Fried Egg Sandwich (a la senegalaise)
Whew! After having eaten nuthin’ but mutton for days now (see previous article on Tabaski), I have been having the strangest craving, namely for a fried egg sandwich, the peppery kind you can get for about $1.50 along with a small cup of coffee from any bustling pushcart guy in NY. I was telling a fellow teacher from NY about this almost overwhelming wave of nostalgia when he kindly invited me to go along with him to the corner, to our local tangana. As you will not know what this is, let me attempt to describe it for you.
Remember when you were 7 or 8 and built forts with your friends, or spent long afternoons hidden in hastily constructed tents made out of old drapes suspended perilously on fishing poles or whatever? Well, try now to imagine just such an invitingly makeshift tent bordering on a dirt soccer field. Picture worn sheets suspended from what amounts to clotheslines to block those seated on wooden picnic benches from the intense glare of the sun. Space is tight, just as it was when you were little, but the atmosphere is far more cozy than claustrophobic.
Travel Picks of the Week - 12/28/07
Photo: Experienced travelers know to look beyond tourist attractions. Fascinating, yet little known facts are discovered by choosing the path less trodden. Europe offers serendipitous opportunities and an adventurous spirit is all that is required to uncover the hidden gems that are scattered throughout this continent.
Who better than Rick Steves to guide us through Offbeat Europe?
Dubai
Photo:Flickr/ChrisDubai
Are you looking for a destination with pristine beaches and romantic old world boats? Add to that the excitement of high-end shopping and breathtaking skylines, Dubai is now one of the hottest tourist destinations in the world.
Tabaski
On or about Dec. 21st this year, Muslims all around the world, including folks here, will have celebrated Tabaski. This Wolof word meaning ’sacrifice’ is the name of a religious festival that I imagine would be greatly hated by US animal rights activists, as approximately 650,000 sheep will be slaughtered for the occasion. The holiday, a.k.a. Eid al-Adha, which occurs about 70 days after the end of Ramadan (or the tenth day of the month of Dhul Hiija according to the lunar Islamic calendar, if you prefer) is a symbolic reenactment of Abraham’s (or Ilbrahim’s, depending on your point of view) sacrifice of his son Isaac (known in these parts as Ismael). As you will recall, Abraham was (however reluctantly) prepared to sacrifice his only son for love of God, but was then given a last-minute reprieve and told that he might sacrifice a sheep instead.
Skype To The World
For those of you living under a rock, one of the most poplar and widely utilized forms of communication for the wayward traveler is Skype, a peer to peer application that allows users, for free, to communicate via the internet with one another.
Consider it the modern day phone. Recent advances have allowed for video capabilities as well. Anyone with a built in microphone and camera in their computer (which is just about any new laptop or desktop) can seamlessly communicate with anyone else.
Travel Picks of the Week - 12/21/07
Photo: Flickr/Marlowski
Language, like art and architecture, is representative of a culture usually dating back a few centuries. A journey to Maloula, a town near Damascus in Syria, however, might seem like a page out of Christian history. The language used there is Aramaic, a 3000-year old one, spoken by Jesus Christ. National Geographic takes its readers
on a tour of this town, its church and people, where this tongue has been preserved through the centuries in Jesus’ Language Still Spoken.
The Taxi Man Can (and Will!)
Winter has broken out here in Dakar, and it is a beautiful thing, because the temperature has dropped enough for me to feel slightly chilly. This precipitate drop meant a trip to a local market called HLM to find a fleece or windbreaker type of garment to fend off the cold. The trip to the market was an experience because of the novelty of items for sale: there was fresh coconut to drink (complete with an unparalleled adrenaline rush, as it was prepared by a local guy wielding a fright-inducing little cleaver in mid-air), ready-made boubous in fantastic colors galore, kola nuts, balls of incense in glass jars, bin bin or elasticized beads worn around the waist, and the little flimsy pieces of fabric called betios worn by women to lead their men into temptation (see previous article On Beauty).
Travel Picks of the Week - 12/14/07
Photo:Flickr/Manu Kalra
The selection process of the seven new wonders of the world generated a lot of buzz, excitement and heated and strong opinions. The good that came out of it was that the world was reintroduced to the amazing history and heritage of mankind. Encouraged by the success of its first campaign, New 7 Wonders Foundation, a non-profit organization invites nominations for choosing sites of striking natural beauty. To date, 200 nominations have been submitted by some half a million. Have your say at the New 7 Wonders of Nature
We hear about giving back to the community and to the world all the time, but we do not seem to find the time in our busy lives. Going on a volunteer vacation is an opportunity to take a break from the humdrum of everyday existence while contributing to the enrichment of others’ lives. Such vacations empower individuals to make a difference. Here’s a compilation of excellent resources for volunteer vacations worldwide.
Fancy Volunteering?
Traveling it seems is turning a corner. While they will never be expunged entirely, the world of hyper luxurious, all-inclusive resorts is being confronted more and more by a different, more organic form of travel.
Enter ‘volun-tourism.’ For the same price as a ritzy, expensive resort, families and the stray traveler can visit the same countries, often for far cheaper, sleep in much more modest conditions and even lend a hand to struggling local populations. It is a very noble goal on the part of travel companies and volunteering organizations, a goal no doubt meant to quell the trampling feet of the ignorant tourist into a soft patter.
Of Raciness and Religion
I sense surprisingly little hostility from my local neighbors, not even when they tell me that all of the big properties in this swank neighborhood are owned by Americans. Further, there really does not seem to be any festering resentment towards white colonialist types; more than one Senegalese has said to me: “I may be black and you may be white, but if we are cut we will both bleed, and our blood will be red.” (Such conversations, by the way, are invariably conducted in French, as I have yet to learn the major local language, Wolof. French is spoken only by the educated minority, around 30 percent or so of the total population. As a non-Wolof speaker, I would have a lot of trouble if I were living in a rural area. From what I am able to report at present, Wolof is an interesting language: “yes” is “Waaw,” pronounced “wow,” and “Jerejef” is “thank you.” I will be sure to keep you posted as my language skills progress).
Senegal has a number of different ethnic groups, of which the Wolof constitute the majority at 43.3%. Other groups include the Pular (23.8%), Serer (14.7%) and Jola (3.7%), each of which has its own language. When during a lesson we had on colonialism and its effects on indigenous cultures I asked my students whether they thought that Wolof grammar, etc. should be taught properly in schools, they shrugged and said nah, no one in the outside world outside uses it anyway, hence learning it formally would be a waste of time. I asked them whether that means the Danes shouldn’t learn Danish or the Icelanders Icelandic since their respective languages are spoken almost nowhere else. (I think the point I was trying to make went right over their heads, as it so often does, but I’ll try again soon, inshallah…)
