Fellow Stories

Cooking!

Alec Yeh

2009-10-26

So I’ve recently gotten into this cooking thing. I want to study gastronomy in school and I figured since I’m in Senegal, why not learn some things about Senegalese cooking? I talked to Gaya, one of the fellows, and she actually invited me over to cook with her family. I was so excited. It was...

An Unexpected Event

Hilary Brown

2009-10-25

Last night, after finishing my french homework and talking to Erin on skype, I left the Baobab Center around seven as usual. I walked back to the Corenthin house, trying to not fall in the brown river the street turned into after the rain and was just about to walk in, when I realized the...

Baobabs, Swimming and Thunder

Hilary Brown

2009-10-25

Yesterday after language classes we took a field trip to i’ile de la Madeleine, an uninhabited island off the coast of Dakar. In order to get there we took what looked like a long row boat with a motor. Due to the rocky shore around most of the island we were taken into a little cove that, aside...

I sweat salt and the Earth sweats heat

Victoria Tran-Trinh

2009-10-24

There are few times in my life when I can honestly say that I was drenched in sweat. Today was one of those times. Not once before today have I been drenched in sweat without some kind of physical exertion behind it, be it a strenuous martial arts practice, a long run or even dancing...

note the trees, because the dirt is temporary

Victoria Tran-Trinh

2009-10-21

Now that we’ve been in-country for three weeks, I find myself settling into more of a routine. This is a very good thing in some ways, but I’ve realized that it has its negatives as well. The upside is obviously that I am becoming more comfortable in Senegal. I honestly don’t think I experienced much...

Mel ak Tapha nungi toog ci ker ga….

Gaya Morris

2009-10-21

…Ibou xaritu tapha new na. The translation of the above phrases would be: Mel and Tapha are sitting in the house; Ibou, Tapha’s friend, has arrived. This is a direct excerpt from one of the first dialogues in my Wolof textbook. During my daily three-hour Wolof classes, we generally dedicate a generous amount of time...

Scenes From the Ile des Madeleines

Ananda Day

2009-10-19

Basil in Senegal?!!

Gaya Morris

2009-10-19

This evening while helping one of my host mothers cook dinner, I made a very unexpected discovery. Tonight’s meal was grilled chicken, which in Senegal means chicken that has been cooked in a very oily sauce, then deep friend in pure oil, and then grilled. To go with the chicken there were fried potatoes, chunks...

baobabs & baobabs some more – you can’t outwait fate (w/ photos!)

Victoria Tran-Trinh

2009-10-18

As I am writing this, it’s raining for the first time since I left Boston a month ago. Inside my house. The way the house is structured, the staircases leading from floor to floor are essentially outside. There is no roof above them, so it is raining INSIDE MY HOUSE! There are sheets of water...

Golden Arches

Alec Yeh

2009-10-18

Those Golden Arches. Oh dear. I miss those beautiful, Golden Arches. I couldn’t really sleep very well last night. Perhaps it’s because my mind was too preoccupied thinking about that image in my head. Oh how the gold pops with that red background. And here comes a little girl with beautiful fire-red pigtails and freckled...

The Iles de la Madeleine

Ananda Day

2009-10-18

Right now the rain continues to pound the tin over my room. Since last night the rain has been torrential, pouring over every crevice, dripping from each edge, and slowly seeping over every surface. To say the least, it was quite the opposite of my experience yesterday. Saturday began like every other day this week-...

In Pictures and Video

Alec Yeh

2009-10-16

[slidepress gallery=’alec-yeh’]