Senegal A to Z...not in any particular order....
AFRICA:
Must begin with Africaaaaaaaah! AFRICA! A.F.R.I.C.A. Just to be here. The feeling. The fine red dust in the air that coats all surfaces, blown by the wind from the Sahara desert which lies to the north and east. The Atlantic ocean, with a feeling i could just reach over and touch America...(a direct line west from Dakar and you hit Nicaragua). The tropics...the way the sun rises and sets more quickly here than in California where it rises and sets at more of an angle, taking more time... and the way the moon looks. The closer to the North and South poles you go, the more the moon appears to tilt sideways...so that the crescent moon looks like a forward C (or a a backward C depending on whether its waxing or waning)..whereas the closer to the equator you go, the more the crescent moon looks like a U. That is because the sun is setting and rising directly on the line of the equator, so that the reflection of the sun on the moon is square, if you know what the heck i'm talking about. Whereas away from the equator the reflection on the moon appears to be from an angle, because we are angled away from it. Of course, if you are a Hare Krishna, you are taught that the moon itself produces its own native light, and does not reflect the sun at all. That's an interesting thought. And if you are Christian, you are taught that the moon (and all of creation) is only about 6000 years old, even though the people who wrote THAT book (the Hebrews, or Moses specifically) don't actually believe THAT. As i was saying, AFRICA. A great way to get a feel for a new place is to read newspapers and watch t.v. In Senegal we watched African MTV music videos with a much more traditional ethnic flavor flair, not just mass produced pop music...and the house is an artists house so people got into it. Ken of course is a professional musician and dancer, and so are his two sisters who live in the house, both professional dancers who have traveled the world. But like artists everywhere they struggle to make a living...taking jobs where they can find them. Marietou for example teaches dance to children and works in a little vinegar factory. When the videos play the children practice their dance moves to the delight of us adults...or they practice on the street...i saw young boys on the street making drums from small buckets. They stretch a strong piece of plastic taut over the bucket and tape it all around. The result is a tight sounding drum that is played with one stick and one hand...just like the traditional sabar drums of Senegal.
ATTAYA:
is a tea drink made daily. Attaya is made all day everyday...occasionally women drink it, but it is always made for and by the men while sitting relaxing before or after a meal. That is to say, all the time. To make attaya you buy a small box of green tea from the little hole in the wall store across the street or on the corner. Every block has one or more little hole in the wall stores. Little tiny poorly lit grocery stores with a big wire mesh fence on the counter to protect the goods. Sort of like the big windows in a bank. A small hole in the fence is used for exchanging goods for cash. Directly across the street from our house was one of these tiny little stores...The tea is gunpowder tea from China, one of the strongest green teas. You buy a bag of white sugar, some nana (peppermint), and a bag of black coal. Total price about 2 US dollars. You put the coal in the little coal burning device and light some newspaper underneath until the coal ignites. Do this in the garage, on the street in front of the garage, on the roof, or on the patio. Boil water in a small metal tea pot and add tea. Boil the shit out of it. Add sugar. Boil some more. Add peppermint. Boil. Now, take three small glasses. Pour dark boiling liquid into one glass. Pour liquid back and forth from one glass to another until half the liquid is foamy froth and the temperature is juuuuuuuuuuust right. As you pour, keep lifting the glass until the liquid falls from at least a distance of one foot, and try not to spill. Now pass glass to a friend. Watch him throw it back. Rinse the glass with fresh water and fill with more tea. There should be at least 3, maybe 6 men in the area. Repeat as many times as there are men. Repeat tea making ritual at least 5 times a day. If tea does not taste super bitter and super sweet, like green tea espresso, you didn't make it right. Enjoy.
CAFE TOUBA:
As much as attaya is fun to prepare and drink, cafe touba is even better. It's coffee with a spice. Just across the street and down from our house is a family that makes it and sells it. Amijop and Fahjop were the two women who were in charge of the business. They buy the coffee beans green and roast it in a pan over a little wood fire, right in front of the house on the quiet sandy street. It's great to watch. Everyone just sitting around, talking laughing working. Along with the beans Fah roasts what looks like a long skinny chile pepper pod...when it's all roasted they pull out the old mortar and pestle and begin the grinding. No electric grinder, just pound away. African women don't go to the gym. They work out all day every day. And it shows. Lean strong arms...Washing clothes by hand, carrying babies, pounding the mortar and pestle, carrying 40 pounds of water on their heads while a baby is strapped to their backs by a simple piece of cloth. Working hard. Nuff respect. When the coffe is ground it gets filtered with cloth and the result is a lovely strong spicy brew. Add sugar and milk and ouila! This drink is named after a city in Senegal called Touba, which is considered by Muslims as the Mecca of the nation...more on my journey to Touba later...just about every morning i went across the street to get a glass or two. At 50 CFA the price was right. CFA (prounounced SAYFA) is the money used in all 14 francophone countries of West Africa. "The CFA Franc was created on December 26, 1945, the day when France ratified the Bretton Woods agreement and made its first declaration of parity to the IMF. At that time, it was standing for Franc des Colonies Françaises d'Afrique (Franc of the French Colonies of Africa). In 1958, it becomes Franc de la Communauté Française d'Afrique (Franc of the French Community of Africa). Nowaday, the denomination CFA Franc means franc de la Communauté Financière d'Afrique (franc of the African Financial Community) for WAEMU member States, and franc de la Coopération Financière en Afrique Centrale (franc of Financial Cooperation in Central Africa) for countries belonging to the BEAC area." That's what i got off google. At 500 francs per USA dollar, 50 francs for a fine fresh tasty glass of cafe touba is quite the bargain, considering a small cup of Peets coffee in Berkeley costs 750 CFA. Inevitably, being the rich American, i ended up buying cafe touba for about ten people daily. I just gave the money to Ami or Fah and told everyone, "just get a glass and put it on my account!"
BEACH:
The beach in Parcelles is long wide and flat white sand, only a two block walk from the house. Like i said earlier, its about the same look and size of Ocean Beach in San Francisco. There is a main road that runs along it made of red dirt. The pavement ends about a mile away towards the city. The main part of the beach is clean but the back end, by the road, is totally covered in litter, especially where the drainage pipes empty, carrying all the garbage with it. The odd stray dog, cat, goat and bird can be seen picking through it...but for swimming its nice. A bit cold, but you can wade out for a distance and frolick in the waves. Some, but not alot of people go swimming. The occasional tourist wanders by. Military helicopters and planes buzz over head several times a day. I took the children to the water quite a few times in the first few weeks and they loved playing at the edge of the water but were afraid to go in very far. However they weren't afraid of the dead fish that wash up, as they could be seen picking them up and carrying them around out of curiousity. Kinda the opposite of American kids who would probably charge into the waves but be squeamish to pick up dead fish!
FOOTBALL:
known as soccer in the states, football is the national sport of Senegal as well as being the national sport in just about every country of the world! You may remember that Senegal, as a first time country in the Football World Cup of 2002, upset defending champions France 1-0 and they are still celebrating. Everyday on the beach hundreds and hundreds of young men gather in the afternoon to play football, for miles up and down the sand. They tend to organize by age groups to keep the games fair. Kens brother Salif is even a professional player. He plays on the local club team and dreams of starring in Europe. It's a distant dream, as the competition is immense. Everyone is good at the game. You have to be absolutely brilliant to even have a shot at the national team or a contract in the rich leagues of the world. I watched one game of Salifs team, they dont even play on grass (to expensive to maintain), they play on dry deep sand! Running on sand, now thats excercise. At least at the beach they can play near the water where the sand is hard and flat. Some evenings Salif and the men gather in the living room to watch English premier league games (considered the best league in the world). There are in fact alot of Africans who play in that league, and the teams with the most African players, regardless of country, are the most popular in Senegal. Chelsea for example has a player from Ivory Coast named Didier Drogba that everyone loves. Sports. Also known as, men and their balls.
