Normandy is a very cold place

Cold but quite lovely! I made my way from Nantes to Bayeux, a journey comprised of three different trains, and finally met up with Grace and her parents.  They picked me up at the train station and took Grace and I to the hostel where we were planning on staying.  The hostel had pretty decent reviews online (though it didn't have it's own website, and when we called, it never rang) and it was suggested in Grace's relatively new guide book, so we thought all would be fine if we just showed up and tried to get a room.  We found the hostel, but there was a sign in the window saying that it was closed "definitively" so we had to go a different route.  It was a very senegalese-esque moment, inconvenient and for most people probably pretty frustrating, but just comical for us.  We did some searching around guide books and pamphlets and found a relatively reasonably priced hotel right in town.  The owner was very nice and the hotel was served it's purpose perfectly. There was a heater and a hot shower. What more could you ask for? Plus, we really got to practice our French! Sometimes in France when a non native French speaker tries to speak it, they'll just speak to you in English, but the people at the hotel actually spoke to us in French and it worked out very well.  It was quite enjoyable.

The first full day there, we drove out to Utah Beach where Grace's mom's father had landed five days after D Day.  The weather was actually pretty nice in the morning, so the beach was enjoyable.  There was also a really nice D Day museum there and I learned a lot.  After the beach we decided to go down to Le Mont St. Michel.  It started to pour down rain, but we went anyway!  It was packed with tourists, of course, but charming still.  Because I'd been there twice before, I opted out of the tour of the Abbey this time, but Grace and her parents went.  It was kind of cool because it gave me an hour or so to just wander the island alone.  Such a cool place!

 Horse carts on Utah Beach...a la Senegal.

Lucky sun break

Grace at Le Mont St. Michel

Our second day in Normandy, we went to the big outdoor market in Bayeux and walked around a bit.  Lots of smells and sights, it was pretty fun.  We saw a man selling pants that they also sell in Senegal and Grace and I almost got up the courage to talk to him and see if he was Senegalese, but we chickened out.  After the market we went to see the Bayeux Tapestry, which is 230 ft of embrodiered cloth, telling the story of William the Conquerer and the Battle of Hastings.  Here, check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry.  It was pretty cool.  After that we went to Omaha beach and the surrounding areas.  It was very very windy and cold that day, which made the beaches less desirable, but it also gave a pretty good idea of what those soldiers were experiencing when they landed.  It was a lot to take in. Such a beautiful landscape, but so much history of pain and loss.  Hope too, I suppose!  We went to visit the American Cemetery as well and that was incredible.  Very beautiful and respectfully done. 

All and all, our trip to Normandy was very fun.  I saw a lot and learned a lot, which was great.  On Sunday morning Grace and I hopped on a train to Paris, then another train (and another train) later, we were at the airport to catch our flight to Amsterdam!

The ocean and a field of mustard at Longues Sur Mer

At the American Cemetery in Normandy. "Here rests in honored glory, a comrade in arms, known but to God"

Monument at Omaha Beach

A sun break over the Seine.

Notre Dame and some cherry blossoms.

I realized for the first time last night that Senegal did nothing to improve my "sit and listen in on French people having conversation" skills.  Whenever we were with a group of Senegalese people, they would speak Wolof, unless they were speaking to us.  Last night I went and hung out with Rachelle (my French exchange student from Nantes) and some of her friends.  I could pick up on most of what was going on, but I definitely needed Rachelle's translations frequently.  French French is SOOO fast! I have some work to do.

This is Rachelle's dog Vioki, hanging out on my bed.

It was very rainy in Nantes.  The most rain I've seen in months.

One more day in rainy Nantes and then it's off to, likely rainier, Bayeux in Normandy to meet up with Grace and her parents again. I'm looking forward to it! But Nantes has been really fun too.  I went to a couple of Rachelle's classes at University yesterday.  She's studying English, so it was Translation class first, then literature (talking about Allen Ginsberg and the Beat Generation) and then another literature class where they talked about Frankenstein.  All in English! So that was fun.  Not entirely sure what's in store for today, all I know is that it includes going to one of Rachelle's favorite cafes to get dessert after lunch.  Doesn't sound too bad to me!

Today, I took a bath.

 

Yesterday, on my last day in Dakar, some of us went to the beach in the morning.  It was actually kind of cold out, so we just hung around there for a bit then went home for lunch.  My last cebb!! After lunch I went over to Camille’s house to say goodbye to her family.  I ended up spending a lot of time at her house and got to know some of the kids pretty well, so I’m glad I got to say bye.  When I got back to my house I did a bit more packing, then most of the family (everyone except uncle Amadou, Cheikh Rouna, and Moustapha) went to the hospital to visit Mohammed.  Obviously, I couldn’t go because I was leaving, but I felt bad.  So I said goodbye to most of them as they were leaving.  Then I had about two hours to kill.  I ended up letting the little boys sit on my bed and watch Ratatouille on my computer.  It was pretty cute and I’m glad I got to spend some quality time with the little ones! A van from ACI came to get me with Sarah, Izzy, and Grace to take us to the airport. 

                It wouldn’t be Senegal without a little disorganization and confusion, so we made sure to end on a Senegalese note.  After waiting about a ½ in a line that would’ve actually taken us on a plane to Lisbon, we finally asked someone and found out that we were supposed to print our tickets at the little machines.  We then had to go into another super long line for luggage checking.  The computers were broken or something and we were probably in that line for over an hour.  By the time we got through customs and security, it was already well past our departure time, but luckily they were stalling the plane because of all of the craziness.  So we were supposed to leave Senegal at 10:35 pm but the plane didn’t leave until around midnight.  C’est la vie!

                They served us dinner on the plane at about 1 am which was just kind of weird.  After dinner Grace and I took some sleep aid pills and just about passed out.  I swear that is the first time I’ve ever slept on a plane.  It was weird, and disorienting, and uncomfortable, but necessary.

                We arrived in Paris early this morning.  Sarah and Izzy both had family members picking them up, so Grace and I were on our own.  We managed to figure out the whole metro system and took the train and two separate metros and finally ended up in Montmartre.  I love Montmartre.  We didn’t have directions or anything written down about where her parent’s apartment but luckily she had remembered the address. We wandered around for a bit then whipped out our freshly honed French and asked someone for help. We found the place and it’s just so wonderful.  On the top floor of an old apartment building with a view of the city and an old wind mill.  It’s actually just perfection.

                Grace’s mom greeted us with bags of soap and wonderful smelling bath goodies! I took a hot bath that smelled like raspberries.  I literally have no words.  I’m very much excited for my time here.

                I go to Nantes to visit Rachelle and her mother tomorrow!

Anecdote

Yesterday I got home around 5 pm after school and such.  Not many people were home, but Moustapha was! I love that he still just insists on talking to (at?) me in Wolof.  He just talks and talks.  Anyways, he put his little jelly shoes on and told me that we were going.  No one saw us leave, he didn't tell anyone else, we just walked out the door.  He directed me over to the little boutique at the end of the street and we ended up going behind the counter and sitting on a little bench.  There was another little girl in the boutique about his age and they were very cute with each other.  Just being kids.  We hung out in there for a bit.  I still had no idea what we were doing there, but after a couple of minutes, the boutique guy gave Moustapha some bread with butter.  My words here don't really feel like they're getting across the silliness of this situation, but trust me, it was very funny.  I was just terribly confused the whole time and completely at the mercy of this adorable four year old.  When I told him that I needed to go home, he just said "toogal!" which means "sit down".  Eventually I just had to leave! I never would've done that with any other 4 year old in any other situation, but it just felt like it was okay. He was fine in the end of course, I just felt so weird about leaving him there! It was a very funny situation.

On a completely different note, my host brother Mohammed is in the hospital! I guess sometime last weekend when me and the parents were in Toubab Dialaw, he was in an accident on a scooter or something.  He's been in the hospital ever since.  It's excruciatingly difficult to get any information about it out of my family, whether that be the language barrier, or something cultural, all I know at this point is that he's starting to get better and that they don't know how long he'll be in the hospital.  Considering I leave Senegal tomorrow, I don't think I'm going to be able to say goodbye to him, which is a real bummer because we're buds! So, send healing thoughts his way!

An update for the sake of updating!

My parents are having a good time I believe! We started off their trip with a bang and went to two crazy markets and Ile de Goree on their first day here.  It's been a whirlwind, but it's been really wonderful to have them here.  Just before they got here I ended up getting strep throat and thrush simultaneously, so it was very nice to have the parents around to doctor me!  I'm all better now, thank goodness.

This weekend the three of us went down to Toubab Dialaw and it was very relaxing.  I had to make myself stay cooped up a bit to get some work done, but mom and dad seemed to have fun.  They even took a djembe (drumming) class.

 Now we're back in Dakar.  We ate lunch at my house today, but we were served a separate little toubab meal.  Oh well, it was delicious!

Our Continuity and Change presentations were last week, as well as my French final, and I just turned in my history of Islam paper.  So now all that's left is to finish writing my art paper and write up and present my literature presentation.  Almost done!!

This semester has been incredible.  I have no words.  Actually, I have too many words.  I can't wait to tell everyone all about it!  I'm very much looking forward to my trip to Europe too!

I leave wonderful Dakar in 5 days now.  This trip has been unbelievable. 

11 Days Left

My lovely parents are here!

I’m very excited to see them and I’m proud of them too!  I’m glad they’re taking advantage of this opportunity to travel and try new things. Selfishly, I’m doubly excited because it will be much easier to talk to them about my experiences here now that they’ll have a frame of reference.  We’ve done a lot so far, even though it’s only been a few days.  I think they like it, but they’re still adjusting.

Last weekend we went back to Sokone to do our individual projects.  I believe I mentioned this in the first post about Sokone, but Sarah and I had planned to return to where the women make pottery for the village and study what they do and the interactions between them.  For whatever reasons (details I do not care to go into), we ended up being set up to study the education of girls in the village.  This was what I had wanted to do at the very beginning anyways, so I was thrilled.  The five girls from Beloit that have been doing essentially the same program as us (minus most of our weekend excursions) came with us this time.  One girl, Angeline, was grouped with Sarah and me.  Once we were all organized, we were chaperoned to our respective areas of study.  A group of six went to a village nearby called Medina Sangako.  They were going to be studying the oysters and restoration of mangroves and living with the villagers.  Three of the girls stayed in Sokone at the same auberge as we did last time.  They would be studying traditional medicine, talking to healers and such.  Two other girls went to live with Serer villagers and study traditional music.  Sarah, Angeline and I were directed to where we would be staying.  We had no idea that we were about to have one of the most unforgettable weekends of our lives.

We stayed with a woman named Adji Senghor.  Adji works as a sort of go between with an NGO called Women’s Global Education Project.  In Sokone, she has developed a program called Sisters to School that helps insure the education of girls in the area.  When we arrived, we sat and chatted for a little while and she told us all about the program and some of the work she’s done.  Before I go on raving about this awesome woman and what she’s done, I just have to mention that her home was a little slice of paradise.  She showed us around the garden which has countless mango trees and more green things growing than I’ve seen in a while.  Not to mention a chicken coop, a duck coop (that doesn’t sound quite right, but it looked the same as the chicken one, so why not?), some sheep, and a puppy!  The front yard sported a hammock strung beneath some lovely vines.  I could go on.  There’s a girl currently living with Adji from a different program based in Dakar called West African Research Center (WARC).  She had been there for a little over a week and is staying for another five.  She is doing an internship at the hospital in Sokone, and in the short amount of time she’d been there, she had already witnessed death.  She talked about the fact that before going there, she had never truly understood the meaning of bad healthcare.  So much of the terrible treatment she had seen, she said, could’ve been so easily prevented.  I can’t imagine being in her position.  Being there, 100% ready to help, and really not being able to make lasting improvements.  I was very impressed by her and I’m so glad that she gets to go home each day to someone as wonderful as Adji.

Adji was the first person in all our time here that has talked seriously about gender inequality, especially in the area of education.  She talked about the fact that even when a family is able to send their daughter to school, the girl will have very little time to study and work because she is constantly doing the house work.  Cooking, cleaning, doing the laundry.  Adji used an example in her own household.  She indicated their maid, Awa, washing the dishes and preparing to make dinner.  She said later that day Awa would leave for a couple hours to go to her literacy class, before returning in the evening to finish the housework.  Awa is at least as old as I am and only just started to learn to read and write this February.  Adji then called for her nephew, Ali, and asked what he was doing.  Ali poked his head outside and responded by saying that he was watching TV.  See, she said, Ali’s always on the computer or watching TV.  My husband’s always in front of the TV.  It’s the women who work.

After being served the most delicious meal I’ve had to this day in Senegal (a giant salad, no meat, no fish, just all kinds of fresh vegetables. It was amazing), we went with the girl living at Adji’s to a wedding she had been invited to.  We were absurdly underdressed (though toubabs usually are in most things they do).  It was cool though.  There were a bunch of chairs set up around an area for dancing.  We talked with the husband for a little bit, he was very kind.  The wife had not yet arrived (in Islam, the wedding ceremony actually takes place in the Mosque without the presence of either the husband or wife.  It’s essentially their families that are married.  So we were attending the celebration afterward, which I believe traditionally takes place at the husband’s home.)  We were dead tired by the time we got back to Adji’s and we had a big day ahead of us.

Adji set up for us to meet with and talk to several of the girls in the program.  She gave us a ton more information on what the program does too. It was way cool.  I have so much more to say about it, but I’m lacking all of the energy to do so (sorry to be such a tease).  I also feel like I’m long overdue for a blog post, so I’m just going to throw this up there now.

Less than two weeks now until my three and a half weeks in Europe! I’m looking forward to it, but there is a lot that I need to do between now and then.