Well, tomorrow is it.
My brother told me today he's going to pray for me that in the next 24 hours I lose my passport and my skin turns black so I can stay in Senegal forever.
Inshallah.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Wrapping Up
Had my final run to the tailor this past week. You’d be surprised (or not at all) at the percentage of class time I spend daydreaming about what I’m going to do next with my most recently-purchased batch of fabric. This last time I finally decided on four dresses, a skirt, and a shirt—so nervous and hopeful they would turn out! Our local tailor, Ousmane, can be kind of hit or miss. Describing intricate dresses in French and Wolof, something is bound to get lost in translation. So at times it can be a pretty big shot in the dark—especially since we’re having non-traditional Senegalese clothes made.
Still, having clothes made here has been really fun, very cheap, and quite addicting! And if something doesn’t turn out right, I can just take it back to Ousmane and he’ll work with it until it’s good. The last dress took 5 attempts. Mostly worth it in the end :) But comparing tailor horror stories has definitely become a favorite pastime among my friends. The best ones come from people who live in the Ouakam neighborhood because their tailor only speaks Wolof. HA! He’s produced some real gems.
But when I went back to Ousmane this time, it was straight up Senegalese magic. Not only did he produce what I wanted, but he added little flourishes and details that improved on the original design I gave him… and all but one dress fit perfectly! Even that mishap was pretty easily remedied, and as I sat and waited for Ousmane to fix it up, “Chariots of Fire” started playing on the radio… amazing new dresses, the ultimate victory music, total elation. Magical.
Ha.
So we’re in the midst of finals. I have my Wolof final on Monday morning, and other than that it’s mostly final papers. Quite a few of them, actually, and mostly all in French. Haven’t done any homework this weekend yet because I’ve been focusing on social studies in the Senegalese night clubs… Thursday, Friday, and going for the hat trick tonight. That’s pretty standard though, even for the States—that’s what Sunday is for—homework. It’ll get done, choloo (no worries).
I was organizing my rubrics though for the many papers I have to write (so at least it’s organized and prepared procrastination) and was surprised to find one assignment sheet missing. I gave it some good thought and realized finally… I’m pretty sure I used it as a napkin to eat a mango on in class. That’s when you know you have your priorities straight.
Geez.
Thursday during our lunch break I went with two of my good girl friends down to the beach to do some yoga. You may have just said to yourself, “I didn’t know Lindsay does yoga!?” Ha, well you’re right. I don’t. The girls I did it with are real pro, too. I would’ve loved a video tape of me frantically trying to follow their smooth movements. Many a time my “airplane” pose ended in flailing arms and pitching over in the sand while they were gracefully poised and frozen in position. Still, I enjoyed the whole “yoga looking out over the ocean” deal. It’s crazy seeing that Big Blue with no land in sight and knowing I’m gonna cross that big guy in a week!
Saying goodbye is not too much in the forefront of my thoughts right now. I’m really determined to be in Europe next summer/year hopefully teaching in France after Witt (or backpacking! A ton of people on my program are doing that this summer and I’ve been inspired! Time to start saving!)… and it’d be so easy to book a flight through Dakar and just hang out for a week or whatever on my way over. It’s in the perfect location for that, not out of the way at all! I really am dead set on it.
No way could I live in Dakar long term—I need winter. But there are so many people I care so much about here, and I am so in love with the ambiance, the culture, the city, the way of life here…I can’t imagine not coming back. It makes saying goodbye easier because I know I will see these people again. Inshallah. And I’ll happily take a “see you later” over a “goodbye” any day.
Still, having clothes made here has been really fun, very cheap, and quite addicting! And if something doesn’t turn out right, I can just take it back to Ousmane and he’ll work with it until it’s good. The last dress took 5 attempts. Mostly worth it in the end :) But comparing tailor horror stories has definitely become a favorite pastime among my friends. The best ones come from people who live in the Ouakam neighborhood because their tailor only speaks Wolof. HA! He’s produced some real gems.
But when I went back to Ousmane this time, it was straight up Senegalese magic. Not only did he produce what I wanted, but he added little flourishes and details that improved on the original design I gave him… and all but one dress fit perfectly! Even that mishap was pretty easily remedied, and as I sat and waited for Ousmane to fix it up, “Chariots of Fire” started playing on the radio… amazing new dresses, the ultimate victory music, total elation. Magical.
Ha.
So we’re in the midst of finals. I have my Wolof final on Monday morning, and other than that it’s mostly final papers. Quite a few of them, actually, and mostly all in French. Haven’t done any homework this weekend yet because I’ve been focusing on social studies in the Senegalese night clubs… Thursday, Friday, and going for the hat trick tonight. That’s pretty standard though, even for the States—that’s what Sunday is for—homework. It’ll get done, choloo (no worries).
I was organizing my rubrics though for the many papers I have to write (so at least it’s organized and prepared procrastination) and was surprised to find one assignment sheet missing. I gave it some good thought and realized finally… I’m pretty sure I used it as a napkin to eat a mango on in class. That’s when you know you have your priorities straight.
Geez.
Thursday during our lunch break I went with two of my good girl friends down to the beach to do some yoga. You may have just said to yourself, “I didn’t know Lindsay does yoga!?” Ha, well you’re right. I don’t. The girls I did it with are real pro, too. I would’ve loved a video tape of me frantically trying to follow their smooth movements. Many a time my “airplane” pose ended in flailing arms and pitching over in the sand while they were gracefully poised and frozen in position. Still, I enjoyed the whole “yoga looking out over the ocean” deal. It’s crazy seeing that Big Blue with no land in sight and knowing I’m gonna cross that big guy in a week!
Saying goodbye is not too much in the forefront of my thoughts right now. I’m really determined to be in Europe next summer/year hopefully teaching in France after Witt (or backpacking! A ton of people on my program are doing that this summer and I’ve been inspired! Time to start saving!)… and it’d be so easy to book a flight through Dakar and just hang out for a week or whatever on my way over. It’s in the perfect location for that, not out of the way at all! I really am dead set on it.
No way could I live in Dakar long term—I need winter. But there are so many people I care so much about here, and I am so in love with the ambiance, the culture, the city, the way of life here…I can’t imagine not coming back. It makes saying goodbye easier because I know I will see these people again. Inshallah. And I’ll happily take a “see you later” over a “goodbye” any day.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Note Taking
The Latest:
Me + CIEE to the Sine Saloum Islands for one final hurrah weekend together before we all part ways in T-minus 2 weeks. These islands are located about 3 hours south of Dakar in the middle of a giant salty river that feeds into the ocean.
We travelled:
At first by bus. Originally we were told to BE SURE to eat an early lunch on Friday and be at school by 2:15pm because we were leaving at 2:30pm sharp. I started the 20-minute walk to school at approximately 2:13pm and foolishly spent money on a taxi thinking I’d be late and worse—get left behind! Even after 3.5 months here, I still haven’t learned. For at approximately 3:20pm, our program directors finally rolled onto campus. No apologies, just explanations that they “had a late lunch.”
Next, by boat. We learned on the drive over we were actually staying on an island that was about a 15-minute pirogue (these massive brightly-painted canoes) ride away from mainland. Unfortunately our untimely departure synced perfectly with first Dakar rush hour, and then second the mainland village’s power outage, so we were left splashing and hurdling into pirogues, baggage in tow, in the pitch black. A few students were slightly uneasy about what turned out to be a 35-minute pirogue ride through the dark and rushing water with no life jackets on board (hard to imagine why?), but we all finally made it to our island, no casualties. Alxamdulilay.
For fun, we:
Attended a traditional Senegalese wrestling match…beginning around midnight after a late dinner and our long day of travel. The gathering of minimally-clothed Senegalese men parading around a circle to the beats of some local drumming and chanting was a bit overwhelming and repetitive after the first hour, but then the wrestling finally commenced and some of us were able to shake off our head-bobbing and droopy eyelids. A few of us toubabs were even given the opportunity to wrestle each other as a kind of “half-time show” before the big semi-final and championship rounds. That certainly roused our spirits and we were able to last the rest of the night until our long moonlit walk back to our bungalows. And no, I did not wrestle.
Decided to get naked. With only two weeks to go and streaking Senegal still unchecked on my To Do list, I was starting to get a little anxious. So given our mostly-rural surroundings, my roommates and I decided to go for a quick jaunt around our campement and then for a surprisingly warm (skinny) dip in the river. Upon arrival at the waterfront, we found half of our program had had the same idea! And after only some slight hesitation, we made our grand entrance down the dock stairs and into the water to join them. Splashed around a bit at a safe distance from each other, then scampered back to bed. With jammies.
Took tours by land and sea. In the morning, we willingly embarked in the White People Parade as we took a fleet of horse-drawn carts through the multiple island villages, looking at the mosques, churches, schools, and incredible trees along the way. In the evening, we reassembled in our friends, the pirogues, to ride through the mangroves and have a wide array of tropical wetland birds pointed out to us.
Had a bonfire. The last night we gathered around the flames for a sing-a-long of some African tunes led by one of our students from Kenya. Beautiful. But somehow that evolved into my friend Jonah and myself racking our brains for stupid group games we’ve played as camp counselors. We managed to coerce many of our peers to join in on Bunny Bunny, Snort, Screaming Toes, and the Ninja Game. Hard to beat good times like these.
We talked:
A lot about our upcoming departure. With only one real weekend left for most of us, we milled over how unbelievably fast this semester has gone but how wonderful it’s been. It’s hard to wrap our minds around being back in the States in a matter of days now. Of course there are things we’re all looking forward to, but ultimately the consensus (at least among my group of friends) is “Oh wow, this is gonna be rough.” So many good friends, both Senegalese and American—we’ve been together for almost 4 months and then one day soon everyone we’ve spent our days living and learning with will go…and just like that, none of us will be together anymore. Back to the people we love who have no real idea of the world we’ve been living in for the past semester. I’ve been weirdly anxious the past two weeks and I’m sure it will continue… sad to leave, but kind of excited to go home, but scared of what it will be like, but actually really wanting to stay here longer—I’ve reached a new level of inner-conflict I’ve never experienced before. It’s a lot.
We now have:
Massive finals and re-entry seminars ahead of us. Relaxing was a little hard to do this weekend for long before our minds began to wander to those 2 finals we have tomorrow, and the 4 other papers still to write before we leave. Not to mention gifts to get for our families and friends at home, final clothing runs to the tailor, quality time spent with people here, last bites of our favorite delicacies, etc, etc.
Essentially, me for the next two weeks: chicken with her head cut off.
But safe to say, I think a nice weekend and fun time was had by all.
Me + CIEE to the Sine Saloum Islands for one final hurrah weekend together before we all part ways in T-minus 2 weeks. These islands are located about 3 hours south of Dakar in the middle of a giant salty river that feeds into the ocean.
We travelled:
At first by bus. Originally we were told to BE SURE to eat an early lunch on Friday and be at school by 2:15pm because we were leaving at 2:30pm sharp. I started the 20-minute walk to school at approximately 2:13pm and foolishly spent money on a taxi thinking I’d be late and worse—get left behind! Even after 3.5 months here, I still haven’t learned. For at approximately 3:20pm, our program directors finally rolled onto campus. No apologies, just explanations that they “had a late lunch.”
Next, by boat. We learned on the drive over we were actually staying on an island that was about a 15-minute pirogue (these massive brightly-painted canoes) ride away from mainland. Unfortunately our untimely departure synced perfectly with first Dakar rush hour, and then second the mainland village’s power outage, so we were left splashing and hurdling into pirogues, baggage in tow, in the pitch black. A few students were slightly uneasy about what turned out to be a 35-minute pirogue ride through the dark and rushing water with no life jackets on board (hard to imagine why?), but we all finally made it to our island, no casualties. Alxamdulilay.
For fun, we:
Attended a traditional Senegalese wrestling match…beginning around midnight after a late dinner and our long day of travel. The gathering of minimally-clothed Senegalese men parading around a circle to the beats of some local drumming and chanting was a bit overwhelming and repetitive after the first hour, but then the wrestling finally commenced and some of us were able to shake off our head-bobbing and droopy eyelids. A few of us toubabs were even given the opportunity to wrestle each other as a kind of “half-time show” before the big semi-final and championship rounds. That certainly roused our spirits and we were able to last the rest of the night until our long moonlit walk back to our bungalows. And no, I did not wrestle.
Decided to get naked. With only two weeks to go and streaking Senegal still unchecked on my To Do list, I was starting to get a little anxious. So given our mostly-rural surroundings, my roommates and I decided to go for a quick jaunt around our campement and then for a surprisingly warm (skinny) dip in the river. Upon arrival at the waterfront, we found half of our program had had the same idea! And after only some slight hesitation, we made our grand entrance down the dock stairs and into the water to join them. Splashed around a bit at a safe distance from each other, then scampered back to bed. With jammies.
Took tours by land and sea. In the morning, we willingly embarked in the White People Parade as we took a fleet of horse-drawn carts through the multiple island villages, looking at the mosques, churches, schools, and incredible trees along the way. In the evening, we reassembled in our friends, the pirogues, to ride through the mangroves and have a wide array of tropical wetland birds pointed out to us.
Had a bonfire. The last night we gathered around the flames for a sing-a-long of some African tunes led by one of our students from Kenya. Beautiful. But somehow that evolved into my friend Jonah and myself racking our brains for stupid group games we’ve played as camp counselors. We managed to coerce many of our peers to join in on Bunny Bunny, Snort, Screaming Toes, and the Ninja Game. Hard to beat good times like these.
We talked:
A lot about our upcoming departure. With only one real weekend left for most of us, we milled over how unbelievably fast this semester has gone but how wonderful it’s been. It’s hard to wrap our minds around being back in the States in a matter of days now. Of course there are things we’re all looking forward to, but ultimately the consensus (at least among my group of friends) is “Oh wow, this is gonna be rough.” So many good friends, both Senegalese and American—we’ve been together for almost 4 months and then one day soon everyone we’ve spent our days living and learning with will go…and just like that, none of us will be together anymore. Back to the people we love who have no real idea of the world we’ve been living in for the past semester. I’ve been weirdly anxious the past two weeks and I’m sure it will continue… sad to leave, but kind of excited to go home, but scared of what it will be like, but actually really wanting to stay here longer—I’ve reached a new level of inner-conflict I’ve never experienced before. It’s a lot.
We now have:
Massive finals and re-entry seminars ahead of us. Relaxing was a little hard to do this weekend for long before our minds began to wander to those 2 finals we have tomorrow, and the 4 other papers still to write before we leave. Not to mention gifts to get for our families and friends at home, final clothing runs to the tailor, quality time spent with people here, last bites of our favorite delicacies, etc, etc.
Essentially, me for the next two weeks: chicken with her head cut off.
But safe to say, I think a nice weekend and fun time was had by all.
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