We’ll it’s back to Dakar. Our time in Saint Louis has finished. The conclusion of our course was group presentations given on Friday, all of which were vaguely BS. That wouldn’t be such a big task to accomplish then, except that our presentations were in French, and the groups were two American students and one Senegalese student. My presentation wasn’t that great, but it’s done which I think is the most important part.
I was really sad to leave Saint Louis as I really loved my host family there. My mom, Marie, was an adorable old grandmother and the two kids in the house, Thany (10) and Mustapha (4) were so much fun. Marie gave me a paynge (a wrap around skirt, can either be fancy or a piece of cloth to wear during house work, mine is a nice orange waxx [type of fabric]) as a going away present, and had what I like to call Africa shorts (imagine if madras shorts were made with African prints) made for Alex and Dan.
I had a good return to Dakar, but unfortunately I haven’t been around my house very much in the last day in a half (not good manners on my part). I was around for all of Saturday afternoon after returning, but Sunday was a day for excursions. Myself, Alejandra and Alex decided that it was rather silly that we had been living in Mermoz (our quartier of Dakar, though here Dakar really refers to the downtown, in a similar way that people say NYC and really mean Manhattan) for a month and still really had no idea about what is in our quartier.
Our first stop was Quatre Vents librairie (Four Winds bookstore). Unfortunately that was closed because it was Sunday. Not deterred, we continued onto the Casino (French brand of supermarkets), myself, hoping to replace the peanut butter I had left on the bus back from St. Louis. Sadly, we met the same Sunday closing fate there as well. Still we ventured on, hoping to find something new. I am so glad that we did, because we found a new pâtisserie, which is going to replace our St. Louis hang out, Aux délices du Fleuve. Though our new pastry shop doesn’t appear to have free WIFI. Even better than just a pastry shop though, it also has shwarma, PIZZA! (though it’s always a gamble) and some other sandwich type options.
As we kept walking, not too much further was another small restaurant type place, selling about the same things as the fancy pastry shop we had just left. Prices were about the same, but it also seemed like they we less likely to throw you out for sitting at a table for 4 hours.
We took a random tour for some more exploration and found ourselves in a rather upscale neighborhood. We also noticed an abundance of Chinese people and were trying to figure out where the heck they all came from, as that’s a peculiar sight in Senegal. As we saw another ching-ching (as they are often called here) walk down the street. We decided that we needed to know why they were all there. Turns out there is some random Chinese company there and that’s where is houses it’s employees (or where they all end up choosing to live, it wasn’t clear). The guy we spoke too didn’t speak French, and only a little English and one can assume no Wolof. It’s shocking to me that they are able to function at all in Dakar. It’s necessary to learn at least French to live here, and knowing Wolof is even better. But Griff, it’s a really nice area of Dakar if it all falls through with Standard Charter, maybe you could work with the Chinese company and live there! I would be happy to be your translator, given that we get Oreos shipped to us every so often.
Wrapping up our visit was a trip to Caesar’s. Although we’ve pasted it many times on our way to the beach, we’ve always kept walking. I’m so glad we went in though. We had all thought the place was something different, Alejandra though a casino (Caesar’s Palace confusion), myself, I thought it was a bar. It turns out that it’s Senegal’s answer to a KFC!!!!!! and I live five minutes away! (So Griff, really if you did want to move to Senegal, you would be set). Not only do they have fried chicken and fries, they also have kebab, ice cream and milkshakes. While the prices are American prices, it’s still completely worth it. We were all headed home shortly after our expedition so we opted to leave the fried chicken for another day. We all got milkshakes instead which was a fantastic choice. It’s been a long time since any of us had real ice cream. Caesar’s was clean; air conditioned and had fans, and conveniently located which puts it at a 5 stars in my book.
I had lunch at Alejandra’s and spent the rest of the day there, including dinner as well. After dinner brought me back again to Amelia’s as she had been sick all day, sick enough that she and Alejandra went out for a malaria test at the hospital. Luckily the test came back negative and hopefully Amelia will be better by Monday.
It’s strange being back in Dakar, as in some ways it doesn’t feel like we left at all. We’ve definitely hit a landmark though, as the people on the 4-month program are more than halfway through their program. It’s a strange idea to think their count down has already begun (ok, it doesn’t matter how long your program is, we all count down the time). The midpoint for me is December 7th, though it feels like it should be sooner, since I am gone for 2 weeks over Christmas and my last week in Senegal is not part of the program. I think I’ve written more than enough for now, though please everyone keep me updates on life back home, (or wherever you may be).
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