Well, I am still rather exhausted from this weekend and we didn’t get back til late last night, so I apologize for the late update.
Last week was pretty insane. I will try to convey the madness as best I can. It was fairly tame at first but the extended weekend more than made up for that.
Monday we had 3 hours of French, 2 hours of Wolof and 3 hours of Pulaar (another minority native African language.) That was a mental marathon to kick off our week. 8 hours of languages, none of which I am fluent in! Monday was also the 1 month anniversary of our arrival in Senegal.
Tuesday we started our volunteer work. Rebekah, Leia, Alexis and I all decided to volunteer together at a sort of Kindergarten. The organization is called SOS Child Village, it is an organization present all over the world. They take in and house children who don’t have anywhere else to go. But the other side of it is they provide school for other children as well. So, we helped out with children aged 4-5 which were a mix of “Village children” and outsiders. Outside children pay for school and help keep the organization going. It was Mardi Gras, however, so we ended up just helping the teachers make masks for 2 hours. There were no classes because the children had a big performance that night for the holiday. We had our seminar discussion class and then 2 hours of History of Islam.
Wednesday was another 2 hours of Senegalese literature class discussing different chapters from Cycle of Secheresse. 2 hours of History of Islam and then we all had to pack up for the weekend.
Thursday we loaded up the van with 10 toubabs, our Wolof and Pulaar professor (same woman) our Music/Dance professor (Gaby Ba), plus about 12 other musicians. It was a long day, we left at about 8 (only an hour late, so that’s good for Senegalese time). We stopped a lot along the way to pick people up, see Saint Louis, drop stuff off and visit some historical sights. We got into Mboumba around 10 pm. Mboumba is a small village in northern Senegal, towards the center of the country. We drive north up the coast and then went inward. We were basically right across the river from Mauritania. After a wonderful dinner of meat and rice, we all crashed. It was hard to get a good night’s sleep all weekend. There were tons of mosquitoes inside or outside and no real good way to hang up mosquito nets. Inside it was too hot all night but outside was nice until about 4 am when it got super cold. The stars were amazing, though.
Friday we started to prepare for the festival. We found out it was called “Festival Sahel Ouvert” (Open Sahel Festival) and it was all about celebrating the culture, musique, dance, theater, and traditions of that part of Senegal which is made up mostly of the Peul and Toukulor minorities (both of which speak Pulaar.) Confused yet? We had 2 hours of djembe practice with Gaby. We went over the songs we had been working on in class and finally got the songs written down. It has been hard for us toubabs to learn songs orally in the traditional way. We explored the town a little bit and met the kids that we would be teaching for the performance. We couldn’t teach all the village children for the festival, there are about 400 in school, so Gaby had to choose randomly about 40 to perform with us. The village was pretty small and impoverished so when we rode around in our huge bus full of toubabs, we got more attention than usual. It’s safe to say that we were a spectacle all weekend. The kids picked up the songs pretty well but they were all a little bit excitable and we got mobbed everywhere we went. Once a kid jumped onto the ladder on the back of the bus and tried to ride along with us. Sayer, our driver, was not happy about that at all. After another late, but tasty, dinner, we set up a toubab tent town on the roof. We used steel rebar to drape our mosquito nets around the thin foam mats we had to sleep on and that gave us protection from the bugs. Most of us had warm enough clothing so it was easier to get some rest. We were roughing it in a lot of ways (pit toilets and bucket showers) which made going back to Dakar feel like life is pretty luxurious here.
Saturday things started to heat up. We were awoken by the sun every morning at about 7. And it went from cold to burning hot pretty quickly after that. We had another 2 hour session with the children, and they were a little better behaved this time. They were still pretty high maintenance mostly because all the kids that weren’t chosen tried to either sneak in or watch at the windows. After a big lunch, we had theater practice. Helping out with the theater production was kind of a surprise (as most things are here) but we tried to roll with it. We ended up borrowing big, flowing Senegalese traditional dresses (more like long robes with skirts underneath) called boubous. And we had a few lines in Pulaar that we delivered before the actual play began. We were quite the sight of toubabs. I think the villagers were pretty shocked that we could speak even a few words in Pulaar so our contribution was appreciated even though we felt kind of foolish at the time. We stayed to watch the play and didn’t understand a word of it.
Sunday was the high point for me. We had a final dress rehearsal to practice with the kids. They were getting the songs memorized and it was a pretty impressive effort given they only had 2 days to prepare. After lunch the whole schedule got jumbled up (as is likely to happen here.) We were supposed to play at 4 but it was too hot and we didn’t end up going to the festival grounds until about 6. It took at least an hour to set up children, toubabs, djembes and the sound system. Gaby played guitar with us and sang, plus Isa played the kora (a wonderful traditional African string instrument.) We all matched in cute, colorful vests with a simple blue skirt wrap. Sean got to wear Senegalese clothing too. As the only man, he is often our oddball. We ended up singing a song in French, 1 in Wolof, 1 in Youruba and a couple in Pulaar, plus some that we weren’t sure about the language. The 10 of us played djembe on a couple of the songs. This was my high point, it was very enjoyable to just sit outside and play music for this village of several hundred. It was not a huge festival, but it was certainly a good sized production. Afterwards, we introduced ourselves and I started with an intro in Pulaar “Minen komin Ameriknaabe” (We are Americans.) “Minen komin jangoobe” (we are students.) And then each person gave their name “Min ko Adama mbiete mi” (My name is Adama). I have been using my Senegalese name a lot since it is easier. We tried to rest during the evening because we had to go back and perform with Gaby that night. We had a starch-filled dinner of French fries, pasta, bread and meat. And then around 11 we headed back to the festival. Gaby went on at about 1 and he played 3 songs, we accompanied him on the last one. It was a pretty simple vocal back-up but he changed the song on us at the last minute! We were supposed to do one with him that we knew well and had the lyrics to, but he decided to do a different one that we had only heard once before. Oh well, it is something to look back on and laugh at now. At about 3 am the final act went on. It was Baba Maale, a pretty well known Senegalese singer. We headed home after that and crashed for a few hours.
Monday we tried to recuperate on the bus. It was difficult with a 12 hour bus ride in front of us, and we were all starting to get sick. There was so much dust in the air all the time because it is their dry season and it was much hotter inland than it is in Dakar. Plus, there was extreme temperature fluctuation at night. Couple that with sharing water, lacking a good night’s sleep and over-exerting our voices for 3 days straight…well it was bound to happen. We all pretty much have this low-grade gunky cold right now and I can feel my tonsils swollen with dust and exhaustion. But life goes on.
It was an epic weekend and easily a once in a lifetime experience! This was the first year that they did this festival and I hope that they keep it up.
Have a great week everyone, and take care.
Peace.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
One month in
Well, today marks the end of my first month in Senegal. As people generally say in situations like this, I can't believe that it has been a month!! I had an wonderful week and an amazing weekend.
Here's my week in brief.
Monday we had two hours of French, a short break and then 2 hours of Wolof. It is becoming a little less overwhelming trying to absorb both languages at once. My French is pretty solid and Wolof is spoken around me all the time without me understanding anything so I am quite motivated to learn. Monday afternoon was 3 hours of dance, drumming and African singing with Gaby. He is pretty awesome and we drum in a big group of 10 on the roof of his apartment building in Ouakam.
Tuesday morning we had off so I went to a big fabric market called HLM with Rebekah and Leia. We bought some cute fabric so that all 9 of us could have matching skirts for our music presentation this weekend in a village north of here. We are going with Gaby and as I understand it the purpose is to teach children our routine and perform together. Tuesday afternoon we had an hour long discussion class and then 2 hours of History of Islam.
Wednesday we had our first Senegalese Literature class and we are reading "Cycle de Secheresse" (Cycle of Drought) by C. C. Sow. It is a very interesting collection of stories. After lunch we had History of Islam again. We are just passing into the 16th century, so we covered about 600 years in the last week and a half.
Thursday was another jam-packed adventure in academics. Wolof for two hours, and then a new class called Continuity and Change in Senegal for 2 hours. It looks like we will learn a lot about the culture and have some trips inland for this class. Finally 2 hours of History of Islam.
Friday was 3 hours of French. Our schedule has started to become more predictable and we even received our comprehensive program list which goes through the end of April. However, our weekends are generally going to be pretty hectic.
Case in point this weekend. Friday we left Dakar at 12:30 and it took us almost 3 hours to go 60 kilometers south to Toubab Diallo. The reason for this is because Dakar has 1 big road in and out of the peninsula and it is a perpetual bottleneck. Toubab Diallo is a cute little town that is not too touristy and it right on the beach. We stayed at the famous Ecole de Sable (School of Sand) which is a dance academy/retreat. We had 1 hour of dance Friday and then 1 hour of Djembe (traditional African drum).
Saturday was full of movement. It was exhausting but fun. After breakfast we watched the professional dance troupe warm up and it was an impressive sight. We had an hour of Djembe with Ndeye Seck who is a fierce little woman who plays the djembe like it is nobody's business. After that we danced Sabar with Cire for an hour (a Senegalese-style dance). After lunch was a marathon! 2 hours with Bertrand working on a dance from the Cote d'Ivoire. Then two more hours of Sabar with Cire. I am still quite sore. Saturday night we checked out the tiny downtown and saw a very cute but touristy hotel right on the beach.
Sunday was another non-stop adventure, this time at Accro-Baobab. There is a huge Baobab tree reserve with a ropes course up in the tops of the trees. We ziplined between trees and walked across wobbly little bridges and swung between big steps and had a blast! We were well-teathered and harnessed to thick cords the entire time. We even got to swing between two baobabs in a little boat. Then after a short break we climbed a baobab, rock-climbing style. It was hard because it went up about 15-20 meters and most of us didn't make it all the way to the top. The hand and foot holds were all small square blocks of wood. It was a workout. We headed back to Dakar and had good enough timing that it only took us two hours to get back.
Whew, I am exhausted just reminiscing about it! Anyway, I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day! This week will be classes and then we are leaving Thursday for the village to return Monday night. Another marathon, but who needs to sleep anyway?
Peace!
Here's my week in brief.
Monday we had two hours of French, a short break and then 2 hours of Wolof. It is becoming a little less overwhelming trying to absorb both languages at once. My French is pretty solid and Wolof is spoken around me all the time without me understanding anything so I am quite motivated to learn. Monday afternoon was 3 hours of dance, drumming and African singing with Gaby. He is pretty awesome and we drum in a big group of 10 on the roof of his apartment building in Ouakam.
Tuesday morning we had off so I went to a big fabric market called HLM with Rebekah and Leia. We bought some cute fabric so that all 9 of us could have matching skirts for our music presentation this weekend in a village north of here. We are going with Gaby and as I understand it the purpose is to teach children our routine and perform together. Tuesday afternoon we had an hour long discussion class and then 2 hours of History of Islam.
Wednesday we had our first Senegalese Literature class and we are reading "Cycle de Secheresse" (Cycle of Drought) by C. C. Sow. It is a very interesting collection of stories. After lunch we had History of Islam again. We are just passing into the 16th century, so we covered about 600 years in the last week and a half.
Thursday was another jam-packed adventure in academics. Wolof for two hours, and then a new class called Continuity and Change in Senegal for 2 hours. It looks like we will learn a lot about the culture and have some trips inland for this class. Finally 2 hours of History of Islam.
Friday was 3 hours of French. Our schedule has started to become more predictable and we even received our comprehensive program list which goes through the end of April. However, our weekends are generally going to be pretty hectic.
Case in point this weekend. Friday we left Dakar at 12:30 and it took us almost 3 hours to go 60 kilometers south to Toubab Diallo. The reason for this is because Dakar has 1 big road in and out of the peninsula and it is a perpetual bottleneck. Toubab Diallo is a cute little town that is not too touristy and it right on the beach. We stayed at the famous Ecole de Sable (School of Sand) which is a dance academy/retreat. We had 1 hour of dance Friday and then 1 hour of Djembe (traditional African drum).
Saturday was full of movement. It was exhausting but fun. After breakfast we watched the professional dance troupe warm up and it was an impressive sight. We had an hour of Djembe with Ndeye Seck who is a fierce little woman who plays the djembe like it is nobody's business. After that we danced Sabar with Cire for an hour (a Senegalese-style dance). After lunch was a marathon! 2 hours with Bertrand working on a dance from the Cote d'Ivoire. Then two more hours of Sabar with Cire. I am still quite sore. Saturday night we checked out the tiny downtown and saw a very cute but touristy hotel right on the beach.
Sunday was another non-stop adventure, this time at Accro-Baobab. There is a huge Baobab tree reserve with a ropes course up in the tops of the trees. We ziplined between trees and walked across wobbly little bridges and swung between big steps and had a blast! We were well-teathered and harnessed to thick cords the entire time. We even got to swing between two baobabs in a little boat. Then after a short break we climbed a baobab, rock-climbing style. It was hard because it went up about 15-20 meters and most of us didn't make it all the way to the top. The hand and foot holds were all small square blocks of wood. It was a workout. We headed back to Dakar and had good enough timing that it only took us two hours to get back.
Whew, I am exhausted just reminiscing about it! Anyway, I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day! This week will be classes and then we are leaving Thursday for the village to return Monday night. Another marathon, but who needs to sleep anyway?
Peace!
Monday, February 8, 2010
Settling in?
I thought that I had learned to come into every situation in Senegal with no expectations. But then of course, I had also expected our schedule to settle down at some point. So, clearly this lesson is a work in progress.
As always, I am happy, excited, busy, baffled and eager for what is coming next. This week was a whirlwind and the future looks like it will keep up the trend.
Classes were a little different because there is a large pilgrimmage every year to Touba which is about 4 hours east of Dakar. Some of our teachers (including our academic director) were therefore gone for several days.
Monday we had French. It was a good class but our teacher is pretty tough. She keeps us on our toes and is very sharp on grammar and correct language usage. Her name is Djenaba. Monday afternoon we had a delightful Music and Dance class. We started out by getting introduced to a lot of the traditional instruments of West Africa. Our teacher's name is Gabi and he is super passionate about music, dance and traditional songs. We got a short lesson on the djembe, which is a cool type of drum and then we started singing some traditional chants. It was awesome!
Tuesday we learned a lot of new vocab in Wolof class. I have been trying to make flash cards and practice with my housekeeper and Senegalese friends but the language is very different. For example, you conjugate the person and not the verb. So to say "I learn" it is "maa ngi jang" you learn is "yaa ngi jang" and he learns is "mu ngi jang". Jang is the verb to learn. Anyway, the class is super interesting and everyone here speaks Wolof in daily life because it is their first language. We also had History of Islam and we learned a lot about general Muslim beliefs and practices.
Wednesday we had our morning free because of the pilgrimmage to Touba. That gave us an opportunity to go to some different organizations and try to arrange for volunteer work while we are here. I went with a group to an orphanage/school near ACI. Wednesday afternoon was another history of Islam class where we got a more general sense of Islam in Senegal.
Thursday we had two hours of Wolof and 2 hours of History of Islam. We are learning a lot of interesting things but it gets a little exhausting trying to absorb French, Wolof and school. Every night I come home pretty exhausted.
Friday our French teacher was sick so we got some worksheets about grammar and went up onto the roof to do them in the sun. It was a very relaxing experience and we are looking more tan everyday. I also walked to the post office and then chilled at my house. Friday night I went back to the My shop and we had a toubab crew plus some Senegalese friends. We hung out and had a good time.
Saturday was a great get-together. I planned a sort of "social gathering." We got all ten students plus some of our Senegalese host-family members and other friends that we have picked up along the way and we all went to the Ile de Ngor, which is a cute little island just north of Dakar. They have these traditional canoe-like boats that are long and skinny called pirogues. And it costs 500 CFA (francs) to get across (which is about a dollar.) We spent a beautiful day at the beach and swam, although the toubabs were again the only ones in the water. We have to remember that even though it is 85 and sunny, it is still their winter.
Sunday we went to Ramadan's house. Ramadan works right by ACI Baobab and he sells us coffee pretty much every day. He always befriends the LC exchange student group and so he invited us to his house to learn how to make cheebujen (the Senegalese dish of rice and fish that is a pretty typical meal here.) It was a lot of fun, his sister Magate taught us the whole 2-3 hour process. I wrote everything down and someday I will be an expert in Senegalese cooking. I am trying to absorb all I can while I am here.
So, it is Monday again, our schedule is packed this week! And we have our first weekend outing with the program coming up this weekend. The weather is great, the people are still friendly and I am still baffled by what is around me on a daily basis.
Take care.
Peace.
As always, I am happy, excited, busy, baffled and eager for what is coming next. This week was a whirlwind and the future looks like it will keep up the trend.
Classes were a little different because there is a large pilgrimmage every year to Touba which is about 4 hours east of Dakar. Some of our teachers (including our academic director) were therefore gone for several days.
Monday we had French. It was a good class but our teacher is pretty tough. She keeps us on our toes and is very sharp on grammar and correct language usage. Her name is Djenaba. Monday afternoon we had a delightful Music and Dance class. We started out by getting introduced to a lot of the traditional instruments of West Africa. Our teacher's name is Gabi and he is super passionate about music, dance and traditional songs. We got a short lesson on the djembe, which is a cool type of drum and then we started singing some traditional chants. It was awesome!
Tuesday we learned a lot of new vocab in Wolof class. I have been trying to make flash cards and practice with my housekeeper and Senegalese friends but the language is very different. For example, you conjugate the person and not the verb. So to say "I learn" it is "maa ngi jang" you learn is "yaa ngi jang" and he learns is "mu ngi jang". Jang is the verb to learn. Anyway, the class is super interesting and everyone here speaks Wolof in daily life because it is their first language. We also had History of Islam and we learned a lot about general Muslim beliefs and practices.
Wednesday we had our morning free because of the pilgrimmage to Touba. That gave us an opportunity to go to some different organizations and try to arrange for volunteer work while we are here. I went with a group to an orphanage/school near ACI. Wednesday afternoon was another history of Islam class where we got a more general sense of Islam in Senegal.
Thursday we had two hours of Wolof and 2 hours of History of Islam. We are learning a lot of interesting things but it gets a little exhausting trying to absorb French, Wolof and school. Every night I come home pretty exhausted.
Friday our French teacher was sick so we got some worksheets about grammar and went up onto the roof to do them in the sun. It was a very relaxing experience and we are looking more tan everyday. I also walked to the post office and then chilled at my house. Friday night I went back to the My shop and we had a toubab crew plus some Senegalese friends. We hung out and had a good time.
Saturday was a great get-together. I planned a sort of "social gathering." We got all ten students plus some of our Senegalese host-family members and other friends that we have picked up along the way and we all went to the Ile de Ngor, which is a cute little island just north of Dakar. They have these traditional canoe-like boats that are long and skinny called pirogues. And it costs 500 CFA (francs) to get across (which is about a dollar.) We spent a beautiful day at the beach and swam, although the toubabs were again the only ones in the water. We have to remember that even though it is 85 and sunny, it is still their winter.
Sunday we went to Ramadan's house. Ramadan works right by ACI Baobab and he sells us coffee pretty much every day. He always befriends the LC exchange student group and so he invited us to his house to learn how to make cheebujen (the Senegalese dish of rice and fish that is a pretty typical meal here.) It was a lot of fun, his sister Magate taught us the whole 2-3 hour process. I wrote everything down and someday I will be an expert in Senegalese cooking. I am trying to absorb all I can while I am here.
So, it is Monday again, our schedule is packed this week! And we have our first weekend outing with the program coming up this weekend. The weather is great, the people are still friendly and I am still baffled by what is around me on a daily basis.
Take care.
Peace.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
The adventure continues
This is a cute baby that was on the car rapide.And this is a little girl that I made friends with at someone's house.
This was a very friendly cat at the Ile de Goree. He showed up right as I got my fish and chips. He helped me with the fish bones, skin and eyes.
Next we have the infamous car rapide. These are miniature bus-type contraptions that are a primary mode of transportation in Dakar.
Place de Souvenir. Still partly under construction, but the huge Africa statue is pretty cool.
Fish face! They cook most meat whole, so fish come intact with bones and teeth. It has been an adjustment to western modes of food preparation, but always delicious!
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