Contradictions, Misperceptions, and Adjustment

To begin, Senegal is in many, many ways not what I expected. I guess "bustling metropolis" has a totally different connotation in America than it does in Senegal. Senegal being one of the more developed countries in Africa, what I have to say is - holy crap the world has a long way to go.



Last week we spent the days learning about different aspects of Senegalese culture and society. For example, I learned how to eat tcheboudienne (spicy rice mixed with whole fish, cassava, and other vegetables) in the traditional Senegalese way where everyone (sometimes up to 10 people) sit around the same big bowl and eat with their right hands. It's actually really difficult to eat rice with one hand and still look polite. Then, at the end of the meal, you have to like all the rice off of your hand, because nobody wastes food. If there are leftovers, families sometimes save it for another meal, or children knock on the doors just after dinnertime and people give them the leftovers. Of course, of the biggest compliments a mother can recieve is to have nicely fattened people come out of her house. So, moms never stop encouraging you to eat. At the end of the meal, you're supposed to say "Neexna, barina" which means "it was good, it was plentiful." Also, unlike in America, you're not supposed to compliment the food until you are almost finished. If you compliment it too early, they think you expected it to be bad.



Most of you all probably have heard that in the Middle East, you never shake hands using your left hand because that's what they've traditionally used as toilet paper. I didn't think that still happened. But......it does in Senegal, and I'd assume it happens in a lot o Africa. Where a large part of the population still lives off of a $1 or less a day, things like toilet paper, power-flush toilets, and trash collection are luxuries reserved for the upper classes. So, here's how it works :) Either you have a Western-style bowl toilet that flushes (or you pour water to make it go down) or you have a squat-hole. Then, there's a colorfully-painted tea pot next to the toilet and you pour it on, wipe with your left hand if you need to, and then you wash your hands really well. Yeah, gross, I know. But, I am not going to use my hand. That's one adaption that I can do without.



We also learned about polygamy. With a 90% Muslim population, polygamy is quite common. Statistics are difficult to come by in developed countries, but even more difficult to find in developing countries since many activities are informally done. Estimates about polygamous households vary between 30%-50% in Senegal. I didn't expect that many. WE are going to discuss polygamy in classes later in the semester, so I'm sure I'll have more to say about it then, but here are some things I have learned so far. The age gap betweeen a husband and a wife is often quite large. Life (especially in Dakar) is expensive and men have to work for several years before being able to afford an apartment and a family. That means that men are older (approaching 30) before ever marrying their first wife, who is often much younger. Pretty much every first wife wants to remain a first wife. The age gap between first and second wives is also often quite large (10-20 years) since the husband must make sure he can afford a second family before marrying again. Interestingly, women prefer to be second wives (unless, of course they can remain a first wife). This is because second wives often have less responsiblity and more freedom to do things besides housework, which typically falls onto the first wife. Some people say that it's the tradition of this society, so the women don't mind it as much as they would in the U.S. But, just because you don't mind it doesn't mean it's ok that it still happens. I was talking with a Senegalese girl at my university and she said that a husband has no obligation to tell his first wife that he is going to get a second wife. SHe said that, usually, he gets married and then one of your friends or relatives comes and tells you that you have a "little sister."

I moved into my host family's house on Friday. My "mom" is Marianne Djiane. She's a widow who has 2 grown daughters who live in France and a 17-yr-old son who goes to a highschool in another part of Dakar, so he doesn't live with us. Marianne's nephew Robert who comes from the village of Djiao near the coast by Gambia is a philosophy student at Cheihk Anta Diop UNiversity and lives with us until he can find a room at the university. THere is also Cecily, a girl from the US who just finished her masters in DC and is teaching at a bi-lingual highschool here for 6 months. I'm really glad I can speak and understand French as well as I can. It's still not that great, but I can't imagine not being able to talk to the people you live with. It would be so awkward.

Marianne is such a nice woman. She's an excellent cook since she cooked in a 5-star hotel on the Petit Cote of Senegal when she was younger. That's why they placed me with her - because I can't eat red meat, and most families usually eat rice and beef or mutton. We eat a lot of fish with really good rice. THe rice is cooked with vegetable oil and a bunch of spices that I don't know. She also made fataya, which are kind of like fried wantons with fish and spices in the middle. You put them on a baguette with a spicy tomato sauce and lettuce. Yum. We've had crepes with Chocopain (type of Nutella) and yesterday we had fried fish and potato salad. I'm going to cook with Marianne sometimes so I can learn how to make this stuff. For breakfast, we always have a baguette with Chocopain and coffee.

After talking with other students, I am so glad I got placed with this family. In other families, communication is really difficult because they always speak Wolof realy quickly to each other and don't make any effort to communicate with their student. The people in my family usually speak French, and make sure I understand what they're saying but rephrasing and repeating things to me. THey help me with my homework too. Like, we practice how to barter for a taxi price in Wolof and memorize poems in French together.

I've had some funny discussions with Robert about philosophy and usually we can talk for about 5-10 minutes, and then it gets difficult. But, it's fun. His favorite philosopher is Descartes because he was really adamant about not believing in something unless you can be completely sure about it. I don't know much about Descartes, but that's what Robert said anyway.

I think that I live with one of the poorer families that they placed students with. i didn't know this until yesterday, when I visited other students' families. But, I really love where I live, and espcially the people. I'll try to describe my home, but it'll probably be difficult to envision. Sometime I'll get some pictures up.

I live in the neighborhood of Ouakam, which is a huge neighborhood right next to the Dakar airport. It has three sections, and I live in Asecna. The neighborhoods here are way different than the US. Rather than just being residential, there are shops all over - restaurants, cybercafes, hardware stores, clothing shops, household shops, produce stands, pharmacies, and grocery stores. There are several boulangeries (bakeries), since EVERYONE eats baguettes with some kind of Nutella-like chocolate or marmalade every morning. In the evening around 6pm or so, it smells amazing if you're walking down a street where there's a boulangerie. I live on a pretty busy street in Ouakam - right across from the giant soccer field (which is a field of dust with 2 goals - Bobby, exactly like the soccer field near the shantytown in Machuca). Nobody has their own "house" in Dakar, except the President. In my neighborhood it's mostly 2-3 story apartments/townhouses. There are a couple 10-story buildings, but those are really new, and not very common.

So, you walk down the street (no sidewalks anywhere in Senegal, except some parts of downtown) and there's a long 2-story building with a white cement wall with graffiti - that's the entrance to my house. YOu pass through the gate into a little courtyard - maybe 20ftx20ft. That's where they do the cleaning - laundry, and stuff. There are 4 families who live in this building and use this courtyard. I live on the first floor, then there's a family of three above us (AnneMarie, Marie Coudou (15), and Cheikh). On the other side is an adorable family of 5 (Vieuxfall, Tabaski, Mohammed (5), Rieugi (8), and Aisha(7)). From the courtyard, you enter my home through a gate. There's a 4-ft. cement wall, and then the rest of the wall is like a decorative metal grate - because it never gets that cold here. It's pretty open. I mean, it's safe and all, but not like the walled houses we're used to in the states. So, you enter a gate to my home, and Marianne has long white curtains over the wall, for some privacy. It's really nice, because you still get the breeze and have a sort-of wall at the same time. Our apartment is L-shaped. THere's a hallway (that's the L) and off of that is a bunch of rooms. There's Mariann'es bedroom, then the in the hallway there's the table where we eat. Then, there's the living room which has a few chairs, some pictures, and a TV, then my room, Cecily's room, the kitchen, and then the bathroom. It's small, and was kind of awkward at first. But, I like living there. My room is awesome. Marianne decorated it with all kinds of African fabrics.

ANywhere in the developed world, my neighborhood would be considered a ghetto or a shantytown. It's safe, but very poor. On the outside, a lot of the buildings look pretty crappy, but the insides are kept very nice. The shops are all tiny and crowded with stuff. It's always dusty - there are potted plants, but that's it. As everywhere in Dakar, there's trash all around. Nothing immediately dangeorus like syringes or glass. But, lots of plastic and paper. The people and their setting just don't seem to go together. The background is pretty ugly, but everyone dresses like they always have some important meeting to go to.

More later! THere's always so much to say!!!!