Goree Island

I wrote this yesterday. but since the internet in my apartment is still not working, im posting it today!!

            Today, I went to Goree Island with my friend Adama and her cute little 8 year old niece!  I thought we were going to N’Gor Island, and I’m still trying to figure out why there are two islands with such close names.  Anyway, we took a taxi (I’m getting pretty good at riding in taxis!) to the place where you take the ferry.  I had to pay FIFTY TWO TIMES as much for a ferry ticket since I wasn’t a resident.. what a rip off!! For a resident, its about 20 cents, and for a non-resident, it’s a little over 10 dollars, so it wasn’t really that much.  But, the fact that they charge 52 times as much is just a little ridiculous to me.  I guess I should have waited until after I went through that whole process to go to the island, but hopefully I will be able to go some more because it is seriously the most beautiful place I have seen since I have been here.. which I guess isn’t saying much, but I didn’t realize how much I missed seeing trees and flowers everywhere I go. 

            On the ferry, I saw one of last year’s students who would be in my class this year if he wasn’t moving schools! How do I know? Because he visited on Friday and hung out with us a while!  He’s super cool, and I’m a little bit sad that he’s not with us... but I have also heard things that make me thankful he’s not in the class.  Anyway, I waved to him and he said “heyyyyyyyy! Ms. Fisher!” (he speaks a little bit like Fonzy, not kidding!) he seems WAY older than 4^th grade.  Looks wise, I would guess him as a 5^th or 6^th grader, but personality wise I would put him as a sophomore in high school.  It sounds weird, I know.. but you would just have to meet him I guess!

            Towards the end of the ferry ride, this lady came up to me and introduced herself in French and started speaking to me, and I said “sorry I don’t speak French” so she started over in English!  She told me she had a shop that she wanted me to come to and she would give me a good deal.. I do not like the shop keepers here, way too pushy.. more on that later. 

            So, we got off the ferry and this guy is following us telling us he wants to be our tour guide, and I keep telling him no because he is just SO ANNOYING. He wouldn’t stop!  He kept saying “small island, big history” over and over.  But finally, I say okay because I just want him to stop so he takes us to the police station which was first a church and it was the first building on the island, and says a bunch of other stuff I don’t even understand.  Then, we go through a really pretty garden and he says some more stuff which I didn’t understand. 

            Then, we get to the slave house and he says “this man will give you a tour” so he makes someone else do his job!  It was really depressing inside there, obviously… and I understood the man who was giving this tour SO much better.  I told Adama I couldn’t understand anything the other guy was saying and she said “oh, well we can just get rid of him then!” but I was beginning to think that he had gotten rid of us!  I was kinda relieved!  So after we finish our tour of the slave house, we walk out and mr. tour guide is nowhere to be seen.  BUT THEN, he walks around the corner!  Adama tells him to go away and I try to give him more than half of what we agreed on and he gets all mad, and won’t take the money.  He just keeps saying “let me try again, I will speak more clearly” blah blah blah.  And I am just getting so scared.  Finally, Adama takes the money from me, shoves it in his hands and we walk away.  She is so brave.

            The rest of our trip to the island was much better.  We went to the top where we could see the whole island, and then we find the lady’s shop who talked to me on the ferry. She grabs my arm and pulls me inside and starts showing me things.  She tries to sell me a wrap for 10 dollars and then I say no thank you but she won’t let me leave!  Finally, I tell her I will think about it, so we continue our walk.. but on the way back she hadn’t forgot about me!  She was so mad when I told her I wasn’t going to buy anything!  She tried to make me think I was her first customer ever.. yeah right lady! What a liar.

            So then, we went to the shore and I stuck my feet in and the water was SO warm.  I think it was my first time ever in the Atlantic Ocean! 

            We got back in the ferry and went back to Dakar.. then we decided to do some shopping at the artisan market!  I was so overwhelmed in this place. I hated it.  So much. Everybody was grabbing us trying to make us buy things from them!  I ended up buying two little wooden giraffes which I am super excited about, a pagne.. the thing they wrap around their waists so their legs don’t show.  I have been borrowing my friends, but I thought it was time to get my own. And a wall hanging thing which I’m not super excited about.. but I mostly just bought it because the man made me.  I would be okay with never going back there in my life.  But, I probably will go back.. next time, though, I will have my pepper spray ready to tell them to BACK OFF!! Why can’t they just let me shop in peace?? Ugh! 

            We just had a meeting this week about culture shock and the different stages involved.  Theres the honeymoon stage, crisis stage (or “hostility stage”), humor stage and “at home” or adaptation phase.  The counselor told us we could go through a few or all of the stages in one day, which I definitely have been through at least 2 of them today.. I will let you take a guess as to which two.  She also said we weren’t supposed to write home when we were in the crisis stage…

            Anyway, all that to say, I think I definitely had a hostility/crisis stage at the market.   BUT, overall, I had a really great day although I did get a little sunburned.. I think I missed some spots with the sunscreen.  I’m just thankful it was a little bit cloudy, or else I probably would be burned much worse!