Xaalis - Money

There are moments that this city begins to weigh down on me. Where I wish I could take a hot shower and scrub all the dirt off my face, just to feel clean for a moment. There are nights that I lie in bed wishing for the electricity (and my fan) to come back on so I can stop sweating into my mattress and fall asleep. Other days, I need to constantly be aware of where the nearest bathroom is, just because I know what’s around the corner and it ain’t pretty. It’s a society that highly values salutations but has no concept of sanitation. And don’t get me started on the Senegalese television shows and music videos that are always on.

Then, there are the times where you feel like you’ve escaped. That you’ve discovered some rare oasis in the midst of all the dirt, crying children and bus fumes. Recently, I’ve stumbled upon a number of these ‘petits paradis’. In downtown Dakar is the Institut Français which inside its walls and underneath the massive baobab tree at its center is a colorful restaurant that serves exotic salads and cheeses with names like Gruyére and Roquefort. Their bissap juice is my favorite in the city. Then there is the Île de Madeleine, a little island just off the coast of Dakar. For about $15, you can hire a guide and a pirogue to take you to this literal paradise. It is completely untouched nature and the only place in Dakar where we have been the only people there. The island was ours for a day and swimming in the natural salt-water pool, I couldn’t believe that this was my Friday afternoon. Yet, somehow in the midst of all that, I couldn’t get the thought of Jan Kay’s cookies out of my head. We’ve gotten very good at describing food to one another as the number of days without the comforts of things like fresh vegetables and pasta grows. Nearby my home is a bar which serves cold beer on tap in chilled mugs along with salted and sugared peanuts. Inside it is air-conditioned (powered by the generator chugging away outside), with comfortable seating and flat-screen televisions playing music videos. It’s a favorite hangout when the power is out. Recently, a number of us joined the local gym which turned out to be more of a country club. The pool has individual chaise lounges underneath palm trees and thatch umbrellas. There is a poolside bar/restaurant that serves delicious croques monsieurs and crêpes. When you have the pool to yourself, you can’t help but feel like you’re at a 5-star hotel in spite of the highway that’s on the other side of the wall. Earlier in the week, I went to my first art exhibition in Senegal. It was a photography exhibition put on by the Spanish embassy. We were in awe of the full complimentary bar with fresh bissap, baobab and tamarind juices, along with the tables of catered food and waiters waltzing around the room with platters of seared tuna skewers and phylo pastries. The only Senegalese people there were the caterers.

Places such as these have quickly become some of the favorite destinations of those of us in the program. However, what I realized is that none of these places have anything to do with actual life in Dakar. In addition, for the most part, they are completely inaccessible to the Senegalese people, not wholly for economic reasons but for cultural reasons as well. Maybe they don’t wish to go to places like these as they’re seemingly reserved for tourists or they believe that paying for such luxuries is absurd. The resultant segregation is sometimes upsetting but usually I’m too happy to be in a place that takes me back to the developed world to notice a thing.