Category: Senegal

Have you ever had that moment where you are talking to someone you’ve never met before and then you find you have a friend in common? Or you’ve gone to the same event? Or your sister works at the same business as this person? You know- the moments that make you start singing “It’s a Small World.”That’s how today went for me, but in a way that all musicians can relate to.

More on that in a minute…. Because first I have to tell you about Sara’s epic lesson using the game “Heads Up.” She taught the Senegalese students how to play the game that people in America have a tendency to play in very long amusement park lines in our country! She picked great words- everything from ‘phone,’ to ‘Snapchat,’ and ‘music’ to ‘Baobab.’ It was so fun to see the students of all abilities and comfort levels with English getting excited to speak clues to the person in the front of the room trying to guess the word. I also enjoyed learning a bit about what they thought of certain things. For example, for the word ‘friend,’ they said ‘bestie,’ ‘relationship,’ and ‘better half.’ For ‘television,’ they gave hints of ‘watch it every day,’ ‘plays movies,’ ‘broadcast,’ and ‘get information from it.’ For music, they just started naming musicians, but they named Adele, Michael Jackson, and Rihanna. This was such a great activity because it was easy for the students to use what they knew (reading the word and figuring out what it meant), while accommodating different levels of speaking ability- some kids would give one word, others gave sentences, while other students acted it out. It was also great for us to see how they viewed each word. If you ever have to do a cultural exchange, teach them ‘Heads Up.’ Sara just used a small whiteboard and marker.

Ok, back to that story I was foreshadowing at the beginning of this blog. I got the opportunity to see a music class in action. They had moved it to the auditorium to accommodate all of us, and I could hear the sounds of recorders being played as we came up to the building.

The music teacher does not speak much English, and my French is barely passable, yet we were immediately able to communicate and understand each other perfectly. As musicians and music teachers always brag, music is universal, but I’ve never truly gotten to put that ideology to the test like I did here. The music teacher got right to work handing my colleagues and I each a recorder so that we could play along with the students. He quickly taught my colleagues the C major scale, and then, when it became obvious that the recorder and I were not strangers, he taught me the song the class was playing using the same solfège system he used with his students (and I use with the students I teach!). Within minutes, the students and I were rehearsing a popular Senegalese folk song. They sang it in solfège, then they played it on their recorders, and then they sang the words in Serère. Our guide was telling us that this is a language that is dying out, as unless your family stays in one place and doesn’t move, you will not be raised to speak these types of languages. The music is keeping the language alive!

Next, I was invited to play a song for the class. I would have brought my trombone along, but I didn’t want to go back to the hotel to delay our arrival, so I played “Hot Cross Buns” on the recorder, explaining this was the first song our students learn. Then, volunteers from the class came up to perform. The girl who went right after me played “Chariots of Fire.” My “Hot Cross Buns” seemed pretty feeble, but it was so fun to see the students so excited to perform. It was also so exciting to have that ready-made bound that all musicians share. Anytime you walk into a room with musicians, you know you’re home. They applauded my “Hot Cross Buns” as though I was Taylor Swift, and told me how great I was. I, in turn, told them how amazed I was by their musicianship. It was the type of experience that touches you deep into your soul.

I learned that music classes are 2 hours long, and the first hour is the theory (which they call science) and the second hour is what they call the practice. Music students in Senegal also are known for hanging out in the music room, unlike students in any other subject matter. Sounds familiar….

After class, we got to meet the vice principal, and he was so supportive of music and all it can do for the brains of the students at this school (which he mentioned specifically). It was so very cool to know that all the way over on a different continent, music education is respected. My heart is full. My soul is smiling. And, the music teacher and I have just laid the groundwork for an incredible partnership that will feature our students collaborating a lot!

Despite that being the highlight of my day, week, month, and who knows beyond that, we next got to go to our first market. I’m so grateful to our guide through this process, as I don’t enjoy haggling in my own language, let alone a language I only speak 5 phrases in (Wolof). I did manage to pick up some musical instruments, so I’m super excited about that. That’s all I’m sharing so far, as I know my husband is reading my blog and I’m just going to keep him guessing on what’s coming home to our house! Love you, Josh! 😘

You are in the savanna of Senegal. You hear a rustling in the grass around you. You look around trying to figure out the cause of the commotion. What could it be?

Monkeys. It was a monkey.

Today we had the adventure of a safari through the Bandia Reserve, as the students have off of school since yesterday was Easter. I know- it seems a little weird that a country that is 96% Muslim would have off the Monday after Easter, but you can blame the French for that. The school system was established by the French, and continues to be run that way.

When we got to our 4×4 for the Safari, I must have looked like a kid at Disney- I was grinning from ear to ear. My travel companions, both who have done African safaris before were laughing at me, as the closest I’ve gotten to an African safari is the Safari at Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom.

As we started driving through the reserve, I felt like the beginning of the movie “Jurassic Park,” where one of the actors comments while traveling through the park in the vehicles on how it is a dinosaur park without any dinosaurs. However, the safari driver was headed farther into the park, so I just needed to calm the excitement and exercise some patience. In reality, it was not long before the monkeys were showing off their foraging, and ostriches were snacking off of the savanna floor.

We got to see Impala, giraffes, rhinos, warthogs, zebras, antelopes, savanna buffalo, and elands, all in their natural habitat. No fencing between us and the animals, no waivers to sign, no seat belts…just us and the nature around us- in the environment on earth where they live naturally! It was really cool to see which animals were pack animals and which animals run solo. Even though we went in the hottest part of the day, the animals were pretty active.

After the safari, we went back to Suly Beach for our standard 4 pm lunch. The Senegalese people know how to eat RIGHT on the beach. Both yesterday and today, I was curious about the tide time tables, as I wasn’t sure how long we could stay at our table before we would start taking on water! It is a true treat to be so close to the ocean. The Senegalese people use the beach as their stress relief. Had a bad day? Take it to the beach. I haven’t been in Senegal long, but I do know the beach has been in most conversations I’ve had with students and adults alike!

We are back at the hotel now, ready for classes to start back up again tomorrow! I can’t wait to see those smiling and curious faces again- it seems like FOREVER since I’ve seen those students! I wish my 3-day weekends back home felt this long!

Happy Easter to all of my Christian friends! It is hard to be away from home for a holiday- missing the girls and their Easter bunny morning, lunch with my family, dinner with my husband’s family, but I did get the chance to experience Easter here. Only 4% of the Senegalese people are Christian, but I am lucky enough to have a host teacher who is Catholic so I got to go to mass this morning. The Easter mass was 2 1/2 hours long, not counting the ‘after party’ in the choir loft. It was really cool to think that even though I didn’t understand exactly what they were saying all of the time, I (roughly) knew what was happening during the mass. I made a bunch of recordings of the songs for the students in my school, as I know they’ll love to hear it.

After mass, Sophie brought us up to the choir loft to see the musicians. It was like a party up there! The priest even came up and jumped in on the piano. After they were done, one of the drummers gave me a mini djembe lesson! I was giddy with excitement!

We went back to the hotel to change, and then headed to Lac Retba, also known as the Pink Lake. I had read previous to coming here that the lake was no longer pink due to floods, and that it would take a long time for it to come back, but it was indeed pink! Sophie verified that it used to be pinker, but that it also needs to be seen on a sunny day, or the pink will not appear. Lac Retba is one of the saltiest lakes in the world, and you can see the salt that is harvested from the lake. We took a boat ride through it, and were told it is impossible to drown in the lake due to its high salinity. We did not choose to test this theory out. We were also told that you can’t be in the lake for too long – workers harvesting the salt have to wear cocoa butter on their skin to protect it from all of the salt.

Next we went on a Jeep ride through the sand dunes that separate the Atlantic Ocean from the Lake. It was so much fun! We ended up on this one section of beach that had roaring waves and we were the only people there! Such an amazing time (and another Anthony Bourdain moment, for sure!).

The merchants selling in this area were relentless. They would give you a bracelet as a sign of ‘Teranga,’ which means hospitality and is the country motto. They would not let you give it back, but they would expect you to ‘come to their shop,’ which was really just a basket of their goods. It was like the Caribbean, but times 1,000 on desire for a sale…

After I made my very first souvenir purchase (the bracelet trick did not work on me- I went with a merchant who didn’t give me a present), it was time to go to Sophie’s mom’s house outside of Dakar for Easter dinner. We had a fantastic chicken and fries dish, along with some fried deliciousness made of ground up beans. Sophie’s family was so much fun- lots of dancing and joking. Though we may not have completely understand every word, we were all able to communicate the general idea with each other.

Another incredible day in Senegal – we were playing hard today, as we were going strong for 13 hours (but don’t feel too sorry for me – it was so much fun)! I still can’t believe I’m here!

Waking up to the sound of the rooster crowing sounds like a dream…until that rooster is crowing every morning starting at 3 am. We get up every morning to get ready for our drive into school before the sun rises, and our cultural experiences after school brings us back after the sun has set. They are full but exciting days, and that rooster is stealing my sleep…but the fresh eggs for breakfast are delicious!

I think the Senegalese people usually eat their breakfast at 9 or later, as the first morning our hotel owners were surprised when we were ready for breakfast at 7, before we left for school. Every morning, they prepare us a breakfast of 2 eggs over easy, 2 pastries, and a crepe. They have since figured out our need for an early breakfast, which we felt bad about changing their schedule! The school students and teachers eat at 10:00 at school, so I think this is their breakfast time as well. Lunch takes place after school gets out (which I think is around 2:00, but I haven’t paid attention to the end time). Today (and all Fridays), classes get out at 1:30 for Muslim prayer. I really like hearing the call to prayer- there’s something very moving about hearing thousands of people getting ready to pray!

Today is Sophie’s busy day- she teaches all 3 blocks of classes, so we got to see a lot of students! The last class of the day (the equivalent of our freshman students) had 78 students in the class! They sang songs for me (B-I-N-G-O!!!!) and I taught them “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes,” “Row Your Boat,” and “Days of the Week.” It was so much fun. The more advanced classes we had in the morning sang American pop songs (by Rihanna, John Legend, etc) for me when Sophie told them I was a musician.

I also got to give out the stickers the St. Bruno students created. The Diamniadio students were so excited!

I also had the opportunity to give the banner with our student signatures on it to Sophie. I had her first class of the morning sign mine and they filled up the whole thing with one class!

On Fridays at this school, students are allowed to wear whatever they would like (rather than the uniform they wear during the rest of the week). There were gorgeous fancy dresses that would fit in at any high school prom being worn. It is the opposite of a casual Friday here!

One of the girls in the middle class of the day had just gotten married last Saturday, so Sophie showed us pictures of this, as well!

If you ever want to know what it’s like to be famous, become an American teacher visiting Senegal. My traveling companions and I have been showered with gifts of bracelets and hair accessories, given written notes with phone numbers and thank you messages, and I’m pretty sure we’ve taken a selfie with every student Sophie teaches. There were two students who came to Sophie’s class today who aren’t even in her class just to see us. I haven’t had this many photos taken of me since my wedding day! I have to say that it is way more fun to see these beautiful, smiling faces shining with excitement than it is to be the center of attention! I may never get used to that!

We had a delicious lunch of Chu, which was beef, tomatoes, and onions in a spicy sauce served over rice. It was soooooo good! Good spice level that made my nose run a bit! I loved it.

After lunch, we were off for a tour of Diamniadio. As Sophie explained it, there is the ‘dream’ section of Diamniadio, which is where they are making what will be the new capital of Senegal. They are putting a United Nations headquarters for Western Africa there, along with all of the ministries, and many other important buildings. They also have colleges and expensive housing in this area. Then there is the area Sophie calls the ‘reality’ section of Diamniadio. This is the area that the school is, and where the majority of her students live. There aren’t fancy buildings and paved roads in this section! We visited the soccer stadium, international market, and the colleges in the area, while in the growing city portion of Diamniadio.

We got to tour the exposition center and the conference center, which is where the president makes addresses from. The expo center was HUGE and the conference center was gorgeous! It had a lot of beautiful artwork in it- enough so that you’d think you were at an Art museum!

We got back to the hotel a little earlier tonight, so hopefully now that my blog is done, I can get a little extra rest before that rooster decides to make his presence known…

I keep forgetting to tell you all that Senegal is 5 hours ahead of home, except when we’re on the other side of Daylight Savings Time, then it’s a 6 hour difference. Also, the Senegalese people practice what’s called GMT, which they jokingly call Gambian Maybe Time, meaning that they will be late!

Today we had our second day of school- we got to watch 3 different levels of English class- Sophie taught the intermediate, a very energetic teacher taught the 1st year English speakers (6th grade), and the final year of English students- the students who are tested in 3 months to see if they will pass to go onto college. I also watched a physical education class, which looked like an army training- there were so many students in one spot!

After classes were over for the day, we went to get lunch at a new store in the area. They were still building it while we were there. Diamniadio is being made into the new capital of Senegal, so the area by our school is being developed a bit more as well. We also got to go to a grocery store, which wasn’t all that different- they didn’t have anything overly odd compared to US standards, at least.

After lunch, we went back to our hotel and changed for the beach. We drove along the coast for a bit and got to visit two Catholic Churches! Sophie took us to Saly Beach and Somone Beach (that has a bird sanctuary). They were very different!

So like the title of this blog post says- I’m so very tired! It’s a good tired, though, and I can’t wait for tomorrow!

Wow! I’m in awe. This morning, right after breakfast, we headed out to our host communities. Our driver had to stop several times to ask directions to our hotel, but we made it!

Our hotel is incredibly secure, and has a collection of animals at it (chickens, monkeys, ostriches, horses, etc.). I’m pretty sure I will be awoken by rooster tomorrow morning! It is very beautiful here! I’ll share pictures of it when I leave the area (just to be safe). We had to pay in cash for our hotel, as it does not accept credit card.

For this portion of the trip, we are broken into smaller groups, so I’m now traveling with Sara and Nikki, who both teach English classes at high schools. We were served hibiscus juice while we waited for our host teacher and driver to arrive at the hotel to take us to school.

It wasn’t a very long drive to the school (20 minutes, maybe?), but this area is much different from Dakar. Dakar feels like a big city you could experience anywhere- where I am now is much more unique. We saw cows in the road, goats and pigs wandering around, and sand as far as the eye can see. Sophie, my host teacher, told us that it is the dry season here. In two months, everything gets very green and trees have more leaves.

When we got to school, we arrived in time to watch our host teacher lead professional development activities for her ‘cell’ (like our departments). All of the English teachers were holding their monthly meeting, and today’s was on encouraging students to speak English in class. Sophie gave two lessons to about 80 teachers for them to try in their classrooms. It was fun to see the similarities between professional development in Senegal and professional development in the US…lots of passionate debate! That wrapped up at the end of the school day for the students.

After this, Sophie gave us a tour of the school, and it is so much hotter in Diamniadio than Dakar! I miss the breeze off of the Atlantic! I am fascinated with the school! It is so fun to meet the students, as they giggle and smile at the Americans.

We were treated to a dinner given by the English club. We got to eat the national dish of Senegal, and it was delicious!!!

After that, we received a welcome ceremony. We were treated like royalty! We got a performance of the National anthem of Senegal and a welcome song performed by the English club. A gymnastics team performed for us, followed by a traditional dance. Nikki, Sara, and I were invited to come up with the dancers a few times. We got quite a few laughs, but it was so much fun. Important members of the school staff gave speeches, and we gave speeches as well. We even had our own interpreter to let us know what the words of the songs and speeches meant. I now know what it feels like to be a celebrity!

The English Club sang this beautiful song (among others…this one was just the shortest, so it has the best chance of making it through the upload process!)

After that, it was time to go back to our hotel. Nikki still had to change her money, so Sophie found a shop in town that was willing to do it. Everyone was outside talking and hanging out- it looked like what a block party looks like back home, but I get the feeling that it is like this every day here!

Well, I am exhausted, so I’m going to shower and go to bed! It’ll be an early morning for going to school tomorrow! I can’t wait to observe the classes!!!

Today was our final day of learning about Senegal before going to our host communities! We learned about Senegalese history and culture, which was fascinating! Senegal is a relatively new country (on its own at least) as it just got its independence from France in April 4, 1960! We learned about the first presidents, and the politics in Senegal.

After this session, we got a training on things we need to know for succeeding in our host communities. There are a lot of things to remember and so many Wolof phrases to practice between now and when we depart- I’m going to be busy practicing them tonight!

Then it was off to lunch! Our lunch location was another gorgeous spot just down a cliff from the president’s house. It was such incredible food!

After our incredible lunch, we headed to the Renaissance Monument. There was some crazy traffic- they have roundabouts, and people come from every direction through them. It’s fascinating (and I’m so glad I’m not driving here).

The Renaissance Monument is the second highest monument in the world. It is awe-inspiring. First, you must climb 198 stairs to get to the base of the monument. It was really cool because when we got to the top of the stairs, it was Muslim prayer time, so we were able to hear several mosques calling people to prayer. It was a very cool moment.

The statue is a man, a woman pointing backwards, and a child pointing forwards. The child is pointing forward to the future and the woman is pointing behind, symbolizing the past. This beautifully depicts the Senegalese belief that even if you look towards the future, don’t forget where you came from. Also interesting to note is that the child is pointing directly to the flame in the torch of the Statue of Liberty in New York City! Also, the monument is made of copper and will eventually turn green like the Statue of Liberty.

After you’ve caught your breath and you have your ticket to go in, there is a guided tour of 3 floors of exhibits about Senegal history and culture.

After you have walked up the stairs for the three floors of exhibits, you go back down the stairs to get into the elevator that takes you all the way to the man’s head, where you get an unbelievable view of the city of Dakar!

After we rode the tiny elevator back down, we took a group photo of us and then went back to the hotel for the night. A few of us ordered appetizers from the hotel restaurant to share and had some wonderful discussions. This is such an inspiring group of educators and I’m grateful for the fellowship and collaboration time! It will be sad leaving them all tomorrow to go out into the communities, but thankfully we will reconvene before leaving for home!

Today started with an incredible breakfast at the hotel! I tried so many things that I’ve never had before (I avoided things I’d eat at home, other than that fruit). I’m not sure what all I ate, but my favorite was a spicy chicken! Who wouldn’t like spicy chicken for breakfast? 😂

We then got a briefing on what the education system in Senegal looks like and the history of how it has worked and changed over time. It was fascinating.

A very interesting belief we were told about is “Behind any difficulty there is easiness; behind any easiness there is difficulty.” This really resonated with me, as I can see that balance within my own life. I also think this is a great philosophy to teach students as often the students I teach see themselves as “not good at something,” when they can work a little harder now to make it easier to learn later, or the opposite- when students think they are really good at something that came easily to them, but then have a problem persevering when it gets hard. I can also see this when listening to people’s life stories- often people say “I’ve always had it rough…that’s just how I live…nothing ever goes right for me.” This then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, instead of people persevering and trying new opportunities to leave the situation they’re in.

After this session, we went to the US Embassy in Dakar. If you ever find yourself at an embassy, don’t take pictures outside! We had some of our group get in trouble for doing so before we went inside. The embassy in Dakar is the head embassy for Western Africa, so a lot of our government agencies have offices there. USAID was a big part of the help the Senegalese received from the US for programs, so they are now trying to recover from the cuts. What I found incredible though was how the people here are viewing that as an opportunity to move on from assistance and work harder to help their fellow people. What a great story of perseverance! So many lost their jobs, but rather than feel sorry for themselves, they are moving on so that it can’t happen to them again!

We then headed to lunch at another beautiful restaurant. The menu was entirely in French, and Mrs. Nanneman (my high school French teacher) would have been proud as I translated for my colleagues sitting by me.

After our delicious lunch, we were back learning about Senegalese family, food, and culture. This session was fascinating! No matter what age you are, your father is in charge. He makes all of the decisions for the family and is in charge of supporting the members of the family. Families are huge in Senegal. Everyone lives together (grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, sons, daughter-in-laws, children) and it is not uncommon for there to be 10 people sharing a room. Also, Muslim men can take up to 4 wives. The first wife is usually chosen for you by your father, but the other wives are up to you to choose. It is the husband’s job to take care of the wives and prevent them from fighting- to accomplish this, the man must not favor one over the others.

Food is eaten with your hands out of one community bowl while sitting on the floor. Men get one bowl and women get a different one. Kids are not allowed to grab from the middle of the bowl or talk during meals. You may also only eat with your right hand, and if you drop something, you need to eat it (no food goes to waste).

We also learned about the core values of Senegalese people, but I’m going to circle back to those on another day. I have some ideas on how I want to link them to my classroom, as they are all great lessons that I think students should really hear! I know they will find them fascinating!

After dinner, I exchanged my crisp US dollars (could not have any wrinkles or rips) for West African francs. Mrs. Nanneman would again be proud because the man ran out of money the first time and I was able to ask when more was coming, when the office closed, and other useful knowledge. I’m not sure my grammar was 100% correct, but the man understood my attempts and I understood his French responses. I was really proud on that as I actually tried to form sentences and questions that involved various verb tenses. It was quite the mental workout!

It was now time for dinner, and we had a buffet at the hotel restaurant that was delicious. It has been really nice eating in this area, as IREX has booked these places due to their reputation. This means we haven’t had to be as vigilant about worrying about food prep procedures and drinking water/ice cubes. I will need to remember to be vigilant when out in my community.