Out front there is a courtyard where kids play a lot- all the houses are connected so everyone shares the land. When you open the front gate and go inside you come to the foyer which is just a hallway with some chairs and a table. Off to the left there is the living room, which is the biggest room in the house. There are couches, a coffee table, and a tv (the Senegalese LOVE their tv)- it pretty much looks like a living room one might find in the US. once you leave that hallway everything becomes outdoors. the sink and bathroom are outdoors, but have doors and walls and everything. the toilet is separate from the shower. And if you didn't know, they don't use toilet paper in Senegal, the use a Satala, which is like a like a bucket of water that they pour on themselves to clean themselves instead of toilet paper. My host mom was so cute though because she bought me a pack of toilet paper to keep for myself. Nice. The kitchen is extremely teeny tiny but it has a sink, a gas stove, and a really run down fridge. This is where most of the cooking happens. Before the kitchen is my room, which is pretty sweet. I have a bed, a desk, a closet, and a dresser. I'll try to take some pics so you can see- I think I have one of the nicer rooms in the group. Then there is an outdoor stair case that leads to a small upstairs. It's all open except for the maid's room which is also up there. Her name is Aram (pronounced 'Adam' because they roll their R's really hard) and she is a live-in housekeeper who does cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. This is the girl I was talking about before who is my age but only speaks Wolof. She is really friendly but keeps talking to me in Wolof and like asking questions and waits for a response. Since I obviously have no idea what she's saying I just smile and shrug or something and she cracks up. Anyway, on that terrace there is a table where we eat dinner every night. It's really relaxing and much cooler to eat outdoors and reminds me of the Cape where we eat outside a lot. So that's my house. As they say on MTV Cribs, you don't gotta go home, but you can't stay here!
My weekend went fairly smoothly compared to a lot of other peoples'. I still have not gotten sick (kanaharah! or as they say here, alxumdulilaay). Almost everyone else has gotten sick and had a REALLY challenging time at their houses. I have some pretty serious poop stories from other people. They range from PG to R rated. Let me know if you're interested- they're so outrageous and you will cry from laughing so hard. I'll spare you for now though (but seriously, they're hilarious). Anyway, I had an easy time, as soon as I got there I unpacked and then offered to help prepare dinner. My mom did NOT hesitate to take me up on the offer and put me to work! The first thing she had me do was cook french fries. I made them all by myself! They love french fries here and they're actually even oilier here. They use a ton of oil in their food so it makes it kind of heavy. At 7 we break the fast with bread, coffee, and dates. Then everyone prays and I put dinner on the table under a cloth until later when my Maman eats with me around 9 or whenever it's dark. Since it's Ramadan they don't eat during the day and most people eat even later, like around 10:30. My host dad and Aram both wait until then to eat. My Maman said that she eats with me at 9ish because 10:30 is too late for her, but she might just be doing it so I can eat earlier. The food is always dee-lish. Remember how I said I was worried about getting full and having to keep eating? Yeah, it's an issue. Literally every two minutes she says to me "Il faut manger bien" or "mangez! mangez!" which is just telling me to eat more. It's exhausting for me because sometimes I just have to take more to satisfy her and sometimes I literally cannot fit any more food into my mouth. Aram taught me the Wolof for "I'm full," it's "sur-na," and it's my new fave phrase. Sometimes my Maman just puts more food on my plate anyway because "I'm too skinny" apparently. It's actually slightly irritating after a while because we're like fighting about me eating more when I've made it PRETTY clear that if I eat anymore I will vomit. I've learned to eat really slowly and that if she sees me at least take seconds then it's helpful. Oy vey.
My Maman is so motherly to me around the house and does everything for me. She really cares about my comfort which I am loving because a lot of other people don't have the same situation. I think it helps that there are no other kids in the house so I am her top priority right now. I also have a lot of privacy and down time at my house which I really need here. Other people are bombarded with tons of people in and out of their houses which I think would be too overwhelming for me. The only real issue I'm having at the house is coming to terms with the gender roles here. My host dad has everything handed to him and doesn't help around the house or anything. He doesn't even pour his own water, my Maman just knows to do it for him. He seems really entitled and a little indifferent towards women in general. This is challenging for me as a woman from the US and especially as someone who has put in a lot of time and energy and interest into social justice issues where gender is a major topic. It kind of goes against my beliefs about the family structure and everything I've been focusing on to see the man of the house just sit back and not contribute while the women do everything. I know we'll be talking a lot more about this at SIT and how to better understand and cope with it. I'm still waiting on an argument that shows me any reason that that's okay. I just took a Soc class at Richmond focusing on gender, family, work and society, and my research paper was on Senegalese women's gender role in the family- so it's a hot topic for me. Seeing it first hand gives me a whole new perspective though.
But that's what living in another culture is all about. I'm ready to soak it in and further clarify my own beliefs and realize how much I appreciate the differences between Senegal and the US. So far, pretty much everything is different so there's a lot to appreciate in both directions. But now it's time for lunch. My pics are on Facebook and I'm still trying to figure out how to put them up here. A bientot!
