Nanga def?

Asalaa Malekum! Nanga def? Naka wa ker ga? We’re finally taking Wolof classes to learn the local language! My host family speaks French very well, and speaks a bit of English, but usually they communicate in Wolof, so it will be really useful for me to learn. It’s a pretty easy language in terms of how the phrases are constructed, but still, it’s a whole new vocabulary. I like learning bits of how the world is explained via language, like the word for “ankle” in Wolof literally translates to “the eye of the leg”. I don’t even know where to start, I guess I’ll have to pick and choose the stories to share with everyone. This weekend I went with Dave and Louise (2 of the other Macalester students here) to the beach near our school. The water’s the perfect temperature and there’s big waves. I made friends with a troop of young girls who were using sticks and rubber hoses to pry sea urchins off of a rock. They were going to boil them and eat them, or maybe sell them. One of them took me by the arm and pulled me into the surf to help them out – I got 3! And every time I got one they would say in Wolof, “Hey, the whitey got one.” They were really nice, actually, it was refreshing to talk just to girls who were just interested in being friends. With guys, you always have to be a bit on guard as to whether they’re flirting with you. I haven’t been approached by anyone really creepy yet though. After the beach, I visited Dave’s and Louise’s families – they live in the fancy part of town! We had heard a rumor that Youssou N’Dour would be playing a concert that night, and Dave’s roommate Chris confirmed it, so we took off to this Ethiopian restaurant on a rooftop and walked from there to the concert. It didn’t even start until 1:30 am and it kept going until 4:30. It was fantastic, but we were exhausted. Apparently I was too short to see, but there were some people dancing mbalax towards the front, which is the traditional/popular style of dance in Senegal. Look it up on YouTube, it’s awesome, arms and legs and knees flying everywhere. Needless to say, I can’t do it. I’ve been walking to school every day, 45 minutes each way, usually with friends, and I feel like that’s the point at which I see the most new things about Dakar. Like today, I noticed that there are small mosques built in the median of the street, facing east, so that people can pray as they wait for the bus. And we walked through open sewage bubbling up onto the street. And the air pollution here is really bad because the cars and buses are so old, but the ratio of public to private transportation on the road is roughly 4:1. If Dakar could just take care of its waste problem (among other things), it would be perceived as a top-notch international city. We went on a driving tour the other day of downtown and the suburbs – they tried to say that we also got to see the slums, but the true slums are out on the neck of the peninsula and we haven’t gone there yet. I don’t know if we will. I would like to, because I wrote an entire research paper on that area for my Development class two years ago. I also got a chance to talk to Waly, one of our program assistants, about where I might have my internship. Apparently there’s not many organizations that work with refugees here, and even though there are refugees adn internally displaced people, he says it’s not too much of a problem or a hassle for them to move from one place to the next. But there is an organization, ASCODE, that works with Senegalese immigrants abroad and their families who remain in-country. They have offices in Dakar and in Touba. I’ll probably be placed with them in Touba, which is the religious center of Senegal and the home of the Mouride brotherhood, the biggest Islamic brotherhood in the country. Apparently it’s run under Islamic law (or at least practices), and doesn’t have any drinking or dancing or so on. My work would be in the city (and it’s not that big) but it would also take me to the surrounding villages and more rural areas. I think it would be fascinating to see how people live and interact in such a religious context, so I’m pretty excited for this placement. I bet it’ll feel overwhelming, as the rest of Dakar can sometimes, but I’ll get by. Our classes started this week. We’re in class almost all day, from 9 to 6, studying Development Theory and Senegalese History and Wolof. We each choose a focus for our Development Theory class. I chose Public Health And Social Services, and I’ll also be auditing the Microfinance class. We split our time in these tracks between studying in the classroom and taking local field trips. The food here has been up and down. I have a strong suspicion that most of the other host families feed their students more than mine does, even though I have a fast metabolism and I tend to get hungry more often. Apparently other families are pushing food at the students, enough that they have to insist that they’re full. In my family we have some French bread with butter and tea for breakfast, then I eat lunch out at WARC or at a local cafe. They usually have rice with some kind of sauce and maybe meat for lunch, and that’s just about what we have too. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day, and always includes rice (or french fries!). Dinner is smaller and tends to be more varied at my house. I have yet to be served thiebujinn. We’ve had salade nicoise, rice and lentils in a brown sauce with beef, spaghetti and fish (dorado) with tomatoes, salad with vegetables and a fried egg... that kind of thing. It’s delicious. And there’s always enough to feed everyone. But I often don’t feel quite full at the end, and I end up having snacks in my room. It’s something to work out and I’m trying not to lose weight. I think I’ll have to go to the supermarket more often for snacks. And I’m still pursuing that perfect dish of thiebujinn – it’s kind of like searching for the best falafel in Israel, except I haven’t had any yet. Anyway. Thanks for the birthday wishes, love you all, and I’ve got some homework to do, so I’m out!