that time of the week (4/23/03)

I realize it has been awhile since my last email, but never fear, my friends, i’m still having the time of my life. My birthday was sub par... always is...except for the huge carepackage of goodies my parents sent...so much chocolate...so much cranberry juice... heaven. But the week after that was amazing because I learned just how awesome the people in my life are. For our one year anniversary, Gonzalo came to Senegal...couldnt have received a better gift. Besides, I’m glad someone else was able to experience the wonder of senegal and her people. Being the country of hospitality, there was no problem with his staying with my family, which made the trip all the more enriching. He got to experience eating around the bowl, which is always the highlight of my day, and in his short stay really became part of the family. Now when he calls the house he has 7 people to talk to, not just one. My two youngest sisters and he got along really well, a lil too well, ganging up on me whenever they could, especially when it involved torturing Sirpenes. The poor sheep never gets a rest. And the four of us had some amazing conversations about life in Senegal, especially concerning polygamy, which is a social institution that i hope one day dies out...although I doubt that will happen anytime soon. But when you hear my sisters talk about the subject (one with contempt, the other with resignation) you wonder how something that has caused so many problems for so many years continues to exist. And it’s true that polygamy doesn’t have the force that it used to, but it’s still probably every wife’s worst fear. But other than discussing grave topics we also spent evenings all crammed on the sofa watching movies like “a few good men.” I prefer watching it in english, definitely since french is much harder to understand when dubbed and when your sisters are throwing stuff at each other and having pillow fights...but good times.

Gonzalo also got to discover the clubbing scene, which i think he’s a big fan of, even tho latin americans have high expectations when it comes to nightlife and dancing. We went out with some american and senegalese friends, dancing until the usual 5 in the morning. How nice it is to be young.

Friday, we went to Saly where we would relax for the weekend. We stayed at a senegalese owned resort that caters to mostly the french, but i was glad to see my senegalese compatriots there as well. This is where my host family stays all the time. They set up the reservation and everything. The architecture was gorgeous and i haven’t seen so much green space since i arrived to senegal. Nothing grows here but the grounds were covered in all sorts of flowers and vegetation. We spent most of our time swimming or playing volleyball, that is of course when we weren’t pigging out at the all you can eat breakfast and dinner buffets. I ate 2 steaks friday night... that actually wasn’t my doing... the chef was so amused that i spoke wolof to him that he gave me a second one. So full.

The rest of Gonzalo’s week here was spent in Dakar where we braved the markets...so tiring...but luckily for us it was a double holiday for easter and magal (a tiny intra country pilgrimmage that attracted 3 million people to the holy city of touba) so there was no one downtown but due to senegal’s growing capitalism, everything was open. Score. He also had the car rapide experience. I can only laugh.

My family proved themselves to be the coolest people ever this week. They provided transportation to and from the airport, to the station when we caught our transportation to Saly, and were always accessible for everything. They really made gonzalo feel welcomed and helped us have an amazing anniversary.
Now im in the process of getting final papers done....grrr...and cringing at the counting down of days....nooooo....i can’t leave (but of course mom and dad...and jonathan...and everyone else i’ll see soon..i cant wait to see you). Kisses. Ba bennin yoon, inch’allah

cabo verde (4/9/03)

so, i'm back in senegal. made it in one piece. you know you are have made a home when you look forward to coming back to dakar even tho ur having a fun and relaxing trip to an island country of beautiful people. what can i say, i missed my ceeb bu jen (fish and rice).

i really couldn't have asked for a better trip tho. we arrived to praia on the island santiago last saturday night. we foudn our hostal....which was definitely the cheapest hostal there...judging by the leaky plumbing, the room lights that didn't work, and the funky smell coming from the window...but besides that, it was quite comfortable, and clean, and i slept well. they had real matresses...not foam. living the highlife! that night we walked around a while...5 of us went...and met many people. the people are as sweet and as open as the people in dakar...but hte pace of life is much much slower. and we had this uncanny ability to run into everyone we met at least twice.sunday morning we got up early (partially thanks to the time change) and went to the old city where we hiked up to the old fort and took beautiful pictures. the contrast of mountain and beach is breathtaking...i hadn't realized how much i had missed hiking. then we ate a 3 hr lunch on the beach before an american cruise ship arrived and all it's passengers noisily took over the island and tried to buy everything with dollars. who are these people? we decided to take advantage of these mindless drones by convincing them to buy many trinkets from our new senegalese friend we had met a few hours earlier. the senegalese are everywhere. all you have to do is speak to them in wolof and you have a new best friend. we would be hanging out with her quite a bit. later that afternoon we went to the supermarket where me met a girl in the peace corps who lived in assomada, an inland city we would be visiting the next day. she invited us to stay at her place. sweet! monday, we rented our car and headed for assomada, making lil stops on the way. we tried to find the national botanical gardens but ended up riding around for an hour before giving up. we were directed to a kindergarden (apparents botanical garden and kindergarden sound the same when you are speaking spanish to people who only speak portuguese creole). our endeavor ended us in a valley that houses a small village. this is when the car got stuck. instead of trying to get it out, we decided to take the opportunity to meet the locals and chill with the cows. it was fun sitting back and watching the villagers go along with their daily work. i hope my black and white pics came out. then we commenced the daunting task of rescuing the car that was parked on a rocky incline. success but not without some major scratches (luckily, the rental agency didn't notice). we headed to assomada where me met with kelly, our new peace corps friend, and her peace corps roomies. treated them to dinner and talked forever about the peace corps and cabo verde etc. at the moment i'm thinking i want to join the peace corps but i change my mind everyday. besides, i think my experience would be wholly different if i was sent to cabo verde than if i was sent to say, turkministan.

the next morning we went to kelly's classes. she teaches english to highschoolers, and had the time of our lives. the students were so receptive. we learned a lot about cape verdian youth. then we headed to the beach at tarrafal where we would spend the next 2 nights enjoying the clear water...i swam a lot of laps, laughing at the portuguese spear fisher who scared the daylights out of me when he emmerged from the water in scubadiving gear, wetsuit, harpoon, flippers, and goggles. he came out of no where and he had a hitleresque moustache. weird. his wife looked like a lobster...guess she didn't realize the cabo verdian sun is much more intense than the portuguese sun. i also read one of the most amazing books ever "lief of pi" if u get a chance, read it. i also ate lots and lots of steak...tuna and beef steak. yummy.

thursday we headed back to praia where we chilled until saturday. friday we ran into the same senegalese lady and hung out with her at her market, speaking wolof and having a good ol time. it was interesting to see her passport. she had been to an amazing number of countries. she implores me to go to tunisia. why lookie here, that was next on my list. thurday night we had met a brit working in praia and then ran into him on friday. we woudl hang out with him the whole evening. the brits are very amusing. strange humour. had us rolling. we topped off our week by watching 8 mile. don't ask..it was the only thing playing and was the first american movie i've seen in english since getting here. not as bad as i thought it would be alhto it was easier to understand the portuguese subtitles than the soundtrack since there was something bizarre going on with the sound.
saturday i returned home to find the most beautiful belt on my bed..a present from my host parents who had just gotten back frmo niger. they know my style. so that was my week in a nutshell. u got hte quick version.
i look forward to another charged week. lots of going out since it's my bday soon. this means indian food. ooh la la. that's all i'm gonna say. anwyay, hope to hear frmo yall soon. kisses

maya

Touba (3/26/03)

I have become smart, my friends, I have decided to write this week’s edition on the computer at home, saving my work to disk and emailing it at the cyber cafe. These means that I won’t be as rushed. You might be thinking that this new luxury will allow me to check over what i write and eliminate typos. Ha ha ha. Fat chance my friends.

Anyway, what to recount. I’m practically on vacation. I’ve had only half of my courses this week. Enjoying the highlife. At the moment I’m munching on these new, incredible altoids that my parents sent in my birthday package. Citrus sours tehy are called and they come in an adorable silver andn lime green tin. Can’t stop eating them. Almost all gone. Btw, Mom, Dad, we ate all the chocolate. Went through that baby in a night. It’s dangerous to bring chocolate around teh family. Vultures!!!! We hardly eat any sweets in my house so when we do have candy, it’s every person for herself.

I have also found the tuna stash. Oh yes, tuna, canned tuna. Heaven. Sunday night it appeared out of no where. I made in known just how much i like tuna, and when i woke up this morning, there was a can next to my bed. It’s liek teh toothfairy but better. I’ll be eating tuna for lunch. It’s amazing how happy simple things can make you.

As for this weekend, I went to Touba, the holy city started by Cheikh Amadou Bamba, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, les Mourides. There are four main brotherhoods in Senegal and a lot of smaller ones. Everyone thinks i belong to the bayefalls, which is a renegade sect, known for their dreadlocks, their funky clothes, and for not praying the standard 5 times a day. They are looked down upon by the rest of teh muslim population, being called baye faux ( faux is french for false) and what not. Some don’t even consider them muslim. Real Bayefalls are known for their impeccable work ethic, BayeFaux are known for smoking up and making a lot of noise in the middle of the night. You can hear them from miles away tapping on the tamtams and chanting. But I digress.

Back to Touba. Touba was an experience. We took a tour of teh mosque which is abolutely incredible. We were lucky we got to go inside because it’s usually off-limits to infidels. Teh façade is made of pink marble from portugal and white marble from italy. The ceilings are covered with ceramic tiles. Out of all the mosques i’ve seen, it’s one of my favorites. Of course, stupid me forgot to bring my camera. Our leaving at 645 am threw me off. I can’t function before sunrise. Oh well.

We also got to tour the huge library with tons of religous and philosphical litterature. The trip was enriching, but it also felt like a death march. 110 degree weather while covered from head to toe for modesty’s sake is not a picnic. But i survived. Papa sent me on a mission while in Touba. I had to buy kinkeliba, which is a type of tea. But of course this special tea doesn’t come in tea bags, it comes on branches. So i had to carry 3 foot stalks of tea on public transportation. Everyone laughed at me of course but then again, i got to whack (accidentally of course) people with my merchandise. And since i delivered the goods, i wasn’t disowned.
Sunday, i went to a tae kwon do championship with a senegalese friend. It reminded me of my days of competition. I think i’d rather fight in the states tho, the combattants only wore chess and head protection. When i fought i had wrist guards, shin guards and a mouth piece. Brutal. I thought the women fought better than the men at this particular tourney. Talk about culture shock, more than half the women fought while sporting a full veil. I would think the extra cloth would make teh heat unbearable but they didn’t seem to mind. Most of the senegalese population doesn’t adhere to this more strict form of islam so i was surprised that so many of the fighters did.

So, Friday, Papa is going out of town, I forget where, and Yaay is at a meteorology conference in Niger. This means that the kids get the run of teh house... Party! Unfort, i leave saturday for Cape Verde, not getting to partake in this parental freedom. Pity. Poor me, chillin on the beach in Cape Verde.

Anyway, i think this has been a lengthy enough email but before i go, i will leave y’all with some interesting facts:
Africa is 30.5 million square kilometers (sorry, i don’t know how many miles squared that is but it means that all of Western Europe and North America can fit inside) but only has a population of 600 million people (that’s a little over twice the United States Population. It’s the most underpopulated continent (not including Antarctica of course). There exist between 1500 and 2000 languages (note, these are languages, not dialects). Next week, if i remember, i wil provide some fun facts about Senegal. For know, it’s time to make my tuna fish sandwich. Alhamdullilahi

Maya

10 days to cape verde (3/19/03)

well well well, it's just about spring break time for me and i finally got my plane ticket to cape verde. i had to go thru a little bit of a run around since everyone acts like they have no idea what a credit card is and there's no way in hades i'm gonna pay for a plane ticket in hard cash...but with a little bit of convincing and a lot of trips into town, i finally got my ticket. oh joy. beaches, hiking, snorkeling and portuguese, here i come. i will be going to praia which is the island where all the africans go. sal seems to be where all the european vacationers stay. sal is supposed to be more touristy, and since i'm really not a fan or tourism, i'm looking forward to praia.

this week i gave my first oral presentation while in senegal. i guess it went ok except that the teacher was in a really bad mood when we started (probably because the third member of my group didn't show up to any of the planning sessions or to the interview). with her frown she didn't exactly inspire confidence. and since i'm a nervous wreck before a crowd, i wasn't very amused. to make matters worse, she's not known to give over a b+ or a 13/20 in the european system...but all things considered, i enjoyed my topic. i had to go to a section of the city, medina, and interview the women who grind millet (les pileuses). sounds simple enough except for a little thing called a LANGUAGE BARRIER. this third person, the absentee that i mentioned, was the only one in the group who spoke wolof (my other partner is from Ghana- no wolof there, sidenote: Ghana is anglophone), and the pileuse spoke no french whatsoever. can anyone forsee a slight problem?

so, aroudn 9 45 am saturday i arrive and find my partner francis (as u might recall, that was the name of the pet monkey in my neighborhood). we wait a while in hopes that our distinguished collegue will arrive. no show. we decide to find these pileuses. little do we know that medina spans many city blocks. but no problem, we keep our cool. ask a couple people. no one speaks french. i try some wolof...blank stares. plan b...there's no plan b. keep asking around. find someone who speaks a lil french. leads us to pileuse...not bad but not the pileuse we wanted. we're looking for a special area. ask around again. finally someone knows what we're talking about. he takes us. we ask if he would like to interpret for us. his french is minimal. no problem. we'll conduct the interview in wolof...or die trying. i get through the first 5 questions with no problem...i was actually surprised at how much wolof i actually know. but my extent of wolof does not cover questions like "do you feel that the state takes cares of your basic needs while providing you with the opportunity to support your family back in the village?"

miraculously, the guy who led us to the pileuse was generous enough to find one of his friends to interpret. for 45 minutes this random guy interpreted about 30 questions. the pileuse was more than willing to share her experiences and i got to conduct some hands-on research. along with learning how serious the unemployment problem is in the exterieur of senegal, i learned that you can always count on the senegalese to help you with anything you need. i doubt i could find people any where else to give up almost an hour of their time for two college students wanting to do an oral presentation.

the rest of my weekend was tranquil...more or less. i ate well. a couple birthday parties. I HAD SUSHI!!! yummy. a rap concert with the up and coming artists of senegal, and a candlelight vigil supporting peace. not too shabby.

this weekend, i will be leaving dakar at 6 45 am to go to touba, the holy city. looking forward to touba, not looking forward to the hour. u will have to hear about this experience next time. ba bennin yoon

maya

tamxarit (3/14/03)

So, Senegal is celebrating another religious festival which includes good old fasting, sacrifices (bulls this time...luckily only the mosques sacrifice this go around...i don't think i could've handled watching a bull sacrifice), cross-dressing (yes, you read correctly...this was added later...i don't think the prophet intended for cross-dressing on a holy day), and lots of dancing. Actually, Tamxarit, the holiday, reminds me a lot of Halloween. The children dress up (cross-dress) and go from house to house singing and dancing. Each house gives out rice and money. so there was singing and dancing in the streets and in the houses until 1 am. well, that's when i went to bed anyway.

fasting: i like when my family fasts because that means awesome food at night when everyone breaks the fast. of course, usually my papa is the only one that actually completes the fast. my sisters cheat or don't even try. Yaay (mama) is also fasting this time. She had me rolling on the floor laughing last night as she was in the middle of saying her 1100 prayers...yes, that's 1100 as in one thousand one hundred times of the same prayer. she had a little hand counter to keep track. at 641 she asked me to read the counter to verify she had said 841 prayers. i was the bringer of bad news when i informed her that the 8 she thought she saw was actually a 6. but hey, she had the rest of the night to complete her prayers.

today is a pretty chill day. no class. we celebrated my friend steve's bday with pizza and icecream cake. mmm, icecream cake. then we spent the afternoon planning dakar's anti-war candlelight vigil for sunday. the students from my program have decided to sponser the dakar vigil and are in the process of getting the media involved and as many people as possible. this is part of a world wide vigil that will start in new zealand on sunday and make a wave around the world. not like it will have any effect on the dictatorial US government but it's worth getting our voices out there. i've already rounded up all my senegalese friends. let the protests begin.

on a lighter note, i found out some interesting infomation on my friend, the monkey. i haven't seen him in a while but turns out that his name is francis. he belongs to some french family in the neighborhood..which would make since because i can't see any senegalese person in their right mind owning a monkey. he's a special monkey as well. he's a thief. my sisters were explaining how he hides behind the fruitcart and steals apples from the fruit vendor who then has to chase him away. francis is a persistant little monkey however. as long as he doesn't bite me, i don't care what he does.

well, that's the news for this week. i could go into how i'm trying to plan the rest of my life over the internet (finding a job, figuring out senior thesis, planning graduate school) but i don't want to be reminded of the craziness of it all!!! so until next time,
ta ta mes cheris - ba benin yoon

maya

it's hot hot hot (3/5/03)

oh lordy is it hot. high 90's in the beginning of march. what is going on?!?! i now know why people wear long clothing that covers them up from head to toe in middle eastern countries...that's the only way to survive. so i wear this huge shawl made of thin thin fabric the covers my entire body...and miraculously i stay cool. i look like a hardcore muslim. or course this doesn't keep me from being drenched in sweat and i hear it only gets worse. lucky for me, i will be spending spring break in cape verde, chilln on the beach, listening to portuguese floating in the breeze (it's considerably cooler there), and snorkling. oh goody goody.

what else is going on in life? hmmm, just had art class. as with everything artistic, i always seem to bite off more than i can chew. i didn't calculate the difficulty in attaching real sheep horns to a plaster of paris mask. however, with a wood stick, a whole bunch of wire (glad i got my tetanus shot), and the patience of a gazelle (do gazelles have patience), i managed to create an awesome mask that is nowhere near to being finished. it looks like overtime on this one. that's not a bad way to spend my day however.

speaking of horns, dmbe, the maid, (and no that is not a typo...that's my attempt to spell her name phonetically) is not a big fan of them. i was walking around the house with them, looking for a plastic sack. everytime i came near her she would run away. she screamed once. this is a grown woman mind u. i guess it's not everyday habit to cut off the horns of ur ritual sacrifice, soak them in bleach, and carry them around for an art project. she did give me a plastic sack, though.

as for other matters, i realized i have the coolest family. saturday i planned a little get together at my house, offering food to entice all my friends to come over. no one wants to make the long trip out to the airport. when the 12 of us showed up, the whole family was there, friends of theirs, and a camera crew. when yaay (that's the wolof word for mom) said she was gonna videotape, i thought she meant the family camcorder...no no no. so we had three hours of a camera crew taping us eating...some good ceebu jen (fish and rice), let me tell u, dancing...my sisters and their friends taught us how to dance so that we don't embarass ourselves when we go clubbing, making fataya...it's a pastry, u must try, etc. i'm sending the video home to the parents...happy bday mom. everyone had a wonderful time...but is completely exhausted. i then went directly to a friend's house where i received 3 more hours of dance lessons from the women in the house (this was after my 3 hour dance class that morning), and then to another friend's house for a nuit blanche...which is a slumber party, where i stayed up til 8 am before catching the car rapide home. i was comatose sunday. then, yesterday, i went to a naming ceremony. didn't even see the baby, but ate tons and tons of ceebu yapp (lamb with rice). don't want to think about eating. haven't recovered. and watched the women dance in their boubous. that is the traditional dress.

while on the topic of food...that tends to me what my life revolves around, i'm planning to cook for the family this weekend. i figured it would be no big deal, make some of my famous biriyani, the only thing i ever cook...but everyone keeps teasing me about my cooking. they think i'm gonna poison them or something. hehe. now i really have to do a good job...and for those of you who heard about my brother's birthday cookies i sent him a couple years ago, this could be a problem. may the force be with me.

i'm sure there's a lot of other stuff i could talk about but i think the screen is melting from the heat. so i'll sign off. but stay tuned next time, same bat time, same bat place.

ciao ciao

maya

papa has come home (2/26/03)

papa has returned from mecca, and i got to hear about the whole drip. it sounds like bootcamp meets church. sleeping on the ground with only a light blanket, hiking miles and miles to holy sites, much praying. i could go through the day by day account but that would take hours, hours that i don't have. but if you ever get a chance, you should talk to someone who has completed this pillar of islam, it's quite interesting and warrants respect. i also saw photos from mecca with everyone praying in unison. have u ever seen 3.5 million people praying? have you ever seen 3.5 million people in one location at a given time? He brought back with him holy water, which we all drank. i'm now blessed. i've been blessed by many religions (this includes directly being blessed by the pope). i think i'm in good standing.

anyway, this weekend i went to st. louis, which was a nice experience. we stayed in little bungalows with...water pressure! i had the best shower ever (according to someone who has been taking bucket showers for 2 months) and the body gel they supplied was divine. i was definitely spoiled. we also went to djoudj bird sanctuary, reknown throughout the world. i saw crocodiles and loads of pelicans flying 2 feet from my head. i avoided any bird droppings however.

while on the subject of animals, i'm liking the cows. i think i always have stories about animals, but they are hard to avoid here..and they amuse me. so as i walk to class at the university, there are always cows on the main road, just chilln. some are eating, some just stand there. some look at you as if you're the one that is crazy. adorable.

i also had an interesting experience on the car rapide last night, to reinforce the notion of communal society. i was sitting down and this grandpa got on with two young children. He only had room for the smallest one on his lap, so the young girl was left all alone. As I've seen before, when this situation happens a random person takes the girl and sits her on his lap. I had the honor of taking care of her. she was the sweetest little girl, greeting me and smiling. i held her for about 15 minutes until her stop arrived and she got off with her grandpa. very seldom would someone entrust a random person with her child in the states or in europe. the last time i witnessed this, it was even more impressive because the mother put her child in the car rapide and told the nearest person what stop she needed to get off. the mother then left her child. when the stop arrived, the random person helped the child get off and that's how the story goes.

another culture shock: marriage. no, i'm not married altho there's almost one american student who comes and gets married. anyway, apparently, both parties aren't required to be present for the wedding. for instance, i'm going to the wedding of a friend next weekend whose fiance is in italy. he won't be coming back for 7 months. regardless, she's getting married and moving in with the family next week. at least she knows the fiance. there are the even more shocking cases of people getting married who have never met and don't even meet on their wedding day. all i have to say is deedeet...which means no in wolof. dafa dof. that's crazy. coming from my western take on things.

well, i must leave y'all but i hope i have succeeded in keeping y'all thoroughly entertained. let me know if i'm slipping. love u all

maya

sirpenes survived tabaski (2/20/03)

things are back to normal again, and altho i'm glad that my transportation woes are over, i'm sad to see the festivities end. i am proud to say i watched my first sacrificial killing, skinning included, from start to finish. i thought i wouldn't be able to eat for days after that but sheep is just too tasty. and at least it was a quick and relatively painless death for the sheep, well as painless as death can be i guess. i must remind myself that this holiday doesn't center around killing a sheep, it's just part of a larger tradition. everyone wakes up in the morning. the men...and some women, go to mosque for a special morning prayer (women aren't expected to go since they are preparing the house for the festival...and besides, accordning to islam, women are closer to God than men therefore they don't have to pray as much). It was very touching to watch the service from my window and see the little children follow behind their parents in prayer. then, everyone returns home to get ready for the sacrifice. my job was to stoke the coals for the grill. hot hot hot. it's interesting to see the importance of community here. everyone has a job and works in harmony with everyone else. dinner was ready around 1. we ate, and ate, and ate. oooh, i ate tooo much. then we slept before dressing up for the evening. the main reason people celebrate tabaski is to ask for forgiveness from their neighbors. everyone goes to their friends house and say "baal ma ak" -- "please forgive me for any wrong i have done you, knowingly or unknowingly." then you eat more sheep. speaking of sheep, i hid sirpenes in my dresser for the whole weekend. he finally saw daylight the other day. now my sisters are really nice to him. hehe.

this past weekend i also had the opportunity to go to djifer, palmarin, and joal. we rode in canoes through mongroves, saw teh birthplace of leopold senghor in joal. joal was interesting because it's 90 percent catholique while senegal is 90 percent muslim. we also had time to chill on the beach before attending a traditional wrestling match in the village. there, we danced with the local children and enjoyed listening to the jembe drums. tomorrow i leave for st louis, the former capital of senegal which still has the colonial style in architecture. personally, i am glad to be leaving for the weekend to escape the stay puffed marshmellow man that lives in my sink. apparently, left over soap residue has built up in the pipes. each time you turn the water on, the growing fluffy mask oozes out of the drain and creeps up the side of the sink bowl. since i was young i've feared white fluffy massive substances, hence my negative reaction to sour cream and, at one point, clouds. while i've overcome this childhood fear, i can't stand turning on the sink until the problem is fixed. i think the plumber is coming today however. saved at last. (if this story made no sense, forgive me :-)

anyway, that's all for today. i look forward to hearing from y'all!

maya

tons of grilled lamb coming my way (2/11/03)

so tomorrow is the sheep festival. i've never seen so many sheep in so little space in my life. and just think, they all will be ritually slaughtered tomorrow. i have sirpenes under lock and key. no one is getting to him. and foolish me, i have begun to befriend the cute innocent sweet sheep in the neighborhood. i have refrained from naming them however, making their untimely death even more painful for me. of course, i'll be just as content as ever to partake in the scrumptious grilled lamb. i can't shake my love of meat. i am texan you know...even tho i don't often admit it.

anyway, things are going along nicely for tabaski (sheep festival) even tho the city is packed with people from teh villages coming in to buy their sheep. this means that transportation is awful. it took me an hour to get to class this morning. oh the pain. but oh well. on a happier note, i got my dress for the tabaski. i had bought the fabric and took it to the tailor along with a sketch of what i wanted. i'm pleased with the result. now everyone wants me to design their dresses. maybe i can make a living as a fashion designer for the rest of my stay here. hmmmm. i also got a cell phone. they were having a promotion. so if anyone wants to call...since u all call anyway..haha. it's 698 7900. i forget the country code. but i'm not really expecting anyone to call so i guess it's not a problem.

this weekend i went to lac rose, this extremely red lake due to the salt content. it's supposed to be as salty as the dead sea. you can sit on top of the water. strangeness. teh whole experience was nice. we stopped at a friend's house on the way for lunch and then took motos to the lake. ahhh, motos are always so liberating. the wind in your hair, yadda yadda.

needless to say, i'm having a good time. but i miss you all dearly. anyway, my stomach is calling. i smell rice with fish in the air. yummmmy! i'll be writing yáll after the tabaski...sometime next week i hope...that's if i don't burst from eating too much sheep. eeek

maya

eeeek! never enough time (2/5/03)

sorry guys, this will be a short email but action packed of course. i'm having another great week. about to go to art class to finish my batik project. this weekend was crazy. i decided to be adventurous and go to a little coastal town 3 hrs away with some friends. that sounds harmless enough but as with everything in senegal, it was an experience. they don't have the type of transportation i'm used to: buses, trains, etc. well they do, but if u want to go for bargains, and everyone does, u take this thing called a sept place. it's basically a station wagon that can transport 7 people. but there's not a set price. u spend 30 min bargaining, walking away many times before you finally decide on a price. 7 of us go a round trip fare for 25 bucks. that's 6 hrs for less than 4 dollars a person. amazing. when we arrived to this lil town, mboro, we found these adorable little huts, where we spent the night. we had the whole place to ourselves since it was off season, took over the bar, played whatever cds we had and danced the night away after a huge meal. yumm-my. the next morning we woke up early, walked along the beack, collected shells, read for our lit class and talked to random people. we met one guy who lived a lil ways down the beach who took us into the village to eat. he also gave me a bag of shells for my hair. now i'm styling. what was really surprising was that our driver actually showed up at the agreed upon time the next day and we made it back to dakar in one piece. life is good.

on a more serious note, but stranging comforting in a weird way...friday night one of the girls in the program was mugged....well more or less. teh attacker tried to steal her camera. she began to scream help, however, and about 10 guys ran to her rescue and chased the attacker down. i have never lived anywhere where people actually come to your aide when you yell help. anyway, nothing was stolen and everything was fine. of course, i don't want to test the calling for help system personally but it's good to know that there is always someone there to help if need be.

anyway, this weekend i'm going to a lake near dakar where the water is supposed to be red. some weird reflection thingy. then the next two weeks we have group trips to saint louis, the ancient capital of senegal, and joal, where leopold senghor, former president, was raised. i'm looking forward to both trips. and in 2 weeks, papa gets back from mecca. unfort, i will miss the big celebration, being in saint louis in all, but it should be fun.
well, time is up but i look forward to hearing from yáll. mmuuaahh

maya

almost february (1/30/03)

i just realized it's almost february. things are going soooo fast. eeek. classes are in full swing now. i feel like i'm in class all the time but i'm enjoying all of them so no complaints from me. i'm spending extra hours at the art studio and the professor said i can come any time i want to paint of work on class projects. im getting into the routine of things. cutting down on going out. i thought spain had a night life..but nothing compares to here. good grief. i started my african dance class. talk about a work out. 3 hours of hard core moving, which i get to practice in the clubs. there;s a nice mix of traditional african dance and modern everyday club dancing at the nite clubs. and the music is amazing.

sorry i don't have any interesting animal stories this week. the animals are on strike for the moment. i do want to take time to explain the transportation, however. it's this strange system that is found only in dakar and works amazingly. we have these vans called car rapides that hold about 30 people at a time. don't expect to have personal space. it doesn't exist in senegal. you don't have set stops like you would expect. people just seem to know when to get on and off. there's a different price depending on how far u go so u always hear people arguing in wolof about how much their fare is. now that i learned my numbers and the monetary units (which are impossible) i'm much more vocal when i get jipped 25 cfas...which is basically all the time. but i'm on to their game. hehe. you have to try the car rapide to understand the full intrigue. i personally think they are a wonderful form of transportation.

anyway, i must go but i'll be back next week, with my reflections.

maya

subject: animals (1/22/03)

i've had an another amazing week. i've been putting the finishing touches on my first art project, and now i'm about to go to the tailor to get my dress made for the tabaski...the sheep festival. on a side note, i found sirpenes, my stuffed sheep, hanging by a rope from the ceiling last nite. so i spent the rest of the evening carrying him on my back in the traditional cloth tying way that the women carry their babies. anyway, i am becoming a bargaining pro. i found this exquisite fabric (green- just like u like mother) but the starting price was 35000 cfas, roughly 50 bucks for 6 meters. i started at 8000. and i walked away with 13000....more or less 20 bucks! my family said i did well. even better than my sisters who just give up and buy at the more expensive price. anyway, i made a couple of sketches for my outfit and will see what the tailor can do. exciting!

anyway, about the animals. last thursday i was walking down my street to the car rapide which is my main form of transportation (i will explain how this car rapide phenomenon works in a moment being that the most interesting parts of my day usually evolve around them) when all of a sudden i felt something nipping at my feet. i looked down and lo and behold, there was a monkey. i veered left, he followed, i faked right, he took the bait. and then i ran. to the amusement of all the neighbors. a monkey!?!?!? the monkey chased me half way down the street until he got bored and stalked off. upon telling my family this story later that evening, they responded nonchalantly with, oh yah, that's the neighbors monkey. i asked if it was strange to have a monkey. they said that this was senegal. anything is possible. my sister then added that this particular monkey was crazy and i should avoid him. point taken. his lil mischeivous smile and sharp teeth are better if seen from a far.

of course, that same day as i was riding into town we were held up by a herd of sheep (do sheeps go in herds) who were crossing the street. pandamonium. sheep aren't very adept at the art of street crossing. and then the next day, there were 10 cows running loose down the busiest street in dakar. i should've had my camera. the clash of big city modern life and rural traditional life is astounding.

yesterday, we had a cultural orientation to explain some of the craziness. i must say it was the best cultural orientation i have ever had. i learned so much..which i will be sharing in later emails. i also met one of the lead children's authors in senegal who just received a huge prize for his work. children's lit is what i've been wanting to do with my life for the last 2 years so i talked to him and i might be able to strike up an internship. snaps!
by the way, my new name is maymuna...given to me by the family. it's may faye for short. it rhymes. i like that.
on to some interesting facts. dakar has virtually no crime. the worst you have to worry about is petty pickpocketing. there are no murders, few robberies, very few abuse claims. i'm still trying to figure out why the crime rate is so low. the senegalese like to attribute it to the strong influence of islam, which creates a very hospitable state. therefore, you always have a place to stay, food to eat, etc, cutting down on the need to steal. also, people don't seek revenge because chances are, one of your family members knows one of the family members of the person you are angry with. we learned yesterday that when you marry, u don't marry a person, you marry their whole family. judging by the amount of visitors we have each day, this is no joke.
anyway, i have sooo much more to say but i must run. no credit left. i will try to write another email this week to finish up.

ps- the wedding was nice, a lil long but nice. and the outfits were amazing!
the nightlife is insane. i didn't get home before 5 am either night, and that was because i left early. sunday is sleep day...and beach day. yaaaaay.

btw, classes are going well.

maya
miss you all

Na nga def (1/15/03)

How did yáll like my wolof intro. I started Wolof which is the major language in Senegal. Everyone tells me it is easy, that is the Senegalese tell me it is easy, because it doesn't really have verb tenses, but the constructions are so different from what I'm used to, that it will take me forever to get it down. However, people are very helpful and I get to practice quite often.

For those of you who didn't receive last week's email, tell me and I will send you a copy. i think i finally have the address book straight.

I wanted to make a correction from last week. Someone noted that I had written:"you think of slavery and then you see the present day senegalese who hold themselves to high." That should read "who hold themselves so high" I know i'm the master of typos but when it changes the meaning of something i really want to get across, i want to correct it.

So anyway, where do i begin? i'm finally getting over my initial culture shock altho i had a relapse when i couldn't get the phoneline to work last weekend. but i'm over it and enjoying all the great things senegal has to offer. i've begun to make many friends and since everyone is so open and kind, that's very easy. some new friends took me to a party last saturday where i spent most of my time to watch soccer, for those of you who didn't know, i'm a huge soccer fan, but did make it out to the courtyard to see how the senegalese dance. it's amazing. i've never seen people move so fast and in so many directions. supposedly, i'll be learning how to do this but i don't think it's possible for me. we shall see! i'm going to a wedding this saturday and will surely have stories to tell next week about that. i have no idea what to wear however. the people get megadressed up for class so i would hate to see what they sport for fancy events.

i started classes this week which i'm really enjoying. i'm taking a french translation course, african civ, african lit, afr music and dance, wolof, and an awesome art class. today we learned traditional dyeing tecniques. i got to play with wax which is always fun. then we all sat around and drank tea. how else would i spend 4 hours?
i'm integrating into the family well. joking around a lot and being the butt of many jokes...my sisters are real pranksters. i'm also enjoy hanging out with the maids. i still don't like the fact that people wait on me so i always insist on doing things myself, but it's nice to know that they are basically a part of the family. the other night the kids and the maids shared the same bowl for our evening meal...a true sign of community and collectivity. i really like the family style eating practice because you bond in a certain way that you don't feel when you have separate plates.

one thing i can't get used to is the trash on teh floor method. there are no trash cans. u just leave whatever trash on teh floor and the maids pick it up the next day when they make every inch of the house spotless. i think i should ask for a trashcan.

i had finally added shells to my dreadlocks. been saying i would do this for a while and finally have. i needed a change.

fun fact: in february is the sheep festival. u wil never see sooo many sheep! apparently, everyone in dakar feeds sheep all year around just to slaughter them this one day and eat sheep meat all day long. everyone gets dressed up and parties. the idea is intriguing yet i worry about my stuffed sheep sirpenes who has joined me on my senegal adventure. for those of you who don't know, my stuffed sheep goes everywhere. some of you might have seen him in my photos. well, my sisters find it quite amusing that i have a stuffed sheep and threaten to slaughter him along with the live sheep. so every time i come home tehy hang him out the window and tell me how he will not be spared. i think i'll be shipping him back to the states ;-)

i have so much more i want to say but it will have to wait until next week. i'm out of time. i wish you all a great week!

I have arrived – he llegado! (1/6/03)

friends and family -- amigos

I have finally gotten settled in senegal and am sending out a group email. i have been here for about 3 days but it seems like longer. i think this is because the country is soo open. i've never met a more inviting people. there's so much physical contact and everyone talks to everyone. people rave about southern hospitality but u ain't seen nothing yet. people are always helpful especially when you attempt to speak wolof. i speak all of 10 words but it's the attempt that counts. actually, i can say most of the basics..like "i am hungry" which is always important. the language is so melodic that you can't help but want to learn. and my 3 sisters are always willing to help.

the family is really sweet, upper class thus i live far from the center (my main gripe being that it takes almost an hour to arrive to some of my classes but i'm gonna get major excerise --glass half full--) my host mom works in meteorology and my host dad works for an aviation organization sorta like the FAA. that's how he explained it anyway. i have 3 sisters, 22, 18, 16. and a 20 yr old bro. at the moment i share a room with the 3 sisters so it's fun to hear them gossip and to share stories with them. it's weird to hear them switch back and forth from french to wolof. i have to stay on my toes. with in the family they prefer to speak in wolof but to include me they will switch to french. however, they occasionally slip back into wolof but that will force me to learn it quicker.
i'm getting used to a different lifestyle. i never knew bucket showers could actually do the job. of course i could use the shower but it's very cold and i can heat the bucket water. using a cup to bathe takes getting used to but i've turned pro. the senegalese are very into cleanliness so many take two showers a day. with all the dust and sand you just about have to.

speaking of sand, i went to goree island this past weekend. i think every american needs to go here, the point of no return for the 12 to 15 million africans sold into slavery. of these, 1/4 to 1/3 died in transit. seeing the conditions and the shackles, i felt part of history, one of the darkest in the history of man. you think of slavery and then you see the present day senegalese who hold themselves to high. it's a weird contrast.

speaking of the senegalese, i have NEVER visited a country with so many beautiful people. the women are absolutely gorgeous. always dressed to the nine in vibrant colors. for a muslim country you wouldn't expect the freeness of dress. but u know it's a muslim country by the 5 am call to prayer EVERY MORNING. unfort, my caller has a very raspy voice which is unpleasant to wake up to. back to the people...the men are gorgeous as well, thus you have gorgeous children running around and they are some of the most well-behaved children i have ever seen. i hardly hear any crying and there are plenty of babies here! family is the most important thing to the senegalese.

food is another great topic. if you like fish and seafood, this is the place to be. yummy is all i'm gonna say.

my classes start wed so i can't talk about them yet but i have the opportunity to take a course with a very prominent senegalese artist. we visited her workshop today. being that i brought all my paints, including the terpintine that spilled all over my clothes, i look forward to painting.

the people in teh program are amazing. out of the 4 study abraod programs i've done, i think i relate to these 16 the best. it takes a different breed of person to go to Africa to live. no offense to those of you i met on study abroad programs!

anyway, my time is running out so i must go but i look forward to hearing how ur semesters are going. have a great new year!

maya