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Published: August 29th 2008
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So many new things to report! I've been trying not to write every single day (maybe that's a bad thing to stop myself from doing?) but I've been taking little notes so I remember the highlights I want to cover. This week has been very eventful, and I'm really happy with the thorough orientation they've planned for us... it has definitely been really informative and helpful. Everyone has been so nice, interesting, and welcoming and CIEE has made a really good first impression!
I'll start with the most exciting! Last time I wrote, I was waiting to find out about my family... and I did! I will be living with a family in Sacré Coeur III, one of the more upscale and modern areas of the city. The first thing Alain, our housing coordinator, asked when I walked into my consultation was "So... how do you feel about a big family?" He then told me that the family consists of a mom, dad and four children, three boys and one girl, a cousin who lives with them when he isn't away at school, and two maids. The boys are 23, 17, and 7, and the girl is 13 (I had
him repeat the ages so I wouldn't forget them). Apparently the mom was Catholic but she converted to Islam when she got married, so she had a Catholic education and is now a secretary for a lawyer. I'm not sure what the dad does for a living. I assume the mom speaks French because of her job and education, but I forgot to ask about the rest of the family, although I would assume they do as well. They also told me that the dad is the oldest in his family, and in Senegalese tradition this means that my family hosts and invites relatives all the time, though Alain says they don't spend the night but they are in and out all the time. I'm really happy and excited to meet them... I'm glad my family has kids and it sounds like they are welcoming and inclusive of their home stay students, so that should be good! My house is also right next to many of the other students in my neighborhood which should be convenient and nice. All in all, I'm very pleased with what I heard and I can't wait to finally meet them.
Yesterday we also
sat through two orientations, one on health and the other on gender & diversity. Health was pretty dry and boring (and lots of hypochondriacs asking a million repetitive questions), but the gender and diversity orientation was really interesting. We learned about Senegalese dating tendencies, among other things. Apparently the word in Wolof for an attractive man is the same as the most expensive fish you can buy in Senegal... I think it is called Tiof. Apparently, when you cook with this kind of fish it makes the rice taste really good and moist. On the other hand, the word for an attractive woman literally means "moist," because the fish and rice dish tastes better when the rice is moist.
Otherwise we talked a lot about the Senegalese attitude towards homosexuality which is very different from the United States, or at least the parts of the US I have lived in. Senegalese people see consider a homosexual a man who acts like a woman. They don't really think of men together as a couple, and women aren't considered at all when it comes to homosexuality. Because of this, its pretty easy for gay people to keep their identity under cover
because no one ever suspects men together or women together to be more than just good friends. Its actually pretty common for men to hold hands here, like when they're crossing the street. The Senegalese definition of homosexual is not accepted at all--people here are very intolerant towards them and Serigne (the director) basically told everyone never to tell anyone if you are gay, even other students in the program in case it were to slip out some how. Apparently there was an incident where someone's family found out and they didn't want him to live with them anymore... then when Serigne tried to find an exceptionally tolerant family, the wife said he could live there as long as her husband didn't find out.
Last night we went to the other people's dorm, which is actually a large house that they're using to house half our program... I think its some sort of hotel? They have this amazing roof and we all hung out up there which was beautiful and lots of fun. We didn't stay out too late though because half of us had an all day cross-cultural orientation session today, at this place called ACI, Africa Consultants
International. Our experience there today was amazing... we spent the morning learning all these really interesting aspects of Senegalese culture, covering their superstitions, important values (hospitality, hard work, family, etc), daily traditions, etc. The Senegalese people are actually extremely superstitious, and it extends across all social classes. I couldn't even begin to explain all of it, but it has to do with spirits (jinne) and people they believe are sorcerers (demm). Apparently its really bad to give people a lot of compliments on their physical features, because if something bad happens to them, they will think you cursed them. For example, if you tell someone they have nice hair and they have a bad hair day that week, you might be accused of being a demm (only if it happens many times of course). Other taboos are pointing and counting groups of people because they think spirits will here that there is a large group and wreck havoc on them, or to ask a mother how many children she has, or to ask a pregnant lady when she's due or to say that she has a big baby, etc, etc, etc. We'll see if I'm able to keep it all
straight! The leader at this cultural center basically summed it up saying that Animism rules the earthly and Islam deals with people getting to heaven.
For lunch we tried our first "ceebu jen" which tasted amazing but was quite an adventure. You can look at pictures to get a sense of how messy this method of eating is, and really difficult! For the life of me, I could not get my rice to form a ball, so you end up cramming it all in your mouth. At the end, you have to lick your hand free of rice because its considered rude to get rice in the communal hand washing bowl. Considering how bad we were at eating, you can imagine how much licking there was to do. Andrew, a guy sitting around my bowl, felt so uncomfortable licking his hand in public that I guess he didn't... it was funny though, we all felt ridiculous. Apparently some families use spoons, so I'm really hoping mine does, because the communal bowl already grosses me out quite a bit. I'm trying to be culturally open, but people are definitely sharing quite a few germs. The key is not to watch
people eat because then its just grosser to think about. At this lunch, our African "host" didn't distribute the food so we all had to pick pieces of fish off of this big steak-like thing in the middle (baracuda!). I didn't even bother breaking off pieces of vegetable because it seemed really difficult. I think there's also some technique of sticking out your tongue more to get the ball more neatly in your mouth... essentially, its a very messy, unfamiliar process that I'm sure I'll get used to eventually!
That was basically our day, though we had a housing meeting this evening to go over some key questions before we move in tomorrow. Our families come pick us up in the afternoon, and I'm really nervous and excited!!! I've definitely been told about a million times that greetings are extremely important and I need to address everyone thoroughly or I'll be considered impolite. Greetings in Wolof are stressful, so I hope we can use some French too! Tomorrow morning I have registration... I got into the highest French class, thank god, but now I'm going to talk to them about substituting it for an elective instead. I REALLLLY hope
they let me do that! Speaking of which, I need to look up all my requirements right now, so I'm off! But enjoy the pictures and I look forward to your comments! They are very uplifting and I always look forward to reading them after I post!
P.s. Here's a link to all the pictures I've taken so far:
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