Thiès

During the last week of March, my female cohorts and I stayed with a traditional family in Thiès (pronounced like “chess”) which is one of Senegal’s larger cities located about an hour east of Dakar. Our house was a large compound which was home to four related families. Over the course of the week we had the opportunity to improve our Wolof as many of the family members did not speak either French or English. The first night we hung out in the “girls room” and met our sisters and aunts, some of which had babies. Afterwards we settled into our room that had only one large bed that the three of us shared. There was a very uncomfortable dent in the far right of the bed so we rotated each night as to who had to sleep in the dent. The three of us ate dinner separately with different families each night and then after dinner we reconvened with our program guide, Ibrahim, who took us on a walk around Thiès.

Every morning we ate bread with mayonnaise and sometimes eggs, and washed them down with coffee before going to the market to buy ingredients for lunch. There are two main markets in Thiès. The first one was off of the main road and consisted of a few connecting streets which were lined with shops. Walking through the second market was unlike anything I had ever seen. It was much more condensed than the first one and was sheltered by tin roofs and tarps. There were hundreds of shops tightly pact together and people trying to squeeze by each other through small alley ways balancing buckets on their heads. After buying the ingredients we separated into different families to cook the meals. I cooked yassa djiene the first day and soupe kandia later in the week which, as might be expected, are both rice and fish based dishes. The difference in the meals is that yassa is made with an onion sauce whereas soupe kandia has a sauce made with the kandia fruit which is known for its nutritional value not so much its taste. Then after lunch we made DIY flip flops and decorated mason jars with one of the local craft venders.

Unfortunately for me, the second night I fell ill with stomach problems and Ibrahim generously bought me medicine at 11pm. Later around 3am, I threw up but my extremely caring and kind host mom helped me clean it up and heated up some water for me to take a bucket shower. I slept for the majority of the next day and ate very little. I was able to fully recover in a day because of all of the rest and care I received. I was feeling well enough in the evening to dress up in Senegalese clothes and do makeup with my host sisters. Once all dolled up, we attended a dancing/drum ceremony where various people went into the middle of the circle to show off their moves.

The next two days we had traditional Senegalese dance classes such as Sabar. Each class was two hours long and physically exhausting but I had so much fun. In between learning the routines we shared music from the US with our dance instructors who then showed us videos of their dance performances. Despite taking only two classes, we had an entire routine down by the end of it. I want to give a shout out to our dance instructors for being amazing teachers and cool dudes.

In the evenings we always followed the same routine: we ate dinner, followed by a “promenade” or walk, and finished the evening with drinking attaya with our host family. Our promenades usually consisted of just the three of us plus Ibrahim, and sometimes one other family member, where we walked around Thiès and grabbed a snack or drink. One night we taught Ibrahim how to play pool and another time we bought ice cream. Each evening ended with staying up late talking with our host family while drinking attaya prepared by our uncle. Attaya is Senegalese tea made with mint and other herbs. In order to get the iconic foam on the top you have to pour the tea quickly between two shot glasses back and forth. Ashtyn and I tried to pour it ourselves but neither one of us succeeded in creating the foam. I especially enjoyed the evenings because it gave me a chance to decompress from the very busy day and really bond with my cohorts, Ibrahim, and our host family.

The last day we went to the market in search of good deals on clothing and makeup. We found several items that were really cheap and we are planning on having a girls day in the future to stock up such things (for less than 6 dollars you can buy a shirt, mascara, lip liner and lipstick, and eye liner. Ahh I love a good deal).

Upon returning from the market it was nearly time to say goodbye and start packing up. While I wasn’t paying attention one of my host sisters walked out of the house wearing my shoes causing us to be slightly late leaving as we waited for her to come back with them. I almost accepted another one of my host sister’s shoes as a gift but luckily my shoes came back in time. Taking someone else’s shoes sounds really strange to an American like myself but in Senegal there is a big sense of community and sharing, meaning shoes are to be shared by everyone. This delay did allow us a bit more time to say good bye and take pictures before leaving. As we loaded our luggage into a taxi and drove away we waved goodbye to what looked like a whole parade of people who were there to send us off.

Some minutes later, we arrived at the English Camp for the YES students going to the US from Senegal next year. The first night we held a talent show and for my act I played “Riptide” by Vance Joy on the ukulele (a classic) with Ashtyn, Brittany, and Ms. Ruby, one of the camp counselors. Then another counselor asked me to play “Hallelujah” for him while he sang it in Russian. After that it was time for bed. I was relieved to finally have a real toilet even if it didn’t flush properly after using a squatty potty for the past week. The shower head didn’t work either so I ended up showering under a faucet that was about waist level.

We woke up early the next morning to go to the Pink Lake because early morning is the best time for the lake to be actually pink. As our luck would have it, the lake was a bit of a brownish pink which is still cooler than nothing. Then we went to the Turtle Village which is a nature reserve in Senegal where they protect all kinds of different turtles and tortoises from around the world. We had yassa guinar (white rice, onion sauce, and chicken) for lunch before returning to the Pink Lake where we had two hours to swim in the pool before we had to go back to the English Camp. I brought my American football which we tossed around in the pool. I wanted to play a real game of football with the YES students before I left but there wasn’t enough space and there wasn’t much free time either.

We returned to camp for dinner then retired to our rooms. I stayed up a bit later to hang out with Ashtyn, Brittany, and Penda who is a Yes alumnus and went to the US last year. The following day was the last day at camp for us. Ashtyn, Devin, and I helped Brittany with her presentation about friendships in the US versus those in Senegal. It went really well and one of the alumni said that she wished someone had given her that presentation before she went to the US.

At 4pm we sadly had to say goodbye to our newly made friends and wished them the best of luck in the US. We exchanged instagrams and whatsapp numbers so that we could follow each other on our adventures. I hope one of them gets a host family near me so we can meet up. Even though it was only a week, I’ll never forget those kids or my host family and the many memories I made with them.