Playing Tour Guide

So, most of you probably know enough about me to know that I love playing tour guide. I love showing people around, taking them to my favorite places, and generally showing them a good time. I have even done this professionally a few times

Playing tour guide over the years

; a year as a guide in a castle in France, 2 years as a concierge in Bend, TA for a study abroad in Martinique, 2 summers as a YALI student engagement leader at the University of Delaware. It should come as no surprise that I have taken up this role here in Dakar as well. Only a few days after I moved into my apartment, my first guest arrived: Debbie is a Fulbright ETA teaching in the Ivory Coast. She and I shared a room at the Washington DC pre-departure orientation, so it wasn’t our first time sharing a space. Debbie flew in from Abidjan on Monday and left on Saturday. While I did still have to teach (her school system was going through a strike, so she had some time to kill) we had some afternoons, and she was able to go some places on her own or with other people she or I knew here in Dakar.

American Breakfast with Debbie at Chez Fatou

Of course, she went to Gorée Island, but it was while I was teaching. She went to Ngor Island with a friend that had just arrived in Dakar while I was doing my conversation and film club at the US Embassy.

On Thursday I took her out to Île de la Madeleine, which is a small island off the coast of Dakar (and the subject of my next blog post).  Friday we went to the fabrics market (HLM) and the artisan market for some souvenirs. Her flight on Saturday was in the afternoon, so we decided that a lazy “American Breakfast” at Chez Fatou on the water was the perfect end to her time in Dakar. It was nice to have a visitor, as well as a reason to go to all my favorite places!

I have also been kind of mentoring/guiding the new students that stay with my host mom. The first of these was Mandy, who moved in a few days before I moved into my apartment. She was only in Dakar for 3 weeks of an intensive French course before she headed back to the University of Minnesota to continue her studies in biomedical engineering. On her first day in Dakar, my host dad walked her to the West African Research Center (WARC), and normally my host mom would have picked her up, but she finished earlier than anticipated. When phone calls to either of them went unanswered, she called me and I walked over to get her. She was there with Michaela, who had arrived at the same time and was taking the same French classes. Colleen, Brenna and I invited them to join us for our New Years Eve cooking fest and generally started including them in our shenanigans.

Mandy, Michaela and Me on Ile de la Madeleine

I took them both to HLM so Mandy could choose the fabric for her souvenir dress. My host mom, Mama Soda, offers a few yards of fabric to her host students as a gift to remember her by. The day after she chose her fabric, I took her to the tailor (Diouma) so she could get her dress made.

Mandy and Michaela went out to Gorée Island with Debbie while she was here, and on Mandy’s last day we went out to Île de la Madeleine (which was only 2 days after I’d gone with Debbie, but as you’ll see in my next blog post, going twice in one week isn’t a hardship!).

Mandy headed home after too short a time in Dakar, but Michaela is staying the entire semester, so she’s still around. My room was taken by Kari, who was only in Dakar for less than 2 weeks. I didn’t get to spend much time with her, but we were able to chat a few times when I stopped by my host family’s house, and then her last day in Dakar I took her to the artisan market for some last minute souvenirs. She had time to kill afterwards, so we went out to the park to see some nature and I introduced her to Rocco (the horse I lease). Kari was here on a short study abroad for the master’s degree she’s working on in international education/study abroad. She works for a private study abroad company, which I am super interested in, so we chatted about that throughout the day.

After Mandy and Kari left, the rooms were taken by two young ladies (Quianna and Nia) from Spelman College in Atlanta. They were here through SIT Study Abroad and they’re doing the coolest semester! They will spend 1 month in three different countries. They were in Dakar for 2 weeks to get started, then went to Touba for 2 weeks before flying to Italy where they’re spending a month in Turin and then finishing with a month in Guangzhou, China.

Quianna's super cute outfit by Diouma!

It seems like a random mix of cities, but the students are studying a specific Muslim brotherhood which has its origins in Touba, but also has a large presence in Turin and Guangzhou. Of course, one of the first things I did was take them to HLM to get their fabric. Then we went to see Diouma.

Part of their coursework included interviewing a business owner in Dakar, so when we went back to the tailor to pick everything up, I helped Nia interview Diouma about how he became a tailor. It was very interesting. Diouma never went to school and started his apprenticeship with an expert tailor at 15 years old, which is pretty late compared to other boys (I think I’ve mentioned this before, but most tailors are men/boys). He apprenticed for about 10 years before striking out on his own, and now he’s considered a master tailor himself with quite a few apprentices of his own.

 After Quianna and Nia headed to Touba, my host family accepted another Fulbrighter, this time a research scholar who will be here until June. Mama Soda had me talk to him on the phone, and while I haven’t met him yet, we’ve chatted and messaged when he’s had questions about the neighborhood. I’m sure it won’t be long before we meet in person. Unless someone comes in for a surprise visit, I think my next chance to play tour guide will be when my friend Angela comes to visit in 37 days (not that we’re counting or anything…) She and I have been close friends since the 6^th grade, even though we haven’t lived in the same state (or country for much of the time) since we were 15 years old. I go out of my way to visit her in San Diego when I’m in that part of the world, and she travels across continents and oceans to visit me in exotic locations. We always have fun together, so I’m looking forward to it!

Angela and Me in Shanghai... We won't need the winter gear this trip!