Top Ten Ridiculous Events/Conversations from My Time in Dakar

     As promised, I will be finishing up stories from my time abroad this month. While I will focus on some academic subjects related to my research, I will mainly write about my adventures and experiences in the cities I visited this past year. Today’s post is on the top ten ridiculous things that happened to me or conversations that I had while in Senegal. These stories prove that I manage to attract some of the weirdest people wherever I go. 

As you can see, there are no people in this photo. Read to #1 to understand what happened

   We’ll start with the easy stuff and finish off with the story that made me wonder if I could never belong in Senegal or whether I was guilty of taking life too seriously.

10. I was taking a cab when I got into a discussion with the driver about polygamy. I told him that I was Congolese and there, a man has one wife and not four. I saw told him that I wouldn’t want to be with a man who had multiple wives. He asked me what a husband was supposed to do when the woman was sick or pregnant. I tried to explain to him that these are all things that you know ahead of time when you marry someone and accept as part of the relationship. I left with him trying to get my number.

9. I took a cab downtown to try to find an organization for my research. The guy noticed from my accent that I was American. He quickly explained his plan to me about our getting married and getting him papers. This included getting divorced once he got citizenship. I told him that I was a Christian and we don’t believe in getting a divorce. He said that it was no problem and we didn’t have to get married in a church. I said that God would still see that we were married. Eventually, I stopped talking. There was nothing else I could do.

8. I was asked by one guy when I wanted to get married. I said that 27 or 30 were a good age to get married. Maybe around 25 I would start looking for a guy. All he could say was that I wasn’t normal and he had to tell his friends about the American girl who wasn’t getting married until 30. In his mind, 22 was a good age to get married and he was willing to wait 2 years for me to come back to Senegal.

7. First time taking the public transportation alone, I ended up going to the end of the line without any clue about where I was. Once I got off, I called our internship coordinator to ask which bus to take back to our site. She told me to find a cab and to hold my stuff close to me. Once in the cab, she called to explain to the driver where to go. Apparently I was in Colobane and it didn’t have the best reputation in the city of Dakar.

6. I was on the bus heading home when one lady got really sick. We weren’t able to stop in time for her to get off and not get sick on the bus. Once she stopped, she and her friend got off and we continued our way as if nothing had happened. All I could think of was how in Paris, a train would pass us or a message would appear talking about a delay because of someone getting sick on the subway. That bus or train would be disinfected and everyone would be forced off.

5. I was in Pikine finishing up research before heading home. I was sitting at the gas station minding my own business when a guy got out of his car, motioned for me to watch his car, said something in Wolof and headed into the gas station. It was only once he left that I noticed he had left his car in the keys and was probably telling me to watch it for him. When he came back, he thanked me, got back into his car and headed off. I missed two TATA’s while waiting for him but figured this was another lesson in trust.

4. I rode TATA #49 because it took the route I needed whether for research, the park or the beach. Each time, we seem to get a crazy driver who needed to take our safety into consideration. This one time, the driver seemed crazier than usual and a mom with a child finally couldn’t take it any longer and started yelling at the driver. I am not sure what she was saying, but I think it was along the lines of slowing down and not driving like a maniac.

3. During the month of July, since my family wasn’t eating during the day time during Ramadan, I was on my own for lunch. I was introduced to a fast-food place called Chez Joe’s. On the weekend, I would run to grab a Shawarma since they were very good. One Saturday, I had a 10,000 cfa bill or a little more than $20 and since getting change was difficult in Dakar, I figured that I couldn’t order my usual lunch of $3. I ordered the ½ chicken, figuring that I was really hungry and I would get change. Once I got my meal and noticed that I had ordered half a chicken, I realized why my philosophy of ordering food and not knowing exactly what I was getting was going to get me into some trouble. From then on, I stuck to my $3 lunch order.

2. It wasn’t unusual for me to see animals in Dakar as I mentioned in my earlier other posts. During June and July, I started asking myself if I was going crazy when I kept seeing monkeys everywhere.  The first time was in Pikine when I noticed a monkey in the backyard of a house. The second time around, there was a small monkey on the back of a man fixing a bike as I rode the TATA. I even saw Senegalese people looking at the man funny as if they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. The third time, I went to the Parc de Hann and noticed that a monkey was tied to a tree and it had a tutu on. I knew there was a zoo nearby, but I didn’t understand what the monkey was doing outside the zoo. See the picture below to see what I am talking about.

Monkey Wearing a Tutu

  

1. A couple days before coming home, I decided to go to the beach in Yoff. Since I was going there during the daylight, I didn’t see any problems going alone. Getting to the beach was no problem and once there, I decided to head to the rocks and away from the pirogues and fish market. I was sitting on the rocks taking pictures of the ocean and being careful not to take pictures of people. I was minding my own business when I notice a group of young kids heading towards me. I quickly put my camera away. The kids started accusing me of taking photos of them and demanded money. They only spoke Wolof and I didn’t have the full vocabulary to explain to the kids that I didn’t take photos of the and that I wasn’t giving them any money because I knew that I hadn’t taken photos of them. Someone grabbed a rock and a stick threatening me, but I wasn’t changing my mind. It was only once they mention the dog that I got scared. I am not a fan of dogs especially those running after me. One girl who was playing alone and who had seen what was happening came to talk to us.  She spoke French and I told her to explain to these kids that I purposely never took photos of people because it caused problems. I also asked her to tell the kids to go play in the water and leave me alone because the last time I checked, the ocean belonged to everyone. Please note that I vowed to never return to Plage de Yoff.