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| Riding in a CarRapid! |
I know it was two nights ago, but I have to tell you about dinner. I had little packets of heaven for dinner! It had the consistency of a crab cake, but it was made with red fish, and it was inside this crust of bread crumbs. Then there were sweet onions in the middle of the bowl, which we ate with bread. And then we had french fries and salad on the outside of the bowl! I think I told my mom about 6 times that I loved the dinner and she didn't bug me about me about eating more. Hopefully we have that again.
So yesterday, we visited a variety of places including an awesome book store, the University of Dakar and WARD. We were all really tired so I don't think we got much out of it, but it was nice for the Baobab Center to take us there. And plus, Samba took us and he is clearly my favorite person here. Every time he comes around, he makes you smile, laugh and want to jump around with him. (In the picture, he's wearing the hat I gave him... or rather he took).
We also had our first History of Islam class. The professor is very concerned that we all don't have Senegalese finances yet. He also told us how to recognize a Saay Saay (sketch ball) in Senegal. He also said he's really chill and doesn't have a lot of homework, but he won't let us eat or drink in class and he said he normally assigns 20 page papers. He's a walking oxymoron. Nonetheless, I'm really excited about the course and having him as a professor. After walking home at 7:30pm, I got home and while dinner was being prepared the electricity was out and didn't come back on until 6am. We had mash potatoes and ground beef with bread for dinner. Then we hung out with some kids from the other big study abroad program in Senegal. We hung out with Bary, the goat, on the roof of a house. He was upset that he wasn't included in the conversation and kicked around a can while we were there.
Today we went downtown again and we bargained hardcore for fabric. I'm so excited. I bought 6 meters for Tabaskie (the next holiday coming up), but I have yet to take it to a tailor. Then I bought two more pagnes for the house. Although I may have the tailor make a skirt out of one for the States. Oh, and on a side note, the prices were awesome! I got 6 meters for 16 dollars and both pagnes for about 8 dollars. We then went to the same place I went last year to buy the table sets and got some tapestries! They were so much fun to negotiate with, but they were totally ripping us off. For two cloths, they wanted about 110 dollars... I simply said I was leaving.. and he was quick to negotiate the price further. I basically told him I only had 20 cfa and he was noooott happy with me. But the guy who sold me my fabric was there and he said: "These are my people. Give her good price." So, he said that we had a deal (it sounds a lot simpler when I type it.. but this was at least 30-40 minutes of going back and forth). I ended up having three 5000 bills and three 2000 bills, so I told him that I'd give him 21000 for being a nice guy and he screamed "Kee suma harit la!!" which means "You are my friend" in Wolof. Then we gave each other a big hug and he tried to sell me other things. The truth of the matter was that he cleaned me out.
After having fun in Sandoga, we walked for hours around downtown Dakar.
Here is my day in pictures:
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| Biggest Church in Dakar |
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| National Assembly |
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| Main and Largest Hospital in Dakar |
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| Gouvernement de Senegal |
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| The White House |
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| ICE CREAM! |
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| Katie inside of N'Ice Cream |
I don't know how I feel about downtown. It really bugs me that I can't orient myself. Nothing makes sense and there aren't any addresses. Although, I love how vivacious it is. It makes New York look calm, that's for sure. When we were done with Ice Cream, we found a CarRapide to take us to the Baobab Center and Thiaba (our guide) had it out with the guy taking our money. No idea what it was about but it was entertaining. We arrived at the Baobab Center and we started our History of Islam class. I felt bad for the professor because we were all beat from our morning excursions. He did a good job at keeping us engaged though, I'll give him that. He asked once again whether we have Muslim boyfriends and told us all the crazy and complicated aspects of Islam. He says Christians have it easy, and based on the lesson today, I can't say I disagree with him.
Well... until next time. I hope life outside of Senegal is as exciting and marvelous as mine.
Today we went downtown again and we bargained hardcore for fabric. I'm so excited. I bought 6 meters for Tabaskie (the next holiday coming up), but I have yet to take it to a tailor. Then I bought two more pagnes for the house. Although I may have the tailor make a skirt out of one for the States. Oh, and on a side note, the prices were awesome! I got 6 meters for 16 dollars and both pagnes for about 8 dollars. We then went to the same place I went last year to buy the table sets and got some tapestries! They were so much fun to negotiate with, but they were totally ripping us off. For two cloths, they wanted about 110 dollars... I simply said I was leaving.. and he was quick to negotiate the price further. I basically told him I only had 20 cfa and he was noooott happy with me. But the guy who sold me my fabric was there and he said: "These are my people. Give her good price." So, he said that we had a deal (it sounds a lot simpler when I type it.. but this was at least 30-40 minutes of going back and forth). I ended up having three 5000 bills and three 2000 bills, so I told him that I'd give him 21000 for being a nice guy and he screamed "Kee suma harit la!!" which means "You are my friend" in Wolof. Then we gave each other a big hug and he tried to sell me other things. The truth of the matter was that he cleaned me out.
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