Endings, Beginnings, and Milestones

It's December 13, which means I've been in Senegal for over a hundred days. Wow. I'm back in Dakar right now, after a wrap-up week of fall semester classes. Most of the other MSID students were only staying the semester, and left or are leaving this weekend. I know the pictures are a big part of this blog, but sadly there are none this week, as (and I know it sounds like a ridiculous excuse) I in fact accidentally deleted the pictures that I had taken these past few weeks from my computer after having already taken them off my phone. Technology 1, Jane 0. >_<

I had a nice week of activities - classes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with Tuesday and Thursday completely free. Tuesday Casi, Delaney, and I went to the world's smallest national park - the
Parc national des îles de la Madeleine, or Madeleine Islands. There's one big island, the Island of Sarpan (pronounced like serpent, the French word for snake, which is a bit confusing as it is snake-free), as well as a few smaller volcanic islands. The geology of the island is amazing to look at, and it's also home to some tortoises, nesting cormorants, and, according to our guide, a patron spirit who looks after it. There's some ruins from a few European attempts to farm or settle the island, but it's a rather exposed rock, and gets too much wind to grow anything beyond grass and a few hardy baobabs. It made for a gorgeous day trip!

Wednesday I had class in the morning and afternoon, but took a trip to the Artisanal Market between class and lunch with my classmates - I didn't have any money with me, so didn't buy anything, but other people stocked up on souvenirs, and I'll definitely be back. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were split between a lot of writing and saying goodbyes. We had a wonderful farewell banquet Friday night.

My parents and Will get here on Saturday, and I'm very excited! In the meantime, I'll be heading back down to Joal for a few days, working on some scholarship applications, and just kind of taking things slow. I've got a post on public transport that just needs some photos as well, so that should be up this week.

Slice of Life post: City Creatures

My time in Thies is drawing to a close, and while I'll be very glad to get back to Dakar this weekend (I can't wait to catch up with my MSID friends, see my host family in Dakar, and get the end of the semester squared away), there are definitely some things I'll miss about living in Thies - among them, the sheer number of animals I see walking around the city.

In Dakar, there are a few horse-drawn carts to be seen here and there, though they're much more common in the outlying suburbs than the downtown area. There are also a fair amount of other animals people keep, like the sheep my host family keeps on the roof. But Thies is a whole other story...

First off, you have the donkeys and horses, which are used as pack animals - cars and trucks are much more common, but the cart hasn't bought the farm by a long shot. You can catch a ride to the market on one of the carriages as well - some of them like, the one in the background below, are outfitted with benches for passengers.

City traffic moves a bit fast for my camera - even the non-motorized kind!

A donkey on his lunch break

The house I live in here is in a relatively new neighborhood on the outskirts of town, right next to the village of Thionah. It's a common sight to see goats wandering at all hours, and I can hear them along with donkeys and roosters throughout the day.

There's something a little threatening about the way goats look at you

Goats and a stray calf outside of a neighboring house

"Well," you might say, "that's all very well and good, but that's just in the outskirts of town, right?" These, however, are from a herd of cattle that passed through town not too far from the offices of Agrecol earlier this week. I  complimented the cowherd in Wolof for having pretty cows (or at least I'm pretty sure that's what I said).

Yes, that is a refrigerator store behind them.

Some of you are probably familiar with my mom's adventures in urban chicken-keeping, which was the great family story of 2013-2014. Thies wouldn't dream of any such ordinance against livestock as is common in the States. The chickens here (roosters and hens alike, and I can usually hear a rooster or two in the mornings) roam a bit freer that our girls at home do.

He didn't like me much

"I said, 'cluck cluck'" said the hen

Mammals generally aren't allowed to walk around the markets except on a leash, but chickens can't do as much damage to a market stall as a goat might. I found these guys scratching in between a general store and a hardware store.

Granted, there are some downsides to this as well, chief among which is that the streets smell like a barnyard in places. But for all of the talk I hear (and contribute to) about ending factory farms and instituting better livestock-raising programs - maybe part of our problem has been isolating ourselves too much from the animals that we eat. I'm not giving my full endorsement to re-instituting such laissez-faire attitudes towards free-range livestock in the US, but I can say for sure that they certainly add a bit of excitement to the streets here!