It is the weekend, and once again I am happy!
It's nice to have time to relax, although it's already Sunday evening. Yesterday I went to the market and went on a shopping spree. I haven't bought clothes in quite some time, and I wanted to buy everything! Then I reminded myself that one Senegalese outfit was more than enough, since I would not be wearing it in the US. I love the clothes here! They are bright and shiny. We walked into a fabric store, and it was like entering a fairy land. Bolts of cloth twinkled with sequins and glitter, hundreds of shades all with some sort of shimmer to them. It was as if someone had put diamond dust in a...one of those machines that make fake snow (I forget what they are called) and went nuts with it. I was too overwhelmed with the selection, so I ended up just looking for something ready made. The ladies here however, pick their own fabric, and mix and match to design a custom made outfit. I found something suitable for a meeting with the ministry, and bought it for $12 because my Senegalese friend helped me bargain. They originally tried to charge me $50. I would have happily paid $20, but my friend said, "you don't talk with people about prices, let me do the talking." So I did, and was shocked (though not too shocked) at how far the price tumbled from the original offer.
I got ripped off by some Chinese people because I wanted to show my friend Chinese cuisine. They had one price on the menu, and when the bill came, they charged me another price. They claimed, "oh, so sorry, this is an old menu, and the prices have changed." It was a difference of 2 dollars, and I really didn't want my friend's first experience with Chinese food to be me screaming at the waiter over something so small--but I was pretty mad. Even though I get annoyed when people on the street charge me artificially high prices, I can understand their motive--their poor, and honestly, if I was in that situation and I knew a foreigner would be willing to pay twice as much for something, I would probably try to get away with it too. But I was really expecting the people in the restaurant to be a little nicer to me since there are not that many Chinese people in Senegal--and they own a nice (and expensive) restaurant and really don't need to resort to tactics like that to feed their families. If anyone visits Senegal, never eat Chinese food! They also served us "beef" that I'm not entirely sure was beef...I thought it looked kind of like pork (my friend is Muslim and cannot eat pork), but the owner said, "this is from the back of the cow, that's why it is different, very good texture." Before that, the owner kept pointing at my friend while addressing me in Chinese, saying, "black people like fish and things that are fried." I really hope it wasn't pork, for my friend's sake.
Later, we went to an international fair, in which people from all of West Africa set up stands and sold items from their country. I really, really wanted to buy this shirt with matching dress that had stingrays all over it (it looked a lot better than it sounds), but controlled myself. There were sandals from Pakistan with bells and fake gemstones on them, and of course, tons of fabric, beads, bangles, and headwear. Most outfits here come as a 3 piece set--shirt, bottoms (either a skirt of pants), and a head wrap. At the end, there was a concert featuring a famous Mbalax singer.
I had ice cream and chocolate, and slept for as long as I wanted. Also met with some peace corp volunteers in Dakar, who were very nice. I plan to go back to the fair later, since it lasts until the 12th of December.
It's nice to have time to relax, although it's already Sunday evening. Yesterday I went to the market and went on a shopping spree. I haven't bought clothes in quite some time, and I wanted to buy everything! Then I reminded myself that one Senegalese outfit was more than enough, since I would not be wearing it in the US. I love the clothes here! They are bright and shiny. We walked into a fabric store, and it was like entering a fairy land. Bolts of cloth twinkled with sequins and glitter, hundreds of shades all with some sort of shimmer to them. It was as if someone had put diamond dust in a...one of those machines that make fake snow (I forget what they are called) and went nuts with it. I was too overwhelmed with the selection, so I ended up just looking for something ready made. The ladies here however, pick their own fabric, and mix and match to design a custom made outfit. I found something suitable for a meeting with the ministry, and bought it for $12 because my Senegalese friend helped me bargain. They originally tried to charge me $50. I would have happily paid $20, but my friend said, "you don't talk with people about prices, let me do the talking." So I did, and was shocked (though not too shocked) at how far the price tumbled from the original offer.
I got ripped off by some Chinese people because I wanted to show my friend Chinese cuisine. They had one price on the menu, and when the bill came, they charged me another price. They claimed, "oh, so sorry, this is an old menu, and the prices have changed." It was a difference of 2 dollars, and I really didn't want my friend's first experience with Chinese food to be me screaming at the waiter over something so small--but I was pretty mad. Even though I get annoyed when people on the street charge me artificially high prices, I can understand their motive--their poor, and honestly, if I was in that situation and I knew a foreigner would be willing to pay twice as much for something, I would probably try to get away with it too. But I was really expecting the people in the restaurant to be a little nicer to me since there are not that many Chinese people in Senegal--and they own a nice (and expensive) restaurant and really don't need to resort to tactics like that to feed their families. If anyone visits Senegal, never eat Chinese food! They also served us "beef" that I'm not entirely sure was beef...I thought it looked kind of like pork (my friend is Muslim and cannot eat pork), but the owner said, "this is from the back of the cow, that's why it is different, very good texture." Before that, the owner kept pointing at my friend while addressing me in Chinese, saying, "black people like fish and things that are fried." I really hope it wasn't pork, for my friend's sake.
Later, we went to an international fair, in which people from all of West Africa set up stands and sold items from their country. I really, really wanted to buy this shirt with matching dress that had stingrays all over it (it looked a lot better than it sounds), but controlled myself. There were sandals from Pakistan with bells and fake gemstones on them, and of course, tons of fabric, beads, bangles, and headwear. Most outfits here come as a 3 piece set--shirt, bottoms (either a skirt of pants), and a head wrap. At the end, there was a concert featuring a famous Mbalax singer.
I had ice cream and chocolate, and slept for as long as I wanted. Also met with some peace corp volunteers in Dakar, who were very nice. I plan to go back to the fair later, since it lasts until the 12th of December.
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