La Grève! Strike!

Numu demee? What's up?

Here in Senegal we might not have snow days, but we have strike days! Yesterday and today I haven't had school because some students at my school went on strike!! Our program shares a campus with two other universities, and the students from one of these other groups apparently needed to have their opinion heard! I am not sure of specific reasons for this strike yet, but I will tell you when I know! Here in Senegal, occassionally public schools will have strikes, either done by teachers/admin or students. Sounds like France avec les grèves, non?

My brothers and sisters explained that usually grèves (strikes) are mostly for show and aren't usually violent. For example, I heard that the students had set tires on fire at the entrances to our school campus! Yes this is dangerous and is a fire that is uncontrolled, but it is apparently mostly done just to look intimidating. It doesn't sound as bad as another strike that occurred a couple weeks ago at Cheik Anta Diop (the big university in Dakar), where there was some violence and I heard people threw stones.

But don't worry, I am fine, our program has a calling tree so we are informed quickly about dangerous things, we will be smart about what we do. :)

Having strikes at school is kind of nice when you have a test scheduled for that day...

My friends and I celebrated the day off by going to the beach and drumming on djembés with some locals. There were a lot of pirogues (fishing boats) (see the above picture) and fishermen around, our friend Adama showed us some squid and octopus that he had caught, and other fishermen were carrying stingrays and fish around with their bare hands. (I don't know why there were such odd types of sea creatures on this beach so close to land, but apparently that is what is in season now!)

The squid and octopus were being stored in this black liquid with ice chunks in a cooler. We asked why the liquid was black and Adama said it was because of ¨le déchet,¨ which I believe translates to ¨litter.¨ Mmmm.

Pollution is a problem here I can tell. I have been hesitant to make any judgments about Senegal but this is one I feel is ok to make. Especially as I walk along the streets, trash is everywhere. Truly it is like nothing else I have ever seen before. Along some streets you will just see piles of trash-- cups, plastic bags, bottles, shoes, clothes, everything. There are some public trash cans around, but obviously there are either not enough trash cans or people aren't in the habit of using them. And then the buses, cars, and trucks emit horrible black gases. One day on my walk to school recently there was a huge cloud of smog that was super visible, and on days like that occassionally you will see people walking with a hand or a scarf over their mouth and nose.

So different from home where there is such an emphasis on sustainability, organic things, recycling, not littering. No one has ever even mentioned the word recycling in my presence since I have been here. In the US it is a privilege to even discuss sustaibility, let alone have it be such an important thing. Especially at St. Olaf-- sustainability is pretty much the campus religion.

Yendul ak jàmm! Have a good day! (literally: Spend the day with peace!)

Traveling in Senegal

So last weekend we went to Lac Rose, about 2 or 3 hours outside of Dakar. It is a pink lake that is so salty and makes you float so much that you can barely swim.

We succeeded in gettting taxis to take us to Ker Moussa Monastery for mass that sunday morning, and we paid them to stay during the mass and then take us to Lac Rose afterward. It was all fine, we got to the monastery and there was a little dispute over how long the taxi drivers would need to wait, but we worked it out and went to mass. The mass was great-- the monks sang gregorian chant and hymns in Wolof and French and there were drums and other percussion instruments! Very cool music! I bought a CD of it, too, so we can listen to it when I next see you. After mass, we got back in the taxis and very soon, our driver pulled to the side of the road and said that the taxi had "tombe en panne"-- that is to say that it had broken down. We soon found out that this was a lie, as our driver didn't want to take us all the way to Lac Rose and had arranged for someone else to take us the rest of the way to Lac Rose.

Soon this new guy shows up, and the taxi driver arranges for us to take the rest of our trip with him. We were all really weary of this-- we all thought it was just some random guy with a car that our taxi driver had arranged for, but perhaps it was an unmarked taxi? Hmm we were aware that this could be dangerous but figured that there was a big group of us during the middle of the day so it would be ok. Also, this is Senegal-- spontaneous adventures like this happen, right?

Soon we see police officers on the side of the road that flag us down. We were all definitely REALLY worried... the man driving us was either a random guy or an unmarked taxi driver, and we were paying him to drive us. We didn't know if this offense was serious or not here in Senegal, so I was definitely thinking this might become more of an adventure than I had planned!

Our driver gets out of the car and goes over to the officers. We couldn't see everything that went on, but I do know that here in Senegal any officer has the right to demand ID at any time, even if you are walking on the street. (We talked about this in orientation--very important to have a passport copy with you all the time.) During orientation they told us that there are definitely some corrupt officers that have been known to ask for ID and then say that it isn't valid, and expect a bribe!!!!!! WOW crazy! But of course our program director said that sometimes bribes don't work, that you would get in more trouble later for even having offered a bribe.

So I am not sure whether our driver paid a bribe or not, I don't think he did, but nevertheless he had to show his ID. Then he got back in the car and apparently there was not a problem. Whew! Relief! I was definitely a bit worried there as we were waiting in the car!

So we get to Lac Rose and the tourism is crazy beyond belief. It drives me up a wall, it is so incredibly annoying and difficult for me to deal with. Vendors are in your face and flock to you like nothing else. Some vendors even handed some goods to people in our group, which of course means that you have to pay for it or look at more of the stuff they are selling. Vendors are super nice to you when they think you will buy something, they will say, "English is so good, America good," etc. They will compliment you, everything.

I was really trying to ignore the vendors. I hate people in my face, I don't want vendors to hand me goods that I don't want. After ignoring one vendor for a while, she thoroughly changed her tone and wagged her finger in my face, saying "English no good. You-- no good. You-- Very bad," as she walked away from me. Crazy.

At the lake we took a pirogue (a boat) into the lake a ways and explored the area and learned about the people who mine salt from the lake and sell it. The lake was beautiful and indeed pink during the afternoon. Soon it was time for us to leave, we take a "Kat Kat" vehicle-- it is a safari/army looking vehicle. About 30 minutes into the drive we run out of gas, and pull over on the side of the road and wait for one of the two drivers to walk to go get gas. We are in a rural area in the middle of the afternoon, very hot, and some people stop to see why we are stopped, but soon a big truck of Lebanese dirt bikers pull up and offer to share some of the gas they have. haha it was great, they chatted with our group for a while, what teranga (hospitality)!! Before getting back to Dakar we definitely had to stop a few more times for the drivers to check the engine. I am definitely in Senegal! When traveling, the concept of time is definitely really relaxed compared to the US, and you need to have a mindset open to adventure and realize that anything could happen!

Unfortunately that night I realized that my camera was missing. I don't know if it was stolen by someone at Lac Rose (it is known for pickpockets) or if I thought I put it in by backpack but instead dropped it on the floor of the KatKat vehicle? Either way I have searched my stuff thoroughly and cannot find it. I am trying not to think about my pictures that I lost, certainly the memories I have are most important. I will try to hopefully get a new camera soon to take more pictures to share with you.

Good job if you are still reading this and followed my story this far. Kind of lengthy! :)

Yendul ak jamm! (Have a peaceful day/have a good day!)
Beth

Numa demee? What's up?

How is this for a pick-up line? :

The other day I was walking to school and since the Senegalese greet each other on the street sometimes, someone on the street said "Asalaamaalekum" (Hello, peace be with you) to me, and came up to me, and the next thing out of his mouth was, "Tu as les boutons sur le visage." Translation: "You have pimples on your face."

Merci, monsieur.

We then continued the conversation and soon of course he asked if I was married and asked for my phone number. I talked to my host brother last night, and he says that the Senegalese love to date and that most of the marriage questions on the street aren't really seriously wanting a "yes" on the spot, but they are mostly said in jest or to just express a little interest. We have talked about this concept in class a bit, and quite a few of these Senegalese men who ask if you are married are attracted to foreigners because they want to come to the US or Europe where they think they can get a job and a lot of money. Frequently (although not always) these may be men that are not very proud of Senegal and don't have much of a future here for themselves. And I think another aspect of these encounters is seeing someone different than oneself-- aren't we all, to an extent, attracted to the "exotic" or the unknown in other people? Understandable.

Here in Senegal we have also been talking about how people will freely tell you if you have pimples on your face, or make comments about your weight. I am not kidding-- in our program orientation handbook, it warned us that overweight students might face this.

I am not quite sure of the reasons for these comments, but I do know that the Senegalese put a lot of effort into looking good. It is very important for clothes and the body to be very clean. People wear boubous and traditional Senegalese clothing a lot around here, but you will also see typical western clothing. A lot of men wear nice collared shirts and women wear nice western clothing as well. I would definitely say that the Senegalese dress better than Americans.

To think that when I was preparing to leave for Senegal, my dermatologist said: "You won't care what you look like in Senegal." That statement is almost laughable now-- I feel underdressed in a ton of situations here, and since my face (obviously) isn't the clearest, I don't even feel like I am that clean according to Senegalese standards. I also remember someone else saying that I "almost look to cute to go to Senegal." Wow, totally untrue.

Granted, I am living in a huge city right now, but like I just mentioned, in my experience, a lot of these types of presumptions are false. Perhaps some stereotypes are true, but only for certain areas or for certain groups of people--not for the entire country of Senegal. So far I can see that there is a lot of variance with income and economic distribution. Like some families will have wireless internet in their house, multiple cars, etc., and then you will see people begging on the street.

Miss you~
Beth

Ndánk-Ndánk mooy jápp golo ci ñaay

Asalaamaalekum!

"Ndánk-Ndánk mooy jápp golo ci ñaay" is a proverb in Wolof that I learned today-- it literally translates to, "little by little one will catch the monkey in the forest." It is referring to the need to be patient and calm when attempting to succeed at something (in this case, to succeed at catching a monkey!).

This proverb definitely applies to me right now! I had a bad experience with public transportation on friday. This picture above is of a car rapide (a type of public transportation)-- a "fast car," although it really isn't that fast! It is challenging to get used to it, because the operators stand on the back of the car and yell out the destination where they are stopping next. It is very cheap transportation-- usually only 75 CFA, which is about 15 cents in the U.S. It is fun to take, but there is very little room inside, they cram as many people as possible in there. You aren't necessarily guaranteed a seat and are sitting very close to your neighbors or even standing.

But at any rate, my story from friday. So, friday I had been making a batik (a Senegalese version of tie-dye) from 9AM until 4PM. It is crazy that it took that long, I was expecting staying maybe until noon but no, we are on Senegal time in Senegal. My sister Mimi called me and wanted to go to the market to buy clothes, so I was rushing home in order to do that with her. I decided to take a car rapide to make the trip go faster, it was going to be my first time taking a car rapide by myself, and I was totally fine with it, no problem, right?

The car rapide makes several stops and at the stop close to my house I get up to go. But, I am located at the front of the bus and need to make it to the back. Because so many people are crammed in there, it took me a long time to get to the exit. By the time I am at the exit, the car has started to move again. I presumed that the operator didn't speak any French so I couldn't even say "arrete" ("stop"). I don't know "stop" in Wolof either. I have seen the bus operators jump on and off the car when it is still moving, so I figure that since we are still going pretty slow, I can just jump off, right?

Wrong.

So I make the stupid decision to jump, and where am I next? Completely flat on the pavement of the street. Humiliated beyond belief, I get up and look back at the car rapide, where people are saying, "ca va?" ("are you alright?"), the car had stopped, and everyone in the car and on the street was looking at me. As if I didn't stick out enough already in Senegal, now I REALLY was drawing attention to myself. Ahh it was so bad, I was so mad I didn't know how to say "stop" wolof, I just wanted to speak English and have people understand me, I didn't want to be a dumb white foreigner. I was SO embarrassed and just wanted to cry so much and just wanted to go home.

One really odd thing here in Senegal is that people do not cry. If a person or a baby cries, people laugh at you! Crying is seen as a sign of weakness. So crying was not an option for me in this situation. When I was later explaining the story to my family and trying to explain it in French I was so close to crying-- it's hard enough trying to think in French after such a physical and emotionally painful thing, but then not to be able to cry, too? Definitely my worst day so far here in Senegal.

Ndánk-Ndánk mooy jápp golo ci ñaay, right? Cultural adaptation will come with patience.

Hope all is well at home for everyone reading this.

Love,
Beth

Naka say lee? What's up?

I should explain the sharing concept that I briefly mentioned in the last entry. I said that there isn't much of a concept between "yours" and "mine," which is true, but it isn't absolutely ridiculous. For example, I will sometimes see the stuff on my desk in a slightly different order when I come home from school, or pens or pencils missing from my desk. Or the other day I saw my ponytail holder in Rose's hair (she is my 8 year old sister) and she hadn't previously asked to borrow it. Not a big deal, but it is a mindset that is different than home. and It also may be because I am living with an 8 year old and an 11 year old. Or during orientation we were told that it is very important to share food if you are eating it in front of others, it is impolite if you don't share. As for knocking before opening a closed door, my sisters will sometimes knock, sometimes not, before coming into my room, but it hasn't been a problem yet. Also, here, I have noticed that bodily privacy just isn't super important, as long as one is in the company of the same gender. When my sisters clean up after a shower or get dressed among other girls, there is not a huge amount of effort is exerted for privacy. So, you can see that this Senegalese concept of sharing/privacy isn't crazy, but it is a little different than home.



Another concept about body privacy that is really interesting: Ok, so you know how in some parts of Africa, women are seen topless? Of course that doesn't happen at all here on the streets of a huge city like Dakar, but I can see influences of of this mindset. For example, about a week ago, we were eating dinner as usual, all centered around the big bowl of food that we eat out of. Sallie, one of our maids, has a small baby (maybe just a few months old, actually). In the middle of dinner, Sallie begins to nurse her baby. By the way, she is sitting straight across from 19 and 21 year old guys. Cultural differences, folks! The boys didn't give her one extra look or anything, they couldn't have cared less and neither could anyone else in the family.



Anthropological diversion for those who are interested: The idea of a woman's chest/torso not being super private here in Senegal is a fascinating concept to explore. In my experience so far here, gender roles are more defined than in the US. In Senegal there is more emphasis on women's role as a mother, caretaker, and place in the home. Therefore, in Senegal, a woman's breasts are not sexualized hardly at all the way they are in the US but rather seen as part of a mother's natural, biological, motherly role. This is interesting to compare to the US, where a woman's breasts are super sexualized. In the US in general, I would say that a woman's role as a mother is often forgotten or downplayed. As our American attitudes have changed to reflect equality between men and women, I think we have tried to get away from the idea of defined gender roles. One question to ponder: By sexualizing a woman's breasts in the US, does that help free her from this mother gender role? Is sexuality/being sexy a concept that "equalizes" men and women? Or does it just make men and women sex objects? Hmmmmm... I think we need to find a new way to equalize men and women.

Naka sa do go da?

I don't have a ton of time right now but wanted to post some pictures!
Here is a picture of me, my 11 year old brother Dam, and my 16 year old sister, Mimi.


Here is us at the Citronelle hotel, where we stayed for a week during our orientation. We have made friends with the staff there! The two Senegalese in the picture are Babacar and Michel. We stopped by yesterday to chat for a couple hours!

Here is my room in my house! It is great to have my own room and bathroom, although I hestitate to fully call it "mine" as the concept of "mine" vs. "yours" is virtually nonexistent. Same with the concept of knocking on a closed door before entering.

Ba beneen yoon!

I love this whole Teranga thing

Here are some pictures of what I have been doing lately! :)



I had my friend stand in this picture so it didn't look like I was just taking a picture of the street, but that was indeed my intention with this photo! This is a typical street scene in the neighborhood near Suffolk University. If you look closely you can see the fruit stands and boutiques on the other side of the street, and a more American-looking building in the background. You can see how there are no paved sidewalks-- this one is made of sand but others are more rocky or stony.

Here are some pictures of Suffolk-- this is the "quad" where a lot of us hang out in between classes. I think I will get used to the palm trees very soon... :)

Here is the view from my seat in my classroom.

The blue on the horizon is what you think it is-- the Atlantic Ocean!

I am doing very well in my host family's house right now, I truly cannot think of a better family to have, I am so lucky! I have gotten close to Mimi, my sister, she took me to her high school last saturday and it was interesting to see a private high school here in Senegal. I will talk more later about comparing it with my American high school experience, there are so many similarities it is just crazy. But more about my family: Rose and Dam are so sweet, they teach me a lot of Wolof-- I think they like playing teacher for someone that is older than them! We have Wolof versions of "head shoulders knees and toes" and count numbers together, we like to race and see who can do it fastest! My brothers Habib and Issa are great too, they are your typical protective brothers which is awesome. One night at dinner the issue of Senegalese guys asking for my phone number came up (which is typical in Senegal, don't worry, every girl in our group has already had to deal with this), Habib piped up that I should definitely not give my number out to one of Mimi's friends that wanted it. He's a good brother with good advice!

Since polygamy is present here in Senegal to an extent, I think I am going to break the norm. I have decided that my excuse for not giving out my phone number is that I have multiple husbands at home in the US. :)

I have also gotten to know Sallie, one of the maids, pretty well, she is teaching me some of the Serer language, which is her ethnic group. My mother, Mama, is very sweet as well, she and everyone in the household are so incredibly thoughtful and embody "teranga" to the extreme. "Teranga" is the Wolof word for hospitality and care for others. It is a giving mindset that doesn't expect anything in return, and it is a prized personal quality here in Senegal that I have seen in a lot of my encounters with the Senegalese already. It is based on an assumption that parents will take strangers in and care for them as they would want their children to be taken in in a similar situation elsewhere. It is based on a trust that you take care of others when you can, and others will take care of you when you need it. I love teranga and want to embody that kind of hospitality myself!

The Sows (pronounced like "so" in English) are there for my every need and are very relaxed about having a foreign exchange student in their house.

Language, however, is still an issue. My entire family speaks Wolof so I can't contribute to the conversation at meals-- at least not yet! I know someone is speaking to me when they speak in French. Even when I speak French, it is still at times very frustrating. Especially up until a few days ago, I was feeling how incredibly hard it is to speak when I talk to someone and they have this confused, blank look on their face before I even finish the sentence. Thankfully this has gotten better, but wow I realize that language is so important. When you can't speak with someone it is SOOO frustrating, I feel like I can't fully be myself or connect with my family since I can't fully express myself. Not only is a new language hard, but there is also the Senegalese accent that I am not fully used to, whick makes it hard. My difficulties, though, motivate me to work hard, and I am determined to get better!

I need to go to anthropology class now, ba beneen yoon! (Until next time!) :)