Thanksgiving was slightly interesting this year. Three of us Linfield Students had planned to have a small dinner among ourselves followed by an Apple Crisp feast with a few of our Senegalese friends. We had asked one guard at the center whether or not we were allowed to have a few friends over in one of the small lounge areas of one of our school buildings to share our American dessert because our program advisor had encouraged us to share a piece of our holiday for cultural exchange. The afternoon guard gave us permission so we set off to prepare for our mini-feast. We went to a grocery store, a few boutiques, and a fruit stand to buy all of our food with the money our school provided us for a "Thanksgiving program". We had begun to prepare our salad, the Apple Crisp and our potatoes (I would simply like to say that they were the most delectable garlic-mashed potatoes I have ever eaten) when the evening guard told us we needed to speak with Garry, the director of ACI. As we headed up the stairs to his office we were a little concerned... unfortunately, rightfully so.
The director told us that even though he personally did not have a problem with us bringing in non-ACI student Senegalese friends, the guards did because they were nervous of people sizing up the buildings for future theft plans and they felt less capable of maintaining security of the buildings when there are other people there. Our director said that he needed to respect the word of the guards because even though he ultimately he could make the decision to allow people in the center, in general it is difficult for him to go against the word of the guards who are protecting the property and ultimately responsible for the belongings of the center while he or other employees are not there... thus, we were told at 6pm on Thanksgiving that we could not have our guests inside of the building to share our homemade apple crisp that we had already started preparing! We thought about it for a few minutes until we came to the conclusion, "C'est pas grave... we can have a late-night picnic!"
We called our friends and asked one of them to bring a table cloth; it was an easy task because within Senegalese culture it is a social norm to eat on the ground so there are always table clothes, fabrics, and blankets around the houses for picnic-like purposes. Our friends were aware that there was a slight change in the program but were still to come to our school around 9pm. Why did we not change the location to one of our houses? It was not that easy. In Senegal EVERYTHING is shared. If we would have moved our little holiday dessert night to one of our houses, not only would we have had to cart two trays of steaming Apple Crisp and a small carton of vanilla ice cream through a huge quartier, but we would have had to feed at least 15people and the school did not give us a budget large enough to provide for 15people. Thus, we did not want to be rude and take our dessert to one of our houses and not share but it was impossible for us to provide food for one of our families and our friends and us. The situation was simply more feasible at our school... and we only had to make one slight change.
By the time all of our friends arrived the first batch of Apple Crisp was finished and the second was ready to be put into the oven. As our friends arrived we met them in front of the second building where we had been cooking and eating and we all respectfully greeted the guards who were sitting to the side of the door engaging in discussion and smoking cigarettes. After we greeted them we walked over to the first building and placed the table cloth on the cement walkway/sidewalk near the door to the gate of first school building. The guards looked over at us in disbelief; I think it was the first time they had even seen students react to a situation as we did. Anyways, we placed the table cloth on the ground with the usual cloth napkin holding the forks, a few water bottles, and then a small tub of vanilla ice cream. Everyone sat down while I went to fetch the Apple Crisp. As I approached the door of the second building I explained that I was grabbing the dessert but that there was more cooking so I would be in and out checking on it. They guards said alright and simply stared at me processing what I had said. I grabbed the first batch and stuck the second batch in the tiny oven and left. I could feel the guards staring at me and after I placed the Apple Crisp in the middle of our picnic circle on the ground I glanced over at the guards to find them staring in disbelief. They though we were crazy. Indeed, we were a little out of place... three American women and three Senegalese men sitting on a public sidewalk in front of a school at 9:30 at night. The Apple Crisp was absolutely delicious! Fantastic! A secretary man came to the school that night and when he saw us as he began to enter into the first building he was startled, replied to our greetings with a brittle "bon soir" and then angrily marched over to the guards sitting about 50 feet away from us. We could see him heatedly discussing the situation and see the guards chuckle; with their hand motions you could tell were explaining that we were sitting just outside of the building because we were not allowed to bring our friends inside of the building. The man walked back, made stiff smile at us, and then entered the gate. I noticed one of the guards following him and I wanted a picture of our Thanksgiving gathering so I stood up and asked him to take a picture of us. He was a little startled but then grinned at me as he said it was not a problem. The rest of the night went smoothly... the guards were happy with how we cleaned up our cooking mess, we had a picture of the festivities, and the six of us had successfully eaten two large platters of Apple Crisp between laughter, conversation, people watching, passing traffic, and a power-outage! Oh, and the secretary man was back to his normal self the following day so no harm done.
Though it may sound silly, it felt good to rebel a bit... well, I am not sure what we did can be considered as rebelling but honestly we were hoping to make a point. In Senegal, the country of "teranga" (hospitality), if the Senegalese are not allowed into a Cultural Learning Center to celebrate the holidays with attending students, then what gives us foreigners, or students, the right to celebrate the holidays there? Besides, sharing is caring here and caring is community... we were simply setting an example of teranga... we were simply showing that we understand the meaning of community and cultural exchange... if they eat outside, we eat outside... if the only way for them to share our food is to eat outside, the we eat outside :)
Our Thanksgiving Apple Crisp feast... we ate two of those platters!***
The Christmas holiday was a whirlwind! At first I was a little lonely because due to unexpected circumstances I ended up being slightly alone... at first I thought, "holy moley, I am in Dakar, Senegal, Africa without my family, my closest friends, and my closest friend who was studying here but returned to America. Not easily admitted, it was a slightly emotional Christmas Eve and even more so because I skyped with my baby brother who was so damn cute! He made my eyes fill up with tears instantly - the singing, giggling, attempts to talk which really sounded like gibberish, and kisses through the screen tore my heart open. After skyping Christmas Eve evening I went home to find that my family was having a special dinner. I washed up, played cards and eye-spy games with my little sister and then enjoyed dinner. We had a type of bird (the only type of meat I can stomach lately... it was sort of like chicken but less veiny) with homemade french fries, the most delicious sauteed onions with spices, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and bread. The meal was followed by fruit AND juice! It was a blast; we all chatted, made jokes, and laughed at my host father who was completely unaware. I was sitting there eating my orange when I heard giggles. I looked up to see two of my brothers trying to hold back their giggles through their grins as they looked down to the ground in attempts to hide their adorable faces. I looked up at the double doors to the salon and was smacked in the face by a piercing image I will never forget: My host father was stepping down from the entrance... shirt pulled up to his chest uncovering his belly that honestly looked like it contained sextuplets! His eyes were squinted, he breathed heavily, he leaned back as he swaggered in his walk, one of his hands was on his back, the other hand was basically trying to support his hanging belly, and he was mumbling about how full and exhausted he felt. I couldn't help myself, I started laughing which only perpetuated my brothers laughter and invited my little sister and other brother to the scene. It took about 5min for us all to calm down. Seriously, it was priceless. After dinner I played cards with my siblings for an hour, went to part of a Christian church service with another student here to see what it was like, saw my favorite Senegalese brother (he is really the cousin of a friend but he is has a place in my heart as a brother) and then I opened my favorite Christmas card of all time. I was exhausted.
When we arrived at the house I was shocked. Although it is definitely still in construction, I found it beautiful... the potential for that house in amazing. The stairs and walls were not yet finished and so raw brick and cinder blocks were showing and there was white powder, dust, and cement in various places but the layout of the house was neat and very open. Many houses in Senegal have open stairwells that lead outside so when it rains the house is wet with water. The material of the houses, brick and then various tiles, allow for sweeping the water into drains, sheep sacrifices, and easy daily cleaning methods. There were many bedrooms and then a courtyard near stairs that lead to an upstairs with more rooms and more balcony gathering areas. The kitchen and a cooking space with a dirt floor are downstairs . There was also a salon/living room with a Christmas tree and a sign that said Joyeux Noel (well the joyeux part fell down but it had been there at one point in time). Walking into the door we greeted all the women cooking and my cousin Dib (Felicity is her real name but Dieb is what most everyone calls her; while my host mother was on the pilgrimage to Mecca she was the cousin that stayed at my house for over a month to cook, clean, keep us company, and help run the house. She is 25 I believe... strong, beautiful, very Christian, very Segegalese, and wonderful... she has a boyfriend who is nice and has been at most of our huge family parties... I never see them show affection but I know he loves her when he is there around her, I can see it, and she tells me she loves him when we are alone) wow, I talked to long about that, anyways, she was super excited to see me and the other girls. She kept telling met that she was feeling nostalgic each time she looked at me and kept saying, "Laaaaaaacey! Ca va?!" It was great. My emptiness of family was filled by my Senegalese family and I spent the day cooking and laughing with a bunch of strong Senegalese woman.
The feast was absolutely huge; we fed at least 75people but I am pretty sure it was more. Once again, I ate enough for at least 6people. It is impossible to share every detail but after we lunch we cleaned up while drinking juices. I left with my little sister (Khadi went to her home for the holiday because she is Christain and wanted to be with her family for Christmas). I got us through the crazy bus system and home to our family in about an hour or so. I carted a dish of our Christmas feast for the family the whole way... I felt very Senegalese... taking, or even knowing how to take public transportation, responsible for a younger sibling, and bring home dinner to the family.
We arrived home, I quickly caught up with my mom and passed on the greetings from her mother and sisters etc. and then I sped off to the cyber cafe to chat with my American family. I skyped with Melissa and Michael in Hawaii (sister & brother in law), my dad and Eva in Grants Pass, Katie (wonderful friend) for 2min in Dayton, and then my mom, Mike, Gma, Gpa, and Michael Emmitt in Redding. I was brain-dead. It was so much talking and explaining I was exhausted. It was an exciting time. After talking with many of my loved ones I went home for dinner with my family - we had the left-overs from the day... it was sort of neat for me because I knew that I had helped cook it and my mother and father loved it so the fact that we all thought it was delicious made me feel as if I contributed a little to our Christmas dinner.
For dessert we had a frozen cake thing, actual cake with frosting frozen, don't know, some Senegalese style cake. After that I finished the night by giving my family their gifts! THEY LOVED IT! My mom and sister sent me a package with gifts we had decided would be nice for the family. The kids liked the cards, coloring books, slinky, sudoku, and mp3 player as well a the chocolate and my mother... well... when she saw the framed photo of her in her beautiful boubou the night she left for her pilgrimage in Mecca she started humming, singing, yelling, turning around in circles, and dancing. She hugged the photo and then hugged me and did the exchange of kisses on the cheeks. She LOVED it. The framed picture of her and the framed picture of her with her kids and husband are now propped, hanging from the headboard of my mom's bed. I believe Christmas night was one the times I have seen her most happy. It was incredible. She is lovely.
My friend Laila visiting from the Peace Corps in Morocco and Me in front of the Christmas Tree We came home from a walk and there was a Christmas Tree! Surprise!
Papa Noel! He plays the tune of Jingle Bells - sometimes Marianne would play it for at least 10minutes at a time... I thought I was going to go crazy but I think her jolly, frolicking dancing kept me upbeat each time :)
Little Sister Marianne and Me in front of our Christmas tree.
Me with three of my cousins I was cooking with.
That is only a portion of the bird we ate!
Two out of five or six platters of homemade french-fries!
The Senegalese are all about the SAUCE - I could take a bath in this pot. We cooked the bird first, then we used the oil for the onions and spices which was joined with peas and a bit of corn and then the bird was thrown in there before it was served... I ate enough for at least 4 people.
