Tomorrow I'm going on a village stay. I have no idea where or when or how I am going. Shall I say that this is how Senegal works...?
Last weekend we ventured off to St. Louis (pronounced like this: 'sahn loo-wee' but fast) and did some kinda touristy stuff. We went on this boat ride to see birds and we saw like the whole population of pelicans in Senegal. There were so many. I have photos but haven't had time to upload them. We stayed at this really nice hotel which was a change. I got to eat pizza! And it was so good. On our way back to Dakar, we stopped to visit two Khuranic schools and the girls in our group had to wear skirts all the way down to our ankles, cover our shoulders, and our hair. We looked kind of funny but I sort of liked it a little bit. I mean, it was really hard to walk and I got a little frustrated with that.
Oh yea! I'm on day 50 today! So that means, 50 days until I'm in Portland! I'm super excited! Time seems to have flown fastly by. Seriously. Gonna go for now. Update later maybe? And maybe photos?
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
hmm. I love Senegal.
We’re doing another weekend trip- this time to Keur Bamboung and Toubacouta. So far, I’ve gone swimming in a delta, stayed the night in a hut where the occupants besides me and katia were lizards, walked through mangroves looking at oysters/ mollusks growing on them and then later kayaked in them, rode on pirogues through the delta on our way from destination to destination, eaten really good food, worked on my tan a bit, went hiking and bird watching, collected many sea shells, took a shower in a straw-made fixture outside with water from a reserve, took a shower in a normal bathroom with the choice of hot or cold water, listened to Mount eerie/ Julie Doiron in my hut under my big mosquito net while watching the lizards crawl on the inside of the roof, listened to electrelane on a luxurious bed in a hotel room with electricity (forgot to mention the huts had solar power electricity. i.e- a dimly lit light bulb in one corner of the ceiling), ate this tuna/carrot/dressing salad thing with bread that tasted like an actual tuna fish sandwich from the US, took a pirogue out to see this massive bunch of mangroves where birds come every night, saw this spectacle of African drummers an dancers where the women ate fire and put the fire on their arms and also smelled like B.O., (oh yeah!) ate PANCAKES at an organization we stopped at on the way called 10,000 girls, went out into rural Senegal to see how women dig up clay, then brought it back to see how they make pottery out of it, which the sell to make a living, felt sick on the bus ride home, got back and ate a nice dinner with my family. All was (is) well.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Toubab Dialo
A lot has happened since I last made an entry. I'll just say a few of the bigger things.
I've been here practically a month. I have about two and a half more months to go, and then ten days in Paris. I'm getting really used to how things work around here. It makes me feel so happy because I love and miss my life back at home so much but I"m glad to be here at the same time. I'm also almost as dark as the Senegalese, which is an added bonus. Gotta come back reppin' the Natives full on. The only thing is, I don't quite have the Native hairstyle going on, stereotypically speaking. I still need to achieve the long thick braided hair sometime in my life.
Anyway, I just got back from a weekend trip to Toubab Dialo. I totally didn't know what the trip was for before we left (I may have been the only one?) so it was a total surprise to me. We stayed at L'ecole du Sable (***i'm leaving out french accents, fyi***) which is a music and dance resort/camp. It was basically amazing. I could totally go back and live out the rest of my life there. We started our dance and jembe lessons on Friday and soon progressed into doing dance and music for about all of Saturday. I'm so sore. I learned to shake my booty though, and am quite good now. The dance/music studio at L'ecole du Sable is amazing. It's this big room outside. You walk in, there are some bleacher type seats leading down to the floor. The floor is padded and goes on for about 50ish feet? and then, AND THEN, there is no wall at the end, one sees the Toubab Dialo valley. It is so magnificent.
Sunday we left L'ecole du Sable for AccroBaobab, which is a Baobab tree climbing course. We all did these ropes courses, very high up, very frightening, but very cool. At the end, we divided into teams and climbed this huge Baobab tree. It had two areas where people could climb. I was the third person on our team to climb (we were called Team Victory). I was also the first person to make it all the way to the top on that side of the tree. You cannot believe how proud of myself I was, but also how sore I felt afterward. I could not move my fingers because they had been gripped so tightly around these little wooden pegs that were attached to the Baobab tree. Our team won which was cool. I miss the sense of competition from playing volleyball in high school and it was a nice, nostalgic feeling of victory.
Now, we're going on another trip to a village called Mboumba. We leave Thursday morning and will be gone for five days. We had to take a Pulaar language class in order to go. So yesterday, I started off the day with three hours of French class, then two hours of Wolof, and then three hours of Pulaar. My brain was so fried. It was really cool though, to be in the Pulaar class comprehending everything in four languages (English, French, Wolof, and Pulaar). HAH.
I'll update some more after I return.
ciao.
I've been here practically a month. I have about two and a half more months to go, and then ten days in Paris. I'm getting really used to how things work around here. It makes me feel so happy because I love and miss my life back at home so much but I"m glad to be here at the same time. I'm also almost as dark as the Senegalese, which is an added bonus. Gotta come back reppin' the Natives full on. The only thing is, I don't quite have the Native hairstyle going on, stereotypically speaking. I still need to achieve the long thick braided hair sometime in my life.
Anyway, I just got back from a weekend trip to Toubab Dialo. I totally didn't know what the trip was for before we left (I may have been the only one?) so it was a total surprise to me. We stayed at L'ecole du Sable (***i'm leaving out french accents, fyi***) which is a music and dance resort/camp. It was basically amazing. I could totally go back and live out the rest of my life there. We started our dance and jembe lessons on Friday and soon progressed into doing dance and music for about all of Saturday. I'm so sore. I learned to shake my booty though, and am quite good now. The dance/music studio at L'ecole du Sable is amazing. It's this big room outside. You walk in, there are some bleacher type seats leading down to the floor. The floor is padded and goes on for about 50ish feet? and then, AND THEN, there is no wall at the end, one sees the Toubab Dialo valley. It is so magnificent.
Sunday we left L'ecole du Sable for AccroBaobab, which is a Baobab tree climbing course. We all did these ropes courses, very high up, very frightening, but very cool. At the end, we divided into teams and climbed this huge Baobab tree. It had two areas where people could climb. I was the third person on our team to climb (we were called Team Victory). I was also the first person to make it all the way to the top on that side of the tree. You cannot believe how proud of myself I was, but also how sore I felt afterward. I could not move my fingers because they had been gripped so tightly around these little wooden pegs that were attached to the Baobab tree. Our team won which was cool. I miss the sense of competition from playing volleyball in high school and it was a nice, nostalgic feeling of victory.
Now, we're going on another trip to a village called Mboumba. We leave Thursday morning and will be gone for five days. We had to take a Pulaar language class in order to go. So yesterday, I started off the day with three hours of French class, then two hours of Wolof, and then three hours of Pulaar. My brain was so fried. It was really cool though, to be in the Pulaar class comprehending everything in four languages (English, French, Wolof, and Pulaar). HAH.
I'll update some more after I return.
ciao.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
a short one
Asalaa Maalekum?
Classes have finally started being continuous and not random. So far I've had History of Islam, Wolof, French and this introduction to a Senegalese Society Seminar type class. we're going to read this book which we have yet to get and volunteer at an organization we choose. I still need to find an organization...
Last night I had that yogurt soup again... I can't tell if it's actually healthy for me... It's called fundé and when I asked about the name, I also inquired about this other word that I now in Wolof. The word is jaay fundé which means big booty... my family said that yes, it was like that word... so the funde food may or may not be healthy for me, but it's gonna make my booty bigger? we shall see.
Classes have finally started being continuous and not random. So far I've had History of Islam, Wolof, French and this introduction to a Senegalese Society Seminar type class. we're going to read this book which we have yet to get and volunteer at an organization we choose. I still need to find an organization...
Last night I had that yogurt soup again... I can't tell if it's actually healthy for me... It's called fundé and when I asked about the name, I also inquired about this other word that I now in Wolof. The word is jaay fundé which means big booty... my family said that yes, it was like that word... so the funde food may or may not be healthy for me, but it's gonna make my booty bigger? we shall see.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
HLM/sick
Felt rather sick when I woke up. Ate breakfast anyway- had choccopan and tea. I was already late for meeting friends to go to HLM- this big fabric market. Got there as quickly as I could- we were able to get the taxi for 800 F. A good price, and set off for the market.
I was ready for this market. I knew no one was going to mess with me and felt super confident walking around. People had to be careful in these markets- there’s pickpocketers and such. We set out. HLM (said like: ashalemme) is particularly big. We were able to find a market vender that we liked right away though. We practically walked in every nook and cranny of the market. I ended up getting 6 yards of really beautiful fabric. I paid 4000F, which is about $8. I’ve never bought fabric before but when I asked when I got home, they said it was a good price. A rule of thumb here is that if you would be okay with the price in the US, then whatever it is, it’s a good price. I feel like that fabric that I bought would be so expensive in the states and I was okay with the price here.
I got home, rather tired and still feeling kinda crappy. Ate lunch but couldn’t really so I ended up lying down. I listened to music on my ipod and I’ve been noticing that listening to music alone in my room is really keeping me sane. It was sort of a rough adjustment, coming here. But I’m slowly getting used to it. Katia left her ukulele here last night and I played some today. Playing music and singing was also such a nice feeling. I’ve decided I’m going to buy a guitar. My host cousin is interested in learning, so I’m going to go halfsies on the guitar and show him some stuff and when I leave, it’s going to stay here. I’m alright with the deal. I need something to keep me distracted and what better than a guitar, which I can improve my skills on and write songs. I still feel a little icky and may or may not go to this concert/party that the rest of the students are going to tonight. It’s at a school somewhere.
I was ready for this market. I knew no one was going to mess with me and felt super confident walking around. People had to be careful in these markets- there’s pickpocketers and such. We set out. HLM (said like: ashalemme) is particularly big. We were able to find a market vender that we liked right away though. We practically walked in every nook and cranny of the market. I ended up getting 6 yards of really beautiful fabric. I paid 4000F, which is about $8. I’ve never bought fabric before but when I asked when I got home, they said it was a good price. A rule of thumb here is that if you would be okay with the price in the US, then whatever it is, it’s a good price. I feel like that fabric that I bought would be so expensive in the states and I was okay with the price here.
I got home, rather tired and still feeling kinda crappy. Ate lunch but couldn’t really so I ended up lying down. I listened to music on my ipod and I’ve been noticing that listening to music alone in my room is really keeping me sane. It was sort of a rough adjustment, coming here. But I’m slowly getting used to it. Katia left her ukulele here last night and I played some today. Playing music and singing was also such a nice feeling. I’ve decided I’m going to buy a guitar. My host cousin is interested in learning, so I’m going to go halfsies on the guitar and show him some stuff and when I leave, it’s going to stay here. I’m alright with the deal. I need something to keep me distracted and what better than a guitar, which I can improve my skills on and write songs. I still feel a little icky and may or may not go to this concert/party that the rest of the students are going to tonight. It’s at a school somewhere.
Monday, January 25, 2010
4:00 pm 23JAN10
I'm sitting on the beach of Ile de Goree with everyone else. Pretty neat. Ile de Goree is historically a slave trade island off the coast of Senegal. Our group toured some museums and walked around a bit.. At one point, we were walking in a building that used to hold slaves, les esclaves. It was so not real, but real, to walk in a room where people used to be held prisoner. It was quite sad. The island is so beautiful but the events that took place here are so tragic.
Other Things:
I "marchandayed" some and got a cool necklace.
We're leaving in half an hour on a ferry to go back to Dakar.
I finally have some real homework!
But as for me, I'm doing alright. This place is like Distraction Land so I don't miss Portland too much. There are times when I wish I was playing the drums or guitar or walking around Portland with Nsayi. But that will come soon enough.
Oh one more thing!
I also got some cool percussion instrument that I'll learn soon enough. We're having a music and dance class in about a week so my music craving will be satisfied.. yesssss. Gonna learn some African drumming- Senegal style. Until next. xo.
Other Things:
I "marchandayed" some and got a cool necklace.
We're leaving in half an hour on a ferry to go back to Dakar.
I finally have some real homework!
But as for me, I'm doing alright. This place is like Distraction Land so I don't miss Portland too much. There are times when I wish I was playing the drums or guitar or walking around Portland with Nsayi. But that will come soon enough.
Oh one more thing!
I also got some cool percussion instrument that I'll learn soon enough. We're having a music and dance class in about a week so my music craving will be satisfied.. yesssss. Gonna learn some African drumming- Senegal style. Until next. xo.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
