Back to Village

I'm about to swing by the post office, and then I'm going to do my best to hop on the Niokolo bus (more of a giant van, really) back out to Salémata.

Happy Ramadan! I have a house meeting next weekend, so I'll be back in about a week! 

Ramadan Food

I know that "Ramadan food" might sound like an oxymoron, but there is a lot of eating involved in celebrating Ramadan. First, there are a lot of people who aren't supposed to fast during the day, such as children, the sick, the elderly, women who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or menstruating, non-Muslims, people who are traveling long distances or doing serious manual labor, and so on.

People, like my host family, who observe Ramadan will get up before dawn to have breakfast, and then fast until seven in the evening, when they'll break the fast by eating dates and having tea and snacks while they prepare dinner. During the day they're supposed to be doing a total fast, meaning that they'll give up not just eating and drinking, but looking at, thinking about, and doing and saying sinful things. As my host mother during Pre-Service Training noted, Ramadan is much harder than the Catholic tradition of Lent. (I wasn't really sure how to go about explaining that I don't do Lent either, so I just agreed with her.)

Ramadan started while I was in Dakar, but it's a pretty big city and aside from a few things (cab drivers charging more and being less agreeable, witnessing a late afternoon fistfight in a roundabout, lots of Ramadan-related advertisements for dates and coffee and things) it was easy to forget that Ramadan was happening.

There were more people out praying then usual, especially on Friday, which is traditionally the day that everyone wears nicer clothes, and the men and the older women go to the mosque for afternoon prayers. On the first Friday of Ramadan we were walking over to the French Cultural Center at prayer time, and the streets were echoing with the megaphones broadcasting the call to prayer and impressively crowded with people praying or heading to the mosque to pray. I'm not sure why so many people were praying in the streets - maybe there isn't enough space in the mosques? Maybe people run out of time and it's more convenient?

Photo Credit: travelpod.com

In any case, today I'm going to go over to the Kédougou market to buy snacks, a bunch of dates as a seriche gift for my host family, and some gresil. I'm not sure what gresil is but everyone tells me that if you sprinkle it around the outside of your hut it repels snakes. (Side note: Last month I saw a couple snakes in my hut. They didn't hang around and they weren't black mambas or anything, but I'm going to get the gresil anyway.)

Tomorrow (after I go to the post office and hopefully finally finally the guy who has the keys to the cabinet where they keep all the packages will be there and I will be able to pick up my birthday mail) I'll be heading back to Salémata. 

Arrivederci!

Birthdayapalooza

On August 1st, 2011 I turned 28, Marielle turned 25, Switzerland turned 720, and a good time was had by all. On July 31st, after the SeneGAD meeting, a bunch of us came in to Dakar and got all cleaned up.

I had a little beer to celebrate...

We all went out for fancy pizza and it was delicious. Ben and I shared one that was half "H&M" (merguez sausage and garlic) and half "Hammam" (caramelized onion and goat cheese, no idea how they chose these names), Nic and Ivy split something similar, Sarah ordered a calzone, and Nathaniel opted to slaughter his own pizza.

Afterwards everyone went out for beers, and Marielle came thisclose to pulling off the opening-a-beer-with-another-beer trick. 

Sharing a birthday (and a delicious birthday cake) with Marielle was great because she is awesome, as you can clearly see. 

On August 1st, our actual birthday, we all went out to Ngor Island. It's a tiny island along the northern part of Dakar, and for about a dollar you can take a 3-minute ride out to it in a pirogue, which is exactly what we all did. 

Even though it was overcast, it was warm and the waves we beautiful. Emma enjoyed the view of the coastline, and Kayla, Ivy and I had a nice time strolling around the cliffs. 

It was a good day for fancy fancy coffees. Ben treated Emma and I to cappuccinos and tiramisu, and then a little while later we treated ourselves to beachside Nescafes.

It rained for a little while, but it was hot, so we swam anyway, doing our best to avoid all the plastic bags and bits if junk floating around in the surf. We looked at a bunch of sea urchins and little fish, and after successfully clambering around on all sorts of slippery rocks, I stubbed my toe walking out of the water and wound up making a little bandage out of a piece of my skirt-towel-fabric. Then it was naptime, and then we hopped in a boat back to the mainland.

After showers at the regional house it was time for N'ice Cream, more espresso, and then out for Thai food at the Jardin Thaïlandais, and it was fantastic. Really just amazing. (When we sat down I was saying they should tell the waiters it's my birthday and maybe they would give us a free dessert, and then was so wrapped up in how lovely the food was that I actually completely forgot about it and so was genuinely surprised when there was a candle and singing with my caramelized bananas.)

AND THEN the next day Marielle and I went into town with Kayla and her visiting friends, to check out a giant fabric market, eat more ice cream (I was not such an ice cream person in the US, but lately my love for cold things knows no bounds), and go on the trampolines. 

Kayla and her friend Sabrina decided to reenact the Scar/Mufasa (Mufasa!!) fight scene from The Lion King. 

Obviously, it was a pretty epic few days, and I'm extremely lucky to have such wonderful, fun, photogenic people in my life. And not just in Senegal - when we stopped for internet and I read all the birthday messages I may or may not have teared up a little bit right there in the CyberCafe. Many, many thanks to everyone for being so great ~ 

The Blue Dress Party Continues

At the end of IST (In-Service Training) there was a meeting for SeneGAD (the Senegal Gender And Development group) and that involved the SeneGAD Fukkijai. A fukkijai is basically just an informal thrift store (most of the stuff was obviously donated form America and actually still has tags on it from places like Savers and Value Village) and so SeneGAD sets up a Fukkijai and the proceeds go to funding scholarships for Senegalese girls in middle school. 

There was even a Patagonia factory reject table, which is where Sarah L. got this lovely pale blue dress.

Fukkijai Fashion Show

These dresses are totally sy-sy (scandalous and/or trouble-making) because you can see our knees. Our knees!!! We'll have to wear leggings if we wear these out in public.

Emma, Ivy, LaRocha, Sarah, Mac

Emma, Ivy, LaRocha, Sarah, Mac (again)

Remix! Ivy, LaRocha, Nic, Sarah, Mac

Logger Time with Mac

N'ice Cream

I have been in Dakar for a few days for a dentist appointment, and because of the power outages and the total lack of internet access at the Dakar regional house it's been surprisingly inconvenient to get online. However, it is really convenient to get ice cream, and there's a place downtown called N'ice Cream that's as close as Dakar comes to having an American-style ice cream shop. 

As delicious as many of the flavors are, there are a few significant differences between Baskin Robbins and N'ice Cream. First, despite the name, the employees at N'ice Cream aren't actually that nice. For instance, you only get two samples, and those are given somewhat begrudgingly. Also, many of the flavors are not labeled, and it can be a challenge to get someone to tell you what's what, which, combined with the sample limits, adds a certain element of surprise to the whole flavor selection process. It's still really fun though, and so yesterday, after we finished up at the dentist, my friend Chelsea and since we're in Dakar and had just gotten out dental problems taken care of we decided to have a frozen sugarfest to celebrate.

Chelsea at N'ice Cream

Chelsea ordered Tiramisu with Strawberry and she got Vanilla with Blueberry. It was still very good, but confusing.

Blu N'ice, Triple Chocolate, Rainbow Sprinkles

As far as we could tell, Blu N'ice seems to be frosting flavored. When paired with Triple Chocolate and Rainbow Sprinkles it's pretty much like eating a cupcake. A frozen, pureéd, and reconstituted cupcake. It was amazing. 

Blu N'ice, Triple Chocolate, and Sprinkles