Ba Beenen Yoon Senegal!

My time in Senegal has come to a close and as I reflect on my time I realize there is so much that I have experienced that my brain gets tired just thinking about it. I ended up remembering the small details, the little things that happened on the way to and from school, simple words and funny moments.  In order to organize all of this, I have made lists (one of my favorite past times) of the little things in my Senegalese experience that have made up the whole. 
 How did I get from here to there? All my modes of transport

Car rapides, tatas (similar to car rapides), public bus, ferry, pirogue (yes this means ferry in french, but I am describing a different type of ferry)

dingy boat, horse cart, taxi, bus, mini bus, bush taxi, bike (these last two are from Burkina Faso, but I am still counting them!)

Animals I have seen

Mouton, dogs, cats, kittens, mice, rats, lizards, giraffe, warthog, pigs, hyena, antelope, monkeys, onyx, zebra, parrots, tortoise, rhinos, ostriches, pelicans, cormorant, flamingos and crocodiles. I may have seen more but those are the big ones!

Things I have bought for less then $2

lait callie, mafé sauce (very similar to peanut butter but much th, popcorn, a fresh coconut, a full plate of Senegalese food, laundry soap, a large scoop of ice cream, a hand made basket, taxi rides, local drinks, peanuts, a pagna skirt made while I waited and fresh fruit galore!

Favorite drinks!!Top 10
1)  lait caille 2) bissap 3)  ataya 4) deeta 5) hot condescend milk 6) liquor made from the apple of a cashew plant 7) bouye 8) a cocktail mix  of different juices with a sugared rim 9) kinkiliba tea 12) coke ( not the same as in the US as they use REAL cane sugar, on a  hot day it can't be beat)
Favorite foods! top 10

 1) Mafe 2) yassa poulet 3) ceebujen 4) lax   5) Couscous à la Senegalese  5) gousi 6) mouton7) chwyarma 8) tapalapa baguettes  9) charcuterie (not meat)  10) brochettes

Meals I have prepared
Ceebujen, tacos (or something that resembled that) an attempt at yassa sauce, mafé, failed popcorn but excellent corn nuts, ataya( so this isn't a meal in the US but in Senegal it was a several hour process so I therefore consider it an art form and a meal), spicy peanut sauce and grilled mouton (ok, so I didn't ACTUALLY prepare this, but close enough!)Bugs I am not afraid of
Smallish cockroaches, termites, SOME spiders, praying mantises, crickets, ok this list is short, but hey! It's still an improvement, right?
15 things you can buy from your car
Boxes of tissues, grandfather clocks, books of any type, phone cards, tea, fruit, beignets (yum!), juice, stickers, brooms, shoes, workout outfits, mini statues, sunglasses and on one odd case in Burkina, teeth!
What you can get in a clear plastic bag
Lait caille, juice, peanuts, oranges, limes, water, oil ( cooking oil or for your car), soap, fish, chicken, mouton ( alive or dead?oh the possibilities), small cakes, beignets, mafe sauce and frozen juices on a hot day. 
Top Ten I received for free (in no particular order)

1) a weekend in a the village of Fimela Ndanga learning the value of education 2) opinions on musical education 3) language lessons from everyone I met 4) a taxi ride to a gare when I was lost 5) gifts from friendly shop keepers 6) a wonderful Senegalese meal from a woman I met once 7) beignets and bissap and peanut butter, the perfect afternoon snack with Erica
8) Stories about the Senegalese countryside from my host brother 9) Support from all my friends in the program throughout the semester 10) four months of memories of an incredible experience

For those of you who didn't experience the last four months with me, some of these things will not make sense. Whenever you get the chance to see me, unfortunately for many of you that won't be for another six months, you can ask me! I didn't explain these things on purpose, because answering the question "so what is gousi?" is a lot easier then answering "so how was SENEGAL?" (please refrain from asking the second question, I will probably just stare and maybe start laughing). The first half of my year is over, but stay tuned as this Ballardite heads to Europe for phase two!!

First Lady and Flip Flops

As sad as it sounds my last full week in Dakar as a student has come to a close.

However it ended just as full of surprises as it began. I arrived at the National School of the Arts (Equivalent of a conservatory where I’ve been working for the past month) to the smell of VERY fresh paint, and i knew something was up. When I made it to my advisors office where everyone was in a state of panic. He frantically told me that the First Lady (yes the white who is married to President Wade) was coming the following morning. Ah, now the smell of fresh paint and professors barking out orders all made sense.

M. Seye, my advisor and director of the music program, invited me to come back the next morning at 9am for the festivities. Not wanting to miss out, I showed up at 8 :15 am dressed to impress. At 11 :20 am the black BMW pulled up amidst burly security guards. However, I was in for a surprise. Not only was Madam Wade there, but the visiting First Lady from the Czech Republic was there! 

I managed to follow them through the various presentations until I was right next to them ( I believe I was allowed through because I was the only white person aside from these ladies). I did no more then say hi and thank you for coming to them, but they noticed me. I think Madame Wade liked my outfit, Thank you Amy ! The day was full of formalities, mini speeches, translators and flags. I left very satisfied with my first extended celebrity sighting. 

The end of the week was as opposite from the beginning as you can imagine. Friday afternoon I boarded a bus headed to a region I’d never visited, trusting the bus driver to know where my stop would be. I had decided to pay an impromptu visit to a girl close to my age who had worked as a maid at my family’s home in Dakar. Despite the language barrier, most of the people in the village spoke only Wolof or Serer, I managed to quickly connect with the family. 

The children had never seen a white person and enjoyed jumping around me. The Grandmother welcomed me by telling me she would teach me Serer and shaking my hand for at least 5 minutes. During my short stay (I arrived in the village on Friday afternoon and left before dawn on Sunday morning) I saw and learned more then almost my entire stay thus far. My friend, Khadi Kholl Diouf, was so welcoming and took me along with her everywhere. 

It was such a relief to finally have friends that were girls my own age, to show me around, laugh, confide and connect with. During the time I taught math, got up to go to school at 5am, roasted peanuts, cooked couscous, rode on the back of a horse cart and played hand games with kids.

This weekend was hard to end, both Khadi and I almost cried when I ran onto the bus to leave, as we both knew that we would probably never see each other again. Hopefully I can send her a letter sometime, although it is very hard to mail something when the address contains directions of “next to the school”. 

After our Impromptu Math lesson

Last part! For my final post in Senegal, I want to do a question and answer segment. This is to see what you have questions on and also to see if anyone is reading this other then my mom (no offense mom, I appreciate you reading this). So if anyone is out there reading about my random adventures, let me know what you want to know! Anything from favorite animals sighted in the streets to the weirdest thing I saw people use a bowl for (trust me, a bowl is VERY versatile here). Write your questions in the comments section!!!

The B series! 5. Baobab!

For the last couple weeks I have been living in an apartment (in the neighborhood of Baobab, yes there is a rather large Baobab tree buried within the convoluted streets), with three other people, Justin, Amy and Kendra. We have been working on our independent research project (ISP), but also enjoying our free time in Dakar! Here are some photos to show you, per request, of what I have been up to!

The Roomies! Kendra, Me, Justin and Amy

At our apartment warming party

Night out

Study break= Trampoline Time

Photo op. on the trampoline

Cooking for "Turkey" Day

 

 

 

The feast begins

So much food

Full plates, full bellies

The perfect timing for a care package

The B series: 4. Baguette!

Ah French colonialism. The French were officially kicked out of Senegal in 1960, but their legacy lives on in the form of bread! Before coming to Senegal I never really understood the importance of bread. Here bread is eaten at least once a day, although that would be a very skimpy bread day for the Senegalese. 

When I was living with my host family, they bought at least four loaves of bread for breakfast alone. Keep in mind that my family fed over 10 people, so this was not too ridiculous of an amount. Even so, they would always buy half a baguette just for me. The general breakfast meal consists of half a baguette with any variation of protein on the inside and nescafé coffee (really, the only kind of coffee that is found here!). If the bread is brought to the home then they generally eat it with butter or chocopain (which is the cheaper version of nutella, still good!). If breakfast is eaten on the go, you can get scrambled eggs put inside or some sort of bean and vegetable mix. These sandwiches can be bought at small little stands in the street, prices vary but you will never need to pay more then the equivalent of 20 cents for one of these. 

Bread accompanies just about every meal here, and it is an absolute requirement for street food. Not only that, but there are so many variations on the baguette and of the common breads. There are small loaves that are soft and almost like sourdough. There are long skinny baguettes that are hard and crusty and not too good for much of anything except swiping up the remains of your meal. There are wide baguettes that are great for sandwiches, and soft long ones that are good for snacking with chocopain. There are also round breads that are sweeter which are in just about every little boutique, but I rarely see anyone eating them. 

Patisseries and boulangeries are everywhere, and the main baking hours are early in the morning and in the middle of the day for the evening rush. When I get up in the morning and go walking I see the delivery boys driving around with big boxes of bread on either side of their bicycle. There is a new boulangerie that opened up semi near my apartment and sometime before I leave I will get up early and walk over to get a fresh baked baguette right out of the oven. 

You can see how well we have adapted!