ba beneen yoon Dakar.

so i leave Dakar bright and early tomorrow morning.

in the last few weeks i've really been falling in love with my host family, feeling more at home here, and realizing that after i leave in december i will probably never see them. life is random like that - people can come into your life and then never come into your life again. it has been really great getting to know them and to be able to share their lives with them... but its going to be really sad to say goodbye.

i'm starting to get a little nervous about tomorrow... i'm excited to spend a week in Joal which seems like a cool city... but it may be an awkward week, living with a random family for a week and attending a conference with my supervisor who i have yet to meet. i basically am bracing myself for a lot of awkward moments in the next 6 weeks or so. language barriers can make things really awkward... especially when i'm already awkward to begin with. okay, how many times can i say awkward.

last night was a great last night in dakar... finished with about 8 of us cramming around a huge bowl of macaroni in a friends courtyard under the stars at 6 in the morning. oh, senegal.

i'm not sure how much, if any, internet access i'll have for about the next month or so... but if there is - i will try to keep you posted.

ba beneen yoon.

the little things about senegal

• putting up a mosquito net before going to bed
• mangoes and mango juice
• BT and his boutique
• Biskrems and bread and cheese
• powdered milk with powdered coffee
• omelette sandwiches
• thiakry
• the grocery store
• my shop, elton, le gondole - milkshakes
• fondaye
• car rapide
• cute sandals
• electricity outages
• dubbed over soap operas
• sweat rags
• washing undies in the shower
• Waly, Josephine and Prof Sene
• bed bugs, bites, rashes
• call to prayer at 5 am
• garbage, stagnant water
• wolof

today we went aroudn the Baie de Hann. it was really beautiful and really sad. the first part that we saw was really pretty but it was clean cuz the sand is raked of garbage everyday. there were beautiful (expensive) houses in that neighborhood. but the next part we went to we had to walk past a canal of nearly stagnant bubbling (not in a good way) black water slash sludge that flowed right into the ocean. it smelled horrible. we walked down and talked to a women who was one worker of a large government funded clean up project. the workers were cleaning up the solid waste and sending it to a dump in dakar. however, they were still not doing anything for the liquid pollution flowing in and making the water black. even worse, nothing is being done about the canal, which means that the clean up project will be continuing indefinitely. at another stop at the bay we saw a group of children swimming in the water, just past where a dead goat was washing up...

it was so sad to see that this place that is sobeautiful is just being destroyed. it was sad to see that the government was putting money into the clean up but not into prevention of the problem. it was sad to se the people wanting to have the area clean but not having a garbage removal or sewage system infrasructure in their city. senegal has only been independent for 50 years but is developing so fast. i wish there was someone, some funding, that would help it develop in a sustainable way, instead of a way that uses America as a model.

this morning i went with the education class to see a 'street school' (it actually was called ecole de la rue). it was another time that reminded me that this is still a developing country. sometimes i've gotten so used to the talibe begging in the street or walking past the people with polio asking for money or jumping on the car rapide to school for 20 cents. it was great to know that the kids had a place to learn but it was really sad to realize that this was their schooling, their only form of schooling. the 'front' part of the school was just pieces of wood painted black that they used as chalk boards that were hanging on the wall of the building. since there were shops there - they can only teach when they are closed. we walked around in back through a little shany neighborhood to see the other 'class rooms'. one was an actual one room building filled with donated books, old computers, benches, chairs, etc. although they talked about how a lot of stuff gets ruined during floods in the rainy season. another 'class room' was like an old trailer (with holes in the floor covered with random pieces of wood) that was tiny and actually divided into two class rooms by putting one chalkboard in the middle. everything was funded by donations and all 14 teachers are volunteers.

being at the school and having that feeling again - being extremely sad about seeing the conditions and restrictions that the kids learn in - made me scared to go back to the US. i already always feel too lucky to live the life i'm living, to just be born in the US, and being here has only intensified that. i'm afraid that - after i get back to normal in the US, after the initial excitement of being home - i'm going to be too sad all of the time. thinking of my host family, the children i've seen in the daara or the stree school, the babies at the orphanage, how am i supposed to go back to complaining about gas prices? i feel as though i could just sit here and cry when i think about how unfair it is that i was born where i was and with the family i have. its a feeling i've had before and one i think i'll stuggle with for the rest of my life.

it was a good weekend. but it would be a really long blog post... so im gonna fill you in later with more stories once im in the states.

sunday morning josh, paulina, mairead, and i went to a church way far away... supposedly their guidebook said there was gregorian chanting in wolof... but it was far away... we had to take a car rapide downtown, then walked to a plaza, then a bus to Rufisque, and a clando to the church. the church was really pretty but not too much different than normal - aka not worth the 2 hours to get there... but the ride there and back was the adventure.

when we got back downtown laura met us and we hung out there... got great burgers at Ali Baba an damaaaazing milkshakes from nice cream. it was good... then laura and i went back and doxantu-ed around... doxantu means walk in wolof.

paulina is going home on wednesday! foreshadowing of us all leaving... the last week in december will be so bitter-sweet. ill be happy to be back in dakar yet excited to go home. happy to see everyone again but sad to leave them.

this experience really has been like none other... and i still have my internship left. but im getting more excited for my internship. ill be happy to get out of the city and to practice my language skills more .. hopefully, unless they only speak wolof slash malinke there... but im excited for a change and a new challenge. it should be a good time.

Happy Birthday Mom!!

.Senegal makes me absent minded.

Today, Josh, Paulina, Kerry, Eva, and I went back to that 'orphanage' to volunteer.... (It's called La Pouponnieres des Soeurs Franciscaines) its a place where families can bring their babies if they can't afford to take care of them, the babies are really sick, they leave the hospital too early, the mothers are sick, or they are abandoned all together... So it was amazing (hot and really exhausting, but amazing). Paulina and I stayed and played with the toddlers first. i just sat down and 4 of the toddlers just flocked and kinda flung themselves on me. they were all really adorable. while we were there we met three flight attendants from the US who fly here (stop in Dakar on the way to South Africa) and during their layover they volunteer there, about once a month. cool job.

one of the attendants were telling us that one of the toddlers there were born with a skull that was stuck and wouldn't expand (there is a word for this but i can't think of it)... anyways, normally in the US the baby would just have a small operation after birth and be fine... but here, thats not really possible and so now her brain in going to keep expanding... while her skull stays the same size... i.e. she's gonna pass away pretty soon because there isn't another option.

after playing with the toddlers for a while, paulina and i went upstairs to where the other were with the babies (under 6 months) and we got to bottle-feed them, burp them, and put them to sleep. adorableness.

it was really kinda sad to see all the kids without their parents (many parents do come visit, however, every sunday afternoon) but there were a lot of women there working and spending time with them and it was great to be able to help and see other volunteers there too.

i also found out today that for the first week of my internship phase i'll be staying with a host family in Joal Fadiout while attending an environmental seminar... the organization that i'll be working with for my internship is attending the seminar so i'm just gonna go there for the week and then go to Toubacouta with my supervisor when its over.... i asked my family if they knew Joal and my mom said that the people built their houses and the town on shells... and that they know if you're a foreigner if you break the shells when you walk.... and i guess there are women there who can read shells... like reading your fortune from cards... should be interesting..

if you wanna see where i'm going: http://www.suertenich.com/html/afriq/senegal.jpg

you can zoom in on the map...

Joal Fadiout is south of Dakar right on the coast... and just a little bit south east of there (just north of Gambie) is where Toubacouta is....

hope fall weather is nice.. cuz i'm still sweating.

borders.

yesterday i went with Cait, Kerry, Laura and some of Cait's friends out to Ngor Island. it was beautiful. it only cost 500 CFA (about a dollar) to take the bopat out there and was like paradise. the boys had gotten a few beers before hand so basically we just sat on the beach under the shade of the palm trees and hung out. it was perfect.

at one point Abdu (one of the boys we were with) came out and joined me and laura in the water. he asked what we had been talking about and we kinda jokingly said we were talking about life... what it is ... why we are here... he started telling us about the philosophy of begeu or happiness in wolof. how he thought that life is here and now and the past is only for the future. about laura and i being here he said how in other countries, in other places, there are always so many answers to questions you may have never thought to ask... and he thought that life is pink... la vie en rose. it was deep

we talked to him a little about how no matter how long we'll be in senegal or how much we learn we'll still be toubabs... he said he understood, but there are people here who will respect you for who you are... but such is life as a toubab.

on a completely different note... i lost my cell phone last night, which, yeah, sucks cuz now i'll have to buy a new one but its just a replaceable thing so its all good. but later in the night it just made me feel so isolated... there have been a lot of times here when i just feel really alone and so isolated from anything normal. its been hard being here and not being able to call anyone back home whenever i want. its been hard to experience really great or really awful things and not be able to share that with the people i love. losing my phone just made me feel that much more isolated, even isolated from my american friends here... but this made me question if i'm actually living here- in the sense that i'm so tied to my cell phone or other americans.... but this made me think about what my home is... its not just a place... but wherever the people i love are... and i'd love to be there right now.....

"we all have our own borders. on one side is whats easy, what's known, what we've been told is true and have taken for granted. its comfortable here, familiar. but the other side is wider than possibility, brilliant with potential and is looks like our dreams... and they are ours if we can find them and hold them, if we can catapult ourselves across whatever border of fear or doubt or tiredness seems to keep us from them. in the end, the only thing standing between each of us and what we most want, is ourselves.... we are our own border guards. " - off the map.

this afternoon i went with the public health group on their field trip (there are different 'track' classes - i'm in environment and auditing microfinance... and there is another one called public health) the first place we went to was kinda like an orphanage where people could take their babies if they can't care for them, if the mother is sick, or if they are abandoned all together. the families pay 5-10 thousand CFA (10 - 20 dollars) per month if they can and they get a lot of money from donations and through various organizations. the kids stay there until they are about one year old. eva and i are thinking about going back to volunteer... i hope so, the kids were adorable and it would be a ton of fun.... keep you posted

the second place we more of a refuge for boys on the street. a lot of them come from Guinea Bissau or Mali or other places in Senegal to go to a daara and end up on the streets because they were mistreated by marabouts. the place called l'empire des enfants tries to locate the families and bring back the boys....

it was a cool experience to see more places around the city and see that there are a few options for kids who aren't necessarily born into great situations...

i leave for my internship in two weeks! i'm nervous. time really has been flying by and its gonna be hard adjusting to a new place all over again cuz i've gotten so used to being here.

i'm so lucky. (alhamdoulilah)

candle lit showers, pasta and ketchup, deo (or lack thereof) and life with a maid

Candlelit showers: the power goes out her at least once a day... maybe two, three, or flickers on and off a few times. this means that many daily activities become romanticized by the flicker of a candle... this means that dinners, showers, homework are all sometimes done by the light of a candle.

bread withdrawal: we eat bread here so much. baguettes that is. i usually have some baguette with butter or chocomousse for breakfast. for lunch or at least an afternoon snack i have bread and fromage from BT on the corner. and we usually have bread with dinner. meme si i have bread every meal, if a long break comes up in between bagueete time, i go through bread withdrawal. and evern though i have it every meal i still look forward to having it. i don't know if i'll be able to go back to sliced bread...

deodorant... or lack thereof: sometimes when i ride the car rapide, have riden on a crowded bus... or when the fan blows towards me pasat my professor... i wish that everyone in the world could enjoy the benefits of deodorant.

pasta and ketchup: so here they have a lot of the same foods as in the US but they eat them differently. for example, they have peanut butter and jelly here but my brother went on about how PB and J sammiches are the grossest thing ever. my family does eat pasta semi-often (alhamdoulilah) but usually with different stuff. sometimes they eat it just with chunks of meat... and one time we ate it they offered me ketchup with mine... my brother found it really odd that i don't eat it with my pasta. they have fries with a lot of stuff here, but never on the side. they put coleslaw inside their hamburgers, and a 'hamburger complex' comes with an egg inside. and tonight my brother said again how much he hates milkshakes... i reassessed our friendship at that point...

life with a maid: Leonie, our maid, is probably the one i talk to the most even tho neither of us speak perfect french and now she speaks to me first in wolof. she doesn't eat dinner with us (but after a few weeks i asked why... she enjoys eating on a low stool in the kitchen cuz its more fun -wolof style). she makes my bed, puts up my mosquito net and clears my dishes if i don't do it myself fast enough. we have another 'maid' who comes once a week to do laundry. but in all cases i still feel selfish having someone else do work i consider my own... i've gotten used to it even though i still rush to make my bed in the morning before Leonie realizes i'm up....

A couple nights ago i went on a walk with my host brother and two cousins around the block. it really wasn't anything big but for me it seemed so special. just to be shown around and casually walk and hang out with these guys that i didn't even know a few weeks ago. we spoke a little english, french, wolof... it was fun.



and the other night at dinner we were talking and my mom and i were talking and my brother was saying that my french was really good... and i thought back to that first awkward dinner when he just laughed at how horrible i was at speaking french... and we had lait caille (kinda like homemade yogurt) for dessert and my mom said i shouldn't have the home made kind cuz it was too acidic and would make me sick... and stephen (my cousin) was like.. nah, shes senegalaise now. it was cool, fine, nice...

on tuesday we went to a daara (a koranic school) on a field trip. 60-70 boys lived there in a small smelly room and spend a good portion of their day beggin for money. it's incredible to me that there are so many people in this world that live completely different lives that i would never even think about. it has been interesting living here and learning new things about life here everyday.

yesterday was Korite the party after the end of Ramadan. it wasn't as big of a deal as most of us thought it was. it was fun at my house though cuz all the neighbors kept coming and leaving food for us. i got to try Ngallakh which i guess is popular on Korite which is kinda like a sweet peanut sauce. i also took some time to make fish balls with my maid... it was really fun and i remember the patience that she gave me that first day when i spoke none of her languages and was horribly butchering the frites she was trying to make...

its so weird to me that i'm getting to know people here and their personalities, people living in west africa, people that i may never see again.