Christmas in Fatick, 2011

The Christmas weekend began on Friday when my friends from Dakar arrived.  I made some chocolate no-bake cookies while the girls got settled.  It was Friday so that meant "pizza night" at the F's house.  I took my cookies and some drinks as our contribution to the meal.  After eating the delicious pizza we played Five Crowns while watching "Elf."  Saturday morning we made a trip to the market so I could get a few items I needed for our Christmas Eve dinner.  I went to see my friends in the market since I hadn't seen them in a few days.  While conversing with a man about our names, I mentioned that I didn't have a Senegalese family name.  My friend, Tening, gave me her name.  So now I'm Saly Sarr.  Now I know I truly have a friendship with Tening since she gave me her name.  After resting a bit in the afternoon and eating Lindy's monkey bread, we began our food preparations for the dinner.  I fixed a salad and brownies while Becky fixed her bowl of gluten-free lasagna.  The Fs arrived around 6:30 and we enjoyed a delicious meal of lasagna, garlic bread, salad, and desserts.  After the meal we gathered around the computer and watched the movie "The Perfect Gift."  It reminded us what the true meaning of Christmas is all about.  I would like to say that we all got a good night's rest but that would not be the truth.  It seems that the local mosque chanted over the loudspeaker until around 4:00 AM which made sleeping a little difficult.  This tends to be the practice on the eve of every Christian holiday so I guess I have that to look forward to at Easter.  The lack of sleep didn't dampen our Christmas spirit, though.  We fixed a breakfast of pancakes and then we all began our preparations for the dishes we were preparing for Christmas dinner.  The kitchen was a hub of much activity and juggling cooking times since we only had two eyes on the stove that work and my oven is rather small.  We managed to get everything cooked and over to the F's house for Christmas dinner at 1:30 PM.  After the meal we exchanged our presents and spent a little time relaxing.  I took some of my chocolate no-bake cookies to my neighbor's family.  Later, we all visited with my language teacher's family.  I gave Martine her Christmas gift and some brownies to the family.  Since all of us girls wanted to Skype with our families back home, we came back to my house for a while.  I talked with my kids while they opened the presents that I had sent to them.  Around 7:30 PM we went back to the F's house for leftovers and to watched "The Santa Claus" movie.  Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.  My friends had to leave this morning (Monday) to return to Dakar.  My first Christmas in Fatick has really been a special time thanks to all my special friends.

Things Don't Always Go As Planned

Thursday afternoon we left to go to Dakar.  All went according to plan:  get Nate to the youth group party, get settled into the guest house, and get us some supper.  Friday morning started out according to schedule. We headed to our headquarters, then to the place where I would get my health certificate for my residence permit.  We also made the stop at Sonatel so I could get me a new phone to replace the one that was stolen. It's a much nicer phone and I was able to keep my same phone number.  From that point on, things began to fall apart.  Traffic was bad (as usual) and there were detours due to construction that made it more difficult to get from "Point A to Point B."  We managed to get a little shopping done and eat lunch before we had to get M to her doctor appointment.   As we figured, she was going to need some blood tests done on Saturday morning.  No problem, we needed to go downtown anyway so we could accomplish everything early in the morning when there is less traffic.  Complication #2:  M needs to stay at least one or two more days to complete the tests that the doctor ordered (we were planning on returning to Fatick on Saturday afternoon).  We got our downtown shopping done and left before the traffic picked up.  Complication #3:  the guesthouse where we were staying was not available another night.  That meant we had to find another place to stay.  That was accomplished but it was more expensive.  Thus, we decided that I would hire a driver to take Nate and me back to Fatick with all my many bags of groceries, etc.  We were picked up at 3:00 and didn't have too much trouble getting out of Dakar.  Complication #4:  it took us an hour to get from one side of Rafisque to the other (and that was even after our driver took off down side roads avoiding the traffic).  We managed to get back to Fatick by 7:00 pm.  Complication #5:  when the driver started turning down my road to go to my house we discovered there was a celebration going on and there were people blocking the road.  So we turned around and went to my teammates' house and I unloaded all my stuff.  After the driver left we decided to go to the other end of my road to see if it was clear in front of my house.  Complication #6:  since the car is in Dakar with Kimberley and M, that meant I had to ride on the motorcycle with Travis to get to my house.  He put my bag in front of him and I held my purse and computer on my shoulders and held onto him for dear life as he drove me to my house.  To say that I was a little terrified is putting it mildly!  He managed to get me there in one piece, though, so I can sleep in my own bed tonight.  It turns out that the celebration was probably for a wedding.  I figured that it would be going on half the night.  After all the complications, I was delighted to find the celebration ended shortly after I got into my house.  Now I will be able to go to bed at a decent hour.  Sometime tomorrow I'll still have to get all my sacks of groceries to my house but hopefully it won't involve me riding on the motorcycle again!

Taamxarit

     Taamxarit (pronounced tom-ha-reet) is the first day of the M*sl*m new year.  The night before Taamxarit, is a special time for the children.  They will go from house to house, beating drums and dancing, expecting to receive a treat from you.  This all begins around 9:00 pm and lasts way into the night so don't plan on going to bed early.  I was prepared for my visitors with a large bag of suckers (50 count).  They would crowd around my door as I opened it to give them their treat.  They were very polite, thanking me as each one received their treat.  I think a few made return visits so I tried to communicate as best I could that they could only get one treat.
     As a result of the late night, today was a holiday from work and school.  Some of the children who live on my street came to see me this morning while my language teacher was here.  She helped me talk to them for a few minutes.  They returned for a visit this afternoon.  Since I had a small bag of suckers left, I decided to give each of them one.  BIG MISTAKE!  It wasn't long before I had more visitors.  I gave out all the suckers plus the last little bit of hard candy that I had.  I let them know that all the candy was gone so they left.  However, a few of the girls returned wanting to come in for a visit and teach me how to dance.  They are very cute and make me wish I could talk to them.  I've really got to learn Wolof!

Vermicel

     One day when the team from Illinois was here, we had vermicel for lunch.  I decided right then that this was my favorite Senegalse meal.  The decision was made that my language teacher and I would head to the market this week and she would teach me how to make it.
     So yesterday morning we made our trip to the market to purchase all the ingredients for vermicel.  I love going to the market and have made friends with some of the ladies who are sellers.  Our routine is to shop for a few items and then stop by Tening's stall and sit down for a visit.  I sit on the stool next to Isootay, who sells fish.  I love sitting there greeting the women who come to buy items to take home to fix their meal for the day.  It gives me a chance to practice my language as well as practice the ministry of presence.  Sometimes I even get to help sell some items or I will make change.  Yesterday I got to help shell peas.  I felt quite at home sitting there shelling peas.  One lady even stopped to buy some of the peas that I had shelled!  I drew a lot of smiles from the ladies.
     This morning was set aside as the time to cook vermicel so we would have it for lunch.  It's not that difficult to make so I should be able to cook it for myself when I no longer have my teacher.  Vermicel is short, very thin noodles (thinner than angel hair and steamed rather than cooked in water) that is topped with a sauce made of onions, garlic, pepper, and small pieces of beef.  I have to admit that I overate at lunch because it was so good.  There are leftovers so I can enjoy it for at least two more meals.