I'm learning to accept doing less. But it's not coming easily. I spent much of the weekend doing nothing: wandering around the neighborhood where SIT is with a friend, being dragged to Abby's Mom's house and being left there with the girls and nothing to do for the entire day... (I feigned sickness and booked it out of there to Caitlin's house, where we talked about homestay experiences and what we want to do with the rest of our semester...) It's odd for me to feel like I literally did nothing for two days. Other people are getting taken cool places by their homestay siblings or parents, but my house isn't really like that. I am however getting a crash course in parenting, though I am still nowhere near comfortable assisting with the toilet training of my two-year-old sister Djara. (See picture at right, taken in the courtyard of house. The same courtyard that I locked myself in last weekend, yes. I've also uploaded a video of Soukeyna (age 5) and Djara. See below.)
Today has been a roller-coaster. I felt pretty sick earlier and haven't eaten a lot, which came back to bite me during our first dance workshop at the Theatre National. The woman who is teaching us (Touty) is definitely not as good a teacher as Maguette back at Barnard... I felt ridiculous. But I'm excited to improve! I did however kick major butt at "djembe," which is the main drum used in almost all traditional Senegalese music. I had a blast learning the rhythms and turning my hands bright red by the end of the hour. I was also feeling much better by the djembe session, which made it that much more enjoyable.
There's so much more to write about, but truth be told it's hard to know where to begin. I'll be spending the rest of the evening interviewing Senegalese pedestrians for my urban art presentation due Wednesday. I'm on team "Transportaion as Art," and I'm focussing on highway mosaics. It is truly shocking how much money the Senegalese government spends on arts and cultural projects here. There was a dry spell between 1980 and 2000 when Senegal was under tight Structural Adjustment Plans (yay economics major relevency!) but the current President (Abdoulaye Wade) has re-expanded the budget for artists and national culture projects. It's hard to imagine, coming from a country where the budget for the National Endowment for the Arts is always on the chopping block! Then I'll go back to my house and attempt not to eat -- I don't want to jinx my now better stomach, but everyone in the house is always telling me to mange plus! It's ridiculous.
What else can I reflect on... I'm starting to enter the downward part of the "U Curve" theory says cultural newbies experience. After the initial thrill and shock has worn off, frustrations start to emerge. I'm still very much struggling with how to be an adult in a house where I don't know how to do anything for myself. I'm finding myself in a very awkward part-tourist, part-resident situation where I feel bad doing nothing but find going downtown overwhelming and exhausting. And while I have great friends here already, it's odd to be at square one with people as we go through highly emotional situations. Anyway, this is an awkward musing.
For those of you following along regularly, you'll remember that I was going clubbing on Friday. I did indeed, and it was marvelous. Not that I look good dancing AT ALL, and the club that we went to had mirrors along the longest wall which was incredibly awkward and embarassing, but it was fun to hear French pop, Senegalese hip hop, and lots and lots of Akon (as
he is Senegalese!) I'm giving up on the video uplad I was attempting, but will try again soon. Am posting some other pictures to tide you over in the mean time. (Soukeyna, my five year old sister... A random picture from a cafe on Ile de Goree, only posted because it has me in it... A boat and some locals...) Miss you all and love you lots!
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