Talibé - One Who Studies the Koran

Every night around 5 AM when the big 747s come in, I wake up in a sticky sweat. The neighborhood I live in is directly underneath the flight arrival and departure paths of all planes coming into Dakar. The roar of the airplanes can be heard dimly at first then grows louder and louder. If you're speaking with someone they raise their voice until the plane roars slowly overhead where they'll stop speaking and wait until it passes. It reminds me of the subways in New York, screeching around corners. More so, it reminds me of September 11th. When lying in my bed and the planes begin to arrive, I can't help but think that as these planes fly overhead that they're going to crash. Seven years later and that day still follows me.

Dama Sonn - I am tired

On Sunday, we had a group trip to Gorée Island. The island is well-known among tourists as a historical destination for the role it played in the Atlantic slave trade. Once reaching the island, we were taken to the Maison des Esclaves (the house of slaves). Along with hundreds of other tourists (I haven't seen so many tourists since I arrived in Senegal), we squeezed through the doors and went in. I was overwhelmed not by the significance of the site (there is a 'door of no return' which opens out right onto the ocean), but by the number of tourists. the place was overrun and past capacity. The moments i had to myself were pleasant but I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. The island itself is quite beautiful. The homes are brightly colored and there are a number of artists/merchants on the island. Everything is overpriced but we had a great time exploring on our own, walking up to the top of the dormant volcano on the island, climbing on the largest cannon in Africa and especially hanging out and diving off a pier near the beach. I also got to take some more photos which always makes me happy.

Also, to see more of my photos for those of you who don't have facebook, follow these links:

Gorée Island
Les Almandines
Île Ngor
La Corniche
Marché HLM
Mermoz et Ouakam
Orchestra Baobab et Centre-Ville

Mool - Fisherman

Senegal has arguably been my favorite place to photograph. Ironically, I actually find Dakar to be quite ugly. The buildings tend to be half-constructed concrete blocks and I'd be surprised if there's a word for 'recycling' or 'sanitation department' in wolof. Then again, there is some beauty in the dirt and grit of it all. However, where the real beauty lies is in the people. In spite of the gray of the concrete, the colors of the senegalese clothing adds some life to the city. While on Ngor beach, near the westernmost point in Africa, I went to take some pictures of some kids i'd seen drumming. When they saw me coming up towards them, they dropped their sticks, buckets, pots and pans, and sprinted towards me, pushing, shoving and stretching to have their pictures taken. Using my mom's 'wrangling' techniques (my mom is the director of photography for parenting magazine, spend a day on a shoot with her and you'll see how hard it really is to make a crying baby smile on cue). The images that came out instantly found themselves among my favorites. Here are a few, I hope you like them.

Man -- Me

One of the things you'll notice when coming to senegal is that bathrooms here are very different. For one, there is just one room with no partitions. The shower is simply the showerhead with a drain on the ground. There's only one knob as there is only cold water. the toilets don't have toilet seats much of the time and instead of toilet paper there is a rainbow colored tea pot. the sink spills out water which you cannot drink, but arguably the thing most noticeably missed is the absence of mirrors. not to simply assuage my vanity, not having a mirror has been an interesting experience particularly as I know how i look is changing in this new environment. luckily, friends have cameras and here is a photo of me now. i'm a little dirty, a little hairy, very sweaty, quite tan and simply happy.

Jullit - Muslim

Ramadan began yesterday. The Senegalese population is approximately 90% Muslim. I can currently hear the evening prayers echoing through the window.

It will be an interesting month.

Ca dëgg dëgg - Really

I'm the kind of guy who likes his salad to be on a separate plate because he doesn't like for the flavors to mix. Here, everything is eaten from one bowl that everyone shares. That, among other things, is one of the many stark differences between senegalese and american culture that has really challenged me thus far. I honestly came into this experience very naively, thinking it would be substantially easier than it has been.

Although a lot of things have taken some serious getting used to, i.e. power outages every few hours, massive lack of air conditioning, no stop lights in a city of 3 million, saying 'Asalaamaleekum' or 'Salut! Ca va?' to everyone you pass, the all fish and rice diet, the complete lack of personal space on public transportation, etc. it's been fantastic. yesterday, liz, amanda and my host brother, papi, took a car rapide to the HLM market. it's largely a fabric market, which is more popular among the locals than the markets in centre-ville (downtown). a man came up to us and quickly caught on to the fact that amanda liked a lot of the things she saw and wanted to buy. so he very quickly became our friend, taking us underneath the umbrellas and tarps past hundreds of vendors. the energy and how animated it was was exciting but i was uncomfortable with this guy leading us around, knowing it could only lead to some kind of exploitation. eventually though, he took us away from the outdoor market and into a dark passageway, which led to others, and then others. we got thoroughly lost (although he maintained he knew where he was going). around us were dried bissap flowers, men toiling away on sewing machines, people pulling on long threads and winding them around spools. it was a degree of claustrophobia unlike many i've experienced, but it was exactly what i came here to do. wandering through these muddy, humid and dimly lit intestines of the market was one of the more incredible things i've seen. although the cramped hallways were kind of miserable, it's more adventures like this that i'm hoping to do.

Nopp - Ears

On Thursday night, we went to a bar/restaurant highly recommended by the guide books. it was a more tranquil scene than expected but the music was good and I met some very interesting people (all of whom I spoke to in French. after a drink or two, the language somehow gets easier.) i spent a good amount of time talking to a guy named suleiman, but who went by jules. he was the musical director of the bar and asked if i knew any senegalese music. i admitted that i had only ever heard of akon, but listened to a lot of orchestra baobab while studying. orchestra baobab is one of the most famous acts to ever come out of senegal. they play a very much cuban-influenced afro music. jeff kay gave me a CD of them a few years ago and since then i ve listened to it many times, particularly while studying (it's got a good rhythm and i can't understand the wolof words so it doesn't distract.) it turns out that jules is a tour manager for orchestra baobab and told me that they'd be playing their last show before going on a world tour at the same spot on saturday night. he gave me his number and email and told me to contact him if we wanted to come and he'd reserve us a table without cover. on saturday night, we had a big table for ten, a little far to the back but still had a good view. orchestra baobab played a great set, with the dance floor up front packed throughout the night. during the concert, jules came up to say hi and saw i'd been taking pictures. he asked if he could borrow my camera. with some hesitation, i handed it over to him. he went right up to the stage and started clicking, getting the band members to look straight into the camera and getting to angles, i as an audience member couldn't reach. here are a few of those photos. (not working will have them up