1. Senegalese men like to hold hands with each other
2. I have eaten a fish eyeball
3. Toubabs are a favorite Senegalese snack
Which one did you pick? Well you're going to have to read the rest of this to see which ones are true and which is a lie....
So much has been happening here and I already have so many stories to tell you all when I get back! Where to begin...well I have been learning so much about this culture and these people! I guess this is something that tends to happen when you live in a different culture for a bit, but still it's so different than what I imagined. The people here LOVE American music, I'm not really sure why since the majority don't know English, but it's a common thing to hear Beyonce or Akon or Chris Brown on the radio. Actually, I hear Abba on the radio today which made me giggle. Haha.
The people here are also very touchy, not between men and women, but between the same sex. For example when walking on campus it's a very common occurence to see two guys or two girls holding hands. The STINTers warned our guys that they may want to hold the strap of their backpack or put their hands in their pocket to keep this from happening. It's such a weird thing to us and I can't wait for one of our guys to be caught off guard just because I think it will be amusing. Actually, Annie and I were walking around campus the other day and I saw a guy with his hand in another guys back pocket. It was completely unexpected, but also pretty amusing and the boys on summer project have now been trying to catch each other off guard by doing this, like I said, it's pretty amusing. On a side note I have a real cute picture of a couple of the boys holding hands that I'll try and put on facebook soon.
The food here is also pretty different. There are a few "western" places that we go to that are fairly close to American food, but they're also pretty expensive. Expensive being $10 or so. On campus the meals are on average about 500-600 cfa (which is about $1.00 to $1.20 in American money). I think the prices of meals when I get back to the states are going to be crazy for me. The first restaurant I go to that's $10 I'm not going to know how to react. As for the Senegalese food, I'm not really a fan. I mean it's okay and I don't mind it, but if I have another option I'll take it. The restaurants on campus are certainly different from those on campus back home though (once again I'll try and put pictures up soon). One of the restaraunts on campus is pretty nice, a bit more expenisve though (this means it's like $5 maybe less haha). This restaurant is the one where I ate the fish eyeball, surprised?!? And in case you're wondering fish eyes don't really taste all that bad, they just have a strange texture to them, in fact they don't really have a taste at all...
So, let's see those were my two truths, now for my lie a toubab is actually a white person. So, this is a word I hear ALL the time, probably at least 10 or so times a day, I kid you not! I'm not sure if it's supposed to have a negative connotation to it, but it usually does, which honestly just amuses me more than anything else. As a team we tease each other and call each other toubabs. In fact on our way to dinner tonight when we told one of the guys he was being a toubab because he was walking in the middle of the road (as a side note cars are NOT afraid to hit you if you're in the middle of the street) he laughed and said "you're mom's a toubab," which you are mom, if you're reading this. :-)
Well, I have effectively wasted my hour, mostly writing this blog. But it was a lot of fun updating you all on how things are going! Thanks again for your support and keep my team, the STINTers, and I in your prayers! Oh and as a very important side note Dayton, one of the STINTers, had a guy come to Christ yesterday, which we are all very excited about! So, thanks again and God Bless!
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