Last one for a while!

Hello and goodbye for a while!
Tomorrow (Friday) I leave for Kedougou so I decided to update before leaving. Last I updated was Sunday (which feels like yesterday) so I guess I’ll begin with Monday…

Monday: We had classes as usual, and I came home to a pretty much empty house. I’ve been seeing Moussa, my 26-year-old homestay brother, more and more often. He lives in the same house but in a different part; I was under the impression that he had a wife and some kids but apparently he is just friends with younger kids. So I talked with him a bit, it’s difficult to talk to him while Adji is around because apparently they haven’t talked in years because of some gender hierarchy difficulties. Anyway that was nice to get to know another member of the family, he’s funny and jokes around with me a lot but I think he can be really intense. So we’ll see how that goes.

Tuesday: Honestly I don’t remember. It’s the one day I didn’t write in my journal for some reason, I just don’t think anything too exciting happened. I know we had classes…but other than that I’m sad to say it’s lost to me. Oh, but it was mardi gras, and all the little kids dress up here for mardi gras: the girls dress as heavily-made-up princesses and the boys as old men. I'm posting a couple pictures my brother took and I stole from him :)

Wednesday: In the morning we learned about our Kedougou village homestays!!!
There are 6 different rural villages in which students will stay (and keep in mind that this information was told to us, some might be confused/incorrect/incomplete):
-Diakhanke: A muslim village of the Mandinka tribe, located in Samecouta, about 9 kilometers outside Kedougou, near the Gambian river. Main activities include fishing and gardening. This village isn’t as conservative as the others; the women have access to education and it’s not as traditional/primitive as some others. There is also a mosque and a primary school.
-Diallonke: Another muslim village of the Mandinka tribe, also located near the river, near the Campement in Kedougou. Only educated men and young girls speak French.
-Bedik: Two Christian/animist villages of the Sub Guinean tribe, located about 15k outside of Kedougou in Banda fassi (one at the top of a mountain (Etchwar) and one at the bottom (Indar)). It is one of the most primitive/remote/isolated villages, though we were told that there is an electricity generator (so I’m confused as to why it’s the most primitive if it’s the only one with electricity…)! Women here generally go topless and the people are very active, especially in Etchwar; every day they go up and down the mountain fetching water.
-Bassari: A Christian/animist village of the Sub-Guinean tribe located about 18 k outside of Kedougou in Ibel. All the last names in this village begin with B: Boubane, Bediar, Bienkerich, Bendia). They are known for their weavers/artisans and their homemade wine/beer. According to Bouna, they “eat everything that flies…except a kite, of course.” (P.S. I love Bouna. He’s kind of like, for those of you who know what I’m talking about, a friendlier, bubblier Mr. Cillo.)
-Peul Bande: A newer muslim village of the nomadic Poulaar tribe, located in Baindai Kodi, about 18 k outside Kedougou. They are mostly shepherds and farmers, as well as polygamists.
-Peul Fouta: A muslim village of the Poulaar group, located in Sinthiere Roudji, about 3k outside Kedougou. It’s similar to Peul Bande except more densely populated.
We picked our villages out of a hat, and I was kind of leaning towards one of them but it’s hard to decide which village to live in with this little information. Regardless, I randomly picked the one I was leaning towards: Bedik! I think I’ll choose to live at the top of the mountain in Etchwar, but either way I think I’ll have a really interesting experience. I didn’t realize, though, that this was the village with electricity, so that’s a little disappointing that it won’t be as primitive. But I’ll let you know how it goes. I’ll be with one other student (I think in the same house, but if not definitely in the same village).
Anyway, after learning about our villages and seeing a few pictures we learned a bit about the Senegalese education system and had from lunch on free. Erin and I got hamburgers (my first since I’ve been here!) and then went to Ouakam to check out Atelier Columbin: a pottery studio that took in handicapped/disabled people and taught them to do ceramics. It was really cute and little and we got a demonstration from a deaf man. If I end up doing something to do with therapeutic arts for my ISP I’m definitely going to incorporate this workshop!
Afterwards we went to Marché HLM, the biggest fabric market in Dakar. I bought some pretty fabric and my homestay mom said she’d make me a dress! I drew her a picture of the basic design I want, so we’ll see what happens with that. I promise that I’ll post pictures if it actually gets made ☺. I went to bed really late because Adji left for Morocco—her plane was at 1am so I stayed up to see her off, I couldn’t believe how little time she left for going through security etc (she left at around 12:20am). It’ll certainly be different around here without her, but maybe in a good way. I feel like I’m already forced to talk more with the family, which (so far) has been great!
Thursday: Today was our last day of classes before departure for the villages so I think people were kind of restless. My Wolof teacher wasn’t there so we took our quiz and played Wolof hangman/charades. Then French class, and afterwards a couple of previous SIT students were visiting (they now live/assistant-teach in France) so they explained their ISPs and their experiences in general, and were open to questions. After classes I walked home, bought some avacados, and ran into Papa Ndaiye—the man who I met the first day of my homestay, who gave me a tour of the Ouakam Marché. I’m still not sure exactly who he is, but he’s very nice and, unlike other men, just wants to talk—not marry. So it was fun to see him again, and then I came home and packed for Kedougou!

I apologize if this all seems repetitive/unimportant; I guess I’m just not really sure what people want to hear about and what they don’t so I write about everything.

Well, that’s it for now and maybe for a while, thank you to those people who have been contacting me—it’s so great to hear from you!!! I return to Dakar March 7th, so until then, amusez-vous!

Nuyul ma waa kër ga!
(Say hello to your family for me!)
and now you say:
Ninañu ko dëgg!
(They’ll hear it!)