Home?

It seems fitting to have a last entry for this thing now that I'm back in the States. A synthese if you will.

After 30 hours of travel I'm back in Minnesota and I've never been so weirded out in my life. People speak English, it's freakin' cold, there's Starbucks and McDonald's, and I just put on a pair of jeans for the first time in 3.5 months. What the hell is going on?

The trip went smoothly, the group of us trying to ease each other in and give support as we left Senegal and entered Toubabland. Katie and I (sort of) made Cafe Touba in the JFK airport to make ourselves feel better. It worked.

So for a while I'm sure I'm going to be wrinkling my nose and calling most things weird. I'll also be panicking that I'm going to forget things about Senegal. That's not allowed to happen. Nor is it allowed to happen that I lose contact with my beloved friends made on the trip. Seriously. I want to fly out to New York or something ASAP.

Anyway, and so begins another journey to figure out how I am to operate here in light of my experience in Senegal. On y va!

Alxamdoulilah.

Well, I did it. My opus is complete. I'm pretty happy with how my 36-pager turned out, and can't wait to have people read and give feedback. It's kind of a big deal for me. I'm now in Mbour which is on the Petit Cote (look on a map). We're staying in a hotel right on the beautiful beach. We've been doing ISP presentations, re-entry preparation, and chilling out before we head home. I did my presentation this morning. It was mediocre, but it's done and I feel a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. It's crazy to think about the fact that I'll be back in the States in five days. It's going to be weird as hell. Sorry people, but I might just be a basket case. Expect random Wolof and funny phrases that will make no sense and tongue clicking and snapping. But also expect me to hug the washing machine and eating lots of chocolate chip cookies and lots of adventures with people I've missed a lot. It'll be a trip.
Leegi leegi.

Mungi dox, quoi. [Ca va, quoi]

Things are truckin' along here.
I'm trying to squeeze in a couple more interviews this week and start putting pen to paper (or fingers to keys). I'm not getting in as many interviews as I thought I would, but I'm getting enough quality ones that I think I'm getting good data and a good amount of it. I made a major breakthrough when I met the MBA director at IAM (Institut Africain de Management). Turns out he has a special interest in business ethics. He organized a conference at IAM on the subject two years ago, and is a case writer for the UNDP. Pretty impressive. I'll be going back there to pick his brain as well as another guy who is apparently affiliated with the Assemble National (Senegal's legislative body). Good things.

Last Saturday was pretty special because we hosted a Passover Seder (belated by a week). Marc and Hannah (the most Jewish of the group) organized everything and we spent all day cooking. Marc made an utterly delicious mazto ball chicken soup, and I cut up about 30 potatoes for potato kugel. There was a seder plate with some alterations. We substituted bitter aubergine (an essential ingredient in ceeb bu jen) for bitter herbs, and fell short on the horseradish, but we definitely had an orange for all us women of substance. About 10 or so of our friends doing their projects in Dakar showed up and we had a really pleasant time. It was fun to have guests at the apartment and it also seemed to mean a lot to those who celebrate it regularly, which made me happy.

Some random musings...

Something that I find really fascinating is how different a neighborhood can be at different times of day. For example: In Ngor the veggie lady is out in the morning but not in the evening (this can sometimes be inconvenient). When I had to go all the way back there mid-morning because I had forgotten my phone I noticed some restaurants and lunch stuff that isn't open when I'm normally in the area. That involved not only new visuals but new smells. Sounds are different at different times too. Night time is down right awesome. People are out in the streets, making music, laughing. There's also many more types of people (age groups, gender) out than at other times. It's amazing how a neighborhood can feel like a totally different place depending on when you happen to be there. I feel like I'd have to sit on the corner for a full 24 hours to really feel like I knew the place.

"Wade=baaxul!"

Link: NY Times Article

Click on the above link to read an article sent to GAC Philsophy majors by Deane Curtin about world hunger and the increased price of food. The article mentions Senegal. We've been experiencing the effects of this price increase here in Senegal. The increased price of rice and gas has been all over the news. People all over Senegal are really upset at President Wade for a variety of reasons, but this one I think has pushed many over the edge. The villagers at Keur Sadaro were especially angry at him (Wade=baaxul!). Apparently he had promised upon election that he would not increase food prices as much as he has. The current excuse for the price increase of rice is the price increase in gas. People aren't buying it, though. I don't blame them. It seems like a somewhat sketchy connection to me. Anyway, it's interesting to see a U.S. article mentioning a situation here that I've come in contact with. It's pretty cool to have experience to back up my understanding of the article and make it very real.

A cold? Really?

I think my body is playing some dumb joke on me. I'm in Africa, where there are all sorts of things waiting to bite me or be ingested or whatever, and I go and get a run of the mill COLD. I have to say I'm feeling pretty lucky, but it's annoying and just kind of bizarre.

Anyway, I just thought I would check in to say that things are going well. I'm plowing into my ISP (although not at as fast a rate as I would like). I have an advisor at ISM, a business school with campuses all over Senegal, who is interested in business ethics. I have a meeting tomorrow with the director of Forum Civil, which is an anti-corruption NGO and a branch of Transparency International. I plan to spend next week visiting as many business schools as possible and interviewing profs and students.

For clarification...Straight from my research proposal here are my main objectives for this project:

What environment are business management students being prepared for, and how are they being prepared? More specifically I want to know if this preparation incorporates or emphasizes ethics or CSR? What does this emphasis look like? What are the emphases within the discussion of ethics in Senegalese business schools? The process of answering these questions will seek to identify any cultural influences on business and business ethics. Analysis of data will suggest what the future looks like for business in Senegal.

Yeah. So that's kinda where I'm headed. We'll see how it goes. And yes, I'm a huge nerd.

Reverse Three's Company

My friends Eric and Marc and I moved into our apartment in Ngor on Friday. We joke that it's like the inverse of the quality 70's sitcom Three's Company. It's incredible. I love it. The apartment itself is beautiful. It's furnished, has a kitchen, the dining room is a terrace, and there's even art on the walls! The neighborhood is great too. We're in what people call the village part of Ngor, not to be confused with the ultra touristy toubab part of Ngor. There's always people in the "streets" (narrow sand ones), there's a mosque a stone's throw away so we hear the call to prayer (starting at 5am, but for some reason I still find it lovely when it wakes me up) and the Mourides (an Islamic brotherhood, or sect) singing and drumming (they like to do that all night long sometimes). There are little sandwich and fruit and vegetable stands everywhere. There are always people to meet and greet. I've already befriended a little girl named Ndeye Gueye who ran up and hugged me while I was waiting for the most delicious chicken sandwich I've ever eaten. It's going to be hard to leave her in this country. I might just have to take her home with me.

I have a meeting today which will hopefully result in my obtaining an advisor for my project and a plan to set in motion for research. I'm getting excited to go out and learn about stuff that I care about. With both the apartment and the project it's really nice to have some independence.

My Photos Part 6 officially on the links list.