Week in Dakar

Time to talk about the present day. It's January again. I've spent a great week in Dakar. It has been really nice to come back here and feel completely at home. It is great to see all my friends and my host family. My host family treats me like I've returned after a very long trip, when I actually was only gone about a week and a half. I haven't stayed with them this week, which has actually made me feel even more like part of the family. I just walk in, sit down, eat, chat with everyone, nap on the couch, etc. That is all what their other relatives do when they come over. It's not unusual for the relatives to simply show up, greet everyone, and then spend an hour sitting on the couch and sending text messages or watching television before simply getting up and leaving again. I always thought it was strange that they wouldn't spend more time interacting and talking with the people in the house, but that's just how it's done. They immediately treat it like it's their own house. So that's how I've been all week. I dropped by at least once every day except for one. It was sad having to say goodbye to them, but I'll be visiting every few weeks, so it's not so bad. I gave them some presents from the states including two MSU coffee mugs (so now they have 4 coffee mugs altogether), some dried nuts and fruit, a t-shirt for my host father, and a blanket with some winter images on it. One of the images on the blanket is a snowman. When I pointed it out, my host mother called it a penguin, because the only show they have on television with winter images is a cartoon with penguins in it. The other favorite thing that I brought back was pictures of winter in the States. I had pictures of my street covered with snow, and the trees in my backyard without leaves, and the snow piled up a few feet on the side of the road. Their eyes grew wide and they couldn't stop laughing, it's all unbelievable to them. They got a big kick out of seeing me with boots, a heavy winter jacket, scarf, and hat.

Heading to Kaolack in the morning. I'm really nervous now about leaving. I never do well with transitions. I'm just so comfortable in Dakar now that I don't have a huge desire to move away from my friends and the comforts of a city for a few months in Kaolack. But I really am looking forward to my work in Kaolack. So, inchallah, all will go well.

Sheep

There are thousands of sheep on my street, and I'm not exaggerating. They're absolutely everywhere. They've appeared over the past month or so. Now there are at least 50 tied up in view of my front porch. But they line the streets all the way into the city. It's insane. There are of course sheep droppings everywhere. And it's hard to believe that by the end of the week the vast majority of these sheep will be dead, and eaten. Tabaski is on Friday. It's the most important Muslim holiday of the year. The feast focuses around sacrificed sheep. So everyone with a wife must by a sheep by Friday. One of my friends has about twenty sheep that he's trying to sell. They are tied up on my street, and he stays next to them day and night. He and our other friends are always hanging out next to the sheep, and he must sleep outside next to them so that people don't steal them in the middle of the night. The prices of the sheep skyrocket in the days before Tabaski, but the majority of people are still scrambling to get money to pay for one. They can cost anything from about $50 for a very small one to $1,000 for a big one.

We now have two sheep at my house. The one that has been there since I arrived, and now we're guarding a sheep of one of the relatives of my host family. This afternoon, my host father called one of the neighbor boys over and the kid helped my two oldest host brothers wash the two sheep. They had buckets of water, a hose, and the same soap that's used for everything (laundry, dishes, cleaning, etc). The sheep did not exactly like what was going on and they did put up quite a fight. But the neighbor kid scrubbed them with a huge brush and now they look squeaky clean and ready for Tabaski.

I have gone shopping for Christmas presents this week. The markets are always crazy here, but right now they're close to out-of-control. They're swarmed with people making last-minute purchases for Tabaski. In Marche Sandaga and all the streets filled with shops and stands near it, there are men standing on tables with megaphones yelling prices, music blasting from shops, and people trying to push things into your hands. Prices have plummeted because many of the vendors just need any amount of money they can get so that they can buy a sheep before Friday. It's crazy.

Weekend in Toubab Diallo

Since my classes finished last week, I decided to break out of Dakar for the weekend. I had originally thought that I would simply travel for all of this week, but there's too much I want to do and see here in Dakar in preparation for Tabaski, so I decided just to leave for the weekend. I went with two other Rotary scholars, Allen and Andrew, to Toubab Diallo. It is on the coast, outside of Dakar. It was wonderful. The town is a village with a few hostels and a couple hotels, but since it's not tourist season there was hardly anyone there except for the residents. Our little resort was lovely, and empty, which left the beach and the hammocks and lounge chairs and everything to us. And for the first time in three months... it was quiet. Allen and I laid out for quite some time, just listening to the ocean. I forgot what silence sounded like... no cars, no people, no mosques, etc. Incredible : ) It was incredibly relaxing, and I was immediately disappointed that I hadn't stumbled upon this place before and gone there more often. It was only $8 a night. And there was a wonderful restaurant across the street where an incredibly delicious sandwich was only $2. It was great. A great way to spend the weekend all my classes finished.

Safari

I finished my classes last week. I can hardly believe it. My time here has gone by so quickly! Last week my professor made very intense to review absolutely everything. On my last day of real class, Thursday, she brought a huge book of French exercises that covered all general grammar type things... and we went through it cover to cover! It was a bit exhausting. Then on Friday, I had an "exam." It was supposed to last 3 hours, and it took me 3 1/2 because she forgot to tell me that I didn't have to rewrite all of the exercises. Halfway through she told me that the exam didn't really matter, because she already knew what grade she was going to give me. I was certain it didn't really matter anyway, since I'm not really a student, so it's not like my university or anyone is holding me accountable for my grades. But I know that my French improved immensely, and I wanted to show that... so of course I took my time and actually took the exam.

The language school arranged for me to go to a national park this week with one of the other Rotary scholars. It was like going on our own private Safari. We left a bit late, so we ran into traffic in Dakar... so it took us way to long to get out of the city and to the park. When we arrived, we ate lunch since it was the hottest part of the day and all the animals were hiding in the shade and the water. So, we ate at the restaurant at the park while monkeys and warthogs swung and wandered past our table. It was really cool. The food was good, too. After lunch, we still have to wait another hour for the sun to go down a bit so that we could see animals. So of course, in true African fashion, there was a huge tent set up with tons of pillows and mats underneath. After our guide had said his afternoon prayers, we settled under the tent and took a nap for about an hour and a half. At 4pm, we finally got up and were ready to go our on little Safari. By that time, in true American fashion, I of course felt useless cause I had done nothing that day except for sit in a car, eat lunch, and nap.

The Safari itself was great. Tinari (the other Rotary scholar) and I were on the back of a truck with a guide. We went zipping around the park looking for animals. We saw ostriches and something else first, and then I spotted the next animal! It gave me a sense of accomplishment for the day, I had actually done something. I spotted some gazelles before the guide did. It was great. We saw all sorts of animals. Giraffes, warthogs, things I don't know the names of in English, and huge black rhinocerii. We actually stood on the ground about 20 feet from two fully grown black rhinocerii. That was definitely a highlight of the day. Those animals are absolutely massive. No elephants, no lions, no tigers, no cheetahs... sorry, we're in Senegal not Botswana. But it was wonderful nonetheless. It was even just nice to be out in the countryside on the back of a truck for two hours... fresh air, not hundreds of people everywhere, hundreds of baobab trees, animals... it was great.

Christmas in Dakar

Street vendors in this city sell everything, as I believe I have said before. Phone cards and peanuts are the most popular item for them to sell. But you'll see them sell all sorts of things. A friend of mine bought a carrot peeler out the window of our taxi once. My favorite new addition to the street vendors are ones that now carry around a 3-4 feet tall fake Christmas tree and tons of tinsel! The tinsel isn't even on the tree, it's wrapped around their necks like scarves. They look like walking Christmas celebrations, it's absolutely fabulous!

The entire city is lit up for Christmas. Yes, Tabaski (the most important Muslim holiday) is coming up about 4 days before Christmas, but it's Christmas lights and Christmas trees and Christmas decorations that can be seen everywhere. Almost everyone celebrates Christmas here, it's a holiday with Santa Clause and presents for the majority, and of course the Catholics and other few Christians celebrate Jesus' birth.

One of the patisseries near my house has a huge display with Christmas-type things on the street corner in front of it. I was in my friend's car driving by the other day when I glanced over and saw a huge creepy Santa Clause smiling and waving at me. In general, Santa Clause does not scare me. But this one was a Senegalese man wearing a mask to make his skin white with a beard... it was very disturbing. It wouldn't bother me if they had a black Santa Clause, but with the mask to make the skin appear white it just looked like a scary Halloween Santa Clause. I am not a big fan.

Braving the Car Rapide

I've been in Senegal almost three months now. Up until yesterday, I had not ridden in a car rapide. Car rapides are super colorful public transportation run by Muslim Brotherhoods. I believe I have described them before. They're like little busses, with writings and decorations all over them. They are typically packed full of people. There are hundreds, possibly over a thousand of them, in this country. They're everywhere. There's a driver, and the other worker hangs off the back of it. In order to get into one of these things, you have to climb in through a door on the back. The man who hangs off the back yells the destination of the car. So if you want to get on one of them, you stand on the side of the road where you know one with your destination drives down. If one passes, and the man is calling out the place you want to go, you get his attention. He then bangs on the back of the vehicle, and the vehicle slows down. Yep, that's right, it rarely stops, it just slows down. You then run after it and jump up into it. They're very cheap, and definitely not the safest form of transportation. You get packed into them with too many other people, particularly when it's rush hour there are multiple people hanging off the back of it. But they cost about $0.20 to take downtown. Outside of Dakar, they are incredibly dangerous to take from village to village, but in the city they're not too bad. Anyway, yesterday I rode in one. It was great. Packed with people, but not overpacked. We were squeezed in quite tight where we were sitting, but the vehicle wasn't also packed with too many people standing or hanging off the back of it. My friend Bethany and I got strange looks from the Senegalese in it, because it is rare that a tubab (white person) rides in a car rapide. The man in charge even tried over charging us for it, but we wouldn't let him. I'm definitely glad that I finally road one, but again I don't think this will become a habit. If they went down my street they probably would, but they don't, and I do value my safety.

Bethany and I took the car rapide to Marche Sandaga, the biggest market in Dakar and the one that was set on fire during the riots last month. We were on a mission to buy jeans. I ended up buying a great pair for $10. The place where we got it was a little shop on one of the main roads. And when I say shop, I'm not suggesting this structure was a building with a door. Think of a structure like a garage stall, but smaller, and with the garage door open... that was the shop. So basically a structure with three walls, where the fourth wall would've been (or the garage door would've been) was just open to the street. There were jeans hanging on every inch of wall space. I found one, but was concerned because there was obviously no dressing room... but I was wrong. The guy in charge pulled a sheet aside that was hanging like a mosquito netting from one of the back corners of the little shop (about 8 feet in from the opening to the street). I was quite a bit hesitant about his make-shift dressing room, but really wanted the jeans, so decided to give it a shot. There were 2 other men sitting in the little shop, plus the guy running the shop, plus my friend Bethany. When I got behind the sheet, I became quite concerned because I could easily see through it to the other people in the shop and the people walking by on the street. My friend laughed at me and thought I was crazy when I told her because she insisted that she could not see me. I had her stand behind the curtain for a second, and she realized how transparent it was from the inside, but when she was behind it I could not see her at all... which means neither could the other people in the shop or the people on the street. So I ended up trying on the jeans behind the curtain, while watching the people walk by on the street. It was the most bizarre thing ever. Not exactly a comfortable experience, because it was difficult to believe that I couldn't be seen even though I knew I couldn't. There's a public toilet in a sidewalk in Europe which is very much the same, it is built so you can see the people outside on the street walking by, but they can't see in, kinda like two way mirrors... and that's what it felt like. But it worked, and I bought the jeans, so all was good. However, it definitely was one of the strangest experiences I had in Dakar.

New Cardinal

West Africa was appointed a new Cardinal in the Catholic Church at the end of November. He is Senegalese and lives in Dakar. It is a HUGE deal here. The President and everyone are super are incredibly proud and happy about it, not just the Catholics. He was "sworn in" or "appointed" or whatever is the appropriate term in Italy, and when he arrived in Senegal afterwards, there was a HUGE celebration in his honor at the stadium near my house. They set off a huge fireworks display and I watched it from one of the nearby suburbs. All the proceedings have been on television all weekend.