Birds and Kings, Markets, Work

I added more photos...

Image left: for all those of you who knew Cadeau; my dog who broke my heart. She was from Guadeloupe which is a Caribbean island currently populated by the descendants of slaves from Africa. Well, I think the street dogs in Guadeloupe (commonly called Creole) were also descendants from Africa. Indeed, the street dogs here look exactly like the Creole in Guadeloupe. My heart always suffers a pang of sorrow and nostalgia when I see a dog like this… enough said….weep. Just in case doggy heaven has internet, I say: Cadeau! I’ll never forget you!)

My end of the week before last ended (Friday September 26) with our weekly meetings with my supervisor, Abba. He gives us two new objectives per week which are fair and relevant. The problem is he talks so quietly, we have to strain our ears and ask him to repeat all the time. He’s a bizarre man… I’ll talk about him more in the future…

(Image right: supervisors with us three girls: Melissa, Abba Diatta, Claudine, Omar Diakate, Marie-Claude)

After work, I met up with Marie-Claude at her home (she had finished earlier) and we ate a vegetable omelette she had prepared which felt great because I was really deprived in fruit and vegetables. Indeed, I knew my diet was off since I hadn’t been to the toilet since Monday! Astou, the lady she rents from taught us how to cook shrimp (the Senegalais way) and make miniature donuts (yummy and very addictive).

(Image left: the hospital's entrance)

After our cooking session which took the entire afternoon, Marie-Claude had a friend come who is a tailor and he brought us to his boutique where we looked at his materials. I subtly told her his prices were high and we escaped to go to the same place I had bought mine. So, while she was choosing her material, I went to the tailor my Astou had recommended (with Astou) and got my measurements taken for my much needed boubou for Corite (the following week). The tailor only spoke Wolof so Astou had to translate. I crossed my fingers and hoped that he had understood what I wanted. We rushed back home on time to drink the tea for the rupture of the fast. Come to think of it, we were quite productive!

On Saturday, we headed off to Oussuye, a village about an hour away from Ziguinchor and which is on the way to Cap Skirring. We had selected this destination for our weekend because it was the King’s Celebration. We didn’t know much about Oussuye nor about the King, but had been told it was a fun thing to go to. Indeed, one of the kinetherapists, Sagna, I work with had encouraged us to go and met up with us once over there. They celebrate their king by having multiple traditional wrestling rounds. In the end, it was a lot of hype for nothing much… The festivities on the Saturday were very minimal: the wrestlers (boys and young men) got dressed up in their wrestling clothing and made a procession within the village. That’s pretty much it. So we spent the rest of the day and evening eating, walking across town, having a drink, switching places and eating more. Kinda boring, really.

On Sunday, Sagna came to our motel to escort us back to the village where the festivities would take place. We sat around for quite some time talking. We had some interesting conversations about my profession and homosexuality here (two unrelated subjects, I assure you ;) The wrestling matches for the King of Oussuye took place in a beautiful field, which had it been in North America, would have undoubtedly been transformed into a golf course… Claudine, obsessed by lions, kept on searching the horizon to see if there were any…pretty funny. Before the wrestling started, the King walked around the field with other men and before that, we waited for something to happen for a very long time. The wresting, although interesting to see what it was, did not enthuse any of us girls. We didn’t stay for the entire event and headed home earlier.

(Image right: scenery of Casamance region on the way back from Oussuye during sunset)

Once I got back home, a miracle happened: I went to the bathroom the first time in six days. My computer was open that night and I had to express my excitement:
“ Hadn’t had a bowel movement since Monday! That’s 6 days! I’m so happy, I feel like celebrating! Now that its out of me (painful labor), I feel like I can qualify it as a masterpiece since it is twice as large as anything I’ve ever seen and it WON’T FLUSH AWAY! I seriously debated taking pictures of it…its still there now…should I???”
Well, I ended up not taking photos but the event remains memorable. Since then, my digestive system has been A1.

(Image left: on my way to work... I see goats, pigs, dogs, lambs, hens, etc. They feed on the piles of trash people form on the street and eventually burn. Another example of fine African waste management)


I was rested and feeling great for Monday. After work, I was extremely productive: I took the bus downtown, got money from the bank (there are only two in town) went to the fruit and veggie market, the dry goods store and the Superette (western store). While downtown, I got the schedule for the ferry which goes to Dakar twice a week.
(Image left: picture of the market where I went to with Astou)
Indeed, I’ll be needing to head to the capital in November to renew my visa. I bused back home and got Astou (my mom) to come to the market with me to buy more fresh foods + a list of other random things I needed (many for work). While out with her, I bought a mattress for my bed since the one I had was gravely caving in. The foam in the centre was all crushed so I had been resorting to sleeping on the perimeter of the bed… this is quite uncomfortable apart from the obvious fact that your crushed to the sides of your bed given that I sleep with a mosquito net.
Rant: I hate sleeping with a mosquito net! It’s like having to make your bed every time you go to bed, you can let your arm hang off the side, you have to fight and untangle yourself each time you want to get out of bed. I often get the feeling akin to a fish being caught in a net!

While at the market, I bought all the supplies needed to make coffee at work. Awesome! There are some mornings I’m anxious to get to work because of my coffee which awaits me! My first night in my mattress was great! I slept very well. For lunch, the girls and I went to the resto near the hospital and had the daily special which was slightly smoked fish. One of the best meals yet! Our plan was head over to the pool for a swim but it started slightly raining so we went shopping instead. We went to the artistic market near where I live to buy hand-made sandals. After that, we wanted to make fruit salad but there were no fruit near the market I live by (odd). Instead, we bought a watermelon on the side of the road (yes! They are in season now and very delicious). Marie-Claude hung out chez moi and we played cards with Rama while we waited for our boubous to be ready. When it was time, I picked up my boubou (we had to return later on to get hers since it wasn’t ready yet). I tried it on and everyone on the street laughed at me. It really looks like a nice pair of pyjamas… I was ready for Corite!

(Image right: trying out my boubou)