World Cup Maddnesssss

The coupe du monde is upon us. I heard that people down south are pretty excited about this global event being put on in an African nation. Unfortunately, its a 9-hour flight so I cant make it. But I can watch the games on TV/the internet. Go Cote d'Ivoire! Francophone West Africa's best shot at the title. I hope they beat Brazil.
I live with vegetarians at my new place and now cook awesome vegetarian food all the time. The other day, we made a ton of vegan bagels, first bagels abroad, verrrry tasty.
I hate front loading french washing machines. I can't understand the directions, they take forever to wash your clothes, then they spin dry for like 30 minutes and never actually get dry. I didn't know this but the United States is the only country where dryer machines are the norm. In Senegal people usually do their stuff by hand in big plastic tubs with powdered soap but now I'm living the life of luxury.

I was never too much of a USA soccer fan, but being abroad when they are playing makes me kind of nationalist. It was fun watching our fellow North American brethren beating up on the colonial french dudes yesterday, Mexico rules!

Poulet Yassa

Very straightforward amazingly dank dinner. Here is the recepie for 2 (or 1 if your hungry, or 3 if you're tiny)
Ingredients
poulet- chicken, you can get breasts or the whole bird, but for this recipe, 2 breasts or 1/2 small chicken cut into 2 pieces should work
4 onions
9 cloves garlic
lettuce, tomatoes, carrots
salt/pepper
pimont (basically any spicy sauce will do, use with caution)
mustard
vinegar
bullion cube (i use the brand Maggi, the more MSG the better)
olive oil
running water

Step one, cut your onions and garlic
Step 2, add olive oil to the pan and heat
3 add onions and fry for a bittle
4 put 4 cubes crushed garlic, pepper, and pimont in a cup of water, pour the cup with all that stuff in it into the pan and mix
5. add mustard (like a spoonful), vinegar (like 1/4 cup), and bullion cube
6. keep adding water and letting it boil away until the onions look like this
7. add chicken that you have already cooked to the yassa sauce

you can cook the chicken however you want, I like to marinade (do whatever you like) and grill it but the official senegalese way is to pan fry it with pimont, pepper, and garlic

Can be served 2 ways, 1. on rice, boom, finished
2. in the middle of a salad, with french fries all mixed in (my fave), and bread

Mama Fatou taught it to me and it is always good and not too hard to make. Bon appetite!

Senegalese factoids
When i buy the vinaigre, i buy it by the 25 CFA in a little baggie, its silly and kind of looks like a sandwich bag full of pee
With the bread version, eating with your hands (right hand only!) is a must, with the rice version you can use a spoon if you are toubab
I'd try to use real french moutard because american mustard sucks
Drink it with pineapple soda if you really want to be vrai (legit) senegalese
And eat it on the floor
And have everyone eat out of the same dish
Bonne chance, bonne ap

Taxis

Salaamaléékum,
Since I have no car, no moped (too dangerous), and sometimes you just can't take the bus I end up taking taxis more than I ever had before coming here. They are pretty janky but they make the city very safe because the maximum you pay to go anywhere in Dakar is 2000 CFA ($4). Even though they give me security, they are annoying as hell sometimes.

First, the fare. There is a mandatory argument at the beginning of every cab ride where you discuss where you are going and what the price is. Prices raise by: distance to be traveled, number of people, number of stops, presence of baggage, looking like a foreigner, telling them to go a certain route, being near a place where rich people go (airport, concert venue, beach etc.), or just about anything you can imagine. At some point you just cut your losses and pay a little extra or you tell the cab to move on and you wait for the next one. There are strategies for paying less, like: speaking a little Wolof, being a cute girl, having a Senegalese person argue the fare for you, lying about where you are going, etc. I get why they jack up the prices but they shouldn't get all mad all the time, yeesh.

Overall, I'm glad for the taximen. They are always good for french conversation and Wolof practice. Sometimes I have really great chats with them and we end up just parking and talking about politics, Dakar, sports or whatever. Other times they are mean and just trying to get another dollar out of me. So its a balance. Sunset ride home.
Anyway, glad to be in the new house. Pics coming.
Jamma Jamma (peace)

Mouton All Day Long

I'm 3 months into my Senegal experience. I am discovering new things every day. Yesterday I moved to a new neighborhood called Yoff. A large house with chill people, pretty excited.

I haven't given a public healthy post in a lil while. So check it.
The BP Gulf oil spill is an environmental catastrophe, but what impact will it happen on peoples lives? The fishing industries and people who depend on the Gulf for their livelihoods will surly suffer but how will the spill affect the public's health? Every time there are winds from the southeast to the shore people are getting sick. People are complaining of "severe headaches, nausea, respiratory problems, burning eyes and sore throats." The long term health effects will be neurological disorders and cancer. Louisiana really can't catch a break, can it?

I went to Keur Massar again two weekends ago and had another awesome time. We chilled, danced, played some scrabble, and ate a ton of mouton (lamb). I got there and we immediately bought this lamb. I decided not to name him since I knew I was going to be eating him in a days time. They have these zones in Dakar where there are all of these livestock just chilling out. You can buy a whole lamb for like 30,000 CFA (like $60).
Check out this cooking device. That pot (filled with the entire lamb) is right on some hot charcoal and got cooked all day.
Then it got turned into this:
It fed like 50 people. So good. I don't know if I've described how Senegalese meals go. People sit around, usually on the floor or a stool, a big metal bowl or plate like one of these. Then you rip the meat or fish up and scoop the food in like a little ball of tastiness. People either use their hands (right hand only! left hand is for your butt) or a big ol spoon. I love eating in a group like this. Everyone hunkers down over this huge platter of tastiness cooked by the ladies together and encourages each other to eat more. "Mange Benjamin!" "J'ai bien mangé!" "Mange encore!" (eat Ben! I ate! Eat again!)
People are so nice. I really like it here.

Leanna and Rachel

Leanna and Rachel

My ladies, my friends
Gone from Senegal, I know I'll see you again!
Vous me manquez comme woah
Lets keep up on gchat fo sho
I'm so glad I finally got you two together
The roof chez Mamadou will be there forever
Have fun in America, I'll see you soon
Je voudrais dire au revoir and for everything, thank you

St. Louis, Sénégal Jazz Festival

Jazz Fest! Woo hoo! Even though I sadly had to miss the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival I was able to get my down home late night dancing fill in St. Louis, Senegal at the jazz fest there. St. Louis (pronounced Sant loohee) is the old french colonial capital of Senegal and French West Africa. So its got a pretty unique vibe and architecture. For some reason it reminds of French/African Duluth, MN. Its in the north of the country near Mauritania and has two islands and lots of bridges, beaches, and a huge market. I stayed with this British guy named Tim who is working for the Belgium in Senegal. His apartment was right in the middle of the big market.
I hadn't ever really kicked it with Belgians before but I had a great time with Alexandra, Francois, Michelle, and Lucia (not Belgian). The language situation there was awesome, slipping between English, French, and Spanish like we were all refined Europeans.
We were supposed to stay with these chill dudes Dev and Marco in some Mauritanian tent but phone trouble got in the way, still we kicked it with them and saw some chill music.
Probably the coolest part of the weekend I do not have photographed. It was the 11-2am bar scene in St. Louis. Awesome African bands, with tons of drums really loud and all of the Senegalese favorites, everybody dancing (I'm getting better every time I go out to dance Senegalese style). Dancing Senegalese, for me, is a lot of imitation, courage, and laughs. I always have fun. This is at the festival itself which was sort of a let down, we only went one night.Life at AMLD is good, back in Ngor, the internet stinks at my house but there is enough for this one post. Funny story, so Leanna and Ben were at Ben's family's house in Keur Massar and they were eating, watching tv and they just told the fam that I was in St. Louis, and then 30 seconds later, there is the news story on the local RTS 1 channel about the festival and there was a clip of me. Basically now I am a celebrity. Just kidding. But seriously no one has ever called me and been like "you're on tv!" before, pretty sweet. Alright, PEACE yalls.

Chilling and Bissap

I've been chillin au Senegal.
There are a couple of awesome Senegalese things in this picture. My brown bag on the ground (thanks Aunt Laurie), the mat on the ground that is the dining room floor eating zone, and the purple cloth (called tissue here) that Leanna ended up getting tailored into a dress.

Bissap: the national drink of Senegal
Its tasty, full of antioxidants and good for the brain. Drink it if you are tired, stressed, or thirsty. People sell this stuff everywhere and its also a common beverage at parties BYOBissap

Ingredients:
two to three cups of dried hibiscus flowers
one to two cups of sugar
optional:
sprig of mint
one cup pineapple juice or orange juice

1. Rinse the dried flowers in cool water.
2. In a pot heat two liters of cold water. As soon as the water begins to boil, add the dried hibiscus leaves. Immediately remove from heat and let the flowers steep for ten minutes. Pour the water from the pot into a pitcher using a strainer to separate the flowers from the water. Stir in the Sugar. Add the other flavorings (if you want).
3. Add ice and chill completely
4. Serve anytime, and especially with ceebu jën or poulet yassa (ill hook yalls up with those recipes soon)



Now I'm working on the value of local foods in nutritional security and malnutrition for IDPs, irregular migrants, and refugees in West Africa. Check this out about the moringa tree. The peace corps and other agricultural development organizations are doing work on microgardening and school/community/health post gardens. I think its all fascinating.

We started working on this because of the growing food insecurities in West Africa, specifically the crisis in Niger.

FEBS moves forward. New plan: big health event in July. T-shirts should be ready to go by June. Meeting with the Medicin Chef and another guy in Yoff on tuesday. Monsieur Dieng is mailing our proposal to the national malaria (PNLP) and HIV (ANCS, CNLS) initiatives so that we can have a HIV and TB testing site and mosquito net giveaways at the event. You know how it do.