Four Months in Senegal
The sunshine in Senegal is better than the sunshine in Ohio or Oregon, I believe. I’m glad to be an American here and now.
I woke up later than usual today – around 9:30. It’s my Sunday.
It’s difficult to sleep late because of the loud street noises and children yelling. My host mother went to the the Casamance Region in southern Senegal for her older brother’s funeral – he died peacefully in his sleep two nights ago. I have been trying to figure out how to accomplish for myself all that she was doing for me. For example: Where does water come from? The faucets and toilets in the bathrooms only work occasionally (I haven’t figured out any pattern or reason). Where do I get the water that I must heat on the propane stove for my morning bathing? Where does the water come from to flush the toilet? The only people in the house right now only speak Wolof, so I had to gesture and watch to learn that you must go outside to the one working faucet to fill a bucket. Voila!
Although I am craving my morning coffee, my small one-cup water boiler seems to have broken on me. I’m not sure how to ask for hot water in Wolof; I guess I will do without. I went across the street to receive my morning baguette that my family has pre-paid for, came back to my room and ate it with some Vache qui Rit cheese and some water. This is my breakfast until we eat our traditional Cee Bu Jen at 3:00 for lunch – Rice and Fish. It is truly delicious!
This past week was an introduction to the next 3.5 months that I have before me. I have class Monday through Thursday, a three day weekend during which I plan to take many trips. Tomorrow I’m going to the Goree Island/ Le Maison des Ecleves/ The Slave Warehouse. It’s close to here, but requires a ferry ride. Most people believe that this was the island and building where 1000’s of Africans were stored and then transported to the Americas and Europe for slavery. It will be intense.
Next weekend I plan on visiting Le Lac Rose – The Pink Lake. A lake about 2 hours from here where the natural salt and mineral deposits have turned the water bright pink. The locals harvest the crusty bottom of the lake – which is all salt – to sell for it’s beauty and therapeutic properties.
The diet of bread starch and rice starch with very little protein veggie leaves me feeling a little fatigued. I’m trying to eat more cheese and yogurt, the only available, easy sources of protein that I have found. Oh wait, there’s peanuts. They grow and eat a lot of peanuts here. Sweet peanuts, salty peanuts, a solid-state sugary peanut paste that they sell at the markets – yum!
I’m still loving it here, trying to assimilate as much as possible. My classes are great. Senegalese Culture and Society (in English), Wolof (en Francais), French (en Francias, bien sur), Environmental Issues and Development (in English), and L’Economie et Developpement de Senegal (en Francais). This would be an excellent class except my French is not good enough to fully comprehend all that my professor is talking about. I get most of it, but occasionally we touch on something that he feels strongly about and begins to talk faster and faster…
…the sunshine in Senegal is better than the sunshine in Ohio or Oregon, I believe. I’m glad to be an American here and now. We are often approached by people (usually men) asking if we are on vacation. “No, students at Suffolk”, we reply. “You’re French?” he asks, eyebrows furrowed. “No, American”, we say in unison. “AHHHHHH!!!!! AMERICAN!!!! OBAMA! YES WE CAN!!! I LOVE OBAMA!”