and one of the performers I've seen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc1hsqtTkdc



Looks a lot like my suburb... but not nearly as busy. Also, replace the sound of the music with taxis beeping, children yelling, and all sorts of other city type noise... that'll make it a little more true to life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSDLyl5ZSRk



And this gives you a better idea of downtown.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fViEQk-cofE

Bugs!

I don't think I've said much about the bugs here. They're everywhere. My new favorite "game" is to see how big a bug I can see in the bathroom whenever I'm in there at night or first thing in the morning before the sun comes up. I think over 4 inches has been the biggest, with antennas that made it two inches longer. The past two night when I've gone in there I've let a huge bug walk out the door as I walk in. It has almost felt like it was using the bathroom before me and then it was my turn. I remind you that I do not have a window or screens, so bugs are not stopped from entering my bedroom. It's not uncommon to see a parade of ants on my wall heading somewhere. The ants are always very small so you can't tell that there's a parade in progress unless you're near them. There are a few friendly spiders who have made my room their home. Or I have made their room my home. One hides above the door, another behind my suitcase, and the third seems to always be perched on the wall above my dresser. But I figure they're keeping other insects from being around. I haven't eaten a meal since arriving without having to swat flies away from my food. This is true whether I'm inside or outside of my house. Sometimes in the morning they are particularly obnoxious during breakfast, but they're never as bad at lunch or at night; that is probably because there are more people around at the later meal times. One corner of the couch in the living room seems to always have a fly or two around it. And this week, for some reason, a swarm of black flying insects seem to swarm around the front walk so every morning when I leave for school I have to walk through them while swatting at them with my hands. And there are the tiniest of ants that just appear out of nowhere. You can hardly see them, but you can feel them crawling on you. Frequently throughout the day I have to squash them between my fingers and flick them off of my arms or legs.

Sickness

I think I'm quite lucky. I've been here a month and a half and this is the first time I've gotten sick. And stop worrying, because by the time I post this I will be fully recovered. The night of Halloween, my stomach felt a little funny… which is not a rare occurrence here. I didn't feel sick, it just didn't feel completely settled. Yesterday, the problem escaladed throughout the day. I vomited a few times early in the afternoon and felt much better afterwards. My stomach just felt like there was something in it that wanted to get out. I hadn't eaten anything unusual either. By last night, I was very very uncomfortable. I never had a fever, but my stomach was very angry for some reason. I didn't eat anything yesterday except for a bit of rice with onions. Just enough to test to see if I could digest it and not throw up, and it was fine. I spent a lot of time on my bed last night. Today, I got up and ate some bread for breakfast, feeling better than last night. But I was incredibly weak, obviously, because I had hardly eaten yesterday. And as time went on this morning, I felt worse and worse. So my host dad told me not to go to class. So, I basically spent the whole day lying on my bed or lying outside in the back of the compound on a mattress (when the power was out and the house was uncomfortably warm). I ate a bit of lunch, and that tasted good. For most of the day, if I was laying on my back I felt fine, but the second I stood up or walked around or even sat up I felt quite sick. But this evening, I feel much better. Not 100%, still a bit weak, but my stomach is no longer extremely angry with me. It’s not pleased in general with me, but it no longer hates me like it did last night. And I don't mind sitting up, and I'm hungry for the first time since Halloween. So I really can't complain. I'm sure after sleeping tonight, I'll be fine tomorrow.

Also. Being sick does not exclude me from eating with the rest of the family. Yep, that's right. Even though I was obviously sick today, I ate lunch and dinner with the other family members… which means eating out of the same dish. Granted, I stayed in my own little section of the dish, but after I was done (because I didn't eat much) they finished off the rest of the plate, including what was left in my section that I had touched with my spoon which had repeatedly been in my mouth. And I remind you that when I say section, I simply mean the area of the plate that is directly in front of me. There's no ridge or wall between the sections, it's just one huge bowl, and by the end of the meal, all the sections have blended.

**Cultural Note: My host dad asked me if I had drank any milk. He told me I should because milk is the best thing to drink when one is sick to their stomach. He told me to be sure to avoid all carbonated beverages, such as Coke, because that would surely make me more sick. When I lived in Switzerland, my host mom was adamant about drinking coke one teaspoon at a time when she was sick, because that helps you feel better. And at home in the States, sips of Sprite are supposed to help settle your stomach.

Halloween

Halloween is not celebrated here in Senegal. If people know about it, it is because they know it from American movies they have seen but have no idea what time of year the holiday takes place. On the other hand, All Saints Day is a national holiday here due to the 5% or so Christian population. So all government jobs were closed today, but really, most everything else was still open because people need the money. When I ate breakfast yesterday morning, my host dad said something about yesterday being a holiday and I was confused and told him that no, today was the holiday. And then he said "Happy Halloween!" I had actually forgotten, and he was shocked that I had forgotten. Classes went as normal, of course, except that one of the profs said "HAPPY HALLOWEEN!" every time he saw a student. On my way home I bought a bunch of candy at the boutique on the corner for my host siblings. I gave them the candy and explained the holiday to them. They couldn't believe that the majority of American children were dressed up in costumes and walking house to house at night begging for candy. But they liked the fact that they were getting candy, too, because of it.

Because today was a holiday, lots of people were out late taking advantage of the fact that there were no classes (at the university, too) and people would be going to work late today. My American friends and I were trying to come up with a way to celebrate Halloween, without dressing up in costumes. So, we ended up going out dancing for a bit with our local friends as well. The big Halloween moment for the night was when the DJ played Michael Jackson's Thriller.

Street Life

As I walked home from class yesterday, I passed by quite a commotion at a telecenter. A woman was inside fighting with I think the man who runs the place. They were yelling at each other and it had gathered quite a crowd of people. I feel like in the states, if something like that occurred, people would back away. But here, it attracts a HUGE crowd of onlookers. I wanted to take a picture, but it didn't seem appropriate.

Further along on my way home a man pointed at me (he was about 40 feet away from me) and yelled (I'm not exaggerating) "YOU'RE AN AMERICAN!!" So I was definitely caught off guard, not to mention a bit unnerved. The man continued to walk towards me, and there was no way I could deny my American-ness, so he walked along with me while I was on my way home. He spoke so very very loudly. Great way to draw even more attention to myself, but I couldn't get him to stop, and he seemed excited enough to finally be speaking in English again. But I knew what he was getting at… that he wanted to get back to America, and saw the young American girl walking through the neighborhood as his shot to do just that. I told him it was a shame that I lived in Senegal now and wouldn't be returning to the states. He asked if I was married and I said yes, with two children. He said it was a shame, that I was too young, and I should've waited to marry a Senegalese guy. At the very least, he left without asking for my phone number.

Dakar at 4:30am: Sitting on the front porch is usually reserved for men and old women. There are always men sitting outside of houses talking, not only because this society is built on the art of talking, but also because so many of the men are unemployed right now. I want to be able to sit outside on the porch during the day and observe what's going on, but I'm kept from doing it because it's not generally accepted for women to do the same. So last night, I took the liberty of sitting out on the front porch since relatively no one was around at 4:30am and I was awake. It seems like that is the time when this city is the most pleasant. Usually, there are people everywhere, animals everywhere, traffic running you over, strange smells, pollution, all sorts of things. And so of course, at 4:30am, the city is still not completely asleep… but compared to usual all is calm. There was a rooster crowing from one of the houses across the street. I could hear the holy men at the mosque praying. There was always at least one taxi driving down the street, and men occasionally walking down the main road. One of the kids at the shoe tree in front of my house was still awake, but the others were sleeping on mats on the ground. The city was so silent compared to normal… almost calm and relaxing. Which is quite a switch from normal. And no, don't worry, I don't make it a habit of being awake at 4:30am.