Beach Day

I had class for ten minutes this morning. We recieved our first assignment (maybe second, if you count "thinking about our learning goals for thursday" as an assignment) and then were released into the Senegalese wild. I, along with maybe half of the program participants, headed straight for the beach. It's hard to believe that this is school, although it's absolutely true that this is a program based on "experiential learning." I'm learning how to bargain with taxi drivers (slashing the price by over fifty percent, ideally,) turn away from begging children, deny water to persistent soccer players... Being white, wherever I go I am flanked by vendors trying to sell me jewelry, towels, shoes, perfume. It's exhausting. But the beach was beautiful. Cold like the Pacific, but the waves were lovely and small. I basically bathed myself in sunscreen to avoid getting burned, which I don't regret at all. It's hot here, especially in the middle of the day, especially lying in the sun for almost 8 hours. It's hard to believe that it's a Wednesday, in my first full week of classes, in February.

Yesterday seemed to be the kind of day that will happen to me with frequency. School starts at 8:30 AM. I have Wolof language classes, with maybe the coolest guy ever. He can't be older than in his late 20s -- his name is Matou. I'm kind of obsessed with him. We live in the same neighborhood, and whenever we're practicing our dialogue (e.g. Hello! Hello! How are you? I am fine. How is your family? Well. What is your name? Elena. Your last name? Mayer. Where do you live in the United States? Seattle. Where do you live in Dakar? Mermoz.) we both get really into it and pretend like we haven't heard the other's answers fifty times already. Plus we both live in Mermoz, so we always high five when we get to that part. He's adorable. Then we have a half hour break, when we all lie in the front lawn of our villa and eat mandarins and drink water. Then is a two-hour french class, which might be the best French class I've ever taken. (Which is saying something, since I've had some great French professors.) There are five of us, and somehow (!!) I managed to land in the most advanced class. We basically just talk, and Keba our teacher, who is also probably in his mid-twenties, corrects us every time we mispeak. We go on super random tangents (like discussing female West African wrestlers, or how Senegalese names frequently come from biblical names) and just discuss grammar and Senegalese culture. It's fabulous. We talked about polygamy alone for half an hour. (I'll explain why in a second.) Then we have two and a half hours for lunch (!!) where we wander the neighborhood for restaurants and lounge some more on the lawn eating fruit. We basically keep the fruit stand across the street in business. Then we have our Arts and Culture seminar, which varies from government speakers to musicians or artists. Yesterday we had an ethnomusicologist who works with local school children come and talk to us about traditional instruments. Then he taught us some songs in Wolof and led us in some very elementary, grapevine type dancing. We finish around 4:30 or 5, but everyone hangs around at school until 6:30 or 7. Dinner here isn't until usually 9 or even 10.

Back to polygamy: I found out two nights ago that Bashir (my "father" here, who is only 32 years old and thus will not let me call him "papa") has another wife! She lives elsewhere in Dakar -- he said he would take me sometime. They've only been married for two years I think, but they have a one year old daughter together. I tried asking a few questions about her, but Bashir said Abby (my "mom," the matriarch of the house I am living in who I assume is also in her early 30s) gets very jealous whenever the other wife is discussed. Islam condones (does not encourage, but permits) up to four wives, but they all must be treated 100% equally. Keba referered to it as a poisonous gift. Bashir spends two nights at my house, and then two nights at his other house. It was particularly shocking to me because they are so young and western -- they wear shoes in the house, they heat water for showers, they have hundreds of channels of cable television... I'm certainly still finding that there's lots to learn every day.

I'm gonna pass off my computer to a friend who's internet connection isn't working... Hopefully in a couple more days I will get my own cell phone that works (I should have just bought one a week ago. The story is not worth explaining, but yea, everyone else has a phone except me.) I'll try and post again on Friday. I miss and love you all, and am still (alxumdulilaay! = praise be to god!) very healthy and happy. Ba beneen yoon! Until next time!