On sadder subject, my
puppy died...that is, my nine year old puppy Wagner)= I just wanted to thank my papa semi-publically for taking such good care of him for the last few years. Thank you so, so much =)
I love you and miss you all
Tiffany
Friday, March 20, 2009
Begguma...
To top off my week of awkardness, Lindsay and I came home last night from the cyber café at around eight o’clock and did the routine speech of ‘saalam malakum’ ‘malakum saalam. naga def?’ ‘maangi fi. cava?’ ‘cava?’ to our host mother and her guest. Normally, my host family and their visitors LOVE me because I’m Catholic (my host family is very Catholic). Not today. Maman’s friend asked Maman something in Wolof, and then Maman asked me if I was fasting and I was like ‘No! Why on earth would I do that?’ Apparently, Catholics here fast during Lent (minus ten points for Tiffany). After a quick exchange between the two in Wolof (meaning I was helpless to defend myself), the visitor kept staring at my skirt and saying ‘don’t want’ in Wolof and ‘Catholic’ a few times...minus another ten points for me. The two keep exchanging Wolof words and then the visitor looks away from me in COMPLETE disgust. QUOI?!? I asked my Maman what was wrong and she quickly said “It’s not important...how was your day”, and then changed the subject. Her and Lindsay chatted for a few minutes while I salked in self-pity for a few minutes before we escaped the salon and hurried ourselves to our room. All in all, that was an epic fail.
On sadder subject, my
puppy died...that is, my nine year old puppy Wagner)= I just wanted to thank my papa semi-publically for taking such good care of him for the last few years. Thank you so, so much =)
I love you and miss you all
Tiffany
On sadder subject, my
puppy died...that is, my nine year old puppy Wagner)= I just wanted to thank my papa semi-publically for taking such good care of him for the last few years. Thank you so, so much =)I love you and miss you all
Tiffany
Thursday, March 19, 2009
I'm no longer a Dakar-Virgin
Last weekend, I went to St. Louis...no, not St. Louis in the States (as my mom thought), but St. Louis Senegal. St. Louis is about a 5-6 hour bus trip from Dakar, but the ride to get there is SO beautiful. Since I’ve been here, I have been living in Dakar and only in Dakar, so I have not experienced the scenery of Senegal that many people think of as ‘traditional Africa’. I have been living in Dakar where the most interesting thing that I see on a day to day basis are the peanut sellers on the side of the street. But on the way photo of spooky chips with prof. Sene to St. Louis, ALL you could see was desert dotted by tiny shrubs and baobab trees. Along the way, we saw ‘real’ villages consisting of actual huts (sorry to disappoint you all, but I’m living in a house, not a hut). The entire scenery was GORGEOUS. 
Anyway, about half way to St. Louis, we realized that we HAD to pee. In Senegal, there are no continently placed rest stations on our one highway...however, there are plenty of bushes =) Picture this: a large tour bus is pulled over on a dirt road that is surrounded by desert as far as the eye can see. There are maybe a few Senegalese wondering about in said desert. Outside the bus, there’s a handful of people smoking. In the bus, a handful of Americans singing 90s pop songs. From the bus, out comes about seven or eight femme-bobs (white women), armed with a roll or two of pink toilet paper marching toward the nearest row of shrubs. Fortunately, most of us have had plenty of preparation for peeing in this kind of situation thanks to our squat toilets at home (although I still managed to pee on my foot...comme d’hab).
Back on the bus. For the rest of the trip, the MSU group sang 90s pop songs: NSYNC, Backstreet, Spice Girls, Britney, a bit of Aaron Carter...then switched to some 60s as we pulled into our ‘hotels’. We stayed at the residences of the University of St. Louis. They were quite deceiving. They look very nice on the outside and everyone’s first thought was “OH MY GOD, I’M GETTING A HOT SHOWER”. Wrong. Oh so wrong. There’s no water in either house except for the spigot on the outside....but more about that adventure later.
After lunch of Cheb-o-jen (I totally slaughtered that name, FYI), which is white rice and fish, our directors took us on THE most awkward tour that I have ever been on. Honestly, this tour was on a level of awkwardness all by itself. We went into the city of St. Louis and went directly from our large tour bus to horse carriages (picture the ones in Fmuth) to begin our tour. Yes. All thirty of us. It truly was a Toubob-parade.
Anyway, about half way to St. Louis, we realized that we HAD to pee. In Senegal, there are no continently placed rest stations on our one highway...however, there are plenty of bushes =) Picture this: a large tour bus is pulled over on a dirt road that is surrounded by desert as far as the eye can see. There are maybe a few Senegalese wondering about in said desert. Outside the bus, there’s a handful of people smoking. In the bus, a handful of Americans singing 90s pop songs. From the bus, out comes about seven or eight femme-bobs (white women), armed with a roll or two of pink toilet paper marching toward the nearest row of shrubs. Fortunately, most of us have had plenty of preparation for peeing in this kind of situation thanks to our squat toilets at home (although I still managed to pee on my foot...comme d’hab).
Back on the bus. For the rest of the trip, the MSU group sang 90s pop songs: NSYNC, Backstreet, Spice Girls, Britney, a bit of Aaron Carter...then switched to some 60s as we pulled into our ‘hotels’. We stayed at the residences of the University of St. Louis. They were quite deceiving. They look very nice on the outside and everyone’s first thought was “OH MY GOD, I’M GETTING A HOT SHOWER”. Wrong. Oh so wrong. There’s no water in either house except for the spigot on the outside....but more about that adventure later.
After lunch of Cheb-o-jen (I totally slaughtered that name, FYI), which is white rice and fish, our directors took us on THE most awkward tour that I have ever been on. Honestly, this tour was on a level of awkwardness all by itself. We went into the city of St. Louis and went directly from our large tour bus to horse carriages (picture the ones in Fmuth) to begin our tour. Yes. All thirty of us. It truly was a Toubob-parade.
Photo of the Toubob parade
The beginning of the tour wasn’t too awkward (borderline semi-comfortable even). We toured the downtown area of St. Louis. The architecture was colonial French. It was SO beautiful (I will eventually learn a new adjective to use and I’ll stop repeating the same one...eventually, but not now). THEN someone thought it would be a good idea to take us to the poorest part of the town. Okay, it’s NOT that I’m against going into this part of the city by any means-I did not feel in danger and I think it is important to see that the majority people in Senegal do NOT live the way our host-families live here. HOWEVER, imagine a parade of 4 horses all loaded with 6 Americans, all of whom have a purse and a camera, with nothing to do but LOOK at people. It just felt so wrong. It felt like someone took us there to “look at the poor Senegalese people”. A new level of awkwardness that I never experienced.
We also stopped in the local fish market. It was interesting and as much as it smelled of rotting fish, I tried to enjoy it because I figured that it was the last time in my entire life that I would be in that particular fish market, so I might as well enjoy it.
By the way, that’s the new attitude I’m trying to adopt here: I’ll never do this again in my life, so even if I don’t like it, I’m going to be positive about it.
On our get-away horses away from the fish market, some kids were attacking Katie and Alice with fish (they were on the edges while I was snuggly between them, so I was not attacked by fish).
After our tour, we were transported directly to our tour bus and were taken back to our houses. We were allowed to repose for about an hour. Then we were fed a nice big plate of LAMB and yaasa. I hate eating lamb because it’s A BABY SHEEP, but it’s SO good )= Yaasa, however, is another story. I absolutely LOVE yaasa. Yaasa is an onion sauce that the Senegalese put over rice and some kind of meat (chicken, fish or beef). After that, we were taken to a ‘cultural evening.’
This ‘cultural evening’ was actually really fun (I had my doubts, but I came to like it). Our group sat in a courtyard with about twenty other Senegalese while having others entertain us. They had dancers, sing
ers, actors and a FIRE EATER. The actors were from a theater group and they preformed a comedy skit that was HEAVILY dependent on the audience knowing Senegalese culture, of which nobody in our group knows. The skit was about some guy stealing another guys song, and then they sang their songs-which were in Wolof- to the audience. The Senegalese crowed LOVED it, but we weren’t that impressed, probably because we had to listen to Awa and Josephine quickly translate from Wolof to French for us, and the joke MUST have gotten lost in translation.
The coolest part was the fire eater though! He had two batons that were lit and he rubbed them on his skin and you could actually see is skin melting away from the fire. He rubbed it on his legs, his arms, his chest, ect. Then he ate the fire. It was pretty cool.
To be continued when I have proper internet...
We also stopped in the local fish market. It was interesting and as much as it smelled of rotting fish, I tried to enjoy it because I figured that it was the last time in my entire life that I would be in that particular fish market, so I might as well enjoy it.
By the way, that’s the new attitude I’m trying to adopt here: I’ll never do this again in my life, so even if I don’t like it, I’m going to be positive about it.
On our get-away horses away from the fish market, some kids were attacking Katie and Alice with fish (they were on the edges while I was snuggly between them, so I was not attacked by fish).
After our tour, we were transported directly to our tour bus and were taken back to our houses. We were allowed to repose for about an hour. Then we were fed a nice big plate of LAMB and yaasa. I hate eating lamb because it’s A BABY SHEEP, but it’s SO good )= Yaasa, however, is another story. I absolutely LOVE yaasa. Yaasa is an onion sauce that the Senegalese put over rice and some kind of meat (chicken, fish or beef). After that, we were taken to a ‘cultural evening.’
This ‘cultural evening’ was actually really fun (I had my doubts, but I came to like it). Our group sat in a courtyard with about twenty other Senegalese while having others entertain us. They had dancers, sing
ers, actors and a FIRE EATER. The actors were from a theater group and they preformed a comedy skit that was HEAVILY dependent on the audience knowing Senegalese culture, of which nobody in our group knows. The skit was about some guy stealing another guys song, and then they sang their songs-which were in Wolof- to the audience. The Senegalese crowed LOVED it, but we weren’t that impressed, probably because we had to listen to Awa and Josephine quickly translate from Wolof to French for us, and the joke MUST have gotten lost in translation.
The coolest part was the fire eater though! He had two batons that were lit and he rubbed them on his skin and you could actually see is skin melting away from the fire. He rubbed it on his legs, his arms, his chest, ect. Then he ate the fire. It was pretty cool.
To be continued when I have proper internet...
Friday, March 6, 2009
Between some rocks and...the Senegalese Military??
I finally decided that I should start a blog (mainly because I got jealous of everyone here with their cute little blogs and such). I was going to give some nice descriptions of where I live, where I study, where I volunteer, ect., but then I had a semi-exciting day, so I'll write about that instead-sorry madre, you're not going to be too pleased with this blog =/
SOOOOO... after I was done teaching, I tried to take a car rapide back to WARC (West African Research Centre, where I study). I rode along the main road until we got to 'Shit Canal', and then the car rapide turned, which it isn't supposed to do. The man that hangs off the back of the bus kept shouting "Post Fann Leggi"--which I thought meant either 'Post Fann works', or 'Post Fann now' (Nope, I don't speak Wolof, and when I asked someone what I said, she repeated it to me in Wolof) Either way, I got off of the car rapide and decided to walk the darn half mile to the Post (no, I didn't realize that ALL the traffic was being diverted AWAY from the road that I was walking on...). Instead, I thought 'oh, great, there's NO traffic here what-so-ever! This would be the PERFECT time to cross the road. So I did. On the side of the road, there are stands that sell fruit, electronics, shoes. As I was walking I kept thinking 'WOW, I could totes steal this stuff because nobody is watching it...why the heck would you leave all this stuff on the side of the road. I kept walking (still no traffic). Then, I hear the cursed HISSING from across the street (it's the way to get someone's attention). I look and there were two women hissing at me and waving their arms to get me to cross the street...I thought 'why would I want to cross the street? There's SO many people on that side of the road and I have this entire side of the sidewalk all to myself.' And then I looked up and saw that rocks being pelted at me. THEN, I realized WHY my car rapide turned early, why the traffic was being diverted and why nobody was on my side of the sidewalk. To say the least, I darted on the other side of the road, then watched. There were about 10-15 people hurling softball-sized ROCKS at a Senegalese soldier (and at me, before I stopped being a dumb ass and realized I should cross the street) who had a HUGE gun. A crowed of about 50 or so people (mainly men, and me) watching the pelting-of-rocks. The soldier kept threatening to shoot, but didn't for a while. Then, the rock-pelters must have found some stronger guys to do their pelting, because the rocks started to go across the road and REALLY close to the crowed. The solder pretended to walk away, then he turned around, ran at the fence (the fence was between the soldier and the rock-pelters) and started shooting at them. The crowed and the pelters laughed because it was apparently very evident that he was shooting blanks. It was actually kind of embarrassing for the soldier; he was being laughed AND had rocks being thrown at him =/ I felt bad for him. I watched for a good ten minutes, but then the soldier got sick of people laughing at him, and started to go after the crowed with his 'gun', so I left-which I thought was a good call on my part. I never did find out why that happened, though.
Hmmmm...I think I tell that story a lot better than I can write it. Sorry!
However, I seemed to attract trouble yesterday. After lunch (yassa!!), Alex, Leah, Allie and I went to N'Gor Island to hang out on the beach. We took a taxi there but on our way there was a fight on the side of the road between another taxi driver and our taxi driver's client (at least that's what I gathered from the situation). Our driver mumbled something, pulled our taxi over, left the four female toubab's (toubab=foreigner) chilling in his car while he broke up the fight. He did come back for us though =) Our conclusion was that the two men were fighting over ice cream =/
I heart you all and miss you!!
Tiffany
SOOOOO... after I was done teaching, I tried to take a car rapide back to WARC (West African Research Centre, where I study). I rode along the main road until we got to 'Shit Canal', and then the car rapide turned, which it isn't supposed to do. The man that hangs off the back of the bus kept shouting "Post Fann Leggi"--which I thought meant either 'Post Fann works', or 'Post Fann now' (Nope, I don't speak Wolof, and when I asked someone what I said, she repeated it to me in Wolof) Either way, I got off of the car rapide and decided to walk the darn half mile to the Post (no, I didn't realize that ALL the traffic was being diverted AWAY from the road that I was walking on...). Instead, I thought 'oh, great, there's NO traffic here what-so-ever! This would be the PERFECT time to cross the road. So I did. On the side of the road, there are stands that sell fruit, electronics, shoes. As I was walking I kept thinking 'WOW, I could totes steal this stuff because nobody is watching it...why the heck would you leave all this stuff on the side of the road. I kept walking (still no traffic). Then, I hear the cursed HISSING from across the street (it's the way to get someone's attention). I look and there were two women hissing at me and waving their arms to get me to cross the street...I thought 'why would I want to cross the street? There's SO many people on that side of the road and I have this entire side of the sidewalk all to myself.' And then I looked up and saw that rocks being pelted at me. THEN, I realized WHY my car rapide turned early, why the traffic was being diverted and why nobody was on my side of the sidewalk. To say the least, I darted on the other side of the road, then watched. There were about 10-15 people hurling softball-sized ROCKS at a Senegalese soldier (and at me, before I stopped being a dumb ass and realized I should cross the street) who had a HUGE gun. A crowed of about 50 or so people (mainly men, and me) watching the pelting-of-rocks. The soldier kept threatening to shoot, but didn't for a while. Then, the rock-pelters must have found some stronger guys to do their pelting, because the rocks started to go across the road and REALLY close to the crowed. The solder pretended to walk away, then he turned around, ran at the fence (the fence was between the soldier and the rock-pelters) and started shooting at them. The crowed and the pelters laughed because it was apparently very evident that he was shooting blanks. It was actually kind of embarrassing for the soldier; he was being laughed AND had rocks being thrown at him =/ I felt bad for him. I watched for a good ten minutes, but then the soldier got sick of people laughing at him, and started to go after the crowed with his 'gun', so I left-which I thought was a good call on my part. I never did find out why that happened, though.
Hmmmm...I think I tell that story a lot better than I can write it. Sorry!
However, I seemed to attract trouble yesterday. After lunch (yassa!!), Alex, Leah, Allie and I went to N'Gor Island to hang out on the beach. We took a taxi there but on our way there was a fight on the side of the road between another taxi driver and our taxi driver's client (at least that's what I gathered from the situation). Our driver mumbled something, pulled our taxi over, left the four female toubab's (toubab=foreigner) chilling in his car while he broke up the fight. He did come back for us though =) Our conclusion was that the two men were fighting over ice cream =/
I heart you all and miss you!!
Tiffany
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