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
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
posted by maya at 6:57 PM
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