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Published: February 28th 2009
Slamalikum! That's Wolof for hello. i'm learning wolof because the official language here is english, but everyone speaks wolof anyway.
so california. a good three weeks. two trees fell down across the road, we did a sweat lodge, hung out, ate food, and did inner journey stuff. we had a lot of fun. marin, corinne, and zoe turned our cabin into a fort and we slept underneath it the whole time. at the end of the three weeks it was time to go to africa. at 2 am on wednesday morning, Sam drove Liz and I to the sonoma airport where we caught the shuttle. liz was dropped off at hawaiian airlines first and then i was alone. i got to the united terminal and slept. on my flight to Washington DC i sat in front of these people who fought at the beginning. the woman was complaining because there wasn't enough room for her carry-on in the top storage compartment. she was saying how the compartments were for sharing. the she proceeded to take all of the stuff out of the compartment and replaced it with her own. when she left for a minute, the guy she was sitting next to said 'yeah. good sharing.' i couldn't help but laugh. i was in DC for two hours and ate lunch. then i had an 8 hour flight to Brussels. i sat next to a girl who looked 22 but was 38. she was from germany and practices Sikhism. we spent the flight talking about yoga, meditation, feelings, and such. it was really cool. then i fell asleep and apparently talked in my sleep saying 'we're here, we're here.' oops. then i was in the brussels airport for four house. i got my first taste of africa there. so many africans wandered the airport and it was really cool. a man in the terminal gave me his number and told me to visit him in serekunda. awkward!
i slept on the flight there. my first glimpse of africa was of the water. then i saw a beach that looked like the caribbean. it was senegal. we flew over and landed in Dakar. there was no green in the city to speak of. there were skyscrapers, houses, and shacks. there were giant dirt fields for football.
then we flew to banjul and i got off the plane. it was so warm. fatou found me because i was the white kid looking confused and lost. i met her friend njareh who is 25 and is taking me out on the town tonight. we drove to my new home where i met fatou's sister fatou and her 20-year-old adopted daughter jareh. it's a small household of women. not typical. dinner was fish and vegetables. it was good fish (and i hate fish). they bought me bottled water and njareh invited me out. that night i slept very well.
friday morning i woke up at 9:30 (5 hour time difference for east-coasters) and fatou made me an omelet. we sat and talked for a while and watched the news. it was cool to watch bbc and see all of the news in the countries my friends are in right now. fatou took me to marina, the school she works at, which is beautiful. then jareh took me on a walk.
how to i begin to describe the clothing here? bright, beautiful. everything i expected of african dress. some of the teenagers have western-style clothing, but oh my goodness, the dress is so bright and incredible. i can't wait to go shopping.
jareh and i walked around and i exchanged a traveler's cheque. $100 is 2350 Dalasi. pretty sweet. then we went to the stadium. outside were a ton of high schoolers in their uniforms dancing around, chanting, and playing drums. some sort of rally was going on. Jareh and i paid D50 and got into the stadium itself. it's a series of concrete steps around a football field and track (football=soccer). there were track qualifiers happening that day. we watched races, high jumps, long jumps, and shotput. they were so fast. the best part was the three schools that were dancing and chanting and cheering their athletes on. of course they were all incredible dancers. there were drums and clappers and singing. so cool. and the athletes were so fast! by the end of the races, people were collapsing all over the place. it's hot and some couldn't finish their races. i saw at least 8 people being carried away on stretchers.
today was a cleaning day. the last saturday of every month, no cars are allowed on the roads in between 9 and 1. it's a day dedicated to cleaning the country. we poured juices. baoba juice and some other one that i don't remember. both were amazingly good. i helped lisa, the maid, do that. now i'm out with jareh, and njareh is picking us up later tonight to show me the town.
i miss everyone and i wish i could write for longer! when i find a cafe closer to my house, i'll write more often
love, kate
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leel
non-member comment
Greetings from Antigua
Hi sweetheart, We so enjoyed your first blog and have shared it with the Brilliant Burbidges who live in the next room to us at Curtain Bluff. Quite possibly many of our friends who work here can trace their ancestry to where you are. The big world suddenly seems smaller. Sheil and I are having a wonderful vacation. The blenders are constantly whirring and the water is beautiful and so are the people, just as I hope you remember it. We anxiously await hearing further from you about Katy Mac's magnificent adventure. love and hugs, Sheil and Leel