Crazy Adventures in the Life of a Redhead

After more than one month in Senegal, there is one social element that truly amazes me: Senegalese hospitality. They call it teranga here in Senegal and although I have mentioned this concept in previous entries, I recently experienced the very extent of what this term means to Senegalese people. I was supposed to go to Kaolack, a town in the interior of Senegal, at the beginning of last week, but due to a miscommunication, the project with which I was supposed to work was not ready to welcome me. There I was in Dakar with my huge sack and nowhere to go, at least nowhere programmed to go. I had spent a long time exiting Pikine and did not feel like returning for a while. After all, I had stayed for one month and was once again allured by the chance to travel and see what lay beyond Dakar. Last week I attended a baptism in a lovely seaside village called Somone. The host was the brother of my host mother, Nogaye and he invited me to come back to spend more time with him and his fam...

The women are in the process of removing the black particles from the rice. C'bon: a meal of fried fish, sauteed onions with a bissap and local bean paste and some MSG-flavored sauce Dakhine: rice with peanut butter, oil, local beans and some smoked fish I know that you all have been wondering what I eat here in Senegal. What a great question! Senegalese people are very proud of their food and are quite attached to the national dish, ceb bu jen (literally rice and fish), which is prepared in an incalculable number of ways. There are two questions I am frequently asked here in Senegal: have I eaten and do I like ceb bu jen and do I have a husband? Everyone is happy that I like the national dish but is not content to discover that I neither have a husband nor am looking for one ☺ Since this blog entry is about food, I will not go into the subject of marriage here in Senegal, but I will certainly write more on that topic later for it is truly a fascinating aspect of Senegalese s...

I have been blogging since June of 2008, and I have finally reached 100 posts. I cannot believe how much has happened in three years. Time has a way of surprising a person for the better and the worse; but with faith in Christ and the ability to preserve with love and understanding, life never crushes a person. As this week comes to a close, I am blessed to be able to say that I continue to find great adventure here in Senegal as I pass my time with some incredible people and delve into a culture rich in treasures to behold. I said goodbye to my dear friend, Cheikh, who returned to France last night. He was kind enough to assuage many of the bumps often encountered during a cultural transition. I pray many blessings over his life as he works for his family and his country. When I think of my greatest accomplishment this week, I would have to underline the fact that I took public transportation by myself! I even hung halfway out the door of a filled-to-capacity Tata while it rolled a...

Where to begin? I have adopted a pleasant rhythm of sleeping and waking, observing Senegalese family life, reading my Bible and learning Wolof. Each day presents the opportunity to seize a new venture, whether that be cooking Senegalese food, meeting with the mayor of one of Dakar’s communes, spending the morning at the largest fish market in West Africa and helping to sell porridge to hungry fishmongers, or learning the art of making and pouring Senegalese tea. After a little more than two weeks, I have assimilated into life at Lôen (meaning the place where the Lô family resides) where the activity never ceases. Now let me share a few details of my adventures from the land of teranga , which in Wolof means hospitality. Last Saturday, three of my host brothers and one of my host mothers, and I went to visit the villages from whence my host mother and late father came. About two hours from Dakar, I detected a great change in landscape, a certain relief from the fatigue of the mess ...

After only a week, I think I could write 25 pages or more of my thoughts and impressions of this country. Rich in culture and natural variations, Senegal is an incredible country to discover. I look forward to the journey. Since arriving one week ago, I have taken my time in acclimating myself to the new challenges and delights I will encounter along the way. In a few paragraphs, I will attempt to describe Senegalese society and infrastructural organization. To think, my journey has only begun! A Lo family reunion in Taiba Ndaiye Family is a strong pillar of Senegalese society. Complicated and profound, the Senegalese family comports itself in a manner that elevates the importance of interpersonal connection and devalues individualism. The family with whom I am staying, the Lô family, lives in a suburb of Dakar called Pikine. Warmth of hospitality and weather conditions coincides, and I have experienced nothing but kindness and an overwhelmingly thoughtful welcome to Senegal. I ...

August passed with complete rapidity! I am about to begin the next chapter of my journey: Senegal, the main destination of this voyage I have undertaken. The past month has been an opportunity to transition from my life in the States to my life as a globetrotter, discovering new places with keen interest and curiosity. I am so looking forward to the unknowns of my time in Senegal and Africa in general. Before commencing this next leg, I wanted to write a little about my dear friends in Nantes, Angers, Niort and Paris, France, that welcomed me into their homes on various occasions throughout this past month. In Nantes, my friends, Charles and Mady, and I walked around the city center, played a lot of board games in protest of the rainy weather, and socialized with their friends and Mady’s parents. Angers brought me back to the Gouriou-Son family who hosted me while I studied abroad in 2008. It was so good to see them again and spend a day at their home where I have a lot of fond me...

Excitement abounded while exploring Copenhagen, Denmark, and the island on which it is located with my German friend, Melanie, whom I met in Washington, D.C. (You may remember her from my trip in July 2010 to Berlin.) I enjoyed the city immensely, after a couple of hours of frustration following my arrival when I realized one, I had reserved the wrong hostel; two, American credit cards are not accepted anywhere because they do not possess the gold chip reader; and three, getting lost in a city where cyclists are ubiquitous, seemingly coming from every direction, can be quite dangerous. Overcoming these initial challenges, I was prepared to go forth to generate some mental and photographic souvenirs. Attracting over three million tourists each year, Copenhagen has a vibrant collection of neighborhoods and inhabitants. On bicycle and by foot, we traversed the funky student area of Norrebro, the classy area of Fredicksberg, the former slaughterhouse and red light district of Vesterb...