Week 11/12
Getting back into the swing of things was really difficult after the Easter break, and I was pretty exhausted. Thankfully last weekend was our excursion to Iles du Saloum, which was amazing! We left at 2pm on Friday and took a bus there. Once we arrived we loaded our bags and ourselves into colorfully painted pirogues and took a boat ride sightseeing around the river there, and then headed to Bazouk du Saloum, the hotel where we stayed for the weekend.
The hotel was really nice, a bunch of bungalows with hammocks and a nice restaurant. After unpacking we relaxed before dinner and I spent my time re-reading Jane Eyre. Dinner was amazing, not to mention the creme caramel for dessert! Afterwards a bunch of us went down to the dock area to play a game called "The Mob" or something like that. It was really fun, and I was one of the mob members and almost didn't get caught but in the very last round someone called me out... It was a good time. After that my friends Katie, Sarah, Hela and I took out lantern (yes, a lantern!) and went back to our room to sit outside on the neat carved wooden chairs and we talked about movies and books for a couple of hours before going to bed.
The next morning after breakfast we all got to take horse and cart rides to and around some of the neighboring villages. It was really neat, except for the fact that the main purpose of this was to take us to see women and men who make touristy crafts to sell and we were expected to buy things. Had we been normal tourists instead of students who live in Dakar and have been here for three months we might have been more inclined to buy things from them. They seemed very perturbed that we purchased so little. The children in the villages, however, loved us, they were a lot of fun and asked us our names and other questions.
We spent the rest of the day relaxing and after dinner we went back to the neighboring villages for a Lutte! A lutte is traditional wrestling in Senegal and it really fun to watch. The real show is not the wrestling but everything leading up to it. So when we got there they had a tent set up and lights strung and pretty much everyone in the village was there. There were drums being played and women singing and everyone was clapping. The wrestlers all come onto the playing field and strut back and forth trying to look big and macho, and they all where protective gris-gris, magical charms, and they get strange concoctions poured over their heads. Before you know it the actual wrestling begins and two men are continually wrestling for the rest of the evening. I was holding a little girl from the village in my lap so she could see better, and she actually fell asleep there after a while, apparently it was past her bedtime. Eventually after most of the wrestling was finished some of the students in my group got in the on the action. Kyle and Chad wrestled, but also a bunch of girls wrestled Senegalese girls which was pretty hilarious because that isn't normally, or ever, an activity that females participate in.
After that we went back to the hotel, and stayed up and talked some more. I was exhausted so I finally crawled into bed under my mosquito net and fell asleep to the sound of jembe and temtem drums being played.
We went back to Dakar the next morning after breakfast, where I promptly fell asleep for four hours and was still exhausted until Tuesday.
Tuesday we went to Pikine to visit a school that has a literacy program. The teacher was trained through in NGO and she now teaches women in the area how to read and write in Wolof. Most of the women are somewhat older, married, and have children. They want to learn to read and write, and do some math, so that they can better their lives and lives of their children. If they know how to read and do math they won't be cheated and they will be able to run their homes better. Most of their husbands are supportive of them going to school. Unfortunately because of their domestic responsibilities, they can only have classes three days a week in the evenings. They also have very little funding and are using the same facilities and supplies at their children's school and that are needed for their childrens education as well. It is really amazing and uplifting though that these women have taken the initiative to better their lives, and I wished them success with their educations.
Saturday I am going to one of my professor's house for lunch which should be a lot of fun. Prof. Kane is awesome and we actually got him to move the lunch to Saturday because it was originally tuesday and a bunch of us had another class after the visit to the school.
Then Sunday or Monday I leave for Diofior for my rural visit! So busy!!!
The hotel was really nice, a bunch of bungalows with hammocks and a nice restaurant. After unpacking we relaxed before dinner and I spent my time re-reading Jane Eyre. Dinner was amazing, not to mention the creme caramel for dessert! Afterwards a bunch of us went down to the dock area to play a game called "The Mob" or something like that. It was really fun, and I was one of the mob members and almost didn't get caught but in the very last round someone called me out... It was a good time. After that my friends Katie, Sarah, Hela and I took out lantern (yes, a lantern!) and went back to our room to sit outside on the neat carved wooden chairs and we talked about movies and books for a couple of hours before going to bed.
The next morning after breakfast we all got to take horse and cart rides to and around some of the neighboring villages. It was really neat, except for the fact that the main purpose of this was to take us to see women and men who make touristy crafts to sell and we were expected to buy things. Had we been normal tourists instead of students who live in Dakar and have been here for three months we might have been more inclined to buy things from them. They seemed very perturbed that we purchased so little. The children in the villages, however, loved us, they were a lot of fun and asked us our names and other questions.
We spent the rest of the day relaxing and after dinner we went back to the neighboring villages for a Lutte! A lutte is traditional wrestling in Senegal and it really fun to watch. The real show is not the wrestling but everything leading up to it. So when we got there they had a tent set up and lights strung and pretty much everyone in the village was there. There were drums being played and women singing and everyone was clapping. The wrestlers all come onto the playing field and strut back and forth trying to look big and macho, and they all where protective gris-gris, magical charms, and they get strange concoctions poured over their heads. Before you know it the actual wrestling begins and two men are continually wrestling for the rest of the evening. I was holding a little girl from the village in my lap so she could see better, and she actually fell asleep there after a while, apparently it was past her bedtime. Eventually after most of the wrestling was finished some of the students in my group got in the on the action. Kyle and Chad wrestled, but also a bunch of girls wrestled Senegalese girls which was pretty hilarious because that isn't normally, or ever, an activity that females participate in.
After that we went back to the hotel, and stayed up and talked some more. I was exhausted so I finally crawled into bed under my mosquito net and fell asleep to the sound of jembe and temtem drums being played.
We went back to Dakar the next morning after breakfast, where I promptly fell asleep for four hours and was still exhausted until Tuesday.
Tuesday we went to Pikine to visit a school that has a literacy program. The teacher was trained through in NGO and she now teaches women in the area how to read and write in Wolof. Most of the women are somewhat older, married, and have children. They want to learn to read and write, and do some math, so that they can better their lives and lives of their children. If they know how to read and do math they won't be cheated and they will be able to run their homes better. Most of their husbands are supportive of them going to school. Unfortunately because of their domestic responsibilities, they can only have classes three days a week in the evenings. They also have very little funding and are using the same facilities and supplies at their children's school and that are needed for their childrens education as well. It is really amazing and uplifting though that these women have taken the initiative to better their lives, and I wished them success with their educations.
Saturday I am going to one of my professor's house for lunch which should be a lot of fun. Prof. Kane is awesome and we actually got him to move the lunch to Saturday because it was originally tuesday and a bunch of us had another class after the visit to the school.
Then Sunday or Monday I leave for Diofior for my rural visit! So busy!!!