Saturday afternoon I went with Russell and two girls from another study broad program (Emily and Maddie- whose name is spelled exactly like mine) to one of the markets on the plateau of Dakar. We took a car rapide, a form of public transport known for being cheap and fairly inefficient. The car rapides are painted bright shades of blue and yellow and often bear the names of Muslim leaders or other religious phrases. They hold anywhere between 10 and 25ish people depending on their size and the interiors resemble usually school buses, sometimes featuring improvements such as curtains. It is common for them to be lacking windows. One of our professors told us that the average age of a car rapide in Dakar is 30 or 40 years old, thus it is also common to see them broken down on the side of the road. The questionable conditions of the cars is worth the risk for the most part, fares for the car rapides are 100 to 150F CFA, or about 20 to 30 cents. They can take you all over the city and are very useful. So Emily, Maddie, Russell and I hopped on a car rapide (they don't run on routes really, but it is fairly predictable where they go...you ask the boys hanging off the back if they are going to your destination and tap on the roof when you want to get off...) and went off to the market.
The market we visited is called Sandaga and is well known as a spot to buy clothes and fabric, among other things. I think it is a fairly popular destination for tourists, and it was really clear that to most people we were just a bunch of toubabs walking around with dollar signs painted on our backs. People were really persistent in following us down the road, showing off wares, and trying to get us to visit their shops. The compliments flowed readily, and people tried to use a couple of common scams, such as “remember me? I am your friend! Mohammed! From the hotel!?” in order to get us to go off with them. A lot of people were very friendly and amused when I tried to speak Wolof with them, but I was pretty skeptical of most people who approached us on the street. Maddie and I were called racists at least once or twice when we ignored people who were following us down the road. One of the most stressful parts of being in the market was the constant attention. There was no such thing as browsing. Bargaining is also difficult. My mother told me to divide the initial price by at least half, if not more, when I was trying to bargain with people. I think I ended up paying more than I probably should have for the fabric I bought to make a dress, but I guess that is to be expected because my bargaining skills are not up to par yet. It takes so much energy to bargain. You have to really be willing to walk away and play the games, and I was pretty tired so it was probably not the best day for me to purchase things. I didn't get too ripped off though, I don't think. I may have paid 200 CFA more per yard than I maybe should have, but that is fine. I probably lost a dollar or two.
After a few hours at the market it was definitely time to take a break. Maddie and I walked to the rendez-vous point we had arranged with Russell and Emily, and we all went to get N'Ice Cream (which really delicious and fatty and bad for you. And expensive. It is made with like whole cream and costs about the same as Cold Stone or something would. Dairy products are pretty rare here, so it is expensive to get pizza, ice cream, and other such foods). It was delicious though! We hung out in the air conditioned restaurant, and then proceeded to walk down the Ave George Pompidou to the area where we were going to meet our friends that evening. We still had some time to kill, but we found the restaurant we'd be going to later and then settled into a Lebanese joint called Ali Baba where I ate some falafel and watched a soccer match on TV. Then Griffin and Joe, who had boldly walked the 2ish hours from our side of Dakar to the plateau, joined us for some quality toubab hangout time. We sat in the restaurant for hours, but the funniest thing was that the people on the street continued to try to sell us things. They don't come inside the restaurants, but they do hold up products to the windows, trying to get your attention. There was one man that stood outside Ali Baba for a solid 20 minutes trying to get the restaurant's patrons to notice the painting he was trying to sell. The funniest part about the painting is that it was gigantic. It was at least 3 feet long and 2 feet tall. Who in their right mind would buy such a large painting? I know, I will just put it in my backpack to take home...not. These types of propositions continued throughout the evening. We eventually left for a bar called Le Viking, where there was live music and a nice patio. Even there, with a security guard that kept people out and shrubberies to protect the patrons from propositions, we got continually hollered at to buy cell phone credits, jewelry, and art. It was super funny to randomly see things shoved through the bushes at us all night. But given the guard and the bushes, the offers were not as prolific as when we were just on the street. It was nice. A large group of us, ten or twelve maybe, sat outside all night, just chatting and hanging out. I was going to try to get to bed early, I didn't sleep again on Friday night, but I was having too much fun so I stayed out until like 1 again. My host mother made fun of me a lot on Sunday for staying out so late (mostly because I had said I would be home by like 10 and then sent her a text saying I would actually be home at 1 or so...). It was a good day, although I was exhausted by the time I went to sleep.
Today (Sunday) I ventured out with my mother and one of her friends, as well as another student on the program, Hallie to see a newborn! Our mothers are good friends, so I think we will get to go on adventures with them occasionally. The mother of the new infant is Hallie's mom's niece (I think?) and the ladies were in the process of planning the baptism and naming ceremony, which will be held this upcoming Thursday, one week after the infant's birth. I think he was probably the youngest baby I have ever seen, only about two and a half days old! He was really adorable, with a shocking amount of hair! His head will be shaved as part of the ceremony on Thursday, but I hope they get a photo or something to commemorate how much hair he was born with! It was a really nice way to pass a lot of time on a Sunday. If I just stay home, the weekend days get fairly long. Admittedly, I have never actually stayed home all day. Usually if it is mid-afternoon and I am still at home, I just decide to go somewhere else instead, so it was nice to get out and about a bit, especially with my mom who I don't get to go out with all that often! Altogether, it has been a very good weekend. The time is going by really quickly. I think it is because I pass so much time planning things to do and getting out that it is easy to lose track of how long I have been here. I am actually starting to have a bit of school work to do, but the homework load is not nearly as heavy as it would be at Grinnell, which I am grateful for. I can't imagine trying to live and experience life in another country while also doing that much work for school. I will be finding out fairly soon where my internship will be, so I can start to look forward to that too!
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