Tabaski: Avant

Hi All.

I know it's hard to believe- after just one class at university I'm already on my first week vacation, but the rumors are true: I'm working hard (or hardly working) at being a chill senegalese.

Travel from campus to Dakar was easier said than done. What should have been a 4-5 hour ride turned into 9 hours due to horrendous traffic jams. The influx of people visiting family in Dakar for Tabaski is worsened by the fact that there is only one way in and one way out of this peninsula. After roasting in that oven of a bus for 5 hours we acheter'd some bag waters and I plugged back into my ipod in an attempt to conk out. Partially successful since I napped for about the first three hours, but that still left me the last of the 9 hours fully alert and hotter than camel's hump in the desert.

Strange sight: HUNDREDS UPON THOUSANDS of sheep. I'll explain later.

Now back I'm back in Dakar and preppin' for Tabaski. Moutons ahoy! Pictures of my super fly bubu to follow after its premier. Get excited folks.

Halloween, African Style.

The lovely Kate, who got VERY, VERY sunburned. Massa, Kate, massa...

(Massa being an expression of sympathy.)

Eating xaal wolof (watermelon) on the beach.

Man with his heard of 30 cows that were just sauntering down the beach. They walked over our buried watermelons.

Atlantic ocean, Joleen, Xaal wolof, and me.

Burying the watermelon in an attempt to cool it down. After sitting in the sun for an hour is was too hot to eat. Cue the heard of cows.

My other best friend here, Modou. Ridiculously smart. Also very strong- he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder like it was no big deal. He's a funny one, that Modou.

Vigorously applying sunscreen in an attempt to not get sunburned. Verdict: Unsuccessful. End Result: Very Tan.

Andrew, friend from UW, and the only boy on our program.

My INCREDIBLY funny senegalese friend, Mas. The gentle giant as we like to refer to him.

Joleen with a crab that the boys had a fun time catching. Faites attention au pincers.

Senegalese fishing boats called 'pirogues.' They are colorfully painted and HUGE. The fishermen go out in these everyday and return with tons of fish.

No News is Good News

Hey All!

It's me, Hannah. Just saying Asalaamalekum from Senegal. Spent the first week of November going to the beach, picking classes, making friends, eating what they call " food" at the cafeteria, drinking attaaya, avoiding mosquitos, and taking copieuse amounts of naps.

Basically like college life back in WI, minus the whole it's 90degrees+ in Novemeber thing .

I'll write more soon but i've been too busy doing nothing. It's the whole Africa chill scene they've got going on. I dig it.

Starting classes for real on Monday. We'll see how that goes.

Love.

Gej naa leen gis! ( I miss you all!)

Hannah Tubaab Jayfonde

Preparedness(Thanks Mom!)/L'Ecole de la Rue

(Children at L'Ecole de la Rue)

Hi All!

Just hanging out before class and I figure I'd give you an update on how I've been doing lately.

For the past two days I have had a massive cold that turned into a fever of 101.4˚F this morning. Cue: 12 hour pseudoephed, dayquil, nyquil, and theraflu ( conveniently apple cinnamon flavored- it's about as close as I'll get to apple cider for now.) My mom helped me pack my suitcase full of every medicine I'd ever need, and that certainly came in handy- Thanks Mom. The fever has come down and I'm back to normal! Too bad I haven't been able to enjoy life to the fullest these past two days since I felt like the walking dead.

Life has been laid back as usual. Yesterday, Joleen, Andrew, and I headed to Ngor beach (where Akon lives.) It was beautiful and we passed the massive statue on the way. [ See: Statue ] It certainly is astounding, but: " Wade announced that he, as "intellectual creator," would be taking 35 percent of all tourist revenue the state monument earns.

Supporters say the giant statue will draw tourists but critics charge the colossus — estimated to cost $27 million and built by North Koreans — highlights how disconnected Wade, 83, has become from the daily struggles of Senegalese citizens."

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I also took a tour of a street school last week in one of the poor districts in Dakar. We had a lesson on the Senegalese school system before we went but it didn't really prepare us for what we were going to see. We took taxis from the Baobab Center over to one of the poor, working districts near downtown. We had to walk the rest of the way because there were no roads where we were going.

Wooden shacks lined with newspapers- so crowded next to each other. Tin roofs and dirt walkways winding through a maze of dark allies between houses. A river of dark, sewage filled water wove its way in and out of front yards and garbage pilled up in amazing quantities, haphazardly strewn and left to rot. It was really a lot to take in.

We wove our way through the many shacks falling on top of one another, and came to an opening where we were met by 30 screaming children and their teacher. It was the first day of school so everyone was rowdy, and on top of that we probably one of the few tubaabs (white people) they had ever seen. This school was run by one man who donated his time to help teach children who couldn't go to school because they had no way of getting there. The parents of these children were part of the poor, working class. The teacher would lead one class during the mornings for children, and one at night (power-outages permitting) for adults who wanted to learn to speak and write French.

Public schools in Senegal leave a lot to be desired. Classrooms that are built for 50 usually hold 300 or more with just one teacher. All classes are taught in French, which is a challenge for those who come from poorer regions and only know Wolof or Pulaar. No real teaching or learning is accomplished due to the sheer inadequacy of the system. If a family is wealthy enough, they will send their children to private catholic schools where enrollment is limited and the teachers are more effective. Even muslim families send their children to catholic schools if they have the means. My host family is fortunate enough to have that opportunity, so all of my brothers, sister, and cousins attend catholic school.

It was an intense experience to say the least. It really made me appreciate my schooling that I had back in the US and take a moment to realize just how fortunate I really am.

Die Another Day, Inshallah.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Let me tell you about a creepy thing that happened to me two nights ago. I MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE BEEN CURSED BY AN EVIL DEMM (aka sorcerer who causes harm and chaos.)

Theresa, Joleen, and I were all sitting in the open courtyard of Joleen and Theresa's house. It is good to preface this story with the fact that Mama Astu Diop sells fataya (a delicious fried pastry filled with meat) so many people come in and out of the courtyard on a daily basis.

A woman entered and greeted Joleen, Theresa, and I. At the time we did not notice that she only greeted us and not the rest of the family. That is a very bad sign since it is incredibly rude to only greet a few and ignore many. She began helping us put elastics in Theresa's hair, since we were trying to finish up her tresses.

Creepy and eerie are two understatements when attempting to describe this woman. Dressed in all black, with a black head scarf, and a tattoo of three lines under her right eye, she spoke no French. We haven't learned enough wolof to have a conversation yet, so the only word she uttered that we actually understood was "tomorrow."

Joleen started to notice something was strange about this woman and her host brother Talisto was trying to motion to her that this woman was not to be interacted with. The woman left abruptly and this is when we really started to understand just how creepy she was.

She only touched us. She only greeted us. She ignored the rest of the family. She had very bad vibes about her. Heebie jeebies to the max.

After she left the family asked if we knew her at all and we said we definitely did not. We thought she was there to buy fataya or that someone in the family knew her. In our culture lesson we learned about demms (evil sorcerers) and this woman seemed to fit the description to a tee. Joleen, Theresa, and I were thoroughly freaked out. We were 100% ready to go and buy gris-gris. (Gris-gris are charms that have had spells cast upon them for protection. You can get them for a range of different situations.)

Talisto, Joleen and Theresa's host brother, didn't help at all because he convinced us that the strange woman in black was a demm and that she had cursed us to death and we were all going to die tomorrow. He was kind enough to inform us after about an hour of sheer panic that he was kidding, but we were still scared senseless.

I waited to post this until today to make sure I was still alive, considering the fact I was pretty sure that some freak accident was going to happen yesterday and I was going to die. I survived, thank heavens.

Joleen and I asked one of our Wolof professors today about what was up with the lady in black. He said that she was most likely from Mali and a demm. Tubaab (white person) hair is highly sought after for use in potions and amulets. The hair that she probably took from Theresa would be used in spell, but that it could not be used to hurt her, just to make the spell more powerful. Funny thing is the woman in black probably just got part of Theresa's weave since she has fake hair woven into her tresses. HA! Take that evil lady.

So, to wrap up this long post: I'm alive to fight another day, inshallah (God willing.)

The Five Senses of Dakar: Part II Sounds (Music)

Just giving you a taste of three songs that echo Dakar right now:

1. My Jam- Electric Feel (Justice Remix)- MGMT. Just rocking out to this right now http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DdDKtKw9B8
2. My Life- Real Life- Tanlines. Thanks to my friend Joleen for giving me this song. Digging it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtijpfnJzMo
3. Africa- Waka Waka- Shakira. This song is incredibly popular and everyone knows it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRpeEdMmmQ0
4. Bonus Track- Oh Africa- Akon. Joleen pulled this and it seemed relevant because Akon is from Senegal. He actually lives in Ngor which is only a short jaunt from my house in Mermoz. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI4sDx6SGwA

Enjoy!

Transportation

Transportation here is awesome. Taxis cost $3.00 max to go anywhere in the city. Even cheaper are the buses and car rapides. Busses run on no apparent timetable and have no indicated stops and/or maps with routes. Apparently they come every half hour-ish and you are just supposed to know where they go. But, at only 150 cfa ~ 30 cents, it’s hella cheap. Just take a Senegalese friend who knows what’s up. Same goes for the car rapides, which I prefer because they are way more baller. It’s this old van/ bus looking thing decked out in bright colors with streamers hanging off the back and jam packed with people. A boy called the apprenti hangs quite literally from the back of the bus and shouts the general direction where the car rapide is headed. You hop on and pay your 100cfa ~20cents and if you’re lucky you can sit down, otherwise you get to stand squished between lots of other gross bodies. To get off at a stop you take a coin and rap the metal ceiling to let the driver or apprenti know you’re getting off. The apprenti then smacks the side of the bus a few times for good measure to make sure the driver knows what’s up. You hop off and bam! you’re at your destination (generally.) No windows or seatbelts required.

There are no stop signs, traffic lights, speed limits, or any discernible traffic laws. Lanes are marked (sometimes) but one-lane roads are often turned into two lanes when taxis and cars just pass each other as they please. It’s like the whole entire country is playing chicken with their vehicles. Aggressive driving to say the least. On my walk to the Baobab Center in the morning I get to cross the VDN which is 6 lanes traffic, both directions. It’s exactly like playing frogger. Cars rule the road here and people don’t believe in crosswalks (since there aren’t any anways.) That, and the government apparently didn’t believe in building sidewalks when they created this road system. Walking is a multitasking feat. You can either look at all your surroundings and trip every two feet, or you can look at your feet and stay level but not get to check anything out. Sidewalks don’t exist and the side of the road that kind of resembles a sidewalk half of the time is covered in rubble, a puddle, garbage, or sheep. People don’t believe in garbage cans here so if you have trash you just throw it on the ground where you are. I have a feeling I’m not going to be able to embrace that habit during my stay here.