Senior Year, It's Already Here

I am back. I am here in Hartford trying to work through the homework that’s already starting to pile up. I am taking a moment to write about what it means to be back at Trinity after being abroad for a year. I am still involved in the Chapel Community and showing up at the Quest Scholars meetings as a participant. It was weird being back at first since I felt like a freshman in so many ways. There were more people that I didn’t know than I knew. There were other students I had communicated with about Trinity through email or Facebook because they were freshmen last year and it’s only now that I am getting a chance to meet them. In other ways, everything is back to normal. Classes are going well. I am living with my roommates from sophomore year. I am working in the same place I worked sophomore year. I participated in the annual Do it Day event on the first Saturday of the school year and got to paint a barn with the rest of the Chapel Council team. I am still friends with the same people. Parties continue to be the highlight of the weekend for college students. While a lot of things are the same, there are some changes worth noting. Services on Sundays are now at 12:30 pm and parts of worship were changed starting last year. There are new townhouses that were started when I was about to leave. The Vernon Social Center was renovated while I was away and it offers students a place to hang out and different eating options.  Lastly, coming back from my year abroad has meant realizing that all the upperclassmen I knew graduated and are now living the rest of their lives. This is a great reminder that I also need to start thinking about my future plans because in eight months, it’ll be my turn to graduate. While I can’t promise any crazy adventures like in Senegal, keep coming back to see what the last chapter of my college career has to offer.

Parks and Natural Spaces

One of my favorite places in Dakar has to be the forestal and zoological park in Hann. It was only a 15-30 minute bus ride away from where I lived and a wonderful place to take a walk or just get away from the city life. The first time I visited was on our field trip to the different suburbs of Dakar. Our professor wanted to show us this park since parks and natural spaces are an important part of a city. I didn't have a chance to revisit until June and this time, I found school children everywhere. It looked like the end of the school year field trip to the zoo. Feeling the need to get away from their noise, I continued to walk further into the park, only to discover a horse riding club. There was also a pond with a restaurant near-by if you were feeling hungry. This seemed like the perfect spot for walking, jogging or even reading. I went a final time in July and enjoyed visiting the Ethnobotanical Garden where they had a variety of plants and explanations of how these plants were used to treat illnesses. Outside of this garden,you could see children playing with their friends. There was even a game of cricket happening. Of course there was a zoo for those wanting to see animals. As for me, I was impressed that I could walk, sit down and read in peace and forget that I was in the busy city of Dakar. 

Photos from my visit to Parc Forestier et Zoologique de Hann:

 

Beaches Were Made for Relaxing

My first time living near the ocean was in Dakar and I had no complaints having access to different beaches. As someone who enjoys exploring a new city, I took advantage of my location to take walks and to relax once the weather got warmer. I would also take a book to read since I wasn't a big fan of going into the water. Once our program ended and I had more free time during the summer months, the beaches became great places to hang out with friends and to discuss our lives as student interns/researchers in Senegal.

Please enjoy the pictures below collected from field trips in my urban landscapes course and from my summer time adventures. While I didn't have a chance to visit all the beaches in Dakar, I learned that not all of them are created equal and only some are worthy of a second visit.

Plage de Mermoz. This beach was near our program site and very popular for hanging out during the semester. My first trip to the beach was here in January and I was sad for all the students at Trinity dealing with the cold weather. 

Plage de Yoff. Before this beach became the place I was attacked by little children, I remembered it as the place where goats were sitting on top and under the car during our field trip around Dakar. 

Plage de l'Anse Bernard. Some friends and I headed downtown to celebrate a friend’s birthday and ended up going to this beach. It was absolutely beautiful and a great place to take a nap after a tiring week!

Plage de Mamelles. If you didn’t know this beach existed, you would get lost. It was somewhat secluded and definitely had less people than the other beaches.

Plage de Yoff. Despite the incident here, it was cool to see the soccer games, the fish that was being sold as the pirogues came in, and the Island of Yoff.

Plage de Ngor. This beach seemed very popular with families and kids wanting to spend time with their friends. You could also take a pirogue out to the Island of Ngor, which you can see in the distance. 

After finishing a meeting at the local university, I decided to walk back home along the Corniche. I was truly amazed by the view that I saw! Even though mountains and foothills are what I am used to now, I wouldn’t mind living near the ocean again.

Another photo from my walk along the Corniche.

A view of downtown Dakar from Plage de l'Anse Bernard. It brought me back to the first time coming to Dakar in January and having this as my first view of the place I was going to spend the next four-six months.

A picture of the beach in Rufisque during our visit to the suburbs of Dakar. 

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.

Back in America

After a journey that included having to jump through hoops to leave Senegal and America not greeting me warmly, I am happy to report that I made it home in one piece. My trip included spending the night at the airport in Minneapolis/St. Paul and being thankful for the worker who pointed me to the observation room. It was a quiet and a peaceful place to spend my night before heading home! Although I was first disappointed that I wouldn’t make it home right away, I was lucky to have some time to reflect on my time abroad and how this experience has impacted my life. I am sorry to report that there has been no reverse cultural shock yet except for wondering why the JFK airport doesn’t have WIFI and getting a cart to push your bags cost $5.  I did miss my family’s cooking and I am making up for the lost time. As I adjust to my old life and as I head back to Trinity, it’ll be interesting to see what happens. I have been warned that after my year abroad, I will be bored in Boise and Hartford. Once again, I’ll figure all this out as time goes on. Between now and the start of the school year, I will continue to update this blog with more stories from my time abroad. I will finish up stories about my time in Senegal and then move on to draw connections between the cities I visited and some of the concepts I studied in my courses. I have also started a page that specifically looks at the research I was doing this summer. As always, there’ll be a mixture of serious issues as well as funny events since terrible things seem to happen without me even trying to do anything. I apologize for the long break without any blog posts and I appreciate everyone who keep ups with the adventures of this Congolese-American.

Getting Lost in a City? Oh, Well, It Comes with the Territory

A view of Dakar from the lighthouse of Mamelles

I remember in my second post saying that I was going to have to get used to getting around in a city where people don’t use street names and I don’t know the address to my house. It’s five months later and let me tell you that some things never change. I bought a map in late January even while knowing that no one uses it here. It wasn’t for anyone else but for my own peace of mind. It has definitely served its purpose! Back in March when we were going to a friend’s party, they had name of the place but no landmark to guide the cab driver. We pulled over and luckily, the other cab driver was able to figure out where we needed to go. Last week, I had to visit an NGO for my research and I used Google maps to see where I was headed. I wrote down the number of the villa, the landmarks nearby like the mosque and which street numbers meant that I had gone too far. The cab driver dropped me off in the general area and with the help of my earlier research; I found the organization without too much trouble.

Now, let me tell you what happens when I don’t combine my American methods with the Senegalese way of giving directions to get around. About two weeks ago, I had to visit another NGO and I thought that I had written down everything I needed. I had the name of the restaurant where the taxi would drop me off. I thought I knew where I was going since the place was near the beach and I figured that it was hard to lose the ocean. Everything was going fine until I got into the neighborhood and these streets didn’t have numbers on them or I hadn’t written them down. I started asking people for directions using the name of the organization and the villa number. Everyone I approached was very nice and they really tried to help me. We tried to understand my American directions and the Senegalese notes that I had gathered, but both weren’t enough. After a good amount of time wondering how someone gets lost in a neighborhood or what I was doing in a country where I couldn’t do something as simple as navigate the streets, I finally found someone who knew what I was looking for. While I shouldn’t be getting annoyed about knowing where I am going all the time, I miss street names. I miss them because they allow me to be confident that I am headed in the right direction and using a map reassures me that I am not getting lost or if I am, I can easily get back on track. Here, I am at the mercy of whatever directions I can get ahead of time, the cab driver and how well he knows Dakar and what I can see out my window on the public transportation.

The Tourist Corner: Wrestling, Drumming and Dancing

Since there’s a wrestling match today at a stadium not far from my house and part of my study abroad experience in Dakar included attending some cultural events to not only observe but to also participate, this blog post is long overdue but still relevant. The two events that I am going to talk about are la lutte and sabar. As I mentioned in an earlier post, traditional wrestling is very popular and people get excited when their favorite athletes are competing. We had a trip organized to see a fight in Dakar and then when we traveled to the area of Sine Saloum, the village put on another wrestling match for us. 

Watching Traditional Wrestling in Mar Lodj

The wresting was very interesting in that the fighting didn’t last very long, but the preparations took about ten-fifteen minutes. Apparently, there’s a lot of gri-gri involved and the athletes have marabous that prepare different gri-gri for them. Some threw weird combinations of drinks over their body. Some picked up the sand that their opponents had walked on and threw it in their diaper. It was after all this work that the actually fight took place and five minutes later, the match was over. While this was happening, there was singing, drumming and dancing. At the one in Dakar, two men dressed as lions were making scary sounds and were part of the entertainment crew. At this event, we got to sit in the adult section since the people here were quietly watching the match and behaving themselves. In the other parts of the stadium, people were jumping up and down, throwing things at each other and otherwise having a great time. When they came to film us, I was laughing so hard because there was no action on our side as we were trying to understand what was happening. 

Sabar that I attended was a friend’s of my host mom. It was a drumming session in the neighborhood with different people jumping in the middle to dance. They took turns dancing and how they knew which dance went with which beats, I can’t tell you. At one point, they got me and Emma to join the circle and we were told that it would be rude to decline. Let’s just say that I embarrassed myself since I can’t really dance. This went on for a while and it was amazing to think that when the drummers would play certain rhythm, people, including the kids knew what to do. I have a theory that they all start learning these Senegalese dances at such a young age that there’s no way I could learn them all in four months and then pretend to look good.