So Saturday we went to the zoo again, this time with Rodline, Allison, and Bobby since they hadn’t been yet. It was kind of different this time, because I think it had just been feeding time for the animals. Actually, apparently the zoo is closed in the middle of the day, about 1:30-3:00. Which Aziz never happened to mention to me until I was ready to go, and said “Oh, we can’t leave now, the zoo will be closed. We have to wait.” And I just kind of looked at him like, this would have been really helpful a little bit ago when I was arranging everything. Oh well.

So we went there and watched all of the animals eat baguettes (of course). There was actually this whole room which was stacked with baguettes, probably in a pile as tall as me! O, France. What have you done to the world? The lions of course, were eating I think a freshly killed cow (and later we took the wrong path and stumbled upon some zoo workers cutting up the cow right there. Yuck.) But anyway, at the lion cage, there was one really cool moment when the lion on one side of the cage tried to reach through and opening and take some of the meat. Then all the lions on the other side basically attacked him. Well, attacked the paw that was sticking through the side. Aziz was really happy because he loves lions, and loves to see them in action.

Also I bought two bags of peanuts, so I could give them to my friend, the chimpanzee. That was really fun. Plus I gave it to other monkeys. Aziz and Allison also took some baguettes from the room where they were stored, and we fed them to camels. Later we had some left over, and we took them over to one cage, were there were some smaller monkeys. There was a little baby monkey there. And we threw pieces of the baguettes to the monkeys, but the mom and dad kept taking the bread immeadiatley for themselves, and not giving any to the baby. We kept trying to throw it so the baby could get some, but the parents kept snatching it. The baby went around eating the crumbs that the parents dropped. How terrible!

I also finished my water bottle, and then filled it up with some tap water from a hose at the zoo. The chimpanzee was really thirsty, so I gave him the bottle. He didn’t seem to care at first, but when I came back later, he was chilling in his hammock-like netting in his cage and drinking from the bottle with his feet! lol.

So that was a fun day at the zoo. That night, we all went out, which was fun. Bobby’s neighbor, whose name is Babacar, and who I believe is very well off, wanted Bobby and his friends (us) to come out and enjoy Dakar. So he told us to come to this club with him. We met up at MyShoppe, like always, and pregamed there for a while. We met up with Bobby, and his (beautiful) host brother, Benj, plus Babacar and his two friends, Bashir and ______. Around 12:30, we finally left for the club called Le Voyageur in the downtown. (Except Ryan, who isn’t much into clubbing, and just went home) When we got there, hardly anyone was there! We chilled for a bit, and then as it started to get more crowed, we started to dance. It got SO HOT, of course, because it’s Africa, plus there isn’t really good circulation or air conditioning or anything. Oh well. But I had such a fun time! We went home around 4 in the morning. Although, it was kind of annoying, because Aziz’s friend got a taxi for going to Sacré Cœur II for 1,500 francs. But then, as soon as the driver saw me, he said, no actually the price is 2,000. So stupid.

Sunday, I went to Marché Sandaga, which is basically a big open market. It is somewhat terrifying, being that people come up to you, shove merchandise in your face and shout that they are giving you a really good deal, when you know that they will try so hard to rip you off. But I survived, and got a few nice things. I’m really excited about the two dresses I got. Also, we went to this place called N’Ice Cream afterwards, which was really good. I also got ice cream for my host mom. She had told me earlier that she really likes ice cream and hamburgers. So I asked her if she was American. To which she responded, “Yes, yes I am.” I got her chocolate, which she liked, but she told me her real love is coconut. I thought that was cool, because I told her my real mom loves coconut too!

Monday, I had a little incident which involved a mouse running out of my room, past me in the hallway, where I was studying, and into the kitchen. I screamed, and when my host mom found out why, she laughed at me because I wasn’t afraid of the lizard, but I was afraid of the mouse. I tried to explain to her that I’m not really scared of mice, but I just have this intense fear of stepping on one. Later I went up to Aziz, and I said, “Aziz, we need to get a cat.” He looked at me really weird, so I said, “Aziz, I want to get a cat, so it can eat the mouse.” He laughed at me, then said, “Are you serious?” I told him, yes of course I’m serious. So then he and his mom (he told her what I wanted) asked me questions like, “But what will he eat?”, etc. Then Aziz was like, “Okay, tomorrow, when we are downtown, we will look for a place to buy cats.” I was surprised that he took me actually that seriously. I mean, I would love to have a cat, or even more, I would love to have a dog, but it’s totally not feasible, and I don’t really expect it. Even though I told him I was serious, I really expected him to tell me I was being ridiculous. We didn’t end up looking for a cat, but Aziz has mentioned it a few times.

Okay, but the craziest thing happened TODAY when I came home. I was out to dinner with Allison’s mom, who is here visiting. I came home and Aziz says, “I have something to show you. It’s magic!” So we went out to the courtyard of our house and there was a SHEEP standing there, who said “Baaaaa” really loudly! And Aziz told me this was our new pet. And it's name is "Magique." Like, it’s not a sheep that we’re going to kill in a few weeks once it’s fattened up. No, this is a real pet, and apparently Aziz used to have a sheep before, but it died from old age. And he says he really takes it for walks, like every Sunday. I keep expecting him to be like, “Just kidding, hahahahaha gotcha!” but I don’t think that’s coming. We just now have a pet sheep. I’m actually really happy, because I’ve been missing my pets. Of course there are tons of dogs and cats (as well as cows, horses, goats, and chickens) that wander around Dakar all the time, but I can’t touch them, probably because they are covered in dirt/fleas/idk. Plus they might be mean. So I’m really happy to have a animal that I can touch and pet, etc. I told my mom, it’s kind of like having a dog…with horns! lol.

Oh Africa.

Oh, and I will put up pics soon of the new pet sheep.

So here is some pics from earlier times, I can finally upload them! It's not a lot but the internet is really slow, so I'm just doing a few.

This is at Goree Island, in "The House of Slaves" Goree was a major port for human trade during the Atlantic trade period, millions of slaves came through here. This is where many were kept between being brought to Goree and then shipped off to wherever they were going.
This is the "Door of No Return" in the House of Slaves.

Goree Island, looking down from the top

The Beach at Goree Island

Me, Bobby, Rodline, and Ryan at Just 4 U, for Rodline's Birthday.

Me and Aziz

My friend, the chimpanzee

Aziz with his favorite animal, the lion.

It’s been really hard being here this week, so far away from my family. But luckily, people here are really supportive. I told Awa, who works at WARC, about my grandfather, and now I have random people who also work there, but whom I’ve never really met, come up to me and give me their condolences. I guess I’m pretty easy to point out, though: the tall girl with the red hair. Lol. The students here too have been really nice, a lot of them have offered hugs, and the people in the wells program, to whom I am closer, have been really supportive. I’m more of a secretive kind of person anyway, though, so it’s not like I’ve really shared much.

Anyway, I should continue with my blogging, because it’s not like Punky would want me to stop. I guess I should start with Sunday. It was really fun that day, because my host mom (Ami) and I made these doughnut-ish things together. She had made the batter the night before. At that time, I helped her sift through the flour. She pointed out why this was necessary, it was because there were tons of little tiny insects left in the sifter! I told her the story about how one time my friend, Molly, and I were making cookies at her grandmother’s house and there were insects in the flour. Only we didn’t realize it until AFTER we had eaten a good amount of cookie dough, as well as some baked cookies! My host mom just laughed and laughed.

(Ami & I making beignet aka doughnuts)

Anyway, Sunday, I was given the task of rolling the dough into little tiny balls. Then they were put in a frying pan that was filled with oil (cholesterol-free, though I might add). I’ve never made something like this, so it was cool to watch the balls pop up to the top as they got fried and expanded. They were delicious, too, kind of tasting like funnel cakes, but in ball form.

Oh, and I made sweet tea which means my life is basically complete right now.

(Aziz pretending to eat all of the beignet)

It’s been a mostly normal week of classes. I had Arabic for the first time (finally). I’ve been working on some things myself, but this is the first week actually meeting with the professor. But of course, like a good Senegalese man, he was late. Setting up this class has been frustrating. Last week I finally got a hold of him, and we were supposed to meet Tuesday. So I went to WARC, even though I didn’t have class. When it was time to meet, I called him, and he was just like, “Oh, well actually we have class together tomorrow (He is my History of Islam in Senegal teacher) so why don’t we just meet before class.” Then I showed up early the next day, and he didn’t arrive until it was time for class, so we didn’t meet until afterwards. Then we decided on meeting Tuesday (I really would stake my life on this fact), but then Monday, I went into the WARC office, and Awa told me that the professor would be late. I told her I didn’t even think we were supposed to meet that day!!! Oh Senegal.

On a side note, because I think this is really cool, Awa is actually the Arabic name for Eve. The first two humans created in the Muslim version were Adama and Awa. Another thing, History of Islam has been really interesting, because one girl in my group, Allison, is Jewish. And so when we’ve been learning about random Muslim laws/practices, and actually Islam and Judism are really really close. I mean, obviously, because they were both created in the Middle East, both from the descendents of Abraham, and both monotheistic. And Islam basically accepts all of the Jewish prophets as truth (including Jesus) but believes that Muhammad was the last and greatest prophet. But it’s interesting to discover little details in which they both are the same, such as rules for diet, and certain traditions (I can’t remember many specifics, though). We talked briefly about how religion-wise Judaism and Islam are much closer than even Judaism and Christianity, but in this time are just so divided politically. My teacher is very much against the political/religious alliances.

Wednesday night, we decided to hang out, but it ended up just being Ryan, Rodline, Aziz, and I. We went to Caesar’s, which is this food joint, which apparently you can find in Dakar, Paris, and New York. It has a random collection of food, everything from a fried chicken sandwich, to spaghetti, to oriental foods. I decided to get a milkshake, which was expensive (over $3) and probably the most disappointing thing of my life. I’m used to either the fast food size milkshakes, about 16 – 20ozs, or the good homemade ones, which come in a huge cup, and then have an overflow cup as well. But this milkshake was so small, maybe 5 ozs. I was so sad. And it was made from gelato, not really ice cream. I guess that part was okay, though.

Afterwards, Rodline, Aziz, and I decided to go to the beach, which was nearby. So we walked there. On the way there, Aziz talked to some random guys and asked them if the way was well lit (it was starting to get dark). They said yes. We continued on. It was a really cool beach. Of course, there were cliffs that plunged into the water, but there was also a little sandy beach area. Although this is a beach where you can’t swim because the current is just too strong. I could really see it, though, the waves weren’t necessarily taller than I’ve seen, but the did look thicker and stronger. Plus there were random rock formations, which could have gotten dangerous for someone swimming in the waves. I really hope to go to a good beach soon, maybe this weekend or next week. I just sat on this ledge/path to the water, and watched the waves. Like I said before, I always feel so peaceful at the beach. Aziz and Rodline sat a little bit away from me and talked. After a while we went to leave. Suddenly, a police officer stepped out of the shadows and demanded to see our identity pieces. Luckily Rodline and I had ours on us, so we gave them to him, no problem. But Aziz had forgotten his. So the police officer just had us walk with him for a bit, and Aziz talked to him in Wolof. Finally Aziz asked for 1,000 francs (about $2) and then gave it to the police officer. Then we left. As we walked by the guys that Aziz had talked to on the way, the police officer stopped and talked to them like old friends. I think we had gotten set up. But mostly the thing that I’ve learned from all of this is that if I could bribe police officers in the States for $2, I think I would do so many things, just because I could. I mean, sometimes I do anyway, like blatantly jaywalk in front of police officers in Charleston, because they really just don’t care.

Hmm, another interesting thing that happened was Thursday night, I was showering, and I looked down to find a little tiny lizard chilling in the shower bottom. I was really startled, and I got out, wrapped my towel around, and then ran out and found Aziz. I probably would’ve done something about it myself, except I didn’t have any way of picking it up, etc. So Aziz grabbed a shoe, and I was like, “NO! You can’t kill it!” He just looked at me like I was crazy, and said, “Shannon, it’s a lizard. I have to kill it.” But I refused let him, saying I like lizards (at which point Aziz told his mom, and both of them laughed at me like I was crazy. Aziz’s mom doesn’t like lizards.) I also told him it was cute, and it was a baby, so he couldn’t hurt it. He told me it was probably poisonous, but I told him he didn’t know for sure (although, he probably really does, being that he lives here and all). Finally I convinced him just to pick it up and throw it outside, which he did. So I was okay with that. But I think Aziz and his mom really do think I’m crazy because I wouldn’t let Aziz kill it. Aziz told me it was the first time he’s ever heard of anyone not allowing him to kill a lizard.

Thursday night we went to Just 4 U again. It was Allison, Bobby and his host brother, Benjamin, Aziz, and I. It was kind of relaxed. It’s more of a place to go and watch a show, and I think I prefer somewhere to dance. But it was fun, Allison and I chatted a bit, and I got to talk to Benjamin, who is really nice. The music was good. The group playing was called Souleymane Faye, which plays a mix of jazz and the mbalax. But again, there were tons of European/Americans there. I think this weekend I really want to go to a club and dance among tons of Dakarois. That’s my plan.

Oh, something else I should mention: Last week, before we went to Melissa, we were talking about Aziz’s grandfather (well technically, he was the son of Aziz’s father’s father’s sister, or his father’s cousin. But Aziz maintains it’s totally normal to consider him his “grandfather”), who was a marabout. (That is and Islamic leader/teacher. He often has a group of students (Talibé). Also, Muslim people/families might have a marabout, meaning that they were either taught by this marabout, or maybe he was something like a pastor to them. Also there are people who just like what he has to say, and therefore follow his teachings in Islam.) Anyway, Abdoul Aziz Sy the marabout, for whom my host brother Abdoul Aziz is named, was a great marabout, and very popular in Senegal. Anyway, it was funny because right after talking about this, we walked to Melissa. On the way we walk past a house, which was Abdoulaye Wade’s (the president of Senegal) house before he became president. There are still guards that stand watch there with huge guns, because there may be family members in that home. Anyway, we decided to stop and talk to one of the guards. When he heard Aziz’s name, he says, “Oh that’s my marbout!” (But in Wolof). So that was cool.

Aziz has also talked to me about his grandfather, and tells me that he was very against injustice. For example, the talibé begging in the streets. Aziz tells me that many of them come from families in the villages who have too many kids and then decide to send them to the city under a marabout, because they believe there are lots of opportunities in the city, and the kids can learn the Koran. I guess it helps the parents to have one less mouth to feed, but of course, once the kids get to Dakar, they are just left to beg on the streets. Aziz’s grandfather didn’t agree with this, he believed that parents should take responsibility for their kids and that begging is a terrible option, because the kids will grow up and not know anything but that.

I really can’t stop thinking about the talibé. That probably has something to do with the fact that I have to pass tons of them on the street every day.

So today my mom called me to tell me that my grandfather died yesterday. I decided to take a walk, although today is extreamly hot (I almost passed out from the heat on the bus earlier). I guess I'm also happy that Dakar is surrounded by beaches, so I walked to the nearest one. It is a really rocky beach, and definitely no place for swimming. But I just let the waves crash around me, and I definitely feel happier there. I also saw a man swim in from the sea. He was wearing a full scuba-diving outfit, and was dragging a boogie board behind him, under which were the fish he had caught earlier. When I saw the boogie board, it made me think of all the times at the beach with my grandfather, boogie boarding and what not. It was good to think back to that.

That's all I can write for now.

So as a follow up to my last entry, here is a story about how efficiency is not a cultural value in Senegal:

This is a story about getting my computer. After trekking back and forth to the poste office in Fann Residence (which is where WARC is located) I got a message saying that my package had arrived, and was in Colis Postaux, which is towards the Centre Ville, or downtown. The package had arrived on the 29th, and I didn’t get this until October 2. Also, there was no way for the guy at Poste Fann to check and tell me that the package was actually at Colis Postaux.

So I went with Rodline and paid 1,500 francs (about $3) for the taxi. The driver didn’t know exactly where it was, so he ended up driving into the Archdiocese of Senegal to ask for specific directions. Finally we got there. I went in, and the first set of windows were for Western Union, so I continued to the next set of windows, and they people there pointed me further down the line. I went to one of the windows there, but they told me I had to go to the first window in this set. So I went there, and gave them the notice slip (about receiving the package) and someone went to look for it. They got the package, and then pointed so that I would walk up further into the building. They were walking on the other side of the glass, and Rodline and I followed alongside. We went into the final room, and then I was directed to follow the guy back into this office-looking space (which was actually just a group of guys sitting around a table with their Iphones out, and drinking Senegalese tea). We went into the back office, where there was an important-looking guy sitting behind a desk. I was directed to sit in one of the chairs in front of him, like it was a business meeting or something. He was still talking to another guy, who was in the other chair, and so I waited for them to finish. He then talked to me, asking me what was in the package (I said a computer). I think they were interested because my mom had put insurance on it for $200. The guy then asked me whether it was old or new, and I told him old. There was some confusion then, because he was saying that it would need to be opened up, which I understood, but then he kept talking and making me think that I hadn’t understood correctly. So finally I opened the whole package, unwrapped it all from the tons of bubble wrap, etc, and finally got to the computer. He opened it, and said yep, it’s old (but in French of course) and then stamped my package notice. I was told I had to pay a tariff of 2,500 francs (about $5). So I went back out to the last room of windows, and went over to the “Douane” (Customs) Window, gave them 2,500 francs, and got another paper that was officially stamped. Then I went back out to the window where I had first given my package notice/slip and gave them all of the stamped papers, then they told me that it was a fee of 1,000 francs ($2) to get the package. So I gave them that, and they filled out another slip. After all this, they asked for my ID! Luckily, Senegal requires you to carry identification on you at all times. If you don’t, you can actually be arrested on the spot for not having ID. Or, of course, you can try to heavily bribe the police to NOT put you in a Senegalese jail. Anyway, the first week I was here I gave my passport to Adji, one of the people who works at WARC, and she took it to the police station and had a copy made there. Then it was stamped by the police to verify that it was a legit copy, etc. So I carry that copy with me at all times, instead of having to carry my passport.

So anyway, the moral of my story is that after all this traipsing around, and paying random fees, and THEN presenting my ID, I FINALLY got my computer. YAY!!!! I think I am overly excited about having a computer again, but I realized this has been the first time since high school maybe, or even before that, that I have not had my own computer.

Oh, and I discovered that Aziz likes bubble wrap almost as much as I do.

So moving onto other stories, Thursday night the people from the Wells group and I went to a club called “Melissa” where Aziz’s friend was DJing. It was ladies night, so all of us girls got in for free. Aziz had to wait outside for his friend to let him in. When we got there, it was kind of early (around 12:30 AM) so there weren’t that many people there. We just sat around talking and drinking, then after a while there were more people there. Some guys asked us to dance, so we went up and danced. Some of the music was American (and some were THROWBACKS. We heard music we hadn’t heard since middle school.) but often it was mixed with and Mbalax (the “x” is pronounced like throttal h, kind of like a French r) which is the national dance of Senegal. There were times that there was more American rap/hip-hop, to which I was of course a lot more to dancing. A bunch of guys came up to me to dance. I couldn’t get away! After about 3 or so in the morning, they started playing just mbalax, and I was starting to get tired. I tried to go over to the edge and rest for a bit, but guys kept grabbing me by the hand and dragging me onto the dance floor. Finally I went to Rodline (Allison and Ryan had already left) and she looked tired too. So we went ahead and left.

Friday was a very lazy day. It’s hard to sleep in, because it starts getting very bright and hot in my room around 9:30-10. But I kept going in and out of sleep until 12 or so. Then I went to WARC, then to get my computer, which took a while. The Wells group and I all decided to go out to dinner that night at the French institute. It is a very nice place, although it’s weird to see so many white people! lol. The food is of course delicious, and very European. Other people in my group, I think, miss their normal food more than I do. In general, I am not a picky eater at all and am very satisfied pretty much all foods (except raw/plain vegetables, though I don’t mind eating them with something else or in sauces, etc.) But Senegalese food is very heavy, and very full of beef and/or chicken, so for those used to tons of vegetables & salad, I guess it’s very different. I don’t really miss food, except for maybe nachos and macaroni and cheese. I remember one of my first days back from France, I insisted on fixing a box of Mac n Cheese and a glass of chocolate milk. Mmm. I really miss drinks more than food that I have in America, because I pretty much like the food here. I’ve managed to find decent milk here. It is long-life milk, which means you can keep it for ages, and you don’t have to refrigerate it, until it is open, and then it must go in the fridge and is only good for 3 days. The first one I tried, Bridel, was okay, but had a terrible aftertaste. But I found “Grand Lait” which is pretty good, except it only comes in 2% or whole milk. And if I can buy chocolate milk if I really want to. And I did see one store where I could buy pepsi if I was craving it. One really good drink here is Bisap juice, which is a very red-purple fruit juice. My host mom makes this. It is really good, and I get some from here sometimes, but I just really am not much of a juice person. But I am so excited to make some sweet tea!!!

Well that’s all for now. I am enjoying so much having a computer finally, and I am using the internet at Aziz’s friend’s house.

On another note, Rodline, Allison, and I have decided to go to Morocco for Fall break, which is October 24-31. I am really excited! We are flying into Casablanca, and we will probably stay there for a few days and then buy train tickets to Tangiers and back. Casablanca is interesting, but apparently doesn’t have that much to see. People have told us that Tangiers is really the place to go. So that will be really fun!!!

So not really much has been happening, except actually going to classes, so this is just going to be a rant of cultural observations and frustrations.

First of all, the top things I miss about America:
1. Efficiency
2. Being on time
3. Customer Service
4. Sweet Tea (although I'm going to be making some for my family soon)
5. Drinkable tap water & water foutains.
6. Change (money) always being available in stores.
7. Non-smoking bars/clubs
8. Lack of need to take a shower EVERY day and ability to wear clothes again because they aren't drenched in sweat.

Okay, moving on to another random thought, regarding the talibés. Whenever I walk with my friend, Rodline (who is black, but american, not senegalese) the talibés always approach me first, or any other white person in the group. They will only approach her last asking for money, or not at all. And I kind of think that is a misunderstanding of American culture on their part. American culture is so anti-giving-to-beggars. People will always say, oh they're just going to spend it on drugs/alcohol (although to that my response is: what were YOU going to spend it on that makes you so much holier?) But we firmly believe that people should go work for money, instead of begging. I don't necessarily agree with that philosophy, but I also don't give to beggars. In my opinion, a Senegalese person would be a lot more LIKELY to give than an American because in Senegalese culture, giving to beggars is more acceptable, as I mentioned before. But then again, on the other hand if/when Americans do give (and probably more than they would in the states because it is always really young children begging, for whom we have a soft spot) we give amounts that to us seem so little, like 40 cents, but to Senegalese is a substantial amount.

So those are random things for now, just things I've been thinking about while being here. I'm sure I'll add more later.

Peace.

Oh, and speaking of peace, the first day Aziz thought my tattoo was a mercedes-benz sign. I had to explain that it was a peace sign. lol.

So nothing really exciting has been happening. We actually have a normal week of classes. Meaning, we go to classes every day and are totally expecting to. We actually have had a little work to do! What an idea!

Anyway, so I've decided to take this time to rant a little bit about culture. First of all, I'm frustrated because I'm supposed to be receiving my computer, and today I walked all the way to the post office, only to find out that the person who is in charge of packages was taking a ONE HOUR BREAK, and there was no one else who could help me. I guess that explains why my computer has yet to actually be delivered