damay dem saint louis suba ci suba!

... I'm going to Saint-Louis tomorrow morning!

... to study at the university! No more Dakar. I'm really going to miss it here, a lot... my host family, my friends (housemates and other Baobab people), and the city in general. It is so energetic, so fascinating. But I'm also excited to go to StLouis- another unknown, something to explore. It'll be great to experience college life in Senegal too.

Warning: another long post. Skip to the bottom if you just want short anecdotes.

Today's blog is centered around: A day in the life. To give you an idea of what it's like day to day here, here is exactly what I have done so far today:

I woke up early this morning- really early. At 4:30am. It was the rat. I suppose most of you haven't heard about the rat yet, so I'll explain a little. I have a rat. In my room. It seems to live under my bed, but likes to play LOUDLY in my armoire in the wee hours. Now, I consider this to be pretty gross in any circumstance- I can take the flies, and the roaches, and the mosquitoes, the sheep poo outside, the shower gunk, the dust. Rats, however, are a new low. And what makes it ten times worse is that my room here is big enough to fit exactly 2 single beds and one armoire. My bed is only 1 foot off the ground, and is 0 feet from the armoire. So when I say there's a rat in my room, I mean we are sharing very close quarters. Worse still is that my bed is a small mattress on a wooden box- so when my friend leaves the armoire (which it does when I turn on my flashlight after it inevitably wakes me up with its munching), it goes under my bed and scratches the wood- so now rather than hearing it, I can actually feel it. But, "on se débrouille"- we do what we can to get by. A phrase commonly used in African studies to describe the economic situation in Sub-Saharan Africa. For me, it means blasting Postal Service or U2 in my headphones in the hopes that I'll sleep through it. That has failed the past 3 nights. Hence, this morning, I woke up at 4:30 and basically got no sleep thereafter.

I got out of bed at 8:00, when there was enough light outside to bother walking around. I went to go outside through the back gate, which was still locked (we lock the gate at night, and my room has its own lock), but I found that the 3 sheep had somehow left their pen and were walking around the backyard. Rather than unlocking the gate and letting them in the house, I went through the house to exit by the front door. I went outside to the little stall where a nice man named Samba gives me bread every morning (the "boulangerie"), came back and ate it with my tea (incredibly delicious Senegalese tea that I have every morning). I usually put Arab butter or French peanutbutterchocolate on it (neither of which need to be refrigerated), but I've been sick so I just ate it plain. To backtrack, yes I finally got sick- the doctor said it "looked like either a virus or a bacteria." Wow thanks for your help. I'm taking medicine now though, and am totally functioning, although feeling fatigued and uncomfortable now and then. So, I ate breakfast, then my amazing housemate Becky came down and we walked to the Mobil On The Run (yes, Mobil On The Run) to catch a kaar rapit (car rapide, or fast bus: they're the mini busses that are really cheap and covered in colorful paintings and Muslim slogans, you might have seen pictures somewhere) to go to a dance class together. Kaar rapits are insane, by the way... in ours, the front window was totally shattered, there were pictures of Murid marabouts all over (leaders of Senegal's biggest Muslim fraternity), the bus shook like crazy, and I had about half a seat to sit on.

The dance class was phenomenal. The best 2 hours of my time here so far. It was a wicked work out, complete with running and muscle work, and the dance was insane. So energetic, and actually really hard because it's not easy to follow the drum counts- it's very different from traditional 1234 1234 in the states. But it was amazing. Everyone just got totally absorbed in the rhythm, and I lost myself for an hour. Then they showed us how to use the drums- I have pretty bad rhythm, so that was sort of a mess at first. But I really can't wait to sign up for dance at UGB (Universite Gaston-Berger, where I'm studying this semester).

I came home with Becky on the kaarrapit, walked through a little park I'd never seen before (it's funny, there's no grass here...), and came home to shower. Cold showers remain as cold as ever. It's not so bad once you're in though.

Then we had lunch with the family, which is usually fine but today didn't work out so well for me. They had a nut sauce that they used on the side, but the problem is we eat out of a communal bowl- each person gets a slice of the bowl, and although you eat your rice from your own slice, everyone shares the fish and veggies in the middle. So, the nut sauce wasn't really staying put, and I said sorry I have a stomach ache I'm gonna go to the bank instead of finishing. I didn't want to offend the family by pointing out the nut error more than I had- they thought they were doing well by keeping the nut sauce out of my slice. Plus one meal left so why make a fuss.

I did leave and go to the bank, took out 100 000 CFA (200 dollars), and went to AfricaPark- a little amusement park across from the bank. There were a couple bday parties going on there, it was cute. The park looks like one of those small town traveling fairs. I bought myself a crepe- mmmmm. Delish.

Then I came here! To the internet cafe. Voila my day so far. Tonight, I may go to an outdoor music fest slash dance fete with some tuubaabs (white people, as they call us). I'm looking forward to UGB where I hope there will be more options as far as going out at night goes, rather than hanging out with big groups of Americans.


Alright; there is way too much to say for one blog entry, so I'll quickly summarise some other events and reations:

- IT RAINED DUST: Last Saturday I woke up and my arms were covered in a thin later of dust (sand dust, that is). As were my sheets. As was everything else I have here- to the extent that when I picked up a book from my suitcase, I could clearly see the outline of where it had been. I got out of bed and discovered that even my shorts and legs, which had been under my sheet, were uniformly brown from dust. A total mystery to me.

-ILE DE GOREE: Ile de Goree is a famous historic monument in Senegal- it's an old slave trading island, which has a museum and some well-preserved old buildings and barracks. It was chilling, but not as moving as I had hoped. The fact is, nobody knows how important the island actually was, because the slave numbers were never documented. So the history was underwhelming. However, because so many tourists come, the island is VERY well maintained, and is breathtakingly gorgeous.

-DIVING FOR PENNIES: aka, begging at Goree. There were several young boys who waited at the dock, begging toursists to throw coins at them, which they'd swim as far as 15 feet down to retrieve. It was awful- I found it very dehumanizing. It was like these boys were animals at a petting zoo, fighting over the animal pellets that little kids throw into the pens.

-SOCCER!!!: on Sunday, Saliou, a Senegalese friend of mine who tutors Papi (my host brother), took Becky and me to a soccer game. It was AWESOME. There were 2 matches that afternoon, and we stayed for both. The first game was awful, just not very good soccer- despite the fact that the two teams were former Senegalese champions. The next game, however, was great- the two teams were the ones who recently represented Senegal in the African Cup. I had such a great time, and had some nice convos with Saliou. Sadly, the power went out literally in the last 30 seconds of the 2nd game, leaving us all in complete darkness. The team I liked better lost, unless they managed to score without lights in the last 30 seconds. I doubt it.

-I RUN IN THE MORNINGS!!!: sometimes. I know, who am I?

-ORCHESTRE BAOBAB: last weekend I also went to see my wolof prof play with his world-famous jazz band. They were great, and I got to dance a little. Our prof, Rudy, was really excited to see us, and had the photographer take pics. Keep an eye out for US concerts!

-TYPHOID?: one of my friends here was in the hospital for a few days. The doctor said it was typhoid. Every rational person in Senegal says it was food poisoning.

-RETURN FROM MECCA: On Tuesday night, I went to a neighborhood fete honoring a woman who just returned from Mecca. The fete itself was pretty cool, although I had already been to one. What was more interesting about this particular fete was the conversation I had with Saliou. Now, Saliou is probably the most intelligent person I've met here, and he is also incredibly devout and strict in his Muridism. So I opened up a real can of worms when I started discussing religion. I asked if Murids were cremated or buried- buried, of course!- and then started talking about how actually I think cremation can be a really beautiful thing. I'll spare the details, but I think I put up a really good argument. After a lengthy description, Saliou turned to me and said, "ah, ca c'est beau... regarde, tu m'as étudié." ... ah, that is beautiful... see, you taught me something. That was the single most rewarding thing that has happened to me here- to be able to really connect with someone and share our beliefs, actually teaching each other about one another's culture. Not only learning about another culture, which I am constantly doing, but also helping people to understand my culture. That's what it's all about- a 2 way street.

After that, the conversation got uglier. Apparently through all this Saliou didn't realize that I'm agnostic. Saliou is an excellent example of Senegalese tolerance: they are incredibly tolerant of Jews and Christians, and astonishingly intolerant of agnostics and atheists. I tried to defend my beliefs, but for him it is his duty to support God and help me see the light. In the end, I just suggested we go home- it was too uncomfortable for me. However, I think he respects me for standing up for myself, and putting together a good argument. It was nice- I'm learning a lot about myself too, talking so much about these things.

-EMBASSY MEETING: I went to a town hall meeting at the U.S. Ambassador's house on Thursday. It was interesting, but off the record- no blogging allowed. I will say though that her house is seems to be the only place in Dakar with real grass.

-A MAN FELL THROUGH THE ROOF!: Really. A man fell through the roof. He was working on building a 3rd floor on the upper roof, when he tried to hop onto the lower roof... instead, he crashed through the lower roof, crashed through the 1st floor ceiling, and landed on the couch in the living room. Yes, he landed on the couch. And is totally fine. However, there is now a hole in the ceiling that is covered by a thin board, and otherwise opens up to the sky. How ridiculous.


It's pretty hard to write down reactions, because things are becoming less extraordinary every day. I'm not noticing differences as much anymore- it's just life here. Life, but approached from a completely different perspective.

Okay I've written way too much. Bottom line is, I'm having a wonderful time, and I miss you all so much. Feel free to email me- I should have more access at UGB.

All my love,
Morgan (or Awa, as you prefer)