It doesn’t matter what culture you belong to- common sense will always steer you a true course. It just depends on whether or not you remember to apply it to life’s situations when the moment is appropriate.
See these? They are oysters. Megan’s common sense yells loudly that you should always pay full price for these delightful, but potentially punishing shellfish.
See this place? Think this might be a logical area to hold a baptism? (Maybe. I’ve never been to one in Senegal before….)
Last year I remember overhearing an American military officer discussing his plan to come to Senegal and drive across the country to Mali:
-Officer who is Not From Around Here: “I’m going to take a day and drive from Dakar to Bamako.”
-Officer who is stationed in Africa: “It’s going to take two days, and you’ll stay overnight at the border.”
-Not From Around Here: “No, it only takes a day. I MapQuested it.”
MapQuest. Africa. Right. These are largely mutually exclusive concepts.
As it turns out, so is Google Maps.
What’s the definition of insanity, again? Me, I’m a living example of this affliction, and here I will show you what happens when you use Google Maps to find something that in a normal land would be so simple to find…
Lookin’ for that Catholic church. We’re dressed up and ready for a baptism. Google Maps says that it’s right around here. Somewhere…
I hope we make it- I’m totally dressed for Catholic mass. Check out my knees! Quel scandale!
Maybe I should get out and ask this guy. He totally looks like he knows where a church might be…or is he dead?
I don’t think that it will come to you as a big shocker that we never should have relied on modern technology to find this church. That route of doing things, as the Mali-bound officer would have learned, would only leads you into bustling crowds of open air markets and “colorful culture” that on the bright side presents a view of Dakar that you’ve never seen.
In reality, the church was very nearby in a very logical and central location. In perfect hindsight, success would have been assured had we just picked up a phone and asked “Où est l’église?”
You can see by our seats at the back of the church that we missed at least a half hour of the ceremony. We were lucky enough to arrive just in time for the small children to be given open flames, and to watch the baby being paraded around the congregation.
In this quick clip you can hear African drums being played as people sing. The Mass was spoken in French and Arabic…a true blending of cultures.
I was really glad that we managed to extricate ourselves from Google’s clutches and make it to this special occasion. After all, it was being held by one of our beloved co-workers who is from here in Senegal. The added bonus of attending was that I learned how baptisms, much like naming ceremonies in the Muslim culture, are a big deal in these parts. And they throw big parties afterward.
With Catholics of course, there is the added bonus of the bar. But also check out the professionally made sign wishing the baby a happy baptism, and also Goree Island as beautiful backdrop.
The family holding this baptism is Senegalese of Lebanese origin, so you know that the food- particularly the schwarma- is going to be good. Not that I went for this reason.
Now I’m just showing you gratuitous photos of the outstanding food that was served. I didn’t leave hungry, and the parents also didn’t leave without us first drinking some champagne to toast their daughter.
If I was an anthropologist, or simply a better observer of Catholic rituals, I’d have provided you with a detailed explanation of this entire gathering. Sadly, I’m usually more intrigued by the charrette loads of photographic fodder that passes by my car window or envelopes my surroundings whenever I experience out something new.
Now if I can just suppress my urge to rely on technology the next time I want to do something on this continent, I might just leave this tour having learned a lesson or two. And I might make it to the event on time.
