First I want to apologize for the horrible writing in my last entry. Suffice it to say I was feverish and overwhelmed.
Second, Oh my goodness. Marathon shopping. Maybe it was supposed to be cathartic, after living on such limited funds for 2 months? No, really it was just to be ready to move into a new house in a new country and live as comfortably as possible. On the shopping list: coffee mug, giant tin of Nescafe, powdered milk, bed mat, vache qui rit (laughing cow, the best cheese to travel), Internet Everywhere USB, fukki-jai[i] tee-shirts, paint for murals and my room, cooking gear… Not to mention, Saint Louis is expensive. Mostly because there’s so much good food. I’ve had Moroccan Tajine (Mutton aux Olives et Frites), grilled shrimp with salad and fries, fresh croissants, pizza and a chocolate tart, not to mention the three omlette sandwiches I’ve gotten from the “bean sandwich lady[ii]” in the “place with all the cars”…. That’s the best I can do on that. Note to my mom and dad: when you come visit, we ARE getting breakfast here at least once. It’s one of my local fave’s. I’m particularly excited about dinner tonight. I’m cooking my own dinner for the first time since I’ve been here!! I got a red pepper, an onion, a head of garlic, some lettuce and some cheese (Ementhal, I think. The cheapest I could find at the toubab[iii] store.) Enough about food? Probably.
I just got back from my first major solo trip into Saint Louis. That is, beyond going to the sandwich lady. It was an elevated experience all around. So, I’ll share. I’ve always loved going out by myself to explore new areas. Since I first moved to DC, it’s been a personal joy. So, I caught a cab from our apartment (on the corniche (this is all googlemap-able, by the way) to a place called La Rosa on “the island,” which is the old French part of Saint-Louis, the tourist-y-er part. La Rosa is a patisserie (pastry shop) and café. They Have Espresso. Like, real coffee. Oh no, I’m back to food, but just briefly. This is where I had the piece of pizza and chocolate tart while drinking an oh-so-delicious café au lait. Two months of Nescafe rekk, and the first sip of café au lait is heaven. For a moment the world disappeared and it was just… real coffeeeeeee… I stopped in the toubab store next to get a red pepper and some real cheese. A talibe[iv] talked to me before I went in and then just watched through the window as I had a great little chat with the deli-guy (in Wolof (YAY)). I couldn’t help it. I bought him an orange. As always, doing a small nice thing had the expected direct consequences.
Next I walked to the post office (near the bridge that connects the mainland to the island, for anyone interested in googlemaping this quest). Frankly, it wasn’t a great experience. The people behind the desk were not kind about my attempts to speak Wolof. Frankly, I don’t have the vocab to ask about stamps, and they weren’t helpful. But it’s okay. I got what I needed, brushed the dirt off my shoulder and kept going. Mostly people here are SO kind and SO helpful. I mean, I walked out of the post office, saw an anonymous slit in the wall, turned in confusion, and three men sitting on the sidewalk immediately helped by pointing me to the correct mail slot. This is Taranga[v].
The market is on the mainland, so I had to cross the bridge. The Senegal River is Huge here. And there must be a confluence of salt and fresh water. It just makes sense geographically, and you can see a line where darker water meets lighter… its very cool. The whole walk was just uplifting. All the beautiful people made me smile, and my steps were light. That’s a cliché for a reason. I had to slightly stifle a laugh when a man in a shirt that read: I’m Muslim. Don’t Panik. walked by. Definitely a WTF Senegal moment. The market is like the line on a backwards capital D where the corniche is the rounded part. The apartment is nearly half of the way down the D (just barely still on the northern edge of the bay, if you’re looking at a map). When with other volunteers, we’ve always gone to the end of the market and stayed on the D. My shopping had me right in the middle of the market, so it made more sense to just take one of the side roads, to walk the shortest path. Such a better experience!! You’re actually in Senegalese neighborhoods this way, rather than on busy roads. It was a lovely walk.
There were several goats next to the driveway of our apartment building; two young ones rearing back to butt heads. Cute! I love the goats. So adorable. A larger on right next to me sneezed, which made me laugh. Which apparently offended her, judging by the look she gave me. Yes. That happened.
Okay, if you’ve made it through this ridiculously lengthy post, I’m impressed J
Now I need to finish getting packed for tomorrow and hopefully find my phone, which may or may not be somewhere in this apartment…. What a day!!
[i] Fukki-jai: spelling uncertain. Folks, this is like the second tier of thrift stores. Like, some of the shirts still have thrift store price tags on them. Strangely enough, I see a lot of people wearing coats in this country, purchased at fukki-jai’s, It makes me laugh to think the people donate coats to keep people from freezing, and they end up on Senegalese people when the weather dips below 75. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good thing. Just hard to imagine how that level of adjustment to the heat.
[ii] Bean Sandwich ladies: Women who work in tents made of sheets wrapped around pole-branches. They have breakfast beans (Yum), onion sauce (YUm), and make fried omlettes with eggs, onions and spices, served with a but more seasoning-salt-stuff and mustard (YUM). Senegalese mustard is in a league of its own. It is AMAZING on anything. Everything.
[iii] Toubab: Have I mentioned this yet? I am a toubab. All foreigners are toubabs. Children yell this at you, people of all ages sometimes call you this to your face. Sometimes its offensive, sometimes it’s not. It depends on how it is intended, of course. So, a toubab store is a store for toubabs. It has shampoo and conditioner for toubabs, food from France, eastern Europe, etc. These store are only located in cities like Thies, Dakar, Saint Louis, surely other cities.
[iv] Talibe: google it. Sorry, but it’s too much to explain.
[v] Taranga: hospitality. Senegal is called the Land of Taranga. They’re famous for it. Example: you’re shopping and its tea time. The shop keeper offers you a glass, even if you aren’t going to buy anything. Another example: my family in Mboro. Period.
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