Life update

Annika Graber
Apr 25, 2022
3 min read

Phew this is honestly just a brain dump so prepare yourselves

This is my last week of internship and then I have a final seminar week before I head home. I've been trying to notice the mundane things and write down my observations so here are daily scenes on my walk to work. I haven't had the chance to take pictures so these are mental images...

There are always a ton of kids running around the intersection while their mothers sell things or beg and one day a light post fell so the kids were playing horse on it... it just struck me as so funny
One of the mothers was sitting on the side of the road looking at a picture of an ultrasound which also struck me as a contrast of how many similarities there are in such different environments. Life begins everywhere
In the middle of the chaos of taxis and kids, there is usually one man reading the newspaper on this one bench. Maybe someday I'll get a picture

And just a funny story:

Friday I was walking home from work and heard two people speaking English who looked about my age. I asked if they were American and it turns out one of the boys is from Minnesota and went to the same school that mom used to teach at. It turns out they are part of a very similar study abroad program and their school is in my neighborhood. They took me on a tour of their school and it was such a fun, random encounter. They leave in a week so the most random timing.

Oberservations about Ramadan:

So Ramadan is about halfway over. I haven't noticed much of a difference other than people seem to be a lot more patient with each other. Around 7 pm everyone is out and about trying to kill time before breaking the fast so the neighborhood comes alive. Yesterday we were in a taxi around 7:30 pm and our driver stopped by the side of the road to get some bread and coffee. They gave us all coffee and it was a really sweet moment of solidarity. It is a common occurrence for people to go out and serve food to those who can't stop work to break their fast. In general, people look out for each other here (for example whenever I am swarmed by beggar children someone usually shoes them away from me), but especially during this month.

Other than that, traffic is just really bad from 4-7 pm as everyone leaves work early. I've caught myself being able to tell time based on hearing the prayer calls, so it will be different not having that to mark the day.

Thoughts about my internship:

Overall I've enjoyed my internship. People have been very welcoming and I've learned so so much about the financial sector of Senegal (probably more on that to come). I move departments every week so it's been exhausting having to meet new people and start over establishing rapport every week, but now it feels good knowing almost the whole company. Everyone thinks I am at least 25 years old (as individuals here rarely leave home before that) and French so I have to work into the conversation each week that I am an American, undergrad student, but after that everyone is a lot more understanding on why I sometimes have a blank look on my face. .... but I'll miss them all

And lastly- I haven't been the best about taking pictures but when mom was here she took a lot of pictures of daily life so I'll insert them here :)

Lots of Baobab trees

These are car rapides that you jump on and off of... during rush hour people are hanging off the ends

These are nescafés carts on pretty much every street corner. They sell café touba (which is coffee with spices like cloves and lots of sugar) and also Ataaya (which is green tea with lots of sugar, typically drank after meals especially lunch)