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”.
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| 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!!!
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