some cultural differences

Okay, so here is the situation: Like I may have mentioned earlier, everyone in Senegal speaks the native language Wolof which is definitely more commonly used than French, although most people speak enough French to have basic conversations with me. But the problem is that it is not considered culturally rude or inappropriate to speak another language in front of others that don't understand. Thus, a lot of the time I am just sitting there with my host family and their friends, and they all just talk in Wolof so obviously I can't understand most of it, save for a very select few words. It is really strange to feel so left out and unincluded and feel like SUCH an outsider.

Furthermore, the word in Wolof for "white person" and/or "foreigner" is "toubab." In the city where my university is, there are lots of students that are studying abroad, so I don't feel completely like an outsider who doesn't belong there, but when I am in my neighborhood which is more like a village, I am definitely the only person who looks like me, and I'll be walking down the street and all these kids (it's mostly kids, because I think adults have more experience having seen diversity, and/or kids don't know any better at that age) will yell "Toubab" and run up to me, or whisper it amongst themselves and point.

For a while, I thought this was an insult or some racial slur, but I asked my host mom, and she said it's not necessarily MEAN, but simply that it's exciting to see a foreigner who they're not used to. Either way, both the language barrier and the racial barrier have been making things frustrating, to say the least. It's really hard living here on a day-to-day basis and knowing that I will NEVER officially fit in. My friends and I were talking about how when you study abroad in Europe, by the end of the semester, sometimes you get mistaken for a French, Italian, or Spanish person, but here, there is no way that I can be mistaken for a native Senegalese. After a while, it gets exhausting to try so hard to be accepted by the culture but know that you will never fully succeed.

In happier, less pessimistic news, this weekend was Korite, which was the end of Ramadan. We had some giant feasts and all dressed up in beautiful traditional clothes (including me! see attached picture of me and my lovely host Maman) and I actually went out with Khady, my host sister, to hang out at her cousin's house. Her cousin happens to be this up-and-coming Senegalese fashion designer, so both Khady and the cousin were wearing gorgeous robes (and they both loved my dress - woohoo!!), but anyway, so we were hanging out with all these designers and models from Senegal, which was just so surreal and bizarre.

In other news, I have still been taking the cars rapides to school every day, and I feel like every single time I am on the car rapide, something of note happens. The other day a street brawl was going on as we drove by, so the car pulled over the driver and conductor got out and joined in the fight, leaving the car and the passengers just waiting for a few minutes. Then people were jumping off the car rapide and running across the street trying to break up the fight, and eventually the driver and conductor came back and resumed the voyage, but it was strange and unsettling nonetheless!! (See attached photo of the epicness of a Car Rapide... I took that from our balcony, so that is also the view from outside my house)

Okay, this entry is LONG but I feel like I have tons to say. I am going on a 5-day trip to Toubacouta, which is a more rural town inland. When I get back I will write an update, but until then, this will have to tide all my loyal readers over!