For those of you who are too lazy to navigate over to the gospel that is Wikipedia, I figured that it would be worth one post to tell you some bare bones facts about my future country of residence. I always gripe to Marie, my language teacher, that Americans in general are not good with geography (“Comment on dit, ‘we suck’ en français?”), so I thought a few points on Dakar might help to orient any readers who might like a quick briefing.
[Full disclosure: I also suck at geography. I was shamed one night at the age of fifteen while living in France and enjoying an excellent dinner of wine and Raclette at a friend’s home (this is why you study abroad, people). The father asked me if Boston was north or south of New York City, and without pausing I told him that it was south. Dinner drifted on, and the dad would not let this fact of American geography rest- he continually mused aloud “I could have sworn that Boston was north of New York City…” while the rest of the family told him to arrête and that I, being a citizen of that very area, knew what I was talking about. To end the story, the big atlas book was finally hauled out and spread across the dinner table for the big reveal. Sacré bleu! Boston is north of New York City! Since then I have learned to keep my mouth shut and develop a remedial knowledge of my local surroundings.]
Ten years of public school couldn’t prepare me for the intellectual geographic superiority of people living in bucolic Alpine villages
Okay, back to Senegal. I’m just going to throw some basic points out here, but having learned from my previous geography lesson, I’ll preface these by saying that this Idiot’s Guide to Senegal is written by someone who has a level of familiarity that is only marginally better than that of a backpacker armed with a Let’s Go travel book and can of cheap beer.
Nope, Africa’s not a country after all!
- Senegal is on the west coast of Africa and bordered by Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau (yes, these are two different countries) to the south and almost completely swallows The Gambia.
- Dakar, the capital, is a peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean. There are direct flights to Dakar from JFK, Atlanta, Dulles and Paris to name a few.
- The president looks like the African version of Skeletor, and it appears that he has his own Facebook page! Not bad for a guy who says he is 83 but is in charge of a population who swears he is really at least 90 years old.
- The country is about 94% Muslim but it’s not the Islam that you’re thinking of.
- It is a former French colony that gained independence in 1960
- French is the official language, but there are numerous ethnic languages that are spoken with Wolof serving as the predominant spoken language on the streets.
- There’s magic in West Africa, and I’m excited to learn more about it after reading Meeting the Invisible Man by Toby Green and listening to the excellent anecdotes of Marie.
- The Senegalese are renowed throughout the world for their teranga, or hospitality. They are a very open people who have a very sharp wit, value education, demand politeness and love to laugh. You should hear them talk about the guy in the picture below.
President Abdoulaye Wade. The Senegalese have a lot to say about this dude.
I’m seeing that this list could quickly get out of hand. So I’ll end it for now. I will conclude by letting you know that my trip to the Travel Clinic yesterday left me with a full complement of vaccinations in my arms that included: Yellow Fever, Typhoid, and Rabies (or la Rage, as it’s called in French, and is a way cooler name) as well as a year’s supply of Larium, the crazy malaria pills that give you vivid dreams. Pack your bags people! Life’s for the living….or at least for being inoculated and stuffed with pills until you gain superhuman resistances that will be felled by a single wayward swine…