Met Another Member of “The Club” Today

As many of you reading this blog know, my mom and I are extremely close and became even closer after she was diagnosed with cancer almost 5 years ago. Though I don’t even remember writing it, I must have included this information on my housing form for CIEE because Mame Khady (my Senegalese mom) asked me about my mom’s cancer today.

I found out today that my host mom is a member of the cancer club just like me and too many of my family members and friends. We’ve all lost somebody we love because of cancer or have that threat loom over us daily that someday we’ll hear the words “It’s back.” Mame Khady’s mother died of stomach (if I understood her French correctly) cancer in 1979.

My first thought was how young she was when her mom died because Mame Khady must only be in her 40s or 50s. Then I wondered if her mom were to have the same problems today, would she be able to be saved? Her mom received treatment in France but it was unsuccessful. But even if she were to be diagnosed today, being from a developing country would she be diagnosed in time and have access to proper treatment?

Now as I’ve been thinking about it more, I’m reminded of the universal impact cancer has made. I am 20, Catholic, American, in college, living with my parents, and have a career that I haven’t even started in my future. She is the widow of a minister in the Republic of Senegal, lives with her niece and a cook, Muslim, and Senegalese. But it doesn’t really matter. We’re both the daughters of women who have been diagnosed with cancer. That one word crossed languages, continents, races, age, and religion among other things to remind us that we aren’t all that different and that mothers and daughters always have been and always will be special.

One of the joys of being away from home is being away from the things that drag us down daily. It is easy to write off negative things like poor healthcare and low life expectancies in foreign countries because it’s “foreign.” We have our own difficulties at home and as my people have said “I want my semester abroad to be relaxing. I want to go to the beaches and soak in the culture.”  But I’m starting to wonder if there really is such thing as foreign or if things, good and bad, simply come in different casings. So this year when I relay, I'll be relaying for one more family.

I thought I knew French…

All through high school and thus far in college, language classes have been some of my easiest. When listening to people who aren’t teachers or professors (because I know they slow down the language a bit to help us learn), I’m usually able to understand. Except for grammar being a huge annoyance (and admittedly it drags down my claim to speaking French) I’ve always thought I’m relatively strong linguistically. Ummm…apparently not!

On Thursday I got my first ego blow by not placing into Advanced French I. Besides really wanting to be placed at a high level of French for ego’s sake, I needed to test into advanced I in order to take all of my classes in French. Right now besides my actual French class the only class in French I’ll be taking will be l’histoire d’islam. International law had to be replaced by Atlantic Slave Trade and I am taking Senegalese Society and Culture in English instead of French.

Ego blow #2 was moving in with my host family on Friday and barely being able to understand them! Nor am I particularly efficient at communicating to them what I want to convey. Yet on an intellectual level, I know we “speak” the same language. This is surprisingly frustrating and very humbling (to anybody who is a hardcore believer in “You’re in America – speak English” keep in mind that it is so much more difficult than it sounds. Even if it is a language you “know” and have studied academically, actually using it around people who speak it everyday and expect you to understand them without repeating themselves 10 times is not an easy thing to do. When it becomes clear that you aren’t fluent linguistically it makes you stand out even more…here toubab is the word to describe somebody from away).

(As you might be able to tell I’m dealing with my first bout of homesickness.)

Today I walked around my neighborhood (Sacre-coeur 3) with a 5-year-old (Mahkmeesh) and an 11-year-old (Kinné). I was completely dependent on them for directions. When we were at the small garden with their friends I found myself surrounded by 6 girls all of whom where shrieking, playing with each other, talking to me, trying to talk with me, and calling me toubab all at the same time. It was one of the most overwhelming experiences I’ve had in a long time. I could neither hear individuals nor the group overall and had no idea what was going on.

Moral of the story: I know the next 110 days will make me much more fluent in French but right now I’m feeling pretty lost.

A bientôt.

p.s. I’m typing this during a power cut on Saturday evening so who knows when this will actually be posted online.

If You Know Me Well You Will Truly Appreciate This

The traditional way of eating (and the way my family seems to eat lunch and dinner) is “around the bowl.” We all sit on the floor (adults sit on stools) on a mat around a giant bowl. The bowl is covered with rice or couscous. Each person has an invisible pie slice shaped portion of the bowl that they claim as their own. In the middle the meat is placed, which typically is eventually distributed among the people eating by the head of the house. Other things like vegetables (carrots and eggplant are common) are also in the dish. If they fall in your section you move them towards the center to be shared with everybody.

In the past three days I’ve had fish twice, rice a lot, and 4 cups of tea (well more like shot glasses of tea but you get the point). Yup. This is me bragging. I’ve eaten fish (which I’m not particularly fond of…though there seems to be one that doesn’t have much flavor and might be good if you were eating it not with rice.) I’m actually liking some of the fish more than I thought I would though steak will always have my heart.

I have eaten rice in small amounts but without a doubt more than I’ve ever eaten in the rest of my life combined. Nor has it been simple white rice. It’s been spicy. Yeah…not such a fan of the flavor or texture. Def not something that will be worked into my home diet.

The tea hasn’t been bad although once again it’s not something I would actually spend money on. A note on the drinks in general, it seems like drinks are not actually consumed WITH the meal but AFTER. To me who needs a coke or pepsi WITH every meal, this is difficult. I don’t mind the flavor of some of the tea that I have been served (when they are sweeter I have less of a problem). However there are some that have more of a mintyish (and I use that term loosely just because I can’t come up with a better word) flavor and I’d rather not drink those. Fortunately the more bitter teas are followed by the sweeter flavors so all’s well that ends well I suppose.

Trying all of these things and eating even very small portions is really a huge step for me. However that’s difficult to explain to people who tell me to eat more or ask if I don’t like it or if it is not good. But to me it is such a big step that it is actually exhausting.

I am quite confident of loosing weight while I’m here. Guesses anybody? <3

Whirlwind!

Salaamaalekum! (Peace be upon you!)

Hi everybody!

So far things are going quite well. Power blackouts are common in Dakar (I’m already becoming very skilled at getting dressed in the dark) and hot showers tend to be hit or miss. The weather is beautiful and even windy days are comfortable. The evenings do get a bit chilly but certainly better than what we have at home right now! Suffolk University Dakar is quite small, essentially a courtyard and the surrounding building. Yesterday I bought a cell phone.

This week has been all orientation things. Yesterday was the first day of “Survival Wolof” which wasn’t too difficult to learn though I am far from being a pro! Tomorrow we have another crash course and that is the last session of orientation week. But I will be taking basic Wolof as one of my required language courses. I’ll also be taking a French class. Beyond that I don’t know what classes I’ll be allowed to take because I’m waiting on the results of my placement exam.

Today we watched a film called Democracy In Dakar, a film that was filmed by a former CIEE student. It examines the youth role in politics through the eyes of hiphop, particularly during the 2007 elections. It was a great film and gave me a lot to think about in terms of my thesis.

The most exciting part of today thus far has certainly been finding out a bit more about my host family. I will be living in the Sacre-coeur 3 district. My host mom is the widow of a minister of the republic who has children that live abroad. Apparently her home is large and she shares it only with her niece who helps take care of the house.

Well, I’m off for now. I’ll take pictures at some point and post them (either here or on fb).

Ba beneen yoon! (Until next time!) <3

MB

Last Day in Maine

Technically I don't leave until Saturday morning but today was my last day in town and essentially my last chance to say good-bye to most people (Tomorrow we are bringing my best friend back to college and Friday we are going to Boston to spend the night) and start last minute trip preparations. So while I checked to see what the weather is in Senegal (today it was 70 degrees and partially cloudy) Maine bid me farewell with a good old fashioned Nor'easter! My hometown got nearly a foot of snow today and the temperature was just around freezing all day. Fortunately I'm not flying today so this weather is a great way to say goodbye. The next blog I post will be from Senegal!

The first few days of the semester will be chaotic. I will arrive in Dakar around 6:40 am local time (1:40 am EST) and have orientation from the 17th through the 21st. For the first five days we will be staying in group housing before moving in with our host families. Wolof classes start on the 18th and normal classes start on January 24th. So between now and my next post there shall be more goodbyes, many hellos, some jet lag, and probably a bit of culture shock. Until then my friends and family!

Au revoir!