Toubab Dialaw

In the first month of the program, CIEE arranged for us to take a traditional trip to Toubab Dialaw. Situated along the coast line (petite cote), about 70 km outside of Dakar, Toubab Dialaw is home to a fishing village and an artists’ colony. Toubab, which is the noun for “white person” in Wolof, became part of the location’s name handle as it was rumored to have attracted many, well, toubabs to drop in for a visit. We stayed in a guesthouse called Sobo Bade, which clearly stood-out in the landscape with its red brick exterior and inconspicuous second-floor room options. The hotel was propped on top of a small cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, a sight to behold during sunset.

We got there before noon and went through a brief room assignment process. I ended up sharing a room with three other people, and was lucky to have an en suite bathroom. We had a buffet styled lunch, which included three types of salad, so of course all the greens were gone within the first 15 minutes. After that, we went to the beach and walked around within the vicinity of the hotel area to explore the artisanal shops and the town.

There is definitely a tourist presence throughout the area, and I figured so by the amount of shops selling art pieces and by the constant wave of peddlers walking about. I am constantly attracted to tourists’ wares, and therefore I enjoyed browsing and haggling my way through people and things. I ended up with a pair of silver earrings from Mauritania (sold by a Mauritanian man), and struck up conversation with him about how he came about this trade in this specific location. I lingered around the open beach with some of my friends for the rest of the afternoon. There were dead fish lining the wave front, so I decided to stay put and sunbathe on the beach while others went into the ocean.

In the afternoon, we each selected a complimentary activity offered by the hotel, and I stuck with batik painting. The workshop organizers prepared cutouts of shapes and patterns so that we could trace the outlines onto our white canvases. Then, we went over our designs with wax (using a brush) and picked a base colour. We got to pick a second colour after our second do-over with wax, so we could achieve a dual-colour result. My base colour was a dark green, so it was fruitless to play around with dark purple.

Towards the afternoon, a brief spell of rain interrupted the dance class. They still resumed, dancing in the music area, as the rest of us watched. When sunset approached, the entire property was basked in a vibrant orange glow. It was a beautiful sight to behold, especially when the sun completely dipped beneath the ocean brim, and lit the sky in vivid reds while the landscape faded into mere outlines.

That night, we had another good meal. Nobody can really mess up grilled chicken and fries, and the kitchen certainly did not. We had a great selection of salads and some pizza slices, and brownies for dinner. Needless to say, it was probably one of the best meals we have had since getting into Senegal (then). I spent my night with a couple of musicians. It was an intimate session where they attempted to jam with us using djembes (drums). We ended up listening to a few original pieces and sat through a folklore recantation. It was a great experience, especially when one of the guys started playing the kora, which is a harp instrument that produces the most mellow, rich, and sonorous sounds.

We left Toubab Dialow around noon the next day. It was, overall, a timely getaway from the realities and shock of Dakar. I thought it really rejuvenated my spirits to start classes and my internship. The place we stayed at was well-organized but not extremely well-kept. Two of my friends had a really bad case of bedbugs, and so did this other person who stayed at Sobo Bade. However, we had a positive experience and that’s all that mattered to us. Until next time!

Sortie Pédagogique: Ville de Dakar

Hello from sauna-like conditions of my living room, I hope your week is going well. Today marks the first day of the new year according to the Muslim calender, and it is celebrated as Tamharit here in Senegal. In light of that, today is also a public holiday observing the new year, otherwise known as Hari Al-Hijra. Celebrations technically start the afternoon of the last day of the year and end the next day.

As part of traditional customs here, my host family cooked a dish of chehh, which is a red oil sauce made with sheep organs and a side of couscous. Usually the whole sheep head (from Tabaski celebrations???) is used to make the sauce, but my family only cooked it with kidneys (which I avoided) and some questionable pieces of sheep I choose to be ignorant about. Neighbours started coming in around 6 pm with homemade chehh, as a courteous offering. We had a really awesome spread of tomato and carrot salad, grilled chicken, and chehh. It was great. The following day (today), some of my family members fasted, so things were slow around the house, as was my progress with getting work done. I made egg sandwiches in the afternoon for myself and kids though, so at least I get to say I did something.

Adding to that things-accomplished list, I am sitting down to blog. Yes. Actually. Uploading pictures take up a lot of time and patience, so it is a feat that I'm proud of accomplishing today. Compared to almost-instant AirDrop functions, this is old tech. But still, it's good tech. So segway-ing into the meat of this post, some of my classmates and I went around Dakar on a Sunday morning to check out different neighbourhoods of the city. This field trip was part of my Urban Landscapes class, which is highly interesting. We have been covering history and origins of some of West African cities like Dakar, Saint Louis, Abidjan, Timbouktu, etc. for the past few weeks. Now, we're diving into Senegal's development since independance. I enjoy the class a lot, because it's just a fascinating way to learn a country's functions and cultures by looking at its cities and its characteristics.

Dakar on a Sunday morning is basically me on a Sunday morning, very much asleep. There was no traffic and the streets were close to being empty. It was a refreshing sight to take in, as I got pretty used to constant bottle-neck traffic and people on sidewalks shoving past car rapides. We went past Point E and ended up in one of the older neighbourhoods. Our professor gave us a bit of context of the architecture and housing planning situation. We then made our way (in our air conditioned private van lol) to the Medina quartier, which is one of the older and poorer neighbourhoods in the city. We went past informal Quran classes, shoe vendors "opening shop", washing ladies gathering piles of dirty laundry of the day, and informal fruit and peanut stands.

Next, we passed through a well-to-do neighbourhood and it was just a drastic change from cramped quarters to double-storied houses with lawns. All this was happening right next to Senegal's largest prison and a dangerous neighbourhood (in the words of my professor! Also he mentioned most people who get out of prison take up residence there..). A little further down the road, we were in the heart of Dakar's city center. We stopped and walked around a bit, while my professor pointed out certain features of the city.

We then headed past everything back into Ouakam, a neighbourhood in the north of Dakar. We stopped by Le Phares de Marmelles, which is Dakar's lighthouse. The view was amazing, overlooking the Renaissance monument, Almadies, and Yoff. Our professor also allowed us to take a tour of the lighthouse, which ended up being the highlight of this trip. The person in charge was extremely friendly, taking tourist money shots for us, and answering every question we threw at him. Definitely a place to check out, tourist or otherwise, when in Dakar!

After leaving Ouakam, we drove into the Almadies, which is the expat to-go place in Dakar. It was definitely gentrified and modernized, also with Senegal's poshest hotels. The Western-most point of the African continent is in this section of Dakar, located in the Sheraton hotel. We continued past Ouakam into Yoff, where the airport is located. We ended our trip at the beaches in N'gor, where traditional fishing activities are still practiced.

This coming weekend, we'll probably be taking a second field trip with this class to the outskirts of the city. Definitely snapping and writing up on the trip as well. I will be posting another post sometime over the weekend, about our visit to Toubab Dialow. Until then!

 Tabaski mutton leftovers

 One of the many many car rapides

New wing of a public hospital

 Overview of Ouakam and the Renaissance monument 

 View of Almadies from up top. Spot the Western-most tip!

 Lighthouse reflector thing-a-ling from down-under

 Plage @ N'gor

Football friendly: Senegal vs Namibia

Hello tout le monde. I hope your weekend has been well so far. I have two posts in store this week to make up for some lost time. The first entry - a friendly match I attended, courtesy of CIEE. The match of Senegal vs. Namibia took place on the 3rd of September. It was my first time attending a game outside of college, so I was excited about being in a larger atmosphere. We got to the Stade Leopold Senghor early at 3.30pm to get good seats. The game started at 7pm, and quite honestly, I did not know how we passed our time.

As people moved into the stadium, a brief drizzle came round. It went away before the teams arrived. Different groups of supporters started setting up at their chosen areas of the stadium and each had their own display of support. It was an incredibly lively atmosphere, with music and singing from each group overlapping the other. Vendors moved their way through the slowly growing crowd, selling benyets, soft drinks, and Senegalese gear.

The game started after the teams' formal entries and national anthems. It progressed very quickly and at times, I could not keep up. There was no clock display nor commentary, so I could only react to how the crowd reacted. Being a person who does not really know anything about football, let alone either teams, I was really there for the experience. Of course, I enjoyed immensely.

Senegal ended up scoring two goals, the latter being at 90th-minute penalty kick. The best parts of the game was when we (group of CIEE students) started an ole-ole chant after the first goal (which only really diffused to the fringes of our seating zone), and when a double rainbow revealed itself over the stadium. By the end, I was tired, sweaty, and very hungry. However, it was just amazing to be a part of the crowd, cheering on Senegal in solidarity with all the people around me. As I am writing this, Senegal is playing Cap Vert for the world cup qualifier, leading with a score of 1-0. I'll get back to that, and another post tomorrow. Until then!