First Impressions

A car rapide,
our primary mode of transportation

Oh, Dakar!  I don’t even know what to think of the city, much less how to describe it to others!  The first word that comes to mind is “mélange”—a mix of colors and noise, of people and animals.  In one blink of an eye, you can take in a parade of bright yellow taxis, bustling markets, distant skyscrapers…and a herd of cows grazing in the middle of the median!

On the flight over, as I attempted to get in a few hours of sleep, I kept thinking about the fact that when I next woke my whole world would have changed.  Spotting the moon out my window, silly as it sounds I was kind of comforted, remembering that the moon lives in Senegal as well!  As we began our descent into the city, the Senegalese teenager I befriended on the plane leaned over in our row, eagerly pointing out landmarks from the window and making certain I noted Le Monument de la Renaissance africaine in her neighborhood of Ouakam—which happens to be the tallest statue in the world outside of Asia and the former Soviet Union!

 We stepped off the plane into our new world as the sun rose, and the dozen of us Americans who had been on the flight all kept looking at each other to make sure our jet-lagged brains weren’t fabricating this movie-like moment: the rising sun, the warm breeze, the whole country in fact seemed to be saying, “Welcome, toubab, welcome.” 

Already I see why this is the land of Teranga, hospitality.  Walking into a hotel or supermarché for a Coke, a quick wave or smile simply does not suffice.  Each person will stop you for the traditional Wolof greeting, which, once you know how to respond, can continue for a good 15 minutes.  “Asalaam maalekum” (peace be with you) is the key to unlocking the heart of the Senegalese—once these magical words have left your lips, you are well on your way to acquiring a new friend, one who will jokingly nudge you through your Wolof repertoire until they at last give up and allow you to switch to French.*

This week has been filled with the questions typical of freshman orientation week (Name?  Hometown?  Major?), with the 55 of us Americans racing to get to know each other before we disperse throughout the city.  There’s been lots of street-wandering, Wolof-butchering, stoop-sitting, and people-watching, and all the while our new reality slowly begins to permeate in: we’re here, in Dakar, our new home.

And tomorrow the real adventure begins—we leave behind the comfort zone we’ve created in our tiny American bubble at L’Hôtel Citronelle and move into our host families’ neighborhoods!  Though I’m nervous about meeting my new family, this is also the part of the program that I am most excited about. 

The rain has subsided for the moment, so it’s time to go wander a bit before our Wolof classes resume—I might even try bartering for some mangoes for the first time!

 Until next time, or, as they say in Wolof, Ba benen yoon!

 Janelle

*Though French is the official national language, Wolof is the lingua franca of Senegal, spoken as a first language by the majority of Senegalese.