May 12

So this may or may not be my last post in Senegal, depending on wheteher anything super epic happens in the next 24 hours or so...and whether or not we have power/internet access tomorrow.
This week has really beena  blur of packing, lasts (among them, a last trip to N'Ice Cream, where we purchased the largest supersize-aptly named, the American Cone-to say our last farewell), and last minute shopping.  Fortunately, after making some crucial wardrobe decisions (do I need this tattered t-shirt at home?), it appears that my one suitcase will, in fact, be able to fit all of my belongings (including all Senegalese purchases)...with a little effort.  Packing up my room was bizarre...all of the kids have been in my room "helping" me (by which I mean talking and distracting me, and attempting to pilfer things when my back was turned), and to be honest, it was kind of sad (and embarrassing...my room is filthy, not necessarily because of my own habits, but because, unliek the Senegalese, I seem to have attracted an inordinate amount of bugs, which have promptly crawled into all of my suitcases and drawers to die among my possessions).  So sorry Mom and Dad, but there's a good chance that I'll eb bringing home a few dead coackroaches with my clothes (hey, at least they're dead...probably).
Last night, I learned how to make fish, frites, and yassa, my family's favorite special occasion meal.  Shopping through consumption took almost 5 and  ahalf hours, which was ridiculous, and mostly a result of the inefficiency of those around me...but I suppose when in Senegal, do as the non-toubabs do.
It surprisingly easy to make yassa-a few kilos of chipped onions, a few cloves of garlic, crushed pepper, piment, vinegar, salt/seasonings as needed, a green pepper and green onions, and you're good to go!  It mostly took forever because
a) we have a tiny gas burner that can cook like one french fry ata  time, and
b) there are 23 mouths to feed.
In America, I imagien that this could be an easy, time-saving, impressive ethnic dish.
Today, we did a last market day,a nd got our hands hennaed...despite some smudging (because despite being in Senegal for 4 months, I have not developed the Senegalese virtue of endless patience) it looks pretty decent.  And even if I'm just saying that to convince myself I don't look like a giant tool (a la hair braiding episode), it comes off in a week or two.  And cost about two dollars. So no worries; except that the henna man insisted on doing a design on my feet for free, which I'm sorry to say, looks ever so slightly like a piece of the male anatomy, rather than the flower that he insisted it was intended to be.  Whoops.  But I've added a little lime juice to the ink and it's almost gone.
Tomorrow I am meetign up with one of my mentor teachers from my teaching internship to visit her and her family for lunch...should be interesting to see another Senegalese family in their own home. And it will be a nice opportunity to say goodbye.
Other than that...I'll be distributing host family gifts tomorrow, and attending our mandatory "reintegration session" at the university, and then it's off to the airport to come home!  At the very least I'll be back for a nostalgic wrap-up post once I'm back stateside, so until then, fanaanal ak jamm.

May 9

So I have officially entered my last week in Senegal-and sorry to say there is very little that is exciting to report.  This weekend, a bunch of us went out to Thai food and a Moroccan hookah bar to celebrate our last Saturday night out (and we brought along two random Nigerian guys that take classes with us at the University)...it was a fun night, except that the music selection at the Moroccan place consisted of a boy band covering a plethora of songs originally sung by female vocalists, that should NEVER ever be covered by anyone...among them Rihanna's S&M and Shakira's Waka Waka.  It was horrific.  But the Moroccan owners were super friendly to me, probably because they thought I was Moroccan...on a related note, I've now been stopped in front of the Moroccan embassy a total of 4 times by Arabic-speaking mistaken individuals.
This week...we will be spending every available moment at the beach, doing last-minute shopping at markets, and I will be learning how to cook ceebujen with Tabara and Aminata on Wednesday (if they aren't too horrified by my lack of cooking abilities and abandon the attempt).  I'm sorry I don't have more fun things to tell you, it's mostly just nostalgia-filled everyday activities (ie-"oh sad, this is the last time I'll be doing laundry by hand!").  But I promise to write once more before I leave to wrap things up.
Ba beneen yoon.

May 4

So since it's finals week, I've been pretty busy...but just doing boring things that you don't want to hear about.  However, I figured I could take this opportunity to fill you in on a fun new creation that the Adventure Wednesday crew has come up with.
As you know, every Wednesday, because we don't have much class, we've been busting out the Lonely Planet and going to spots that looked interesting.  And recently, we have added a new dimension to these adventures, to make them more adventurous; street food!  And we've created a comprehensive mechanism for describing the establishments that we've been frequenting.
Now the LP can be great, but often has misleading articles about the sites mentioned.  The problem is, one can never tell how legitimate the places really are until you go there.  So, we have created the Shack Food Legit Scale, and theoretically would love to pass it on to Lonely so that they could not send their readers to sketchy, sketchy places without their knowledge.
So first things first; these "food shacks" are a fairly recent phenomenon in the Dakar area.  They have sprung up in past years with the increase in federally funded construction projects, as workers need fast, filling, cheap food during their short breaks from their projects.  As a result, opportunistic women have set up tents or shacks on the sides of roads and median strips to fill this need.  Traditional Senegalese dishes, among them mafe, ceebujen, yassa, and thiou are served on a daily basis, in large bowls, cheaply to these workers...and now also to the curious toubabs who are running low on lunch stipend money.
So here's how our scoring system works:
Walls (concrete, wood, or metal) are worth 2 points each.  Even if it's a shared wall (ex, a tent leaned up against a building, thereby using one of its walls), it counts.
Tent sides (canvas, fabric, etc) are 1 point each.
Any sort of roof, fabric or more solid, is one point...because let's face it, unless it's the rainy season, who needs a roof anyways?  My friend Amy's host family's house doesn't even have a roof.
Doors with hinges are 2 points each.
Doors that are a flap of fabric or streamers are worth one point (but if you just have to move one of the tent "walls" of fabric to get in, it's 0 points added).
A table is worth 1 point.
Benches are worth 1 point...total, not each.
If there are chairs instead of benches, the establishment gets 2 points.
So, as you can see, these places can range anywhere from 1 to 14 points.  Those closer to the "1" end are called food benches, those in the middle are food tents, and those on the higher end are food shacks.  Any establishment earnign a score of 7 or above can officially be called "legit." Otherwise, it's basically just a bench in an open space near a construction site that has food.
Prices range from about 400-600 CFA (about 80 cents to a dollar and 20 cents USD).  And portions can usually be enough to feed 2.
Ok so that's all I've got for today...off for an Adventure Wednesday to Village des Arts and, obviously, tent/bench/shack food.  Ba ci kanam.

May 2

Verrrry little exciting going on here right now, so I'll be brief (especially since way more exciting things are currently happening on your end...among them the death of Osama bin laden, and don't let us forget the birth of Mariah Carey's twins).
Cooking this weekend for Amy's host family was a great success...and I'm pretty sure I consumed more veggies than oil for the first time in any meal in the past 4 months.  Also we ate mangoes imported from the Casamance region, which were probably the best things I have ever tasted.
I'm really going to miss the fruit here.
Friday was actually a pretty cool day-my Islam teacher took our class on a field trip to several religiously significant locations around the greater Dakar area, including several cemeteries and mosques.  It was really interesting (and we needed to wear head coverings at every destination); it was mostly good to see these places from more of n insider's perspective.
And then our Music and Dance teacher brought in a traditional dancer and drummer (both of which we were forced to try...it wasn't pretty), s it was just a culturally packed day.
Beyond that, just had a normal weekend, and have officially started my last week of classes and interning.
Only 12 more days until I come back home to take a hot bath and eat things not soaked in palm oil...and not get followed to school by a man who literally stopped his motorcycle (which was heading in the opposite direction) and abandoned it on the side of the road so he could follow me better.
As much as I love it here, I am definitely ready for a break.
So until more exciting things happens, mangiy dem!