My internet connection is finally decent so I'm uploading some photos I would have liked to in other blogs. The following are photos I took on my way to work:
First Image: kids on the street happy to be in a photo
Third Image:
The city bus (and the same type we took to go to Cap Skirring). On top of the driver, there is one guy inside who collects the money and another who hangs out on the bumper who helps people get on\off the bus and taps the bus to tell it when it can start moving again.
My typical evenings after a day of work consist of: taking nap from around 3-5 pm, taking a shower if I wake up in sweat, going on internet or just hanging around, or getting errands done (going to the market if not too late). At 7 p.m., life stops and its time to rupture the fast (Ramadan). The mosques pray on loud speakers which I can hear from home. At first, I thought it was someone who lived nearby that is crazy who was yelling… They rupture their fast with a warm beverage and bread followed by prayer. They haven’t eaten all day so they are hungry; this is why life literally stops. Stores close, people on the street disappear; its quite eerie. In my family, Astou makes a sandwich with whatever she has. On some days, it was fried onions and shrimp, on others it was left over pasta (with oil and salt) from my lunch. She makes a very bizarre but excellent tea with chewy mint tablets, sugar, Senegalease tea, concentrated milk and instant coffee. The concept is not at all appealing, but its surprisingly good!
Evenings are spent doing pretty much nothing (talking, watching tv, walking outside). At 10 p.m., Astou serves supper. Mmm Mmm. She is an excellent cook. We eat in a circle out of a common round dish (usually a bed of white rice with meat/fish and sauce). Everything is made from scratch. Everyone has a spoon and eats the portion that’s in
front of them, zeroing in on the centre in a cone shape. Since they eat so much fish, they throw the bones out on the floor in front of them. After supper is done, the floor is quite a mess but it being ceramic, it is very easy to clean. I have trouble getting Astou contribute to the cleaning up process…
People end up going to bed around midnight. I usually hit the sack earlier. I say “people” because there are always random guys eating and sleeping here. They are nephews or distant nephews or sons of Landing’s friends. It is quite weird co-habiting with them because they stay in the boy’s room and listen to radio or do absolutely nothing most of the time. They suddenly appear when its time to eat and retreat before the women start cleaning up.
Over here, the roles of men and women are very delineated. Women here are housewives. Seeing as how they don’t have automated machines to do almost everything (vacuum, dishwasher, washer & dryer), it literally is a full time job to take care of a home/family.
First Image: kids on the street happy to be in a photoSecond Image: Astou and Rama in the girls' room. Notice the drawing in the background from my nephews and neices!
Third Image:
The city bus (and the same type we took to go to Cap Skirring). On top of the driver, there is one guy inside who collects the money and another who hangs out on the bumper who helps people get on\off the bus and taps the bus to tell it when it can start moving again.
Fourth image: Taken in Dakar airport. A slot stand to slip your coins to donate. The Africans don't get the concept though... They filled it with trash! Aye!
My typical evenings after a day of work consist of: taking nap from around 3-5 pm, taking a shower if I wake up in sweat, going on internet or just hanging around, or getting errands done (going to the market if not too late). At 7 p.m., life stops and its time to rupture the fast (Ramadan). The mosques pray on loud speakers which I can hear from home. At first, I thought it was someone who lived nearby that is crazy who was yelling… They rupture their fast with a warm beverage and bread followed by prayer. They haven’t eaten all day so they are hungry; this is why life literally stops. Stores close, people on the street disappear; its quite eerie. In my family, Astou makes a sandwich with whatever she has. On some days, it was fried onions and shrimp, on others it was left over pasta (with oil and salt) from my lunch. She makes a very bizarre but excellent tea with chewy mint tablets, sugar, Senegalease tea, concentrated milk and instant coffee. The concept is not at all appealing, but its surprisingly good!
Evenings are spent doing pretty much nothing (talking, watching tv, walking outside). At 10 p.m., Astou serves supper. Mmm Mmm. She is an excellent cook. We eat in a circle out of a common round dish (usually a bed of white rice with meat/fish and sauce). Everything is made from scratch. Everyone has a spoon and eats the portion that’s in
front of them, zeroing in on the centre in a cone shape. Since they eat so much fish, they throw the bones out on the floor in front of them. After supper is done, the floor is quite a mess but it being ceramic, it is very easy to clean. I have trouble getting Astou contribute to the cleaning up process…People end up going to bed around midnight. I usually hit the sack earlier. I say “people” because there are always random guys eating and sleeping here. They are nephews or distant nephews or sons of Landing’s friends. It is quite weird co-habiting with them because they stay in the boy’s room and listen to radio or do absolutely nothing most of the time. They suddenly appear when its time to eat and retreat before the women start cleaning up.
Over here, the roles of men and women are very delineated. Women here are housewives. Seeing as how they don’t have automated machines to do almost everything (vacuum, dishwasher, washer & dryer), it literally is a full time job to take care of a home/family.
Week two:
Everything I eat here is really good but they don’t eat fruit
s and vegetables. For a couple of days, this is fine, but after more, it becomes problematic. Apart from the guilt of not following the Canadian Food Guide, this causes constipation! Since every day for lunch (which is at 2h30, when I’m starved after work) its rice and fish ONLY. Since Marie-Claude is on her own for meals and lives close to the hospital, we figured it would be a good idea to make lunch at her place instead. Conveniently, there is a market on my way home from work so I can pick up fresh produce.
(Image right: market in question)
Its hard though because you have to negotiate everything and its cool when you feel like it, but not for food...
On Monday, El Hadj fell and hurt his toe, breaking his nail. My parent’s reaction was funny: to seek me for aid. I disinfected the toe in bleach water and cut the part of the nail that had almost torn off. To my surprise, I learned that they don’t use scissors or nail clippers to cut their toe nails; they use a razor blade! That night, I had to fan myself to sleep: as usual, there was a power outage = no fan. My room is so hot that I *need* the fan I bought to fall asleep. So, when I go to sleep with the power out, I either use a hand-held fan I move myself or I sleep on the tile in an open space of the flat. When I first got here, there was no fan, but I purchased one and I’ll obviously be leaving it here so it is like a gift to them too…
On Tuesday, I had the pleasure of going out for beer again with my co-travellers and some Senegalais friends. Afterwards, I spent an educative session with Astou to teach her how to use a computer. Landing has asked this of me; Astou knows nil about computers. The problem is that the computer in question is slow; I’ve never seen anything like it! It takes at least a minute for a window open and minutes for a program to open. A true trial to my patience! Before going to bed, I could not take my usual shower because this time, there was no water...
On Wednesday, us three girls finished work way earlier than usual (around 12h30) and we went out for lunch at a restaurant. We started realizing that we getting fat from eating so many carbs. Since we were next to the little store annexed to a gas station which sells European goods, I decided to indulge in some dairy. To my great disappointment, the yogurt I bought (overpriced) was completely spoiled. Its not a surprise given the frequent black outs. Being the wise consumer that I am, I demanded a refund. This was very complicated in this country… Lesson learned: stop trying to buy dairy products that can go bad L. That night, Astou made a dish I’d never had nor heard of: rice with a sauce made of potato leaves (and of course it had fish in it!)
The next day, September 18, I went to Marie-Claude’s for lunch. We made a mega salad! Mmm! Note: making salads here is more complicated than usual since you have to negotiate the price of every vegetable you buy, bleach it, peel it and then cut and eat it. After lunch, it started to pour out so we were rained in for a good part of the afternoon. We ended up giving into our afternoon fatigue once again and napping in the living room. After the rain, we went downtown, escorted by the lady who accommodates Marie-Claude. She showed us the market, including the bigger and nicer European store. I had the best 15 minutes of my entire trip while in the store. Since starting work, I had several patients with facial paralysis and really needed straws to use in my treatment. I asked to buy some everywhere I went but they just didn’t seem to exist. Well! While in the store, I found an entire package!!! 5 minutes later, I got a call from Philippe saying he had bought plane tickets and would be coming to see me. So thoroughly happy, I literally jumped in the air! I couldn’t erase the permanent smile which stuck to my face for the remainder of the day :) He'll be coming from December 21 to January 15 ... Oh so very Happy am I!
Everything I eat here is really good but they don’t eat fruit
s and vegetables. For a couple of days, this is fine, but after more, it becomes problematic. Apart from the guilt of not following the Canadian Food Guide, this causes constipation! Since every day for lunch (which is at 2h30, when I’m starved after work) its rice and fish ONLY. Since Marie-Claude is on her own for meals and lives close to the hospital, we figured it would be a good idea to make lunch at her place instead. Conveniently, there is a market on my way home from work so I can pick up fresh produce.(Image right: market in question)
Its hard though because you have to negotiate everything and its cool when you feel like it, but not for food...
On Monday, El Hadj fell and hurt his toe, breaking his nail. My parent’s reaction was funny: to seek me for aid. I disinfected the toe in bleach water and cut the part of the nail that had almost torn off. To my surprise, I learned that they don’t use scissors or nail clippers to cut their toe nails; they use a razor blade! That night, I had to fan myself to sleep: as usual, there was a power outage = no fan. My room is so hot that I *need* the fan I bought to fall asleep. So, when I go to sleep with the power out, I either use a hand-held fan I move myself or I sleep on the tile in an open space of the flat. When I first got here, there was no fan, but I purchased one and I’ll obviously be leaving it here so it is like a gift to them too…
On Tuesday, I had the pleasure of going out for beer again with my co-travellers and some Senegalais friends. Afterwards, I spent an educative session with Astou to teach her how to use a computer. Landing has asked this of me; Astou knows nil about computers. The problem is that the computer in question is slow; I’ve never seen anything like it! It takes at least a minute for a window open and minutes for a program to open. A true trial to my patience! Before going to bed, I could not take my usual shower because this time, there was no water...
On Wednesday, us three girls finished work way earlier than usual (around 12h30) and we went out for lunch at a restaurant. We started realizing that we getting fat from eating so many carbs. Since we were next to the little store annexed to a gas station which sells European goods, I decided to indulge in some dairy. To my great disappointment, the yogurt I bought (overpriced) was completely spoiled. Its not a surprise given the frequent black outs. Being the wise consumer that I am, I demanded a refund. This was very complicated in this country… Lesson learned: stop trying to buy dairy products that can go bad L. That night, Astou made a dish I’d never had nor heard of: rice with a sauce made of potato leaves (and of course it had fish in it!)
The next day, September 18, I went to Marie-Claude’s for lunch. We made a mega salad! Mmm! Note: making salads here is more complicated than usual since you have to negotiate the price of every vegetable you buy, bleach it, peel it and then cut and eat it. After lunch, it started to pour out so we were rained in for a good part of the afternoon. We ended up giving into our afternoon fatigue once again and napping in the living room. After the rain, we went downtown, escorted by the lady who accommodates Marie-Claude. She showed us the market, including the bigger and nicer European store. I had the best 15 minutes of my entire trip while in the store. Since starting work, I had several patients with facial paralysis and really needed straws to use in my treatment. I asked to buy some everywhere I went but they just didn’t seem to exist. Well! While in the store, I found an entire package!!! 5 minutes later, I got a call from Philippe saying he had bought plane tickets and would be coming to see me. So thoroughly happy, I literally jumped in the air! I couldn’t erase the permanent smile which stuck to my face for the remainder of the day :) He'll be coming from December 21 to January 15 ... Oh so very Happy am I!
1 comment:
Hi Melissa. Just read all your latest posts. Sounds like you will greatly appreciate your apartment when you get back. Its fun to read/see what you are doing as I may never get to Africa. My brother is now sharing his apt. with a 31 year old refugee from the congo...a very nice guy with alot of very sad stories... Be careful...no more escorts! x Christine,Amy,Nick
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