Asakaa Maalekum

Response: Maalekum Salaam!

Friday and Saturday were full of introductions to the staff here, language and site placement interviews, Survival Wolof classes (Nanga def?), and some crash culture courses, to give us the most basic tools necessary for our homestays, which will start on Tuesday, rumor has it. Saturday we also stepped out of the compound for a bit to walk around and see more of the area of Thies that is directly around us, with Etienne, our master safety and security man. It was definitely toubabs on parade, let me tell you! Senegal has a beautiful and fascinating culture of greeting each other when you go by on the street (I’m sure this will get annoying while trying to actually get things done) and people were definitely surprised when we walked by (a huge group of 40 toubabs, mind you…), with greetings of “Asalaa Maalekum!” and “Nanga def?” It was cool to see little kids excited to see us but extremely weird to know that most of the eyes on the street were on us. There was one little child yesterday who called us toubabs and right away he got a stern lecture from his grandmother, which was kind of funny but also great to know she was trying to teach him respect, etc. Basically, the strategy for us is to greet people on a regular basis so they know us and our faces and can better help or protect us, should the need ever arise. It’s really a cool thing to know that the Senegalese culture is so friendly in general. I mean, it is the “pays de la teranga” (Country of Hospitality). I guess this is how it will be for awhile, though I think it will be better when I actually know more of the language. I’m sure anyone who has studied or traveled in Africa knows what I’m talking about. Today we went to the market and divided up much more, but there were definitely some cute old ladies (and many others, but they had the cutest faces) surprised to hear some Arabic and Wolof come out of ours mouths. During the Culture Fair, we learned things like “douche ettiquette” (bathrooms…), how to light a lantern, pulling water from a well, how to properly eat with one’s right hand and slurp tea, and the proper way to tie a pagne (apparently I’ve been tying my lapa backwards for the past year…)
Oooo, I also forgot that Friday we had a tam-tam celebration which meant DANCING!!!!!!!! Woot woot! It wasn’t quite the same as Mama Marcia’s class, but still rockin’ and hot (Temperature and music) nonetheless. There were just a few drummers and one kid teaching us some dances, though he didn’t teach very well so the main drummer and Aya, our homestay coordinator, and another staff member frequently would step up. It was a lot of fun, esp because most of the people in my stage (training class) danced along. It was also fun because I could definitely hold my own and recognized bits and pieces of other steps, though we weren’t doing any particular dance I had learned before. It definitely energized me and got me super excited for the bigger celebrations that will come our way over the next 2.25 years.