Weekend and a Routine

Friday night I went to the largest fish market in Dakar with Abby to by some poisson for dinner. I'm going to retype an excerpt from my field journal written the morning after right into here--it was an incredible experience:

...incredible amounts of fish of all sizes and kinds! some were truly enormous, maybe 3 feet? smaller ones stacked sometimes 5 high on frisbee like plastic or metal dishes, big beady eyes glazed over. vendors all talking, to each other mostly (unclear to some extent who works with whom) and certainly to customers, encouraging them to look and buy and bargaining. all taking place on cedar block benches maybe 4 feet high lined in long columns perpendicular to the ocean. and the ocean -- right there! boats still in the water, like a national geographic cover or a movie. intensely metallic blue fading into a deep navy as the last rays of sun stop surving around the horizon. until the prominent rock island which was so black in comaprison to the water when i arrived can no longer be seen at all. and the seafood! shrimp, oysters, muscles i thought i saw, fish fish fish fish... all just lying there. no ice -- bucket of water to rinse things in should something fall on the ground. i tried to describe the pike place market in seattle with all its fish offerings to abby but in comparison it hardly seemed like the same thing. asking abby questions afterwards was invaluable too -- about the cleaning, prices, quantities, freshness. meant to ask about the joking...

Saturday was a fabulous day. We went on a mini safari in Parc Bandia -- huge 25 person jeep driving around an incredibly dry park. But the animals were breathtaking. It was like taking a real life tour of the Lion King (and yes, I did sing a huge number of the songs with the people sitting near me as we drove around.) Giraffes, warthogs, beautiful birds... I touched an ostrich! It was a female and so apparently not dangerous. It walked right up to us (they are the most awkward birds -- neck is truly like a garden hose) and I got to reach out and pet it. Incredibly soft. The baobab trees were equally breathtaking; they stretch out in bizarre, thick and twisted limbs but they have no leaves at this time of year I guess. And the fruit drapes down kind of like lanterns -- thick black canteen-looking pieces dangling as if they've been strewn by fratboys after a wild night.

After the Parc Bandia we went to a fancy beach type resort which it turns out we are coming back to for a week at the end of the semester! The beach was beautiful and the bungaloos were adorable -- I went swimming in fabulously chill water, though it was dirty and the bottom was alternatively slimey and rocky in different spots. I played soccer at the edge of the surf for a while as well until a local man was hitting on me and my Wolof professor (late 20s maybe?) inserted himself into our conversation in order to get the guy to leave me alone. Things escalated really quickly and the guy nearly took a swing at Matou, but in the end everybody was fine. I felt horribly guilty, but Matou assured me that it wasn't my fault and that he was just glad that he could cut off our interaction before it got to a point where I felt uncomfortable. But I have now developed the reputation of causing men to fight over me. Awesome.

At night we all went to a gala at the Theatre National -- well, we attempted to at least. Right away we were bounced by the ushers for not being dressed nicely enough, thus perpetuating the one of the largest stereotype here about Americans: they are super casual and always underdressed. After spending 40 minutes in a tiny backstage room, our djembe professor was able to get us front row seats in the balcony. And it was well worth the wait -- from super traditional dancing to a strange melange of Senegalese flailing with club moves on modern urban attire, it was a heart-stopping showcase. I've never seen so many flips in succession, nor have I ever seen someone dressed like a haystack bend backwards and spin so quickly. It was a pity that I was so exhausted by that point -- I wish I had been more awake for the long description of the gala at the beginning. In french, it was difficult to follow after the first 15 minutes.

I'm gonna run home for the evening now. Sadly I actually do have homework here -- a french paper due tomorrow, a small french presentation, Wolof exercises, my independent study to contemplate... And when Bashir and Abby are in good moods, they are so much fun to be around. Besides being adorably in love, they make fun of each other all the time. Needless to say I fit into the Gueye family quite nicely. As my french has improved, my ability to mock people has quickly entered Senegalese personality. Being healthy and happy at the same time feels pretty fabulous, needless to say.

Ba beneen yoon!