Field Work #2

One of my informants called me last night and asked if I would like to go out to dinner with her and some friends. I interviewed B last week and she has 4 cellphones. Yes. 4 different cellphones. So of course I take her up on her offer and she says she'll pick me up at 8.

As I'm waiting in front of my apartment, a shiny silver car pulls up. There's a white guy in the driver's seat and B is sitting shot gun. I get in and then we're off! Racing around Dakar, up and back around the Corniche, the highway along the coast. I felt like we were going at hyper-speed, I couldn't even lean forward in the seat. Finally we pull in front of a restaurant at Plage de Ngor, in the really nice, toursity area of Dakar. We meet up with 3 other white guys, all older, all on the larger side. B starts saying something about them being rich...as if I hadn't guessed all ready.

We sit down and I look at the menu. Grapefruit and avocado or warm goat cheese salad? Or perhaps the seafood platter? Looks like everyone is ordering appetizers so I get the warm goat cheese and order a tuna steak with veggies for an entrée. The guy sitting to my right is from Spain and is here in Dakar for business, something about engineering. He actually speaks a bit of English and is telling me about his upcoming road trip across America. He's even read Jack Keroac in Spanish.

After some mango sorbet, we leave the restaurant to go to some bars downtown. B pulls me aside and says, "So my patron thinks you're cute. And you know what? He's really rich. He has a boat. And, he doesn't have a wife or a girlfriend. I PROMISE you."
huh?
wait...seriously?
and which one is the patron?

Well, I found out that answer soon enough when I was ushered into the front seat of a flashy new BMW SUV, next to one of our larger dining partners. Then I started laughing to myself...this is exactly what I've been researching! Relationships between older, wealthy white men and cute, young university students. I'm definitely clocking these hours as participant observation.

Soon we're driving around parts of Dakar that I've never seen before. There's no garbage along the roads, no sheep tied up outside of the houses...am I really in Senegal?

As we're driving, I can start to understand why this guy doesn't have a girlfriend. He is incredibly immature! He's playing these toilet-humor songs that yea, could be funny but just make him look incredibly stupid. When we get to the bar, B pulls me aside again.

"So, do you like him? Do you think he's handsome?"

How do I do this tactfully...

"No."

Maybe I should be a little nicer...he did after all just pay for my dinner that probably cost $30.

"He's um...kind. Er, but not my...type."

"Ah," she nodded, "Quel dommage!"

She then tells me how it's hard for him to get a girlfriend because girls only want to be with him because he's rich. He now is looking for a serious relationship.
Ok B, time to stop playing match-maker with the little innocent american.

But I do have to thank her for getting me inside that magical world of Thiofs and Disquettes that I've only heard rumors about...

My fieldwork is pretty cool.