Finally got to see what real Dakar night life is like this weekend. On Thursday, I went with some friends to this great burger place we found next to that trashy Le Mex club. I think discovering this place was the only good thing about that night. Then we headed over to Institute Français to watch a music group from Mali. I have never seen so many toubabs in one place! It actually made me a little uncomfortable and I questioned what and who the french cultural center was for. But the music was absolutely incredible and the space is really beautiful. For the first time, I started to feel like I actually really like Senegal now and am happy to be here. It only took me about six weeks...
I ended up running into some students from CIEE, including a girl who is friends with one of my good friends from highschool. We ended up making plans to go to another music the next night, so segue to :
Friday night, I meet up with a lot of other SIT students and we go to this tiny bar in Ouakam called "Chez Mendy" or something like that. It's really chill, drinks are cheap and they're playing american rap so of course we're all dancing. Most people ended up going home, but me and my friend went to go meet the girl from CIEE at Pen'Art. After a crazy taxi ride back to my area of Dakar, we walk into Pen Art which is absolutely packed from wall to wall. But of course it wasn't difficult to find Erica, considering there were very few toubabs. She was also with a friend and we ended up discovering that all four of us play ultimate at our colleges! Gah, it really made me miss the frisbee community more than I already do...anyways, the music there is really great and I can't wait to go back again. Especially because we left only an hour or so later to go to another great dance/live music club called Papaya in the very north of Dakar. While at Pen Art we met a guy who coordinates study abroad programs, and he invited us to go up there with him. Papaya was really cool, but everyone left pretty soon after we got there. The drummer or guitarist from the band started talking to us and told us we should go to another bar near where I live in Zone B. So we climb back in the taxi and go south again and arrive at this bar that's literally a block or so away from me. It's really crowded and we are definitely the only white people there. It was a very chill atmosphere though, and a nice place to end the night. Or really, the morning since it was about 6:30 AM when I got home.
Saturday night started off with the birthday party of one of the girls in our Program. She had it at her homestay, so of course we had lots of delicious Senegalese fair like these empanada things with fish and spices. Afterwards, I went to this club called Ozio in downtown Dakar to meet up with some guys from the Peace Corps who I had met at Pen Art the night before. This club was the nicest club I've ever been to in my life. But that's not saying much, because the club I frequent is the Mug. After sitting around there for far too long, we end up at....the YMCA.
what?
And not only that, they pronounce it "imca" here. So we get to imca and I cannot believe how man people are at this place. It is a sea of young senegalese. Pretty soon I'm learning to dance the mbaalax and just trying to stay awake, because it's about 3:30 AM or so at this point. Finally I can't take dancing with about 5 different guys anymore so I get a cab back home.
I am so glad that Ramadan is now over.
And we go to Kedougou on Friday for a week, but then it's my 20th birthday when we go back! Hopefully I'll get to go back to that nice thai restaurant and maybe back to the YMCA...
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Village Stay in Ker Sadaro
I have to say, it's a bit strange to be back in Dakar.
I know I was only gone for about 3 days but man....being in that village was such a relief from this hectic city.
Ker Sadaro is a village on the outskirts of Thies, a city just of the Dakar peninsula. It's still weird to call what I did a village stay. I mean, my compound had electricity, running water and satellite tv. Every single night we watched about 3 hours of 24- in English. But for most of the other students, that was not their experience. I did get to do some things that you could say were "village-y". My first day we were there I learned how to carry water on my head, pick bissap from the fields across the road, do laundrey and make ceebujen (which has become one of my favorite dishes)(I mean, it's the only one that has any vegetables!). So our few days there were pretty chill. If I wasn't doing some household chore, I'd sit and play with my little brothers and sisters or discuss life in America with one of my uncles or walk to another compound that was hosting an SIT student.
One thing that really stood out to me was how many kids there are in each village. Each time we'd enter a village, 20 or so kids would run up to us and want to shake our hands. I almost had a panic attack one time when I was visiting my friend Ryan, because I was closed in by a group of about 10 who wouldn't leave me alone. The entire time I was there, I only saw one very old person (I mean over the age of 70).
I really loved the family that I stayed with. When I met my mom she gave me this huge hug and smiled at me and kept telling me how pretty she thought I was. And maybe she said some other things, but she mostly speaks Wolof so it was rather difficult to understand. She was very good about introducing me to everyone in the compound (about 30 or so people) and she gave me a new Senegalese name: Aminta Thiaw. Found out later that I was named after my 9 year old sister, but apparently that's very common.
3 days was too short. I didn't get to know everyone as well as I would have liked, and didn't get to do everything that I would have liked to have done. But my yaay (mom) invited me back for tabaski ! I definitely want to come back and visit, especially if I do my ISP in Dakar. I'm going to need a village vacay.
Oh and back to the fact that my yaay was totally kickass: she gave me a boubou as a parting present! It's bright and pink and awesome. All the other students only got donuts and eggs.
When I was walking around in Thies earlier, I realized how I'm turning Senegalese. I was strolling around in a bright pink boubou, my hair in braids (courtesy of my little Thiaw sisters), henna on my hands (courtesy of my little Sow sisters), wooden bracelets and a print purse I got in Saint Louis. I felt a little funny, but everyone else kepts saying, "raffetna!" or "tu es belle!" so apparently by Senegalese standards I'm looking pretty good.
I know I was only gone for about 3 days but man....being in that village was such a relief from this hectic city.
Ker Sadaro is a village on the outskirts of Thies, a city just of the Dakar peninsula. It's still weird to call what I did a village stay. I mean, my compound had electricity, running water and satellite tv. Every single night we watched about 3 hours of 24- in English. But for most of the other students, that was not their experience. I did get to do some things that you could say were "village-y". My first day we were there I learned how to carry water on my head, pick bissap from the fields across the road, do laundrey and make ceebujen (which has become one of my favorite dishes)(I mean, it's the only one that has any vegetables!). So our few days there were pretty chill. If I wasn't doing some household chore, I'd sit and play with my little brothers and sisters or discuss life in America with one of my uncles or walk to another compound that was hosting an SIT student.
One thing that really stood out to me was how many kids there are in each village. Each time we'd enter a village, 20 or so kids would run up to us and want to shake our hands. I almost had a panic attack one time when I was visiting my friend Ryan, because I was closed in by a group of about 10 who wouldn't leave me alone. The entire time I was there, I only saw one very old person (I mean over the age of 70).
I really loved the family that I stayed with. When I met my mom she gave me this huge hug and smiled at me and kept telling me how pretty she thought I was. And maybe she said some other things, but she mostly speaks Wolof so it was rather difficult to understand. She was very good about introducing me to everyone in the compound (about 30 or so people) and she gave me a new Senegalese name: Aminta Thiaw. Found out later that I was named after my 9 year old sister, but apparently that's very common.
3 days was too short. I didn't get to know everyone as well as I would have liked, and didn't get to do everything that I would have liked to have done. But my yaay (mom) invited me back for tabaski ! I definitely want to come back and visit, especially if I do my ISP in Dakar. I'm going to need a village vacay.
Oh and back to the fact that my yaay was totally kickass: she gave me a boubou as a parting present! It's bright and pink and awesome. All the other students only got donuts and eggs.
When I was walking around in Thies earlier, I realized how I'm turning Senegalese. I was strolling around in a bright pink boubou, my hair in braids (courtesy of my little Thiaw sisters), henna on my hands (courtesy of my little Sow sisters), wooden bracelets and a print purse I got in Saint Louis. I felt a little funny, but everyone else kepts saying, "raffetna!" or "tu es belle!" so apparently by Senegalese standards I'm looking pretty good.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Sweat
I have never been so sweaty in my life.
We just had 2 hours of african dance on the topmost floor of the Theatre National Daniel Soreno, and I look like I just stepped out of the shower. But I really need a shower. I don't particularly want to go home, because as much as I love my homestay, we don't do anything. Or really, we don't go anywhere. We either sit and watch tv, or I read in my room.
Last night we had a power outage for 3 hours (not that unusual) and it was only me and my sister Bineta. I had my flashlight on me and started doing shadow puppets on the wall, which ended up keeping us amused for at least 30 minutes or so.
Tomorrow afternoon we're going to do djembe, which hopefully won't be as sweaty and exhausting. I have so much work to do to get ready for my ISP and all I want is a shower and a nap! Mmm I think that's what's going to happen...
zzzzzz
We just had 2 hours of african dance on the topmost floor of the Theatre National Daniel Soreno, and I look like I just stepped out of the shower. But I really need a shower. I don't particularly want to go home, because as much as I love my homestay, we don't do anything. Or really, we don't go anywhere. We either sit and watch tv, or I read in my room.
Last night we had a power outage for 3 hours (not that unusual) and it was only me and my sister Bineta. I had my flashlight on me and started doing shadow puppets on the wall, which ended up keeping us amused for at least 30 minutes or so.
Tomorrow afternoon we're going to do djembe, which hopefully won't be as sweaty and exhausting. I have so much work to do to get ready for my ISP and all I want is a shower and a nap! Mmm I think that's what's going to happen...
zzzzzz
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