There's a business in Senegal called "Taxi Sisters," which is a company composed of female taxi drivers. I tried to call their phone number, but it did not work--I guess my travel book is outdated. I figured it would probably be okay, but it not--I need to find that phone number. Since my supervisor, an enormous Dutch man with a beard, left on Saturday, I have had a lot more trouble with transportation.
First thing I learned: just because a man is married does not mean he won't aggressively hit on you. Apparently, the law here allows you to have up to four wives (although I haven't looked at the law, I've only heard this from people so it might be crap). Anyhow, people definitely do have multiple wives. My cab driver yesterday asked me if I would like to be his second wife. According to him, African men are very strong and are too much to handle for one woman alone. His wife asked him to go find another, and his goal is to have three wives.
I initially invented a fake boyfriend, but that is not enough to deter people. I promoted imaginary boyfriend to imaginary fiance, then finally I just started telling people that I'm married.
"If you don't let your husband have multiple wives," the cab driver warned, "he'll go around and 'gulu gulu' everywhere anyway. What are you going to do when he does that?"
"I'll kill him," I replied. My French is somewhat limited, so my range of responses are kept simple.
Of course, the cab driver thinks this is very funny, and says, "Oh okay, you will kill him, and then kill yourself?"
"Of course not," I say. "I'll kill him, hide his body, and then get remarried."
"Well don't let your husband come to Senegal," he says, "Because he will leave you for Senegalese women because they are much nicer."
I thought that guy was annoying, but he was not nearly as bad as the next guy. At the end of a long day of work I took a cab home, and agreed on a price of 3000 francs. We got lost, and it was nightfall. I was getting very scared. It was my fault that we go lost, but we were in the right neighborhood, only 5 minutes away from my hotel. However, it was by the beach, and no one else was there. The cab driver then said, "you have to pay me 7000 since we are lost, otherwise you can get out of the car." I had no choice but to agree, since I didn't want to be on the beach alone, with my laptop, and money that I had just changed. When we got to the hotel I told the doorman of my experience and asked him if he could find the taxi sister's phone number. Instead, he called the pervert from yesterday. I politely insisted that I wanted a female cab driver, and the guy from yesterday got offended and started asking me why I would not go with him. I was too exhausted to explain, especially in French, and still frazzled by the last cab ride, so I burst into tears and just said that I would feel more comfortable with a female driver because that was the only thing I could think of to say. I think men get very freaked out when women cry, so he backed away and left me alone.
I guess I'll have to find the phone number of the Taxi Sisters myself. So tired.
First thing I learned: just because a man is married does not mean he won't aggressively hit on you. Apparently, the law here allows you to have up to four wives (although I haven't looked at the law, I've only heard this from people so it might be crap). Anyhow, people definitely do have multiple wives. My cab driver yesterday asked me if I would like to be his second wife. According to him, African men are very strong and are too much to handle for one woman alone. His wife asked him to go find another, and his goal is to have three wives.
I initially invented a fake boyfriend, but that is not enough to deter people. I promoted imaginary boyfriend to imaginary fiance, then finally I just started telling people that I'm married.
"If you don't let your husband have multiple wives," the cab driver warned, "he'll go around and 'gulu gulu' everywhere anyway. What are you going to do when he does that?"
"I'll kill him," I replied. My French is somewhat limited, so my range of responses are kept simple.
Of course, the cab driver thinks this is very funny, and says, "Oh okay, you will kill him, and then kill yourself?"
"Of course not," I say. "I'll kill him, hide his body, and then get remarried."
"Well don't let your husband come to Senegal," he says, "Because he will leave you for Senegalese women because they are much nicer."
I thought that guy was annoying, but he was not nearly as bad as the next guy. At the end of a long day of work I took a cab home, and agreed on a price of 3000 francs. We got lost, and it was nightfall. I was getting very scared. It was my fault that we go lost, but we were in the right neighborhood, only 5 minutes away from my hotel. However, it was by the beach, and no one else was there. The cab driver then said, "you have to pay me 7000 since we are lost, otherwise you can get out of the car." I had no choice but to agree, since I didn't want to be on the beach alone, with my laptop, and money that I had just changed. When we got to the hotel I told the doorman of my experience and asked him if he could find the taxi sister's phone number. Instead, he called the pervert from yesterday. I politely insisted that I wanted a female cab driver, and the guy from yesterday got offended and started asking me why I would not go with him. I was too exhausted to explain, especially in French, and still frazzled by the last cab ride, so I burst into tears and just said that I would feel more comfortable with a female driver because that was the only thing I could think of to say. I think men get very freaked out when women cry, so he backed away and left me alone.
I guess I'll have to find the phone number of the Taxi Sisters myself. So tired.
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