Toubab! Donne-moi un cadeau!

I'm back in Dakar after an eight day trip to Kedougou! I've added a link over on the right that says My Photos Part 2 which has pictures from the trip. Overall it was a really positive experience. We started off at an auberge where we stayed in huts with electricity, air-conditioning (which came in handy because it's way hotter there than in Dakar--in the hundreds I'm sure), and running water. Then we moved to our home stays where we lived in huts with none of those things. With the group we did some pretty amazing hikes and visited some villages of the Bedik ethnic group. We got to play in a spectacular water fall and climb big rocks. I've decided that when I get home I want to be a camping person because running around in the wilderness and being without electricity and peeing in holes is definitely okay by me and pretty fantastic.

Groups of us were placed in homestays in the villages of various ethnic groups. I was in a Bassari family--a 55 year-old woman named Justine and her mother. Those staying in Bassari families weren't in a village exactly, instead we learned about the Bassari from members of the group that live close to Kedougou (the nearest village would have been 90 km away). In general, and especially in the home stay, communication was a challenge since French was often limited and Wolof hardly spoken at all. Justine spoke some French, but she's very shy and quiet and what French she does speak was often hard to understand. Her mother spoke no French at all except Bonjour. We managed to chase up some people of our generation who are the ones who speak the most French. A guy that lived near my friend Hannah and I was a good source for our research about the Bassaris and also taught us how to make Ataya (green tea Senegalese style with lost of sugar and poured over and over to build up foam--See photos). I had the most fun with my friend Joel and his host family where his brothers spoke a lot of French. They took us to check out the Gambia river, we ate warthog and wild honey from the comb (honey, shea butter, and indigo are big things in the area), drank Ataya, and chatted about Bassari culture.

The Bedik village was having a circumcision ceremony and celebration and we were able to join our friends staying there to see what the celebration was like. Lots of singing and dancing and bright colors. It was a great opportunity and a break from the pretty boring situation at my homestay. There wasn't a lot going on with my family (probably because I was living with just the two women and wasn't in a village setting), so opportunities to go places were great. I was actually very ready to go back to the hotel when the time came, but am glad to have had the experience of living with Justine.

I had a good time in Kedougou, but it's nice to be back in the city too even if it smells and there's way more people and noise. There are also less children yelling "Toubab! Donne-moi un cadeau!" (White person! Give me a present!). I have my own room now in my homestay here since my older host sister went back to Paris where she goes to school. I didn't really mind sharing, but it's nice to have a little more privacy.

I'm looking forward to a couple weeks of routine and then another awesome excursion to another part of Senegal. Friday we're taking a small field trip to Goree island off the coast of Dakar, which was a big deal pre-colonialism and during the slave trade. Should be intensely interesting.