-Friday night, there was another cockroach massacre that went down in my bedroom - this time there were 5 casualties. Maman explained to me that they come out of the shower drain, which in some ways is comforting, to know that they come out of one, localized place that I can just spray with poison every night to hopefully deter the creatures from making an appearance in the future.
-I got to take a WARM shower on Friday morning. Let me elaborate as to how I got so lucky. Khady boils the baby's bathwater so that it is not ice cold on her little baby sensitive skin, and all she does is dip a cloth into the water to sponge-bathe the baby. Thus, there is a 99%-full bucket of unused hot water after the baby is done being sponged down. When Khady finished, I asked her if I could use the rest of the hot water for my shower. She looked at me like I was crazy - as she often does, because some of my questions are pretty ridiculous from her own cultural point of view - and gave me the bucket, which I then used to give myself a luxurious hot shower. I'm thinking that with this cold weather approaching, it might be worth the investment of time to start boiling my shower water before I wash. If I boil a tea-kettle's worth, I can add it to my big bucket of water which will diffuse the temperature to a general luke-warm, which is better than the ice-cold that it is now.
-Other happenings from Friday... Ryan, Shannon, and Bobby came over to my house for a delicious feast of ceeb-u-jen (Senegal's national plate of rice and fish with vegetables; since my family is from the Lebou caste of people, or the fishermen's class, this is particularly their specialty that they pride themselves on). The ceeb-u-jen was INCREDIBLE, as it always is at my house, and I asked Maman to put in extra vegetables since "Les americaines aiment beaucoup les legumes!" to which she happily obliged and was generous with the carrots and sweet potatoes. After the meal was over, she cut up a huge plate of fruit, and gave us all her homemade popsicles, which are always a treat after meals. Then, a few hours later, she came out with a HUGE platter of fataaya, the fried fish dumplings that I am obsessed with. Overall, A+ on hospitality and cuisine in the Thioune household on Friday.
And look at this picture of Maman with Ryan, in front of a huge platter of ceeb-u-jen. Yes, we finished that entire plate!
-Then, Friday night, Shannon and I went to this fashion show that was held at the British Council. It showcased two young designers from Senegal, one from Kaolack, and one from Casamance. Both sets were INCREDIBLE, and I took lots of pictures of the beautiful clothes.
-And of course, no update is complete without precious photos of our little bundle of joy, baby Khady Seck, who still cries all the time, but in her silence, is quite adorable. 
-And on Saturday night, I went with Shannon, Rodline, Aziz, and some of our new Senegalese friends (and possible romantic interests), to see Morgan Heritage, this reggae group from Jamaica, perform at Thioussane, which is this swanky nightclub owned by the richest and most successful singer in Senegal, Youssou N'dour. The concert, advertised to start at midnight, did not start until 2 in the morning, which is just so Senegalese. The music was AMAZING and made me remember how much I love reggae, and everyone in the crowd was going WILD.
-Sunday morning I slept in, lounged around the house for a while, and then accompanied Maman to the market to buy food for lunch. It blew my mind that at one market stand alone, she was able to buy a bag of rice, two potatoes, one sweet potato, some hot peppers, and a bag of spices, for under 1500 francs (approximately 3 USD). Paired with some fish that she had cooked the night before, that made up the lunch that everyone in my house ate, which was plentiful and delicious, as always. It still shocks me just how inexpensive food here is!
In more delicious news, as a treat, Maman bought me a bag of fresh beignets, which are sort of a version of Senegalese doughnuts, while we were at the market. They were still hot and oily and just so delicious, and really beat the typical breakfast of bread and butter.
One other thing that I loved about the market, is that every time someone started talking to me or hassling me because I was the only white person to be found for miles, Maman would start up a conversation with the person in Wolof, and each time I would hear her say "la sama doom," which means "that's my child," and then point to me. Then the people would leave me alone. She is still adorable, and still loves me like crazy, which makes living her quite fun.
Alright, this update has been long enough, and it's time to go to Wolof class so I can learn more useful phrases such as "Am naa jekker" (I have a husband already). More updates to come!
quite the busy weekend; sounds like fun.
ReplyDeleteI think a gallon of close to boiling water will go along way to making for a better morning bath - keep at it!