Excerpts from Update #1, Dakar, January 07
Yesterday we saw a wrestling match, which is a really big deal here. It was so funny because the wrestler everyone was rooting for was called Tyson, and his symbol was the American Flag so everyone was waving the flag and wearing flag bandannas. They loved us because we were American! It was so funny!
My family is very nice, and I have my own room with a bathroom next to it that I think other people use but I haven't seen anyone in yet. Everyone loved their gifts. Mere Oulimata sprayed so much perfume on her hand to smell it and then wiped it all over Papi's face, the 7 year old cousin because she thought it smelled so good. He liked it too. Then she plopped a huge
amount of talcom powder on her hand and smelled it and put it on her face. It was so funny! She had white powder on her nose the whole rest of the time we talked! She is very thin and doesn't have a husand. There is now a girl from Georgia living in the house also and she told me that Mère Oulimata is divorced, which is very unusual. I dont know much about all the family stories. Papi's mother is in Paris but Im not sure what she does there. I also think she is much younger than his father, Oumar, who is 50. I see the grandmother once in a while, but her accent is very hard for me to understand so we don't talk much. The house is nice and I can always hear the goats baaaing behind the house and the roosters in the morning, and sometimes I hear the call to prayer. My family is Muslim, and they just celebrated the holiday Toubaski where they kill lamb/sheep/goat (mouton) and give the meat to families who cannot afford it. The food here
is pretty good. The meat has a lot of fat on it which I don't like eating but besides that I like the food a lot. I also really like the people in my program. They're really nice and super interesting.
We also went to Gorée Island which was very pretty but very touristy. Everyone just wants you to buy buy buy! Things are very cheap here. I bought a bottle of water for 50 cents this morning. There are about 500 CFAs to the dollar, and even more to the Euro. Dakar itself is not very pretty and there are a lot of fumes from all the traffic (mom if you think Boston is bad, oof!) but there are beautiful plants everywhere and the women wear the most beautiful clothes! This
morning was the first morning I walked to the WARC (school) without a family member - it was me and Jeremy, a boy in the program who lives near me. It was so exciting and we didnt get lost once! His brother is very nice and has been the one to walk us here for the past few days. He said that he would take me along next time their family went to a choral concert (their family is catholic). I also met a neighbor yesterday who brought me to the telecentre so I could call home, and when I told her I liked Dakar and hopefully would come back she got excited and told me she would have to find me a Senegalise husband so i would have family to come back to. She was so nice, her name is Nabo and I hope to see more of her. Im not sure how old she is, because she was visiting Mére Ouli, but she seemed much younger than her. Anyway, it was nice to talk with such a friendly person.
Well, Ive written a lot so Ill stop for now. I should have more internet access as classes begin and we spend more time at the WARC. Love to everyone!!!
Bisous!
Becky
ps - i typed this whole e-mail on a french keyboard! c'nest pas facile!
No comments:
Post a Comment