It seems that I have discovered that flu and cold seasons actually change with the period in the year, not the actual coldness of a place. Currently I’m sitting in my little mosquito net (feeling the good ol’ wooden boards of my bed that come through my foam mattress) and am a bit sick to say the least. Truthfully, twenty minutes ago was not a content part of my life, but I’m doing a whole lot better now as I just went and looked through all of my pictures. Somehow they all seem so much more vibrant here, and I don’t know why. So I figure that while I take a break from reading, which actually is making me really happy, for it’s a personal time that often is not gotten here, I should give one of my super fantabulistic updates. Here goes:
-Fruit in general is way cheaper out here. I bought a grapefruit for 100cfa, which is roughly 22 cents. How freaking awesome is that? Yes, I get cheap thrills out of grapefruit prices.
-I’m reaching the beginning of that bored phase that Rachel was talking about with our apprenticeships. I really should find out the difference, if there is any, between a terrapin, a tortoise, and a turtle. These wonderful English brothers and a father (who sailed down here and are going to sail to Brazil next) brought it up and I honestly have no worldly idea.
-We have a turtle named Bill Clinton because he arrived at the same day that Bill Clinton was visiting Senegal. And the girl turtle in his pen? Monica. Monica Lewinsky. When I asked where Hilary was the Senegalese just laughed at me. It was worth a try right?
-I sent of some Christmas letters this past Monday. It feels wrong as Thanksgiving hadn’t even passed yet. Kind of like when you see Halloween decorations alongside the back to school section.
-I finally got to go on a tour of the whole reserve and it was actually fabulously interesting. I got to see a glimpse of the actual relationship between the community and the reserve. Also, sweet pictures are on the way. And if they aren’t sweet, at least they are pictures right?
-The computer at the reserve has a European keyboard. So from using that a bit, I now cannot type on an American keyboard or a European keyboard. It’s like my spelling is half French and half English now. I am aware that you all are probably laughing at me because the spelling failures were there way before French became a daily part of my life. It’s okay, now I just have a good excuse. For the record I can’t spell check because every time I try it deletes the blog post. So there.
-Did you know that the QWERTY Keyboard was actually created in order to be the slowest possible arrangement of keys for typing? With every other arrangement of keys the person using the keyboard on a typewriter would write to fast and ended up jamming the keys, so they had to make a keyboard that limited this ability. I think the one I use is an AZERTY keyboard, even though I doubt that is the official name of it.
-The family is still all around nice. I came to a really interesting realization though. With the mother you know how I described her in western terms. Well after thinking it over with Rachel’s words in my head I found something out that is quite obvious, but that I just don’t think about often. Really, I know cognitively that it is a cultural difference that creates the difference in the way the mother acts in contrast to what I am used to viewing. I saw her as an overbearing person in America, but here it is a normal way to show that you care. It was not hard to cognitively think through that. Instead I find the hard part is having your emotions reflect the knowledge. For feeling that someone is overbearing is much different than knowing. So maybe that will be one of the greatest changes…. in eventually having my emotions and reactions change in accordance with the knowledge.
-Almost all of the cookies here are from Turkey. Don’t ask me why, but I would love to know the reason. Is Turkey secretly the cookie capital of the world? Was the cookie monster born in Turkey? Or now he is the Vegetable Monster anyways so it doesn’t matter. What has the world come to when the cookie monster now eats carrots? Appalling, just appalling.
-Bug spray kills ants. So there is always a huge amount of bugs in my room at night as the single light bulb that is on my wall entices them to crawl through the door crack. Then, by morning, for some reason around half of them end up dead on my floor. I’m pretty sure part of this is due to them flying through my fan. This creates an odd little buzzing sound for a couple of seconds, which freaked me out when I didn’t know what it was. Now I just laugh a little bit. Anyways, it turns out that the ants then come down my door frame and act as little the little soldiers that they are and clean up the mess of dead bugs by carrying them off to the nest (I have no idea where that is). Anyways, it turns out that bug spray kills ants. I wonder if I sprayed a mosquito in mid air if it would die? Don’t worry, I sweep a lot.
-Chapstick is such a life saver here.
-A couple hypothetical/research questions that I’ve been thinking of: Note: I’m just throwing these out there as things I was thinking about. I have no proof of anything, only questions to be asked and answered.
Does poverty correlate to distance from the equator? Possibly there is a relationship to the long breaks necessary in the middle of the day because of the heat, and the relative poverty of many countries along the equator.
In Chinese culture ‘inventiveness’ was always a cherished quality. The inventions of gunpowder, silk, fireworks, etc. were always a huge source of pride for the Chinease. Coincidently many of their inventions involved heavy left brain thinking. Is it possible that from the old times left brain-mathematical-hard science types succeeded more passed on their genes more successfully, and has led today to a relative ease with these subjects for the modern Chinese person? Essentially did natural selection in south East Asia make mathematical sciences types more successful, which in turn has led to the current way that Southeast Asia dominates these fields?
-Does anyone remember the term for when something is transferred from one culture to another but it does not necessarily fit? It happened a lot in colonial times. For example, the French came to Senegal and put in place their education system. Or you can look at any of the Spheres of Influence. I just forgot the term. Something with mirroring maybe? If only I could go back to freshman year world history for a day.
-This all makes me sound much spiffier that I actually am. Do not be fooled
-I have continued with my culinary excursions here. I had a chawarma in Rufisque, which it turns out I had in Dakar too I just didn’t remember the name, but it’s basically beef( sawed off this massive pieces that is rotating in one of those keep-em-hotters), tomatoes, onions, and some type of pepper, French fries, and all of that put in a wrap. Actually really tasty-but it would be much better without the French fries. I found out that there is actually at point that the French fries are not sickly here, which is up to four minutes after they have been cooked. The problem is that they are usually eaten and hour or two after they are made. Humph. I’m currently eating cookies with the name of Karsa, from Turkey. I had the chocolate ones, and am currently trying the Hazelnut ones. Nothing special though, it’s like a cracker on the outside and a bit of cream filling on the inside.
-I found a store in Rufisque that sells the English butter-sugar cookies in the blue tin. I believe that will be my Christmas present to myself.
-And now I’m a bit exhausted, which really is pitiful, as the only things that have really been moving are my hands (and possibly a few brain cells). Currently on the miss list are:
Hot water-honestly cold water does not cut it when you are sick and want to take a shower. Shiver me freaking timbers
Cold weather-at least when it’s cold outside you enjoy the fact that you are nice, warm, cuddly, and have tea inside. Summer sickness is the pits.
Soup-mmm. French onion soup with mozzarella. I also will be trying to make a dish called peposo when I get back, which I am thoroughly excited about. It is not in the least bit Senegalese, and it is authentically Italian.
Non-concrete walls as I just hit my head on mine. Ouch.
Okay, off to read, nap, eventually eat something if I get my appetite back (grapefruit or rice, and such things. I also finally put something up on my wall so the room is a bit less like a concrete chamber and more room like. With love,
-Ananda
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