It's been a long three weeks...

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Hello my wonderful and loyal readers!!

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to write another blog- but it's been a long 3 weeks here in Senegal.



I arrived late December, in the evening. When the plane stopped, and the pilot came over the PA system saying 'the traffic controllers have stopped us in the middle of no where, and I have no idea why. You should be met by a bus when they can find us', it was confirmed in my mind: I am back in Africa.

Once we were on and off the bus, I entered the arrival hall- not so different to that in Uganda. It was there that I realised no one here speaks english. Like, no one. Here it is either french or a traditional language. Two women in their African Sunday best decided to push through the line- I think they were speaking Swahili, but you didn't need to be proficient in it to understand that they would be the next people to be processed, whether you liked it or not.

Once we were processed, I made my way to the baggage collection area- hassled by 10 Senegalese men, all wanting to help me with my bags- I was happy to carry them myself. Nothing is free in Senegal.

I met a staff member of Projects Abroad outside, and he accompanied me on the 4 hour trip to Saint Louis, in the North of Senegal (only approx 20km from the Mauritanian border). Ifelt terrible arriving at my host family's house at 11pm, only to find my host mum wanted to cook me a fresh dinner of eggs, onion and spaghetti. I have since found out that getting to bed before 11pm means an early night- this night is the earliest night I have had.



Daily food is as follows:

Breakfast (whenever I wake up)- bread and coffee

Lunch (approx 3pm)- fish and rice

Dinner (anytime after 9pm)- any part of an animal and couscous or rice (my second night was sheeps head and rice, and the other day it was cows knee and couscous).

Of course I supplement this by having any number of pastries between meals... so much for losing weight in africa! haha



My work placement has been interesting, to say the least- but I wont go into too many details here. I started by taking lessons in Senegalese dancing, Wolof (the primary tribal language of this region) and practicing with the band Mama Sadio (there are clips on youtube of them, if you're interested). A week into my project though I decided to swap my wolof lessons for french- i figure that may help me a little more in the long run. I've learnt quite a bit of french here- but only in understanding. I can still only say the most basic things, but, oh well! I still have a couple more lessons before I leave. My room mate (Julie) is french canadian, and my 'project buddy' (Felix) is from Switzerland, and has a pretty good grasp on many languages, so they both help me a lot, as translators and teachers haha



Most of the volunteers here are on care and teaching placements, working with the Talibe children. These children are sent from all over senegal, and other countries such as Mali, Mauritania etc to learn the Qu'ran from local religious leaders. But these boys come with no money, and no support- they are told to beg on the street, and there have been many cases where the boys are abused by the religious leaders. So, for the extra amount of money I have left over from Ethiopia, I will buy these boys fruit and water (an idea inspired by another volunteer from Switzerland- Fanny).



So, as I think I have expressed in other blog entries, this trip has not gone exactly according to plan. Between abusive tour guides, theft and other unmentioned events, I thought maybe I had finished with bad luck. I was wrong. One week into my stay in sunny Saint Louis, Felix, Fanny and I decided to go out for dinner. That was fun- good pizza! But there was a taxi strike, and the only way to get from place to place here is to walk, or to take a taxi. So we started walking home. The roads here dont have many street lights, if any at all. As we were walking on the road along the river, there was a man that seemed to be following us. We looked at him, and greeted him, making sure he knew we were aware that he was there. We turned off, and he eventually left. Turns out, 1 week after arriving, and never having walked home at night, Julie and I took the wrong turn to get home. We were lost. We tried to figure out our way, but everything looks so different at night time. We stopped at a kiosk, where the shop man was talking to a relatively well dressed man (we're not sure now if this was the same man who was following us). They gave us directions, and the well dressed man said he'd come with us. So we started walking, and we were headed in the right direction. To get back to the house, we either needed to walk down a road with no lights at all, or walk through a soccer field. We decided the soccer field was more direct, so we started to walk through it. Julie said to the man that we were ok- that he could leave us, but he just ignored her. She said it again, but still no answer. I remember that there was a dog in the soccer field, and he kicked her to get rid of her. We got to the gate on the other side- Julie and Felix went through, and then it was Fanny and my turn. In what felt like no time, the man had pushed me (I dont remember that part), broke my bag off my shoulder and sprinted away. I screamed- louder than I have ever screamed before. but here, at night time, no one will come to help. So I started running after him, but I knew there was no point- Ive never been a successful athlete. Felix had heard me, and started running after him, but I shouted to him that there was no point. I remember that I was in shock, and the first thing I said was that I wanted to go home. Anyway, we got home, and nothing else particularly interesting happened. I am so glad that I had taken my passport out of my bag just before we left for dinner. Im glad that when Julie asked if I was going to bring my camera, I said no. Im also glad that I dont carry credit cards on me. So all I lost was my french dictionary, my ipod that i had bought in ethiopia to replace my iphone (I hope he enjoys the hot pink colour!!!), and approx $160 (I was only carrying that amount because i had planned to renew my visa).



So, after a few days of not wanting to walk alone, Im now walking to and from work again- in and out of the city, and of course trying not to carry any valuables. And I will never ask a stranger for directions again!! Not here, anyway...



New Years Eve was pretty good- Julie and I headed to a Loute match- traditional senegalese wrestling. The wrestling was ok, but the atmosphere was what really made the event. Without buying tickets, Julie and I were seated in the VIP section. There was so much african drumming, and dancing- it was so fun to watch! (especially when the men were not wearing much at all! hehe) After that we headed home for family dinner, and had planned to go back out at 10pm- I had been asked to sing at a bar that evening (and Julie to try to play the Jembe- Senegalese drums). Dinner wes served at about 1130pm, so no gig that evening.



I have performed with Mama Sadio and Felix at 2 gigs so far- another one to come this weekend, we think (we wont find out until maybe an hour before- This is Africa, afterall- TIA!). I think both performances went pretty well! Last weekend we were at Zebrabar, and that went really well- we were playing for Germans who had completed the Portugal to Dakar rally, and they were all keen as mustard to get up and dance along- a couple even trying out some senegalese moves! it was a great night!



Last weekend we had a volunteers excursion to Touba- it's kind of like Mecka for West and North Africa. We met the great grand son ofan Islamic prophet, and went through the main mosque, and the library full of the prophet's writings. All of the girls had to wear long skirts, long sleeves and head scarves- and looking at the pictures afterwards, I laughed myself to tears.



Other than work, washing, cleaning and sleeping, I've been heading out for many a chocolate croissant and pizza with the other volunteers, and today we went on a horse and carriage ride to take photos of saint louis (it's really not safe to walk around taking photos on foot).



I leave Saint Louis in a week- Julie and I are spending next Monday night at the best hotel in Dakar, the Radisson Blu, which is crazy exciting.



I will add lots of photos to this entry- so dont forget that there will be extras at the bottom of this page!



Thanks for reading- Jerajeff, merci, et legge legge.

xoxo

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Photos

With my surrogate husband Habib from Projects Abroad
When we were at the police station (for the 4th time) to make a report about my stolen bag, a drunk man walked up to us and started asking how much I cost. He was offering Habib 2000CFA (approx $4) in fish!! So since then we have been senegalese husband and wife

Fanny broke my bed...
She was never sturdy from the beginning- my banana bed. but the other night she gave up. RIP banana bed, RIP.