Hello All

Just saying a quick hello before heading out to try to watch the Super Bowl.

I'm alive and well, and I assure you far away from any danger that's happening up in Egypt and Tunisia. I'm all the way on the other side of what is a very, very large continent.

Keeping busy with school and generally just hanging out.

Went on a holy pilgrimage to the city of Touba. I'll write all about that soon, hopefully within a few days. It was pretty amazing, although I ended up with an intestinal infection as a result.

Well, I'm off to try to go watch the Packers win the Super Bowl, inshallah. Hopefully some television around campus will be nice enough to air the game on Canal+.


Lots of love and I'll post more soon!

Hannah

Fesman3

Hi guys! I’ve got to do a lot of catching up on my blog since I was in Dakar for the holiday break (which meant I actually had something to do, so I was out and about for most of the past couple weeks.)

3em Festival Mondial des Arts Negres (also known as Fesman3) was happening in Senegal, and apparently other countries in Africa (although I can’t confirm this.) There were concerts, cinema, literature readings, theatre performances, dance exhibitions, art galleries, and architecture conferences all relating to African roots and all free to the public.

I had a chance to go to three of the concerts. One was a hip-hop concert located at an old cookie factory (this was by far my favorite concert.) Another was at Place de l’Obélisque with the ancient rap star Busta Rhymes and also at the Obélisque I attended a concert with Magic System, a group from Cote d’Ivoire.

The Magic System and Busta Rhymes concerts were both awesome. Busta Rhymes played a bunch of old school rap that my friend Bamba had a great time shouting all the lyrics to. Magic System was a great group that played more traditional music- impossible drum beats, on-stage dancers who danced mbalax better than I have seen anyone dance, and rhythms so infectious the only thing you can do is dance. [Mbalax is a type of Senegalese dance that involves ridiculous flexibility, very sultry lower body movements, and lots of energy. I will try to find a video to post of some mbalax dancing. It’s truly incredible. On a relevant side note- every Senegalese I have met has been born with rhythm in their blood. I have not met a Senegalese who doesn’t know how to dance. I don’t know how they do it. I look like I have hip dysplasia compared to these people. My friend Modou is going to try to teach me how to dance mbalax before I come back home, inshallah.]

The best concert, by far, was the hip-hop concert at the Biscuiterie. Featured were: Tigrm B, Nixx, Matador, Daara J Family, and special guest Rick Ross. Kate and I came with her host brother and sister. Bro was working for the festival so he was able to get backstage and get pictures with some of the artists. He decided to see if he could get us backstage too, so he disappeared for a while. In the meantime, Kate, Sis, and I danced and had a great time listening to hip-hop in French and wolof. Bro returned with two guest passes. Success!

We walked behind some port-a-potties that way he could give us the passes without the guards seeing. With passes in hand we attempted to enter through security but the route was barred so we had to find another way to get in. Right next to the aforementioned port-a-potties was an open window that led to the security room. Kate, Bro, and I hopped on through and said hello to the security guards eating dinner before casually walking out the other door that lead to the back area. Gotta love Senegal.

One security checkpoint down, two to go. We sauntered past the second set of guards but were stopped at the third, the last hurdle standing between us and all-access-backstage-awesomery. Bro was able to pass since he had a worker’s badge, but since ours were mere guest passes, we were not allowed back because there were too many celebrities, or something like that. Bro disappeared for five minutes while he tried to finagle our entrance, but with no success. We walked back through the maze of old warehouse buildings and back to the security room to jump out the window, but not before the old security guard manning the video monitors managed to throw out a marriage proposal because he wanted a tubaab wife. I used the standard line of “I’ve got a Senegalese husband from _________. His name is __________. Next time though.” [I’ve found that if I try to use an invented American husband that usually prompts the proposer to claim I need a Senegalese husband because they are better.] I was also conveniently wearing my fake wedding ring, so that sealed deal and I was allowed to hop back through the window.

So it looked like backstage access was out of the question (I wasn’t about to try and sprint past the very muscular and very intimidating guards blocking the only other entrance) but that didn’t mean I wasn’t about to dance like a crazy fool. I got a few weird looks from some Senegalese girls, but who cares? I was having an awesome time dancing like there was no tomorrow.

The rappers were excellent, although I did have to question their street cred because they would address the audience by saying: “Faites du bruit biscuiterie!” which translates to: “Make some noise cookie factory!” I found it quite hilarious that these large and very hip rappers were holding a concert at a cookie factory, but c’est la vie.

Much to my surprise and excitement, my friends Modou, Joleen, and Andrew showed up out of the middle of nowhere and joined us in crazy dancing. (Apparently the concert was full by the time Modou showed up so Joleen had to pull a sassy Senegalese move and argue with the guard for about a half hour before they let Modou in on the grounds that he was Joleen’s fiancé. Not really true, but all in the name of hip-hop.)

During one of the sets, one of the rappers shouted: “Raise your hand if you love being African!” Kate and I sort of just stood there looking awkward (we were one of only a handful of white people surrounded by a bunch of Senegalese people at a hip-hop concert. It’s like we were the minivan attempting to hide itself in a Porsche dealership. Not possible.) Either way, Kate and I just sort of stood there not knowing what to do, until the guy in front of us turned around and said, “Why aren’t your hands raised? You’re black on the inside!” That got a chuckle out of us and we put our hands up and joined in the festivities.

Crazy dancing by all of us until 3am. Rick Ross had been rumored to be the final artist appearing, but no one was really sure if he was actually going to show. At around 4am he finally rolled on stage (literally… he’s quite large.) His publicist didn’t do a very good job of informing him of where he was because he decided that “I am going to dedicate this song to the people of this city, in this country!” Way to be specific, Rick Ross. He also kept asking the crowd “Can I get a Roseeeeeeeeeee?” (referring to the wine.) No sir, you may not, this is a Muslim country.

And so, after about seven hours of dancing, I was exhausted and the concert finally ended around 4:30am. Walked home on my tired, tired feet and passed out within a matter of minutes of putting my head on the pillow.

I’ve included the link to my favorite song from Daara J Family that way you can get a taste of the concert (click here) (Bayi Yoon translates to something along the lines of "Fathers of the Past" it's about remembering your roots.) That concludes this very long post about 3em Festival Mondial des Arts Negres. Congratulations if you read the whole thing. I hope all of you are enjoying the beginnings of 2011 (even if we did lose the Rose Bowl…).

Love,

Hannah

Gej Naa La Gis (Long Time No See)

Hi All-

It's been a long while since I've last posted. Since the last time:

• The strike finally ended (6 weeks in total) which means classes will start up again when I return to school on the 2nd
• I went to the 3em Festival Mondial des Arts Negres in Dakar which meant some really awesome concerts fo free (Rick Ross, Daara J Family, Busta Rhymes, and many others.)
• Celebrated Christmas with my friends in Dakar- a lovely dinner with some friends, a ridiculous christmas with Kate, Joleen, Andrew, and Joleen's friend Karolina (who has come to visit us for a month.)
• Took an interesting vacation to The Gambia for four days which involved a very sketchy hotel, a gourmet dinner, sandy beaches, and many weird things- details to come in my next post
• I spent a pretty relaxed New Years Eve in Dakar. Watched Pineapple Express with Kate and ate some ice cream. All of the residents of Dakar (or so it seemed) had bought cheap fireworks at the market so at midnight the sky was bombarded from all sides. Safety first...
• Today is the ROSEBOWL! Since the games starts at 1:30PT that means I get to watch the game at 9:30pm. My computer is being ridiculous so I'm going to borrow my friend Kate's and hope Dakar doesn't have a power out so I can actually watch the game.
• Life has been pretty slow otherwise. As soon as I get back to school I'll put up some more updates about the past month. It's a lot easier to feel motivated to post on my blog when I've got nothing else to do.

I hope your 2011 will be filled with health and happiness for you and your families!

Much love to all in 2011 and for many years to come (GO BADGERS!)

Hannah

Beach Montage No˚2

I stole Kate's pictures so I decided to put up more beach pictures.

Joleen hanging out on Modou...?

Beach stuff always gets sandy.

Hannah says "Wish you were here!"

Masse and Kate lutte-ing

(lutte- somewhat like wrestling and very popular in Senegal)

Two kids that were hanging out on the beach by us.

L to R- Me, Kate, Masse

Kate looking cute

Shoreline

Joleen ak driftwood

Double Feature!: Christmas/Request Lines are Now Open

Hey Folks!

It's getting to be that time of year again where the temperature starts cooling down to about 90F in the shade and that can only mean one thing... Christmas in Senegal! Some of you have been asking where to send your christmas cards:

Hannah Boldt

c/o Baydallaye Kane

Universite Gaston Berger

BP 234

Saint-Louis, Senegal

A letter from you would make my christmas extra special! A few things to keep in mind:

• Letters take about two weeks to arrive, packages around five weeks
• Don't forget to write "Air Mail" or "Par Avion" on the envelope that way it makes its way over here
• Packages are wonderful but cost an arm and a leg. I would advise you to send letters since they're about $20 cheaper... they also make me just as happy :)
• If you want me to send you a postcard, send your address to: barisaxy@gmail.com and I'll try to make that happen when I'm not too busy being Senegalese

This brings us to the second part of my post! I figured that there are probably some things that you want to know about my life in Senegal that I have forgotten to address in one of my posts. So...

If you have any question, comments, ideas for posts, or anything along those lines, send 'em on over to barisaxy@gmail.com and I'll see what I can do.

Love,

Hannah

Beach Montage

Since I am really jealous of all you and your snowy surroundings, I decided to make a sweet photo montage and melange all of my beach photos from the past couple of weeks. I don't have all of the pictures we took so I'll just put some more up later.

Locations: Ngor, Dakar; Langue de Barbarie, Saint-Louis; Frontier Beach, Saint-Louis

Notable Things that Happened:

• After a half-hour ride into what seemed like the middle of no man's land we ended up at a beach in Langue de Barbarie. ( The Langue de Barbarie is a thin sandy peninsula adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean located in the neighborhood of the city of Saint-Louis. The peninsula separates the ocean from the final section of the Senegal River. ) Some crazy lady tried to charge us 30,000cfa for a pirogue ride across the Senegalese river because she saw we were white. The real price should have been 2,400 cfa so her price was 12.5 times that. We said we'll swim across for free. She looked at us like we were crazy. And then Joleen, Andrew, and I swam across the Senegalese river. Suck it! FO FREE.
• Alsoooo on the way back, we had to find transportation for 8 people in the middle of nowhere. Luckily two taxis drove by and we flagged them down. Modou, Andrew and I had the chance of being in our own taxi. Joleen, Kate, and the rest of the crew got jammed (and I mean literally jammed) into a taxi meant for four. In all, that rust bucket of a car carted 8 people AND a motorcycle in its shamble-y taxi frame. Parts were literally falling off of this "taxi." Transportation in this country is a whole other post that I'll save for later.
  
• At Frontier beach Joleen and our friends Modou and Stevens walked the 7km down the beach and walked to Mauritania. They took a while in returning so I was a little worried they got kidnapped and eaten by cannibals. Kidding. But not really. Seriously, though, I'm kidding.

Ngor:

Looking out across towards Ngor Island.

Looking very fierce, like a tiger.

Langue de Barbarie:

Weird Tubaab hang out that looked like the treehouse from Swiss Family Robinson

André looking classy beachside, cigarette and Steppenwolf in hand.

Kids from the neighboring village hanging out on a dock

They kept inching closer to us and then swarmed Andrew when he started handing out ginger candy

Weird footbridge that looked quite ominous. It took us through the woods and back out to the main road where we hailed our taxis.

Frontier Beach:

Trees doting the beach.

Joleen and Masse running towards the beach.

Pick-up soccer match. Everyone plays soccer. Everyone.

Sama xarit bu goor (My guy friend) and bestest Senegalese friend, Modou Fall

We all look photoshopped.

Bffs.

Sunset over the Atlantic Ocean. Breathtaking.

Tabaski: Pictures

*The following pictures contain images of dead sheep being sacrificed and sorted for the Tabaski holiday. If you've got a weak stomach I might advice you to skip over the first 10 or so pictures. I tried not to put up anything that was too gruesome, but one can only do so much editing...

Tabaski

The day started off like most, but kind of felt like christmas morning. All the kids were super excited and were running around the house like mad. The men went to pray at the mosque while the woman stayed home and prepared the vegetables for lunch.

After the men had returned from morning prayer, everyone changed into their everyday clothes and it was time for the men to slaughter the sheep. Tabaski, which I found out is celebrated primarily in West Africa, is a muslim holiday that is based upon Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael for God. God intervenes and replaces Ishmael with a ram. Each male of the house, if the family has the means to afford it, sacrifices a ram. We killed four rams at our house.

After the ram is killed, the blood drains into a hole in the earth and the meat is sorted from the rest. Nothing is wasted. The meat is divided into three parts: one for the family, one for neighbors and friends, and one for the needy or poor. We had little children in fancy outfits waltzing in and out of the house delivering ram legs and rib cages like it was the usual thing to do.

My mom took the meat and then rubbed it with delicious spices and grilled it over charcoal. We made up some lunch plates and sent the little ones off to give them to neighbors. Lunch was wonderful! Lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and dressing. Fried potato balls, mouton, mayo, mustard, and pickles. Fresh vegetables! AH! We never eat fresh veggies here... what a treat! It's also traditional to have lots of beverages, so we had an over abundance of coca cola, fanta orange, bissap, ditak, ginger juice, and many, many more.

I passed out in a food coma for while then took a stroll around my neighborhood, Mermoz. Came back home and got dressed in my boubou (see following pictures.) Walked around and looked classy (the whole thing actually reminded me a lot of prom. The 'get dressed up, walk around, have people see you, not really actually do anything' kind of scene.) Everyone tries to buy new boubous for Tabaski if they can afford them. Also children go around asking for little gifts at each house. I guess essentially Tabaski is like Christmas, Thanskgiving, Halloween, and Prom all rolled up into one neat little holiday.

We ate millet and soow (which kind of tastes like a more liquidy version of yogurt with extra sugar added.) with fruit for dinner and my aunt made a delicious, delicious fruit salad for dessert. Kate came by to our neighborhood and Andrew, Joleen, Kate and I swung by our friend Ousman's house and hung out on the roof and stargazed for the rest of the night. Overall it was pretty enjoyable.

Yassa, aka onion sauce, to be served with the mouton for a delicious lunch.

My dad (or uncle? I haven't figured out yet...)Amadou and my host brother Mohammed holding down the mouton to be sacrificed.

All the boys helping out with the skinning of the mouton.

Cutey McCuteFace

My little cousin Mustapha

Mouton hanging from where I do my laundry...

View from the second floor courtyard of the whole Tabaski scene.

My wicked-awesome grandma sorting organs and chopping meat into pieces.

The freshest meat I will ever eat. Delicious too.

My mom being a total badass by grilling meat with her hands. No tongs needed...

The accidentally extravagant boubou turned out quite nicely.

Joleen, Andrew, and I

Tapha looking cute in his snazzy boubou

Mariama and Papi, my host sister and cousin

Amadou and Mustapha- my two favorite men in Mermoz

Joleen and her host brother Talisto

Beautiful sunset in Mermoz

Sassy Fulaar (head wrap)

Kate and I hanging out on Ousman's roof. No one here can tell us apart...

Being ridiculous in out sweet Tabaski outfits.

Looking off a Ousman's rooftop in Mermoz