About to Peace Out

Leaving tomorrow for Kedougou, so wanted to briefly post before I leave. Wont have internet access until I'm back in Dakar (most likely) which will be March 7th. Am excited to see the rest of the country a little bit -- Dakar does not seem representative of the types of statistics one reads about Senegal or West Africa in general. While one of the richest countries in the region, almost 50% of the people here still live on less than $2 a day. But Dakar is where people come to make money, and because the country is so stable students and devoted workers flock here to establish some semblance of a concrete lifestyle. Women here are commonly educated, dress is as often Western as not... Except for the trash everywhere, the lack of street lights once you leave highway sidewalks, and the sand everywhere, you might think you weren't in Africa. Well that's not entirely true -- the idea of a boutique here is most comparable to a small free standing shack, which you would never find in another similarly "cosmopolitan" city. But regardless, I'm excited to get out of town for a bit. I'll be staying with a fishing village for a few days as well (Monday to Thursday I think) on the Gambia river I believe... I'll wait to talk more about this after I've been, but suffice to say it should be very different from my upper-middle class life in Dakar, despite what I still believe is a tiny house for a family with their means. Abby told me the other day that if I come back in a few years (she said with my parents -- Mom, Dad, wanna take a trip?) she hopes they'll have found a bigger space by then. I don't get the impression that they're looking for a new house right now though; they're so busy working all the time, I barely know how they find the energy to live as it is.

This week has been pretty normal -- classes as usual in French and Wolof, Field Study Seminar lectures on how to conduct interviews and develop our independent study topics, Arts and Culture sessions on the educational system of Senegal and transportation in Dakar... Feeling good enough to eat some of the fabulous, really greasy food that is everywhere here. For example, today I had for lunch an egg and french fry sandwich containing hard-boiled eggs, paprika, mayonaise, mustard, ketchup, and french fries on a baguette. It's actually just a heart attack waiting to happen, but it's delicious. Life at home is generally good as well -- I love the girls and I am finally starting to develop strategies for doing homework in the house (just don't respond to anything they say when they try and distract me) which was helpful as I had two French presentations this week. (Keba is such a hard professor! And by then I mean not at all in comparison with any class I've ever taken since middle school, I'm just really lazy here.) Bashir and Abby are a blast to be around when they are in good moods, which is most of the time. Abby last night used me as a human shield against Bashir when he was trying to throw pillows at her after she told him that he could sleep in the bathroom if he was going to make fun of her so viciously... They're sickeningly adorable. But this morning they had a fight about something (I think it had to do with Abby leaving for work before Bashir, and him wanting her to stay with him and go in late... Gender roles are so incredibly complicated here, and I'm constantly perplexed by how they are being challenged by the growing numbers of working and highly educated women.) I would be able to speak more eloquently about it but they switched into Wolof, so I lost most of it. Our new live-in help only speaks Wolof, so I have a new incentive to learn. I wish I could communicate with her -- I doubt she's much older than me and her life seems very exhausting. She goes to sleep around when I do, maybe earlier I guess around 10 or 10:30, but she's up at 6 and working nonstop until she sleeps again. Anyway, I don't remember how I got on this topic anymore.

Other highlights from the week... The girls got really dressed up for Mardi Gras on Tuesday! It was basically Halloween. I went in with them to school for a few minutes (and was accidentally late for Wolof, but luckily Matou my Wolof professor loves me and just shook his head with a smile... I'm so smooth!) and was shocked by the incredible costumes. Soukeyna was dressed as a Spanish woman, and between the bright red dress and all the makeup she looked about 25. (She's 5, in case you've forgotten.) Girls were dressed in everything from wedding dresses to traditional African robes with huge hoop earrings; boys came dressed as old wise men, Zoro, Superman, and I even think I saw a Ninja Turtle! The cultural melange here is truly unlike anything I've ever seen; it's hard to know how people feel about it. It's not like Mardi Gras is a Muslim tradition after all, but I am not exaggerating to say that every child in this school, years pre-K to 5th grade, was dressed to the nines. My sisters were up two hours before they needed to leave for school in order to get ready... They were not messing around.

Now I'm off to buy a mosquito net and to pack. if you want to call me you should feel free to take my Senegalese cell phone number off Facebook if you can access it (I should have my phone in Kedougou, though I may turn it off while I'm at the village: the Diakhanke village in Samecouta if you feel like doing some research about my whereabouts.) Otherwise though, expect to hear little from me until I return! Know that I am still happy and healthy (comme d'habitude) and am still feeling enchanted and overwhelmed by all things Senegalese. The big joke with my friend Lily has become that everything here is a part of a larger paradox -- things that don't make sense together in the slightest -- and every day seems to add to that feeling. It's odd to feel like I am trying to be Senegalese when I am so obviously not; and it's difficult to feel like I am here for such a long time but simultaneously that my time here is so fleeting and I want to do the touristy things that are out of the way... Anyway, these are just some of my frequent cultural/study abroad musings. Hope you are happy and healthy as you read this. Ba beneen yoon, inchallah! (Until next time, God willing!)


PS: Wolof lesson for the day: Counting. 1 = benn. 2 = ñaar. 3 = ñeet. 4 = ñeent. 5 = juroom. Good luck studying!