So, I woke up early this morning because today is the first day of the Demo Garden construction...woo. Things started off good. My fencing boys were not only on time but early (which is absolutely unheard of in Senegal) and we got right to work. I did the basic white guy foreman thing watching over and making sure things were done right. Of course through every step of the way my counterpart told me things were being done wrong, and I had to go out and fix them even though it was like little details that probably didn't need to be addressed. My counterpart also kept telling me that the fence was bad. he didn't give me much more criticism than it was bad. he told me it would not work. as of right now, there are like 22 holes in the ground without any cement or fence posts in them. how he knows the fence is bad already? we'll find out once its up and then assess the situation. the chief of agriculture is very concerned about pigs. he says that the pigs will dig under the fence and get in. I disagree. the plan is to have a thorny live fence made out of thorny species of shrub like trees, just inside of the metal fence to demonstrate that you don't really need to buy a fence if you don't have the money. they don't quite get it yet, but they will. I might buy some barbed wire if the agriculture guys get really upset about the pigs. I think that if a pig or any animal gets into my garden without my permission, I have the right to use a slingshot and kill it and eat it. if someone comes to me looking for damages, ill ask them for the damages for the crops that were eaten. then I will offer him half of the meat (the organs cause they are gross but people like to eat them here I will split the liver with him cause liver is tasty).
So, then it was lunch time. becauase it is ramadan I have been making my own lunches. Today was sandwich day. on my way to pick up a fresh loaf of bread from the bakery I get one of the worst calls you can get. Pam called and in a slight panic she asked "how do you stop the bleeding? it wont stop!" I then rushed over to her and assessed the situation: she cut herself pretty bad. about one cm long 3 sided flap kind of cut. it got pretty deep definetly into the fatty tissue layer. She most likely needs a single stitch, but if taken care of properly she wont need anything besides me (wink). I asked her what she did, she told me that she was cutting meat with a sharp knife and then she sliced her finger. she then told me that the first thing she did was use antibacterial soap to stop the bleeding, and that because the soap didnt work she decided that the next best plan of action was to spray the wound with perfume to stop the bleeding. She then asked if she was to put salt in it, if the bleeding would stop... I made her rinse it again and grabbed her med kit. then I forced her to sit down and take an ibuprofen. it was very difficult to get her to sit down and stop moving her finger. we put pressure on it until it stopped bleeding called med and wrapped it up according to the way med wanted me to. then I was on my way to getting bread again. I made a delicious sandwich. spam and cheese with bbq sauce with some warm kool aide. it was a very tasty lunch.
So, my arch nemesis is back...yes thats right the bank! (ooo scary right?) the ATM has been down for like 2 days now and I'm going to have to pay these guys for the fence soon.
-Mike
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
The Morning I Went On A Quest to Pick Up a Radio Show
So, if you didnt read the post "Whats it Like!? Transportation" a few weeks ago, this is another example of just how ridiculous it is to travel about this country.
So, I woke up early and went to the garage bought a ticket for a car, and ate my delicious egg sandwich. I got the first seat, so I knew I would be waiting a while. As the car filled up and we were entering the vehicle, I noticed the ground. normally this wouldn't be weird, except that I noticed the ground from inside of the car. I turn to the driver and ask "is this car safe?"he doesn't really respond, and seems confused by the question. I get in anyways. If you are sitting in the passenger seat of the car you are required to wear a seatbelt. I find it covered in mud, and stuck. I ask him if this is normal, and he said yes, it is broke. Then the car starts and we are on our way. After about 10 km (6.2 miles) we stop. he gets out of the car plays with the front tires. then pours a clear liquid that I think must have been water into a hole somewhere in the engine, and gives it another try. it works for the most part, but the driver is not satisfied. he decides then to get a second car so instead of driving us back to the garage he thinks it best for us to wait on the side of the road. after 30 minutes or so a car shows up. to all of our surprise there is another passenger in it. the passengers form the first car tell me not to get in, and I don't. It is ramadan and people get angry when they don't eat. the driver and some guy argue in Wolof and French for 5 minutes. I can imagine the argument they are having. then the guy arguing decided it is best for us to just walk back to Velingara. The driver doesn't like that and makes the lady in the car get out and wait for another vehicle to come by for her. I eventually get to my destination grab the radio show, and get on a mini bus back home. a few km out we stop for a few minutes, which is not normal. I look out the window and see a cow tied to a tree. Then I see some men grabbing the cow, and wrestling it to the ground and hog tie its feet. the cow does not agree with the situation and poops on one of the men. then one man grabs the horns and head, one grabs the legs, and one man grabs its testicles and tail and lift the animal on top of the mini bus. the rest of the trip is without complications and I get back to site.
-Mike
So, I woke up early and went to the garage bought a ticket for a car, and ate my delicious egg sandwich. I got the first seat, so I knew I would be waiting a while. As the car filled up and we were entering the vehicle, I noticed the ground. normally this wouldn't be weird, except that I noticed the ground from inside of the car. I turn to the driver and ask "is this car safe?"he doesn't really respond, and seems confused by the question. I get in anyways. If you are sitting in the passenger seat of the car you are required to wear a seatbelt. I find it covered in mud, and stuck. I ask him if this is normal, and he said yes, it is broke. Then the car starts and we are on our way. After about 10 km (6.2 miles) we stop. he gets out of the car plays with the front tires. then pours a clear liquid that I think must have been water into a hole somewhere in the engine, and gives it another try. it works for the most part, but the driver is not satisfied. he decides then to get a second car so instead of driving us back to the garage he thinks it best for us to wait on the side of the road. after 30 minutes or so a car shows up. to all of our surprise there is another passenger in it. the passengers form the first car tell me not to get in, and I don't. It is ramadan and people get angry when they don't eat. the driver and some guy argue in Wolof and French for 5 minutes. I can imagine the argument they are having. then the guy arguing decided it is best for us to just walk back to Velingara. The driver doesn't like that and makes the lady in the car get out and wait for another vehicle to come by for her. I eventually get to my destination grab the radio show, and get on a mini bus back home. a few km out we stop for a few minutes, which is not normal. I look out the window and see a cow tied to a tree. Then I see some men grabbing the cow, and wrestling it to the ground and hog tie its feet. the cow does not agree with the situation and poops on one of the men. then one man grabs the horns and head, one grabs the legs, and one man grabs its testicles and tail and lift the animal on top of the mini bus. the rest of the trip is without complications and I get back to site.
-Mike
Friday, July 22, 2011
Whats It Like!? Travel.
So, traveling in Senegal kinda sucks. In America I am a huge supporter of public transportation. I used to work on a train outside of Cleveland. I was also happy to take a grey hound from Cleveland up to beautiful New Hampshire, even though It took me 27 hours, and a layover in NYC's Port Authority, where I met some very colorful characters (one of whom told me that he stole a bullet proof vest, a shotgun, and a tazer from a police car a few years back). I tend to enjoy the scenery on those long excursions, and I get to experience a different part of America. However in America the planes, trains, and automobiles are all set to schedules. very strict schedules which of course sometimes have delays. Of course when delays happen, you know that it is happening, and you know when to expect the transportation vehicle to arrive. You are also told your own estimated time of arrival for your designated destination. So you know when you will depart and when you will arrive from any given destination. this system is fantastic, although there is some organization issues with it, the system is still wonderful. One more thing to add about the greatness** of Americas public transportation system is that the places that you have to wait for things like trains, and bus's are all inside.
So, Senegal is very different and it kinda sucks. To begin, the roads are bad. they are bad because stupid NGOs and Governmental organization dumped a bunch of money into the country and built roads without any sense of how Senegal is going to do maintenance. So a road that is built up real nice one year, may fall apart after 3 and will never be repaired until another NGO or something comes in and dumps a bunch of money again. the potholes are tremendous. what is interesting though is that many of the dirt roads in the country are much better than the paved roads. I sometimes don't understand the need for so many paved roads when they are many times more dangerous than the dirt roads. Then there is the vehicles themselves. There are two kinds; the 7-place, and the Al-ham. A 7-place (french place so it is pronounced pl-ah-ss) is a broken down station wagon with tacky stickers that range from an american flag giving a thumbs up, and pictures of Barack Obama, to stickers that show the image of Osama Bin Laden with a military jet in the background with the caption "Osama Bin Ladens" (Many times the Obama, and Osama stickers will be right next to each other. Things can get confusing) A 7-place is called a 7-place because that is how many people are supposed to fit inside. Although it was made for 6 people, sometimes as many as 20 people will ride upon/inside one of these vehicles. sometimes the windows work, the AC is just a button to make the car look fancy, and the upholstery is in pieces. many times the car will not start right away, sometimes there is no key, sometimes the key falls out while the car is in motion, sometimes the key is actually a screwdriver that the driver uses with the engine. For luggage, you must bargain with the driver for a good price. The Al-hams are very similar but they range in size from the VW mini bus-like thing 20 person van, to a much larger 40 person van/bus thing. you can put cows on top! there are five people per row no matter what. there is no aisle, instead they put in a seat with hinges so that people can sit right in the middle. These vehicles will stop wherever you want them too, and they will. and they will stop for anyone on the side of the road. What should have been a two hour trip can quickly turn into a five hour trip in one of these. One of the worst parts about this kind of transportation is that you could be squished between two very large people with no AC and limited wind for hours at a time. You never know when a vehicle will be leaving. There are no schedules. The cars leave when they have been filled with people. if there aren't enough people, the car does not leave. you need to know the day of the week and where weekly markets are to help with your decision on when to go to the garage. For instance I know that there is a huge weekly market every wednesday, so for me traveling that direction on wednesdays is really easy for me to do. but on a saturday, it may take hours of waiting in a garage for me to get into a car, because no one has to travel. I work in a village 40km away (25 miles) and it could take me anywhere between 1-5 hours for me to get there. I could be waiting all morning in the garage, or there could be many stops along the way or both. Also if you plan on traveling in Senegal, make sure to use the bathroom before going anywhere. there are no rest stops on the side of the road, and the bathrooms at the garages are nasty.
-Mike
**it should be noted that Americas transportation system kinda sucks because it doesn't have high speed rail. This is a huge flaw in the American transportation system that needs to be addressed.
So, Senegal is very different and it kinda sucks. To begin, the roads are bad. they are bad because stupid NGOs and Governmental organization dumped a bunch of money into the country and built roads without any sense of how Senegal is going to do maintenance. So a road that is built up real nice one year, may fall apart after 3 and will never be repaired until another NGO or something comes in and dumps a bunch of money again. the potholes are tremendous. what is interesting though is that many of the dirt roads in the country are much better than the paved roads. I sometimes don't understand the need for so many paved roads when they are many times more dangerous than the dirt roads. Then there is the vehicles themselves. There are two kinds; the 7-place, and the Al-ham. A 7-place (french place so it is pronounced pl-ah-ss) is a broken down station wagon with tacky stickers that range from an american flag giving a thumbs up, and pictures of Barack Obama, to stickers that show the image of Osama Bin Laden with a military jet in the background with the caption "Osama Bin Ladens" (Many times the Obama, and Osama stickers will be right next to each other. Things can get confusing) A 7-place is called a 7-place because that is how many people are supposed to fit inside. Although it was made for 6 people, sometimes as many as 20 people will ride upon/inside one of these vehicles. sometimes the windows work, the AC is just a button to make the car look fancy, and the upholstery is in pieces. many times the car will not start right away, sometimes there is no key, sometimes the key falls out while the car is in motion, sometimes the key is actually a screwdriver that the driver uses with the engine. For luggage, you must bargain with the driver for a good price. The Al-hams are very similar but they range in size from the VW mini bus-like thing 20 person van, to a much larger 40 person van/bus thing. you can put cows on top! there are five people per row no matter what. there is no aisle, instead they put in a seat with hinges so that people can sit right in the middle. These vehicles will stop wherever you want them too, and they will. and they will stop for anyone on the side of the road. What should have been a two hour trip can quickly turn into a five hour trip in one of these. One of the worst parts about this kind of transportation is that you could be squished between two very large people with no AC and limited wind for hours at a time. You never know when a vehicle will be leaving. There are no schedules. The cars leave when they have been filled with people. if there aren't enough people, the car does not leave. you need to know the day of the week and where weekly markets are to help with your decision on when to go to the garage. For instance I know that there is a huge weekly market every wednesday, so for me traveling that direction on wednesdays is really easy for me to do. but on a saturday, it may take hours of waiting in a garage for me to get into a car, because no one has to travel. I work in a village 40km away (25 miles) and it could take me anywhere between 1-5 hours for me to get there. I could be waiting all morning in the garage, or there could be many stops along the way or both. Also if you plan on traveling in Senegal, make sure to use the bathroom before going anywhere. there are no rest stops on the side of the road, and the bathrooms at the garages are nasty.
-Mike
**it should be noted that Americas transportation system kinda sucks because it doesn't have high speed rail. This is a huge flaw in the American transportation system that needs to be addressed.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Whats It Like!? Rain.
So, this is what happens when it rains. you wake up and it is a very enjoyable morning. there are a few clouds, but mostly sunny skies. as the day goes on it gets hot. it gets extremely hot and extremely humid, almost as if you were at a sauna, and you will not be able to dry off because of all the sweat. you may try again and again with towels and fans but in the end it will not work. eventually you will fall over and curl up and say to yourself "öh how can I go on in this heat and humidity!?" then suddenly when you think you are about to shrivel up and die a great huge gust of wind like Wizard of Oz Style comes out of nowhere with great huge ominous, impending doom, villain clouds, and throws dust and sand into your face. things start flying everywhere. The clouds will quickly consume the sky, and appear as if they were giant disco balls lighting up in every direction. then with a loud crack of lightening and impressive burst of thunder out of the great grey blanket of clouds it will begin to rain, and it will rain hard. the rain will come down in great drops that pound on your body like you are being struck with thousands of water balloons, and you will be standing in the middle of it thinking that perhaps you will see Noah and his ark floating by, and you will scream out "when will it ever stop!?". Then it will stop just as suddenly as it started. There is sometimes a beautiful full rainbow. The rest of the night is cool but humid.
So, because of the rains everyone is getting sick. lots of rashes, infected cuts, fungus on tongues (that didn't happen to me, but it looked gross) I have diarrhea again, and a nasty looking rash developing. The worst part about rainy season though are the flies. the flies are on every cut like white on rice. if they aren't covered, the flies will land and try to eat you. flies are really gross here because of the lack of sewage treatment. there is fecal matter everywhere, animal, human, and other. the flies go from the poop to the cuts, and you food, and it is just terrible. there aren't many flies during the hot season, cause it is way too dry. there are also no to little mosquitos in the dry season, its just too dry for them to reproduce. I am not a big fan of this rainy season. I will admit, living here has gotten more exciting lately because now I have to go on adventure every time I leave the house. every street has a different amount of water filling it. some are walkable, some are jumpable, and some I have to find a new way to get around the river-streets.
So, in other news I finally have money for my demo garden. I am going to buy chain link fencing, and supplies for it and start working in it asap!
-Mike
So, because of the rains everyone is getting sick. lots of rashes, infected cuts, fungus on tongues (that didn't happen to me, but it looked gross) I have diarrhea again, and a nasty looking rash developing. The worst part about rainy season though are the flies. the flies are on every cut like white on rice. if they aren't covered, the flies will land and try to eat you. flies are really gross here because of the lack of sewage treatment. there is fecal matter everywhere, animal, human, and other. the flies go from the poop to the cuts, and you food, and it is just terrible. there aren't many flies during the hot season, cause it is way too dry. there are also no to little mosquitos in the dry season, its just too dry for them to reproduce. I am not a big fan of this rainy season. I will admit, living here has gotten more exciting lately because now I have to go on adventure every time I leave the house. every street has a different amount of water filling it. some are walkable, some are jumpable, and some I have to find a new way to get around the river-streets.
So, in other news I finally have money for my demo garden. I am going to buy chain link fencing, and supplies for it and start working in it asap!
-Mike
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
The Day It Rained a lot, Then I Ate Some Goat.
So, The rainy season is definitely here. all morning it rained. The rain has its pros and cons. Its great because its cool, and smells good, and you don't have to water stuff. You also don't have to go to work because its so wet, and sometimes you cant ford the street. yes, I said ford the street because the streets turn into 10 foot wide rivers that are sometimes unpassable. The rain kinda sucks cause it brings with it disease, and mosquitos and its gross and muddy, and you can't go anywhere. I decided to stay in bed, cause i didn't have anything better to do. I read the Cleveland Jewish News my mom sent me It came out the first week of february, but that is still current news to me. Then I watched Star Wars A New Hope.
So, I gotta say that I really like living with teachers. I have lived with a teacher almost my whole life (my mother) and it has been pretty wonderful. why is it so wonderful? you may ask, well its mostly because of the ridiculous gifts people give their teachers. I wait all year for winter break and summer vacation, not because I get out of school but because of all the gifts that people would give my mom. sure sometimes the gift is a mug, or a sweater or something weird, but most of the time it is delicious chocolates and cheeses. They were delicious, and I would like to take this time to thank all of her students the cheeses were really tasty. In Africa it is very similar except there isn't any cheese or chocolate for miles around. but there are many goats. So my host father being a teacher, received a goat the other day from a student. While I was watching Star Wars he knocks on my door asking for my sharp knife. I hand him the Spanish Steel I bought during my trip to spain. The knife worked very well to slaughter the goat (unfortunately it happened right outside my window) They then took out my machete to butcher the meat. They gave me a bunch of ribs that I now have marinating. Tonight Pam and I will have a delicious feast.
-Mike
So, I gotta say that I really like living with teachers. I have lived with a teacher almost my whole life (my mother) and it has been pretty wonderful. why is it so wonderful? you may ask, well its mostly because of the ridiculous gifts people give their teachers. I wait all year for winter break and summer vacation, not because I get out of school but because of all the gifts that people would give my mom. sure sometimes the gift is a mug, or a sweater or something weird, but most of the time it is delicious chocolates and cheeses. They were delicious, and I would like to take this time to thank all of her students the cheeses were really tasty. In Africa it is very similar except there isn't any cheese or chocolate for miles around. but there are many goats. So my host father being a teacher, received a goat the other day from a student. While I was watching Star Wars he knocks on my door asking for my sharp knife. I hand him the Spanish Steel I bought during my trip to spain. The knife worked very well to slaughter the goat (unfortunately it happened right outside my window) They then took out my machete to butcher the meat. They gave me a bunch of ribs that I now have marinating. Tonight Pam and I will have a delicious feast.
-Mike
Monday, July 11, 2011
The Day I Almost Caused Rebellion
So, this whole master farmer thing has been continuously complicated. issues of distance from me, distance from a water source, and lack of funding have caused me trouble.
The other day I received an e-mail from my boss responding to an e-mail I sent him with my concerns about the master farm. So me and a peace corps employee went out to assess the problems. We learned that to dig a well and especially at this time of year would be very difficult to impossible because of the depth and the rains. to get water to the farm we would need to create a new water line to the farm about a km long, which would be fine. but then we realized that the water line connector was across the main road. this road is the only road that connects to the rest of the country. every truck of food and supplies to the casamance region has to pass through that point. In America this would not be a problem you cut up a road, and there are other roads for a detour. the road can be repaired in a day or two and things can continue normally. If I was to cut up the road for this one farmer it would halt all the traffic to the casamance region where over 200,000 people live. this would create mass starvation, the rebels to the west would create riots, and more than likely the south of the country would go up in flames and secede from the country. I decided not to let that happen, and instead we will build a well sometime in april when it is dry.
-Mike
The other day I received an e-mail from my boss responding to an e-mail I sent him with my concerns about the master farm. So me and a peace corps employee went out to assess the problems. We learned that to dig a well and especially at this time of year would be very difficult to impossible because of the depth and the rains. to get water to the farm we would need to create a new water line to the farm about a km long, which would be fine. but then we realized that the water line connector was across the main road. this road is the only road that connects to the rest of the country. every truck of food and supplies to the casamance region has to pass through that point. In America this would not be a problem you cut up a road, and there are other roads for a detour. the road can be repaired in a day or two and things can continue normally. If I was to cut up the road for this one farmer it would halt all the traffic to the casamance region where over 200,000 people live. this would create mass starvation, the rebels to the west would create riots, and more than likely the south of the country would go up in flames and secede from the country. I decided not to let that happen, and instead we will build a well sometime in april when it is dry.
-Mike
Sunday, June 19, 2011
The Night I Went to a Concert
So, I went to a concert last night. I had heard about some Malian music being played in Velingara from charlene earlier in the day but didn't really think anything of it. I didn't know I was going to a concert until I was actually there. my evening started off pretty simple. I went over to Fatou's house (at around 8:00) to tell her that she needed to stir her compost the next day, and I tried to time it out right so that I could perhaps get some free dinner out of my visit. Neither of those things happened. as soon as I got there she takes me by the hand and tells me that we are going to a carnival. because of the accent and stuff it sounded like carnival like in brazil. this made me excited for a moment but then realized I was in West Africa not Brazil. I kept asking her if it was really a carnival that we were going to (my mind now on corn dogs funnel cakes and pie eating contests) and she insisted that it was a carnival, although I remain skeptical. we go through some dark alleys and end up at the basketball courts which are pretty far form my home.
So, we arrive at the "Carnival" which is really a concert set up by World Vision (an NGO) and UNICEF to educate people about like sexual abuse and domestic violence and stuff like that which is set to start at 9:00. So I sit down and remember that I am very hungry now (8:30). I get up and go eat an egg sandwich with some hunks of meat in it (I think that some of the meat might have actually been organ meat, but in an egg sandwich who cares?) and sit back down to find that Fatou is gone. I sit down by myself and call Pam. She says she is going to come. Thirty minutes later she arrives, and the concert has not yet started. By this time I have met a very strange man that works for World Vision. He made very strange noises and really freaked me out. Pam and I sit down and talk and wait. Then suddenly some soldiers show up. this is not surprising, there are a lot of people all around, the show has not started and there might need to be some crowd control. what struck me as odd about the soldiers (besides there only being two for a crowd of 2000) was that instead of wearing riot gear, or carrying tear gas and pepper spray was that they were carrying M16 semi-automatic rifles. Then some guy got on stage and started speaking in Wolof and French (two languages I can't speak) and then he tries to say something in English which didn't really work out for him. he started by saying good morning when it was obviously night time, and then something about canada and UNICEF that I didn't quite understand. I also didn't quite understand why he wasnt speaking Pulaar to a large group of Pulaars. The man kept going on stage and eventually Pam told me that the concert had not yet started (10:15) because the Prefect (like the vice mayor or something) hadn't arrived and that the show was not going to start until he arrived. at 10:30 I try to call charlene to see if she has made it yet, she had not. then at about 11:00 the sous prefect (like vice prefect) showed up and was apparently good enough for the concert promoters to get the concert started. At this moment in time Charlene and Geoff and some others had showed up.
The concert began around 11:00 with the three worst lip syncing rappers I had ever witnessed. The speakers were waay too loud, and they didnt even hold their microphones up to their mouths. Being at a rap concert is very awkward for me. Firstly, I am white. Second the N word is used very often**. when the first rapper went on stage he kind of just repeated it becuase that is what he hears in american rap music. Does he know the origin or meaning of the N word, no probably not, and so uses it very inappropriately and way too often. Geoff and I made jokes about milli vanilli. After a few songs a new rap group would get on stage slightly better at lip syncing than the last group. The lip syncing was like classic Ashley Simpson. I got very excited for one rapper because they MC called up Cysco (sp?) I was expecting the Thong Song. It was not the Cysco I know and love though. It was instead some skinny lip syncing pulaar man. Another rapper got on stage and claimed to be a "hustlah". He was so proud of his "hustling" abilities that he had it screen printed on the back of his shirt. However his shirt did not say "Hustlah" like it would in America it instead read "Heusleu" as it would be pronounced/written in french, thoroughly providing the proof that he has no idea what a hustlah is or does but that it is just a word he has heard in American rap music.
Throughout the concert not one person was looking very happy nor excited. There was little dancing involved and most people were not smiling (I suspect that it was in part because of the lack of beers). It made me very frusterated and decided that if no one else was going to dance and be happy to be at a concert then I would make up for all the other people that were not having such a good time. Yes I became that annoying American causing a rucus in the back. I started whooping and hollaring and causing a scene (not too much of a scene I didn't want to get shot). Then the best lip syncer showed up. MC Ballejjo (MC Black) So MC Black gets up and does his lipsyncing act. I get bored and I walk pam home (12:30).
-Mike
**I would like to point out that people around town have indeed been calling me white, and they have also been calling me the "N" word. it makes me very uncomfortable and I tell them that it is not a good word for them to be calling me, or anyone else for that matter. they merely laugh at me when I tell them this, and ignore the fact that it is a terrible word for them to be calling me.
So, we arrive at the "Carnival" which is really a concert set up by World Vision (an NGO) and UNICEF to educate people about like sexual abuse and domestic violence and stuff like that which is set to start at 9:00. So I sit down and remember that I am very hungry now (8:30). I get up and go eat an egg sandwich with some hunks of meat in it (I think that some of the meat might have actually been organ meat, but in an egg sandwich who cares?) and sit back down to find that Fatou is gone. I sit down by myself and call Pam. She says she is going to come. Thirty minutes later she arrives, and the concert has not yet started. By this time I have met a very strange man that works for World Vision. He made very strange noises and really freaked me out. Pam and I sit down and talk and wait. Then suddenly some soldiers show up. this is not surprising, there are a lot of people all around, the show has not started and there might need to be some crowd control. what struck me as odd about the soldiers (besides there only being two for a crowd of 2000) was that instead of wearing riot gear, or carrying tear gas and pepper spray was that they were carrying M16 semi-automatic rifles. Then some guy got on stage and started speaking in Wolof and French (two languages I can't speak) and then he tries to say something in English which didn't really work out for him. he started by saying good morning when it was obviously night time, and then something about canada and UNICEF that I didn't quite understand. I also didn't quite understand why he wasnt speaking Pulaar to a large group of Pulaars. The man kept going on stage and eventually Pam told me that the concert had not yet started (10:15) because the Prefect (like the vice mayor or something) hadn't arrived and that the show was not going to start until he arrived. at 10:30 I try to call charlene to see if she has made it yet, she had not. then at about 11:00 the sous prefect (like vice prefect) showed up and was apparently good enough for the concert promoters to get the concert started. At this moment in time Charlene and Geoff and some others had showed up.
The concert began around 11:00 with the three worst lip syncing rappers I had ever witnessed. The speakers were waay too loud, and they didnt even hold their microphones up to their mouths. Being at a rap concert is very awkward for me. Firstly, I am white. Second the N word is used very often**. when the first rapper went on stage he kind of just repeated it becuase that is what he hears in american rap music. Does he know the origin or meaning of the N word, no probably not, and so uses it very inappropriately and way too often. Geoff and I made jokes about milli vanilli. After a few songs a new rap group would get on stage slightly better at lip syncing than the last group. The lip syncing was like classic Ashley Simpson. I got very excited for one rapper because they MC called up Cysco (sp?) I was expecting the Thong Song. It was not the Cysco I know and love though. It was instead some skinny lip syncing pulaar man. Another rapper got on stage and claimed to be a "hustlah". He was so proud of his "hustling" abilities that he had it screen printed on the back of his shirt. However his shirt did not say "Hustlah" like it would in America it instead read "Heusleu" as it would be pronounced/written in french, thoroughly providing the proof that he has no idea what a hustlah is or does but that it is just a word he has heard in American rap music.
Throughout the concert not one person was looking very happy nor excited. There was little dancing involved and most people were not smiling (I suspect that it was in part because of the lack of beers). It made me very frusterated and decided that if no one else was going to dance and be happy to be at a concert then I would make up for all the other people that were not having such a good time. Yes I became that annoying American causing a rucus in the back. I started whooping and hollaring and causing a scene (not too much of a scene I didn't want to get shot). Then the best lip syncer showed up. MC Ballejjo (MC Black) So MC Black gets up and does his lipsyncing act. I get bored and I walk pam home (12:30).
-Mike
**I would like to point out that people around town have indeed been calling me white, and they have also been calling me the "N" word. it makes me very uncomfortable and I tell them that it is not a good word for them to be calling me, or anyone else for that matter. they merely laugh at me when I tell them this, and ignore the fact that it is a terrible word for them to be calling me.
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