Field Work

Here's a taste of what a day of fieldwork is like for me.

Get woken up by my roommate Robin at 10:30, flip out because I my cellphone alarm was supposed to wake me up at 8. Get a call from my informant P, who I met last week when out to lunch with my advisor at Le Missisipi (note the one 'p'). P asks when I want to meet her and I say noon, and she asks me what I would like to eat for lunch and we decide on yassa. We hang up and I realize I haven't finished writing up my interview questions yet, so I start doing that.

A little before noon I leave the house, and call P to tell her I'll be late. I walk towards Le Missispi, which I've only been to that one time so I only have a vague memory of how to get there. After 15 minutes of walking I have no idea where I am so I call my advisor. He doesn't pick up. But then I turn a corner and magically appear at the restaurant, and who should be there...but my advisor. I ask him if he's seen P, but he says he hasn't and orders me a Grand Moyen Flag beer. I call P and find out I wasn't supposed to go the restaurant, but to her house. She tells me to wait and that she'll come pick me up. My advisor starts asking me how I like his book so far, especially the main character Lily Loveless (what a name) who is also a white girl doing field research in West Africa. 20 minutes or so later, P finally arrives and I take my last sip of beer (the only thing I've had all morning since I thought I would be eating lunch at 12) and we start walking to her house.

When we get to her house, she insists that I sit down while she runs around helping her mom and her aunt prepare lunch. She tells me lunch will actually be at 4PM, and I start thinking about how I was supposed to call someone else to schedule some more interviews for the day...but I guess it will have to wait till tomorrow or next week. After a breakfast of bread, cheese and hot milk, she shows me her photo album. I comment on her beautiful festival clothing and then all of a sudden we're playing dress up. Me and P are almost the same size, and she insists that I take everything back to the US as a "cadeaux" (present). We also decide that we're going to make me the same outfit she has for Tabaski, the biggest Muslim holiday that will be around the 8 of december. I realize I now have about 6 different invitations to Tabaski.

P then brings out a huge pitcher of bissap, one of my favorite Senegalese drinks. She had remembered that the last time I was at le Mississipi I ordered it so she decided to make it for me. Those Senegalese sure know how to be generous, but sometimes it becomes too much. I started to try and figure out how to tactfully say no after my third and a half glass, knowing I still had lunch. And it was a good thing I stopped then, because lunch was fabulous, and in true Senegalese style I was expected to eat A LOT.

"Lekk bubax! Mange bien!"

They had prepared a Jola dish, with yellow rice, braised fish, okra, shrimp, and green bissap. I don't think that description does it justice. It has to be one of the best Senegalese dishes I have ever eaten. It was almost easy to keep eating because it was so good. But I still had to say "sur-na" (I'm full) at least six times before P believed me and let me wash my hands. At that my point we were so full that the only thing to do was talk and then fall asleep.

By now I had been at her house about 5 hours and I started to realize that she didn't understand that I was going to interview her. So I had now gone from the possibility of having about 5 interviews today to having none...or maybe one. After we wake up I casually try and suggest that we start this interview thing, and by this point we're really chill so she lets me ask her about thirty or so questions about cellphones and girls. Of course, the electricity isn't working so we end up finishing the interview by cellphone light. And then I can't leave immediately afterwards, because that would be rude. So I hang out with her, her mother and aunts for another hour or so where they quiz me on my wolof and ask me about life in the states. Then around 9PM I finally convince them that I should leave, even though I really don't want to and yes I'll come back and visit and of course I'll be there for tabaski.

So although I only ended up with one interview today, it was well worth it.

it also makes me think how I sometimes need to stop continuously thinking about this project and just enjoy the rest of my time in Senegal...considering how quickly it's passing by now.