to continue with the sheep theme

Here are some pictures that depict my day yesterday...


Here is a sheep that did not get sacrificed for Tabaskie. My "Senegal Today" class took a trip to the Artists' Village in Yoff yesterday for our lesson on arts and culture, and there was a sheep tied up outside. Lucky guy survived!

Here is a painting by an artist named Sea Diallo that is a friend of our professor. His basic artistic philosophy is to portray African women realistically, not according to European aesthetic rules of shape and form such as "the head must be x inches and the shoulders must be 2x the length of the head and blah blah blah..." He believes that African women are simply built differently, and he seeks to convey the beauty of the African body in his art. I absolutely loved his work!

There is a phrase in Wolof for "big butt" which is "jaay fonde." This litterally translates to "seller of curdled milk," because when women with big butts walk, their butts jiggle in the same way that yogurt does. I tell no lies, this is an actual phrase which is not in the least bit pejorative. It is actually used as a compliment!

We stopped into another artist's workshop to look at some of his paintings. I was attracted to the bright colors, but then I also noticed this painting of sheep, which seemed so appropriate, post-Tabaskie.

I believe this is an actual painting that depicts the ritual sheep slaughter for Tabaskie. It shows how the entire family gets in on the act and kills the sheep and celebrates together. Fascinating!

Then later that night we all went out for Ethiopian food. Delicious.

This is the elusive fabric for which we've been searching ALL over the city of Dakar. Ryan and Shannon saw it hanging in the Ethiopian restaurant the first time they went there, and we've been looking for it ever since, in the fabric markets and clothing stores and tourist stores and EVERYWHERE else. The response has always been "We love Obama! He's our brother! Look at my [phone background, poster, painting, sticker] with Obama's face on it!... oh, but no, we don't have any Obama fabric. Maybe you should come back and try again tomorrow." We finally returned to the restaurant to eat and also to ask where they got the fabric, so we could get some too, to make funky skirts and dresses out of it. After ALL that, it turns out that the fabric is not sold in Dakar, and the proprietor actually bought it in Ethiopia.

Now that is even more motivation for me to find a nice Ethiopian Jew to marry... so I can head on over to Ethiopia to finally buy some of the Barack Obama fabric!

These are my notes from Senegal Today class. In case you cannot read them, all they say (after a 3-hour lecture) is:

"I am bored.

Rap music comes from Wolof.

Mysticism comes from Africa.

President Senghor = poet, invested a lot in culture (theater)."

So dazzled by the African education system...

...and the crazy lined/grid paper that is in all of the Senegalese notebooks!