first observations in Dakar

bonjour de Senegal, chers amis!  I have not had time to write a logical and thoughtful entry, so instead, I present to you sections of emails I have written that describe my first few experiences here:

Bon soir, tout le monde!  Right now, I’m sitting in my new bed in Dakar, Senegal.  I landed at about nine pm last night, was picked up at the airport along with the rest of the kids from my trip by an envoy from our study abroad program.  We were herded onto a bus and taken to a huge apartment full of twin beds.  We had apparently arrived in the middle of a blackout, so we ate a very cozy meal of lentils and some kind of meat by candlelight and flashlight, took cold showers, and chatted in our respective beds for a while before nodding off. 

We have had orientation all day today, including a long walk to find our host homes and to try to get oriented (which was mildly successful).  There was a long presentation about the organization that is hosting us and one about what to expect about our family lives here as well as a Wolof class.  At the end of the day, they dropped us off in each of our respective host homes. 

It seems a little early to be moving us in with our families, but I guess its best since it severely reduced the amount of time I had to spend worry about moving in with mine.  My family seems great so far, although I can’t figure out how many people live here yet, or how everyone is related.  I can only remember the names of three people, but I’m sure I’ll catch on.  The power is also out this evening, so I was greeted at the front door by my host father carrying a large battery-operated lantern that he kindly left with me in my room.  I unpacked my things and then promptly started missing everyone, so I lay on the bed and closed by eyes for what I thought would only be a short while till dinner.  However, it was several hours before dinner and I fell asleep for a while before that.  Dinner itself was quite tasty, although hard to see because of the blackout, so I’m not really sure what it was or what most of my new host relatives look like.

Now, I’m just waiting to be sleepy enough to turn out the lights and sleep for the night.  In the last few years, I have found that the first nights alone in a new place before a long stay are challenging for me.  When I first arrived in Jordan, it was several days before I could sleep for more than a few hours.  I slept well enough last night, so I’m hoping for another success tonight and especially for a quick adjustment to this new place so that I can start enjoying myself.  This week, we have more orientation activities culminating in a visit to Ile to Goree.  It looks like the program will be keeping us busy with lot of classes and outings, which is fantastic.

--

Senegal is such a different experience from Jordan, so I’m constantly finding myself experiencing the shock of both leaving the States and leaving Jordan.  There are some things that I’ve noticed are quite similar in Senegal in Jordan (Muslim culture and expressions are ubiquitous, but have been slightly adapted for each society) and there are so many things that I find myself doing out of habit from being in Jordan, like keeping my feet on the ground when I’m sitting (it’s very rude to point the bottoms of your feet at someone in Arab culture) and trying to say things in Arabic, which isn’t working so well. 

The power has been off almost the entire time I’ve been in my house these last two days (they moved us in with our new families Monday night, which was unexpected), so I’m having trouble remembering the names and faces of my family members, but my house is about a five minute walk from Baobab, or about an eight minute walk at African pace, which is very relaxed.  I have my own room, with a window and a key it, which is great.  It’s a relief to know I have my own, secure space even if I don’t spend much time in there.  After today, I think I will start doing my homework in the salon (living room) so that I can hang out with the family at the same time.  I just took my first bucket shower, which was surprisingly pleasant.  The water wasn’t as cold as I thought it would be, and it takes so little water.    My family is Muslim, so I’m excited to compare my two experiences living with Muslim families in two completely different places. 

We started learning Wolof yesterday.  I already know how to say some very important things like thank you (jerejef) I’m full (suur naa) how are you? (naa nga def?)  I’m doing well (maa ngi fii rekk—this literally means “I am only here” which is very poetic).  I’m enjoying starting a new language from scratch.  This one is so different!  The word order doesn’t make any sense to me yet, so I’m just trying to memorize phrases and things that I can use to melt peoples’ hearts.  I’m going to see what my work load is like here when classes start next week, and then I’m going to see if I want to try to arrange Arabic lessons.  I think it would be great to study the Qur’an if I can find a teacher who is both very patient and also willing to teach me without trying to convert me to Islam.  I have decided to tell people here that I am Jewish, since it is expected that everyone here has a religion even if they are not practicing. 

--

Today was my first day that I can really call great.  I woke up late at nine and ate breakfast (fluffy baguette with chocopain, which is like nutella but nuttier) and then walked to the Baobab Center to meet up with Melissa.  We chatted with Samba, this guy who works at ACI, and he took us on a petit tour to a bank so Mel could change money and to Casino, which is a super market, but it’s small.  It only has about six aisles and a little meat and cheese counter in back.  I bought little packets of tissues to use as toilet paper, laundry soap for washing my underwear, postcards, notebooks for school, and a pineapple to share with my family.  Samba had dropped us off at Casino, so we walked back together and stopped at Mel’s house.  She has two beds in her room and a brand new television and DVD player, which is kind of weird and also she’ll never use it so it’s kind of wasted, but oh well.  Then we went to my house and I introduced her to my host maman and the bonne (the maid) named Maimouna who works and lives here is always telling me to eat more in Wolof and French.  I dropped off all my stuff and gave the pineapple to Maimounanß and then we went out to do our homework which was to buy something at a little shop in the neighborhood and make note of our experience.  I bought a little piece of wood that people here use as toothbrushes, I guess.  Melissa bought dried fruit from the Baobab tree, which is really interesting.  It tastes a little like dried peaches, but… different.  After that adventure, I went home for lunch with my family.  A man was visiting, although I’m not really sure who he was, with his three sons, who were named Pappi, Imba (I think) and Sidy.  They were overwhelmingly adorable.  I shared my pineapple with the family after lunch, which was fun.  Pappi told me he couldn’t have any because he has indigestion, poor kid.  He’s very serious.  8 going on 80. 

After lunch, I went back to the Baobab Center because we had a field trip this afternoon downtown.  We were there yesterday exploring the markets and it was totally overwhelming.  Today, we walked to the art museum, the American Embassy, the Parliament Building, the president’s palace, etc etc etc, and we ended up at the French Cultural Center, where I am going tomorrow for a big concert.  I’m very excited!  Anyway, we took taxis, and I’m really used to how they are constantly almost hitting other people because of being in Jordan, but it was really funny to watch other people getting really nervous about it.  I’m sure they’ll get used to it. 

After the downtown adventure, we came back to home base, and then some of us went out for ice cream and then walked home just as it was getting really dark.  I greeted my family members that were around, and talked to my host cousin, who lives next door to my room.  His name is Pap Samba and he’s from Mali, but he’s going to high school here in Senegal.  Also, the sister of one of the cousins who lives here is visiting, so I was introduced to her, although she’s very quiet and serious.  Anyway, after I got home, I took a cold shower, which felt fantastic after my long day of traipsing around Dakar. 

Okay, so that was my day except for dinner.  We all eat around a big plate of food in the living room.  For lunch, we ate on the floor, but for dinner, we ate in chairs and on couches, with the food on the coffee table.  The food so far has been really, really good.  I am so lucky.

My host family has been taking really good care of me.  There are so many people living here that I can’t quite figure out who is who or who is related to whom how, but they are all nice.  My special allies in the family so far are Pap Samba, my host father, who is always smiling and laughing, my host mother who is clearly the reigning household authority, and Maimouna.