Sarah l'égaré en Senegal: June 2011

I had a grand welcome to Doundodji, complete with all the fanfare. There was chanting, singing, speeches, dancing, an MC, hundreds of kids, money being thrown... I couldn't have asked for more. Then village life proceeded, in an extremely hot and slow manner.

I've gotten settled in my little hut and am adjusting to the daily schedule:
4:50-5:00 AM: try to ignore call to prayer.
5:00-5:30 AM: fall asleep temporarily, if no dogs, donkeys, camels, chickens, or children happen to be disturbed at the time.
5:30-6:30 AM: try to ignore loud singing
6:30 AM: roll out of bed just as the singing finally stops.
6:50 AM: go for run or bike ride, scare camels, goats, sheep, and Pulaars with the unusual sight of a white person moving fast.
8:00-9:00 AM: shower, breakfast (loaf of delicious village bread & tea), water garden
9:00-11:00 AM: Morning activity*
11:00 AM-1:30 PM: lay in a pool of sweat/sit with family in a pool of sweat, study/read/chat
1:30 PM: eat lunch- rice with fish and veggies or rice and beans and dried fish and peanuts, or rice and sauce, or rice and veggies... you get the idea
2:00-5:00 PM: lay in a pool of sweat/sit with family in a pool of sweat, study/read/chat, drink tea
5:00-7:00 PM: Afternoon activity*, water garden
7:00 PM: shower, putz around in hut
8:00 PM: emerge from hut equipped with a book, my chair, and almighty headlamp.
8:00-9:00 PM: sit with family, chat/read, talk about how bright my headlamp is, try to avoid gigantic scorpions
9:00 PM (or 9:30 or 10:00...): eat dinner- ground millet with bean sauce or ground millet with peanut sauce or ground millet with milk...
9:30 or 10:00 PM: go to bed
10:00 PM-4:50 AM: sleep/sweat/listen to the nightly music of Doundodji (singing, chickens, kids, the mouse eating something in my room or crawling up and down my mosquito net, donkeys, camels- on special occasions, dogs, mystery creatures)

*morning and afternoon activities include: working in the garden, chatting, watching whatever happens to be going on around the compound, strolling around town and greeting people, visiting the neighbors, sweating.

It might sound hot and boring, but it's actually quite nice in the village and the people are lovely. I still can't understand most of what they say, but it's coming along and I'm doing a lot of smiling and nodding.