Two Weeks...and still alive!

---

It’s now been two weeks and two days since I stepped foot in Senegal. Many people’s families have remarked “Oh, you’ve only been gone two weeks!” but to us, it seems like quite the accomplishment!

I’m starting to fall into a routine, thankfully. We have breakfast every morning at 8. It’s always a baguette with butter and chocolate and delicious, sweet Senegalese tea. I had to buy some jelly (guava!) in order to mix up the flavors a bit. We meet up with our friends who live right by us about 8:30 and trek on over to school. Michelle and I walk home for lunch each day at 1pm, and it’s more than likely that we eat chee boo jen (fish and rice). We often have it four or five lunches a week. After lunch, we head back to campus to finish classes. I have three classes each day, each one lasting an hour and forty-five minutes. They’re quite interesting (though French seems like it might be a waste of my time…). After classes (I end at 6:15pm every day), we all head to the computer lab for our last taste of technology and air-conditioning. We’re usually home just in time for the sunset prayer, we study a bit (which really means we try to keep our brothers out of our room), and then eat dinner. Dinner is also usually a variation on the fish and rice theme, though sometimes it’s lamb and elbow macaroni or fried eggs with French fries and lettuce. Bed time usually is quite early because the heat just wears you out so quickly here.

I thought I was finally getting used to Senegalese food, but I guess I was wrong. I was (at last!) able to eat fish (complete with scales and bones and eyeballs) with my hand and stomach the very spicy bissap and other sauces they liberally throw in the bowl. Then, on Friday night, my stomach revolted. In the top ten worst 24-hour stretches of my life, this probably ranked up there as number 2. I couldn’t eat or drink anything, but I was so thirsty that I had to drink some water. That meant, though, that I had to immediately go throw up the liquid I just drank. I was miserable, not to mention exhausted from the lack of fluid and food. I’ve been sleeping a lot, and I’m able to eat and drink again (though I’ve only managed to eat bread for the past two days). My pants and dresses are already noticeably baggy on me…I may just have to write a book on the Africa diet when I get home!

My Wolof is getting better…I can now continue a greeting for about ten minutes! And I can haggle for a better taxi fare, which is always exciting. I spent my first day as the sole toubab this Sunday. My program went to an artists' and fishing village, but I was too sick to go. So, after a day of lying comatose on my bed, I ventured to Liberté to Stade Demba Diop to watch the neighborhood football (aka soccer) match. My one host brother is the goalie, and another host brother is the director of the team, so I felt a bit obligated to go cheer on our neighborhood. In the end, Mermoz lost by a goal in the last five minutes of the match, but I made a few great new friends. Some older men were sitting behind me, and I heard them discussing my nationality in Wolof (we had just covered that in class!) I started talking to them, and it turns out the one guy worked at the Senegalese embassy in New York for 36 years. He gave me his seat cushion and bought me frozen banana custard with raisins in a little plastic bag because he knew the woman made it with filtered water ("good for American stomachs!" he said) and we talked about life in the US versus life here in Dakar. It was really cool finding someone who could relate to me even though I was the only American in the stadium.

The girls here are continuing to collect bizarre professions of love from Senegalese men. My latest: I ran into a group of three boys on campus, and the one told me he loved me. Like every good toubab girl, I made up a fiancé back home in America. His response was that this is the age of globalization and, therefore, I need a boyfriend at home AND a boyfriend in Senegal. I thought it was a pretty nice try, and I give him credit for his creative response, but it wasn’t good enough to merit my cell phone number!

The adjustments continue, but the one thing that I will miss for the entire four months is American food. We all get weird food cravings because the diet of rice and fish just doesn't cut it for us. Right now, I would give just about anything for chicken, macaroni and cheese, cucumbers, sour cream, pizza!

Well, I'm headed home for some (you guessed it) fish and rice. Oh! And I have been given a Senegalese name. I'm now Marième 😊

Here's a link to all of my pictures so far: more pictures!

---

Comments

[sarah]

Food cravings
Wow Kate, I gotta hand it to you.. I'm impressed with your food tolerance despite your little sickness. I'm on my way now to a squid-in-squid-ink lunch (blehhh) so I'm feeling you.. although i at least have the option of pizza for dinner! my list is: mac and cheese (you'd think it'd be possible in italy but its not) sweet potato (i'd kill for it) french fries with cheddar cheese sauce philly cheese steak

[Katie]

That's too funny that you found a man who worked in the Senegalese embassy! At least he somewhat understood your dietary plight! <3 and IM me whenever you get the chance, chickadee!

[Robbie]

Survival of the fittest.
Kate, i miss you so much! and listen, you can do it! i mean think of it this way, you could be doing it for a longer duration now, and as Marcel Proust once indicated, "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes". Your blog entries are great! and your host brother in that picture is beyond adorable!!! soooooo cute!!!! i really do hope that your stomache gets adjusted to the food though! p/s: im glad that "someone" finally decided to get a travel blog! *cough* *cough* ;-)

[Dad]

food treats
I hope your stomach will be able to adapt quickly to our food when you get home before Christmas! You can have whatever you like. Love you!