So, I had to go to Kolda for some birthdays, and the Playoffs. I decided to stop in Kounkane for some nourishment, and to get fitted for a storm trooper costume. I was really stupid though. it was a saturday, and not too many cars run on saturdays. So I get to the garage and wait around for 20 minutes while the converted bread truck fills with people. then we get to (pronounced Jaow-bay) Diaobe. Diaobe is a market town, every wednesday thousands and thousands of people from all over west africa flock to Diaobe. It is considered the largest open air market in all of west africa. unfortunately it was not wednesday, it was a saturday. there was no one there. and I had to wait 3 hours for my car to fill. it really sucked. but then I got to Kolda and made mac n cheese (thx mom) and cake (thx mom) and the next morning I made bacon, eggs, salami, and fried up some potatos (thx mom). I spent much of the day lounging around and then stayed up late for the playoff game which the Pittsburgh Steelers won. it was a nice weekend. When I got home I handed my host mother some bananas, and she looks up at me and in Pulaar she says "I have been constipated for 4 days". Its nice to be home.
Good News: My bank card works! (for now)
Something interesting: So being the only white person for about 15 miles in any direction give me a lot of attention. People tend to remember my name, but I do not remember their name. mostly because there are a few tens of thousands of people around me and I can't remember everyones name. people (mostly children) call out to me everywhere I go "Toubab! Toubab!" (It literally means pants or pants- wearer, they yell it at any white perosn) they shout at the top of their tiny little lungs. and I will wave back and say hello. sometimes they stop, sometimes they yell at me until I can't hear them anymore, and sometimes they will follow me until I grab a stick and threaten to beat them. At first it was just silly to me and I played along. After all the children are just excited to see a white person. now its getting annoying. I can't walk anywhere without some stupid kids screaming at me. even the neighborhood kids that see me every day scream at me as I walk by. I do not know why this behavior exists here, but it is not a good behavior. Adults usually do not scream out at me. if they want to talk to me yes they will say hey toubab come here, and I do and its not a problem. The problem arises when I am sitting in an office or at home and someone greets me and says oh whitey good day, but they certainly dont say hey blacky good day, to other senegalese. why do they have to call me whitey? I know im white. and I also have a name that you can ask me for. certainly not in America would this happen. people would get fired. could you imagine walking into the ohio department of agriculture office and say oh hey whitey to some guy that you have never met? that kind of stuff just wouldn't fly. I don't understand why people keep calling me whitey, when they don't need to call me anything at all. they could just say Bonjour, and that would be all. it is frustrating as to why they insist on calling me by my color, I am in no way offended, just confused and frustrated. and there isnt any cheese! what kind of a country that has millions of cows, has no cheese! sure there is yogurt, even banana flavored yogurt (which is extremely delicious) but no cheese. The pulaar believe that if there are two men, and one has 10,000 dollars and another has only 1 cow, the man with the one cow is thought to be richer. everyone has cows, and there is no cheese. cheese could be huge! it could make the country economically stable! there are so many cows, and cheese is so easy to make, i don't understand why there isn't any cheese!
and another thing about the food here: I went to Dakar and ate some really good chinese food. and it occurred to us sitting at the table that all of the food we were eating (minus the baby corn) is grown in senegal! so then why is it that senegalese food is so bad and tasteless? it just doesn't make any sense. the people also don't know anything about food preservation. NO FOOD PRESERVATION! what is that about? they don't ferment anything, or can stuff, no jerky (which raises questions again because of all the cows) and there is very little smoking of meat done. They do nothing and starve for 3-5 months out of the year in villages. if they knew how to properly preserve food, it may end world hunger or at least end the starving season. They don't even dry mangos! Mangos here rot in the streets because there are so many, and people don't know how to store them, or dry them. they also don't export them to the states, which could potentially create a lot of income for the country. there are so many mangos. everyone has a mango tree. I think am going to build a fruit drier.
so everything else is working out alright. the mint I planted isn't doing to great, and the herb garden I tried also isn't working out well, but I think that the soil just needs some more organic material. It also looked like when I was gone, the garden wasn't watered appropriately. it is a heavy clay soil here and so not much leaching occurs, the water just sits on top. the moringa bed just started sprouting today! and that is really great! soon I am going to plant corn and beans!
one more thing...It is funny to watch senegalese watching Avatar for their first time. they flip out.
-Mike
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