When I was working at my internship at ASBEF Dakar Grand Yoff, one of my best friends there was Vieux. He was a life saver when it came to getting me involved with different activities and helping me ENORMOUSLY with the research that I needed to do for my class entitled "Directed Research" but should more accurately have been titled "Extremely Undirected Research". He helped me make contacts that I never would have made without him. He is also one of the most, possibly THE most, selfless person I have ever met and was also one of the only people in the entire country who I felt really understood me. The relationship was only made slightly, or very, awkward by the fact that he kept asking me out and telling me that he was in love with me.
We have kept in touch periodically over email since I left and the last time I received an email from him he gave me his new cell phone number. About a week into my stay here I tried to call the number and got a woman speaking Wolof. I panicked and hung up. Oops. I tried again and whoever answered the phone told me that he didn't live there anymore and that she didn't have his new number. With this news, I had only one options: I would have to go to his house.
He lives quite a distance from me in a neighborhood called Parcelles Cité Fadia. There's a bus that goes by my house (down Bourgiba) that says it goes to Parcelles so I decided to take that bus in hopes that it would bring be to the right place. Sadly, it did not. Instead I ended up on the other side of Parcelles and then in HLM Grand Yoff. Since I really had no idea where I was in relation to Cité Fadia, I had no other option but to take a taxi and hope that I recognized where I was. Luckily, I did. Well, the main road anyway. As we got closer, I began to get a little nervous that I would end up wandering up and down the sand streets looking for the house.
One of the landmarks that I remember very distinctly is a dentist's office and a cyber cafe at the corner of his street. Apparently neither of those exist anymore. The only other landmark that I seemed to remember was a bakery called "Le Bon Pain" but I couldn't remember if that was where the turn for his house was or if that was something that we used to walk by on the way to the turn. Not recognizing anything else, I walked up that street where I found a familiar looking boutique (luckily those don't usually go out of business!) and then, his house. I told the people standing outside that I was looking for him and they said, "C'est Aicha?", that's my Senegalese name. They brought me into the house where most of his family still lives, including his nieces and nephews that were tiny last time I was here! His sister went to get him from a few blocks away where he now lives with his wife (they got married last May).
I had thought it would be kind of fun not to tell some people that I was here and then just show up randomly at their house. I didn't plan to do it on purpose, but that's exactly what happened with him. He showed up, we talked, we went to his wive's house and had lunch. I gave him and his nieces and nephew presents. The kids are SO cute and a really good way to practice and learn Wolof because they don't care if you don't understand what they are saying, they just keep talking! Overall, I ended up staying there for about 6 hours and probably would have had a harder time getting away if he hadn't had to leave for work.
Apparantly the number that he had given me several months ago was the cell phone number of his neighbors who had since moved. I now have his current cell number.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Moving Day/I Have A Door!!
Yes, I have finally accomplished at least one of my goals: I have found a place to live and have moved out of the room at my host family's. I now officially live in Amitié III (amitié = friendship in French). It's a quieter neighborhood then where I was, which I think pretty much equates to richer. I am renting a room on the first floor of a ridiculously huge house. I share a bathroom with another American girl who is here on a Fulbright. There is also a Canadian couple living in the other room but they will soom be moving out to their own apartment. It's a very nice group of people and it's very strange to speak English around the house! We have a nice living room that we all share that has a big TV and a kitchen. The only problem with these communal areas is that they sometimes get taken over by grandchildren and the like (as I sit here typing there are 3 very loud ones running around and screaming). Fun. Other than that it's very nice, although it feels very colonial because there are about 3 maids and a guardian, all Senegalese of course, and all these white people. I know it's not really like that because they work in the whole house but it still make me feel a little wierd because I don't have to do ANYTHING - I don't clean, cook, do my own laundry or even clean up dishes in the kitchen. It's like a wierd alternate universe.
I haven't seen the whole house, but from what I can tell this faliky has more money than they know what to do with. There are 2 full levels in addition to the bottom floor where we are living. In addition, I just discovered yesterday there there are at least 2 patio/balconies. In the middle of the first floor is coutryard is a little garden and a house where the maids either live or just hang out when they aren't doing anything. There are also flowers and plants in the front of the house and plants lining the indoor halls. Very green! I like it.
I could probably get mail there but since I don't the family well enough to trust them with giving me my mail in a timely fashing, I've decided that I should just get mail at my old host family's house. Plus that will make me go visit them more frequently. Here's the address: SICAP Dieuppeul III, Villa No. 2685B, Dakar, SENEGAL
On the internship front, things qren't going quite as well. I met with Aziz, the director at my old internship who now works for the International Red Cross, the week that Kris was here and prepared a letter to bring to a couple of organizations, but since then, nothing has happened. I called both places back but they both said that I need to wait for them to call me. Whatever. So I'm still waiting and getting a little restless. Until yesterday I had enough to do with moving, etc. I amused myself my going shopping (I now have a personal shopper at Sandaga who found me again on the Monday after Kris and I had a disasterous time try to find sandals for her and jeans for me), walking around downtown (I've gotten really good at brushing people off!), visiting some not so exciting sites recommended by my guidebook, and drinking café au laits (Kris, I went back to Aux Fins Palais where we got that basket of bread). However, shopping is not very fulfilling and I have become bored. I am meeting with Aziz again on Monday and hopefully that will get me somewhere. He was at a conference last week and apparently talked to some people for me. Another American also told be about a volunteering opportunity at an orphanage. All they need is for people to come hold babies who might otherwise not get attention. I totally want to hold babies!
That's about all for now.
Ciao,
Emily
PS - I never had a door at my old host family's house, just a sheet to cover the doorway. Now I have an actual wooden door that locks! I'm moving up in the world!
I haven't seen the whole house, but from what I can tell this faliky has more money than they know what to do with. There are 2 full levels in addition to the bottom floor where we are living. In addition, I just discovered yesterday there there are at least 2 patio/balconies. In the middle of the first floor is coutryard is a little garden and a house where the maids either live or just hang out when they aren't doing anything. There are also flowers and plants in the front of the house and plants lining the indoor halls. Very green! I like it.
I could probably get mail there but since I don't the family well enough to trust them with giving me my mail in a timely fashing, I've decided that I should just get mail at my old host family's house. Plus that will make me go visit them more frequently. Here's the address: SICAP Dieuppeul III, Villa No. 2685B, Dakar, SENEGAL
On the internship front, things qren't going quite as well. I met with Aziz, the director at my old internship who now works for the International Red Cross, the week that Kris was here and prepared a letter to bring to a couple of organizations, but since then, nothing has happened. I called both places back but they both said that I need to wait for them to call me. Whatever. So I'm still waiting and getting a little restless. Until yesterday I had enough to do with moving, etc. I amused myself my going shopping (I now have a personal shopper at Sandaga who found me again on the Monday after Kris and I had a disasterous time try to find sandals for her and jeans for me), walking around downtown (I've gotten really good at brushing people off!), visiting some not so exciting sites recommended by my guidebook, and drinking café au laits (Kris, I went back to Aux Fins Palais where we got that basket of bread). However, shopping is not very fulfilling and I have become bored. I am meeting with Aziz again on Monday and hopefully that will get me somewhere. He was at a conference last week and apparently talked to some people for me. Another American also told be about a volunteering opportunity at an orphanage. All they need is for people to come hold babies who might otherwise not get attention. I totally want to hold babies!
That's about all for now.
Ciao,
Emily
PS - I never had a door at my old host family's house, just a sheet to cover the doorway. Now I have an actual wooden door that locks! I'm moving up in the world!
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
I Blame The Mouton
I'm back, having almost missed posting tonight because of another power outage that erased an email that I was just about to send.
I said I was going to go back a little and tell you more about the beginning of my stay here. Then I realized that nothing really exciting happened the first week I was here except for, and because of, Tabaski, the largest Muslim holiday of the year. It is during this holiday that a sheep is sacrificed, which from this point on I will call the mouton. That's the French word, and since eating sheep in the US is not something that I do, I prefer to say that I ate mouton.
I spent the day with my old host family in Pikine, which I suppose is a sort of suburb of Dakar. The grandparents live there in a huge house with so many relatives that I can't keep them all straight. Since it was only my second day in Senegal, I was worried that it be a stressful affair with them making me wear African clothes, etc. It turned out to be very laid back and they were very accepting of me randomly falling asleep on the couch. That's the nice thing about already knowing people here.
We sat on the roof/patio for a long time while they grilled mouton and I helped them wash the salad (3 times in bleach water, that's why it's safe to eat!!). Both times I have celebrated Tabaski, I have been fortunate enough to miss actually seeing the sacrifice take place. I made my new friend Binta who is actually my 5 year old cousin and is unbeleivably full of energy. She spent much of the day trying to take pictures with my camara, running around in circles in yelling and lifting up her skirt to inappropriate heights. I was very entertained. After eating, there was much TV watching (and sleeping for me).
That was day #1 of the mouton for me. Day #2 was Thursday when I went to have dinner at my friend Lamine's house. It was a mixture of dried and fresh meat (they always sacrifice 2 moutons so they have to dry some of it). My stomach was still doing okay. Day #3 was the worst. The maid was away on Tabaski vaction and my sister was sleeping or something (my brother and his friends have no idea how to cook anything but eggs). They went to get some meat to cook. I thought it was beef. Nope, it was frozen neck of mouton. My sister was up at that point and began cooking it by boiling/steaming it. It was about midnight at this point and I hadn't eaten since lunch. All I could smell was the nasty nasty mouton and I was seriously nauseated. I wanted to help in the kitchen but couldn't stand the smell. Anyone who has ever smelled boiling mouton will know what I am talking about. It didn't actually get done cooking until about 2 am, mostly because it was a large chunk of frozen nastiness. When it was finally time to eat, I could hardly handle it. There was the mouton neck, complete with esophagus and my brother's friends ripping it apart and eating off the bones. Yeah. So gross.
I was SO sick that night. SO SO sick. I had just recently started drinking the tap water again, hoping my past exposure to it would act as a sort of vaccine. That could be what made me sick but no, I blame the mouton.
The next night was Lamine's birthday and guess what his family made? Mouton. I want over to his house to watch the Senegal-Zimbabwe Africa Cup soccr match and guess what they served? Mouton. This time the dried kind cooked in oil/its own fat. Yeah....didn't eat very much.
I have a feeling that mouton doesn't agree with very many people because when I told Lamine and his friends that I had a stomach ache, they said "oh, the mouton bit you". Apparently there is a phrase in Wolof saying just that. Silly mouton.
I said I was going to go back a little and tell you more about the beginning of my stay here. Then I realized that nothing really exciting happened the first week I was here except for, and because of, Tabaski, the largest Muslim holiday of the year. It is during this holiday that a sheep is sacrificed, which from this point on I will call the mouton. That's the French word, and since eating sheep in the US is not something that I do, I prefer to say that I ate mouton.
I spent the day with my old host family in Pikine, which I suppose is a sort of suburb of Dakar. The grandparents live there in a huge house with so many relatives that I can't keep them all straight. Since it was only my second day in Senegal, I was worried that it be a stressful affair with them making me wear African clothes, etc. It turned out to be very laid back and they were very accepting of me randomly falling asleep on the couch. That's the nice thing about already knowing people here.
We sat on the roof/patio for a long time while they grilled mouton and I helped them wash the salad (3 times in bleach water, that's why it's safe to eat!!). Both times I have celebrated Tabaski, I have been fortunate enough to miss actually seeing the sacrifice take place. I made my new friend Binta who is actually my 5 year old cousin and is unbeleivably full of energy. She spent much of the day trying to take pictures with my camara, running around in circles in yelling and lifting up her skirt to inappropriate heights. I was very entertained. After eating, there was much TV watching (and sleeping for me).
That was day #1 of the mouton for me. Day #2 was Thursday when I went to have dinner at my friend Lamine's house. It was a mixture of dried and fresh meat (they always sacrifice 2 moutons so they have to dry some of it). My stomach was still doing okay. Day #3 was the worst. The maid was away on Tabaski vaction and my sister was sleeping or something (my brother and his friends have no idea how to cook anything but eggs). They went to get some meat to cook. I thought it was beef. Nope, it was frozen neck of mouton. My sister was up at that point and began cooking it by boiling/steaming it. It was about midnight at this point and I hadn't eaten since lunch. All I could smell was the nasty nasty mouton and I was seriously nauseated. I wanted to help in the kitchen but couldn't stand the smell. Anyone who has ever smelled boiling mouton will know what I am talking about. It didn't actually get done cooking until about 2 am, mostly because it was a large chunk of frozen nastiness. When it was finally time to eat, I could hardly handle it. There was the mouton neck, complete with esophagus and my brother's friends ripping it apart and eating off the bones. Yeah. So gross.
I was SO sick that night. SO SO sick. I had just recently started drinking the tap water again, hoping my past exposure to it would act as a sort of vaccine. That could be what made me sick but no, I blame the mouton.
The next night was Lamine's birthday and guess what his family made? Mouton. I want over to his house to watch the Senegal-Zimbabwe Africa Cup soccr match and guess what they served? Mouton. This time the dried kind cooked in oil/its own fat. Yeah....didn't eat very much.
I have a feeling that mouton doesn't agree with very many people because when I told Lamine and his friends that I had a stomach ache, they said "oh, the mouton bit you". Apparently there is a phrase in Wolof saying just that. Silly mouton.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Une visite tres courte
Salut et Asalamalecum!
As I am Ms. Brandl- Salutz's current travel buddy she suggested I give a few words on our travels. I am a here for a very short time because I have to head off to Malawi, a tiny country in central Africa that everyone should visit. Beautiful mountains, green hills and a huge lake. The people are also very friendly. However, unlike my current journey, I will be going for work.
The week in Senegal has been short and sweet and even though it is technically a vacation it has been tiring. We've visited so many people and everyone expects you to stay and eat and talk for hours. We go somewhere for lunch at noon and don't end up leaving until 4pm! And then the families' put on these long faces and you feel so bad that you didn't stay longer. The Senegalese have that affect on you.
Being here for the second time brings different feelings. There is less pressure to fit into a certain mold and adjust to a culture and life that is not my own. I'm a tourist now and damn it feels good. I still try to speak their language and follow their traditions but it definitely doesn't have the same tortuous affect as it did before. I'm still in shock by the way people have to live sometimes and the trash that lines every single street like grass along our sidewalks in the US. And I'll never adjust to seeing the beggar boys in filthy clothes with sores on their heads and snot running down their noses. But I am still so privileged to have the opportunity to come back to this unique place. Thanks to Emily, I had every excuse to make the stopover this time.
Bien à tous,
Kiné Kristen Barba
As I am Ms. Brandl- Salutz's current travel buddy she suggested I give a few words on our travels. I am a here for a very short time because I have to head off to Malawi, a tiny country in central Africa that everyone should visit. Beautiful mountains, green hills and a huge lake. The people are also very friendly. However, unlike my current journey, I will be going for work.
The week in Senegal has been short and sweet and even though it is technically a vacation it has been tiring. We've visited so many people and everyone expects you to stay and eat and talk for hours. We go somewhere for lunch at noon and don't end up leaving until 4pm! And then the families' put on these long faces and you feel so bad that you didn't stay longer. The Senegalese have that affect on you.
Being here for the second time brings different feelings. There is less pressure to fit into a certain mold and adjust to a culture and life that is not my own. I'm a tourist now and damn it feels good. I still try to speak their language and follow their traditions but it definitely doesn't have the same tortuous affect as it did before. I'm still in shock by the way people have to live sometimes and the trash that lines every single street like grass along our sidewalks in the US. And I'll never adjust to seeing the beggar boys in filthy clothes with sores on their heads and snot running down their noses. But I am still so privileged to have the opportunity to come back to this unique place. Thanks to Emily, I had every excuse to make the stopover this time.
Bien à tous,
Kiné Kristen Barba
St. Louis continued....
Continuing.....
I kind of lost my flow with this entry but will finish it anyway.
We spent our last night in St. Louis having dinner with the sister of Kris's old host family and some other family members. They had decided that we should eat dinner at the sister-in-law's house, which were kind of annoyed with. A lot of visiting people is sitting and waiting and we didn't understand why we needed to go to the trouble of taking all the food over there, etc.
This was until be saw the house. Then we understood why they were going though the trouble. This house was AMAZING and only 3 months old. It had a spiral, tiled staircase that went up 3 levels, 2 of which had balconies. The top floor was one huge room with windows all around, 4 couches, nice curtains and a TV. The second floor was bedroom and the first floor had some bedrooms, the kitchen and the living room. It was baeutiful! I don't think I've ever been in a house that big. It was a very interesting contrast to the house that we had spent the morning in which was basically 3 cement block rooms off a sand courtyard. I don't even think they had running water or room for everyone to sleep.
We spent the night at the Safari Club hotel that I mentioned before. Hot water, real mattresses and feather pillows!
We took a sept-place (Peugot station wagon that seats 7 passengers) back to Dakar in the morning but payed for 3 places for the 2 of us. We had the very back seat, which is normally the worst, but we had some extra room and were able to use the baggage in the back as a pillow, kind of. The ride back was about 4 hours and I somehow managed to sleep through a lot of it. Probably because it was so hot. The air was so so dry and I had a hard time beleiving that people live on the roads that we drove by. Nothing but sand and exhaust it seemed! I was happy that were just passing through some of the towns.... I guess I forgot how much pollution there is along those roads!
Not too much exciting since then. Went out to a club in Medina last night (Le Voyageur...Casie, did you ever go there?) I went this morning to look at a room to rent in a house in Amitié III (quiet neighborhood not too far from where I live now), which interestingly enough is not a neighborhood that exists on any map but is instead pretty much in SICAP Karack. Whatever. We had a very intesting time trying to find the place because the direction that the girl gave me said "go around a round point" and there was no round point. It was a U turn. After wandering around in the wrong direction, we asked a few people and finally figured it out (this is what usually happens here anyway). The room was NICE and hopefully I will be able to move in after the owners get back from Mecca, supposedly tomorrow. I almost have one of my goals accomplished!
So I guess these entries have been a little disjointed because I didn't get to a cyber cafe for a while after I get here and then Kris came. I'm going to try to go back to beginning a little more soon. Also, I will take requests for things that you want me to write about. I don't want the blog to get boring so tell me before it does!
Well, we're off to eat downtown. Kris is currently working on a guest post about her visit.
Emily
I kind of lost my flow with this entry but will finish it anyway.
We spent our last night in St. Louis having dinner with the sister of Kris's old host family and some other family members. They had decided that we should eat dinner at the sister-in-law's house, which were kind of annoyed with. A lot of visiting people is sitting and waiting and we didn't understand why we needed to go to the trouble of taking all the food over there, etc.
This was until be saw the house. Then we understood why they were going though the trouble. This house was AMAZING and only 3 months old. It had a spiral, tiled staircase that went up 3 levels, 2 of which had balconies. The top floor was one huge room with windows all around, 4 couches, nice curtains and a TV. The second floor was bedroom and the first floor had some bedrooms, the kitchen and the living room. It was baeutiful! I don't think I've ever been in a house that big. It was a very interesting contrast to the house that we had spent the morning in which was basically 3 cement block rooms off a sand courtyard. I don't even think they had running water or room for everyone to sleep.
We spent the night at the Safari Club hotel that I mentioned before. Hot water, real mattresses and feather pillows!
We took a sept-place (Peugot station wagon that seats 7 passengers) back to Dakar in the morning but payed for 3 places for the 2 of us. We had the very back seat, which is normally the worst, but we had some extra room and were able to use the baggage in the back as a pillow, kind of. The ride back was about 4 hours and I somehow managed to sleep through a lot of it. Probably because it was so hot. The air was so so dry and I had a hard time beleiving that people live on the roads that we drove by. Nothing but sand and exhaust it seemed! I was happy that were just passing through some of the towns.... I guess I forgot how much pollution there is along those roads!
Not too much exciting since then. Went out to a club in Medina last night (Le Voyageur...Casie, did you ever go there?) I went this morning to look at a room to rent in a house in Amitié III (quiet neighborhood not too far from where I live now), which interestingly enough is not a neighborhood that exists on any map but is instead pretty much in SICAP Karack. Whatever. We had a very intesting time trying to find the place because the direction that the girl gave me said "go around a round point" and there was no round point. It was a U turn. After wandering around in the wrong direction, we asked a few people and finally figured it out (this is what usually happens here anyway). The room was NICE and hopefully I will be able to move in after the owners get back from Mecca, supposedly tomorrow. I almost have one of my goals accomplished!
So I guess these entries have been a little disjointed because I didn't get to a cyber cafe for a while after I get here and then Kris came. I'm going to try to go back to beginning a little more soon. Also, I will take requests for things that you want me to write about. I don't want the blog to get boring so tell me before it does!
Well, we're off to eat downtown. Kris is currently working on a guest post about her visit.
Emily
Thursday, January 19, 2006
In Saint Louis
Hello again! Sorry for the lack of updates! I was in the middle of writing an entry the other night when the electricity went out.I'm having a bit of bad luck with the cyber cafes but I suppose that is to be expected. Plus it always takes me longer to type because the keyboards at the different places are different (French set up, English set up, keys that don't correspond with what is written on them).
I am currently in Saint-Louis in the north of Senegal with my friend Kris who was also in Senegal for the 2002-2003 academic year. She spent half of her time up here doing an internship with the same organization that I worked with. We arrived yesterday and are leaving tomorrow morning. We have mostly spent time visiting her friends,"family", and the baby who was named after her. When you ask her what her name is she says "Kristen". So cute! The mother also just had another baby so we have had fun playing with the kids, who are very useful for learning Wolof since many of them don't learn French until they begin school. We took really cute pictures so hopefully I'll be able to post some eventually.
It's dirtier than I remember it being here. I didn't live away from Dakar for very long so I guess I'm not as used to it. It's especially bad in the winter because there is so much wind, and with all the sand, dust is everywhere and it's hard not to feel dirty. Most of the neightborhood roads are sand and walking from house to house leaves the feel very dirth and dry! It's also harder to be a tourist here for some reasons. Since it's not as big of a city, people seem to spend more of their time occupying themselves with tourists....little kids asking for money, older men trying to talk to us, Baay Falls (sp?) asking us for money for those of you who know what that is. We have already seen 2 baay fall/local fights which seems VERY strange. We were in a tourist shop today and the owner actually ran in to get a souvenir sword to threatn the guys with. Dakar seems to have gotten MUCH better in comparison. St. Louis is smaller though and so is a lot easier to deal with. Taxis are cheaper and there's no bargaining involved!
We took a taxi up here on Wednesday morning. Our driver was a friend of the director of my old internship. Amusingly, Malick, the driver, doesn't really speak French. Therefore wr had fun trying to talk to him in Wolof, which at this point, although it is improving, is still a little broken! We know enough to get by though and he was very nice.
We got here at about 3 pm and found a little hostel type place (Auberge de la Vallée) to stay at. It was.....okay. Kind of difficult to deal with though because there is no hot water, which although is to be expected, is hard to deal with in the winter. Even though I am from Minnesota, I am sad to say that it actually does get cold here at night. And not only is in the 50s outside, but because there are usually no real windows (with glass), it's also in the 50s inside. Even the best Minnesotans wouldn't want to take a cold shower in that weather!
After leaving our baggage there and figuring out the lock on our door actually DID lock, we left on a long series of inquiries as to where people are now living, what they doing and finding them. It was great to see how happy everyone was to see her. So yeah...a lot of visiting, invitations, etc. I was mostmy along for thr ride but had met some of the people before. Everyone kept buying us soda as a hospitality gesture and insisting that we keep drinking so by the end of the day we had drunk a little more sugar than we would have liked!
We went out that night to the Safari Club where one of Kris's friends works as a bartender. It's a new place definitely created for toursits. We got a tour and thought about staying there but decided it would be a little too expensive. However, after waking up today to cold water again, we decided to splurge and stay there tonight. Really, it's only about 30 dollars a night total.
Time is almost up....to be continued!
I am currently in Saint-Louis in the north of Senegal with my friend Kris who was also in Senegal for the 2002-2003 academic year. She spent half of her time up here doing an internship with the same organization that I worked with. We arrived yesterday and are leaving tomorrow morning. We have mostly spent time visiting her friends,"family", and the baby who was named after her. When you ask her what her name is she says "Kristen". So cute! The mother also just had another baby so we have had fun playing with the kids, who are very useful for learning Wolof since many of them don't learn French until they begin school. We took really cute pictures so hopefully I'll be able to post some eventually.
It's dirtier than I remember it being here. I didn't live away from Dakar for very long so I guess I'm not as used to it. It's especially bad in the winter because there is so much wind, and with all the sand, dust is everywhere and it's hard not to feel dirty. Most of the neightborhood roads are sand and walking from house to house leaves the feel very dirth and dry! It's also harder to be a tourist here for some reasons. Since it's not as big of a city, people seem to spend more of their time occupying themselves with tourists....little kids asking for money, older men trying to talk to us, Baay Falls (sp?) asking us for money for those of you who know what that is. We have already seen 2 baay fall/local fights which seems VERY strange. We were in a tourist shop today and the owner actually ran in to get a souvenir sword to threatn the guys with. Dakar seems to have gotten MUCH better in comparison. St. Louis is smaller though and so is a lot easier to deal with. Taxis are cheaper and there's no bargaining involved!
We took a taxi up here on Wednesday morning. Our driver was a friend of the director of my old internship. Amusingly, Malick, the driver, doesn't really speak French. Therefore wr had fun trying to talk to him in Wolof, which at this point, although it is improving, is still a little broken! We know enough to get by though and he was very nice.
We got here at about 3 pm and found a little hostel type place (Auberge de la Vallée) to stay at. It was.....okay. Kind of difficult to deal with though because there is no hot water, which although is to be expected, is hard to deal with in the winter. Even though I am from Minnesota, I am sad to say that it actually does get cold here at night. And not only is in the 50s outside, but because there are usually no real windows (with glass), it's also in the 50s inside. Even the best Minnesotans wouldn't want to take a cold shower in that weather!
After leaving our baggage there and figuring out the lock on our door actually DID lock, we left on a long series of inquiries as to where people are now living, what they doing and finding them. It was great to see how happy everyone was to see her. So yeah...a lot of visiting, invitations, etc. I was mostmy along for thr ride but had met some of the people before. Everyone kept buying us soda as a hospitality gesture and insisting that we keep drinking so by the end of the day we had drunk a little more sugar than we would have liked!
We went out that night to the Safari Club where one of Kris's friends works as a bartender. It's a new place definitely created for toursits. We got a tour and thought about staying there but decided it would be a little too expensive. However, after waking up today to cold water again, we decided to splurge and stay there tonight. Really, it's only about 30 dollars a night total.
Time is almost up....to be continued!
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Hello From Dakar
--I started writing this post on Friday but didn't have time to post it. I just finished it and am going to break all of this into smaller posts to make them easier to read!!--
Finally I made it to a cyber cafe so it's time for an update. I was going to write earlier today but got kicked out because the guys working there had to go to the mosque for Friday prayer. Anyway, I prefer this computer to the one that I had before because the keys with symbols on them did not correspond with what actually appeared when they were pushed. The keyboards are already strange (like why do I have to push shift for the period and not the exclamation point?)
It already seems that I've been here for a long time. Kind of strange. And even stranger perhaps is the fact that everything seems pretty normal. No culture shock so far. I was worried that I had romanticized everything and that I would come back and be super annoyed with everything. Now I guess I just know what to expect.
My flights went well and were on time for the most part. The only bad thing was the 10 hour lay over at the Madrid airport. I was thinking about taking the metro somewhere but then I think it was too cold for how I was dressed and I didn't really want to deal with going out through customs and then coming back into the airport. I spent my time looking for place to change my money, walking around, reading, sleeping and trying to sleep. The time actually went pretty fast considering that there wasn't much to do.
I arrived in Dakar at around 10:30 pm and was happy to smell the air that I remembered....fish and ocean and humid, but it good way.
I went though the passport checkpoint (or whatever you call it) and made it into the baggage claim to a scene that we all grew to know so well in Senegal - baggage EVERYWHERE, people everywhere, pure craziness. Amazingly, I got my bags very quickly and didn't have to deal with any of the annoyingness of lost baggage. I made it outside (where some guy immediately tried to tell me he could find me a taxi)and then back into the departure area where the hotel I had a reservation at was. I was happy to find that the hotel actually did exist. It was simple and too expensive for what it was, but it did allow me not to have to get a taxi and it only took me 1 minute to get there. Unfortunately, it was only about 6 pm Minnesota time at that point so it took le a while to get to sleep.....
Finally I made it to a cyber cafe so it's time for an update. I was going to write earlier today but got kicked out because the guys working there had to go to the mosque for Friday prayer. Anyway, I prefer this computer to the one that I had before because the keys with symbols on them did not correspond with what actually appeared when they were pushed. The keyboards are already strange (like why do I have to push shift for the period and not the exclamation point?)
It already seems that I've been here for a long time. Kind of strange. And even stranger perhaps is the fact that everything seems pretty normal. No culture shock so far. I was worried that I had romanticized everything and that I would come back and be super annoyed with everything. Now I guess I just know what to expect.
My flights went well and were on time for the most part. The only bad thing was the 10 hour lay over at the Madrid airport. I was thinking about taking the metro somewhere but then I think it was too cold for how I was dressed and I didn't really want to deal with going out through customs and then coming back into the airport. I spent my time looking for place to change my money, walking around, reading, sleeping and trying to sleep. The time actually went pretty fast considering that there wasn't much to do.
I arrived in Dakar at around 10:30 pm and was happy to smell the air that I remembered....fish and ocean and humid, but it good way.
I went though the passport checkpoint (or whatever you call it) and made it into the baggage claim to a scene that we all grew to know so well in Senegal - baggage EVERYWHERE, people everywhere, pure craziness. Amazingly, I got my bags very quickly and didn't have to deal with any of the annoyingness of lost baggage. I made it outside (where some guy immediately tried to tell me he could find me a taxi)and then back into the departure area where the hotel I had a reservation at was. I was happy to find that the hotel actually did exist. It was simple and too expensive for what it was, but it did allow me not to have to get a taxi and it only took me 1 minute to get there. Unfortunately, it was only about 6 pm Minnesota time at that point so it took le a while to get to sleep.....
Saturday, January 07, 2006
Time For Some Travels
It's time once again to travel!
My trip will begin in Senegal, where as many of you know, I studied abroad during my 3rd year of college. I'm hoping to be able to find an apartment to rent and somewhere to volunteer. I have leads on both of these things so I'm sure they'll work themselves out once I get there. I'm also hoping to be able to travel around the country more than I got to last time I was there. I'm very curious as to how this experience will differ from the last. I know it's going to be very different but I'm not exactly sure how yet. I will be staying in Senegal until March 25th, the last two weeks of which will be spent there with my friend Nicki.
From Senegal, we will be traveling together to Morocco for 2 weeks and to Spain for 3 weeks (where we will meet her boyfriend). After Spain we will be splitting up for 2 weeks and going to eastern Europe, though to different places. I will be meeting my mom in Budapest where will take a tour together through Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria.
From Vienna, I will be flying to Bangkok, either with Nicki and her boyfriend or meeting them there. We will spend 3 weeks in Thailand followed by 3 weeks in New Zealand. After this, Nicki will leave and I will continue on to visit my friend Ellen in Japan. I'm not sure how long I will be spending there as I have no return ticket at the moment.
No fear though, I will be returning to the US! I am currently in the process of applying to 2-year Master of Public Health programs for Fall 2006. I am applying to Maternal and Child Health programs at UC Berkeley, University of Washington, University of Minnesota and Boston University; the Global Health program at Emory; and the Family and Community Health program at Harvard. There's a good chance that I will end up back at Minnesota but I wanted to keep other options open. I'll keep you updated on that as the year progresses as well.
My trip will begin in Senegal, where as many of you know, I studied abroad during my 3rd year of college. I'm hoping to be able to find an apartment to rent and somewhere to volunteer. I have leads on both of these things so I'm sure they'll work themselves out once I get there. I'm also hoping to be able to travel around the country more than I got to last time I was there. I'm very curious as to how this experience will differ from the last. I know it's going to be very different but I'm not exactly sure how yet. I will be staying in Senegal until March 25th, the last two weeks of which will be spent there with my friend Nicki.
From Senegal, we will be traveling together to Morocco for 2 weeks and to Spain for 3 weeks (where we will meet her boyfriend). After Spain we will be splitting up for 2 weeks and going to eastern Europe, though to different places. I will be meeting my mom in Budapest where will take a tour together through Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria.
From Vienna, I will be flying to Bangkok, either with Nicki and her boyfriend or meeting them there. We will spend 3 weeks in Thailand followed by 3 weeks in New Zealand. After this, Nicki will leave and I will continue on to visit my friend Ellen in Japan. I'm not sure how long I will be spending there as I have no return ticket at the moment.
No fear though, I will be returning to the US! I am currently in the process of applying to 2-year Master of Public Health programs for Fall 2006. I am applying to Maternal and Child Health programs at UC Berkeley, University of Washington, University of Minnesota and Boston University; the Global Health program at Emory; and the Family and Community Health program at Harvard. There's a good chance that I will end up back at Minnesota but I wanted to keep other options open. I'll keep you updated on that as the year progresses as well.
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