Just call me Pape

The Adventures continue...

For a reason yet unknown to me, the Sénégalese overwhelmingly agree that I bear a striking resemblance to their 81-year-old President M. Abdoulaye WADE.

Maybe it's the shaved head alone, or our EYEDENTICAL complexions, or the leathery, gaunt face stretched over shoulderblade cheekbones that does it. Or it might just be our freakish, skeletal physiques. It is like we are twins separated at birth and the whole Dan thing is just a ruse. He may have a few years on me, but you'd never know.

It all started one day a couple weeks ago. I was walking in the door of the cafeteria to eat lunch when the woman at the front table let out a wild guffaw. She ripped my meal ticket, handed half of it to her neighbor, mumbled "Abdoulaye Wade" between bouts of laughter, and slapped her head with her hand, repeating the president's name in my direction as if to say "Nice, buddy, very classy."

Let's not talk about the 200,000 Sénégalese men of all ages and sizes with bald, shiny, naked heads, probably many of them with the same name. Abdoulaye, or its diminuitive Pape Laye, is an incredibly common Sénégalese name. I would understand, had it been an isolated incident -- but the same comment was repeated twice more that day and several times that weekend.

AND the trend continues, as mysteriously as it began. See for yourself! Make the comparison ... and just call me Pape.

La Fête du Grand Magal 2006

SOO, I just got back from the Magal, which proved to be quite an experience. More or less it is a mini-hajj; that is to say, Cheikh Amadou Bamba, also known as Serigne Touba, is the founder of the Mourides sect of Islam, those who "perform miracles" loosely translated from Arabic. Bamba pondered what Muhammed called the "second great war" of Islam and decided that the only way to defeat the enemy was through peaceful means, doing no wrong to another human being, and ultimately following te path of Islam that would lead him and his followers closest to God.

More info on Touba and Mouridism can be found here:
http://members.chello.se/kinti/bayefall/mourid.htm

The 18th of Safar on the Arab calendar, or the 19th of March, is the commoration of his exile to the Gabon, and all Mourides make the trek to Touba (check it on the map) to the Great Mosque that is the symbol of Mouridism. I went with my American friends and a group of Mouride students from the University caravan style in a big spicy-warm bus and we ate lunch when we got there (men and women are separated, so I didn't see any of my friends for meals, but it was fine.) I chatted with a lot of the guys there, learned about Mouridism and the Magal, went to the mosque a couple of times with Anna and Assimilik (good Am friend and her boyfriend -- if I may be so bold -- from campus who was there with us), and generally had a very nice time. All of the Mouride guys on campus are really sweet and they were really welcoming. The whole weekend trip cost us $8 US for everything, food, lodging, transport, etc. The guys also get together every Friday, and all night long during the Magal, to chant the works of Serigne Touba in Arabic, which is really amazing.

We slept on mats outside, which was interesting, because it was chaleureusely hot during the days and chilly-butt cold at night with a nice breeze, lots of dust, and the highest human density I have ever experienced in my lifetime. I got called to defend my religious beliefs quite a few times (Anna and I were the only non-Muslims in the group), became quite famous with a group of women who we might visit later who want to take Anna out to get her made-up (mixture of "fun girl time" and "wow honey you need some work" hehe). Anna didn't quite know how to respond when one woman offered to go with her and get her eyebrows waxed. Hmmm so never a dull moment.

I collapsed on the ground last night to sleep without remembering to put my cellphone in the interior/secure pocket of my bubu pants, and thus I am now in the market to find a new one of those. They also took my Biscremes (a coveted coconut-flavored chocolate-filled favorite snack item of Anna and mine) and the pen in my pocket. People are like crazy about pens here. Go figure.

They call them bics here, like we call tissues Kleenex, and my favorite is when little kids think that white people exist to give them gifts and/or money. They start chanting "Tubaab, tubaab" (Originally Arab for Doctor, now Wolof for White foreigner) and giggling (it is a fun word to say), and hold out their hands saying things like "Donne-moi un cadeau," "Donne-moi l'argent," "Donne-moi cent francs," or "Donne-moi le bic." It is exciting. Nowadays we usually beat them to the chase and ask THEM for 100 francs, and I am working on responses to Tubaab like "young girl" "silly child" and "are you kidding?" Are you kidding is for the remote few University students who like to toss the word around. Walking by a group of twenty-somethings who blurt out Tubaab and giggle is at times more amusing for us than I think they realize ;-) My giggle is also getting stronger every day as I continue to perfect it.

SOO! Adventures abound. I got a rug for my room and last Wednesday was sheet day, so I finally got some of those. My faucet still doesn't turn off, but at least that way I know when the water is on. It is feeling more and more like home.

No signs of cholera as of yet!!

FIND PHOTOS HERE

So Blogger is annoying for photos...go here instead. Link on the side as well...

Hippos, lecture, and laax - bu baax!!

So...since I last posted I have been on a trip through the south to the border with Guinea with four ladies who go to school in the Philly area, both at Penn State and Brynnemar (sp?), Professor Barry, and our driver M. Fall.


See the map of Senegal for reference points. I am going to school in St. Louis, in the north on the Atlantic coast and the mouth of the Senegal river. We drove from there down through Touba to Tambacounda and then to Simenti and saw hippos, crocs, babboons, many relatives of the deer family, various birds, and lots of warthogs and bread-hungry monkeys.

From there we went down to Kédougou and saw an amazing waterfall on the Gambia River just outside of Guinea-Bissau...where we met a group of students from an SIT program based at the Baobab Center in Dakar.

The mosque at Touba is absolutely amazing. It is the religious center of the Senegalese Mourides sect of Islam, and we will be going back there again this weekend to attend the Magaal, their biggest celebration of the year. It is going to be completely packed, but it should be awesome.

Wish me luck on not getting cholera!!

Classes have started now and they are almost solely dictated (the profs ARE the authoritative texts, and they read their notes to be copied to the letter)...but I am mostly in lit classes, so I will have some structure on which to critique african francophone authors and their works...still very cool.

I am also taking courses in Wolof hardcore to catch up to the othe r American students, which my host family in Ngalelle is also helping me with.


I've included a pic of my host brothers and sisters: Binta, Babucar, and Mami. My sis Aida is not in the photo, nor are my host parents. Their family name is FALL and I will be chez eux every weekend.

I ate ceebu-jen, the national dish of fish and rice, for the first time there on Sunday (with my hands around one big bowl, selon la tradition) and another dish called laax which is like oatmeal made from millet with heavy cream sauce.

More pics at FLICKR.COM from the trip!!
I will post most all images there now...

Still alive and well!!

No worries all,

I am still alive despite the little contact I have kept with folks thus far. The net connection here is not too speedy, and I just got enrolled with a student card and everything and signed up for an account in the fancy comp lab here at Gaston Berger, SO -- voilà!! Here I am.

So far things are going well here despite student strikes, and I've had a few great trips, one cross-country -- and i have a few stories and pics to share.

Above, first of all, is a little collage from my first week here in Dakar, the capital, and the drive to St. Louis, where I am going to school at l'Université Gaston Berger.

A tout a l'heure!!