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
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
posted by maya at 6:59 PM
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