West African International Time

So there is this running joke in Senegal that the country runs on what is called "West African International Time," the acronym being "WAIT," as in, the national motto. Promises and commitments aren't made, per se, because most phases that set forth a definite plan are ended with, "Inshallah," which, in Arabic, means "if Allah (G-d) wishes/wills." Thus, the Senegalese culture is marked by a lack of personal responsibility for events (that is so prevalent in the United States) because in such a spiritual, Muslim-based culture, Allah plays such a huge role in determining fate. I've been reading up a little on "Inshallah," and it seems like a lot of foreigners to cultures like this one compare it to the "Manana Syndrome" that is so prevalent in Latin America, where things can easily be put off another day. This is just another cultural adjustment I need to get used to, because, as a high-strung American, I like to know that things will happen when I expect them to happen.

In Senegal, however, that is not the case. If you are told that classes will commence on a certain date (Inshallah), they may not start for another week, or even another two weeks, all because of various factors that are determined by Allah. Thus, when we were told that our classes would start two weeks ago, the American in me took that litterally and expected that date to be kept and honored.

However, I am slowly losing patience because my classes STILL have not officially started. It is one series of events after another... the professor is still celebrating Korite and forgot to call in and say that he would be out for another day (the day of our French class), a professor is sick and DOES call in, but the people in the office forget to relay that message to us, the schedule continues to change so that we STILL don't have a set routine, etc etc etc.

All of these delays and setbacks are becoming very tiresome because I am just ready to fall into a routine and figure out what the heck I am doing in Senegal and what my purpose is, but to not even have a clear idea as to how all of my classes are going gets very frustrating and disorienting.



In other, less pessimistic news, my Wolof language classes are going well. It is SUCH an interesting language, like in the sense that they do not conjugate verbs, and there are no such thing as adjectives. Today on my way to school, I stopped at the store to buy bread and cheese for lunch, and I was able to have an extremely broken conversation in Wolof with the cashier, and I just felt so accomplished and successful!

There was a birth in my host family about a week ago, and last night was the "baptism," and by baptism, I mean the "show the baby off to the world and celebrate like crazy" party. My sister dressed me up in one of her fancy dresses, and we put on lots of makeup and went back to the fashion designer's house (who is the sister of the woman who just gave birth) for a huge party of dancing. There were so many beautiful Senegalese women dressed in glittering, dazzling clothes. What an incredible experience!