Today we had language testing with teachers from the Peace Corps (ACTFL tests, I think they're called) to see how our French and Wolof skills have improved. The tests were incredibly nerve-wracking, both of them. The Wolof one because I basically can't speak Wolof; the French one because they asked the most difficult questions that would have been hard to answer even in English! "What do you think about relationships between Senegalese people? In what ways are they different than the rapports between Americans? If you were going to give a lecture at Columbia on Senegal, what would you talk about? Oh, you say the French colonial legacy? Why don't you elaborate on what you think the French colonial legacy in Senegal is!" It quickly then became a semi-stressful day, between my last minute revisions of my Independent Study Proposal and the exams, but it's ending relatively smoothly. I even already have my results back! Novice High in Wolof (not very good compared to some people in my program, but I'm more than content with that) and the real feat, Advanced High in French! That means that I'm about as good at French as anyone can be who is not a native speaker! I actually screamed when Souleye (our Program Director) read me the result. And it makes a lot of sense to me -- I have been speaking almost no Wolof at home but lots of French, which is perfect because I came here to improve my French and I can now prove that I have by an entire "level"! Pretty cool... And now I'm off to Bayakh to speak it some more!
But first I'm actually walking back to Mermoz to say goodbye to my family for a few weeks. Aby will turn 29 while I'm away -- I still can't get over how young she is; she and I are in such dramatically different places in life for only being eight years apart -- and I know that Soukeyna is still heartbroken that I've moved out. She was sobbing as I got in the cab yesterday to move my bags into the apartment. Aby told me as I was leaving that the pleasure has been all hers these past few months, getting to share her culture with me and getting to know me, but I'm not sure I could ever accurately describe in French or in English all the ways in which I have benefited and learned from her... In any case, I'll be seeing them all a few more times before I leave the country, so it's not a real goodbye just yet. It was semi-appropriate though to spend my last night there playing with the girls and then watching the BET Music Awards Show on a Wolof television channel, a final reminder of the strange cultural flux that I think symbolizes Senegalese sentiments about the West and Aby and Bashir's sentiments about life. It's pretty wild though to think how different this culture is from the one I was watching on TV, even if they all share a skin-color. I think about that a lot actually, how different African-American culture is from African culture, if I can generalize them both. In any case it was weird and a little hard (I kept taking long, completely unnecessary breaks) to pack up my one drawer, my small "shelf" of books next to the refrigerator, my medicines from the cabinet in the girls' room and my shoes from the rack. And my stuff from the bathroom I guess, but truth be told that was everything. It was funny to trace the semester thus far through the stuff I've accumulated: wall-hangings from different cities, gifts, all distinct memories that are associated with diverse places and moods but I rarely think about them anymore. Kedougou seems ages ago, let alone my first few weeks here...
To jump back to last week though, it occurs to me that I forgot to mention on Friday that I went to a seder last Wednesday with three other girls on my program! At the house of the Israeli Ambassador to Senegal! It was pretty awesome -- the seder was led by the Ambassador himself who spoke to the room (80 people?) in both French and English. We went around the long tables reading from the haggadah in everyone's native tongues, whether that be Hebrew or English or French. This made it pretty difficult to follow along (I'm not even kidding, I kept tabs on where we were by following the Hebrew -- the language I speak the worst of the three) as we were switching between different haggadah editions with different page numbers and translation languages. There were more white people there than I've seen in any one place in months. There were also about 25 7th-9th graders there from the International School of Dakar (mostly children of foreign embassy or military personnel, though some have parents in Dakar for other private sector jobs,) who were taking a "Junior Ambassadors" class and were there to practice etiquette. It was pretty cute to watch, and I was pleased to see that after two months with little girls I haven't lost my charm with my favorite kid age-group: the pre-teens. (Because they laugh at my jokes, in case you were wondering why...) We didn't stick around after the meal (it was already after 23:00 and we had Wolof the next day at 8:30) but between the sheer awe of the experience and the fabulous time I had talking with the American Ambassador to Senegal (!) I left that night feeling very fulfilled. For others reading this, you may or may not know about my internal struggles with religion since arriving at college... But I've dwelled on my own conflicting sentiments about Judaism less this semester, trading that time in for intense contemplation on living in a highly religious country where nobody understands the concept of not being religious. I have friends who told their families here that they didn't have a religious affiliation, and their families just didn't understand. Even though I feel comfortable sharing that I'm Jewish, I've had a hard time trying to condense all of Judaism into a nice, bite-sized explanation (in French) for people I meet, especially when my own religious practices have become so highly personal and untraditional. I think this internal uneasiness made my seder all the more powerful -- it was wonderful to reconnect with the idea of a Jewish community existing for all Jews all around the world. I'm not articulating it well, but I hope I'm somewhat making my point.
Anyway, I'm running late, in the classic Senegalese (and Jewish?) way. Will try and update again very soon once I find a cyber cafe in Bayakh. Until then, mes amis! Ba beneen yoon!
No comments:
Post a Comment