Anyways, that's not the only difference I've noticed here obviously. I got here really early in the morning on Friday and got to the volunteer house in the dark, so I didn't get to see much. I got ready during the flight for my stay here, reading information about my organization's programs, the region I'll be staying in, and watching The Town and My Cousin Vinny. After sleeping a couple hours I got up and went to the office, only a short walk away to meet all the staff.
In Senegal it's very important to say greet everybody. Not saying hello is the equivalent of denying somebody's existence, so common practice in Dakar is to at least say "asalaa maalekum," followed by the Wolof greetings if you know them. I only know a couple lines now so I'll talk about that more later. Anyways, then I hung out in the office for a bit talking to volunteers and had the most amazing lunch I've had in a while. Spicy chopped rice with fresh vegetables and grilled spicy beef, eaten with a big spoon in a circle with other office workers on a mat, barefoot. A short nap later I was downtown, checking out the markets. Got some groceries for dinner and a cell phone with a Senegalese SIM card, so now I'm set on getting in touch with people in-country.
The last couple days I've just been hanging out, seeing a little more of the city, getting a few food items I might not be able to find where I'll be stationed, and meeting the other new volunteers. I was the first one in, so I got a bit of an advantage picking a bed and checking out the city. Now there's seven of us new volunteers in my orientation group, including two French girls (one of Senegalese origin), a Spanish guy, British guy, American girl and another American guy along with myself. We'll be heading out to Thiès, Senegal's second-largest city 45min-4hr from Dakar depending on traffic on Tuesday morning for the second day of orientation. Then Friday we're all headed either back to Dakar or to Mali, Guinea-Conakry, Guinea-Bissau, the Gambia, or the Fouta.
Other differences from Columbia, the Columbubble, Maryland:
We're fortunate enough at the houses to have Western toilets. The organization doesn't supply toilet paper because it's not commonly used here. Here's the bathroom I use on the roof of our house. Notice the possibility for great multi-tasking:
The shower is a little difficult to get to drip consistently and is cold, but at least Dakar isn't! There's definitely not much trash service here, so there's a lot of litter in the streets. Driving is another story.... the taxi drivers are crazy. They drive really beat-up Toyotas or Renaults. Nothing in the cars work, and sometimes you can feel parts scraping on the ground. You have to negotiate the price before you get in a taxi, and the drivers often ask women if they're married. Oh, and here's my washing machine (did my first load of laundry today):
By the way, I'm not really complaining about this stuff. My life here so far is definitely more simple than I'm used to but still much more privileged than the general population. I'm absolutely loving it. The people are so friendly, and although it's a huge culture shock (and thermic shock) going from Maryland to Dakar in January to spend the next six months here, I'm excited and can't wait to tell you more about it, inshallah!
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