Marc here.
Sylvia is the lucky one so far. She is the only one of the four of us not to get sick. I, on the other hand, am the most unlucky , having missed 4 days of work this past week. Bummer.
As often happens before getting sick, I get run down. New country, new job and still trying to keep up some reasonable running worked together to leave me so tired I couldn't fight off the bug. Or, at least not recover quickly from it. Skylar recovered in a day, Julienne took two. A week after the initial throwing up, I'm still sitting a lot and moving slowly.
The visit to the Senegalese Dr. was interesting though. Or, more of visiting a French doctor, since he was white and spook good English with a French accent.
Getting around in Dakar by cab is common and so to allow Julienne to keep working at school, a cab was the obvious choice. Cabs in Dakar are all black and yellow, usually burn a lot of oil, and if have seat belts they are only for the driver. Cabbies are also friend and would be chatty if we knew their language. Cabs are also very easy to find, even on side roads.
We had a cab come to the school to pick me up, drive me about 15 minutes downtown to the clinic, wait outside, drive me back to school, then take me to our house. I paid the man 10,000 CFAs ($20). I think it was more then needed but when, part way though the trip, I asked if he had change for 10,000, I think he thought I was telling him that I was going to give him the whole 10,000 bill. Oh well, it wasn't that much of an overpay and in my drained state, I was happy to have a cabbie I was comfortable with.
Mosque must have just gotten out when I arrived at the clinic since I had to wade through a mob of people dressed nicely in their flowing gowns. The building felt 1930s colonial and there were very few people around. I had a card with the Dr's name and eventually decided to show it to the one man sitting behind a desk. He walked me down to the Dr. who was sitting alone at his desk in his small examining room. Now that I think about it, there was no computer on his desk and this added to the timeless quality of both the building and of him.
The feeling of solitude and quiet contemplation are in such contrast to any medical journey in the US. In the US, there are always other people waiting at a Dr's office. There are always other medical personal around. Here, it was a large, almost empty building and I appeared to be the only person seeking medical attention. Yet, I was reminded of a friend's experience.
If I remember correctly (which I usually don't), Slash's mom came to the US to visit and wanted to refill an allergy prescription. In her country, Jordan, you simply go to the pharmacy and get the new drug. Before she could do that in the US, she was told that she not only needed a Dr's appointment, but it had to be an initial, new patient screening! She would have had to spend over $400 to simply talk to a Dr. to be able to tell her what prescription she needed.
And so, Senegal is much more like Jordan. I walked in and the Dr. was immediately available. We spoke for a few minutes then he did his own lab work on me. Labs consisted of dipping some litmus paper with about 8 sensory dots into my urine sample, comparing the colors the dots turned to the chart, then saying, "Is ok."
Then, a simple prescription of not working and taking Vit. C, and I would out the door, back to my waiting cabbie, and eventually back home. A medical trip where the trip to the Dr. took longer then any time at the Dr. Paying was simply handing the man 30,000 ($60) and out the door I went.
I was glad to have a waiting cabbie. I walked out and started looking for him. This simply act of standing in one place and looking around attracted 3 solicitations for cab rides and attracted 3 young boys who were holding buckets, obviously looking for money.
And so, resting as the Dr. said, I feel better now and am glad to not be lying in bed anymore. Classes start in 2 days, opening ceremonies tomorrow.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Julienne's 1st week summary
Hi Everybody!
After a super fun-filled 4 days in Paris, we have arrived in Dakar and are settling in. Getting our visas at the airport was 2 hours of hot, crammed, unorganized lines while I stretched out a Chitty Chitty Bang Bang story for as long as I could go to keep our hot and exhausted children from completely losing it, but since then Senegal has been great! Folks at the school have been super friendly, and everyone out and about and at little shops, etc, has been friendly and kind. Sylvia has been happily noticing the goings-on of the babies and kids she sees around (in Paris she was busily noticing how many women with high heels were riding motorcycles), and Skylar, after seeing a few cockroaches scurrying around in our new home when we arrived, has decided he would like to keep one for a pet. Marc, an experienced cockroach-keeper, has helped facilitate this dream and we are now housing one in a jar inside our tv cabinet. Cockroach TV.
I was surprised to find that, so far, aside from the large roads, which are paved, most of the smaller roads we've been on, including the roads all around our neighborhood, are dirt. Cars and taxis drive all around, and then there are horse-drawn wagons that come around to pick up your garbage and I guess do other jobs. We're in the capital city, and yet a horse wagon drives by each day on the dirt road in front of our house.
What else? We've been shopping at some fun spots to help get our house set up. Skylar and Sylvia got their first djembe drum lesson the other day when we passed the drum-maker on the street and he showed them how to play. Tonight I lay with Skylar and Sylvia under their mosquito netting listening to the call to prayer. Tomorrow is Korite (pronounced kor-ee-tay), the feasting day at the end of Ramadan... I guess it's the local version of Eid al-Fitr. All the new teachers (and Skylar and Sylvia and some new teachers' teenage son named Kyle) are going to the home of one of the Senegalese employees at the school. I'm really looking forward to the day!
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Kid's comments on our 2nd full day in Dakar
Sylvia Says:
We have nets on our bed so the mosquitos don't get us. It's like a circle and it goes up to the top. You have to not pull so it doesn't come down. (A man from ISD maintenance came out today and hung up mosquito netting and measured for putting in hand railings on the stairs.)
Fallou's friend, today we just met him and he speaks English. (Fallou is the day guard. He works 12 hrs/day and sits out in front of the house, making sure we're safe. He knows the neighbor kid who lives in NYC but is on vacation on Senegal.)
And we saw the school today. It's good but I played on Skylar's playground but not Skylar's playground. (We did a family walk to the school. We got lost a few times but eventually made it. We paid $3.00 for a taxi cab ride home in a smoking, clunking cab with no seat belts. The cab driver, twice, gave money to beggers on the streets - a real cultural education. In Indonesia, Julienne said, when the taxi cab drivers see a begger, they call out "roll up your windows!"
And, up, there's a noise that is loud that sounds like thunder on the phone. (She was breathing hard on the phone!)
We have a house keeper that, um, today, we're making dinner then tomorrow, she's going to make dinner. (Julienne chimmed in) Um, today they, mommy and Madaline, are doing it together. (The house keeper made her first dinner today. Smells good - almost time to start!)
And we have so much Playmobile. There's 7 kids and I don't know how much people, um, adults there are. But there's soo - do you know what? After the people goed, I got the box my cabbage patch doll was in, I only needed to dig a little to get my doll. Skylar needed to dig a lot to get Steggy.
Right around lunch time or the morning, we can call Grandma Donna or Grampa Edward or Grammy and Grampy.
Bye
Skylar says:
I want to tell you something funny about the Eiffel tower. You know the lover's bridge? They do the same thing as the Lover's bridge on the Eiffel tower. They put locks on it too.
So, I have to say good bye, so bye!
We have nets on our bed so the mosquitos don't get us. It's like a circle and it goes up to the top. You have to not pull so it doesn't come down. (A man from ISD maintenance came out today and hung up mosquito netting and measured for putting in hand railings on the stairs.)
Fallou's friend, today we just met him and he speaks English. (Fallou is the day guard. He works 12 hrs/day and sits out in front of the house, making sure we're safe. He knows the neighbor kid who lives in NYC but is on vacation on Senegal.)
And we saw the school today. It's good but I played on Skylar's playground but not Skylar's playground. (We did a family walk to the school. We got lost a few times but eventually made it. We paid $3.00 for a taxi cab ride home in a smoking, clunking cab with no seat belts. The cab driver, twice, gave money to beggers on the streets - a real cultural education. In Indonesia, Julienne said, when the taxi cab drivers see a begger, they call out "roll up your windows!"
And, up, there's a noise that is loud that sounds like thunder on the phone. (She was breathing hard on the phone!)
We have a house keeper that, um, today, we're making dinner then tomorrow, she's going to make dinner. (Julienne chimmed in) Um, today they, mommy and Madaline, are doing it together. (The house keeper made her first dinner today. Smells good - almost time to start!)
And we have so much Playmobile. There's 7 kids and I don't know how much people, um, adults there are. But there's soo - do you know what? After the people goed, I got the box my cabbage patch doll was in, I only needed to dig a little to get my doll. Skylar needed to dig a lot to get Steggy.
Right around lunch time or the morning, we can call Grandma Donna or Grampa Edward or Grammy and Grampy.
Bye
Skylar says:
I want to tell you something funny about the Eiffel tower. You know the lover's bridge? They do the same thing as the Lover's bridge on the Eiffel tower. They put locks on it too.
So, I have to say good bye, so bye!
Monday, August 5, 2013
Landing in Dakar
We flew from Paris on a large Boing 777 airplane. We were in the middle section over the wings so we saw almost nothing of the landscape we flew over. This was too bad.
Before we landed, Skylar and I talked about the line at the airport and how long we thought the wait was going to be. He ballparked 45 minutes, I ballparked 2 hours. Turns out I was pretty close.
We walked down stairs from the plane and boarded a bus. Then, we flowed out of the bus into an air conditioned space where most of the waiting happened. When we had entered France, there was a long, serpentine walking path that made it clear who was in front of whom. In Dakar, there were only about 15' of clearly marked lines, leaving the other 80' of the room with amorphous lines. And so, it quickly became apparent that the best strategy was to pack tightly with the people infront of you so the people who were trying to cut in line couldn't get in.
There were many people trying to cut in line. The woman in front of me did a nice job scolding the different me who tried to push in. I kept our bags tight to her but the two young european woman behind us didn't press so well. So, in the 1/2 hr that it took us to finally get to the portion of the room that had ropes to mark the line, these young women stayed still while people cut in line in front of them!
While this was going on, to our left was a way to walk around the people checking your passport. From time to time, people would approach the guards at this rope and talk to them and periodically, a flood of 15-20 people would be let through. We did not understand why they were going around or what it meant, but we stayed in line and eventually had our documents stamped.
The kids were quite unhappy by this time. We were about 1.5 hours into the experience. The space for the stamping was a small hall, about 3' wide. There were 3 people with their windows and scanners lined up in this hallway, working with different groups of people. In this narrow hallway, people seemed to be coming and going and trying to squeeze around us. Adding crying children (ours) into the mix didn't help. Julienne did a great job telling them a story trough this whole time.
Then, after the passports, we needed to get visas. Well, this included sitting still for photos. By this time, Skylar was wimpering in the corner, Julienne was desperately trying to figure what the two officers wanted, and I was wrestling with Sylvia, trying to get her to face the camera for a photo. The closest we got was her clenched eyes and open, screaming mouth. The officer just shook his head and threw up his arms. Finally, the other officer gave in a simply waved us past.
Two hours after we'd landed, we had our papers and were into the baggage claim area. Here, almost magically, appeared a man holding our names. (Or close approximations with Julienne Webster and Marc Haryss typed out neatly on a piece of paper.) Then, quite surprising to us, our bags were still going 'round and 'round on the baggage claim, all 4 large pieces of luggage and both booster seats.
Then, we have customs. While in line, I was so preoccupied with the stress of the situation I couldn't think of much else. As soon as we saw the kindly driver with our names, I started noticing the place we were and started chatting with Julienne.
"Hey, " I said. "I just got my brain back!" Simply having the a local person to follow changed the whole feeling of the experience. Custom bag check consisted of sending all out baggage through an x-ray scanner much faster then any 3 security people could watch for contraban, let alone the one guy who was looking at us and not the machine. People would hurriedly drop their bags on one end and run to the other end and grab it before it dropped to the floor.
But, now that we had a local to follow, I found this amusing instead of bemusing. I knew we were on the glide path to our new house.
Outside, two more things surprised me. First, the principal of the elementary school was still waiting, over 2 hours after landing. It was nice to see someone we actually knew. And second, just how many people lined the road leading from the airport exit. There must have been at least 200 people lining the fences along the road, waiting for others to emerge as we had.
Later, after talking with other new teachers, we learned that our experience was not the ordinary. Our plane, a large one, landed before the previous plane load of people had been processed. Then, while we were still in line, another plane landed, creating a log-jam. Other people who had arrived early the next day spent about 20 minutes in line. No shouting, line cutting, or crying children. Hopefully we get that experience on our next arrival to Dakar.
Before we landed, Skylar and I talked about the line at the airport and how long we thought the wait was going to be. He ballparked 45 minutes, I ballparked 2 hours. Turns out I was pretty close.
We walked down stairs from the plane and boarded a bus. Then, we flowed out of the bus into an air conditioned space where most of the waiting happened. When we had entered France, there was a long, serpentine walking path that made it clear who was in front of whom. In Dakar, there were only about 15' of clearly marked lines, leaving the other 80' of the room with amorphous lines. And so, it quickly became apparent that the best strategy was to pack tightly with the people infront of you so the people who were trying to cut in line couldn't get in.
There were many people trying to cut in line. The woman in front of me did a nice job scolding the different me who tried to push in. I kept our bags tight to her but the two young european woman behind us didn't press so well. So, in the 1/2 hr that it took us to finally get to the portion of the room that had ropes to mark the line, these young women stayed still while people cut in line in front of them!
While this was going on, to our left was a way to walk around the people checking your passport. From time to time, people would approach the guards at this rope and talk to them and periodically, a flood of 15-20 people would be let through. We did not understand why they were going around or what it meant, but we stayed in line and eventually had our documents stamped.
The kids were quite unhappy by this time. We were about 1.5 hours into the experience. The space for the stamping was a small hall, about 3' wide. There were 3 people with their windows and scanners lined up in this hallway, working with different groups of people. In this narrow hallway, people seemed to be coming and going and trying to squeeze around us. Adding crying children (ours) into the mix didn't help. Julienne did a great job telling them a story trough this whole time.
Then, after the passports, we needed to get visas. Well, this included sitting still for photos. By this time, Skylar was wimpering in the corner, Julienne was desperately trying to figure what the two officers wanted, and I was wrestling with Sylvia, trying to get her to face the camera for a photo. The closest we got was her clenched eyes and open, screaming mouth. The officer just shook his head and threw up his arms. Finally, the other officer gave in a simply waved us past.
Two hours after we'd landed, we had our papers and were into the baggage claim area. Here, almost magically, appeared a man holding our names. (Or close approximations with Julienne Webster and Marc Haryss typed out neatly on a piece of paper.) Then, quite surprising to us, our bags were still going 'round and 'round on the baggage claim, all 4 large pieces of luggage and both booster seats.
Then, we have customs. While in line, I was so preoccupied with the stress of the situation I couldn't think of much else. As soon as we saw the kindly driver with our names, I started noticing the place we were and started chatting with Julienne.
"Hey, " I said. "I just got my brain back!" Simply having the a local person to follow changed the whole feeling of the experience. Custom bag check consisted of sending all out baggage through an x-ray scanner much faster then any 3 security people could watch for contraban, let alone the one guy who was looking at us and not the machine. People would hurriedly drop their bags on one end and run to the other end and grab it before it dropped to the floor.
But, now that we had a local to follow, I found this amusing instead of bemusing. I knew we were on the glide path to our new house.
Outside, two more things surprised me. First, the principal of the elementary school was still waiting, over 2 hours after landing. It was nice to see someone we actually knew. And second, just how many people lined the road leading from the airport exit. There must have been at least 200 people lining the fences along the road, waiting for others to emerge as we had.
Later, after talking with other new teachers, we learned that our experience was not the ordinary. Our plane, a large one, landed before the previous plane load of people had been processed. Then, while we were still in line, another plane landed, creating a log-jam. Other people who had arrived early the next day spent about 20 minutes in line. No shouting, line cutting, or crying children. Hopefully we get that experience on our next arrival to Dakar.
Settling into Dakar
Julienne talked with Madaline, the house keeper, but we don't know how to say how to get to our house. So, I went out and talked to the day watch man, Fallou. He agreed to help so Julienne passed the phone through the window and he and Madaline spoke. Now, Fallou is walking to meet Madaline. So, for many days, there will be TWO people here working at the house with us. Many people to practice our French with!
This section of Dakar is a construction zone. Many men working building houses of cement, mixing sand and gravel, and banging. The sounds are very different from construction in the US because there is almost no wood involved, so no nail guns and no saws or compressors. Just the squeek of pulleys as one person pulls the rope to lift a bucket of cement to the workers above.
All in all, it feels very comfortable.
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Last day in Paris - kid's comments
Skylar says,
We are in Paris. we are going to leave to Senegal today. we have some pet flowers. Sylvia says they aren't pets but I think they are. We give them mint seltzer water. There is a subway track that goes by our hotel. It is a double-decker subway.
Sylia says:
Skylar thinks it's a double decker subway but it's actually - what's that called? - RER
Skylar says about moving to Senegal:
I don't know what Senegal is. I felt like the United States was my border line but now I don't want to leave France.
Sylvia Says:
When I first leaved the United States, I knew there were little shops in Paris. (Pointing out the window.) I see it! It's double decker!
Marc Says:
Yesterday, after walking around Versailles, we were talking about our plans for the next day and I was SHOCKED to realize that tomorrow was the big day - we were actually going to get to Senegal! It seems that emotionally, I was expected that we would be heading back to Greenfield after our fun little Paris vacation.
Emotion and intellect are so very disconnected sometimes.
And so, this morning, I went for a run along the Seine. There is a rather long island in the middle of the Seine, the I'ile-Saint-Denis, that is about a 1/2 mile from our hotel. You can run across the bridge to the island then there are bike paths, dirt paths, and some areas where you need to run on the road, and run for about 3 miles along the river. At the north-west end of the long cresent, there is a large municipal park with dirt paths, a number of fun playgrounds, and several other runners.
As I ran back to the hotel, I thought how nice it would be to show the kids and Julienne the fun things I'd seen. Having bicycles would really help us see the city - luckily, we have our bikes in Senegal!
And so, the next time I post, we will be in the city of our new home. Exciting and nervous. I dreamed of Senegal last night and it was rather pleasant. Meaninglessness of dreams aside, it is still nice to have a pleasant, if fictitious memory.
We are in Paris. we are going to leave to Senegal today. we have some pet flowers. Sylvia says they aren't pets but I think they are. We give them mint seltzer water. There is a subway track that goes by our hotel. It is a double-decker subway.
Sylia says:
Skylar thinks it's a double decker subway but it's actually - what's that called? - RER
Skylar says about moving to Senegal:
I don't know what Senegal is. I felt like the United States was my border line but now I don't want to leave France.
Sylvia Says:
When I first leaved the United States, I knew there were little shops in Paris. (Pointing out the window.) I see it! It's double decker!
Marc Says:
Yesterday, after walking around Versailles, we were talking about our plans for the next day and I was SHOCKED to realize that tomorrow was the big day - we were actually going to get to Senegal! It seems that emotionally, I was expected that we would be heading back to Greenfield after our fun little Paris vacation.
Emotion and intellect are so very disconnected sometimes.
And so, this morning, I went for a run along the Seine. There is a rather long island in the middle of the Seine, the I'ile-Saint-Denis, that is about a 1/2 mile from our hotel. You can run across the bridge to the island then there are bike paths, dirt paths, and some areas where you need to run on the road, and run for about 3 miles along the river. At the north-west end of the long cresent, there is a large municipal park with dirt paths, a number of fun playgrounds, and several other runners.
As I ran back to the hotel, I thought how nice it would be to show the kids and Julienne the fun things I'd seen. Having bicycles would really help us see the city - luckily, we have our bikes in Senegal!
And so, the next time I post, we will be in the city of our new home. Exciting and nervous. I dreamed of Senegal last night and it was rather pleasant. Meaninglessness of dreams aside, it is still nice to have a pleasant, if fictitious memory.
A Day a Versailles
We were in Versailles back in early August but just now got around to posting it. A fun day though strangely not a very cultural experience because everyone around us were tourists. Still, we had a lot of fun!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD6o5XNlJfs&feature=em-upload_owner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD6o5XNlJfs&feature=em-upload_owner
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