Yet More Anecdotes

There were riots last week (but not in my neighborhood) after day-and-half long power outages. Apparently there were all the usual set pieces: road blockages, burning tires, stones for throwing, and policemen with tear gas grenades.

In my ride to school one day last week, the car twice spent over twenty seconds driving in the wrong lane. We also took a detour that led us to a trash and sand heap surrounded on 350 degrees by ditches. Drove out the one place we could. No biggie. Driver probably does this all the time.

Alice’s host family has given her a French nickname: ‘au pays’ as in ‘Alice au pays des merveilles’ or ‘Alice in Wonderland’. I’m jealous. Why aren’t there iconic books with ‘Megan’ in the title? Someone should write one. Someone’s who’s not me. Because that would be egocentric.

Here’s a link to Alice’s blog: http://dakardays.tumblr.com. Yes, our blogs basically have the same name. No, that was not planned. There’s simply a limited amount of (coherent) alliteration to be found when one of the words is ‘Dakar’.

On the topic of names, I’ve realizing that if I do end up living permanently in a French speaking country, my name will, for the rest of my live, be pronounced as Mégane, and everyone I meet will think that I’m named after a car. Alice’s host mother already makes car jokes each time she sees me. I’m not sure I could take a lifetime of that.

Saw my host sister topless (that’s officially everyone in the family) and my host mother topless, again. And my host brother completely naked, again. Not to mention many more public urinators. It’s remarkable how much nudity there is in this country considering that before leaving the US, I was told in my official study abroad handbook to stock up on capris and skirts that covered my knees to keep from exposing myself indecently.

As a foreigner in Dakar, there is no shame having a conversation with a roll of toilet paper in your hand because you are on your way to the bathroom.

Had lunch with two Princeton grads who are working in Dakar this year with the UN World Food Program. Told them I’d be taking a bus back to school that afternoon. They were horrified. They had a two-day safety orientation program before they started work in which they were told the two largest risks in Dakar were traffic accidents and public transportation. Apparently our host families are encouraging us to do local things that all expats are cautioned against. Interesting.

My host mother and sister berated my six-year-old brother for crying the other day because, as they mentioned several times, real boys don’t cry. Poor kid.

My host mother, laughing, to a friend of mine complaining about being harassed by Senegalese men who want her number: “Senegalese men love beautiful women.” Thanks, but please don’t tell me sexual harassment is supposed to make me feel good about myself.

I walked home by myself for the first time last week. It was an exercise in paranoia. Every man walking behind you suddenly seems to follow you, and every set of footsteps walks in time with yours.

Putting ‘in Africa’ after every sentence makes my life sound so much more exciting. This morning I cut my bangs for the first time ever. In Africa. I then ate some baguette with bissap jam and drank a cup of tea with powdered milk. In Africa. I’m now sitting at a table in the front courtyard, listening to chirping birds and procrastinating from doing my homework. In Africa.

I’m actually finding I really like doing schoolwork. Writing my JP (Junior Paper) makes me happier than does sitting around at WARC doing nothing and being bored. It’s not like this is an utterly new realization, but it’s something I forget too often on campus.

Got my first Senegal sunburn. I’m actually astounded I lasted three weeks without one. One of my friends is now so tan that instead of being called ‘tubab,’ the Wolof equivalent of ‘gringo,’ her host family now calls her ‘blonde,’ which apparently refers to a more North African complexion. Congratulations, Jess! Needless to say, I will not be making that jump any time soon.

Fun Wolof phrase of the day: Xam naa ni am nga weccit. Jox ma sama weccit. I know you have change. Give me my change.