Going to Egypt!

I just found out that my proposal to give a workshop at the NileTESOL conference in Cairo in February (Creating Safety in the English Classroom) was accepted. I am SO excited. It's fun to think about being in my third African country in less than five months. Much more than that, this is an affirmation of my decision to take a year off from teaching despite serious misgivings that doing so would derail my career. There were so many days--and even more sleepless nights--in Guatemala when I thought I was committed professional suicide by taking the break, despite feeling that I had nothing left to offer my students.
The other challenge I am taking on at the same time is letting some truly wonderful students know that if they don't work, I won't work with them. I have always had trouble with boundaries, professionally and personally, and it is an important learning step for me to recognize that, as much as I wish to be motivating and engaging as a teacher, the decision to work and grow rests in the hands of my students and not in mine. It is also satisfying to be able to act without anger or blame.

Parting is such sweet sorrow...

It's almost impossible to imagine that I will be leaving Dakar four weeks from tomorrow. I have been feeling very emotional and weepy.  The greatest sadness for me will be saying goodbye to the members of Youth English Society. It's hard to believe that I came here six weeks ago with the question of whether I would go back to teaching, whether I was still capable and still had the energy for it.
Despite (or perhaps in part because of) some bumps with the group, who are brilliant and talented and focused beyond any group I have worked with before but not always as accountable as I would like, I find myself inspired, engaged, and able to come to my work with new energy and clarity.
More later...

Babs

Babs is my guardian angel in Dakar. He says I am like his mother, but I think he does more mothering! He texts me every day to check in, goes out on the streets of Dakar with me to follow my dear cattle, finds out the relationships in my family, and explains that the vegetables in the bowl we eat from are  mostly ornamental, so I feel free to dig in. We talk a lot about cultural differences. He thought the story of the woman who sued McDonald's over the too-hot coffee was unbelievable.
He, of course, is the best wrestler!

Mon Professeur

A couple weeks ago after our public speaking class, Arfan asked how I was. I said ok but that I was planning to leave Dakar early to look for more opportunities to study French. The deal had been that I would teach public speaking in exchange for French classes, but it wasn't happening. Arfan aplogized profusely, took my words to heart, and has become my teacher, giving me daily classes. Other YES members are interested in working with me too, but between being satisfied with Arfan and trying to recover, I have them on hold right now. BTW, he's the best wrestler!

And the most special blessings!

Babs(left) and Arfan are members of Youth English Society and  some of the most special people in my life here. Yesterday I had my French class with Arfan, then he called Babs, and we met up, went and hung out on the beach and talked until after dark, and each of them told me why he was a better wrestler (the national sport). Then we went to Via Via to listen to a fabulous Senegalese band. I think I am becoming a groupie!
EREV, where I can work and where I teach, is in the background on the far  left. The yellow and red building behind Babs is Piano Piano where they have wonderful music almost every night. When I wake up during the night, I sit out on the roof and listen.

Many blessings

My friend Theresa left to travel with her sister, and I miss her! But she left me her washtub, and I love it! She also helped me buy the little gas stove and pot in the background, so I can make tea and coffee in my room. And I bought a broom so I can sweep my room and the bathroom and the hall and the roof...
after getting my tub, I did all my laundry while standing in the shower, very efficient! I put it out on the line, and when I got back, I discovered that someone had tied knots in everything so it wouldn't fly off the line.

Musing in Via Via

And now there's power again at Via Via, so life looks better. Actually the power comes and goes, and so I learn again and again to let go and relax into the present circumstances. A little while ago, I sat in on a Wolof lesson, so now I can say Hello (Salaamaalékum) and How are you (Na nga def) and I´m fine (Maa ngi fi rekk). I think maybe it´s ok to gve myself permission to whine sometimes, especially if there doesn´t seem to be another option at that moment. And there are many good things here. I decided to stay in Yoff with Maman Africa and the family rather than moving in with my friend, and I love having my life based in Yoff rather than spending tons of money and time in taxis going to the city center.

Ups and Downs in Dakar

 My friend Theresa told me about a friend she was traveling with who had a horrible time, but when Theresa read her blog, it looked like an entirely different trip because the friend sounded so upbeat. It’s a temptation to put a positive spin on everything. I admit, though, that I am feeling pretty whiny and sorry for myself.

A week ago last Tuesday I got a bad cold, and despite advice from friends, decided to keep going instead of resting, so I’m still sick. I have a horrible adult version of diaper rash which has now extended to my armpits, so I spend a lot of time undressed in my room in front of the fan trying to get dry and unirritated. Someone pointed out that wasn’t so good for my cold, and I’m sure they’re right! So do I address the rash or the rattling cough and headache? 

The weather is hot again, and I am not accepting it gracefully. I keep looking at the weather report and praying for a respite.

What am I looking for?

Another friend commented that he didn't know what I was looking for in my travels. I didn't ask him what he meant, but he seemed to be saying that maybe I was searching for some ideal life, some vision, some fix.
I have been thinking a lot about that comment and have come to the conclusion that the question for me is not what I am looking for but rather, "What am I looking at?"
On a personal, emotional, "another blanking growth opportunity" level, I was licking my wounds after a tough time in grad school and a blowout job in Ecuador which I quit after four months. I fled back to Guatemala, where I had developed a very intense and often difficult relationship with my Spanish teacher, Rafa. I felt strongly that it was important for me to sort out what had happened with Rafa the year before. I chose to not teach that year and to take the time to reflect on my life past, present and future.
Rafa and I went into business together, and I feel very blessed that we were able to spend a great deal of time talking out our difficulties in communication and learning how to be clear with each other. At the end of the year, it was clear that we were going in different directions, and I was ready to try my hand at teaching again.

What am I doing in Dakar?

Just got an e-mail from a friend that made me realize I have skipped some steps in my journey to Africa. Oops! I have been wanting to visit Africa for a few years now, and that was strengthened when I had students from West Africa in grad school. Last spring in a meditation course, I had a very strong image of being in Africa and decided at that point to act on my impulse rather than continuing to just think about it. I chose West Africa because I have been circling around beginning to learn a third language and decided it was time to act. I chose Dakar because I found a place here to study French and teach English as an exchange.
Shortly before coming to Dakar, I reactivated my application to teach with English Language Fellows (mentioned in another post). I had been checking their site periodically with not much interest until I saw a project in Rwanda starting in January. I didn't specify Rwanda in my application, just Africa, but I was very certain that Rwanda was where I was meant to be. When I was offered the position there, it was Wow!

Path to my house

A friend in the English Language Fellow program (who has the position in Dakar that I will have in Rwanda in January) has invited me to live with her. She is great, and it will be good to have a colleague to share experiences with, but I admit that I will miss Yoff.


http://elf.georgetown.edu

Women in Yoff

I think the most beautiful thing in

Dakar, after the cows, is the women's clothing.

Typical taxi windshield

Some people seem to think they need to replace their windshields with only one crack. Others no. The other day I took a taxi similar to this one, and it started raining (not so common here). Since the driver didn't have windshield wipers, we alternatively pulled over and drove slowly.

EREV friends

Steve and Badou both work at ERV on different projects, and they're wonderful people. Always good to have folks to check in with.

This photo was taken on the balcony outside the room where I work.

As I think I mentioned before, EREV is across the road from where I live, so it's a convenient and comfortable place to work.

YES!!!

My favorite thing here in Dakar is working with the Youth English Society (YES). I am teaching them an oral presentations class twice a week at EREV.

Check them out on Facebook. They tell who they are much better than I could.

They are a joy.

Demba

This is my language partner, Demba, who also works at the restaurant. Although she is shorter than most Senegalese women, she has the typical lean and muscular build.

Friends

This is my dear friend Theresa and her langauge partner, Julie. We're at the restaurant at Institut Francais, which is where Theresa and I met during placement testing (That's another story!)
Bideew is a great place to hang out when you want to get a break from Dakar. It's very peaceful, and the staff are great.

Yoff scene

This was taken down the street from where I live. The building on the right is very typical in Dakar. There are massive numbers of unfinished buildings.

More contrasts

This photo was taken in the parking lot of one of the ore expensive private clinics in one of the most expensive residential areas.
Goats are abundant in Dakar, but I realizd the other day that I've never seen or been served goat meat. Thank goodness!

Quiet scene in Dakar

I'm trying to figure out when I took this photo because the streets don't ever seem to be this quiet. There are many people with horses and carts. It's so strange to see them on busy streets and in rotaries with the traffic almost all the way into the city center.

Most of the horses seem well fed and well treated.

Trying to catch up with the blog!

My friend Theresa took this photo, and neither of us noticed the clashing red chair. Ouch!

I am going to get up a bunch of photos and then maybe come back with more text.

Time is flying and I love it here!

My life in taxis

I spend a lot of time in taxis here in Dakar. It feels like a luxury with so much public transport available but one I have concluded is an investment in quality of life.
Every ride starts with a negotiation. I'm getting good at staying firm and getting a fair price. I learned early that taxi drivers will always say they know where they're going even when they don't (and then try to charge extra for a longer trip!), so I make sure I know and carry a map too.

Thoughts about Dakar

When Dakarois ask me how I like Dakar, the answers that come up in my mind are generally negative: it's noisy, it's dirty, the vendor are beyond pushy, some of the men are beyond obnoxious.

But then I remember people like Babacar (in black) who sold me a pair of Clark's which saved my life when my feet swelled up the first week. Every day when I go to French class, I stop to greet him, and he always smiles to hear that I am still so happy with my shoes.

Thoughts at 2:00am

Sitting under the stars on a cool breezy Dakar night listening to jazz from a nearby restaurant. Someone is in the hallway working on his computer. A couple other guys are settling in for the night on the rooftop; someone sleeping behind me is snoring.
It's been such a busy time since I got here almost a month ago that it's hard to capture my thoughts. The memory in my phone keeps filling up wth some many texts coming and going. I run into people I know all the time, it seems, and meet more people every day.
I satrted teaching English two days after I got here and am now teaching a class at EREV (where I hang out) and another at Suffolk University Dakar. I'm taking French classes and setting up more.
Five days after I got here, I learned that I will be going to Rwanda in January as an English Language Fellow, so I will be heading back to the States in December to prepare for that.

Arriving in Dakar 5

We found an open internet cafe and began looking for ways to contact my contact, Marian. Finally got an e-mail from her. Turns out her phone had broken and the family, not being able to reach her, concluded that I wasn't coming. Marian came to meet us and offered me work space and wifi access at her organization, Earth Rights Eco-Village Institute (EREV), right across the street from my homestay. What a gift!
www.earthrightsecovillageinstitute.org

Blogging in a developing country

is a pain in the neck. Sometime I should try bogging in the US; I imagine it would be a lot faster! It takes a minimum of two minutes to upload each photo, and twice in the last hour I have lost the connection just as the photo was almost uploaded. This is surely a labor of love!

Arriving in Dakar 4

This is the main road through Yoff between the airport and the city center. Ali took me to a nice restaurant just down the road from here, and we had breakfast while we tried to reach my contact person and waited for the cybercafes to open. Luckily he spoke English; my French wouldn't have been up to any of this!

Arriving in Dakar 3

On the ten-minute ride to Yoff (which seemed like hours), I had a jumbled impression of lots of unfinished buildings and trash. It looked to me as though the city ahd been bombed and was just starting to dig out. When we arrived, I was sure we were in the wrong place, that somehow we had ended up in a slum section of Dakar and would get sorted out and get to the right place. Wrong!

Arriving in Dakar 2

Before we left the airport, Ali took me to change some money, telling me he could get me a good rate (turned out that he was right). He took me into a small, crowded, and not too clean "store" where two men were sleeping on the floor.
When we left the airport, he hailed a car and told me to get in. I was a little scared. As we tried to leave the parking lot, a cabbie tried twice to cut us off because our driver wasn't an official cabbie. He was cheap though!

Arriving in Dakar

My good friend Barbara asked me this weekend what was the most surprising thing about Dakar for me. Great question! On reflection, I would say it's the physical chaos and lack of beauty. The second most surprising thing is how relatively not difficult it has been to get used to.

When I got to Dakar at 6:30am, I discovered that the person meant to me me wasn't there and my contact's phone wasn't working. A lovely man named Ali, who (I thought) worked for the airport, took me in hand and brought me to Yoff based on my information that I would be staying near Ecobank.

Family

Maman Africa, her neighbor, and my special friend Theresa (more about her later). I had asked Maman Africa if Theresa could join us for lunch, and she made a gesture as if to say, "Feel free to invite the entire neighborhood." Therea got a very special treat, the first time I saw tomatoes and cucumbers at a meal.

Family members

This is the father and the servant. I am embarrassed to admit I don't know either of their names.
He is very nice, and we always exchange warm greetings. He is a very quiet man, and is generally praying or reading the Koran; he doen't seem to have a job as far as I can see.
She is preparing our midday meal, which we eat sitting on the floor around a common bowl. We all eat with spoons except for Maman Africa; she used her fingers and throws pieces of meat, fish, or vegetables from the middle in front of each of us depending on what she notices we like.

Another sleeping area

This is the hll outside my room where up to three men sleep. Getting used to walking by sleeping men in the middle of the night was one of the hardest things to get used to. One of the men is a web designer and often works at night, and we often exchange a few words. It strikes me as the contradiction I see so often here: he's on a mat on the floor with two computers, a cell phone, and an internet connection from someone downstairs.

A little different...

Here's the bthroom I share with three or four guys. Handheld shower, no shower curtain, and no toilet paper; it's not used here except where whites hang out. The toilet doesn't flush, so big bottles of water are brought up every few days for that purpose. There's usually water, but sometimes on a hot day, it's necessary to shower out of one of the bottles (if they're full that day!).

Chez moi

Here are the outdoor sleeping quarters. I have to admit I have been tempted to join them, but I don't know how they would feel about that. When I first moved in, I was disconcerted to find two or three men sleeping in the hall outside my room, but now I'm used to it.

It's all relative...

One of the guys moved my bed between the windows so I get the breeze. Today I dragged out the (very old) foam mattress and (very dusty) rug underneath out to air and decided to get a broom to sweep the sand off the array of boards supporting the mattress. I wasn't allowed to sweep, and somehow we ended up with five people supervising the project. I even got a top sheet for the first time. Whee!

It's all relative...

This is my new room at Maman Africa's, and I'm thrilled because I now have cross ventilation and a wardrobe! My last room had a bed, a mat, a chair, and a fan, and one window facing a wall.
Who needs paint?

Maman Africa

I don't know Maman Africa's real name; everyone calles her Maman Africa. Either my first or second day in the house, she named me "Maman Sali."
There is a steady stream of visitors to the house (or do they live there???) due to her hospitality. This sign was painted on the wall in front of the house.

Living in Yoff

This is the rue/path that leads to the main road in Yoff and so is well traveled. When we sit outside in the evening, there is a steady stream of people passing by.

Living in Yoff

Through a "coincidence," I landed a homestay in Yoff. It's far from the city center, where I take French classes, but a wonderful place to base while learning about Dakar.

First impressions

I've been in Dakar 18 days now, feels like a LOT longer! First impressions: the heat, the hussle, bargaining for everything, the sand, the heat, the cattle and goats and horses, the women's beautiful boubou. Did I mentioned the heat?

In Dakar! Can you find Petit Yoff?

In Senegal! Can you find Dakar?

In Africa! Can you find Senegal?