Some pictures...before the internet turned sketchy...more to come!

Me and Roi-Kass! A CRAZY, slightly misunderstood, Malian with the biggest heart!

One of my favorite pictures! Lovely ladies...and Luigi....

Super model Luigi!


Beautiful sunset at the beach!

A goat coming to visit in the entrance of our Block (in our village)

Strike is over!

Today classes begin...exactly a month since they were supposed to start for the first time! Hopefully this time they last a little bit longer. Although, Tabaski is coming up on the 9th of December (a big holiday where families get together and eat mouton!!) and shortly after that winter break begins. So just how much class we will have in between is a little up in the air.

In the mean time though, life outside of class just keeps getting better and better. Last week we went on a few day get away to a town East of here along the Senegal river called Podor. It was a really amazing weekend away! I am not sure how it happens but we constantly meet really great people whose hospitality is just beyond me...

The first night we were there the hostel we had called to reserve rooms in actually didn't have any rooms available because the people who were supposed to leave didn't!! So we ended up walking around Podor in the dark with this guy trying desperately to find somewhere to stay! Eventually we found rooms in a school for girls. It was just for one night though, so the guy we met (Elhadji) offered to let us stay at his place the following night!

The next day when we were visiting the fort of Podor (an old Colonial fort used for protecting the trade route along the river), we ran in to two military guys. One was the Commander of a military base and the other the captain. They told us that if we couldn't find a place to stay for that night the captain had a big house with extra rooms and we could stay with him on the base as a last resort. It was really a last resort because staying on a military base didn't necessarily seem so appealing but in the end we had to take up the offer because two more friends were coming (Luigi and Andreas) and it would have been a bit imposing to have 7 of us stay with Elhadji. And the Commander said that they had done this in the past and it was an attempt to improve their image to show that the military isn't all bad. Unfortunately their attempt wasn't quite successful because the Captain was a bit of a creep but nothing serious happened. I am just glad Luigi and Andreas were with us...although I hate the fact that we needed two guys to make us feel secure...shouldn't we be able to feel safe wherever we are, whoever we are???

Despite the little incident on the military base, the rest of the week was great!! We met a guy in Podor named Tige. A huge rasta-man who works in Podor as a tiler (as in, laying tiles). He arranged for us to take a horse cart 10 km out of town to this small village were we spent the day. We were welcomed in to the houses of the villagers and had to eat three separate meals because when someone offers you can't say no!!! Then we went for this huge walk to see were two rivers met in a series of rapids. Pretty much ALL the kids from the village walked with us the whole way (good hour long walk). Unfortunately we didn't make it all the way because there was a bad bee problem near the end of the path and we didn't want to risk the wrath of the bees.

In the end to thank the villagers for their incredible hospitality we bought two soccer balls for the kids. Tige made this big speech about how they had to share it and he staged a wrestling match between two kids to decide who was going to be the responsible one and make sure the ball was shared!!! It was incredible to see how the second Tige (a really really tall imposing man) opened his mouth all the kids stopped talking and just stared at him in wide-eyed amazement.

The kids were equally impressed by Luigi. Luigi is a doctorate student from Italy doing research here. He brought along with him a red, rubber nose (think Patch Adams). So whenever a group of kids were around him he would pop it on and make some weird noises which brought a mixture of fear and laughter from the kids! They had no idea what to make of this man but as the day went on they most have decided he was okay because they all wanted to touch the nose and try it on themselves!

There is not much better than the sound of 40 kids laughing and having fun!!!

Our last day in Podor we went on a pirogue ride (small canoe) along the river. That was pretty peaceful and if I knew more about bird species it may have been even more interesting!! As it was I just appreciated being on the water and soaking up some sun!
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Now we are back here in Saint Louis! I have a class tonight that I am desperately hoping will run!!! Although if it doesn't, I have found some neat contacts for a group that does theater-for-education here in Saint Louis around various social justice issues, primarily HIV/AIDS. They would be interesting to spend some time with. There is also an interesting Spanish organization doing some neat work around HIV in the region. We went to a show last night that these two groups put together as a part of a three day forum in anticipation of December 1st. It was a really moving performance with poetry, rap, singing, theater all around the slogan ''no to stigmatisation, no to discrimination, no to segregation''

Aside from that, Paul (a man we met in Podor who invited us to his place for dinner) has come to Saint Louis and is offering to give us Wolof lessons.

So much to do...so much to see...at least we can't say that we are bored here during the strike!!!

The Gamnia is looking like a good alternative!

What a fantastic weekend! Saturday evening we headed in to town to grab some dinner and maybe watch a friend's band play but the show was canceled so instead we went to another bar to see a different live band. Unfortunately that band was just painful to listen to!!! But at the bar we ran in to Zahra...the women we traveled down from Mauritania with. She had a friend who was celebrating his birthday in the apartment right above the bar and we were invited to join! Turns out the people who lived in that apartment are a group of fairly well-established international artists who do international art and dance shows around the world! There was delicious Congolese food prepared....music playing and a really cool vibe. It was a lot of fun!

Then to top it all off, yesterday we went to the beach and spent a few hours swimming and playing in the ocean! This time the waves were much smaller and the undertow not bad - so we could actually swim! The evening we spent drinking tea and chatting with students in the film production program here at UGB. They are mostly international students (Congolese, Malian, Nigerian...) and very very funky!!

Not much new news on the strike situation. But there is a general sentiment that it will continue until the 24th when the second caf is supposed to open.We have started planning a trip to The Gambia and the Casamance region (southern Senegal) if the strike is prolonged!

At this point I've had a few discussions with students about the purpose of students not going to class. I am not getting any concrete answers but everyone keeps saying not going to class is pressuring the administration. Why and how? That is still unclear...

But the delegates are all going to Dakar tomorrow for some meetings with ministers and maybe things will be cleared up...

Strike!

So we finally found out how to keep on top of upcoming strikes...sort of! There is a committee here called the social committee, that I have mentioned before. They are the student representatives and are responsible for negotiating students interests on campus. It is an elected and unpaid position. When something isn't going as planned on campus the students on this committee negotiate with the university administration, the CROUS (food and lodging administration) and the government. Then they hold a General Assembly to inform the students about what is going on and to hear what the students think should be done.

There are a number of issues on campus right now that the social committee is trying to deal with. The biggest one is that, although there are two cafeterias on campus, at the end of last year the owners of one went bankrupt and closed down. This means that right now there is only one cafeteria operating with the capacity to serve 1,500 students and with just over 4,000 needing to be served! This means that at meal times we generally wait in line for over an hour before getting food. A few times the food has even run out!

The other issue is lodging. This year the university accepted a number more students than usual and there simply isn't space on campus to lodge everyone. Given the location of the school it is difficult and expensive to lodge off campus.

The final issue is about bursaries. Students are given bursaries to cover their lodging costs and meals but I guess this year the bursaries have come in late and have come in too small of amounts.

So - Thursday morning there was a General Assembly (that we didn't know about until afterwards) where the students decided to strike for 48 hours and not go to class and not pay the tickets at resto (caf). This meant we had no class on Thursday and Friday! It also meant that the university had to step in and pay the tickets of the students meals.... which causes a whole other set of problems!

Today (at the strike deadline) there was another General Assembly. This time we went just to observe! It was super interesting! Unfortunately we were all sitting quite far back so it was hard to hear and with people clapping and cheering it was quite difficult to follow. What you could tell though was the tension and the passion in the air! The social committee made the announcement that the second caf would open on the 24th and that the other issues were still being dealt with. After that a series of people spoke who had written their names on the speakers list. Once that was done all the members of the social committee had a last words. Then all of a sudden everyone stood up and there was a bunch of shuffling and jostling and then someone behind us told us that the strike had been extended for 72 hours!

That means again no class Monday and likely not for most of next week as chances of the strike being extended again are very high.

I am not sure what to think about all of this. On one hand it is super interesting to be here and to observe what is going on and see how the students are so active about their needs. On the other hand it is frustrating to not have class and to be missing out on the really interesting things the profs have to say. I really support and feel solidarity for the students but I am not sure how not going to class is the answer. Who are they putting pressure on by not going to class? The administration? The government? I guess the point is to draw attention but if you just boycott classes and you sit in your residence room, whose attention are you drawing?

In past years that have blocked the road outside campus (which is the main road from the Mauritania border and so quite crucial) but that has caused problems with the gendarmerie (who are underpaid and so quite resentful against students that are getting an education, cheap lodging and bursaries for living expenses) and other residents of the area. I get the feeling they are trying to avoid that until it is a last resort. But in the mean time what is being done? Who is feeling pressured to solve the problem?

I guess we will find out as the week progresses what the verdict will be and how the problem is dealt with. Maybe this is the opportunity to take a visit to the Casamance region if the strike is going to continue for several days.

And so we wait....

Self learning

Well...if the profs aren't going to teach, I am just going to have to start learning on my own!! So far this week I have had no class! Now, not all of that can be blamed on the profs. Monday we were away, Tuesday I slept through class and Wednesday I just didn't have any classes to go to...but today there is a strike! I'm not entirely sure why or who is striking but I am hoping it isn't all the professors and that my African politics course will run tonight!

In the mean time though, I guess I will just have to do it the old fashioned way and teach myself some stuff!

What to learn...what to learn...there are so many options!

Dakar

>Have you ever gone on a short weekend trip and it felt like you were gone for months? That is what this weekend felt like. Who knew going to Dakar would be such a draining experience.

We left Friday evening at 5:00 on a bus that drove right passed campus. We had all agreed to meet there at 4:30 so we would be sure to make the bus. Genet had some delays though so when the bus showed up at 10 to 5:00, she wasn’t ready and once again we had a whole bus load of people pissed off at us! Kind of funny in a country where time is pretty subjective ….

The bus took a good 5+ hours to cover a distance of 220 km. Along the way we stopped every 30 to pick up passengers, police checks and fueling up! It was quite the epic voyage. At least the police checks didn’t involve us handing over our passports and holding up the bus while they copied out all the info! Police checks here are more about controlling the cargo the buses are carrying. At one check everyone of the bus had to get off so that the police guy could search the inside of the bus! But really the bus ride passed pretty quickly! It was really cool to get a sense of what Senegalese countryside looks like!

And we saw lots of cars with goats on top!!

When we got into Dakar we took a taxi to Mass’ mom’s house! His mom wasn’t there this weekend so we had the whole place to ourselves – other than the neighbours who shared the courtyard!

It was great to have somewhere to stay but the location wasn’t exactly central, so cab rides in to town took a little over an hour! The funniest part about that was that it cost more to take a cab from Mass' house to centre-ville than the bus ride from Saint Louis to Dakar!! Although taking the public bus was really cheap. Public transport here is pretty great and cheap….the buses we took in Dakar cost 200 CFA each and a cab for the same distance cost 6000 CFA (or 1000 CFA each)!

On the bus...

Waiting for a taxi!

Our bus ride into town Saturday morning was pretty eventful! Unfortunately, we left Mass’ house at 11 so we were on the bus in peak heat. This meant it was super hot and with not much breeze coming through the windows we all had little puddles at our feet from the sweat. Annie was having a pretty rough time with the heat and all of a sudden she told us that she was loosing her vision and she started swaying a little. Within in minutes she had gone completely ghostly white (even her lips)! Luckily, we had our hero Mass with us!! He got the bus to stop and then carried Annie off the bus….he did forget to bend down though so she smacked her head on the door but at least it didn’t draw any blood ;)

Once we got of the bus we were standing on the side of the road in the hot sun with a corpse-white-Annie who couldn’t stand straight or see straight! We did manage to find some shade beside a big truck that was pulled over and the driver let Annie sit in his chair She recovered pretty quickly once we were in the breeze again and after downing lots and lots of water she regained her vision and felt better! That was an unpleasant experience….

Recovered Annie!!! With much more colour!

Once she was feeling better we jumped in a taxi to go the rest of the way in to town! We spent the afternoon shopping in the market. It was a bit intense. Vendors in Dakar are very very persistent and the whole time we had a little entourage of men and women following us and trying to guide us or have us buy things! I don’t think I could possible count how many times someone asked me ‘how much you want to pay….je te donne le meilleur prix!!’’ And when we said we didn’t want to buy the item that was taken as a challenge that the price was too high…and they would try to lure you into bargaining with them. It was really draining. We did get some nice things though and the best part Annie, Genet, and Lenny bought a guitar!! That was the big goal for the day!

My goal is to learn to play the guitar! I’ve already got 6 cords down….:)

YAY!!!!

Genet is quite good and has a beautiful voice...she will be my inspiration!!

The next day we went back in to the market. It was much a bit more relaxed. We were all a little more comfortable with the vendors and Mass (who is a super sweet guy but protective and little controlling….in a well-intentioned way) relaxed considerably, so we were able to split in two groups and just wander around the market! We all hugely improved our bargaining skills that day and the vendors kept joking that we were Senegalese women given how hard we bargained!!

I don’t know about Dakar! So many people told us that Dakar was really nice and more interesting than Saint Louis but I can’t quite make up my mind. It was certainly interesting and there is more to see (we didn’t get to do much actual sight-seeing) but the place just seemed too big and too congested! When we left Monday night to come back to Saint Louis we spent at least 1.5 hours in traffic. The whole time it was actually difficult to breathe because the air was so full of car fumes! In the market it was so intense and so ‘buy buy buy buy buy’’ that it was exhausting. Saint Louis is much more chill and relaxed.

Although, I wont make a set judgement on my preference just yet because we certainly did not see all of Dakar. I would love to go back and stay somewhere downtown and just spend some time exploring…maybe even take a trip to the beach! Then I can get a better sense of what it was like.

For now I am content to just spend some time here on campus. I’m not sure if it is the late nights in Dakar (we went out a bit…which in Dakar means starting your night at 1 am and we didn’t get home to campus until 2 am last night) or if I am coming down with some sickness but my throat is feeling a little tickle-y and the bathroom down the hall seems to have become my second home…..

Maybe I just need a good long siesta or maybe I should put on my favorite buy of the weekend.... :)

That's right...overall SHORTS in funky Senegalese patterns...are we cool or are we cool?!?!?

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Welcome to my room. Room 100 in Village L!!

My wonderful bug net that makes me feel like I sleep in a princess cave!!

My beautiful desk and pictures to remind me of home!

Sink and shower!!

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We went to a soccer game last week!! The game itself wasn't superb but the crowd was amazing!! I am pretty sure most people were there for the dance party and not the game....

Afterwards Raff tried to feed a goat on campus!! They are every where here!! Along with cows, donkeys, dogs, cats, lizards, bugs.....the list goes on!!!

I remember why I came...

It is pretty easy to get discouraged about school when your professors don't show up to class or when they do, they lecture for 2 hours about not talking in class and what the word 'problematique' means! But then you go to a class and the prof shows up (more or less on time) and spends his two hours lecturing on EXACTLY the things you came to learn!!! That makes it all worth it...

Yesterday I had a History of African Politics class and the professor was phenomenal! It was just the intro class so it was fairly general but he followed a well developed plan and touched on a lot of neat things! He talked about how there are different ways to look at African history and how a common western view point is that Africa has no history prior to colonialisation. He even went on to explain how it was possible to look at it in that way and what the discussions are around that view point. Then he talked about the African historians' movement to reclaim African history from oral traditions!! He talked about the western view that Africans didn't know the concept of states and laws prior to colonialisation and why they think that way. Then he talked about his theories that counter those view points! It wasn't necessarily all new information but it certainly made me super excited for discussions in the classes to come!!

To make the day even better we discovered that there is a sort of film club on campus that screens documentaries 4 days a week! Last night they screened a movie about clandestine immigration from Senegal to the Grand Canary Islands. There is a big operation along the coast for illegal immigration. The movie was largely in Wolof with Spanish subtitles but we were able to follow along and one of the guys translated the gist of the conversations! The movie largely followed a group of youth whose parents paid for their voyages, hoping that they would be able to find work and send money home, but upon arrival the kids (being minors) were taken into 'centers' where they have to live until they turn 18. The most interest part of it all was the discussion afterwards!! It was so neat to sit and listen to these young Senegalese men and women talking about illegal immigration and the effect on their society and culture!!! One guy was convinced that if Senegalese parents saw this movie they would immediately put their kids on these pirogues that make the treacherous journey because in the centers the kids of well-fed, looked after, and given an allowance. The others were not so convinced given that the movie portrayed the kids as well-fed but lonely and home-sick!! Really neat discussion!

This morning I got up early for a morning run (before 8 am it is actually quite cool out!!!) Which started the day of wonderfully...at 10 I had another phenomenal course! Cooperation, planification et développement local...
This is what you call a practical course. The whole course is about how to do local development planning in a way that integrates all players. It is neat because the professor seems to have a lot of experience with local development planning here in Senegal so he constantly makes real-life compairsons and examples! We have two major assignments in the course and one of them is to take a local development plan (which pretty much all communities have in Senegal apparently) and write a critique of it! We can work in groups and the prof made a big point to the other students that they should include us in their groups because we would learn much more that way! So that will be really interesting!!

Now we are about to head out to Dakar for the weekend... I feel much better going away for the weekend knowing I am coming back next week to at least two really engaging and interesting courses! Phew!!!!!!

More pictures!!!

Silly-ness on the porch...

Goats...everywhere...up...down...here...there...

More silly-ness!



This is how we party Senegalese-style!

Goodbye villa party! Annie, Me, Omar, Raff, Guillaume

We drink LOTS of water!

Welcome to our humble villa!

This bugs come in sizes big, extra big and friggin ginormous!!

Welcome to Senegal in plasticine art...

This is just a big one!


Mmm dinner at the caf!

Waiting...we do a lot of that!
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Crickets are our friends!

Abdou (the hostel keeper) let us visit his mouton! I got to feed them because I was scared of the big mouton who tried to eat me!!!! Bottle feeding the baby was the consolation...
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Mouton everywhere!



First day on campus!

On the famous bridge!

Desert...

mmm mouton

Noukachott

Noukachott...the big city in Mauritania!

More coziness. I am not sure I have every felt so close to these ladies!

The desert!

Annie and I sat all cozy-like for several hours in the front seat of this little car!

Da'hid...he wanted to share everything with Lenny...including his Bubu :)...Hopefully he will share his desert guiding skills too at some point over the year!

Cool mural at the hostel in Nouadibou.

Yeah...good luck truck!! Off roading at its best...

Our fearless driver!

The Moroccan border with Mauritania! Just passed No-Man's land...

mmm cramped and cozy!



On the ride to Dakhla.

Moroccan buskers...who single out tourists and make them pay :)

Spices!!

One day I will tell the henna story....once the bitterness wears off...

Mmm olives!

The Souk in Marakech.

Pretty things!


This was our wonderful lunch at Amal's house!

The whole gang! Annie, Raff, Me, Lenny, Genet



Repairs at the Mosque.

Beach ladies!

Annie is a wonderful photographer...

Our excuse is laundry! The truth...we are slobs!!

Hakim and his ''second mother'' from Zaire/France!

This was just a random man painting a sign!



Not so hardworking ladies...

Hardworking ladies!!!!

This is how WE do laundry!


First night out eating in Casa....the restaurant was out of pretty much all the menu items...the waiter said it was because it was Monday...go figure!